Good evening BALG,
I have been thinking about my daily practices and how they have changed over the years sense I started practicing magic all those years ago. They have changed along with the changes in my personal philosophy, from daily prayer and LBRP/LHR to what I do today.
I have noticed that they all have had some form of meditation and energy work. So what do your daily practices look like?
Currently this is what I do on an average day. This changes depending on if I achieve a breakthrough, accomplish a goal, or need to re-evaluate for some other reason. These adjustments seem to occur a few times per year. Usually this just means working on new projects and doesnāt change the majority of what I do.
Morning
During the Day
Evening
I donāt have any real daily practices. Sessions with familiar spirits on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And I volunteer almost every day at a botanica, where the owner and I perform client work. I cleanse now and then, and do the I am Solar solar banishing for extra energy, but nothing regular.
Maybe 5 days in any 7, I do my Stoicheia thing from Flowerās book, followed by invocation of my inner divine (Iām constantly re-writing that but the basics stay the same), and every day I check in with, at least, my āGodselfā (the former Personal Daemon, heās evolving at a rate) and a few other entities.
Itās evolved insofar as I no longer feel I canāt use magick for help with my own problems unless Iām giving back at an equal rate by doing healing and stuff, although I do still like to do things for other people - I donāt feel burdened by it unlike before, when I felt like it was the only way to ādeserveā my ability.
That was the biggest change, followed by the time I stopped calling on any external godnames during my work (around Summer 2012), other things are more incremental.
Right now, my daily practice consists of the exercises related to my prosperity work. In the morning, I perform banishing followed by the 5 Rites, also called the 5 Tibetans, after which I do some breath work.
About an hour or so after breakfast, I do the chakra exercise from Questing After Visions, and the Ah meditation. Later in the afternoon I do the character meditation from Psionic Supervillain.
Around 2am, I evoke.
I do things irregularly, but when I do I happen to do them in places/at certain times.
So when I say I do something, I do it in that general time period.
Morning:
Afternoonish:
Evening:
Night:
Early Morning
Thatās about it, folks.
Eternally,
-Sev
Iām still totally new to doing this seriously, and the Marine Corps cuts into a -lot- of my time. But I -make- time. Hereās the closest there is to ātypicalā right now:
Early morning-
Wake up, shower and drag the nightās dreams from my memory. Effort at recalling dreams lends itself to easier recall in the future! If youāre new to this stuff, begin trying it, itās entirely non-magical but the mental exercise is invaluable, and you will see results within days! Some dreams are more significant than just ādreamsā, and youāll probably know them when you have them (with me they take no effort to recall most of the time anyway), but even regular-ass mundane dreams can reveal valuable information about the unconscious aspects of your psyche if you take the time to understand your own symbolism (which personal symbolism incidentally is extremely valuable in your future magickal works). Remember Pythagoras recalling the inscription from the temple at Delphi: āMan, KNOW THYSELF, and thou wilt know both the universe and the gods.ā
At work-
Meditations when Iām able (i.e. lunch, pretty much). Theyāre invaluable for plenty of non-magickal reasons, and certainly for magickal ones as well. At this writing Iām wrapping up a long personal commitment to spend five days apiece meditating on each of the Elder Futhark runes (preferably five times a day, Iāve had to settle for three some days), but rest assured when this work is done I will find another target to place before my sights (already have, to be vaguely truthful)! Goals met need to be replaced with new and higher ones: failure to advance beyond contented successes ends civilizations, and it will end you, too, if you stagnate.
Home from work in the evening -
Personal PT! A strong body is a strong mind is a strong body. That and making my own dinner, relaxing with music etc. serve as a sort of spiritual ādetoxā from the mindless bureacratic environment that is the US military.
Check the forum for inspiration, maybe even post if I have anything worthwhile (humour is worthwhile tooā¦rightā¦?) to say.
Continue my runic meditations at intervals while reading ālightā, i.e. intellectually and thoughtfully stimulating but not really āmagickalā.
Night -
When Iāve concluded my rune meditations for the day, Iāll again spend a little time reading something before I retire to my bedroom to spend some time at the altar I set up for Odin. Iāll light a couple of candles, make sure his drinkās topped off, some nights bring a drink of my own, and open my mind up to commune better with him. Iām not going to get detailed, but right now for instance heās really putting me through the wringer in getting me to overcome ideals of āinstinctive, creative spontaneity, being āsoundā enough to react to whatever I encounter, enjoying the surprises of living as the wind carries meā and have some real lessons in strategy and planning -everything- to happen in my life. I think the lesson could very well be different for someone who is elsewhere in life, but thatās what I need to develop more and Odin is a very complex and versatile god: heās the paragon of both passionate fury and wily shrewdness. And itās this strategic mastery specialty of his as a warlord that means my altar time with him now involves some serious meditation in ironing out goals way into the future.
After this Iāll hit the sack and do the same basic thing the next day.
Weekends are my time to rest and recover physically, but really hit the books magickally and more often than not commit the weekend to one good ritual for one of my goals. For awhile I only banished when things became a real problem because I did prefer to ātough it outā in exchange for all the energy hanging around, but now that working with Odin is (slowly, sure, but Iāll take it!) awakening my spiritual skills and sensibilities more and more I plan to try every other weekend and see how I like that. The Allfather isnāt going anywhere, and with good patronage and increasing abilities, I have -no- need to put up with spiritual hassles and astral freeloaders just to use some extra energy I can do just fine without.
Things will change as I progress, but thatās how things stand for now!
Edit - Jeezus. Hi, Iām Claidheam. Iām and alcholic, and I also like to write obscenely long run-on sentences that just go on and on with no apparent end for the sake of rhythm and cadence even when all common sense says I should really stop.
Sorry, lol.
Run-on sentences are awesome! They let me get all my drabbles and insane works out.
Morning: write down dreams, stretch a tad then meditate
After work: exercise
Night: evocation of Hecate, or evocation of another entity, or Qlippothic work. These are just the main three I alternate between most of the time. I list Hecate specifically because I work with her continually and more than I do other entities. A few times a week Iāll also leave offerings to local nature spirits, and recently began doing the same for the dead.
Morning: Recalling Dreams (If I donāt have an Appointment I practice āthe Phaseā)
Day: I do the āKey of SOLā meditation over the whole Day (when ever i notice i lost it)
Change work using NLP and āstuffā for Clients and myself.
Skrying into Air/sigil/Mirror (I do Progressively more work with Spirits)
Night: working an not loosing consciousness while I enter Sleep.
And Starting in the 1. April I have a 4 Month long Pathworking through the Elements.
(Can be found and Critiqued In the Elemental Magick: The Natural Path section)