Another thing I don’t want to hear is “Oh I’m too poor/beat down/circumstances won’t permit because I live with my mum” – I doubt the SLAVES whose syncretism gave rise to vodoun and other African diaspora religions and magickal rites had lush private temples, free time and privacy whenever they wanted it, and streams of credit to purchase any shiny thing that took their fancy; nor did they have grimoires, or libraries of old sacred texts at the click of a button (I heard a terrifying rumour they didn’t even have smartphones, though I need to check that one out, since surely life couldn’t have been THAT bad!! ).
Seriously, I also doubt the millions of illiterate peasants throughout history who had shrines, cast spells, whispered in the night to their ancestors’ shades, and made amulets and hexes, often living under the kinds of tyrannies described above, would feel awfully sympathic that magick is beyond you because you can’t get free shipping this month on that fancy item from Amazon.
One of the most ambitious magicians I’ve met through this forum began by doing magick in his bathroom, because it was the only time he could get privacy.
People who wish to start down this route need to be willing to adapt their practices to their circumstances, yes with an eye to always bettering this, but without resentment or whining - remember that NO-ONE prior to the mid-nineties had grimoires and information, and whole communities of fellow magicians, on tap 24/7 through the internet, and just a century earlier, there was little to no public availability of books and tools, and going further back, there was no place on earth for a normal person to learn magick in relative ease and safety, in their own home.
When I was eight, nine, ten years old I had to create routes to do the magickal tasks some internal part of me KNEW were possible, namely travelling to spirit realms, communicating with spirits through idols, divining the future, and altering the course of events - no books, no internet, no mentor, no nuffink!
You can do the same, no matter how little privacy you have and how few resources, there are threads on here teaching how to create astral temples, how to soul-travel, how to do all these amazing things with NOTHING in terms of fancy tools, and inside the privacy of your own mind and the interface with the spiritual planes.
I had no model for doing sigil magick, where you open a sigil, send your desire out to the spirit, and then burn the seal afterwards, that alone would have revolutionised my life!
So yeah… we are all so fortunate, and while it may not always feel that way (I had a minor meltdown yesterday because I ran out of the kind of coffee I like, I get it! ) now and again, doing a little reality check is a good thing.
Some relevant links: