The Magic Spell of Will

You ever encounter a sentence or get inspired by a thought which just shakes the marbles out of your head? Yes? Then you know what I have been feeling since yesterday. What was this thought which shook my brain? Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer saw consciousness as a grade or product of Will which is the fundamental reality. I really need to read The World as Will and Representation by Schopenhauer. So many books ….

You should be aware I am no philosopher. Certainly no formal training beyond a logic class in college. Though I did enjoy the class quite a bit.

There is something about this position which does make intuitive sense. Thinking more and more about this idea of will being fundamental to reality got me thinking about magic.

Spell casting for example.

First, some probably too vague definitions. Let's say consciousness is a state of being aware, especially inwardly. Will might be defined as an intention to act. Which then might lead us to consider consciousness as the will to be aware.

Might this be in part why Dion Fortune's definition of magic is something along the lines of,

“Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will.”

If we want to be effective spell casters, and who doesn't? What would be an effective way to approach developing our spell casting capabilities?

Would lots of meditating help? Maybe. We certainly can increase our awareness this way. A worthy goal for sure.

But Is developing our will to be aware sufficient to cast effective spells?

As I have been thinking about this I suspect the answer is no. Awareness by itself is not enough for effective spell casting. What developing awareness can do is help us understand our true motives and desires for instance.

The actual change in consciousness? I suspect here we have a different grade of will than consciousness.

To me this makes sense. I have experienced and witnessed in others the development of awareness or consciousness. Yet, the evolving state of consciousness did not appear to grant us the ability to effect change outside of ourselves. At least not in any intentional manner.

What if we want to effect change in the world around us? Magic does provide us with tools to do so. Like spells, among other things.

What are we doing with magic? According to Fortune we are changing consciousness at will. Isn't consciousness is a grade of will?

Looks like we might be about to go circular here in our thinking!

Stepping back….

Consciousness is a grade of will. The will to be aware. We want to make a change in consciousness or the will to be aware.

What hasn't been stated is which consciousness we want to effect. Ours? Maybe, depending on our goals.

If the foundations of reality is will then we could choose to effect a shift in consciousness of something beyond ourselves. Depending on specifically what we want to accomplish the act of will may be relatively minor or immense beyond comprehension.

Do we want to move a pebble from here to there? Our will can make that happen! Get up, pick up the pebble, and move it. Our consciousness was changed though and the pebble moved.

Maybe, we want to effect how dice land at the craps table? This might take a lot more will. Other people's will along with the casino management and staff might make such a change in consciousness much more complicated. Possibly having to change many consciousnesses!

Changing our own consciousness won't be enough. We also need to be able to have our consciousness extend beyond ourselves. Extension? Will!

Reminds me of practicing Aikido. With ki at our center, or hara, and extension as we meet our partner. Will is behind the extension of the ki?

Hm.

Ideas and concepts are coming together! I really didn't have any idea this is where this post would go. I like it though.

We have motion, maybe spiral maybe linear. Not interfering with direction or energy of our partner, in fact, encouraging them. Staying centered and grounded ourselves. We are extending with our partner and staying whole in ourselves, coming into harmony with their motions and energy.

Our will is not counter to our partner's will.

Back to magic and spell casting. We can take the same ideas and apply them to our magical workings.

Puny humans attempting to force their will upon even small parts of the Cosmos likely barely registers a nod from the gods. Not that humans won't try. The cosmos is a big place. The force of cosmic will can not even be imagined.

We do have an alternative approach. What if we take an Aikido-like approach with our magic?

Work with the flow of Cosmic will. Encourage and go with it while maybe guiding a small spiraling stream in a swirling whirl towards achieving our goal?

The spell designed and cast this way is likely to be much more effective than a brute force approach.

Our magical tools and the words of the spells we use are important. They help us gather the force of our will in causing our intended change in consciousness. Whether our own or consciousness elsewhere. Instead of forcing change we sail with the breezes and currents of the Cosmic flow of will.

One reason magic organizations and systems are popular. For the initiate they provide a means to developing the capacities of their will. And teach how to work with it effectively.

The will to be aware. The will to live. The will to change. The will to effect change.

The will to will.

Looked at from the perspective of will as fundamental reality is powerful. Instead of getting lost in our own self-awareness we are able extend beyond self. Being a participant in the Cosmos. Even us puny humans.

Tapping the power of will is key. Most people are ineffective in their magic let alone life in general because of lack of will. Or at least that is what they think.

Really, everyone has plenty of will. The real problem is their will is fractured over dozens of often conflicting goals heading in as many different directions.

If people could just learn to focus their will in one direction they would accomplish things they only dream about.

Getting focused is simple but not always easy. You can practice doing a pointless task in the morning when you get up. Then keep doing it especially when you don't feel like it. You can also practice NOT doing a pointless task.

The practice no matter what is what is important.

You can also stop doing anything which is not aligned with your goals. A little consciousness, or self-awareness, can be helpful here. Sometimes just knowing what goals you want to achieve is elusive.

When you work at getting your will focused magic just happens. Which is why rituals, spells, and other tools are so popular. Intentional magic work like spell casting becomes all that much more effective with the focus they help develop and provide.