Most people become interested in magick because they want to change some aspect of their lives, want to gain a greater sense of control in the world around them. Most people don’t seem to succeed.
It’s all well and good to be a juggernaut on the astral plane, defending the world from various nasties and sharing astral juice with your fellow warriors after a good night’s work,1 but seriously.
Objective results are the proof of magic, all else is mysticism.
–Peter Carroll, Liber Kaos
It sounds flip, but it’s true.
Results magick needn’t necessarily be centred on the material, though it certainly can be about getting that job, that coat, that house. Changes can be made in personality, appearance, mannerisms; relationships – romantic and otherwise; creative output, and so on. The point is, the results are obvious: you either got the guy or you didn’t, you either quit smoking, or you’re still at it – all right here in the “real” world.
Success can be temporary. You know the type, those who can’t maintain a stable relationship, job, or master their addictions. Self-proclaimed magickians practicing for ten years renting cockroach infested bachelor apartments barely holding down that dollar store clerk gig, getting stoned every night to avoid – no, to get to that “special place.”
If there is no discernible difference between what your life was like before you performed an act of magick and afterwards, what was the point? Some small, initial success may spark a desire to continue – and that’s all well and good, but when you see the same patterns repeat themselves over and over, a seemingly endless loop – why bother? That’s not control and it’s not growth.
What are these people doing?
Originally published on Plutonica.net on 13 November 2007.
Image credit: Marc Falardeau.
- Chaolion, I love you. You’re doin’ a great job, bud. [↩]
