Everything was New Once, So Find Your Own Magick

The new year is upon us, with resolutions (or not) about the magick you want to make.

I’ve seen several folks post this question: what do you want to do with your magickal practice this year?

For me, I want to deepen into some practices I’ve been doing for years.

But more importantly, I want to play more. Invite in more joy.

I want to try more.

I want to be willing to make mistakes.

I want to infuse my practice with more curiosity.

After all, the first person that did ________ didn’t know what they were doing. They learned from what worked and what didn’t. They adapted and changed until they did what they wanted to do.

This mindset is one that I love in Reclaiming. No one person has all the answers. You are your own spiritual authority (remembering that you have an impact on those around you, of course).

Play a little.

Then play a little more.

Trust Yourself in Your Magick

I think this all begins with trusting what you think might work, whether that is in a spell or an altar or a relationship with a deity. While you can read books (and you should) to find out what to do, why not also sit with yourself and see what you think?

One way that I do this is to get quiet and to think about what I want to do. I picture what it will look like, feel like, and how it might feel after I am done. If my body feels good or calm or grounded (or all of those things), I try something out. And then I note how things went.

If I’m watching myself, I might journal what happened and what the feeling was ahead of time. That way, it’s like a field guide to my emotional landscape and what it means for my magick.

For example, being calm and grounded might not be how I want to feel before a certain kind of spell. So, if I feel that when I’m planning that sort of magickal work, I might stop and ask what could be changed to align more with my body’s messaging.

Of course, the body is sometimes hard to read. If you have a history of PTSD or other trauma, this might take time. Cultivating trust in anyone takes time, after all — and trusting yourself will too.

Try New Things

Trusting yourself in any situation begins with trying things that seem like a good idea. They might not be a good idea. They might not be something you ever do again, but they could be.

It can start small by trying a new way of approaching a deity or working with nature. It could start with changing one thing in a ritual you always do, to see what might happen if you change out one herb for another. Or if you decide to cast a circle in a new way. Or if you try to work under a different moon phase, or you choose to do magick when the moon isn’t what the books say it should be for that intention.

The nuance in this for me is not to always aim for what is right or successful. The goal is to find magick that suits you, makes you feel what you want to feel, and brings you more into your power. The idea of ‘success’ is fleeting and capitalist-y. But it’s hard to shake, I know. My mind is very often in the binary of success or failure. (That’s often when I know I’m not grounded enough.)

Instead, I offer to approach all of the magick you’re making as an opportunity to learn something. Perhaps you can replace ‘Did I succeed?’ with ‘What did I learn?’ Or you might take note of what you want to change the next time you do the thing.

Magick is supposed to be fun and surprising. So maybe instead of scrunching up your forehead and letting everyone else tell you what you ‘should’ be doing, try doing what feels good, knowing taht everyone started somewhere.

You too.

So, what will you do? What will you try?