Incorporating Magic into Every Day Life

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung said “Modern man can’t find God because he does not look low enough”. This is a profound truth for so many of us in the modern world who find ourselves completely separating our spiritual or magical lives from the rest of the day-to-day affairs. We need to attend a retreat on the other side of the world to connect with our spiritual centers; we think of our time on the yoga or meditation mat as an oasis from “real life”. We often throw away those spiritual practices in times of stress when we need them the most, putting the material and ephemeral ahead of the spiritual and eternal.

This bifurcation of the sacred and mundane is exhausting and depleting! We would find ourselves so much more energized and resilient if we would look “low enough” and find the potential for magic in each and every moment. The apparently material world is actually pure infinite energy, and the “ordinary” human mind is innately capable of transforming the energy of All-That-Is at will. If you look, it will not take long to see a number of miraculous phenomena in your everyday surroundings; you need only seek in order to find.

Let’s explore some ways of developing a magical mindset so that you can infuse your daily routines with supernatural energy.

Find the Sacred in the Mundane

Most of us have a to-do list of spiritual practices we want to incorporate into our lives that we never make any headway on because of our already over-extended schedules. Yet with a bit of deliberate attention, you can find ways to turn those mundane activities into outlets for sacred practice. You will not have to find time to add a new practice; you can find new ways to inhabit your current routines so that you upkeep spiritual hygiene in a time-efficient way.

For instance, if you have been wanting to incorporate a mindfulness practice into your life but haven’t been able to carve out time in your daily schedule, consider turning household chores into mindfulness meditations. As you are washing dishes, bring your total attention into your hands. Feel the water across your fingertips. Experience the feeling of the soap, the plate, the fork, and your own body. Notice the temperature, the texture, the contrast, the weight, and each sensation throughout your arms, legs, head and torso. If your mind wanders away in thought, bring your attention back to the sensation of washing dishes.

If you have been wanting to practice positive focus or gratitude, consider doing this practice while you are driving or commuting. As you travel along, look around you and take note of anything you appreciate: the color of the trees, a child’s laugh, a fluffy dog, some one doing their job well, a clean train car, a well-functioning car, a crisp breeze, the warm sunshine, and so forth. If you wish to raise your frequency even higher, explore why you appreciate each aspect of your experience. For instance, “I really like seeing the mail carrier deliver the post; it is truly amazing how much organization and coordination goes into the mail system, and think of all the incredible benefits that system brings to people all over the world. How nice to see a responsible person bringing so much joy and convenience to others.” The more deeply we explore reasons behind our appreciation, the more strongly we anchor ourselves in a higher energy.

If you have been wanting to incorporate more grounding practices into your routine, consider exercising outdoors— ideally in bare feet. Go for a run on a beach, or play barefoot soccer in a backyard. Alternatively, take your coffee, lunch, book or meditation mat to a park or forest, and take time to appreciate nature’s thoroughly stabilizing power.

Reality Is Your Mirror

Occultists define magic as the ability to change states of consciousness at will. The world that appears around you is only the extension of your mind, and in a very real way mirrors the contents of your psyche. The ability to change consciousness at will, then, is also the ability to change the world around oneself.

A most important step on the magical path is establishing your awareness of the mirroring going on between you and the world around you, for this awareness will root you firmly in your power. You should not simply adopt the belief that you attract your experience on blind faith; you should test it for yourself and see whether it is true.

Pick a mundane object that you have no particularly strong emotion about or attachment to. It can be a feather, a giraffe, a genie lamp, a blue hanger, a red triangle, etc. —some neutral object that is of no special significance to you in either a positive or negative way.

In the morning, sit with a quiet mind, and for a period of no longer that five minutes, imagine this object in your mind’s eye. Try to hold it vividly in your mind, and make it very real to yourself. What color is it? What is its texture? Does it have a smell or a sound or a taste? Sit in contemplation of the object for five minutes every morning for a week. Do not force this practice, but have a sense of gentle, light-hearted curiosity. You are testing the power of your mind to influence reality, and it should be a carefree and fun game.

As you move about your day, you may gently remind yourself of this object. As you wait in line, you may say yourself, “red triangle!” As you drive your car, you may call out to the giraffe. Again, let this be a fun, playful exercise, without stress or need of result.

Quite soon, you will start to see your object appear around you in your life. It may pop up on the bumper sticker of the car in front of you, or upon your co-worker’s coffee mug. You may turn the page of a magazine and come upon it, or a book may fall off the shelf and open to a story about this object. The longer you play this game, the more amazement you will find at the lengths the Universe can stretch itself to accommodate itself to your powerful mind.

Your life may not be changed by the apparition of a red triangle or a giraffe, yet you yourself will have learned perhaps the very most important lesson of your whole life: that you are a magician, and you are lord and master over your world. Once you have proven the power of your own mind to yourself by summoning a mundane object, you can then turn your attention to summoning the objects of your heart’s desire.