M is for: Magic

Apr 18

This post is part of a series I’m so excited about: “The ABC’s of What I’ve Learned as a Medium and Intuitive Healer.” This is my full-time career, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned!

*I say Spirit to mean God, the Universe, the Cosmos - I use these phrases interchangeably for all enlightened beings who help us. I use “greater Spirit” or “Spirit” to mean everything out there, taking care of and managing in here: Them as a group and concept. You may choose to substitute the word “Spirit” with Jesus, Archangel Michael, Allah, Lakshmi, Kuan Yin, The Universe, The Cosmos, or about a billion other names, and it doesn’t matter. Spirit is all this and so much more than we can ever understand. They don’t care what you call them so long as you give them the same respect they give you. I work with these beings closely, as they are an integral part of my practice and career. It is a relationship I heavily encourage everyone to build, as it enhances every aspect of our physical lives and spiritual practice.*

The Right Words, Said by the Right Person

According to Spirit, magic is: the right words, said by the right person, at the right time, in the right place.

In this post, I’ll go into detail on what each of these things actually means. I’m also going to include a list of rules and instructions (and how to use them), so you can put together your own uses of magic, working with Spirit! (I don’t view these things as spells or as witchcraft, but those who do can still use everything here to build upon their practice.) I will go through an example, start to finish, of how I use these rules and instructions to create a new practice, and will give rules and instructions for a practice I put together recently (in this case: re-writing your DNA through Healing with Natural Elements). This is the same process I use in my personal practice, as well as in mentorship, when I’m teaching. I’ll also go into what affects magic use on Earth as a whole, and what Spirit feels magic use on Earth should be for.

I teach specific uses of magic in my mentorship programs, each alongside and distinct from use of psychic gifts. There are a lot more differences than many realize, and in some ways magic is less unique, and it’s always more formulaic, so it’s more easily learned and taught (at least in my opinion). It’s helpful to begin with definitions of each, so everyone can understand how Spirit sees magic ability and psychic gifts to begin with.

Psychic gifts are using extrasensory perception to perceive and receive information not available through the five physical senses. They are unique to the individual - a special blend of lifetimes lived. For each individual, our personal psychic gifts are growing and evolving along with us each lifetime. We may have one lifetime in which we use our gifts consistently, growing them constantly, and then another where we don’t use them at all, follow by a lifetime in which we use them heavily but very differently than last time, on and on. We’re likely to go back and forth and experience many lives each mundane and fantastical. When we work on our psychic gifts, we’re accessing a completely unique combination of everything we’ve ever done in the past, but through the lens of who and where we are and what we know now. If you don’t learn about a gift you had in a past life, you can’t hope to use it this lifetime. All this to say, results from using psychic gifts can’t always or even often be duplicated and nothing can be perfected.

Spirit would define magic as: intentionally manipulating (whether on your own or with help) subtle energy, subtle elements, physical elements, time, or space. This depends on a high number of factors, for the person trying to do it and the planet on which and the time in which they’re doing it. Their past lives and psychic gifts are definitely factors, but these along with many other factors (each of which we’ll go into) which can be practiced and mastered.

Our spirit guides love to help us expand our magical practice alongside or independent of our psychic practice. Just like any other practice, it takes devotion, study, dedication, and a desire to work for higher understanding. Much of what one does in their magical practice is still aided by or experienced through their psychic gifts, so working on both in tandem is great.

Most portrayals of magic come from what the person speaking finds attractive about magic as a concept, whether or not they have ever gotten results from their practice. I have met many who say they do magic who have not accomplished anything other than a little manifesting - this isn’t a dig, it’s just important to note that magic isn’t under any obligation to look or work how we want it to, and while we can say otherwise, it only accomplishes more people believing no practitioner can do what they say they can do. If we relay only the things we like best, and speak as if magic should be easy, no one will ever be able to do it. I wouldn’t expect anything good to be easy to come by. Magic takes work and an understanding of what one is actually trying to do to do it well. If you read older books on the under-workings of magic (or many current and more recent books from practitioners outside the US), they’re more clear and honest about just how difficult this is supposed to be. It isn’t meant to be something anyone can do - it’s for those willing to put in the work to grow their skills and knowledge. No matter how much we say it’s easy, we won’t get results unless we’re willing to show the determination to learn what’s necessary and understand the inner-workings of what we are actually trying to accomplish.

Rules and order are the most important things with magic - one who doesn’t have the right qualifications simply won’t get the desired outcome. We’re going to go into just what the qualifications for doing magic are, and how to put together a practice which will get results, but it’s important to note the Universe is under no obligation to do this for or with us, and the qualifications matter. Respect for the bigger picture and for something larger than oneself is the best way to get results, and the best way to show that respect is by understanding and catering to the rules and criteria for what one is trying to achieve.

I’ve channeled everything in this post (as I do all my posts) to relay how Spirit sees magic. Those who want to see it through the lens they find most attractive always will, but I intend to make this an all-purpose explanation of how our spirit guides view magic, and how they’re willing to engage with it, so anyone can work with them to use magic for a wide range of purposes. Spirit is loving, kind, forgiving, and above all things about order, growth, and knowledge. They’ll never encourage us toward more chaos. This is what they want us to use magic for - to try to bring our human selves into the light in which Spirit lives. If we would use magic to harm or hurt, we aren’t using magic with Divine backing or help.

Kinds of Magic

Spirit would put magic use right now on earth into eight categories (I put them in order of how often I most use them - I don’t want to imply Spirit would put them in this or any order or that there’s a hierarchy):

Shamanism - through shamanistic magic we can journey through, communicate with, and really embody other worlds. Shamanism can be broken down into four further sub-categories, depending on what we’re trying to achieve, which chakras we’re working through, and which spirits we’re working with. To become a shaman, one must die as part of the process, but once one is a shaman, they will be in all subsequent lifetimes, and just have to “turn the gift back on,” for lack of better phrasing. (Some live through the process - for instance someone may drown as part of their initial becoming, and be resuscitated - one does not have to stay dead, but dying is part of the process. To work with the spirit world, one must be willing to become part of it.) I regularly work with old souls who have still not had a lifetime in which they have become a shaman, and I have worked with young souls who had already done so, showing it’s very unique to a soul and their interests. Even many who have had many psychic lifetimes have not been willing to die to become a shaman. I use my shamanistic abilities very often each personally and with students and clients, and it’s a very misunderstood gift, especially within the US. I would encourage anyone interested (and who knows they have the gift) to work with a mentor whom they trust, and to do as much research as possible, especially from those within cultures which still understand this gift at its core. (I have been grateful to work with many shamans from many cultures, and I read every book I can find from any shaman, anywhere.) We may use shamanistic magic to journey as stated above, but what does that mean? We can use the eleventh chakra and shamanistic remote viewing to embody a past-life version of ourselves or an ancestor, and see a scene through their eyes and feel it with them, rather than use other forms of remote viewing in which we are more of an observer. We can use the eighth chakra to journey into different soul zones and records (such as the Akashic Record). We can use a combination of the eighth, tenth, and eleventh chakras to journey into specific emotions or vibrations, into specific archetypes, into possible futures. We can meet helpful beings at a crossroad, find something we’ve lost, work with shamanistic spirit animals whom we’ve known in our past lives - there are truly millions of options, and the more people who use their gifts in this lifetime now, the more will become possible. Spirit describes Shamanism at its best as: that which can be used to see everything you are, have been, and will be. Everything the world is, has been, and will be. And everything other worlds are, have been, and will be. It’s for knowledge and awareness, more than anything else. Truth above all - and ugly truths above pretty lies. It’s a learning and empowerment tool. One can use it to understand themselves and the Universe on a multi-lifetime basis. There’s possibly no better way for one to explore and understand their subconscious realm.
Healing with Natural/Physical Elements - This is what we’ll be using as an example soon (this was stupid of me because this is actually kind of complicated but it’s my most recent example and whatever, I just said magic shouldn’t be easy) - I’m going to go through the process of how to use Healing with Natural Elements to re-write one’s DNA. Healing with physical or natural elements is an intense, life-changing use of magic, in which we tend to see things we don’t see anywhere else (and sometimes see or feel things which cannot be unseen or unfelt). This is the only form which can be broken down into no further categories - everything we do here is done in a similar way, using similar abilities and helpers, and has similar rules (if wildly varying instructions; I promise you’ll get to know the difference). This is used for healing and mostly healing physical ailments, or mental and emotional ailments which still have physical or more tangible effects, symptoms, and causes. Healing with Physical Elements requires two things vital to the process: a respect for the natural world around you, and a willingness to work with the natural and elemental beings and elements around you. It calls on use of physical elements (water, fire, earth, air, metal, wood, etc. or representations of such), as well as helping devas (a catch-all term for helpful elemental beings from several larger categories). You’ll see more and more that “how inspired Spirit is to help” is a huge factor in almost all magic - different magic just calls on different beings from Spirit for that help. To use this form of magic, and especially to become proficient in it, you have to be someone who respects nature, animals, and the world around you, or you won’t have the proper support from nearby or guiding devas to do the work (humans simply do not have the ability to do this alone - it’s Healing with Natural Elements because you need natural elements to do it). Healing with Natural Elements is one in which one of the rules is: “finish what you start,” meaning you cannot begin and leave the process undone - to do so is actually dangerous. It’s also one in which our spirit guides remind us to “be brave,” because the things seen and experienced as one is healed so physically but through such different energy than their own can be very intense.
Healing with Subtle Elements - In most contexts, this is very similar to what we typically think of as more traditional energy healing. However there are actually six different sub-groups, and two of them are fairly different (from each other and the rest). Healing with Subtle Elements can be mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual healing, and has very specific, very important rules. Every element in the physical world with which we’re familiar (earth, air, fire, water, stone, metal, etc.) as well as many elements we’re usually less familiar with, has a corresponding subtle element (a version of it in a form not yet possible to measure, but possible for many to perceive). (Many who interpret and/or work on auric fields can feel imbalances of subtle elements - for instance, one with too much subtle fire in their energetic systems is likely to be overly passionate, aggressive, or assertive in some situations [the situations depend on where the excess heat is located], and eventually, that heat leads to inflammatory conditions in the physical body. An energy healer can introduce cooling elements to the same location to balance things out, or they can withdraw the heat, or they can do any number of things to bring the system back to equilibrium.) For several versions of Healing with Subtle Elements, this is a very similar system. One must understand the subtle elements, know how to direct them, understand how they are dispersed or brought out - it’s complex and requires each immense ability to quickly follow one’s intuition, and an understanding of the science of elements (physical and subtle). For the other two, they’re mostly diagnosis-based, and each is very different from the other. One can be used to see the life span of different physical and energetic systems. The other to predict future issues and diagnose past ones, etc. Reflexology is a method of healing by targeting specific zones and areas of the body with acupuncture needling or pressure, electrotherapy, and/or many other methods to affect the organs, glands, and most bodily systems. According to Spirit, Healing with Subtle Elements, in a magical context, is essentially directing the appropriate subtle elements to perform reflexology without physically touching anyone. *This is arguably the most complex form of available magic on Earth, and one of the easiest to misunderstand, so I heavily recommend working with a mentor if you don’t feel advanced enough or confident enough in your practice to know you can understand the information you get from your guides. Healing with Subtle Elements also requires a medical intuition gift, even if undeveloped/un-awakened this lifetime. Like shamanism, not everyone has access to medical intuition - it has a lot to do with past lives and out-of-body chakras.
Element Work - While similar to Healing with Subtle Elements, Element Work more generally can be used in nine different sub-categories and not necessarily for healing purposes. One may use this to adjust their subtle energetic systems in many ways, but not necessarily to correct an issue. Often to enhance, more than correct. One who has a close relationship to and respect for nature can do significantly better here, as help from devas is a fairly integral piece of the puzzle. Elemental beings are not the easiest to inspire to help in some cases, so one has to be one whom they respect to achieve much here. One may use Element Work to help themselves with internal battles like materialism or addiction by enhancing their sense of willpower and equilibrium. One may use it to treat severity and encourage moderation. There are many ways to use Element Work, such as soaking up the energy of a location (not to the location’s detriment - the location would be fed by the person’s presence also; it’s an exchange), creating harmony among warring people, finding the right person, group, place, etc. to achieve what you need, and much more. *Element work is again very complex and I recommend a mentor, but it’s usually less physically damaging than someone trying to heal with less understanding.
Light Work - Light Work is a whole thing because the words can mean so many things in so many different contexts, so bear with me and remember I mean only magically speaking. This can be broken into six sub-categories, and it’s also a sub-category of several other kinds of magic (Shamanism, Healing with Subtle Elements, Element Work, Community Work) because it’s so important. We need light more than ever - there’s a reason why pretty much every holy text talks about turning away from the darkness and finding the light. Unfortunately, a lot of the coolest uses of Light Work magic aren’t available to us right now, because of certain ways the Earth herself is suffering (more on this in the Planetary Circumstances section). Magically speaking, Spirit defines Light Work as: making circumstances better on purpose. A lot of the best available uses of this involve working closely with the archangels (especially Archangel Cassiel, Archangel Rafael, and Archangel Jophiel, respectively, but others are likely to help), as well as uses of Divine speech or singing: allowing the Spirit to sing or speak through your mouth. One has to be immensely pure to practice (we’ll get into purity deeply in a coming section; it usually doesn’t mean what we think, at all), and I only teach Light Work in tandem with Shadow Work, as I find the best practitioners of either are good at both, and without the balance, one tends to fall too deeply into either. (Yes, there is such a thing as too much Light Work, and it usually manifests as feeling everything is evil and damaged and corrupt beyond salvation until one is sick and scared - no good for anyone.) One working in the light must also be intimate with darkness - this is why I personally only teach each with the other.
Shadow work - Shadow Work is, according to Spirit, the most-practiced form of magic on Earth right now, but sadly also one of the most misunderstood. Shadow work magic can be broken down into twelve different sub-categories. Ideally, Shadow Work should also be used to make circumstances better on purpose, just by different means and with different help. Spirit defines magical Shadow Work as: getting out of your own way through intentional, often difficult opportunities for alignment. A lot of the best uses of magical Shadow Work involve release of what’s holding one back, including letting out repressed emotions, seeing what we’ve hidden from ourselves, remote viewing in a sense to look at scenes as our guides would show them to us to show what’s been hidden or kept from us. Shadow Work should be used for liberation - not through the prettiest means, but through the ones which rip us open with the intent of putting us back together better than we started. Shadow Work can come with a lot of ego and hierarchical views, and it’s best-balanced with Light Work or healing practices, as many stages of one’s personal and psychic cycles are not aided well by shadow.
Community Work - Community Work can be broken into eight sub-categories, one (super cool) of which can be used to adjust time in some senses and work through the future. The others often involve harnessing and uniting all kinds of forces to come to amazing outcomes which no one person could come to! I don’t explain Community Work well because I don’t understand the inner-workings as well, and I don’t teach it because I don’t use it often or understand it well enough! So here’s what Spirit has to say about Community Work: It should be used as an intentional formation and creation of the right people, resources, communal spaces, love of family and community, charitable intentions, and all-direction abundance. Community Work with the wrong intentions is what leads to cults (I promise these are direct quotes), and any Community Work which seems to be fronted by a God-like leader is doing a disservice to Community Work at its heart. The Golden Rule (treat others how you wanted to be treated) must be alive and well in Community Work. We know in our heart when our community is off track, we feel it in our gut and bones, and right now the world is suffering because many communities are more invested in hatred of other communities than in empowerment of all people. One must take on the attitude that all humans ascend, or none do, to really understand Community Work at its core. A community in which some are doing well while others are suffering is not a community.
Work with the Dead - I barely know how to explain Work with the Dead. The first time I asked Spirit how they would break magic down into the tiniest pieces if they could (I’m an organizational dork to an embarrassing degree), they told me this was one of the ways to use magic on Earth (which was what I was asking), but they said at the time that it was inadvisable for me and for all people to do here, so I have never inquired further into it or attempted to practice. As a medium, I feel I work with the dead every day, so to hear it’s inadvisable in this context was interesting to me. Since I don’t understand this enough to talk about it again, here’s how Spirit would talk about it: Work with the Dead on Earth involves using things like carcasses - bodies or pieces of bodies of animals or humans, and is typically used for harm. There are very few people on Earth who can actually do this, and those who do do not have Divine backing - they either work alone, or with beings whom we would not want to work with and who are not enlightened beings coming from Spirit.

I have a binder (a for realsies, physical binder) as well as notes on my computer in Obsidian (I can’t talk enough about how amazing Obsidian is - it’s its own form of magic, truly, and it’s free) with folders for each of these and their further sub-categories, and each time I hear or think of something I want to try, I ask my guides if it’s possible (for me or anyone), advisable (for me or anyone), and if they’re willing to walk me through how to do it for myself or my clients and students. This is exactly how I go about creating any new magical practice.

For the example we’re going to work with: I recently heard the words “re-writing DNA” on a sci-fi show. Sometimes I read, see, or hear something that sounds interesting, and sometimes I get a deep feeling from my guides that something I’ve heard in passing is real and can be done. I asked my guides and they said there are four ways to use magic to re-write one’s DNA, two of which were inaccessible to me personally at that moment because I am not the right person in that context (again - magic is the right words, person, time, and place - if you’re not or don’t have one of those things, I’d advise not to try it). The two which I could try were available through Healing with Natural Elements, or Healing with Subtle Elements, respectively. I use Natural Elements more, so I decided to get instructions for that. I asked my guides which rules I absolutely have to follow, and which instructions I should use. (I’m going to include the same list of instructions and rules I use in this post and explain them more thoroughly, so you can see what I mean.) As I continue to show you what magic is, I’ll continue to unfold how I would go from here to instructions for re-writing your DNA using Healing with Natural/Physical Elements.

Magic is the right words, said by the right person, at the right time, in the right place

*For the following, not all of them are relevant for everything you will ever do! I channeled each of these as what Spirit means as possible factors. You may be able to get away with poor phrasing in some magic, and not in other uses. You may not need to be able to pronounce everything correctly in some cases, but in some cases you absolutely will. This is where I recommend working with your spirit guides in every case to understand what is possible and advisable for you. Only three of these are always a factor, and I’ve put those in bold.*

What Spirit means by the right words is the right:

Intentions - Intentions will show up twice (here in words, and again in person), but it means very different things. When Spirit says one’s words have to have the right intentions, it’s very close but slightly distinct from phrasing. They mean: your actual speech needs to make your intentions very clear. Sometimes, we can say something kind of clumsily, and it’s okay because our intentions are understood by the being trying to help us, or because there aren’t very big consequences, etc., but sometimes it’s very important that the words we actually say make our intentions very clear.
Phrasing - Sometimes we need to say very specific words or phrases, sometimes we do not or can come up with out own. Usually we can come up with our own, but they need to be very clear in intention and phrasing (the two often go hand in hand).
Language/Pronunciation - Sometimes we may be able to get away with a translation or a mispronunciation, sometimes not! There are a lot of factors in why or why not. (I suggest just making it part of your practice to see which of these is important for which use of magic you’re trying to accomplish.)
and/or
Vocal ability - In rare but not nonexistent cases (especially within Light Work), one needs to be able to match pitch or sing certain notes or words to be able to achieve the desired outcome.

What Spirit means by the right person is the right:

Intentions - here intentions should mean “motivations and objectives,” - if we’re trying to achieve an outcome which Spirit finds undesirable, we’re likely to have no results. (Or, we’ll get our results, and deal with a lot of interesting karma until we see how we created our own chaos with those intentions.) This is always a factor in how well magic goes and what comes of it.
Skill/ability - This should be pretty obvious - in some cases one will not have the actual base skill or ability for what they’re trying to achieve (someone without medical intuition cannot use Healing with Subtle Elements; one who is not a shaman cannot use Shamanism, etc.) This is always a factor in how well magic goes and what comes of it.
Knowledge - This is more and less simple than it seems, but, we can’t know what we don’t know. We need to have an underlying knowledge of what something is, what we’re trying to achieve, what may come of it, what we’re willing to do for it, etc. We also need to have knowledge of an actual practice - many don’t do the required research to understand a subject well enough to achieve the desired outcome. This is always a factor in how well magic goes and what comes of it.
Purity: This comes up a lot more than one may expect, and it doesn’t mean what we’ve come to think. One’s level of purity, according to Spirit, is based on how much they have repressed. Someone who has been through and even caused a lot of pain can be immensely pure if they’ve gone through the knowledge and awareness to see the truth of their actions, and to sincerely change through it. A lot of the factors we’ll see aren’t relevant often, but purity is. If you use the rules and instructions I provide to come up with your own uses of magic, you’ll find that “a high level of purity is necessary” is one of the most common rules you’ll come across, and it isn’t wise to attempt something for which we have too much repressed (actual death is apparently possible).

Genealogy - This is rarely important, but sometimes it is! I haven’t had it come up for anything I’ve ever tried to do, (and I’ve done and tried quite a bit), but this could be relevant in cases like someone needing to be Jewish to use an old Hebrew or Aramaic spell; someone needing Celtic ancestry to use ancient Irish magic or work with ancient Irish Deities; someone needing to be African or African American to use Yoruba, Nigerian, Baganda magic or work with a deity from any of these cultures, etc. - This should be understandable and obvious.
Background (especially religious background) - Less how you were born, more what you practice. Those who practice Hinduism may be more likely to receive certain kinds of support, those who practice Judaism, those of Islamic faith, etc. - this one comes up slightly less often than genealogy.
and/or
Willingness to die or sacrifice for the process - Such as how one who wants to become a shaman has to die, there are some magical practices which one would at least have to be willing to die for.

What Spirit means by the right time is:

Practitioner’s brain state - This is almost always important and you’ll find it in your instructions often if you use what I provide.
Practitioner’s age - (this each is and isn’t a common factor - mostly they mean, you need to be an adult and able to consent).
Practitioner’s stage of personal development - Sometimes, we haven’t worked through the right memory, haven’t left the right situation, or are otherwise held back in a way which makes a certain practice impossible at the time.
Practitioner’s willingness to address shadow - If you’re not “pure” (have minimal stuff repressed) when you begin, sometimes you can achieve the desired state during the process, if you’re willing to address shadow. Other times (like for Shadow Work) it’s a factor in general.
Practitioner’s amount of and ability to focus
Practitioner’s ability to follow through - Sometimes you have to finish what you start! If you can’t follow through, don’t start.
Practitioner’s emotional state - Sometimes we can be the right person in the wrong mood - it’s best not to try when we’re on the wrong vibration for a number of reasons.
Practitioner’s prior levels of success - This is important! Sometimes, you’ll need to have completed former steps, rituals, practices, etc., before moving on to another - if you don’t have the correct prior levels of success, it’s not worth trying and can be dangerous.
Energetic Resources (from the practitioner or helping beings) - Energetic Resources is a vast concept but essentially, it’s how much of ourselves we have to give to any given situation. We need physical resources (think food, safety, sleep), emotional resources (to go to our well-being, inner world, emotional maturity - so much goes here), relational resources (everything from basic conversation to relationships), and spiritual resources (to devote to things like our spiritual, intuitive, or magical practice). If we’ve given too many resources to worrying about finances (physical), being angry (emotional) our familial situation (relational and emotional and sometimes physical) - there are many ways we may not have enough energetic resources to give to a situation. Sometimes, if we don’t have enough, devas, angels, or deities will help lend us some.
Moments of opportunity - These are not often important, but when they’re important, they’re very important! Sometimes, your guides will mark your instructions with “moments of opportunity,” this is a moment you must seize when it arises, because it won’t come around again. They’ll be specific about what the moment is, and it would likely be different for anything you’ll do. Sometimes it’s a specific stimulus - a sign, a silhouette, a word or phrase, a color, a person - it can be any number of things!
The location of the sun, moon, and/or planets - astronomical events, etc. - These circumstances matter sometimes - they often don’t!
Collaboration when necessary - Some things simply can’t be done alone.
and/or
How inspired/able Spirit is to help - This is very important, since as I hope I’ve shown, many uses of magic aren’t coming from us, but from the beings who help us. How inspired they are to help is a huge factor, and I recommend all practitioners get to know and work with angels and deities, at minimum, closely. (For who they really are, not their messed up mythology.)

What Spirit means by the right place is:

Physical and/or mental/energetic location - If you can’t be in the correct place physically (such as a crossroads), if you have the right gifts/ability, you can go to the correct location mentally.
Going back to the “re-writing DNA through Healing with Natural/Physical Elements” example, once I know it’s possible and advisable and which area of magic I need to access it through, the next thing is to check which of the above factors are important, if any.
I found that for the right words, we would need the right: intentions and phrasing. This isn’t surprising! Any time we do any kind of healing, but especially the more physical the intent, the more clear we want to make our intentions, and the more specific we want our phrasing. We do not want to leave anything up to interpretation!
For the right person, we need to have the right: intention, skill, knowledge, and purity. This is common! These are the three universal and the one otherwise most likely to arise.
For the right time, we need to have the right: brain state, age (we can’t be a growing child or person who is still developing), stage of personal development, willingness to address shadow, ability to focus, ability to follow through, emotional state, energetic resources, and prior levels of success (this probably shouldn’t be one’s first attempt at this area of magic). This sounds like a lot, but someone who keeps up with their energy work can usually be ready to go!
For the right place, anywhere will do so long as you won’t be interrupted.

Next, I work with a set of rules and a set of instructions (which Spirit gave me).

Here are possible rules and what they mean:

-Engage a Gatekeeper - A gatekeeper is a close spirit guide who knows you well who can have a say in pulling you out of your more dangerous practices. Especially when the practice is dangerous, your guides will advise you to engage a gatekeeper. You may have the ability to recognize them and you may not, but it’s likely a close deity, angel, or dragon guide. This can be as simple as stating: “I ask the greater Spirit/my guides to engage a Spirit-approved gatekeeper, and I specify that the gatekeeper can remove me from the practice at any time if they feel it’s necessary, if I’m in danger, etc.” This is actually a very common practice and you’ll likely receive it in a lot of instructions because having a gatekeeper paying attention to your physical health and emotional well-being while you practice is just the best practice.

-Prayer or plea - Sometimes, it’s important to pray to or make a plea to a specific being (such as if you’re meeting a crossroads Goddess or a fae court - it’s important to be polite and kind).

-Chakra cleanse important - Sometimes you need to have especially clear, healthy chakras to partake in a practice.

-Clear auric field important - Sometimes, the same is true of your auric layers.

-Finish what you start - Certain practices cannot be stopped in the middle.

-No shoes or socks - Especially any work through the eleventh chakra (many kinds of Shamanism, especially) needs free movement available to your hands and feet (your eleventh chakra is centered around the hands and feet).

-Hands must be free - Explained above.

-A high level of purity is necessary

-Must be on a high vibration - Don’t try if you feel like crap.

-Specificity is important - They’ll likely re-state if you need to be extra clear with your intentions or phrasing.

-Thanks or greeting - Similar to a prayer or plea, sometimes you just need to make sure you say hi to or greet a specific being/figure.

-Releasing beliefs - Sometimes, releasing unhelpful beliefs is part of the process, to achieve the required purity.

-Physical elements or representations required - Such as with Healing with Natural Elements, you’re drawing energy/power through the actual items themselves and beings who can attach to them so you need rocks/crystals, branches, shells, flame, water, metal, wood, etc. depending on the process.

-Spirit needs control of your hands or voice - This is rare, but sometimes (such as with Divine singing) you must give the Spirit permission to speak or sing through your vocal cords.

Going back to the “re-writing DNA through Healing with Natural/Physical Elements” example, now that I know what I’m doing and know which factors make the right words, person, time, and place, the next thing is to check which rules we absolutely have to follow.

I found they were: Engage a gatekeeper, say a prayer to helping beings, clear chakras and auric field important, finish what you start, hands must be free and will need to hold onto physical item which gives off the most energy (I use branches but use whatever is most connected to you), specificity is wildly important, releasing beliefs is necessary, and physical elements and representations required for four main elements (earth, air, fire, water - they’d likely have me use a representation of air, a candle, a branch or rock/crystal, and water in a shell, cup, or bowl). When something has this many rules, you can tell it’s not something to enter into lightly! When we’re told to finish what we start and be very specific, it’s a good way to know that we’re going into something serious. And re-writing our DNA should be serious and should not be easy.

Keeping everything we now know in mind, we can get instructions.

Here are possible instructions and what they mean:

-Spirit Affirmations - Make sure you at least acknowledge all spirits helping you with this process, your spirit guides, your gatekeeper when applicable, and put what you’re doing in the hands of the greater Spirit. This one thing will magnify results of everything you do times 100.

-Seed Syllables - Sometimes we need to tone the seed syllables for the chakras. This is a much bigger concept than I can say here, but each chakra has an accompanying sound which we can chant or meditate on for many different results. Starting from the first chakra, the seed syllables are: lam (pronounced like lum), vam (pronounced like vum), ram (pronounced like rum), yam (pronounced like yum), ham (pronounced like hum), om, ng (like the last two letters in song - it’s more of a hum in the back of the throat). For some practices, you need to say the seed syllables in order from 1-7. (So this sounds like: lum, vum, rum, yum, hum, om, ng.)

-Sage - Especially for Shamanism, but for many others as well, sage is a vital factor because it affects brain state so significantly.

-Incense - Similar to above, different smells affect different people differently.

-Set a clear intention

-Ask to be kept in the thymus while your awareness journeys - I do notttttttt recommend journeying outside the body or ever letting your awareness leave the body, for too many reasons to list. Our thymus is a small organ in our chest (it’s a physical body part) near our heart, and is the bodily location of our eighth chakra. When journeying is necessary, we can ask the Spirit to hold us safely in the thymus while our awareness goes on a journey.

-Ask to be put in a more receptive brain state

-Music - They’ll usually want music which will raise your vibration and they’re happy to choose the music for you.

-Drumming - Similarly to sage, especially for shamans, drums put us in a different brain state.

-Om chants - Sometimes you will need to do a specific number of om chants.

-Dynamic movement - Sometimes we need to just move however our body feels like it should move - freely and without worry for what we’re doing.

-Light a candle/stare at a flame

-Divine singing

Going back to the “re-writing DNA through Healing with Natural/Physical Elements” example, the final thing (other than actually doing the magic lol) is to get instructions in order, which should include the use of the rules and all other knowledge we’ve gathered. The main reason for the distinction is that the rules should be seen as even more important - as again, rules and order are the most important elements.

I received the following instructions:

Set up your area on the floor and place four physical elements/representations of elements at the corners around you. One will need to be large enough and give off enough energy for you to hold onto/receive from the entire time. (Likely a branch or crystal - if one did this near running water they could hold their hands in the running water long enough, but stagnant water would not have the right energy for this).
Do any version of spirit affirmations, putting this process in the hands of the greater Spirit. Engage your gatekeeper and specify they may remove you from the process at any time, especially if your physical body is in danger.
Say a prayer to the devas, angels, and/or deities helping you with this process, and thank them for their time. Tone the seed syllables. Put on music to raise your vibration. Ask for the most appropriate brain state for this process. (Because this one requires clear chakras and auric field, if you work with those, I’d recommend a quick cleanse here.)
Set a very clear intention to first diagnose any subtle and physical health ailments related to what you want to change. (It’s really that simple! If you wanted to re-write your DNA in regard to weight management, you could say something like, “I set the intention to use these natural elements and help running through them to diagnose any subtle and physical health ailments related to my weight management.” Set the intention to release any harmful beliefs now as part of the diagnosis.
Hold onto the most appropriate item, and wait. Do not let go until you can feel that the energy exchange has completely stopped. Finish what you start applies for each step as well as the whole process. Strange, strange things can be felt, heard, sensed, and seen in this space, and one still cannot let go until the diagnosis process is finished (one who let go would have stopped in the exchange and would have a lot of energy in their body and energetic systems which does not belong to them (or even humans) and could not be processed.
Take a short break. Breath. Regain equilibrium with the eyes closed for a short time.
Set a very clear intention to treat only the formerly diagnosed subtle and physical health ailments related to this process.
Hold onto the same item and wait for the energy exchange to complete.
Ask whether or not the process is complete - in some cases, one will need to go back to step four several times (re-diagnosing, breaking, and re-treating). This is because some work is more extensive, and each time you treat, a new diagnosis must be completed by the beings helping you so they know what to treat when they begin again.
When the process is complete, thank all helping beings and close. Wash your hands to remove any lingering energy, and ideally take a shower.

Again, this is how I always create a new magical practice! I may read something or hear it on tv and ask my guides if it’s possible, or I may want different instructions from my guides to try something another reader or healer tells me about. I love being able to create my own practice!

What Magic On Earth Is For

Spirit feels we often misunderstand just what magic is for, and that it leads to a lot of our incorrect attempts at use. To Spirit, magic on earth should be for: defense and/or protection (especially mental and emotional), new knowledge, skills, and/or awareness, inspiring ourselves and others, and/or communicating our passionate beliefs and feelings (such as through work with our community and with/for others). If our magic isn’t attempting one of these things, we don’t have Divine backing in it, which really means it’s unlikely to work. There are an infinite number of ways to use magic here which fall within one of these categories.

*These are not the kinds of magic, but things magic can be used for. We went into kinds of magic and what they each entail. For each of the above groupings, know that there are millions of ways to use any of them, within the different areas of magic. (For example, locking our mind is a use of defense and protection - something magic can be used for, but I know ways to lock our mind using Shamanism, Light Work, and Element Work.) You’ll find with pretty much anything you want to do (within the realm of protecting yourself, acquiring new knowledge, inspiring yourself or others, or spreading passion), there will be many ways to go about doing it. It’s really up to your preference and ability level with different forms of magic!

Circumstances for Magic on Earth

Every planet has different circumstances, and they matter significantly in terms of actually getting results from any practice. We went into the factors for each person (what constitutes the right person, the right time, etc.), but a planet itself has three factors we should talk about, because they affect everything which happens on the planet in a fairly general sense. Those factors are:

1. The physical body: We can really think of the Earth herself as a being - she is an entity herself (distinct from Gaia, but she has elements of Gaia as well as Tiamat, Yeshua, Thoth, The Jade Emperor, and a few others). The planet is her body, and while her body isn’t the same as or similar to ours, there are aspects of it which function just like a brain. This involves her version of pituitary glands, pineal glands - everything we need to be doing well to be psychic or use magic in our physical brains, we also want the planet’s to be doing well. Unfortunately, the more toxins are in her body from air, water, and ground pollution (just for starters), the less able she is to keep these systems running, and the less able we are to access that information. Her brain also absorbs the general state of thoughts on Earth, which have increasingly moved more toward anxiety, terror, and cruelty as a way of being, which makes it difficult for her brain to function.

2. The energetic systems: Similarly, just like we have a subtle energetic system which comes with each soul, the earth has chakras of sorts, an auric field of sorts. Ley lines are like her meridians and nadis: channels which move energy around the planet (so around her body). She has many more energetic systems than a person does - many I have no context for or means of interpreting. Just like with humans (and everything with a soul), when the energetic systems or physical body is sick for long enough, the other will become sick as well. Our chakras store information and convert subtle energy into physical and vice versa. If we have a problem in our fourth chakra for long enough without care, we will develop a physical heart problem, because the heart chakra has not been addressed and has converted too much subtle information/energy into physical information/an ailment. This is the same for the Earth herself - her chakras and auric field, her energetic channels - all has become sick as her physical body has withered, and all needs help. (We can send healing, thoughts, energy, focus to her chakras and energetic systems - I often do and encourage my more earth-loving clients to!)

3. The pigment: Spirit is choosing the word “pigment,” and I have a hard time with it in this context. Rather than “color,” think of pigment more like “substance used to make coloring" here, and know that this still isn’t a great way to explain this, but I haven’t yet come up with a great way to explain it (which means I don’t understand it well enough yet!). Light, color, sound - these really are substances, energetically speaking. Each has their own vibration and can be sensed on levels other than just their face value, for those who work with energy. Our chakras and many aspects of our subtle energetic systems are made of light and color, and we diagnose and treat subtle ailments through adjusting things like light, color, and other elements. (I understand many are not accustomed to thinking of things like sound, color, and light as elements - energy work shows us that they really are!) These substances - the colors, but also the light and sounds which each make and affect the colors - the pigments earth is seemingly made of, these substances affect our use of magic heavily, especially when we’re working with physical elements in our use (which is common). I know this isn’t a very good explanation, but it’s a difficult thing to articulate. For the purposes of what we’re talking about, know that the light, color, and sound on earth all interplays and affects each other in a very vital way, and when earth’s pigments are off, it’s more difficult to get good use of them. Light, color, and sound affect all magic more than we often give them credit for, and sometimes are what it depends on.

If you’re still with me, thanks for reading! I’m so grateful for every person using magic on Earth to maximize good and minimize harm, and I’m glad to be able to work with some of you in this co-creative process! <3

Vani Armstrong