Theater of the Real, and the “Magickal Personality”/“Magickal Diary”

Magick is a “stretch.”

It’s hard enough for most of us to bluff our way through ordinary life pretending to be confident, calm, and decisive. Many of us succumb to the slow poison of worry or, worse, to self-destructive behavior.

Perhaps that is why Carlos Castaneda kept revisiting the themes of “impeccability” and “sobriety” in his public lectures and private classes. It’s important to have a “tight,” “well-tuned” life free of excessive worry and free of self-destructive behavior; to be spontaneous, but not impulsive; to be considered in our actions, but not ponderous.

Impeccability and sobriety are the essence of thriftiness with our life’s daily energies; they are the investment in our future that offers the best rate of return. On impeccability and sobriety stand our ability to improve ourselves in all the relevant areas of our life: physical fitness and well-being; health; emotional balance; contentedness; happiness; spirituality.

Only when one’s everyday life is taut, can one turn to magick. Otherwise, things will get crazier, not better; the opposition between the ordinary self and the magickal personality will tear us apart.

That having been said, there’s no way to practice magick with our ordinary persona. It’s not just because magick is closely linked to ceremonial, and ceremonial is so closely linked to theater, to drama; it’s because our ordinary persona, our “street suit,” is just too small a vehicle in which to pour the awe and power that magick should evoke. If we are going to live “larger than life” in the spiritual world, we need to be a little “larger than life” in our magickal personality.

Rather than trying to “upgrade” our ordinary persona to the higher voltage capacity required to properly practice magick, it’s a lot easier to start from scratch and build a magickal personality that is suited to the task from day one. Fortunately, it’s a pretty simple process. You just proceed with the rituals and practices (if you want precise, clear cut direction, just open the “Golden Dawn” book compiled by Regardie and published by Lewellyn and begin reading and doing) and the magickal personality will emerge and thereafter be “on call” during our practices. It’s a lot like acting; if you want to play a character out of Shakespeare, just do it. The trick is, don’t confuse your magickal personality, as it emerges, with your day to day life. Don’t try to explain, or understand, the differences; just know that they exist and are normal. And certainly don't beat yourself up because your magick personality is everything you want your ordinary personality to be, but isn't.

One extension of the magickal personality that is easy to manifest apart from ritual, is the magickal diary – not a mundane record of rituals, but the written expression of the magickal personality – written by a practitioner, with a practitioner’s voice.

I think you can all see why it is important not to “profane” magick by performing for friends, or in public; their doubts and sense of the absurd will assault your magickal confidence, and set you back in the development of your magickal personality.

That's why humility is also an important part of magick - without it, the risks of egomania in every day life are too great

The Importance of Well-Being

It's not much good to be an ardent student of the occult, or of any spiritual practice or endeavor, if your life is a mess. These are some of the things I have learned at the school of hard-knocks:

1. Life is not a party. It's important to keep regular hours most of the time, and to get plenty of sleep. The old adage about burning a candle at both ends is true.
2. Your body is an engine, and it runs on food. What you put into your body has a lot of influence on your well-being. Stay away from junk foods, high cholesterol, etc. Drink lots of water. Keep sugars intake low. Snack on raw nuts, carrots, etc. Don't over-eat.
3. If you don't use it, you lose it - exercise is important. You shouldn't exercise to the point where it's like beating up your body, though. Simple walking is under-appreciated. If nothing else, take the stairs whenever you can, and don't look for the closest parking spot.
4. Too much excitement is not a good thing. The brain/mind needs periods of tranquilty to restore its natural balance. Don't fill up any empty moments with the radio or tv. Meditating 5 minutes a day is better than an hour a week.
5. Relationships are important, probably one of the central keys to well being. Good company will encourage you in good ways. (But don't look for magickal companions, the stress is too great.)