Are you Living Your Craft?

This post actually comes from an email I got today. While it's about how to make money, as I read it, I couldn't help thinking how it also relates to living your craft. In fact, the author even talks about Visualization, which as all know is a key to performing magick.

If you are looking to use Witchcraft and magick to make a better life for yourself, read on and find out how.

You've probably heard the phrase 'make it happen' a lot, but how do we actually make it happen? More importantly, what should we make happen in the first place?!

We all have a mission but it's so very rare that anyone actually discovers what it is. Your mission is determined by your gifts- and we ALL have a gift. You'll know what it is because you feel most like yourself when you're using it. Like you've come home. If you won the lottery tomorrow, you wouldn't stop doing it. And it doesn't have to change the world, fit in with other peoples' wishes or beliefs, or be anything grandiose- as long as it fills you up with lasting passion and joy.

There never has been and never will be another one of you ever again, and your gift is just as unique; often, no-one else can understand why it means so much to you.

Once you identify your reason for being, you'll quickly realize two things:

1. Working toward your goal and/or using your gift reinforces the best and deepest elements of yourself.

2. You love doing this so much that you simply can't get enough of it.

Many people are excellent at setting goals in an attempt to "Make it happen”, but are those goals the kind that make them automatically look past discomfort and risk? The goal needs a 'pilot-flame' to keep the fire burning- if that goal is not self-perpetuating through passion, the result will, surprise surprise, be NO ACTION. If you follow this logic, an interesting point arises:

Most people believe that their dream goal is to acquire more wealth. But if that's the case, why aren't they more motivated to get it? Because it isn't their dream goal- they just assume it is because they haven't found their gift in life.

Okay, so that sounds fine and dandy; just find your dream and the act of making it a reality will just come automatically. However, more often than not, your dream doesn't just come to you while you're sitting in your armchair. No, you need to get out and find it by trying as many new things as possible because:

The more new things you experience in life, the more likely you are to find yourself!

If you insist on doing the same mundane job, living in the same town, going on holiday to the same place etc. etc. don't be surprised to find that real and lasting happiness eludes you! How will you know what you love and what you hate if you've never tried anything different?

Change seems scary because there is a perceived risk involved. However, the greatest risk you face in life is not finding your true self!

Which brings us right back to where we started: we need to take some form of action. There's just no getting away from the fact.

I'm not going to lie to you here, some people are just born go-getters. They don't even think this ability is that special because it just comes so naturally to them, but to the rest of the population, they're perceived as having a mystical gift. They couldn't even explain how they do what they do, it's just branded into their nature through a mixture of genes and childhood experiences.

So is that it then? Case closed; you either have it or you don't? It may surprise you to discover that world-class athletes- a group of people often described as gifted- are not gifted at all. Their success is the result of discipline and hard work; their 'gift' only came about as a result of brute force. Is Arnold Schwarzenegger a gifted actor? Ummm, no. He found his passion, he knew what he wanted and set about getting it.

So your first step is to eradicate this notion from your mind about either being a born go-getter or not!

Let me tell you about the first skill in making something happen. It is something called visualisation. This technique has been used by people to gain wealth and freedom throughout the centuries, and indeed most of today's millionaires have become wealthy by having this art at the core of everything they do.

This is what separates the rich from the poor.

First and foremost, before you set a goal, you must want it badly enough or you will not achieve it. Do you want freedom that badly?

Next, we must decide exactly what we want.

The next stage is to write down this objective on a piece of quality white paper, in ink.

The next part is the most vital though. After writing that you will achieve your freedom figure, you must put a deadline by when you will have achieved it by.

If you don't set a deadline then you give yourself an excuse to keep saying "Tomorrow” and never get anywhere. How many people do you know who say, "Oh, I'll start that diet tomorrow” and never do??

And when I say set a deadline, I really mean it. Saying, "By the year 2015...” is not good enough. The deadline must be as exact as the "1st September 2015”.

I know, it sounds terrible doesn't it?! You're going to have that piece of paper staring at you every day making you feel unsettled about the task in hand. You're going to want to rip it down and shout "impossible!” at it. Well, are you a man or a mouse?

Now comes the real trick. I want you to close your eyes and VISUALISE yourself achieving your objective on schedule. Actually SEE the bank statement with a balance of this figure, FEEL the release as you become free of the grind, HEAR the champagne cork popping, SMELL the interior of your brand new car........

This takes some practice and concentration but the results are extraordinary. Can you see what you are doing here? You are re-educating your subconscious- you are taking the pieces of that puzzle it formed earlier on in life and smashing them to pieces! It's no good just writing down a goal and reading it to yourself- your subconscious will laugh at you. That won't do. You need the subconscious on your side to win because it is such a powerful player in this game. The subconscious does not respond to reason, only to emotions and feelings, which is why the power of visualisation is so effective.

Some people say they find it hard to visualise. If you're one of them, I want you to start reading a novel instead of watching a film because this will encourage you to visualise the images and characters in the story. Television is lazy because all the visualisation is done for you!

Another thing to practice is this: sit yourself down quietly in a room on your own and look around taking in as much of the surroundings as possible. Then, close your eyes and try to picture how the room looked in your mind. This is exactly the same principle as visualising achieving your goal.

I'm often asked how I felt the day I was able to break free of the need to work ever again, and my response often surprises when I explain that I didn't really celebrate or anything. Does it surprise you? It wouldn't surprise high-achievers to hear this either because they know where I'm coming from:

Whenever I reach a landmark achievement I barely notice. Why? Because I'd already visualised it happening a thousand times before, to the extent that the actual event seemed like déjà vu!

Maybe that de-glamorizes the whole experience of achievement somewhat, but that's the reality I want you to take on board right here and now. You must not only know your goal, but also constantly visualise it so completely that it's a foregone conclusion.

Do I mess about with 'Plan Bs' and contingency plans? NO! Why? Because failure simply isn't an option. If things don't proceed as planned I just change course until they do, like an aircraft dodging bad weather.

So to answer the question we started with, NO, nothing will happen to you… unless you see it happening…

Best Regards
Mark Patricks

(Mark Patricks runs an online wealth building service called the League of Power)