Marching Into Magical Progress
It has been one week since Quareia launched and the response has been wonderful. People are downloading the first module and are working with the lessons, the second module is two thirds written, and the fund raising is creeping slowly and steadily towards it’s target.
This is all very heartening on so many levels. Such a project is long over due in magical circles and I guess I had to be booted kicking and screaming into action – I was hoping over the last six months that others would step into such an idea and all I would have to do is cheer them on. But it didn’t happen. So I was left holding the plates for washing up! But it is good – mapping out and starting to write this course has forced me on so many levels to look at the work in a new light, a new approach and without restriction. You see, when you write for a book, you are limited by the size of a book as to how much you can put in it. You are limited by the financial viability of the subject matter and the current public interest.
But with a course that is designed to cover all bases in as much depth as possible, with careful steps and stages, the sense of freedom in writing such a course is heady indeed. Particularly when there is no financial ‘hook’ involved – you can tell the plain truth, in all its details, without worrying about making it even slightly unpalatable.
True magical training is not easy: it is not an instant vitamin drink you can just add water to. It does not solve your life problems or make you younger or more beautiful, or richer or sexier. It turns you in to a magical artist; an adept of the mysteries.It sounds glamorous, but like all true arts, what looks easy and glam on the surface does not reveal the furious paddling that is going on beneath the surface.
As someone who spent decades in classical training, being able to transfer this pattern into magical training is a joy indeed. At the moment I am in the midst of writing Module Two – Patterns and Maps in Magic.
I have just completed lesson six out of the eight lessons and have stopped to draw breath. The last three that I have just finished were heavily involved ritual lessons, long, complex and will be challenging for the student. It will be a particular shock when the student reaches these lessons as Module One is simple and straight forward. By the time they reach the middle lessons of Module Two they will be panting and looking for respite. So I put in a simple lesson in the midst of Module Two that is simpler, less energetically and ritually involved, and is more of a mind curiosity. That will give people chance to catch their breath.
And I am learning a harsh lesson myself. Facing the sheer volume of the work ahead of me, I slipped into the mistake of trying to do more and more writing in one day and yesterday my body seriously rebelled. You see, when you write magically, you are mediating the flow of magic, acting as a door way and filter for magical power to form into words. I know this. But I am dumb. And yesterday after eight hours of solid writing I was left with a crashing headache, rapidly swelling limbs and the inability to read or write anything. Stupid woman. I am good at giving advice but obviously pitiful at following it myself sometimes.
So pacing is the name of the game. Six hours max a day. I guess I panic a little, as however long this takes me, I’m not earning money in that time, but thanks to the enormous generosity of everyone out there, the fund raising will at least ensure the roof stays over our heads while this is done, and the rest of it is for us to deal with. And for that I am deeply grateful for everyone who is stepping forward and supporting Quareia to ensure that this gets done, properly and completely. Once it is done and finished, it will be the realisation of a dream I have held for many years: to have magical education, properly done, with everything in it, freely available, forever. It will be up to the student to self discipline, do the work and make the most out of it.
And that is something else that has been an issue for modern magic for too long now, and that is the hand holding in early magical training that comes with commercialism. In the early stages of a magician’s training, it is really important that they self discipline, self motivate, without cheerleaders.Once they have established a strong working foundation of self discipline, then the guides and mentors can step in to help with things that can overwhelm a student while ensuring that the students are not using that guide as a prop.
When a course is launched commercially, it is not in the financial interests of the teacher to not engage with or to not hand hold the student – this immediately undermines the potential of the student and does not set a path of true self discovery and development.
Once that student has learned to fall back upon their own common sense, make their own decisions and establish their own routine, then it is less likely a student will become dependant. It is a fine juggling act.
So I am now pacing. And paying attention to the work I do on the land here – it was easy for me to immediately fall into the trap of abandoning everything in order to plunge into the course. That is not good, not for me,not for the land that I serve and not for the course either. If I miss step, then the course will have that miss step embedded within it.
So for those stepping out onto the path of Quareia, remember, for that first long section, the Apprentice section, it is your path and your path alone. Learn to self discipline. Learn to focus, make decisions yourself, use your intuition and fall back on your own resources when you get stuck. It’s tough, but it is worth it.
You come out of the Apprentice section, leaner, fitter, stronger, more magically and spiritually independent and ready to tackle the big leap into the Initiate section. By that time you will be ready to get your teeth into something tough and will not be running to mummy every time you have a tiny cut on your finger or you cannot work out how to open something.
Learning magic is like sitting in a room with one of those new fangled can openers and a can. And you are hungry, and there is no one there to show you how it works. You have instructions, a rumbling tummy and a pan waiting to cook something. Go cook!