Today we’re looking at the basic steps for navigating a life, because when you know the rules of the game, you can get smarter about how you play. These are going to sound somewhat obvious, but obvious things are too often dismissed as something we already understand (and do) when…maybe we don’t!
Successful living (and magic) involves:
- Choosing your next steps (ideally a bit more wisely with each go ‘round)
- Taking effective actions
- Evaluating the results and adjusting future actions
And while we’re moving through this process, hopefully we’re learning more about ourselves, the world around us, and how self + world interact. This urge to know more about ourselves, to explore the world, to seek out answers, might be, aside from sheer survival needs, the most primal of all human drives. (Translation: ignoring it probably isn’t a great idea.)
If you look over those steps, you might already have ideas as to how magic + psychology could be of use.
Thinking about the broader sweep of human history, how much of magical, religious, and psychological inquiry has been devoted to that first point alone, figuring out our next steps? Oh em gee–SO MUCH.
You might have a diverse toolset, and seeing these steps can help you figure out how to best use those tools to improve your life.
For instance, how do you currently decide what to do next? Pros and cons list? Trusting your gut? Asking friends? Pulling a tarot card? Ruminating yourself into exhaustion?
On the flip-side, you might note that you don’t have any tools for one of these steps, which is also useful to know!
For instance, my weakest area is evaluating results so I can adjust my approach. I’ve had to really, really work at building skills in this area (and work with parts within my psyche–more on those later–who perceived this step as super bo-ring compared to leaping onto the next shiny lilypad). Seeing gaps in your own toolset helps you understand repetitive setbacks so you can address them more effectively.
So far, this is all sounding a bit project-managey, no? Let’s introduce some magic and liven things up a bit.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, because that would be, well, exhausting–to create and to read, much less use. Instead, my focus is on techniques that will be part of Enchantment Lab, starting August 1.
Choosing your next steps can be aided magically + psychologically by:
- Effective use of divination. Easier said than done, right? But it can be done, make no mistake, and this is what you’ll be learning in class, specifically using tarot (or oracle cards–your choice, but the less words and more imagery, the better) and a pendulum.
- Properly decoding your dreams. Again, easier said than done, but I’ve learned strategies that work shockingly well, even for newbies, and I intend to share them all in class. And no, this is not “teeth falling out means x” or other–hmm…how shall I put it?–utterly useless interpretations. These “dream dictionary” entries deliver actionable, personalized guidance about as reliably as buying a lottery ticket makes you a billionaire.
- Working with inner parts. These parts within the psyche are responsible for a disturbingly large chunk of our decision-making. By getting to know them, we see the patterns governing our lives, making it surprisingly easy to predict what’s likely to happen next. (That is, of course, until we change those patterns, which we’ll get to shortly…)
Effective action-taking can be magically + psychologically supported by:
- Spells, sigils, and other enchantments, aka the Really Fun Stuff! Magic doesn’t entirely take the place of action, but it can wildly stack the deck in your favor, making your actions far more effective, almost like hiring a team of invisible elves to multiply your efforts. (And it can take the place of some actions, for instance, when someone you know “just happens” to be hiring for the position you want and they land you an interview, thereby striking “apply for job” from your to-do list. Yay!)
- Building skills and supportive habits. Magic is really useful here. For instance, when you combine the “mundane” power of the cue-craving-response-reward model of habits with magical sigils–wowza! Get ready for exponentially effective results. Or say you’re working to set clearer boundaries, so you combine it with…
- Working with inner parts. Spoiler alert: this one is useful at every stage, because it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways I’ve found to heal paralyzing thought loops, anxiety-inducing inner conflict, and deeply ingrained patterns so you can change. your. life. You might work with inner parts who are terrified of setting boundaries, dramatically cutting down on said terror, and then cast a spell with your inner parts with the goal of setting boundaries with ease. I mean, this stuff just works (plus, it’s fun!).
And finally, evaluating the results and adjusting future actions can be magically + psychologically enhanced by:
- Using dreamwork and journaling to see how these changes are being experienced, not just by your conscious mind, but your psyche as a whole. (One thing I LOVE to do is pay close attention to my dreams after I’ve said yes to a project, a trip, a new collab, etc. What does my psyche think about this venture? My dreams are often more than happy to let me know.)
- Using divination and meeting with spirit guides to see what needs tweaking. This is like presenting the data to the expanded, international team, not just the home office, getting valuable insights from different POVs. Magical crowdsourcing for the win. I frequently get never-would’ve-thought-of-that insights at this stage that accelerate timelines or lead to even better outcomes than I was aiming for.
- Wait for it…you guessed it: working with inner parts! Checking in with your parts is a fantastic way to dismantle roadblocks before they become time- and energy-sucking derailers. Your parts will let you know what they think of the changes underway, what they need in order to feel safe with further changes, and precisely how they will pull the rug out from under you if they’re feeling unsafe. I can’t think of better information to have when adjusting future action plans.
Using these techniques makes it impossible not to achieve the final piece of the successful-life puzzle: learning more about yourself + the world and the interaction between the two.
Dreamwork, for instance, lets you peek behind the curtain of your awareness, seeing yourself from a radically different perspective than your habitual ego-stance. And it’s not just any ol’ different perspective; it’s precisely the perspective that’s missing in order to accelerate your development.
That’s right: dreams aren’t just throwing up a mish-mash of the day’s events. They’re delivering the insights missing in your waking perspective that are necessary for changing your specific situation and furthering your growth. When you start accessing this dream guidance, you’ll wonder what you ever did without it–it really is that helpful!
Hey, we did it! We laid out the secrets to a successful life. 👍 That wasn’t so hard.
If you’re ready to put this stuff into practice…
…join us in The Portal, my premium newsletter. Enchantment Lab will be taking over the regular monthly programming, starting August 1 with our divination lesson. This is where you’ll learn how to use a tarot or oracle deck and a pendulum to choose your next steps wisely, even if you’re brand new to both.
If you like the support of gentle structure, The Portal format is three-ish emails per month, generally with a week in between so you have time to dive into the content.
And during Enchantment Lab, I’m adding two fun bonuses to your monthly lessons, one of which is a little out there, in the best possible way. More on that in my next post.
Talk to you soon!
