I was looking at our budget lately, and “found” a lot of cash that I was spending way over and beyond sanity. I’m a Taurus, and what can I say, I like to eat out. This was WAY too much though, and putting a brake to that and some other odd spending habits I had developed unawares, I’ve managed to save about a grand a month. Wouldn’t you like to get a $1,000 a month raise?

I get them all the time, because I’m cool.

Just kidding. I get them because I use magic. And that is pretty cool.

I found the money by going over my portfolio through my online bank. It groups things together for me based on how I use my Debit Card. Since that’s pretty much all I use to spend money these days, it works out pretty nicely. I was doing a periodic budget check, just to see where we were at compared to our goals, and also to figure out why we seemed to have such a shallow pool of funds to dip into for extravagant summer vacations.

The Great Work needs a periodic check-up too. Every once in a while, we need to sit down and see how our Philosopher’s Stone is coming along. What Work have we been focusing on over the last few months? What results have been coming out? Has this brought us closer to our long-term goals as magicians, or has it been a distraction? Has our recent Work provided insight requiring us to adjust our long-term goals?

I ran a quick check-up on my own progress in the Work lately, and found some wealth I could have by making a few minor alterations in the way I use my resources. It got me thinking about how I apply the techniques I’ve learned in my secular life to my magical practices, and specifically to the Great Work in general. I started thinking about what is required to be able to do what I do, and I realized there’s a whole SERIES of blog posts I can write about this. How many people are trained in applying the best practices of Project Management to the Great Work?

Obviously, we’ll need to have a few things in place to be able to do this kind of thing effectively. We’ll need to have a long-term goal, for example, and a plan to get from where we are to where we want to be. We’ll need a way to review our recent Work.

The Long-Term Goal for most magicians is the accomplishment of the Great Work. Most folks have a general idea of what this means, and chances are I’ve posited a few interpretations of my own over the years on this blog. Essentially, the Great Work is modeled after the Alchemical process of turning a base element into a finer, more purified substance which then is capable of transmuting other substances on contact.

This process has a few stages to it. We can use these stages as mini-goals within the overall goal, and chart our progress accordingly. Off and on, I’ll be adding details to this particular line of thought. At the moment, I’m thinking it will cover:

• The Great Work, yet another definition
• The Stages of the Alchemical Great Work
• How to Accomplish Anything Successfully Every Time

The last one will be huge.

I’m planning a blog that has many authors. If you’ve ever conjured a goetic spirit, I’d like you to write your experience. I don’t care if you follow the spirit model, the postmodern model, an atheistic or psychological model. I don’t care if you’re a Christian Conjuror, a Chaos Magician, a Wiccan, or a Sorceror. All I ask is that you have conjured a spirit and can explain how it went to people. I can help edit if you need it.

The goal is to create a single place where people can compare working magicians’ styles, practices, and results. I personally think we’ll end up with similar conclusions about how they work and what their capabilities are, but I’m sure everything else will be different.

I’m thinking short posts that can be read in a few minutes. I’d like to see in each article the following touched on briefly:

• Initiation – What started this specific conjruation? Why did you conjure this spirit?
• Planning – What did you do to prepare for the rite? What circles did you use, what incenses, offerings, candles, colors, etc. went into preparing for the rite?
• Execution – When and where did you perform the rite? What did you do in the rite? What did the spirit say, or what did you feel, or see, or smell?
• Monitoring – What were the results after you did the rite? How did they manifest?
• Closing/Lessons Learned – How did it all work out when you considered the ritual fulfilled? What were the lessons you took away from this rite, and how will they affect your future spirit conjuration projects?

Can you tell I’m a PMBOK-trained Technical Writer?

If you’re interested in contributing, email me.

Someone mentioned on a list that “When you really know yourself, the Goetia is not needed any more.” Personally, I think that’s one of the more retarded, but also self-explanatory statements I’ve ever seen.

I use the Goetia style of magic because it is an effective means to accomplish mundane Work. There are things you need to have done, and you need to have them done by spirits who are closer to the material realm than the Angels and Intelligences of the celestial spheres. When you “know yourself” as a magician, you also know what your role is in the manifestation and maintenance of creation. If someone hasn’t figured out that their role as a magician is going to require them to perform Goetic magic on occassion, then, well, ok then. There you have it.

But why would someone think that? Once again, people have watered down Magic to include some really weak and stupid thoughts. If the nimrod that posted the above statement had spent more time studying where he came from and his celestial and material brothers and sisters, he’d know a lot more about himself than he does. But in “Knowing himself,” he hasn’t bothered to look beyond himself.

You CANNOT “Know Yourself” if you do not look BEYOND your SELF.

Bad news, narcisists, it’s not all about you.