Monthly Archives: August 2009

'Wisdom' and Other Words To Live By From a Wet-Behind-The Ears Oracle

I don’t often reprint other writers’ material in this forum, but when this came across my screen not long ago I was struck by its simple message about the surprising ways that magic can appear in our lives.

 Being one who never gets enough of that sort of thing (magic, I mean), I thought I would pass it along for anyone else who is open to and appreciatative of its always surprising appearance.  This is excerpted from the REAL MAGICK:  Real Solutions for Real People newsletter published by the Esoteric School of Shamanism and Magic (www.shamanschool.com).
“A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.” – Mark Twain

One of the things I love most about magic is the many and varied ways it shows up in our lives.  Many times when I ask for magical help, I am surprised at the ways it shows up in my life. I also realize that many people miss the signs of magic in their lives because they don’t know what to look for.  In other words, magic is constantly sending messages to us, but we often overlook these signs and symbols.

To remind myself of these signs and symbols, as well as to help other who are looking for help from magic, I’ve compiled a list of the various ways magic has come into my life over the years. This is just a short excerpt, and I hope this helps to open your senses to the many ways magic is speaking to you . . .

• A sentence in a book that I opened to a random page
• A check in the mail
• A conversation I overheard between two strangers
• A raven flying overhead, squawking a message to me
• The moral of a movie coinciding with a request for magical help
• A business phone call from a stranger, who turns out to be reading the same spiritual book as me
• Life-threatening surgery that forever changed my perspective on life
• Watching the amazing transformation in a child’s behavior in 10 days
• A long-time friend leaving my life, opening a new space for …?
• A dream just before awakening
• Runes cast at just the right time, showing me the way
• Feeling the brush of angel wings while at a rest stop after an extremely long drive
• The reincarnation of my dog, who lived two lifetimes with me
• A nasty note from an anonymous person saying, “Learn how to park, idiot!”
• The planting and cultivation of my garden each year
• A call out of the blue from a long-lost friend
• Finding exactly what I want in a thrift store
• Getting what I want
• Not getting what I want
• Realizing that a negative influence in my life was gone … and that I hadn’t even noticed its absence for months
• Rain arriving on a parched summer day
• A fender-bender that led to a successful business relationship
• Sitting with a wish for the longing to cease … and having it cease
• Feeling the joy of not expressing dislike
• A misdirected email in my inbox, telling me just what I need to know
• Feeling lonely and realizing I asked for sacred space
• Having a conversation in which no one understood a word I said

As the author points out, many of these messages have meaning only for her and probably don’t make sense to you. That’s the whole point of this list. Magic always speaks to us in very personal ways — ways that only make sense to us and have no meaning for anyone else.

As this list also demonstrates, magic sometimes speaks to us through contrast — through events that we would normally perceive as negative. Our job is to question events that appear negative on the surface, and see whether the event answers some request we have made for help.

Dream on!

I’ve reached another fork it seems,
a juncture where the signs
are hard to read,
a bend, a river that has curved
and narrowed to a stream
that’s not so swift or clear.
I wonder now about these dreams,
this current that has carried me
so fast, so far, so many years.
I wonder–has it run its course?
Did the rapids pass their peak,
sigh into a quiet pool
without my recognition?
Was I so distracted—or asleep—
I failed to feel the subtle ending of the ride?
Did the heat of day, the guiding light
just disappear, letting night fall where it may
and all outside my line of vision?
The questions really serve no purpose,
moot indulgences at best,
self-pities some would say.
Regardless of the routes I took,
the faded map of expectations,
what remains are the decisions.
Will these dreams be laid to rest,
put to bed or in a book
for others to believe?
Will some ‘reality’ replace
the old horizon, some resignation
fill the void of the old reasons
or will these dreams defy all odds,
survive some predetermined test.
Is there a prayer still on its way,
wandering a certain path,
waiting for its season?