I assume anything you can do in prison, you can do in a conservative household etc
MINIMALIST APPROACHES - A PRISON APPENDIX
Through pagan prison minister Jacqui Thackway-Winn, I have become aware that my books Weaving Fate and Six Ways have impacted at least part of the UK prison system. I wanted to add this appendix for those 'inside' interested in practicing magic using the approaches from my books. The suggestions here may also be of general interest for those who, for what-ever reason, find themselves in a very 'low tech, low materia, low freedom of movement' situation. Understand that this is still a good and profound-ly workable approach. Magic and the craft will always work the best when they respect and reflect your actual situation.
When we find ourselves with the least access to 'outer' forms of help, be that books, other practitioners, or specialized tools and materia, this is of-ten precisely the point where we need our magic the most. It's also the place where we need our connection to spirit the most, as well as the clearest mind we can manage. This information is not incarceration-specific. If we are in a living situation, country, or another context that constrains what we do due to access or safety reasons, we may need to practice very discreetly.
The real powers of magic are invisible to most people. Spirits and allies, energetic flows, clear minds and strong wills are beyond the ability of most humans to perceive. The inner work behind the physical forms is more than enough in many situations.
The only rule: Never concern yourself about the things you cannot access. You have what you need in your own body, mind, and spirit. Instead focus on what you can do. If you cannot burn candles, don't worry about it. Work with what you have. Suggested minimalist approaches include:
A complete, fully functional, and highly effective magical practice can be build from using only a few of these approaches.
If you can't have incense, candles, or materia, the spirits know. They aren't bothered. Use and give what you can, and do your best to stay clear and sane within a situation that is often neither clear nor sane.
Water is always a good offering to spirits, along with raising energy and feeding it to them. Give them a bit of bread, a bit of your food. You can bless your food as offerings and then eat it yourself - this can be entirely silent or done in a way it will be seen as 'saying grace.' Charging all of your food and drink in this way can produce profound shifts. Offer your sweat to them when you exercise. Offer your calmness when you meditate. Offer your grief when that is what you are feeling.
These are all very low-tech, low materia approaches. You can convert nearly any method to use one or more of the above instead. Draw your sigils in water on paper or on a wall, focus deeply and gently on the energetic form of the sign, and know they persist even after the water has dried.
Remember that it isn't so much any one spell, ritual, or even approach used but what you bring to and what you need from the work that matters.
Remember that you are never really apart from your allies and the Field. We all inter-are with one another. The divisions we make between ourselves and the Others and the Field are largely illusory, distinctions of convenience or forgetfulness we believe in and so act as if true.
Remember that while you may be working to change your situation radically, there is also great power in radically accepting it. One does not preclude the other; they are one stone.
Remember that the self as a discrete unit is essentially an illusion. The egoic self can help us manage our day-to-day life, and it can also screw it up like nothing else. It's a tiny piece of who and what we are that likes to believe it's all there is. Don't buy what it's selling.
PRAXIS
There is great power in Buddhist practice and thinking for those in highly constrained situations.
There is great power in prayer for those in highly constrained situations.
Know that you are in and of the Field.
Know that you have allies.
Know that the Mighty Dead are with you.
MINIMALIST APPROACHES - A PRISON APPENDIX
Through pagan prison minister Jacqui Thackway-Winn, I have become aware that my books Weaving Fate and Six Ways have impacted at least part of the UK prison system. I wanted to add this appendix for those 'inside' interested in practicing magic using the approaches from my books. The suggestions here may also be of general interest for those who, for what-ever reason, find themselves in a very 'low tech, low materia, low freedom of movement' situation. Understand that this is still a good and profound-ly workable approach. Magic and the craft will always work the best when they respect and reflect your actual situation.
When we find ourselves with the least access to 'outer' forms of help, be that books, other practitioners, or specialized tools and materia, this is of-ten precisely the point where we need our magic the most. It's also the place where we need our connection to spirit the most, as well as the clearest mind we can manage. This information is not incarceration-specific. If we are in a living situation, country, or another context that constrains what we do due to access or safety reasons, we may need to practice very discreetly.
The real powers of magic are invisible to most people. Spirits and allies, energetic flows, clear minds and strong wills are beyond the ability of most humans to perceive. The inner work behind the physical forms is more than enough in many situations.
The only rule: Never concern yourself about the things you cannot access. You have what you need in your own body, mind, and spirit. Instead focus on what you can do. If you cannot burn candles, don't worry about it. Work with what you have. Suggested minimalist approaches include:
- Sigils
- Petitions
- Spoken charms
- Written charms
- Energy work
- Meditation
- Imaginal work
- Journeying
- Prayer
- Offerings to allies, spirits, and deities
A complete, fully functional, and highly effective magical practice can be build from using only a few of these approaches.
If you can't have incense, candles, or materia, the spirits know. They aren't bothered. Use and give what you can, and do your best to stay clear and sane within a situation that is often neither clear nor sane.
Water is always a good offering to spirits, along with raising energy and feeding it to them. Give them a bit of bread, a bit of your food. You can bless your food as offerings and then eat it yourself - this can be entirely silent or done in a way it will be seen as 'saying grace.' Charging all of your food and drink in this way can produce profound shifts. Offer your sweat to them when you exercise. Offer your calmness when you meditate. Offer your grief when that is what you are feeling.
These are all very low-tech, low materia approaches. You can convert nearly any method to use one or more of the above instead. Draw your sigils in water on paper or on a wall, focus deeply and gently on the energetic form of the sign, and know they persist even after the water has dried.
Remember that it isn't so much any one spell, ritual, or even approach used but what you bring to and what you need from the work that matters.
Remember that you are never really apart from your allies and the Field. We all inter-are with one another. The divisions we make between ourselves and the Others and the Field are largely illusory, distinctions of convenience or forgetfulness we believe in and so act as if true.
Remember that while you may be working to change your situation radically, there is also great power in radically accepting it. One does not preclude the other; they are one stone.
Remember that the self as a discrete unit is essentially an illusion. The egoic self can help us manage our day-to-day life, and it can also screw it up like nothing else. It's a tiny piece of who and what we are that likes to believe it's all there is. Don't buy what it's selling.
PRAXIS
There is great power in Buddhist practice and thinking for those in highly constrained situations.
There is great power in prayer for those in highly constrained situations.
Know that you are in and of the Field.
Know that you have allies.
Know that the Mighty Dead are with you.
