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In my case it's mostly when it comes to meditation that I end up having issues, which is kinda funny since I can daydream so vivdly and even when doing something else.
I don't know how this works.
Also, despite actually loving to find scholar-type materials about magic and etc., usually I don't have the attention span necessary to read it all if the authors use hard words or speak a lot before getting to the point.
No problem when they're direct and talk a lot, just when they beat around the bush a lot.
When I "get in the zone" during my daydreams I get massive boosts of energy(while also spending it physically so I end up calm) and when it comes to the physical side of things(in general and for magic as well), it's as if I can actually focus better through physical acts(for example, even though I can daydream just fine normally, if I start walking or running it's like getting into an altered state to me).
Both body and mind finally united.
Not sure I understood the question or know my "spikes".
"It" bring the spikes?
When I was a kid, but they never seemed to work with me so I stopped.If I do physical activities I can somewhat manage it, maybe it's why acting works for me too as that is a mental activity that demands a lot from your body.
Forget meditation, those daydreams are the essence of manifesting! They are (I believe) what meditating is all about!
I have never been able to 'empty my mind of thoughts'. I think maybe medication can help with that, according to people at my local ADHD support group, but why bother, when it's so useful for magic!
I find that I primarily accomodate by utilizing pathworking and meditation and visualization, t's really hard for me to have the motivation a lot of the times to gather up all of the rituals.
I take the stimulants for dual depression and ADHD, but they probably negatively impact my Magickal work because while they do help with the depression, I abuse them and they are an attachment I have to shed. My doctor knows I abuse them and take more than prescribed and she increased the amount I'm allowed ro take when I told her.
Sometimes my mind really wants to fit the pieces together like a puzzle and understand how things fit together, and it leads me into some really weird places trying to, which I can't really help.
Yes! Daydreaming takes on a whole new meaning when you realise visualisation is a big part of actual magic. I think the rituals are for those who don't have this natural ability, for me, simple prayers have always been enough.
I have adhd and its been a rollarcoaster ride but since I was child,I would always win chess trophies(hear me out). I never read books on chess, i was never formally trained but I would murder opponents for breakfast. I have made some opponents quit before the game unfolded and that's due to strong will and what i was visualizing(they felt my mental force).
I was always drawn to occult studies which is interesting but now more than ever, I had known along time ago that meds role in this matrix tends to destroy or slow down certain qualities we possess rather than help us control what we have. I love how one person spoke about the hyperfocus effect because that is one of our powers. People would ask me how do I stay focus with ADHD in a chess game. I would tell them I'm here to Win(fun times) but looking back, i was super passionate about it, I had a strong Will which is crucial in what we perceive to be magick.
I think,understanding how the to trick your brain into loving(heart chakra) something through visualization and meditation. Seeing your ADHD as a super power rather than a curse will go along way not just in life but also in Magick but you really have to know thyself.
This is my opinion as a guy who got diagnosed with 30 mg of ritalin since grade 3.what I know is ,others may have taken more and may have different experience to what I have experienced.
Hope it was helpful
ADHD is sort of feeling like an alien in a world of binary, people with adhd tend to (imo) learn more through the senses (phenomenalism) and this all is intuition based, if you apply your will and mind it helps focus all the little things you pick up subconsciously. It’s really quite amazing when you are able to calm the mind and focus on your intuition and apply that focus on the goal your higher self is pointing you towards, you will it to be and you have little skills to make it happen.
belief is a tool and adhd helps you shift your perception and be in tune with others perspectives.
But only when learned to wield it in a conscious and observing way.
Quite a few people with ADHD on the forums, and I always end up commenting on it in other threads.
Maybe we could have a thread just for this topic?
Some prompts:
How does this make magic/mysticism/etc harder for you?
On the other hand, what strengths does ADHD bring? David Shoemaker says the process of invoking your HGA will eventually bring in every single part of you and every tool you have - so that's going to include ADHD. When I go into hyperfocus, I can read and absorb a huge amount of material, for eg.
ADHD people are often "spiky" - they are great at some stuff and terrible at other stuff, rather than being average-competent across the board. (So a graph of their abilities would be spiky angles, not a rolling curve across the centre). What are your magical spikes
Do you have any magical techniques for managing it or working with it?
Do you take meds? If yes, have you noticed any interactions with your magical practice, positive or negative?
IDK, any other crossover topics?
Please make a separate thread if you're wanting to say that:
ADHD isn't real or is overdiagnosed
ADHD is caused by... anything. Separate conversation.
Have you tried....? any diet or non-magical advice that could be found with a google search. Trust that we've already googled it.
If you don't have ADHD, but you have similar executive function struggles, feel free to contribute though. Like, every parent with a kid under 2 basically has circumstantial ADHD due to lack of sleep.
Post automatically merged:
One thing i mentioned in a recent post was that the idea of making habits as small as possible (aka "Atomic Habits") had never worked for me, because it's not exciting.
Counter to all the advice, I am far more likely to follow through on something big, complicated and demanding, because I get excited and motivated about that, which gives me the brain chemicals required to do the job. Doing Helios Unbound, a theoretically huge project that people wouldn't recommend to a person with ADHD, is EASIER for me than just building up a little daily habit, because the size and challenge of it motivates me. (Also, the magic changes every week or month, so it allows for novelty within a structure of consistency.)
The biggest secret to all of this, IMO, is know thyself. How does my brain ACTUALLY work, not how i think it should it work. And then do what works for your brain, even if it seems silly or weird or childish or like you "shouldn't need it". Even a lot of ADHD advice is only a good fit for like half of ADHD people. It really is something you have to hack out for yourself imo.
I just recently started taking meds for ADHD and anxiety, I think it's not so good for my practice because it kind of smooths the world out, gets rid of the corners that I usually trip/obsess on. On the other hand, if I need an extra burst of creativity/mystical madness... Just "accidentally" skip meds and the craziness starts again, not sure if it's one of my mental issues in particular or a combination of them.
This is long but a lot of thoughts I've been thinking lately:
I think my adhd affects a lot of impulse control issues that I need to work on. Particularly patience. Adhd messes up impulse control and i get an urgency to say everything and anything on my mind without thinking on the consequences. I blurt out things all the time even when I know i shouldnt. I end up struggling to wait wanting to do everything now not later. I forget things constantly due to my adhd so I obsess and hone in on things that I feel I need to solve and do now or I end up afraid I'll forget. Also in the moment of thinking often everything feels the same level of importance same level of loudness in my head. So I end up thinking i need to say it then. Afterwards I figure out wait that wasn't that important. And often it isn't. Often I could've waited to say this or that but because it pops in my head it feels important. Often I get called immature because of this but I don't know how to manage it. I've never been taught. I've just been medicated my whole life until adult hood then it felt so normal I never figured it's an issue till the past year or so. So now I've messaged my therapist about it.
Also has anyone heard of adhd as a developmental disability? Thing about developmental disabilities they refer to anything that impacts development. This dont mean you have a younger mental age. In fact deafness and blindness are both developmental disabilities in certain cases. With adhd ot just means your impulse control issues and emotional development are impacted in those domains. Not that you developed mentally slower or faster just that those domains were impacted causing your development to be different in some way.
I also struggle making this clear to folk cuz the developmental domains thing with how my autism is one. Often I don't get treated like an adult because people think autism must mean you have the mental age of an 8 year old so therefore you should be incompetent of what others your age are competent of. I have the cognitive function of a 23 year old. I'm 23...
Like I am able to outdo my peers in many areas but can't tie my shoes easily because my fine motor skills are not the best. Or I can budget do money well but ask me to do something fast paced most can do and I won't be able to cuz I can't process it fast enough. This doesn't mean I am younger then others just that my development was not the same. My brain is different. My brain still developed to adulthood just not the same way.
With adhd the issue that impacts developmental functioning is executive functioning. Impulse control issues, emotional dysregulation, memory issues and processing, etc...
Edit: basically what I'm saying is the term developmental disability is too broad. It's basically a fancy way of saying this persons developmental functioning is impacted so they are not developing the same as their peers in some area. When they are disabled. Their development isn't going to be like a nondisabled person's. Like a person with a lower limb difference isn't going to walk the same as a person without one. They are likely to learn slower how to as result. Their brain is going to develop like a disabled person with the cognitive, physical, and emotional impacts that disability has. With disabilities that impact cognitive issues it's not that they aren't an adult mentally it's that their abilities are different then their peers due to disability so they may not grasp concepts their peers may be able to. But their mind still likely developed and grew just differently. I think it's good there's categories to it at least...but there's a ton of variety.
I don't either. I was on them my whole life till my teens. I was like 108 pounds and then suddenly being reintroduced to Adderall as an adult I lost weight and ended up 98 in a matter of weeks without trying. It killed my appetite. So I got taken off it. That was a few years ago
I just turned 53 this year, and I was diagnosed in February. Fifty-three years of life, and I had zero clue. This means I spent most of my life thinking I was broken and weird. But I’ve built a cool life, even with that belief. Special Operation in the Army, Business Owner, Travelled, Did super cool shit, fun shit, lived nightmares, all of it undiagnosed.
I have ADHD. Neurodivergence is not my identity, I flat-out reject that. But I do believe neurodivergence is a superpower when it comes to magick. At least, it is for me. I’m speaking only about myself here, because neurodivergence is a spectrum and includes more than just me.
Strengths of My Neurodivergence in Magick:
I can clock patterns in real time that most people would miss. Micro-expressions, subtle vibes, what’s meant versus what’s said, body language is something I’m hyper-aware of, consciously.
I see patterns in everything, all the time. And when it comes to magickal patterns? You bet, I can spot them faster than most.
Magickal trance is a breeze for me. Non-linear thinking is a requirement for deep trance, and that’s where I excel. I can shift and flow with it. I can lean into paradox without losing my way, and that’s crucial when working with spirits. I can learn from them deeper because I can handle complexity without breaking.
I learn quickly. Sometimes it even scares me how fast I pick up on new concepts or practices.
The Downsides:
Socially, it’s more challenging. Not a huge problem for me, but I can’t do the small talk, the social lies, the shallow interactions. Authenticity is everything to me. That means I keep my circle tight and real.
My rote memory sucks ass. I can’t do magickal systems that require repetition or memorization of each step. If I focus too much on the ritual steps, I’d miss the demon standing right in front of me. It’s hilarious and frustrating all at once.
Books. I dont read like others. I skim super fast. Most books are boring when it takes forever to get to a fucking point, I just cant. So I rarely read books about magick. I just hate it.
Cognition? Off the charts. My intuition is on point. I’m good with social cues. But when it comes to details and following linear steps, I’m not your guy. Concepts, ideas, and abstract thinking? That's my world. I fly at 10,000 feet and sometimes can’t be bothered with the ground-level stuff. And this has bitten me in the ass more times than I can count.
And yes, I’ve got aphantasia, no mental imagery, so visualization practices are an extra challenge. But honestly, I don’t think that’s tied to ADHD.
On Managing My ADHD Without Medication:
I rejected medication. I’m high-functioning and didn’t feel the need for it. Instead, I focused on understanding how my brain works compared to neurotypicals. The world is built by NTs, for NTs, so I had to learn how to build a bridge.
I also spent a shit ton of time learning how to manage my dopamine and norepinephrine. These are super important for neurodivergent folks, and learning how to replenish and balance them has been a game-changer for me. I can’t tell you how much that’s helped me in my day-to-day life, and in my magickal practice.
Magickal “Spikes”
I have major spikes in my abilities. I’m great at certain things, terrible at others. The graph of my abilities looks like jagged peaks, not a rolling curve. But that’s where my strengths lie.
The magickal spikes I experience are where I truly excel:
Spotting patterns
Tuning into energy and synchronicity
Magickal trance and deep learning
But I can’t do the day-to-day rituals that require memorization or linear thinking. And that’s okay.
Conclusion:
I might not fit the mold of the “traditional” magician. I don’t have all the books memorized, and I sure as hell don’t follow linear ritual structures. But I’m in the game. And when magick is about intensity, flow, and deep learning, I’ve got the tools to navigate it. ADHD isn’t my crutch, it’s my tool.
Magick is about understanding yourself. Not forcing your brain to work how it “should,” but finding what truly works for you, even if it’s a little weird or “childish.”
To anyone with ADHD or similar struggles: you’re not broken. The world is just built for a different way of thinking. Magick and mysticism can absolutely be navigated in a way that works for you. We’re all just finding our unique pathways to power. Don’t force it. Let your brain be the tool it was meant to be.
I think I hit all the points from the OP. If i missed anything, I tried lol.
Im just here to reiterate what Fireborn was saying about "disorders" being super powers. Atleast to the magician. I have ADHD and a genetic disease that is in remission. My ADHD isn't ADHD its being an interdisciplinarian and autodidact. And focusing that as my strength is why I excel over the people around me. My genetic disease isn't a curse its a gift, God gave it to me to bring me closer to him. If it wasnt for that I wouldnt be a mystic.
You dont need to attach yourself to these labels, if somebody gives you a diagnosis do some magic and flip it into a siddhi.
I have AuDHD & focusing is hella difficult. Getting through books can be hard. I often use an AI like Perplexity to summarise the book for me because authors can use way too much padding. I'm not interested in their anecdotes or how they felt, that just throws me off track. I lose interest & don't get what I need. Once I have the summary I can go where I need to go in the book, then add bookmarks & sticky notes. I also keep a notebook. I try to keep the notebook uncluttered so I can find what I need & I don't get overwhelmed. It's basically a brief guide to what was helpful in the book.
When I do start on a book or other practice I stick to it until I finish it or I may end up losing interest or forgetting it.
Nothing is easy with ADHD. You'll always struggle in some way.
Qi Gong & meditation help a lot. I switch the meditations up to keep me interested. I also use drumming.
When I find something it's very important I don't forget I'll make a song of it. My mind remembers every song I've ever heard.
Chaos magic, Qigong Martial energy system, yoga best to start with if you got ADHD I've got ADHD & I know how hard it is to read all day or concentrate for a long time without much movement or interesting activities. Qigong & yoga will help gaining focus & the ability to meditate & read without feeling bored or making you anxious. After that other thing such as rituals become easy to accomplish without feeling stressed
I haven't been officially diagnosed with anything but I feel like I have something from ADHD, autism, Asperger's. I have to do more research on this.
Back in the day I was prescribed some stimulants to stay focused and awake at school, there wasn't really any official diagnosis, the doctor thought I might get some relief. I had very hard time keeping up with the pressure, couldn't understand mathematics at all, there were more subjects, physics. I felt like a total zero. How I was able to finish everything remains a mystery. Redid some tests 3 times. Some teachers were merciful and put the C-.
The medicine didn't help me much except for the short euphoria and staying a bit more alert. There were more side effects. At first everything was wonderful but then when the effects stopped I experienced anxiety and rage. This happened after using them for a while. I didn't overuse them, just some pills daily.
It's strange. I might have very hard time staying focused on some subjects but extreme boost somewhere else. I like having picture perfect order in some things. Doing some things at the same time every day, perfect order.
I remember some examples, there were video games and activities in there I could do all the time for months without getting bored, tedious tasks people hated with a passion and I got incredible kicks out of them. Everybody was like "are you crazy or something??" MMO games and first person shooters. Played the same cycles through over and over again. Eventually of course I did get bored and switched around, only to return soon after. In some cases it was just one long streak of madness.
I've noticed the strange combination of whatever I have wrong with me is definitely a boost for doing spiritual practices. There's an odd level of persistent devotion in there somewhere.
In many other parts of life it can be annoying though, challenging. I've always felt like I don't fit in anywhere. Desire to be alone, introverted, don't like going anywhere much. A rather strange personality.
Don't like socializing much except whatever talks take place online. No problem with discussing various topics for hours.
Quite a few people with ADHD on the forums, and I always end up commenting on it in other threads.
Maybe we could have a thread just for this topic?
Some prompts:
How does this make magic/mysticism/etc harder for you?
On the other hand, what strengths does ADHD bring? David Shoemaker says the process of invoking your HGA will eventually bring in every single part of you and every tool you have - so that's going to include ADHD. When I go into hyperfocus, I can read and absorb a huge amount of material, for eg.
ADHD people are often "spiky" - they are great at some stuff and terrible at other stuff, rather than being average-competent across the board. (So a graph of their abilities would be spiky angles, not a rolling curve across the centre). What are your magical spikes
Do you have any magical techniques for managing it or working with it?
Do you take meds? If yes, have you noticed any interactions with your magical practice, positive or negative?
IDK, any other crossover topics?
Please make a separate thread if you're wanting to say that:
ADHD isn't real or is overdiagnosed
ADHD is caused by... anything. Separate conversation.
Have you tried....? any diet or non-magical advice that could be found with a google search. Trust that we've already googled it.
If you don't have ADHD, but you have similar executive function struggles, feel free to contribute though. Like, every parent with a kid under 2 basically has circumstantial ADHD due to lack of sleep.
Post automatically merged:
One thing i mentioned in a recent post was that the idea of making habits as small as possible (aka "Atomic Habits") had never worked for me, because it's not exciting.
Counter to all the advice, I am far more likely to follow through on something big, complicated and demanding, because I get excited and motivated about that, which gives me the brain chemicals required to do the job. Doing Helios Unbound, a theoretically huge project that people wouldn't recommend to a person with ADHD, is EASIER for me than just building up a little daily habit, because the size and challenge of it motivates me. (Also, the magic changes every week or month, so it allows for novelty within a structure of consistency.)
The biggest secret to all of this, IMO, is know thyself. How does my brain ACTUALLY work, not how i think it should it work. And then do what works for your brain, even if it seems silly or weird or childish or like you "shouldn't need it". Even a lot of ADHD advice is only a good fit for like half of ADHD people. It really is something you have to hack out for yourself imo.
As someone who is both autistic and ADHD, I find that Magick is something that is easily accessible and something that I tend to rely on for a good portion of things. I find that autistic practitioners tend to be more outside the box with what they come up with in their practices. I also find that there is a lot of ableism in the Art. So, I march to the beat of my own drum. I am proud to say that I’m a cyber witch and a hedge witch (taught by the spirit of my great grandmother). I always twist what is taught to me by her into a modern method that I can freely use.
Quite a few people with ADHD are on the forums, and I always end up commenting on it in other threads.
Maybe we could have a thread just for this topic?
Some prompts:
How does this make magic/mysticism/etc harder for you?
On the other hand, what strengths does ADHD bring? David Shoemaker says the process of invoking your HGA will eventually bring in every single part of you and every tool you have - so that's going to include ADHD. When I go into hyperfocus, I can, for example, read and absorb a huge amount of material.
ADHD people are often "spiky" - they are great at some stuff and terrible at other stuff, rather than being average-competent across the board. (So a graph of their abilities would be spiky angles, not a rolling curve across the centre). What are your magical spikes
Do you have any magical techniques for managing it or working with it?
Do you take meds? If yes, have you noticed any interactions with your magical practice, positive or negative?
IDK, any other crossover topics?
Please make a separate thread if you want to say that:
ADHD isn't real or is overdiagnosed
ADHD is caused by... anything. Separate conversation.
Have you tried....? any diet or non-magical advice that could be found with a Google search? Trust that we've already googled it.
If you don't have ADHD, but you have similar executive function struggles, feel free to contribute though. Like, every parent with a kid under 2 basically has circumstantial ADHD due to lack of sleep.
Post automatically merged:
One thing I mentioned in a recent post was that the idea of making habits as small as possible (aka "Atomic Habits") had never worked for me, because it's not exciting.
Counter to all the advice, I am far more likely to follow through on something big, complicated and demanding, because I get excited and motivated about that, which gives me the brain chemicals required to do the job. Doing Helios Unbound, a theoretically huge project that people wouldn't recommend to a person with ADHD, is EASIER for me than just building up a little daily habit, because the size and challenge of it motivates me. (Also, the magic changes every week or month, so it allows for novelty within a structure of consistency.)
The biggest secret to all of this, IMO, is know thyself. How does my brain ACTUALLY work, not how I think it should work? And then do what works for your brain, even if it seems silly or weird or childish or like you "shouldn't need it". Even a lot of ADHD advice is only a good fit for like half of ADHD people. It really is something you have to hack out for yourself imo.
I have had ADHD for decades. I've been on and off medications since around the 8th grade but I was mostly unmedicated until 2014, coincidentally the same year I started formal ceremonial magick practice.
Initially, it was a great combination, I was able to hyperfocus, study and learn and then push my energy and intense emotions into ritual.
Later on, when I took a break from my university studies around the time just before the COVID-19 lockdown, it became my one obsessive interest. I mean I went into complete immersion of the spiritual path I was on, meaning because I was not able to work or study due to lockdown; it was all I lived and breathed every single day to practice and master. I was part of a “somewhat” problematic order/borderline cult that kind of pushed this difficult propensity to excess.
.
There were a lot of leadership issues and emotional manipulation involved there, and by 2024 I was burnt out and I decided to ride off onto my own path.
Like many women with ADHD, I started seeing a new psychologist who suggested I may have symptoms of autism (AUDHD). I was resistant to this idea at first as I was pretty impulsive in my teenage years, and had a very active social life. But back before being put back on ADHD medication in 2014 I was also taking a lot of party drugs to self-medicate and deal with social situations.
These lines up to the exploration I had back with chaos magick around age 16 when I was going through my first heartbreak and was self-medicating heavily. That's why I say it was “informal occult”. Then I joined a formal order in 2014 when I was medicated and my life, social circle and circumstance approved monumentally. My mistake was exchanging that for an 8.5-year relationship in which it deviated into this spiritual cult that claimed occultism, but in retrospect, it was red flags and a malignant political cult leader. I am not political. And I don't want to be aligned with any group that claims grandiosity in theory but has zero application. I think this comes back to the crossover of my AUADHD.
I have this capacity to implicitly trust people and it invariably leads me into chaotic circumstances.
Then I overextend myself to organise a system that is in disarray of that “orders lacking organisation” at the price of costing my own emotional dysregulation and equilibrium, and thats what transpired.
Given my past experiences, I did extremely well in formal structured order because of my autism, but simultaneously I thrive with the spontaneous autonomy to explore unique and intriguing routes because of my ADHD.
As a result I have MANY areas of interest, a few of active pursuits, or currently picked back up hyperfocuses dormant that i have recently resumed.
A few that are consistent over years that will never leave my life due to my considering them baseline. Some are currently impossible to pursue due to my present, temporary housing circumstances (mostly evocation, invocation and grimoire work with internal spirits which was my hyperfocus for years), but I feel uneasy about doing that while sharing a house with my brother, so I am putting that off and working on my more spiritist; mesa blanca, creole spiritism, 21 divisions & voudun, ancestor work, (my grandmother practiced kardec spiritism and santeria as a child and I remember her teaching me things from around age 4), so whenever I do ancestor work these things naturally flow through organically. cabbalah and planetary magick, Christian Mysticism, the arabatel and some exploration in angelic magick, European folk magick, Goddess Veneration and focusing on reestablishing my roots in ceremonial magick tradition.
I have been drawn to both Rosicrucianism over the years, primarily due to having grandparents who were members of a German Rosicrucian order.
But my 2014 interests started with the Hermetic order of The Golden Dawn and some exploration of the OTO, and Thelema (the latter I did not imitate within, but spent time with members to explore the concepts). I've also got a love of mysticism, which pulls parts of psychology and philosophy, and general history of esoteric concepts into the mediumship application.
I've also had moments of intrigue with my initial path in chaos magick, but the deeper explorations of the “quantum side”.
I was recently reintroduced to enochian in theory, so these are just areas for further potential exploration that ive started to dive into a little.
As you can see I have many interests, and I think that comes down to my ADHD. But I have genuine commitment to learning and mastering a path and keeping precise and detailed notes, following ritual protocol and adhering to the structure, which is what I feel the autism is useful for. I can also hyperfocus, learn or sit in ritual states communing with spirits for hours at times, so I'm unsure if that's ADHD or what, but it has produced great results previously.
I tend to do everything in excess and make sure it's on point, meaning visual mapping in the mind without any altar or offerings doesn't cut it for me. I have to do the physical building, then the ritual; then the visualisation comes later.
Ironically; coming back to normative theories, Mindfulness helps.
As do some basic DBT therapy skills which I experimentally merge with parts of magick to create into my own psychospiritual system.
Sometimes building mastery means doing a ritual every day (for PLEASE & building mastery) it's a specific skill in DBT. Wise mind helps too.
Walking the middle path (in DBT therapy terms) can for me be applied to the qabbalistic tree..
@pixel_fortune I have ADHD and I can say that it helps me quite a lot in my magical practices and understanding.
My ADHD helps me to understand how fast light colorful energy works in specific aspects for example, or how fast I can circulate energy at times I believe it is impossible.
My problem is that I don't necessarily focus on the thing I wish and that is a downfall in my magical practice. Can't have only the spikes after all.
The idea is that, for example, I memorize a lot about Kaballah, Alchemy etc. but I often happen to misplace the subjects related to their practice. For example, I was focused on Planetary magic and then I was instantly thinking about the Sophia Aeon, which didn't necessarily have any connection to what I was studying.
It is kinda painful for me to deal with it, but I often have good luck in doing it.
Another problem would be that I often forget to write important ideas because of fast writing and that is why some posts of mines are continuously merged.
But, as hard as it may sound at the first reading, my ADHD still is a good part of my life and helps me evolve both in the magical and physical plane. You can be sure that I won't be late at work , for example.
And, as for magical techniques for managing it, well... void meditation (to stop the rampant thoughts), Earth element meditation, balancing Air and Fire element, and sometimes even Water element, trance and in order to deplete the leftover energy I would still have, lucid / profound dreaming.
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I don't take meds as my ADHD is manageable
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I can also say that I perform well in IT, meditation, spirituality, occultism but I really have a downside at being somewhat patient and I get too excited about some subjects I am interested in and I kinda lose focus on managing the excitement
have had ADHD for decades. I've been on and off medications since around the 8th grade but I was mostly unmedicated until 2014, coincidentally the same year I started formal ceremonial magick practice.
Initially, it was a great combination, I was able to hyperfocus, study and learn and then push my energy and intense emotions into ritual.
Later on, when I took a break from my university studies around the time just before the COVID-19 lockdown, it became my one obsessive interest. I mean I went into complete immersion of the spiritual path I was on, meaning because I was not able to work or study due to lockdown; it was all I lived and breathed every single day to practice and master. I was part of a “somewhat” problematic order/borderline cult that kind of pushed this difficult propensity to excess.
.
There were a lot of leadership issues and emotional manipulation involved there, and by 2024 I was burnt out and I decided to ride off onto my own path.
Like many women with ADHD, I started seeing a new psychologist who suggested I may have symptoms of autism (AUDHD). I was resistant to this idea at first as I was pretty impulsive in my teenage years, and had a very active social life. But back before being put back on ADHD medication in 2014 I was also taking a lot of party drugs to self-medicate and deal with social situations.
These lines up to the exploration I had back with chaos magick around age 16 when I was going through my first heartbreak and was self-medicating heavily. That's why I say it was “informal occult”. Then I joined a formal order in 2014 when I was medicated and my life, social circle and circumstance approved monumentally. My mistake was exchanging that for an 8.5-year relationship in which it deviated into this spiritual cult that claimed occultism, but in retrospect, it was red flags and a malignant political cult leader. I am not political. And I don't want to be aligned with any group that claims grandiosity in theory but has zero application. I think this comes back to the crossover of my AUADHD.
I have this capacity to implicitly trust people and it invariably leads me into chaotic circumstances.
Then I overextend myself to organise a system that is in disarray of that “orders lacking organisation” at the price of costing my own emotional dysregulation and equilibrium, and thats what transpired.
Given my past experiences, I did extremely well in formal structured order because of my autism, but simultaneously I thrive with the spontaneous autonomy to explore unique and intriguing routes because of my ADHD.
As a result I have MANY areas of interest, a few of active pursuits, or currently picked back up hyperfocuses dormant that i have recently resumed.
A few that are consistent over years that will never leave my life due to my considering them baseline. Some are currently impossible to pursue due to my present, temporary housing circumstances (mostly evocation, invocation and grimoire work with internal spirits which was my hyperfocus for years), but I feel uneasy about doing that while sharing a house with my brother, so I am putting that off and working on my more spiritist; mesa blanca, creole spiritism, 21 divisions & voudun, ancestor work, (my grandmother practiced kardec spiritism and santeria as a child and I remember her teaching me things from around age 4), so whenever I do ancestor work these things naturally flow through organically. cabbalah and planetary magick, Christian Mysticism, the arabatel and some exploration in angelic magick, European folk magick, Goddess Veneration and focusing on reestablishing my roots in ceremonial magick tradition.
I have been drawn to both Rosicrucianism over the years, primarily due to having grandparents who were members of a German Rosicrucian order.
But my 2014 interests started with the Hermetic order of The Golden Dawn and some exploration of the OTO, and Thelema (the latter I did not imitate within, but spent time with members to explore the concepts). I've also got a love of mysticism, which pulls parts of psychology and philosophy, and general history of esoteric concepts into the mediumship application.
I've also had moments of intrigue with my initial path in chaos magick, but the deeper explorations of the “quantum side”.
I was recently reintroduced to enochian in theory, so these are just areas for further potential exploration that ive started to dive into a little.
As you can see I have many interests, and I think that comes down to my ADHD. But I have genuine commitment to learning and mastering a path and keeping precise and detailed notes, following ritual protocol and adhering to the structure, which is what I feel the autism is useful for. I can also hyperfocus, learn or sit in ritual states communing with spirits for hours at times, so I'm unsure if that's ADHD or what, but it has produced great results previously.
I tend to do everything in excess and make sure it's on point, meaning visual mapping in the mind without any altar or offerings doesn't cut it for me. I have to do the physical building, then the ritual; then the visualisation comes later.
Ironically; coming back to normative theories, Mindfulness helps.
As do some basic DBT therapy skills which I experimentally merge with parts of magick to create into my own psychospiritual system.
Sometimes building mastery means doing a ritual every day (for PLEASE & building mastery) it's a specific skill in DBT. Wise mind helps too.
Walking the middle path (in DBT therapy terms) can for me be applied to the qabbalistic tree..
As someone who is both autistic and ADHD, I find that Magick is something that is easily accessible and something that I tend to rely on for a good portion of things. I find that autistic practitioners tend to be more outside the box with what they come up with in their practices. I also find that there is a lot of ableism in the Art. So, I march to the beat of my own drum. I am proud to say that I’m a cyber witch and a hedge witch (taught by the spirit of my great grandmother). I always twist what is taught to me by her into a modern method that I can freely use.
I find that I primarily accomodate by utilizing pathworking and meditation and visualization, t's really hard for me to have the motivation a lot of the times to gather up all of the rituals.
I take the stimulants for dual depression and ADHD, but they probably negatively impact my Magickal work because while they do help with the depression, I abuse them and they are an attachment I have to shed. My doctor knows I abuse them and take more than prescribed and she increased the amount I'm allowed ro take when I told her.
Sometimes my mind really wants to fit the pieces together like a puzzle and understand how things fit together, and it leads me into some really weird places trying to, which I can't really help.
What does stimulant abuse look like now? I have a friend who is prescribed 60 mg of dextroamphetammines a day with another stimulant as a booster (forget the name). For me, on a standard 30mg dose, that would be “abuse” if I doubled that dose.
But for him, it's “not abuse” if that makes sense. But I have another friend /ex roommate who will also TRULY abuse adhd meds in the sense of he take takes 200 dexamphetamine pills in 7 days, won't sleep at all, and smokes methamphamines when he isn't on the prescribed stimulant.
He nearly died from kidney failure again a few months ago.
To me that's more aligned to true stimulant abuse.
He's been stuck in that pattern years and it's toxic to be around but because I am empathetic I talk ti him over the phone sometimes as I feel bad.
Sometimes people need a higher dose as they have developed tolerance, are fast metabolisers, have been on them for decades can you clarify what you mean??
I understand the need to work through psychological issues and if that medication can use that, your doctor approves and it's not that far above the therapeutic dose, is it actually abuse or just having a different tolerance and needing a higher therapeutic dose ?
Also how does your doctor respond to it ?.
Everyone in my country gets treated like a drug seeker when they have legitimate need for ADHD meds. Even picking up your medication from two different pharmacies each month records a strike against your name on the safe script system, even if it's the right time and everything.
Then you get in trouble if you have extra left over, which you do every month, and get accused of “hoarding” medication (for selling or misuse). I swear it's rigged against us
Chaos magic, Qigong Martial energy system, yoga best to start with if you got ADHD I've got ADHD & I know how hard it is to read all day or concentrate for a long time without much movement or interesting activities. Qigong & yoga will help gaining focus & the ability to meditate & read without feeling bored or making you anxious. After that other thing such as rituals become easy to accomplish without feeling stressed
Yoga is amazing. I've found benefits with Tai chi and mindfulness too, which sounds generic. But it's a foundational skill for visualisation and later energy work.
Forget meditation, those daydreams are the essence of manifesting! They are (I believe) what meditating is all about!
I have never been able to 'empty my mind of thoughts'. I think maybe medication can help with that, according to people at my local ADHD support group, but why bother, when it's so useful for magic!
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Yes! Daydreaming takes on a whole new meaning when you realise visualisation is a big part of actual magic. I think the rituals are for those who don't have this natural ability, for me, simple prayers have always been enough.
This is long but a lot of thoughts I've been thinking lately:
I think my adhd affects a lot of impulse control issues that I need to work on. Particularly patience. Adhd messes up impulse control and i get an urgency to say everything and anything on my mind without thinking on the consequences. I blurt out things all the time even when I know i shouldnt. I end up struggling to wait wanting to do everything now not later. I forget things constantly due to my adhd so I obsess and hone in on things that I feel I need to solve and do now or I end up afraid I'll forget. Also in the moment of thinking often everything feels the same level of importance same level of loudness in my head. So I end up thinking i need to say it then. Afterwards I figure out wait that wasn't that important. And often it isn't. Often I could've waited to say this or that but because it pops in my head it feels important. Often I get called immature because of this but I don't know how to manage it. I've never been taught. I've just been medicated my whole life until adult hood then it felt so normal I never figured it's an issue till the past year or so. So now I've messaged my therapist about it.
Also has anyone heard of adhd as a developmental disability? Thing about developmental disabilities they refer to anything that impacts development. This dont mean you have a younger mental age. In fact deafness and blindness are both developmental disabilities in certain cases. With adhd ot just means your impulse control issues and emotional development are impacted in those domains. Not that you developed mentally slower or faster just that those domains were impacted causing your development to be different in some way.
I also struggle making this clear to folk cuz the developmental domains thing with how my autism is one. Often I don't get treated like an adult because people think autism must mean you have the mental age of an 8 year old so therefore you should be incompetent of what others your age are competent of. I have the cognitive function of a 23 year old. I'm 23...
Like I am able to outdo my peers in many areas but can't tie my shoes easily because my fine motor skills are not the best. Or I can budget do money well but ask me to do something fast paced most can do and I won't be able to cuz I can't process it fast enough. This doesn't mean I am younger then others just that my development was not the same. My brain is different. My brain still developed to adulthood just not the same way.
With adhd the issue that impacts developmental functioning is executive functioning. Impulse control issues, emotional dysregulation, memory issues and processing, etc...
Edit: basically what I'm saying is the term developmental disability is too broad. It's basically a fancy way of saying this persons developmental functioning is impacted so they are not developing the same as their peers in some area. When they are disabled. Their development isn't going to be like a nondisabled person's. Like a person with a lower limb difference isn't going to walk the same as a person without one. They are likely to learn slower how to as result. Their brain is going to develop like a disabled person with the cognitive, physical, and emotional impacts that disability has. With disabilities that impact cognitive issues it's not that they aren't an adult mentally it's that their abilities are different then their peers due to disability so they may not grasp concepts their peers may be able to. But their mind still likely developed and grew just differently. I think it's good there's categories to it at least...but there's a ton of variety.
How this impacts the occult I'm still working on.
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I don't either. I was on them my whole life till my teens. I was like 108 pounds and then suddenly being reintroduced to Adderall as an adult I lost weight and ended up 98 in a matter of weeks without trying. It killed my appetite. So I got taken off it. That was a few years ago
Yes my adhd (and now autism & adhd) are both diagnosed as neurodevelopmental or neurological development disorders.
It means they are pervasive across the lifespan from infancy and cannot be removed from an individuals traits, or core personality but are an innate way of how the person functions, or perceives the world, some people call it a neurotype. That's why ADHD is deemed under that “neurodiversity” umbrella.
). I never read books on chess, i was never formally trained but I would murder opponents for breakfast. I have made some opponents quit before the game unfolded and that's due to strong will and what i was visualizing(they felt my mental force
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