Can repeated ritual practice permanently change your personality?

[fedighassen]

I've been thinking about something lately regarding long-term occult practice.

A lot of people talk about rituals in terms of external results: getting opportunities, influencing circumstances, contacting spirits, improving divination, etc. But I wonder if the bigger effect happens internally.

After practicing the same system for months or years, do you think the rituals actually start restructuring the practitioner's personality?

For example, repeated planetary work, invocation, meditation, pathworking, spirit communication, or even something as simple as daily banishing rituals could gradually affect the way someone thinks, reacts emotionally, or perceives other people.

I'm not necessarily talking about dramatic personality changes. More like subtle changes that become obvious only after several years.

Have you personally noticed that occult practice changed certain traits in you permanently?

And if so, did you feel that you were consciously shaping yourself, or did the change happen almost without you noticing?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have practiced one system consistently for several years rather than jumping between different traditions.

 

[Aeternus]

I've been thinking about something lately regarding long-term occult practice.

A lot of people talk about rituals in terms of external results: getting opportunities, influencing circumstances, contacting spirits, improving divination, etc. But I wonder if the bigger effect happens internally.

After practicing the same system for months or years, do you think the rituals actually start restructuring the practitioner's personality?

For example, repeated planetary work, invocation, meditation, pathworking, spirit communication, or even something as simple as daily banishing rituals could gradually affect the way someone thinks, reacts emotionally, or perceives other people.

I'm not necessarily talking about dramatic personality changes. More like subtle changes that become obvious only after several years.

Have you personally noticed that occult practice changed certain traits in you permanently?

And if so, did you feel that you were consciously shaping yourself, or did the change happen almost without you noticing?

I'm especially interested in hearing from people who have practiced one system consistently for several years rather than jumping between different traditions.

Although I have studied a lot of traditions and my background involved and involves multiple spiritual practices, concepts, ideas, systems, etc., I can't say necessarily that I practiced a system of some kind for years.

But, what I can say is that I have noticed subtle changes after a few months of meditating on the Solar energy, specifically solar plexus and the Sun as the planet. It really helped me with boosting self-confidence, see people in depth (the third chakra is the Solar chakra and resides in the middle of the chest, so it makes sense that I can see people in depth due to this), it helped me gain even more confidence and somehow my taste in music sharpened, meaning I can hear even more subtle nuances than before (music is also related to Sun and Solar worship, deities like Apollo (the God in my profile picture) as well as Hathor and Ihy).

I didn't notice this change at first and I thought that I was like... going crazy but, here I am today perceiving things in an x times brighter way than before (no pun intended).

 

[MageJohn183]

I would think that if you consistently do some kind of ritual on or for yourself that would be the same as enchanting yourself. Perhaps not completely changing your personality but opening up yourself to whatever magical influence you seeking. Enchanting yourself is how I term it.

 

[Amur]

You become more of yourself that is.

 

[beardedeldridge]

I think you’d be hard pressed to make it through mundane life for any length of time without seeing permanent changes to your personality, and if someone doesn’t recognize any changes I’d question how self aware they are.

That being said, yeah real intense rituals and the resulting experiences will definitely change you overtime.

-Eld