In witchcraft and magick in general, we become more powerful witches or magick users by working on ourselves.
We are the source of our power, not some external deity.
As such, the more we can learn about ourselves, the more we are able to self-regulate, and the more we are able to balance ourselves, the more powerful we become.
But when many of us first start on this path, we can run into a few problems with this notion.
Throughout our lives, from very early on in childhood, we are told by society that we should “think of others before ourselves”, that we should work for “the greater good”, and that we should always be “good citizens”.
All of this is nothing more than programming we’ve gained over the years from early on. TV, media, family, friends, celebrities, governments and authority figures all push this idea of societal cohesion.
On the face of it, it seems a good and noble concept to push. After all, a cohesive and collaborative society is good all round, right?
Well, yes and no.
You see, a society is only ever as good as the individuals it’s made up from.
If we have a lot of damaged, unthinking and easily manipulated individuals, then we have a damaged, unthinking and easily manipulated society.
This isn’t good for anyone. Not for us as individual beings, or for society as a whole.
However, those who seek to control us are quite happy for this to be the case. After all if we aren’t strong minded and have our own strength of will, then we are easy to control and lead. We will feel lost without the leadership of these powerful people, and so will beg for them to lead us and show us what to do. We will become no more than cattle to be herded.
We will be completely dependent on our handlers.
But true power over ourselves comes from working on ourselves and for ourselves.
Each one of us are hugely powerful! We truly hold the power over our own lives.
We also spend a huge portion of our life worrying about what other people think about us. We seek validation from others all the time - we stifle our speech, we stifle our actions and we hide our intentions for fear of being rejected by those around us.
We have been taught many false lessons in life and one of those is how to hate ourselves.
We often hide these deep-seated feelings which have come about by the actions of others - feelings of guilt, of not being good enough and of self hatred. But by hiding them, by pushing them down, it empowers them more and gives them power over our lives.
This act of hiding these feelings and pushing them down actually diminishes your own true power and the raw magickal force which resides inside us all.
This is a lesson we need to unlearn!
All thought produces form of some kind or another. So all of these negative self loathing thoughts we have begin to manifest themselves in our reality.
We may not go for that new job because we don’t feel good enough, we may not talk to that attractive person because we fear rejection, we may not go climb that mountain because we fear we aren’t capable and so on and so on.
All of these thoughts have lasting and negative impacts on our real world existence and create barriers to realising our true power.
By hiding those feelings and pushing them down, we keep them secret. Secrets become sacred, and those sacred thoughts and feelings become part of who we become.
When we feel anxious and fearful in a situation, and we experience something which brings these feelings up, what we are actually doing is projecting the image of the beliefs we hold sacred out into our physical world.
The key to flipping all of this on its head and to unlearning these false lessons we’ve been taught (and to truly take our own power back) is to instead teach ourselves to love who we are.
We have our self ('small' s) and our Self ('large' S) and the two are not the same!
The small s self is what we think others want us to be, what we believe we are according to what we’ve been led to believe we are.
That isn’t real - that’s merely a social construct. It’s the self that society has told us we are, but it can be changed.
The big S Self is who we actually are. It’s our authentic self. The 'us' who we know is deep within. The happy, self confident, powerful Self who has always been there.
We just need to find that old authentic Self and bring it back into the light.
We start to unlearn the false lessons of the small s self by constantly reminding ourselves of our big S self.
EMPOWERING THE SELF EXERCISE
For about 5 minutes after we first wake up, and 5 minutes before we drift off to sleep, our brains are in the Theta frequency (between 4-7hz). This is when we are in our most susceptible and meditative state, and during this state, we are able to give ourselves some positive programming which will sink deep into our consciousness.
So during these times each night right before sleep, and each morning on waking, try saying to yourself, either out loud and/or while looking into a mirror:
“I am an extension of the universal energies”
“I have perfect peace”
“I am loved,
“I am enough, I will always be enough”
“I am powerful, my will is my own”
“I am strong I am capable”
“I have overcome adversity and I will again”
“I am worthy of receiving good things, and of accomplishing my goals”
“I am accepting of and thankful for all that I am”
“I am allowed to feel good and to experience pleasure”
“I am allowed to have a voice, I am allowed to have desires”
“I know my worth”
“I deserve the best”
“I love my body, my mind and my soul”
“I am proud of who I am, of what I’ve done and what I will do”
“The past is the past and it doesn’t dictate my present or my future”
By giving yourself these positive affirmations each day - in those Theta stage minutes - you’ll begin to reprogram your brain and unlearn the negative lessons and self-talk you’ve had all of your life.
It shouldn’t be underestimated just how powerful this simple exercise can be.
When you do it often, you’ll really start to notice how you feel in your body and mind, and the way you look at yourself will shift.
You’ll realise that you are an essential part of this universe, and that the light would be far dimmer without you.
You matter, you’ve always mattered and you always will.
When you start to allow this to sink in, just notice how much more fulfilled and happy your life will be.
Love your Self - you deserve it!
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