“And they lived happily ever after…”
A big part of magick is all about visualisation, and by using the power of our imagination, we are able to sharpen and tap into our intuitive senses.
Many of us, as we get older, tend to neglect the importance of our imaginative mind. We see it as something that was useful during childhood, but is now no longer of use as we enter the logical world of adulthood.
But imagination is far more than this.
Our imagination is the creative part of who we are. It’s the part of our conscious mind that helps us to manifest what we want our life to be.
Fairy tales and stories are also things that we associate with childhood.
Most of us remember the stories of Red Riding hood, Aladdin, Cinderella and the rest, but we probably saw them as just that - stories.
But fairytales can act as a tool to sharpen our imaginative and visualisation powers.
They’re full of symbolism and metaphors that are able to teach us valuable lessons about magick and how to use our intuition. Many fairy tales contain secrets of spellcasting!
They also teach us about our emotions, thoughts and aspirations, and as such, they allow us to develop a higher level of self awareness that helps us navigate life.
Take the story of Aladdin for instance.
The original story of Aladdin can be traced back to the 'One Thousand and One Nights' collection, also known as 'Arabian Nights'. This collection of stories and folktales - by various authors and written in Arabic - was compiled over several centuries by storytellers all across the Middle Eastern world, from modern day Iraq and Iran, Egypt, Morocco and Northern Africa, right the way to India and Pakistan.
It was started sometime in around the 720's BC, though the actual year is unknown, and Aladdin is just one of the stories in this vast volume of tales.
The story is based around a young boy called Aladdin who stumbles across a magick lamp containing a Jinn (genie) who grants him three wishes, which makes him powerful and wealthy. But a jealous and vindictive sorcerer discovers the source of Aladdin’s power and steals the lamp from him.
The story of Aladdin teaches us to stay humble, even in times of high success and good fortune - to never forget the important things in life and to always remain aware of danger that may lurk just around the corner.
We should never forget where we came from and who helped us get there.
The genie grants Aladdin 3 wishes. Much within witchcraft uses the power of 3 in magickal castings, and the number 3 has long held magickal significance, representing the union between the Divine Masculine number 1 and the Divine Feminine number 2.
The genie himself represents the conscious mind - the power of thought and the ability to manifest what we want through those thoughts, by tapping into our intuition and imagination.
Luckily we don’t just get 3 wishes - our own creative ability is unlimited!
The story teaches us about the power of manifestation and how our thoughts shape our reality.
The phrase he uses -“your wish is my command” - is an accurate one; we are able to command our reality.
The lamp too holds symbolism and meaning, representing the subconscious mind,
as it contains the bulk of our consciousness (our Jinn). It is also a visual representation of light and energy, essential components of any magickal work.
The jealous sorcerer is a representation of our ego, who will steal our power and try to derail our dreams if we allow it to. He represents distraction and obstacles which are self-imposed and get in our way of realising our wishes and true potential. He’s our own mental and emotional blocks we place on our creative abilities.
He’s also a reminder for us to stay humble, to not get distracted by our ego and that if we don’t listen to him, we have the power to manifest whatever we want in our lives.
Aladdin is just one fairytale out of hundreds we could look deeper at and learn a great deal from.
There are never any coincidences in life - everything is there for a reason. And all stories are a big part of our history and magickal origins, passed down the sands of time from parent to child, mostly orally, long before the written word even existed.
Stories are magick and thought tools, designed to sharpen our creative abilities.
They’ve been used over thousands of years of our evolution to help us connect deeper with our intuative senses, our environment, with nature and with each other.
It’s true to say that were it not for stories we probably wouldn’t exist today, as they helped keep our ancestors safe from “monsters” and various dangers in our world.
Our stories form a large part of our understanding of the universe we call home. They are a sacred part of who we are. By telling them to our children, we are ensuring that sacred and magickal nature remains intact for centuries to come.
So next time you hear a fairytale, piece of folklore or a childhood story, don’t take it at face value - look a little deeper as it may hold the secrets of magick itself, and teach you how to access your intuition, creative powers or how to navigate your conscious and subconscious mind.
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