Now I’m singing “Emotion” in my mind. One of the first songs I found out I have a pretty high range in 🙂
But to the point of this post! Emotion is probably the larger part of the foundation of my magick. Funny thing is that in my everyday life, when shit gets real and dramatic, I usually remain quite detached from what emotions end up coming up from those around me. Even with my family, I seem to have become the one who remains calm in any given situation. The only time I get emotional is when some sort of injustice happens, then I get pissed.
I think perhaps part of me not getting overly emotional is for the most part, I know I cannot control anyone but myself. I cannot make another person or being do anything they don’t want to do. So that means I always factor in being disappointed/annoyed/frustrated/etc. into anything other people do that may involve me (in an immediate or not so immediate way); and with this, I factor in knowing that I can’t really do much about it, so it’s not worth my time to worry over. This is probably why oftentimes I don’t ask for help. I am pretty capable of doing most everything I need done, I pick up skills quickly so even if I have asked someone for something, and they don’t do it in time, I just end up doing it myself.
Again, this is just part of me knowing I cannot control what anyone else does. It’s less of a “people are largely unreliable”, and more of a “if I am capable of doing it, I know I will get it done, and do it the way I want it done”.
But that’s getting a little tangential.
There is a flipside to this, however. I am really easily and heavily affected by media of all sorts. Films, music, art, dance, literature, and yes, video games (which is to me, just highly interactive art). I feel all of that acutely, and it can and does lift me up or fuck me up. I have to be very choosy of what I consume, and it’s become increasingly important for me to surround myself with beautiful/proper mind frame inducing things (hello, Taurus!), and is a large part of my being on Tumblr now too (I follow a lot of people who put up delicious images).
This is also why I choose romance, or sweeping fantasies instead of grittier real-world things. Or, I suppose the things I watch/read have to have an otherworldly taste to it if it is grittier and emotionally messy for me to think, well, this is just a book, it’s just a story. Though really, that doesn’t always work.
So how does this all factor into my magick? Strangely enough, when I feel that well of emotion boiling under the surface, that is when I decide something needs to be done. This could be from situations that have been left to turn rotten for too long, or this could be from those in-the-moment surges. Perhaps this is why I’ve always said that regular ritual isn’t my thing, my power heavily relies upon the emotion being within me to do something with.
And this is where having those things around me that evoke those emotions, and therefore the power in them, has become important. As much as I always want to be reading non-fiction, studying things concerning my spirituality or things I’m interested in, I really need all the arts on a consistent basis in my life in order to access my power. Since I don’t sing much at this point (which had always been a very good way of accessing my power), it’s important to have consistent and regular sources for me to find that.
This means that reading and finding inspiring shows and movies, as well as music and beautiful things to look at is important. It is a constant endeavour, and one that I am happy to do.
The Forest Witch 