Heart Light

Heart first into dark times

Photo by Cathal Mac an Bheatha on Unsplash

Lately I’ve been been pondering the light in my heart and what my highest self is pushing me add to the world right now. Because the world is… a lot. And we need to be thoughtful about what we add to it.

In the chaos of this world - which is not unprecedented, of course, but may be unprecedented in the West during our lifetimes - I see more and more people fearful, confused, and frozen in place. Which brings me to the power of Magical Sovereignty and Risk Management.

This past week, I was able to share a much truncated version of my Risky Business course as a 90-minute workshop with the Rune Soup Premium Membership.

(Thank you Gordon for agreeing to my proposal - though you couldn’t be there in person, I hope I met your expectations.)

In the feedback from that workshop (which was overwhelming, honestly) I saw just how important and critical that material is. Because the world is really frightening right now and the kind of low grade terror it foments is BAD for us. Not just bad for our hearts and minds, but bad for our ability to make good decisions, take smart chances, face and manage risk, fix things that are going wrong, and do effective enchantment.

I’m going to be sharing a series of quotes and thoughts from that presentation here because this isn’t just Next Week in Magic, it’s your whole life in magic - it’s getting through the years that area ahead of us in magic - it’s continuing to live and enchant in magic. And it’s not fucking optional right now.

So let's start with my biggest, hottest hot take. Thinking about bad things will not make them happen. I know. Everyone in the new age is like, what? Wait a minute. The truth is that acknowledging worst case scenarios can actually be beneficial. That's stoic philosophy. And things like defensive pessimism, acceptance of death, and not getting too tied to outcomes, aka magical lust for results, can increase your gratitude, reduce anxiety, and actually improve your practical outcomes.
~Ivy Bromius, Risky Business Workshop

If you ignore risk it doesn’t go away. And if you think about risk, it doesn’t make it happen. And that’s because thinking about something is NOT sufficient for manifestation. If it were we’d all be lottery winners, living on private islands getting fed grapes by gorgeous, half-naked... (no? just me? OK, moving on…)

My point stands: thinking about something bad that might happen doesn’t make it happen. Dwelling on something bad that might happen, while not doing anything to keep it from happening, and instead actually doing things that make it more likely to happen… that’s how we manifest self-fulfilling prophecies. And outright ignoring possible bad things just let them sneak up on you unawares.

So when you are either completely ignoring or fear spiraling over (waves hands at, well, everything basically) you end up more likely to get caught up in that very thing rather than leverage your coherence and will power and kickass magical talent to mitigate or avoid it.

So the first practical advice I can give you is: make choices that reduce your fear AND increase your sense of power and sovereignty. Not because that alone makes everything OK, but because that mindset is what you need to even get started.

More next week and if you want to go deeper, you have two options:

1. Take the Risky Business course

2. Join the Sovereignty Arc (you don’t have to do it alone; we’ll do it together)

What about Next Week in Magic?

Bluntly, if you want to know - for example - that this Wednesday is good for classic Mercurial road opening (and access a free road opening rite to use for it) then go to my site, join the Inner Circle, and get a copy of the planner for yourself. It’s free to get started and try everything out, it costs less than a fancy coffee and some avocado toast, and you’ll get all the video explanations, monthly rituals, 29-day Lunation Rite, magic training, and so on.

The Inner Circle is how this substack remains free, with no paid subscriber option.

(The economics is not “my writing” in exchange for money, but “change your whole life with magic” in exchange for money - and I fucking stand by that.)