Passionate Theme of the Day: Magic

“That’s the thing with magic. You’ve got to know it’s still here, all around us, or it just stays invisible for you.” ~Charles de Lint

“Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.”

“Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Of the several definitions of the word magic at freedinctionary.com, my favorites are “a mysterious quality of enchantment” and “to produce or make by or as if by magic”.  I’m not talking hocus-pocus. I’m talking about everyday, yummy little, juicy juju. The magic mojo we find in the mundane. The joie de vivre of our daily doing and being.

I recently spent a few days in AZ with my almost 3 year-old niece (Miss Alyssa). And I can’t stop thinking about magic and awe and wonder. Spending time with a little one always opens my eyes to the good stuff. Children are SO completely open to the magic of the Universe. Everything has a magical spin on it. Alyssa was fascinated by the magic tent in the living room, made from a blanket, pillows and couch cushions. She used a flashlight as her secret weapon and magic laser to guide her under the covers.

She got excited over the humming birds buzzing at the feeder. She was super stoked about the mini desert lizards scampering about. She jumped out of the pool each time a plane would fly by and wondered where each one was destined for. “Where are they going?” she kept asking.

As adults, we often witness magical moments as synchronicities. Some people consider these occurrences “coincidence”. But you and I know there are NO coincidences! According to this little nugget I found at wikipedia:

Freud explains that “the associated theory of magic merely explains the paths along which magic proceeds; it does not explain its true essence, namely the misunderstanding which leads it to replace the laws of nature by psychological ones”.

Freud emphasizes that what led primitive men to come up with magic is the power of wishes: “His wishes are accompanied by a motor impulse, the will, which is later destined to alter the whole face of the earth in order to satisfy his wishes. This motor impulse is at first employed to give a representation of the satisfying situation in such a way that it becomes possible to experience the satisfaction by means of what might be described as motor hallucinations.

This kind of representation of a satisfied wish is quite comparable to children’s play, which succeeds their earlier purely sensory technique of satisfaction. [...] As time goes on, the psychological accent shifts from the motives for the magical act on to the measures by which it is carried out—that is, on to the act itself. [...] It thus comes to appear as though it is the magical act itself which, owing to its similarity with the desired result, alone determines the occurrence of that result."]

Whew! Guess that’s Freud’s long-winded way of saying as we set our intention and focus, essentially “wish” for a desired outcome, we begin stirring the cosmic cauldron, jump starting the jalopy…as we imagine our desire in our minds eye, we become the observer of the experiment itself, thus co-creating our own reality. Literally pulling into play the “magic”, which appears as the synchronicity of events, objects, experiences and occurrences, into our “reality”.

Over at thealchemicalegg.com Robert Michael Place’s article, Synchronicity and Magic highlights some of Jung’s thoughts on synchronicity and magic:
[Synchronicity is defined by Jung as a meaningful coincidence of an external event with a psychic event, such as a dream, fantasy, or thought. These events coincide in time in a way that gives them meaning for the observer. That is, they seem like communications between a divine force and ourselves, and they confirm that there is a connection or interaction between our psyche and physical reality.

Jung gives a personal example of synchronicity in his memoirs, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. First, he describes a dream that leads up to the incident. In the dream, he was introduced, for the first time, to his inner mentor archetype, a wise old man that he called Philemon. Philemon took the form of a Hellenistic Gnostic who wore an ankle-length robe, had a long gray beard, and had the colorful wings of a kingfisher. The following quote describes an event that took place a few days after the dream, while Jung tried to capture Philemon’s image in a painting:

“During the days when I was occupied with the painting, I found in my garden, by the lakeshore, a dead kingfisher! I was thunderstruck, for kingfishers are quite rare in the vicinity of Zürich and I have never since found a dead one. The body was recently dead - at the most, two or three days - and showed no external injuries.”

(I recommend finishing Place’s article, so pop on over if you want to read the rest.) Magic instantly brings us back to a state of heightened awareness and curiosity. Our senses become engaged and our imaginations infused with inspiration and pregnant with possibilities. Think of a time when you’ve seen a really good magician pull off a cool trick. You become curious don’t you? How’d he DO that? We ask. We become present in the moment, and eager for the outcome.

How come we don’t always approach life in that manner? Often we put our blinders on and become so focused with our eyes on the prize, that we don’t notice the tiny magical moments that are our natural guides (higher self) way of lighting our path.

Our path is actually magically paved with tiny mirrors of moments that whisper, “Turn this way. Talk to that person. Listen to this lyric. Read this billboard. Call that old friend. Pick up this book. Change the station to this channel. Watch this video clip. Click on this link. Drive the long way to work today. Take the day off. Get to work early. Eat at this restaurant. Book this flight. Seek out this mentor.”

If we open our eyes and change our perception, the view is quite exquisite. Everything is exactly as it should be. Divine right timing at it’s finest. When we get anxious or agitated that things aren’t happening as fast as we’d like, in the order we think it should be happening, as “razzle dazzle” as we might wish for, or as BIG as we might desire, we simply need to shift our gaze and tap into our “awestruck inner-self”.

Use the child-like eyes that are always within us. That always “gets” the magic in every mundane moment. That allow us to see a bumper sticker that says “All those who wander are not lost.” when we’re feeling lost and confused. Acknowledge the awareness that calls us to change the channel to catch the closing scene of Breakfast at Tiffany’s to find a message just for you in Holly Golightly’s final tantrum. Witness the muse that perks up when she hears Jason Mraz’s familiar song “Wordplay” just as she’s about to share an idea for a product about words and language. The gentle nudge from within that tells you to post your articles at ezinearticles.com and you’ll attract inquiries for writing gigs, and the very next day you get one (see Success & Happiness Book!)

You see, we are all wizards, and sorcerers and genies and magicians. We all have the ability to create our realities as we desire and as we wish.  Mark West, an English professor specializing in children’s literature, who ran a kids camp based on the Harry Potter books at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, had this to say about the author J.K. Rowling:

“She so thoroughly and creatively develops her world that you really can feel what it’s like to be at Hogwarts,” West said. “For the kids who get into the stories, it’s fun to kind of imagine that you are at Hogwarts, that you have those special abilities.”

We all do have those special abilities. We also have the same ability that Rowling has. Why couldn’t we, “So thoroughly and creatively develop (OUR) world that you really can feel what it’s like to be at (anywhere YOU desire?).” J.K. Rowling had a magical vision of a fantastical place.

How fan-freakin-tastical is the place YOU envision residing the rest of YOUR life? If your life were a story, how would you write it? What would you look like? What do your surroundings look like? How does your home feel, smell, sound, look? What time of day do you work, play, eat, and sleep? Do you dance, sing, play? Do you work, laugh, love?

There is magic in each and every moment. In the life you currently live and in the act of creating the life you want to live. But you gotta see it to believe it. And then you gotta write it down!! Then you gotta break down the daily activities that the person who lives that life would do each day. And re-visit the vision often. What’s it gonna take for you to get there? Re-visit the vision once a week? Once a month? Once a year? How long are you going to wait to begin taking those action steps?

If Rowling went from homeless to multi-millionaire by writing down her vision, what could you create if you allowed yourself to really go there?

Get in there and get after it! Start watching for the signs and syncs that will gently guide you along your journey. There is magic woven throughout the tapestry that is your life. Stop. Breathe. Look. Listen. See? It’s all right there. Just pull back the curtains. Dust off the cobwebs. Open your arms and receive it.

What yummy magic are you creating today?

Please keep me posted of your real-life magical mystery tour…I’d love to help you celebrate!

Yours in real life wizardry,
Abra-Kam-dabra