Laws of Magic: II Law of Attention

II Law of Attention:
All Worldviews exist as potential, gaining momentum the more energy and belief we put into them. The more one seeks to support a given law, conclusion, or Worldview, the more evidence one will find. We create our world, moment by moment (as illustrated by the first Law) by means of the recursive internal dialogue of words and symbols with which we constantly edit our perceptions. By focusing our attention to a specific purpose, we rearrange our worldview. In other words, belief is paramount to the function of magic, while doubt in oneself or one’s goal sabotage’s the goal before it can be achieved.

In physics, this is akin to the Observer Effect (some will no doubt get a chuckle from the name of this phenomena), whereby the results of an experiment changes with the observer (Ex. Schrödinger’s Cat). You can use this law to reinforce your Worldview. By seeking to validate your Worldview, you create the evidence you seek, which is both a function and a danger of this Law. Your subconscious provides the symbolism and signs to which your conscious mind responds. A kind of synchronicity occurs between your subconscious and conscious mind which results in coincidental observations. These observations make it seem that what you believe is true or increases your belief that something is true, thereby reinforcing your focus on your personal truth. If you don't see the danger here yet, then consider how our slender anti-friend hunts.

Though this is normally an unconscious function of the mind, it can be done consciously through the use of syllogisms (the conscious stringing together of symbols which lead your mind in a specific direction). Therein lies the power of the Law of Attention. So long as you can maintain focus on your personal truth, you can begin to bend reality to your will. The longer you are able to maintain this attention or the more energy you put into your desires, the more you are able to convince yourself, and the minds around you, of your personal truth. The more minds agree on a "truth," the longer the universe will allow it to last.

By simply desiring a Worldview to be true, your mind begins to discard any illusions between you and its validation (this is called "wish magic" by some). In other words, you see more evidence of its reality because you are no longer disregarding it. The evidence may have existed all along, but until you were ready to accept it, it remained hidden from you. On the other hand, you are also actively creating this evidence as you go as a means of reinforcing the Worldview you are consciously or unconsciously building.

In the long run, this Law is invaluable for strengthening your Worldview. By stringing along events and symbols in a logical fashion, you can prove a Worldview is possible. In doing so, changes to your current Worldview become easier. What I mean is, if you are attempting to alter your current Worldview to a new one (in other words- working a spell), then use of the second Law facilitates that change.

This law has a secondary function applicable to divination. It deals with interpretation of omens and portents which connect to our subconscious desires, and which many fail to note prior to the event they foretell. Those who have a talent for divination can learn to read the will of the Tao reality through the Law of Attention.

Affirmations are one of the easiest ways to put the Law of Worldviews into effect, but the Law of Attention deals more precisely with accessing the subconscious through symbolism. The simplest way to do this is by creating a sigil. A sigil can be produced by collecting any words which apply to the reality you wish to create. Some books will tell you to choose letters from an alphabet that the writer considers in some way magical, but any alphabet or system of symbols can be used. When you are just starting out, it is more important to be familiar with your tools (your own alphabet in this instance) as a boost to your confidence. Later you can choose an alphabet to which you may attach special significance.

To create a simple sigil, write a short sentence pertaining to your hoped for goal. Reduce each word to the first letter and throw out any letters which repeat. Combine the letters, eliminating shared lines, until you have a symbol which is a representation of all the letters. Draw this form on a clean sheet of paper, using whatever ink you feel appropriate. This will be your sigil once you empower it (by focusing your will on the symbol and investing it with the power of your belief in what it represents). Once you put it to use, watch for the changes you desire in your reality. Acknowledgment of those changes will further validate your worldview.

The Laws of Magic

Think of magic like a car. Almost anyone can drive a car with the proper training, but if something doesn’t work right, very few people can fix it on their own. You can be given instructions, but when magic (or your car) fails spectacularly, you can end up injured or dead. So it is then quite important to understand the finer laws of magic if you wish to become adept at using it, not only to fix what doesn’t work, but to avoid injury of yourself or others when you delve into the greater mysteries.

Like Newton’s law of gravity or Einstein’s law of relativity, magic has its own theories, here called Laws, but also referred to as Axioms in many old books. These explain how thought energy influences the physical world. There are twenty-seven laws, not including their sublaws (which make it thirty-nine).

Every tool and symbol, every herb, stone, or other item used in a spell, is merely a way to maximize your thought energy to ensure that the thing you want to occur does. Using such tools allows you to focus on the tool as a symbol of your will. That is not to say that these things do not have power on their own, but understanding the Laws of Magic will allow you to benefit from the energy intrinsic in such paraphernalia, thus allowing you to reserve more of your personal energies for emergencies.

Magic is dependent upon thought, but not only your own. Beliefs have power, traditions wear pathways through reality that make movement in one direction or another easier. Just as ley lines collect the excess energy that living things naturally release in the course of existing, there are patterns of thought which have power through the combined energies of generations of magic folk. The laws I will post here will allow you to access these energy patterns and bend them to your will. The time of miracles is quickly returning and those with the ability to influence reality should be made aware of these laws so that their lives do not end abruptly and spectacularly for want of a learners permit.

For now, it is important that you understand that science and magic are not mutually exclusive thought patterns. While Science examines the physical world, magic seeks to unlock the world science refuses to observe or even acknowledge. Both are extensions of philosophy however. For the purposes of explaining magic and science, there are two corresponding philosophies: idealism and materialism.

• Idealism says that all of reality is based on thought. Thought creates matter. If your thoughts were strong enough, you could perform miracles... fly, walk through walls, create life.
• Materialism pertains to the material universe.  In materialism, there is no room for thought to influence matter unless it is by artificial means.

Therefore science and magic become two extremes of a sliding scale, each a useful tool as we attempt to alter the world in which we live. Some parts of the physical world are difficult to influence with magic, but easily altered through the application of science. Do you suppose it would be easier to pick something up in your hand and carry it with you, or use your mind? The answer, while in some cases circumstantial, would be your hand. It is merely a matter of how you choose to apply the energy available to you.