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Boy in a Suitcase

18:10 / 21.08.05

I'm going through the rather embarrasing and groan-inducing process of typing up and organizing my magical records from the last couple of years and had a general question:

What criteria do people use to perform self-checks? What do you measure progress by?

Do you break down and take a look at, say, your body, your mind, relationships, your place in life, where you are compared to where you want to be? Do you use specific yardsticks to measure yourself against, like, say percentage of time that your magick works, how much $ you have, how much you're getting laid, etc.? Or do you use more general standards, such as happiness, feelings of being "in the groove" or doing your will, or even how you compare to peers?

Do you have detailed analytical processes or schema to see what needs to be worked on in your life?

Most curious to see what people have to say!

Unconditional Love

10:59 / 22.08.05

Dont do it, dont measure, it sets limitation.

But if i have too peace of mind, freedom, health and well being.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

15:03 / 22.08.05

Is my life objectively more fucked up than it was before I started doing X (where X = course of magical action and fucked = overdue library books, unopened bank statements, poor personal grooming, talking to self in supermarket, frightening passersby ect)?

If no, try doing X a bit harder.
If yes, go and do something not X.

15:24 / 22.08.05

If I do a ritual with a particular end in mind, I always try to determine whether it was a success -- that is, whether the end result is something that, if I had considered it before doing the ritual, I would have deemed a success. Sometimes this isn't apparent until weeks or months later.

I also try to recognize when a ritual has been a failure. If I don't achieve my goal, I try to (i) admit it, (ii) consider whether there was something I could have done (magically OR practically) to improve the working or my results, and (iii) consider whether I want to try again.

Back when I had a regular ritual practice I also used to write down how each day's practice had gone: did I do the LBRP while drunk and half-asleep, were the visualizations of the BRH particularly vivid, could I feel energy moving within me while doing the Middle Pillar? Also noted any trends in the practice, any synchronicities (which I considered a sign that I was in a groove and on the right track), and any unusual daily experiences.

With yoga and physical exercise, it's pretty clear on a daily basis whether or not I'm making progress. Right now I'm recovering from a torn muscle in my back, which is a pretty clear sign that I've fucked up.

Overall, it seems to me that the best measure is whether you're happier, healthier, having more fun, and seeing more pleasant options and possibilities open to you than at any given time in the past. If so, your practice is a success.

21:14 / 22.08.05

Overall, it seems to me that the best measure is whether you're happier, healthier, having more fun, and seeing more pleasant options and possibilities open to you than at any given time in the past. If so, your practice is a success.

Yeah, this is pretty much my angle. I don't want to get caught up in evaluating the success of every single action. This inevitably seems to lead to causal analysis which, IMHO, misses the point of magick. For me it's more about my own happiness - how attached I am to the daily grind/simulacrum/emotional BS relative to the level of connection to the numinous.

22:15 / 24.08.05

for me it is aesthetic. whether the overall picture is pleasing to the senses or not. like a good meal or a good fuck.

as nietzsche wrote:

And in what does one really recognise that someone has turned out well! In that a human being who has turned out well does our senses good: that he is carved out of wood at once hard, delicate and sweet-smelling.

23:11 / 27.08.05

What criteria do people use to perform self-checks? What do you measure progress by?

I've been wondering this a lot lately. I'm primarily a solitary worker, so I find it difficult to say I'm even taking the measurments accurately. I tend to look for my big general cues tho: balanced, healthy, providing for the family, enough dough in the bank. These don't say too much about my efficacy as a magician, per se, but that klind of thing's best noted in the journal and studied for whatever lessons can be drawn. I guess I don't dwell on it much. Is that bad or good?

Do you have detailed analytical processes or schema to see what needs to be worked on in your life?

No, I don't suppose that I do. It's more of a tuning-the-TV-by-klonking-it-with-the-back-of-your-hand schema. Primitive, but it works.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

20:25 / 08.09.05

I gave a rather flippant and simplistic answer back there, which was a bit bad of me because I think it's an important topic.

Because WIIWD is so nebulous and so subjective at times, it's very easy to fall into the trap of rationalising bad effects and situations, or offloading responsibility onto other people rather than dealing with problems in an effective way.

It's easy to use magical practice as an excuse to isolate oneself ("those muggles just don't unnerstaaand me") to behave in an unethical manner to people around you ("I am a predator moving amonst sheeplike humanity") or just plain act like a bit of a self-absorbed prat ("So what if I gave my elderly neighbour a heart attack? It's my patio, I should be able to perform the Great Rite at noon if I feel like it!")

It's also easy to slip into patterns of inappropriate drug and alcohol use, using the pursuit of altered states as an excuse not to tackle the problem.

Any checklist should first look at the physical health and emotional wellbeing of the magician. Is your practice having a positive or negative effect on your body? Are you, overall and allowing for normal ups and downs, a happier person with magic in your life than without it? (With due regard to using magic as an emotional crutch.)

Now, what about the people around you--are you having a good effect on your friends and family, or are you a drain on their resources (in terms of money, time, attention or whatever)? What about your interactions with the wider community?

Whilst I think a good magician should really be able to support hirself financially (I can't at the moment, which is something I'm working on). I don't think it's necessarily wise to fixate too much on material success; I don't think we need to have six-figure incomes or SUVs to "prove" that we're doing okay. But a good magician should generally have enough.