I am never sure why some people believe in magick, and others don’t. Until you get a result, why should you believe in magick? Thankfully, most people with an interest in magick get an inkling that reality will yield to the magick they perform. The willingness to try magick, with an open mind, is often enough to get that first result.
When doing magick it is important that you believe in the possibility that magick works. This might sound blindingly obvious, but remember that some people try magick out as a test, to see if it will work. Others sense the reality of magick for many years, and then dive in. Whatever the case, when you actually perform a ritual, you are not testing the magick, but imposing your will on reality and assuming that it will work. This directed will is more important than belief. Despite this, I remain fascinated by the role that belief plays in empowering magick.
When I was young, I remember being quite dismayed to see books about magick in the non-fiction section of my local book store. Adults believed this stuff? I flipped through some of those books and was so dumbfounded with boredom that I managed to forget about magick for some time. But simply knowing that people believed in magick, had a huge effect on me. Until then, I’d assumed magick only appeared in fairy tales. Now I knew that some adults tried to change reality with magick. That was stunning. In later years, when I saw advertisements for magick books in a popular psychic magazine, I felt that I had to at least try magick. To dismiss it would be to miss an opportunity. When I came to ‘try’ the magick, I did not really believe, but I performed the magick as though I believed, and that was enough.
I was quite sceptical in some ways, but at the very core of my being I believed that there was more to the world than we were being told by convention. I enjoyed science, but I knew it was only part of the story. My fundamental belief that reality could be affected by human will was important. I didn’t test magick, as such, but acted as though it would work, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Some people perform magick without actually believing the spirits are objectively real. To me, the angels and spirits of magick are absolutely, undeniably real. But belief of this kind doesn’t matter. Many people act as though the angels are real, without genuinely believing it, and they still get results. An overall belief in magick is not essential, so long as you can act as though it’s real.
When it comes to actually performing magick, to obtain a specific result, belief may be a little more important. You need some degree of faith in the magickal result being inevitable. If you perform a ritual, and compulsively doubt the magick, your doubt can prevent it from manifesting.
The level of need you feel can increase your sense of doubt that a result will come. Your belief is then undermined by your desperation. This leads to people performing several rituals at once, to force the magick to work. If you bombard reality with nine different rituals, something’s got to give, surely. Unfortunately, this approach indicates such a serious level of doubt, and a deep fear that the magick will fail, that results are not likely. If you do one ritual, and trust that it will work, that’s far more effective than fifty rituals that are filled with fear and doubt. It is the quality of your magick and your personal level of confidence, that dictates the likelihood of results.
I should add that when you break a problem down, and use combined magickal approaches to affect each aspect of the problem, that approach can definitely work. Such a method shows patient wisdom, rather than magickal overkill.
But if you have doubts, how can you increase your belief? It can’t be forced. The solution here is not to work on your belief directly, or try to increase your faith in magick, but to look for areas of inner resistance. That is, you work on your self as much as on the external.
Often, we go straight for the cash and the success, and worry about the self later, but the smallest changes to the self can yield the greatest real-world rewards. If your money magick isn’t working, it probably means you are resistant to wealth in some way. Or you may be unwilling to make the changes required to attract more money into your life. If you use The 72 Sigils of Power to discover more about your self, and your true feelings toward money, and your feelings and beliefs about the things you want to do in life, that can unlock the doors to success. A few small insights into the self can remove resistance. This is far better than doing ten more money rituals.
Magick is not meant to be overwhelmingly complex. Life is complicated enough, and magick is a way of handing your desire over to spirits, who will help make it come into being. Simply doing magick with an open mind is often the gateway to magickal success.
Assume that your magick will get you the result you want. Accept that the result will come when it comes. Know that you are required to contribute to the process by putting in as much real-world effort as you can. Feel gratitude for all that you have. Imagine your results as though they have already happened. Repeat this process often enough, and there is no need to work on belief. You will find the confidence that’s required for your magickal efforts to yield the results you seek.
– Damon Brand