The Perception of Magick

Throwing a banana peel across your kitchen may have more to do with magick than you realize, as Adam Blackthorne explains.

When I eat a banana I should probably be sensible and walk over to the recycling bin, and drop my banana peel where it belongs. But most of the time I throw my banana peel across the kitchen, aiming for the bin. Half the time it goes in. When it doesn’t, I have to walk across and pick the bits of ragged banana off the wall. You’d think after all this time I’d be a better shot. I’m not, but it goes in half the time, so that’s good enough for me. I enjoy the challenge.

Magick is more reliable than a thrown banana peel. Magick works more than half the time. This is relevant as well as surprising. When you do magick, you’re sort of expected to get used to magick after a while. Being too uncool and amazed at your results is supposed to be like saying I Don’t Really Believe in Magick. You’re meant to be relaxed. But the sense of wonder never fades for me. And it shouldn’t fade for you. Wonder is not the same as doubt, and magick is wondrous. Let’s not trivialise what we’re capable of doing with magick.

You can treat magick as an experiment, an opportunity, a possibility, a hope or an expectation, but you know it’s not like opening a can of beans. This is not the ordinary world. You’re calling on spirits to work supernatural magick for you. You’re imposing your will on reality. That’s a big deal. I suspect magick has been simplified so much, it’s become too easy to take it for granted. This can numb your results, because when you get complacent about magick you forget gratitude. Gratitude is an essential ingredient, so don’t miss it out. Enjoy magick, appreciate your results. Simple formula, but many people miss it. And the key? Even if it only works half the time, enjoy magick, appreciate your results.

I know that magick works more than half the time. But when Damon Brand started publishing our work, back in 2014, I was sceptical about it working for lots of people. Lo and behold, I was wrong. Which should have been obvious. Study carefully, use a bit of imagination and emotional energy, and within days you can get results. There are lots of ways to stuff magick up, and most of the posts on this website are about how to avoid the stuff ups. But overall, it works, if you’re the sort of person that’s drawn to magick. Your banana peel will hit its target nearly every time. And that’s really something.

Not that long ago a reader said the Magickal Cashbook seemed like too much hassle. I almost fell out of my hammock. You get a notebook, scribble some words and symbols, say the words out loud and money appears. It’s so easy, it’s easy to dismiss. Too easy. And that’s the problem we’ve created. We’ve simplified magick to the point where people don’t realise just what power is available. I’m not bragging and saying, ‘Our magick is so awesome you should fall to your knees in amazement.’ I’m saying there’s a magick notebook that brings cash. That’s pretty dammed mind-blowing.

When I first came across the magickal cashbook, it seemed like the most unbelievable way of cheating reality. Way better than working. Ok, I’m exaggerating. You’re not going to make a living or get super wealthy using that magick alone. But it works most of the time and brings money out of nowhere. And yet our humble reader thought the magick seemed too difficult. Magick doesn’t get any easier than this. Except perhaps in Words of Power, where you say a few words, once, and that’s it, you’re done. The magick in all our books is deceptively simple, and you might have no idea how simple it is compared to some magick. Trust me. There are magickal systems that take years of work before you get any results. So five minutes of your time isn’t much to ask, to change your reality. Magick is absolutely stunning, and that it works at all is a miracle.

There are many ways of working with magick. You might use magick to solve problems, to plan ahead and structure your future, or you might be in there every day, weaving magick into the fabric of your daily life. It’s all good. But remember that magick is a small investment on your part, for what you can get in return.

If somebody had told me, when I was a snot-nosed little kid, that I could make a magick book, that would bring me money, I’d have thought it was a joke. But I’d have wanted it to be true. It is true. I’m not trying to sound all loud and proud about our work. The magick is not ours. Magick is, magick exists, and we’ve taken methods from private sources, and many traditions, and created a simplified set of systems that can work. So this is not pride, but a gentle reminder. If you’re one of the few that gets magick, that is drawn to magick, don’t turn against your instinct. Trust it, and see where you go.

When magick is so simple, you expect it to work every time, or you get all snarky. I still throw my banana peel, and it only makes it half the time. If magick only worked half the time, that would be a miracle. I’d still do magick. I’d still do magick if it only worked a quarter of the time. Whatever you invest in magick comes back to reward you. The cost of the books is negligible, the time you put in doesn’t have to be too big a deal. Baking a cake is more demanding of your time and effort.

What about being cool, and accepting the reality of magick? Yeah, that’s important. And it just happens as time goes by, but you need to play with this contradiction. Magick is wondrous and strange, but also expected. This does not make it ordinary. When I see a skyscraper, I still marvel that we can build such astounding buildings. I look at them with a sense of awe and wonder. They are not ordinary. But, you know, I still believe in skyscrapers, and I’d be pretty puzzled if there were none there tomorrow. That’s how I feel about magick. Awestruck, but not at all surprised.

Magick is not a microwave oven. It’s not mechanical and predictable, but subtle and organic. Magick is quite like a cat. It needs to be coaxed and tamed, and then you get it to do what you want some of the time and it brings great pleasure. When you get good at magick it’s more like a dog and does what you want (almost) all the time. And so I think a healthy approach to magick is to accept that it works, to expect it to work, but to turn amazement into gratitude.

Truth is, if magick doesn’t work, it might mean you stuffed up somewhere – not with the details, but with your choices, your intent, your emotional shifts. Or it could be that it’s going to take a whole lot longer to work than you want it to. But don’t focus on the negative. Learn what works. Enthusiasm goes a long way.

And be thrilled by it. The universe is not a gigantic mechanical space-clock that’s ticking away until the end of time. It’s a boiling froth of life and chaos that listens when you call. When you impose order on the chaos, when you make your magickal choices, the universe takes notice, befriends you, has your back.

You may not get any better at throwing banana peels across the room. But stay amazed by magick. Things are going to start happening.

– Adam Blackthorne