Changes Aren’t Permanent, But Change Is

It’s been a while since I’ve put out a blog post. My life has been going through a lot of changes over the past six or eight months. Most people, if you ask them, will tell you that they don’t like change. Change is bad. As Witches and Pagans, we accept that change is a constant, which makes no sense mathematically, but is a fact none the less. (The math geeks and programmers will get that.)

Most people look at change as bad, because the changes you tend to remember most, are the ones that cause problems. Even so, it still comes down to how you look at the change, as to whether it seems positive or negative. You have the power to decide if the change is good or bad. Let me give you an example.

Last November, the job I’d had since 1987, went away. The company I worked for was sold, and the company who bought, didn’t need me, my staff, or our department. *POOF* Job gone.

Don't Panic!

Now, most people would, and in fact did, panic. You see, of the 5000+ employees of the company I worked for, only about a hundred were kept. Everyone else, including me, were let go. As horrible as that sounds, I was happy and content with it. While the rats were all jumping ship, I sat back and relaxed.

Part of it was because I knew that all the useless people I’d had to deal with, would soon be gone. The more useless you are, the faster you jump. I understood that the next year or more, was going to be the most enjoyable I had had in years! The only people who would be left at the company, would be the most competent. Once they announced a date for Conversion of our customers to their system, they started calling people into HR, to discuss severance.

Those who had jumped ship, never got any money. They went from one job to another. I was not only offered a good severance, but if I stayed until the end, which was going to be eight months after Conversion, they offered to pay me a whole lot of money on top of the severance. They needed me, and were happy to pay me nearly three times my annual salary, to stay, and basically do nothing. How is that bad? It’s certainly change.

At this time last year, I was going into the office one day a week. The other four days, I worked from home, which consisted of getting up at 6am (two hours later than normal), logging onto the system at work, and then doing whatever I wanted. Yeah, I had a horrible job. It was Summer, and I didn’t have to go to work. Whatever would I do?

The End of an Era

Eventually, November came around, and my services were no longer required. I was completely free of my job. I had saved more than enough to last me until my severance came, so I spent the last two months of the year on vacation. I did nothing. I enjoyed that.

How was I able to enjoy that entire time, when everyone else around me was panicking? Simple. This was just another change, and I knew that no matter what happened, I would survive. It certainly helped that I don’t have a family to support. Even if I did, I expect my wife would be working, which would only stretch my severance further. Either way, I would be able to work on ways I wanted to make money, that didn’t involve getting another job.

My attitude about my job going away, was that it was an opportunity to do what I wanted, where I get paid based on my ability, not what someone else thinks the job is worth. I chose to look at my situation as an opportunity, not a catastrophe. Everyone else I worked with, saw it as a catastrophe, not an opportunity. Their cozy, stable income was about to end. How would they pay their bills? How would they eat? Their world was coming to an end. Same exact situation, two different ways of looking at it.

I also know that if I need to get a job, I can always drive for Uber, working 10pm to 4am on the weekends, driving drunks home from the bar, and make up to $1200 a weekend. Where others see obstacles, I see opportunities. It’s more than simply being optimistic. It’s the way a Witch looks at the world. Instead of taking the easy way, and saying I can’t, I look and ask, how can I? The world opens up, when you ask ‘How can I?’.

Moving Forward

I have a trip to England I want to take this November. I have no job, no income at this point. There is no way the money I currently have will last until then, so I have no way to afford the plane ticket or the hotel, yet I still plan to make the trip. Your first thought is there’s no way. My first thought is, how can I? I’m a Witch. I do magick. There is nothing I can’t do, if I set my mind to it. If you don’t believe you can do the same, you won’t be a successful Witch.

First thing to so, is take stock of my resources. I own a three-bedroom house. It’s only me, so I only need one bedroom. Currently, the other two bedrooms are my office, and my Ritual Room. I hate having roommates. As I tell friends, the only time I want a roommate, is if I’m sleeping with her. That attitude had to change. I’m currently cleaning out the Ritual Room, and will be renting it out. That one roommate will pay all but about $50 of my mortgage.

Cleaning out the office, and moving it downstairs, will double the rent, and not only pay all the bills, but give me some spending money. If I move into the basement (which is unfinished for now) and rent out the third bedroom, I will have a monthly rental income greater than what I was taking home from my old job. Do I want to rent out rooms and take on roommates? No, but if that’s what it takes to go to England in November, that’s what I will do.

This is why ‘How can I?’ is never the easy way. I can’t, is way easier. You don’t have to do anything with I can’t. You just continue doing whatever you are already doing. ‘How can I?’ requires you to do something. You first have to come up with a plan, then you have to actually follow it. Whenever I take on a new student, I talk about doing The Work required to be a Witch. This is what The Work looks like. Doing what needs to be done, in order to bring about the result you want.

This is the basis of magick. You cast the spell, then do what needs to be done, in order to bring about the manifestation of the spell. If you can’t do what needs to be done in your everyday life, you will never be able to do it in your spiritual life. They are one in the same. Accepting that change is constant, you can either accept the change as it happens, or you can be run over by it. The choice is all yours.

Accepting Change

By accepting the change, and looking for the opportunities it brings, you will live a much happier life than the vast majority of people. If you look around you, at the people you know, family, coworkers, friends, most of them are unhappy. Why? Because they run from change. No matter how bad their life may be, even when the only possible direction is up, they run from change. They are comfortable with how things are. They may not like how things are, but it is known, so it’s comfortable.

Change is uncomfortable. It’s the fear of the Unknown. People don’t know what change will bring, so they fear and avoid it. I embrace change. Even when it looks terrifyingly horrible. I understand that just as I get comfortable with life, change will happen. I look for the positive within any change. Do I want roommates? No, but I see that having roommates will allow me to continue living the way I want, without fear of how I will pay the bills.

I also see that using the rent to finish my basement, will allow me to bring in more roommates, and thus more money. I’ve worked in the Financial Industry for 30 years. I know that this economy is held up by bubblegum and bailing wire. Having income that is Recession Proof, where I don’t have to worry about being fired, is a good thing. I also understand that when the economy does fall, and it will, having the money to buy houses when they become cheap again, will not only allow me to make more money, but also allow me to buy a better house for myself. No more roommates!

By doing something I don’t want to do today, I can set up the magick and the plan, to get what I want tomorrow, even though tomorrow is a few years away at the moment. The Long Game is where a Witch looks, to see the future. Look beyond today, to see what tomorrow may bring, then ask ‘How can I bring that to me?’ That is exactly what we did at the beginning of the year, with our manifestation spell. We looked into the future for what we wanted. We planed the seed at Imbolc. We cast the spell at Ostara. We are now tending the manifestation, half way to harvesting it.

Manifestation Is Change

Everything you’ve read here today, will help you, not just with this manifestation, but every manifestation you ever want to do. Manifesting is change. Every spell you could ever do, creates change. If you are unwilling to accept and embrace change, you will never be successful at magick. If magick is change, you must accept change in order to do magick. It really is as simple as that.

I have been writing a book for the past few weeks, which is one of the reasons I haven’t been putting posts up. I’m about half way done with it now. Unlike the other two books I’ve written, this one isn’t on Witchcraft, it’s on politics, which means there’s no guarantee a Publisher will accept it. Even so, I am writing it, because even if no Traditional Publisher will take it, I can always publish it myself. The book expresses a view you don’t hear, which makes it unique, and I hope valuable. I don’t write what everyone else is writing, there’s no point.

When I first put this site up, I promised to publish information you couldn’t get in any book on Witchcraft. Search all you want, you won’t find this kind of information anywhere but here. That is what I offer to those who are ready to use it. I know that most who read what I write, aren’t ready. That’s fine. Someday they might be. I write for those who are ready.

The title of this post comes from the lyrics of a song. When I first heard it, I was struck by the truth of it. That is the mark of a good song. A good song relates inescapable truths. This particular song writer tends to do that a lot. Can anyone tell me the name of the song, and the group?

Put that in the comments below, as well as your thoughts on what I’ve said. I’ll see if I can’t come up with a prize for the first person with the correct answer.