Practical Magic: A Beginner's Guide to Crystals, Horoscopes, Psychics, and Spells - Nikki Van De Car 2017

Conclusion
Dream Interpretation
Casual Clairvoyance

IF YOU CHOSE TO PICK UP THIS BOOK, THEN YOU WERE PROBABLY already interested and perhaps already knew some of the information contained here. So some chapters may have had you nodding sagely, gaining a deeper understanding of herbal healing or astrology or chakras. And some chapters may have had you thinking to yourself, “this is a load of hooey”—which is totally fine!

The best chapters are the ones that you didn’t already find interesting before you started, that you looked at with skepticism. But you read them anyway, and you came out on the other side wondering—what if? What if auras are a real thing, even if we can’t see them yet ourselves? What if tarot can help us understand truths within ourselves that we might not otherwise be able to see?

If you accept and embrace the concept of chakras, then using crystals to aid in chakra-based healing just makes sense. It is a very short leap from herbal healing to herbal magic, so short the two are almost indistinguishable. And while our Western culture doesn’t generally celebrate pagan holidays anymore, they are at the root of so many holidays we do celebrate that their traditions are both joyous and fun.

That’s all we’re hoping for here—a little curiosity, a willingness to ask, “what if?” If you chuckle at the idea of doing spells, but can’t imagine yourself actually sitting and casting one without dying of embarrassment, then spells are not the right kind of magic for you! But if you find yourself better able to understand your own dreams—and therefore deal with the issues your subconscious is struggling with—then, for all practical purposes, that, too, is magic.

Pull that tarot card, and see what it says. Study the lines on your palm to gain greater self-knowledge. What can your natal chart tell you about yourself, about the ways you react to certain kinds of situations, and how can you use that information to live your life with greater ease?

And if you do all that, is it magic? Is any of this magic? If chakras are rooted in an early understanding of the human endocrine system, are they, in fact, science? If you cast a healing spell on your best friend and she gets better, was that you or was it her immune system?

Perhaps the question ought to be—does it matter? If we do no harm, and perhaps even some good, then all that matters is what we believe is possible. If we simply allow for the possibility of magic, it can become real, practical, and true. We make it so, and so mote it be.