The Big Book of Practical Spells: Everyday Magic That Works - Judika Illes 2016

Communicating with Earth
Magic 101

If pure magic involves a dialogue between you and Earth, the most obvious question is how do we speak to her? How do we make ourselves heard? How do we receive our answers? How do we know that anything really transpired?

Although you may certainly speak to Earth, or any part of creation, in English or any other human language, it may not be the most efficient way, nor should you necessarily expect your response to come in that manner. There are various methods of shared communications that are far more effective:

· You can communicate through fragrance. Fragrance is the most primal, elemental form of communication, the one shared by plants, animals, humans and spirit beings. Smell remains the most mysterious of our senses, defying scientific explanations. The olfactory system, the part of your brain that processes scent, is lodged near the most ancient part of the brain. Fragrance stimulates the limbic system, which integrates mind, body, emotions and memory. This most mysterious of our senses is also the last to leave us, remaining active until the last breath. Humans communicate with each other through scent, signaling our romantic intentions through scents that we no longer have the aptitude to consciously smell with our noses, the pheromones. Fragrance transcends language. It bypasses the language filter; the message arrives directly in our hearts, bones and brains. The part of your brain that processes smells is intimately connected with the part that catalogs memories. Some find fragrance to be the key that opens hidden past life memories.

· You can communicate through dreams. The dream state refuses to be stifled and bound by the rigid literal confines we have imposed upon the rest of our existence. Dreams transcend language although dreams also delight in word games. Dreams are the threshold between concrete and psychic reality. Dreams are where spirits most willingly reveal themselves. Dreams are where you are most likely to receive communiqués from the Earth Mother and the relatives. You've very likely been receiving signals all your life, whether or not you consistently understood them, whether or not you sent back the response that you would have liked to. Remember, lack of response is a response, too.

· You can communicate through symbols. Symbols are the language you need for dreams and for two-way communication with the spirit realm and with those living beings among us who lack speech but still have something significant to say. Symbolic language transcends speech. You understand it as a reverberation in your brain, a knowing in your bones. It is fluid and simultaneously multilayered, rather than precise and rigid. You have the aptitude to relearn this language. I say relearn because once upon a time, all our ancestors possessed this capacity and somewhere, deep in your genetic code, the ability remains, waiting to be tapped.

Scientific studies indicate that literacy, beyond just teaching the ability to read, encourages the brain to function in different ways. Different areas of the brain are accessed and exercised while others are left to lie fallow. Both forms of thinking, linear literate and fluid symbolic, are necessary. Humans need access to both in order to be whole. We need essentially to be bilingual. You need literate thinking while you're driving. That traffic signal isn't a true symbol, it's shorthand, developed by literate minds, as well it should be. Imagine the disaster if that traffic signal meant something unique to everyone. Strictly literate thinking, however, limits your dreaming and magical capacity.

Symbols come in minute details and often use repetition as a means of showing emphasis. Magic doesn't accept the concept of coincidence, although every single repetition doesn't have equal significance. Symbols are not about what is but what could be.

To think symbolically is to read one's environment as carefully as a road map. Is that rabbit you suddenly see just a bunny? Well, yes it is, but maybe it's also the harbinger of fertility that you've been waiting for, the message from Earth that your body is ready, go home and make love. Perhaps that rabbit is an omen of good luck: rabbits have strong associations with gambling. If that rabbit is lying dead in the road, maybe this isn't the weekend for that Las Vegas trip. Is that rabbit a messenger from the Siberian spirit Kaltes come to tell you that your petition has been received? Perhaps it's Kaltes herself coming to see you, in the form of her sacred animal. You don't have to look very hard for these signs. Once you get a dialogue going, they'll come to you.

Harming none includes not harming yourself. No matter what kind of a human mother you may have had, your Earth Mother wants you to fulfill your potential, be healthy, comfortable and happy and be a source of pride to her and all your relations.

Even if you feel unable to express yourself through symbols, you should at least be able to recognize symbolic language because this is likely how Earth will talk to you. Perhaps she's been speaking to you for years but you haven't been able to pick up the messages. If you've previously attempted some magic and found yourself unsuccessful, this is a common cause. If you are putting out requests, but then seemingly ignore the reply, ultimately the reply stops. It is important that you realize that you are not inconsequential, that you're worthy of two-way dialogue with Earth and all her powers. Every power has its place in the cosmos, including yours.

Sometimes symbols embody our hopes and dreams. Imagine the woman who wants to lose weight and has taped a picture of a very skimpy bathing suit onto her refrigerator door. That symbol is more than just a reminder. Gazed upon, it may have the power to prevent the dieter from opening the freezer door and eating that ice cream. The symbol translates the dream into concrete form and can help make the dream a reality.