Question: "I've enjoyed your recent podcasts. I'm new to magickal philosophy. Any suggestions on how to get a reluctant wife to provide support, or to generate interest amonst the unsupportive in ones family? Probably a stupid question, but I bet it comes up a lot within relationships and this work. One person discovers while the others fears whats going on. Looking forward to picking up your book."

First, this is absolutely not a stupid question.

In the USA, we supposedly live in a country that is supportive of religious differences. In practice, most of the time our conditioning is very extreme against any sort of self-change or empowerment. Additionally, there is a tendency for any self-improvement to be met with extreme suspicion. It does not matter if this change comes from dedicated self-work or magic, but magic is a convenient and cultural accepted scape goat. Any self-change may produce friction, smoothing that out depends on communication.

Second, often it depends on what type of magic you are doing. Clearly some forms of magic are slightly more fear inducing in the United States culture then others. Best in all seriousness, not really mentioning how many demons you summon if you are working with the Goetia. If you are just starting out, this is probably not the best paradigm anyway. All kidding aside, there are some general suggestions that I have. It is very hard to generate interest in people who are unsupportive, but you can communicate what you are trying to do, what you need and what you want. First in most causes, it is wise to keep your practical magical operations to yourself. This actually is contained in the axiom to keep silent. You can not forcefully change their attitude, but you can communicate.

However, what you should communicate why you are doing the research and search. Re-assuring the person that you indeed love them. Raise them up at the same time you are studying. Don't try to convert them or push the materials down their throat. Just be supportive, helpful, and encourage them to be the best they can. Set up good boundries where you get some time to yourself to meditate. Maybe thats a set 20 minutes a day, but that also limits how much time you are studying (which tells them that it will not consume your life ). Try to explain what you are doing in terms of the belief system they use. Actually, even ceremonial magic has a tremendous in common with many forms of Christianity. Look for similarities, not differences.

There are definate medically viable benefits to the process. Usually, its a good idea to focus on those tangible benefits. Books such as the "Biology of Belief', and "Answer Cancer" suggest how powerful belief can medically affect the body. Intention training is the root of a tremendous amount of magic. First, meditation improves blood pressure, mental states. and has consistantly shown positive health benefits. Chi-gung work does seem to have health benefits even if it is the slow movement. Yoga increases health. Creative visualizations, trance states, and hypnosis do assist people in obtaining their goals. "What the Bleep do we Know?" and "The Secret" are movies that does touch on these issues even if they are very flawed movies ( technically speaking). They are often extremely helpful to introduce magicial concepts, despite their flaws.

Magic is in most ways life-affirming and means a greater and greater engangement with the world on all levels. Focusing on the positive and communicating is the best bet. I can not lie and say that that always works, given our cultural prejudices, but it does go along way.