A fairly major part of occultism is the idea that you can shift reality to suit your needs. How this works depends on the tradition or system you subscribe to, but essentially the idea is that you can use your mental powers to create real, physical change around you.
Most folks are basically familiar with witchcraft, a practice which may involve casting spells to achieve results. A witch may identify something amiss in their life (let’s say their car broke down), and create a spell (a ritualistic set of movements or words, similar to a dialed-down theatrical performance) for their specific needs. They then perform the spell, and in doing so, announce to the Universe their need. If it is successfully done, the witch may find themselves with a replacement car (or maybe a life change that doesn’t require a car).
The witch is dissatisfied with their reality, so they direct that reality to change. If they are successful, reality will change in their favor.
I’ve come to realize that most occult practices are based in this idea; that the practitioner can and should change their reality. For many, many years, though, this was something I only understood in theory: My spells never panned out. My rituals did not produce results. My affirmations floated away and never came back.
That all changed earlier this week. I was experiencing some (for me) typical depression, and, apropos of nothing, I had the experience of moving outside of the depressive thought pattern. It was as if my conscious mind moved out from under the depressive cloud and moved to a different, unoccupied part of my brain.
From this brand new perspective, I realized that I can, at will, shift my reality. I can decide to not let depression rule my life. I can decide to be charismatic and comfortable. I can decide to have confidence and self-worth.
And, just like that, the fog cleared. The depression thinned and faded away. My reality was now one that did not include depression.
This reality lasted a day or so before the depression started to come back. Depression has been with me for most of my life in one form or another, so I wasn’t at all surprised that this might be a pattern that I have to work on for a long time. However, I was surprised that I couldn’t even begin to identify how I had so easily shifted realities before.
The depression has now been with me for a few days. It’s not as bad as the last bought, and I’m thankful for that, but I am so perplexed about this ability to manipulate one’s own mind.
I didn’t set out to shift reality or alleviate my depression before, and I have no idea how it happened. I only remember a sudden clarity in which I understood my Self to be expansive and able to easily overpower depression. And then it just happened. Instantly and without flair. There wasn’t a dramatic sense of relief or a bright light or a psychic experience of any kind. I was depressed, and then I wasn’t.
Even though I haven’t been able to recreate this experiment, this feels like progress. I’ve been experiencing more of these moments of sudden clarity, though I think this is the first time the clarity has facilitated a change in reality.
This month I initiated into the 7th CR+C Temple Degree. Things are moving.
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