How to keep a magickal diary

Freya

@Jim Eshelman said

"However, for 99% of everyone who is thinking of themselves as doing serious work, the diary is as basic a discipline as there may be. Additionally, while you have concentrated on building an inner record, with the idea that you can take it with you, the A.'.A.'. - and any other formal system that is committed to the well-being and progress of humanity as a whole - would focus on the opposite point: It's all about what you can leave behind. Your written record is of value to those who come later.

It's the Bodhisattva way, which is the A.'.A.'. way."

I thought as much..... Jim what do you think it is worth recording, astrologically, in a diary? Are relevant Quotidian charts worth printing and recording them under the day in question?

Jim Eshelman

@Freya said

"Jim what do you think it is worth recording, astrologically, in a diary? Are relevant Quotidian charts worth printing and recording them under the day in question?"

You can use a magical diary that way, though I don't. (I keep those records elsewhere.) One has to find balance between "too much" and "too little," and Q's are data noisy. Primarily, one wants to record specific magical and mystical practices, and enough other data to accurately track progress.

I have a short chapter on this in Pearls of Wisdom. It isn't rewritten much from the article in Black Pearl (I think it was in No. 4) which you can download for free from <a class="postlink" href="http://www.thelema.org/publications">www.thelema.org/publications</a>

Freya

Thank you Jim, I have just read it. Do you think the moon phase is worth recording?

Jim Eshelman

@Freya said

"Thank you Jim, I have just read it. Do you think the moon phase is worth recording?"

I''ve recorded it during specific intensive periods of work (and it was really valuable - showed me a lot of the patterns that later helped me sort out how phase affects magick).

Selene

How often do you re-read your diaries? What do you look for when you re-read them?
I suppose that knowing what you would look for when re-reading a diary, would help guide what you write in the first place.

Al-Shariyf

@Selene said

"How often do you re-read your diaries?"

In my case, I have no set period of time to review my diaries. Often times, something will happen in my life that prompts me to review my diaries.

@Selene said

"What do you look for when you re-read them?"

A "narrative", some "insight" that is a clear measure of my development, some issue that I've overcome, some observed phenomena that I didn't understand when I recorded it but presently understand, a consistent performance outcome of a ritual, a synchronicity. The list goes on.

@Selene said

"I suppose that knowing what you would look for when re-reading a diary, would help guide what you write in the first place."

The thing is, you don't always know what you're looking for. More accurately, *I] don't always know what I'm looking for. I just work and record my work and occasionally circle back to look at the ground I've taken.

Gnosomai Emauton

Personal example: I'm currently teaching myself astrological transits. It's been very useful to look back at certain periods to pull data to see how a specific transit has played out. It's been downright eye-opening to see how certain path-altering experiences occurred almost exactly in sync with Pluto transits becoming exact. Didn't notice any connection at the time but, with a clear record of the work, the patterns begin to emerge.

AliceKnewIt

An article from the NY Times about keeping a diary:

op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/how-keeping-a-diary-can-surprise-you

"What makes it valuable is if you not only keep a daily diary, but then have some way of, every once in a while, picking a day at random and reading what you did that day.”

gerry456

I think it's important to document daily incidents of averse emotional reactions. This is where Nuit dwells.

Middleman

How does Nuit relate to adverse emotional reactions?

gerry456

@Middleman said

"How does Nuit relate to adverse emotional reactions?"

Well, what is actually happening during an adverse emotional reaction?

Nuit is the complete realm of all possibilities that we could experience and sometimes I may not like some circumstance, thing, person or event. I may react with an emotion that makes me uncomfortable and I may try to treat that emotion like it's not really there. What i'm doing thereby is I am denying the said circumstance, thing, person or event that is in my path at that time, so in effect I am also denying Nuit.

Sometimes there shall be jealousy, anger, depression, anxiety, disgust, anguish, boredom, guilt, shame, hatred, sadness, frustration, fear and neediness.

seekinghga

@gerry456 said

"Sometimes there shall be jealousy, anger, depression, anxiety, disgust, anguish, boredom, guilt, shame, hatred, sadness, frustration, fear and neediness."

All of these should be considered in light of (at least):
AL I: 22-23; 26; 30; 32; 45; 65.

Record them all. It's not fun, man. I've been there, done that. I'm still there, doing that. (For what it's worth!) It is important to make the journal a living extension of yourself. It should grow in tangency with your perception of your Tree of Life.

gerry456

@seekinghga said

"[All of these should be considered in light of (at least):
AL I: 22-23; 26; 30; 32; 45; 65.

Record them all. It's not fun, man. I've been there, done that. I'm still there, doing that. (For what it's worth!) It is important to make the journal a living extension of yourself. It should grow in tangency with your perception of your Tree of Life."

TOL extension. Nice!