Most Important Practice
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DavidH wrote:
"...but when it really makes itself known as important is when you go back and read entries several years old and see how your thinking has changed, what progress you've made, and your views have become deeper. I have read my journals from 12 years ago or so and always get amazed. You'll also see recurring themes and problems over long periods which tell you really what a core issue may be. "
**Thank you, David. **
I believe that the *meat and potatoes *of the Magical Journal truly earns its keep after the first couple of years -- and like fine wine it becomes a rare elixir of genuine insight after 10 or more years.
It is truly a marvelous tool and a method of seeing where the Angel has guided you...
AUM HA!
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let me give a tip, recently I went back to some journals from 14 years ago.. i found that i always wrote down my experiences, but never exactly what i did to create those experiences, the formula i used persay..
which made my journal rather useless from a scientific point of view.. how the hell do i recreate those experiences?
moral of the story - write your journal as you would a scientific record, record exactly WHAT you did.. not just the result..
definately a little lesson for me...
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Thanks all for the insight.
I think I'm keeping it correctly, so I'll just add the dream diary then wait and see. Should be interesting ! -
@Jonathan said
"li found that i always wrote down my experiences, but never exactly what i did to create those experiences ...
moral of the story - write your journal as you would a scientific record, record exactly WHAT you did.. not just the result."I have rather the opposite experience. I rarely perceive any results, and my record is mostly a dry account of what I did, when, and for how long.
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Everyone will be different but here are the things I try to record in my diary:
Day
Date
Moon Phase
Weather
Drugs/medication:
Emotions:
Diet of day:
Exercise of day:Days events:
last nights dreams:
Readings:
Practices:
Insights/Thoughts:
This way I have recorded the factors I think most important to why I may feel a certain way (drugs, diet, etc.) and can relate my experiences / practices to those to see any connection or change.
Hope this helps. Its just one way amoung thousands.
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Thanks David for that example. Does other people have other examples of magic journal entries? This concept is new to me.
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The Sun and Moon positions in the zodiac are supposed to be helpful too I've heard.
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Dear David H.,
That is really interesting. You use a template. I am thinking about designing my own, now, with what I would like to make sure that I have information about. I find it important to put down the time of day.
It sometimes occurs to me to print out a bi-wheel of my natal chart and the transits of the day, and write a journal entry on the back of it.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
93,
The word 'results' is, I think, sometimes misleading, in that results can come at odd moments. And they're what we get, not necessarily what we intend or expect.
What I do find useful is to write the ideas that occur to me as I'm writing up the activity just performed. Everyone has their own ways of getting results/information/insight, and for me the things that come out as I'm writing up the session in the diary are often the most interesting.
I agree with what the other people have said about the long-term record. The diary becomes most valuable after a few years.
93 93/93,
EM
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93
I've often kept multiple journals to determine which ones are most beneficial for me such as 1.) a DREAM Journal, 2.) MAGICK Notes, workings, study, quotes etc., separate from 3.) a Generic DIARY for Drama/social life/career to let go of frustrations rather than holding them in which can be detrimental and ask myself questions as to how situations can be handled best, what lessons/understandings are present or lacking followed by a prayer to under/overstand it all as a reflection of my soul within the world... Then a very simple form I've found immensely helpful is just keeping 4.) a WEEKLY PLANNER with ASTROLOGICAL aspects to glance at before the day begins, take note of plans/events, and reflect upon the general emotions/attitudes observed or encountered at the end of the day to learn the effects of the planets/signs on a personal level.
Not that I recommend attempting ALL of these at the same time but I hope this helps you to get started with at least some form of a journal because I find it a truely irreplaceable tool for knowing and actively doing the Work!
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@Jonathan said
"let me give a tip, recently I went back to some journals from 14 years ago.. i found that i always wrote down my experiences, but never exactly what i did to create those experiences, the formula i used persay..
which made my journal rather useless from a scientific point of view.. how the hell do i recreate those experiences?
moral of the story - write your journal as you would a scientific record, record exactly WHAT you did.. not just the result..
definately a little lesson for me..."
This comment touches on a point I've been kicking around in my head for a while about the behavior of scientists (ala the so-called "Method of Science") as it relates to magical/occult/spiritual practice, which point could have an important impact for all those struggling to achieve a scientific standard in their occult work, or for those presuming to hold others to that standard.
Scientists need to control initial conditions as much as possible in order to recreate the "same situation" which allows them to isolate and analyze the influence of variables. But I question whether life outside of a scientist's lab ever presents truly identical initial conditions, owing at the very least to the function of memory across time; even if we reposition every atom in the known universe precisely as arranged the first time, nonetheless, the first time "in the past" exists as seperate from the 2nd time, "now". Memories and their interpretations become one of the variables. "One can never step in the same river twice..." ala Heraclitus.
As a contrast, the physical systems that scientists typically study would seemingly not present this problem of memory as a variable, since we often do not consider physical systems as having memories in the same qualitative way that humans do. The scientists can't step in the "same river", but they can make the same water run through the same crack in the land at the same rate for the same amount of time, and most people would not stop to ask the water how it felt about the whole affair.
So this constant operation of memory in experience - even if it serves as the ONLY difference from one experiment to the next - leads me to see magical practice as likely more similar to the methods of Art and Engineering than of Science proper.
And no doubt artists and engineers frequently adopt an experimental attitude that resembles what scientists do, and clearly the best artists and engineers in any period often leverage the latest discoveries of science in their work, using new techniques to manifest new modes of expression and construction. But behaving similarly to scientists and using their learnings does not qualify you as a scientist or necessarily mean that your activity counts as scientific.
So... I wonder if a failure to recognize the importance of memory as one of the initial conditions in any action might confuse those occultists who would seek to emulate scientific method in their practice by misguiding them towards goals incommensurate to their domain of activity, and if instead we might serve ourselves better by viewing our activities as more accurately employing the methods of Art and Engineering than Science (or Religion for that matter), producing portfolios, discographies, filmographies and the like as historical records of our experiences rather than merely quasi-scientific logbooks that achieve the look but not the reality of scientific rigor.
These thoughts of course really help more in the matter of how to interpret one's journals in light of yielding "scientific" knowledge, rather than serving as an excuse to avoid keeping a journal, which I am horrible at.
Anyways, just some thoughts. Not sure if any of that made any sense to anyone but me.
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It makes sense but I read somewhere the other day on a science site that we should call engineers applied scientists.
I'm going with that one -
Most important practice: if I have to pick only one, I would have to concur with most in this discussion, and say the Diary. For mine, I record events as they occur, specifying not only the rituals/practices used, but exactly how each was interpreted, results, time of performance, and so forth. I take especial pains to either a) avoid poetic language, or b) provide as precise a definition as possible for poetic phrases which I find to be of particularly good use in a particular circumstance. Not but three days ago, I wrote out a definition of my meaning for "Holiness" in reference to my twice daily ritual work.
I guess the best way to put it, as to my approach to the diary, is to write it as if you intend somebody else to read it and understand it, even get some use out of it. Thus kept, it should come out clear, specific and detailed. Of course, keeping oneself honest is of prime importance.
I also do not think that it can be overstressed as to just how important it is to record the results of any working immediately after ending the work, if not during. (I keep a digital voice recorder handy when doing astral work, so that it can serve as a "scribe" during my visions.)