Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The Five Principles of the Practitioner

The Five Principles of the Practitioner

From my Book: Wicca! Love&Soul

“There was once a man who defied all the rules...” That's how most of the stories of certain character I knew years ago started. He was a master of divination and his stories always revolved around his past and how he got to be who he is. There was an interesting conversation with he that marked me forever. That time he talked about The Five Principles Of The Practitioner: Goodness, Wisdom, Humility, Respect and Love.

When you're young and they tell you about it, you can easily get bored. In the opposite side, when you are older and others try to tell you about the same subject, it is easy to hear the ignorance of many sounding like an answering machine, answering like “already know that's it” or”at my age, I know everything.” There is no worse ignorants than those who believe they know everything. I'm too young but not for that I am absent from experience. On the contrary, I have lived through so many positive moments and sad moments, I've had such difficult trials that I truly don't wish them for anybody.

The modus operandi of the good magician and the good practitioner should always be guided by the Great Five Universal Principles that govern the life of a good master, and we should never make decisions without first consulting with the five principles. They always help us to make the right choice. I have implemented them many times and although many may seem absurd, the truth is that the results will make you notice that it is the best way to act and you will reach a point where you will be able to do it unconsciously.

The first of the Great Five Principles is Kindness. Kindness must always speak for us, giving something without expecting something in return. Do not do things just to do them, and do not do good deeds with an interest involved. You can fool those around you, but won't fool karma and you will certainly not fool the universe. If you allow the feeling of kindness enlighten your actions, you will learn about yourself.

The best way to live is through Kindness. Allow it to act for you, be generous and always look at the bright side of the situation. If you have free time and are bored, do something productive not only for you, but for someone else. If you have the resources to help a charity don't hesitate to do so. If you have the time and creativity, devise new ways to help others. If you have a hobby, share it with that friend who you know is depressed. 

If you have time please to visit those who may need you. And if you have experience in magic, do not hesitate to protect your loved ones, perform rituals for people close to you to find love or make an amulet to protect your your best friend's pet.

Kindness can also be a double-edged sword, because all excesses attract the negative, even good principles. If people get used to having you doing everything for them, you do not only make them doubt their own abilities, you're also teaching them not to do anything because someone else will do it for them. None of us should be a slave to anyone, if a friend asks you a favor, you must also learn to say “No.” Is is not about refusing everyone and become a bastard, it is about not allowing someone to abuse from you or others, because Goodwill is for many a fortress and is a tremendous weakness for others.

The second of the Great Five Principles, is Wisdom. Wisdom does not come to us by Divine Illumination, to develop it requires years of study, firsthand experiences and thousands of attempts to accomplish something. We have to screw again and again to learn from our mistakes and have the morals to advise others. 

The Owl for example, that mystical creature of the night, the messenger of the Goddess Athena is not wise just because, he is wise because he is old, because he is noble, because he is attentive, because he is quiet. In the evening while others sleep, the owl awakes, watches all, analyzes and studies the situation around him, goes hunting and flies silently while others rest, and during sunrise hides and rest.

Wisdom for many is everything, but... What would be of Wisdom with no good principles? Not more than summary of showy bad experiences that would be used by others, a club of memories and knowledge that have been slighted and made useless. Instead, if you have the true desire to help, Wisdom can become a great Leader, the sage who makes the right decisions and advises those with less experience.

Wisdom is extremely valuable, Wisdom is not just knowledge. There are two different types of knowledge, the one acquired by study and practice, the other one by age and experience. Both are very important, but knowledge without wisdom is like that Old Tree which will no longer grow leaves or flowers. 

Knowledge without a good guide is the equivalent of the Book that nobody wants to read, is a knowledge that is useless. Wisdom is one of the Great Universal Principles that will guide Humanity to the New Era.

The third of the Great Five Principles is Humility, a human virtue that has unfortunately been overshadowed by many who believe that being humble is only synonymous with being weak. 

I do not talk about pretending to have good manners and use them, or subtracting importance to our own achievements, I speak of giving a place to everything and everyone, to have one foot in one of our shoes and another in one of the shoes of someone else. 

To be humble it is to know our own weaknesses and strengths, to take advantage of them without wanting to appear more than what we are and joyfully celebrate those achievements that we got, but never humiliating or discrediting the efforts of others.

When I speak of Humility, I mean the old virtue of working for the common good. It is useless to be kind and wise, if you're to brag to everyone. It is rather to make those good deeds and keep that sense of wellbeing for ourselves, to promote humility over discord and always recognize the talents of others, to remember that we are no more than a minimal creation just a few millennia ago abandoned the life of animals and that we are part of a small planet in a system we are barely beginning to understand, in a galaxy far too young in a distant corner of the cosmos that is still growing, in one of the younger universes that hardly just begun its maturity.

We must learn to value ourselves but we must also not forget that we are cosmic dust and behind us are many more on the way to learn from our actions, so it is necessary to be humble and not arrogant, for the universe to work with us for our welfare and not to give us a lesson that can cost us more than some can be prepared to pay.

The Fourth of the Great Five Principles is Respect, that feeling brother of Equality and Tolerance. Al these three feelings always walk hand in hand. When you show no respect to others you show how little you are able to self-respect. When you do not respect your place, you show that you do not know what Respect is.

The good practitioner does not commit disrespect to anyone. When you offend others you show your own immaturity and lack of tolerance. We should treat others as we expect to be treated. If your respect to others is not reciprocated, just let them be, after all you are showing your own maturity and value while others only publicly demonstrate their inhumanity.

Respect is the best way to show no fear, very often fear is hidden behind your words. Often we are limited or helpless in certain situations, at other times we can come to feel morally trampled and this can lead us to act in unforeseen ways. The good practitioner of magic knows this and does not yield to the moral dictates of others. We must never act in fear of what is different. 

If you feel restricted at one point, you just have to try to turn around the subject, promote respect and give your place, do not fall into provocations of others and don't allow anyone to trample your human authenticity. In the worst case if possible stay away from a situation that you can not change.

Respect is widely linked to various aspects of our life, this may include moral, labor, academic, personal and even religious matters, as the case of those who want to impose their personal beliefs some form or other, that happens quite often.

Do not give in your personal faith to anyone, it is fair to have doubts. It is rather common, but we must never allow others to implant in ourselves a Faith that we can consider different to one of our principles on a mandatory basis.

Each of us has personal rights and these includes the personal decision to go the way we want in our lives, choose the work that we see fit and the religion that we feel relates to us. We call it “Free Will.”

We must never try to hurt others with what we hurts ourselves. Our fears or personal matters should never influence our personal relationships, we must know ourselves and never forget to be empathic with others.

Not only do we try to respect us and respect the decisions and beliefs of others, let's also try to be better human beings by promoting Equality, Respect and Tolerance towards all those around us.

We must be wise and considered, in the end the Universe will return to us all of our actions and their results by triplicate, may them be good or bad.

In this life or the Next, let's learn to love those who are different and let's learn to be considerate to those who usually are not with us, let's fight peacefully for the rights of minorities and to assert the virtues of all.

Promoting Love is something I have not left out in this book. I've had a life full of experiences and personal struggles, I've had the opportunity to stumble and fall again and again, with so many rocks, many of them even made me repeat the fall, but I have always risen again, and it has always been this feeling, familiar to all of us, that has allowed me to continue, either it is self-love, the devotional love for my beliefs or Love to those around me that have given a good shade for my path.

This is the Fifth of the Great Five Principles of the Practitioner, Love, a powerful force that psychologists, philosophers and scientists have spent centuries studying and trying to explain, although most of their theories continue to sound like true nonsense devoid of meaning.

Love requires no study. No one could ever explain the power exercised by the love of a mother for her child, much less the Love that ties two people together for a bond that can transcend time and the Cosmos.

Good practitioners always take each of their decisions with these five principles, as a self consulting manual. If the end result we choose violates any of our five principles we know we are not taking the right decision.

We must ask what will be the outcome of magic and if it does not harm anyone morally, if it is really worth it, and if it is really related to something we love in our life, and if it benefits us. Only if all the above is true, then we are right to use magic.

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