Requirements Needed To Have Success In Occult Arts, Aye Options

Ever since i have been acquinted with the occult arts I KNEW THIS. I knew that the occult arts are not for everyone; just like not everyone can be a highly paid lawyer, or a marathon runner, or a singer in a heavy metal band, a mathematician or have a phd. The list goes on and on. Now i think Bym touched upon this too in one of his recent posts so kudos to him.

So i've been thinking lately, what are the requirements in order to succeed in the occult world DESPITE how diligent you approach the magickal systems? What i mean by that is no matter how diligent ( and how hard) a man with low intelligence tries to comprehend a magikal philosophy he probably won't fully absorb it as well as an astute student of the arts.
So again, what ARE the requirements?

1) Gift/natural talent. What i mean by this is that magick is not a science, it is an art. Having said that, ( now i think Darmage talked about this too prior to this post) you need some form of talent in order to achieve success in the occult arts. Just as chess or soccer or computer engineering, you need to have a natural desposition for the art in order to be good at it so to speak. It needs to be your destiny.

2) Intelligence. You NEED to have ATLEAST an average intelligence to be competent enough to absorb all those thousands of books and theories on complex matters with complicated language, metaphors and hidden meanings.

3) A strong memory. Without a strong memory how could you possibly remember ( and digest) all those facts and theories and statements written by those who have written books on occult related subjects? Not just that, but how will you be able to build on your vocabulary ( which is quite important I think since it will help the magickian tremendously when it comes to studying books ) without a strong memory? Not just that, but a strong memory will undoubtedly help the magickian memorize the conjurations/rituals etc as well.

Make a post below showing whether you have all of these ( or not) and how it has impacted your magickal lifestyle.

Comments , criticism welcome.

1) Gift/natural talent. What i mean by this is that magick is not a science, it is an art. Having said that, ( now i think Darmage talked about this too prior to this post) you need some form of talent in order to achieve success in the occult arts. Just as chess or soccer or computer engineering, you need to have a natural desposition for the art in order to be good at it so to speak. It needs to be your destiny.

Myth #1 - you need natural talent to do anything extraordinary. Absolutely not true. Even people with talents waste them if they don't practice, develop themselves, and apply those talents. Many people who find they have a talent in their youth, find that it is lost to them when they are old if they didn't tap into it and make it into something. Talent only counts for half, and without it all you are consigned to is a lot of work, that's all. What else do you have to do with your life? Breath, eat, drink, sleep, work, and die. And whatever else you put in between them. Everyone has talents, its true, but that by no means determines the limitations of what you can do if you want to. I was never a physically talented individual, but I loved martial arts. It was harder for me to get strong and fast than it was for many of the other people I knew. But I had determination, desire, and a strong will to mold myself as I chose to. I caught up to the talented people in due time.

2) Intelligence. You NEED to have ATLEAST an average intelligence to be competent enough to absorb all those thousands of books and theories on complex matters with complicated language, metaphors and hidden meanings.

Myth #2 - Intelligence is static. It is not. If you exercise your mind, you can achieve a level of intelligence you never thought possible. Intelligence can fluctuate the same as talent - in fact, intelligence is nothing more than a mental talent. Study up on Raja Yoga for pointers on developing your intelligence. All that being 'less intelligent' means to you in the occult is that you're going to have to work harder to grasp complex issues - but the intelligence behind your brain is supreme, and it can grasp anything you throw at it. The biggest obstacle people with 'less intelligence' face is impatience. Contemplate the metaphors, the complex issues. Over time, the answers unfold. Maybe not as quickly for you as for others, but it will happen, and every time you figure one out, you are that much more intelligent. You have to train your mind to work better.

3) A strong memory. Without a strong memory how could you possibly remember ( and digest) all those facts and theories and statements written by those who have written books on occult related subjects? Not just that, but how will you be able to build on your vocabulary ( which is quite important I think since it will help the magickian tremendously when it comes to studying books ) without a strong memory? Not just that, but a strong memory will undoubtedly help the magickian memorize the conjurations/rituals etc as well.

Myth #3 - memory is static. This one I can tell you from personal experience it totally false. Again, it takes exercise, patience, and dedication. You can learn to have a sharper memory - trust me on this one. I was an absent minded child who had to be told three times what I was supposed to be doing before it stuck with me - and even then I would typically lose track and need to be reminded again. I have a horrible memory for dates, appointments, equations, names, correspondences, long conjurations, etc. I have to repeat, out loud, a conjuration of any length at least thirty times before I can recite it - temporarily - from memory. I do this a couple of hours before any ritual that calls for a verbal component. It's just an obstacle you have to get over somehow.

A lot of people will say that magick is not for everyone. Those people typically have a natural talent for magickal practice, and let it get to their heads. Magick is a part of human nature. We all have the potential to achieve occult skills, there are simply varying degrees of difficulty for everyone. What most people lack is motivation, discipline, and faith. Some people can't bring themselves to believe in the possibilities that magick suggests. Some people believe, and want to achieve it, but it seems so hard that it's just easier to decide that it isn't for them. Some people simply have no discipline, and can't stick to a routine long enough to get results.

But none of those people is incapable of magick. Even the mentally handicapped can do it if they have the will to do so, and sometimes their inability to understand what reality is 'supposed' to be like gives them a natural edge, though it may seem slight compared to the obstacles they face. But everyone can overcome the obstacles in front of them using what they were given in this life to deal with it. This goes double for magick. The infirm, the crippled, the impaired - it doesn't matter what lot you have, magick is about consciousness and one's connection to the universe, and no one lacks these things.

The individual him/herself is their greatest obstacle to magickal success. People set themselves up to fail, and it is the rare and lucky individual who enjoys hard work. It's easy to give up when you're trying to achieve something as ethereal and insubstantial as the possibility of magickal ability. So few of us every witness magick personally before we are able to begin practicing it. if you want to be muscular and athletic, you have plenty of examples to prove it can be done. If you want to be learned and professional, you have only to look at the millions of such people in the world to believe it is possible. if you want to be rich, happy, spiritual, compassionate, charitable, be your own boss, or almost anything else - there are easy examples wherever you look, and that makes these things almost 100 times easier to achieve than occult proficiency of any kind. But only because you can't usually see it for yourself first. That's all.

"Will I be good at magick?" is one of the most asked questions anyone ever asks of any other occult mind. "Is there a quick way to do this?", "What is a spell to make me better at magick?", "How can I fast track myself to occult power?" I have heard these kinds of questions a million times. There is no quick way. There is no easy way. These questions don't apply. An equally valuable question would be, "How can I breath easier?" or "How can walk faster?" Magick is easy. You and everyone in the world do it all the time. Being more magickally efficient takes practice, patience, dedication, and the will to overcome all obstacles between yourself and your goal. If you determine that you have any kind of insurmountable obstacle, then you have already failed totally. Give up and go home, because with that mindset "I don't have what it takes" - you never will. Magick starts with your thoughts, your intentions, the things that you tell yourself are true.

So either do magick, believe that you can overcome any obstacle that prevents you from becoming a proficient mage - or do something else. Every obstacle you overcome will make you stronger and if you determine that you are going to overcome them, then afterwards you will look back on the path you took and realize just how important it was for them to be there. People without any obstacles will always be mediocre. They never achieve greatness of any kind, because greatness is a challenge, and if you never learn to overcome a challenge, then you can never become great in any sense of the word, in any field occult or otherwise.

peace