that acid i would agree with. i believe a certain knowledge is good in the case of anything. if you don't know what your doing stay outta the kitchen until you do. there are many ways to find out what is going on it's just you have to take certain precuations and measures, like you said acid. thank you. well done.
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QUOTE
Change is as enevitable as the certainty of death. And it should not be feared. Yes sometimes things change in ways that are not desirable or that cause suffering. But change can be manifested responsibly through personal awareness. Awareness of one's self, their environment, as well as awareness of what one can and cannot change.
In order to understand one's self they need to be able to understand their emotions, their attitudes, patterns of behavior and really be able to reflect upon themselves and deside if they are indeed who they even want to be. So much of society and life in general tends to mold us into who others want us to be. One needs to understand if they really are and who they really should be are the same thing. Understanding one's self liberates them from personal denial, self deception, false hopes and attitudes ingrained in them from alterior sources (ie media). But the implications run deeper then that because by understanding yourself you understand your motivations. You can control your intentions. And this is not only fundamental for appropriate change but in manipulating magick in general. If you do not understand yourself you cannot fully trust your intentions to not be false or dictated by alterior sources you are not aware of. Therefore in order to make good change, know yourself to know your intentions.
Then you also need to understand your environment. If you do not know what is around you, whats going on around you, changes you make may have unintended consequences. Making changes in your environment without knowing it is a bit like shooting in the dark not knowing if your bullet might hit someone you didn't know was there. It is also important to understand what things are that you cannot change or should not change. For example anything that might be unethical should be avoided. You don't want to make changes for others who do not want it.
If you take this same awareness and apply it to the astral planes then you can harness it to the same affect that you would on the mundane world. The catch is that you must also be able to actually fully control yourself, much the same way you would in the regular world. So you'd need to be experienced at astral projection. Yet even then if you are not adept you can get around this through the use of thought forms, servitors and other such constructs.
Also while experience will improve your ability to understand yourself and your world, understand that the more you try to micromanage the world around you, the more of it will slip past your control. Likewise the more you ignore in your world, the more that will also pass you by and the more likely you are to be controled by it. It is important that any magician understand that they are not all knowing or all powerful. Some measure of humblenss, I think, is a good quality.
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