Your Method Of Magick? Options

So what would any of you say is your standard method of spellwork, or just magick in general? For example, I myself mostly use energy manipulation, or sorcery, for more hands one spells such as healing or helping to open chakras, and a sort of paradigm manipulation, almost mind over matter, approach for spells where one would bring an event to pass. I also do not follow any particular system for magick; I more just use what I know of what one might call "metaphysics", although the term is used rather roughly.

I myself like to use symbols and visual work in order to manipulate energy. This seems to help focus and clear my mind.

I would say that according to the definition proposed by 'the secret', vital winds is using the law of attraction, based solely on what he has revealed here. It's not an entirely profound secret, though I'm sure the rest of the gnostic elements are.

My method has become more meticulous over time, but I've also spent a lot of time exploring different methods, some as simple and direct as Vital Winds', some as complex as delicately timed rituals incorporating obscure materials and tediously formulated kabbalistic semantic components. What I've learned about magical methods amounts to the connection between intention->will->externalization. How it happens I think is less important than that it does happen. The reason a lot of methods fail, I think, is less because the method is wrong - because all methods are fundamentally arbitrary - and more because there are obstacles within that prevent these connections from taking place efficiently.

Currently my practice involves a period of contemplation as I clarify exactly what I want and how I want it to manifest, inclusive of specifically any obstacles I perceive to be apparently between me and my goal; a period of meditation as I examine both of these things in context to one another and my own temperament; composing a geometric figure representative of the desire, the goal, and it's manifestation; isolation of variables and representation of each variable in the ritual symbolism to be used; composition of the verbal formula; timing according to the factors most symbolic of the nature of the desired venue of manifestation; a period of ritual purification; and if the desire and need is great enough to have gotten all of this done, the ritual itself. For me, this method allows me to weed out of myself the desires that are ultimately superficial. What I have found in the past is that one of the major obstacles in magic is misunderstanding the difference between wants and needs, and the role that each of these plays in the process of 'pushing and pulling', as it were. If a desire is superficial, the will cannot be adequately committed to it's accomplishment. If the desire arises from a need, then taking the time to discover the need itself and acting from that point seems to deliver a more consistent success. At this point magic never fails me, so I don't spend a great deal of time revising my methods anymore. The most recent failure I have encountered was a diversion from this method into Goetia where, in the interest of experimentation, I simply followed the book itself. And even then, not under ideal circumstances. When I am able to acquire a space that is more fitting in terms of what I feel is fitting to the art, I will try this again along with the more psychological element to my own method. However, given what I'm able to accomplish on my own I have to admit this is more about exploration than fulfilling a need I am unable to otherwise meet.

So, I think it's more about discovering our own structured inner elements and applying a method that connects that inner structure to an external 'outlet' as it were. So, the same method may work for a handful of people, but certainly not for everyone. It's like trying to find the right 'hole' into the world that is the same shape as our inner 'peg'. On the other hand, it may also be that with the right understanding of what inner conditions make magic possible, every method will work equally well for any person who acquires such an understanding.

peace