Life gives us many hard lessons, but the hardest one of all is the passing of a true friend.  Harder still is helping load him into the unceremoniously gray van.  The hardest yet will be helping to carry his coffin, but things can be learned from this tragic time.  The biggest thing I learned was the true value of a true friend.  A true friend will always help you no matter what time it is, or no matter the circumstance.  A true friend will boost your highest points in life and help you up when you are at your lowest. It is through all this that true friendships are tried and tested. You may ask how this is a life lesson, but in truth the lesson of life is to have friends. To expand your consciousness beyond the trappings of any material belief. Wasting friends simply to advance yourself through life only puts you at the finish line quicker with no one to mourn your loss.

It is because of this that I have swallowed my pride and attempted to make amends with some old friends that I have wronged. Foolishly, in my pride, I denied what they said and looked only to my end of the experience. What a waste.  Since then, I hope they come to forgive me just as I have forgiven others their wrongdoings towards me. It is this life lesson, to forgive, that is one of the most important. In Christianity, the christians look to their perception of god for forgiveness of their sins.  This lacks accountability.  In my faith, which is spirituality and the belief in divine energy within all of us, that forgiveness is given from the person you have wronged.  It does not necessarily come from on high that one person will be judged accordingly. It is within the capability of every human to grasp and understand the divine but it requires faith.  Not just faith, but compassion, empathy, and kindness. It takes respect for ALL living things, NO MATTER IF YOU HATE THE PISS OUT OF SOMEONE, it is not your responsibility to judge them. They will live out their lives just as you live out yours. They may or may not receive their Karmic due.  On the same note, it is not our place to assume that Karma will judge someone, or that God (as the Christians see him) will pass some heinous judgement on evildoers.  It is a novel thought and one which comforts many, but in and of itself does not present forgiveness or judgment that we can perceive.  So, you ask, how do I deal with these people that vex me so?  How do I live my life knowing that someone else has been wronged?

The truth, and this is as plain as I can say it, is that YOU must forgive. You cannot change the way certain people are, you can offer advice, or perhaps guidance, but by and large no one thing you do will make that person any less wrong or you any more right. Right and wrong are matters of perception. DO NOT take this to mean that I support ANY of todays moral evils. I do believe that the laws of Nature far supercede the laws of Man. No one human being is more important than the planet we live on. Were it not for the planet, we would not exist. You can existentially argue with me until the cows come home, but the fact is that the only way to truly, TRULY affect change in ANYONE is leading by example. By example, I mean affecting positive change in YOUR OWN life. Take a step back and ask yourself , “Is what I am doing healthy for the planet?”  If yes, “Is this healthy for me as a human being?”  If you can still say yes, then ask HOW? If your actions are bringing harm or ill will to any human, or animal, or plant, or thing in nature, the natural energy of nature will bring that same energy back into your own life. View your actions as important as the very future of the planet is at stake.

IT IS.  Every word you speak affects a life.  Every action you take affects the world.  EVERY MOMENT YOU BREATHE is because it is in the will of NATURE that you do so. The divine is above and below, within and without.  It is IN YOU, every bit as it is IN ME.

Take what the Christians say; “God created man in his own image”.  Now, take that, and realize that he created PERFECT beings. Some would say that perfection is impossible except in the divine. Some would say perfection alone is impossible. But when the divine saw to it to birth mankind, it gave man the tools to either help the planet, or destroy it.

Conscious thought requires that we make choices. Our awareness empowers us to those choices, and our intent and will focuses our choices into manifestation. The moment you make a choice in your mind, you have to be ready, willing, and able to commit the whole of your being to a choice. Otherwise you are wasting the gift given to us. The reason so many say that magick does not exist is because PEOPLE ARE BLIND.  How many times can you say someone overlooked something that was sitting there STARING THEM IN THE FACE.  Such is the same with magick.  If you have the will, the faith, and the determination, then by gods and Gaia you could part the seas just as Moses did. How did man learn to fly? He realized he had no wings, but wanted to soar through the sky. The idea progressed into a hypothesis, the hypothesis into a model, a model into a prototype, and that prototype into the planes we see today.  I ask you now though to test your own sense of magick.  Do you dream of flying? Or do you fly in your dreams? A simple enough question. To a Witch, Wizard, Craftsman, Druid, or any Magickal Profession it has very different implications than you might think.

Now that I have you truly hooked and your head filled with wonder, I leave you with but one task. If you have ever considered yourself to be a nature-lover. Do Gaia a favor, take a hike.  While you hike, plant a tree.  Above all, life is to be revered and cherished.  Life is the gift given to us by the divine and on the same note life IS divine. We may have ups and downs, but we are both capable of knowing what makes us happy and sad. With this knowledge comes the ability to affect the world around us towards joy or sorrow. Magick comes to you when you have a respect for life. It flows through you when you love life, and it encompasses you when you realize that we are all the same. We are all made of stars. In short, we are ALL gods. We grow, evolve, and effect the world around us. Choice is in our minds.  Actions are what we do about it.

So, if you want to say you have lived a good life, ask yourself how many people have you helped?  Now take that number and throw it away because such a materialistic value of worth is useless. What TRULY matters is that you help EVERYONE you CAN in EVERY way possible EVERY DAY.  That is a true God or Goddess. Take your given gifts and use them wisely friends, as the energy that binds us is as sentient as we are, but it is not limited to such human terms and words. It focuses on what harms the planet and what harms humanity as a whole and will return that energy in kind. The universe is a mirror.  As above, so below.  The microcosm within the macrocosm.  The universe inside a single atom.  No, smaller than that even. Caution friends.  Create and foster energy that you would like to see returned and care not for when you reap the rewards. A good man may never bathe in material wealth, but he will have all the reward a true man needs in doing an honorable deed.

Live with Honor, friends. Follow the GOLDEN rule: Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Such is the PRIME DIRECTIVE of any magickal person. If you wish to know more, seek the Grey Council (www.greyschool.com). These honest to god modern Witches and Wizards seem like the last bastion of hope for humanity. Please, look at their lessons. They are non-denominational and cleave to no one specific religion. A wizards path is to serve the planet first and humanity second, so long as it harms none. These people believe in the good of mankind as I do and with the horrors man is capable of, we need every available tool at our disposal when the time comes. And you will know when it comes.

Blessed be, friends! Go now with love in your heart and strive to create good and positive energy. The planet needs us now more than ever. Spirits watch over you all.

Wesley Crites. aka “Alavon Sildraco” Apprentice Grey Wizard
Guest Blogger
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~