Reconnecting with Your Lost Magick
If you practice magick, there will come a time when you feel less than magickal. When you feel that you have lost your magick completely. Whether this lasts for a week, a month, a year or more, one day it’ll arrive leaving many magickal folk confused as to what is going on.
But the appearance of magick’s absence is just that - an appearance.
See, magick is like the Moon - even though the Moon seems to wax and wane each night, disappearing from the sky altogether every month, She always remains whole. It’s simply our perception of Them that changes. So it is with magick that we can experience periods of disconnection in our practice that appear to us as if our magick is gone altogether.
At this point you might wonder why this happens. I don’t have that answer but what I have observed is that once we realize that magick, like the Moon, is never absent, we can begin to pay attention to what’s looming large in the place we usually expect our magick to be.
While your journey reconnecting with your magick after a period of fallowness will be uniquely shaped by your life and needs, here are some activities and tips to help you shift perceptions, open up to wonder, and cultivate enchantment. You’ll notice that many of these suggestions are similar to those I would make to someone experience burnout and that’s because burnout and feeling like your magickal fire has been extinguished often go hand-in-hand. In addition to trying one or two of the suggestions on this list, you might consider some seasonal self-care or connecting with herbal allies that are especially suitable for sensitive or overwhelmed folks.
Do nothing.
I know, what a way to start off a list of how to reconnect with your magick. But sometimes we try and do all the things in a mild but meaningful panic to attempt to reconnect to our magick. Rather, take a look at what it is that’s driving you to do something instead of just be. Even if that being feels decidedly unmagickal. It’s ok to be a bit confused and not knowing where to go next in your practice. Use your discomfort as a tool of discovery. Practice a bit of slow magick.
Go back to basics.
It can feel too easy to rush on to the next great thing when it feels like our magick has left us. If I just master Enochian magick, I’ll find my spark again. And while learning something new can help us to reconnect to what we love, it can also create a cycle of always seeking something else that exists out there to give us back our magick. Instead, I suggest returning to the basics of your craft and, in particular, a practice that has significantly shaped you but you now no longer practice or, if you do, it’s infrequently. That will mean something different to everyone reading this. I might, for example, pull out the very first book I used for casting circle and do that same rite. Returning to basics creates a touchstone for your magick - your modern self is revisiting an important point in your magickal development. During this act of returning, pay attention to what is happening in your body and your energy field - interesting revelations often arise and we begin to remember who we are as magickal beings.
Talk about it.
I find it strange that the magickal community doesn’t seem to talk much about the very common experience of not feeling magickal. Let’s change that! Connecting with another magickal practitioner and sharing with them that you’re struggling to find your flow and connection in your practice can be incredibly healing and rewarding. You’re not less of a witch or magick maker if you don’t feel magickal - you’re just at an important transition point. No shame required, but reach out to others for encouragement and inspiration. If you don’t have someone to talk about it to at the moment, try journaling or free writing. Ask yourself questions like:
I don’t feel magickal, I feel…
I’m afraid that…
I feel my most magickal when…
When I think of magick…
Work with allies.
Gods, herbs, stones, ancestors, tarot cards, spirits, pets, strange shaped gourds, best friends, lovers, therapists… Connect with your allies! As suggested at the start of this post, the absence of magick often marks the arrival (or, really, exposure or revelation) or something that requires our attention. But that something isn’t always easy to give our attention to or understand for various reasons. So just as I’m encouraging you to talk about where you’re at in your magickal practice, I’m also encouraging you to connect with your allies in whatever form they come in. No one can give you back your magick, but your allies can help you remember and return to it. Don’t know which allies to start with? How about connecting with your stars. If tarot or oracle cards are some of your favorite allies to turn to, this spread is my go-to when I need some extra love and support.
Feeling like you’ve lost your magick is never easy, but you’re not alone. We’ve all been there and soon it shall pass. In the meantime, be kind with yourself, celebrate what does inspire you, and let the rest be.
Remember, the Moon is always full, and your magick remains. Soon you’ll remember just where that is…
