Book review

This is a sweet book with lots of thoughts about intuition and examples from the author’s own practice and life. It is very much a sharing from the heart of a personal practice, with a lot of vulnerability and plenty of inspiration. And I love how it weaves the elements so deeply through all of the chapters, and makes intuitive magic so accessible. 

This is the kind of book that you really need a highlighter app for (or those little translucent sticky notes!) to mark the things that jump out at you so you can go back and try them, as it is filled with examples and ideas throughout the prose, and they’re sometimes easy to miss. Little gems in a hoard of treasure! 

Clarke has faith in her readers to already apply their intuitive understanding of the world, leading to the potential for people to improve their intuition by handing the details over to their spirit/deep self. For example, the expectation that readers can just “raise that vibration” in themselves, without explanation, assumes a lot of skills, but since these are natural skills that we can all do, if the reader simply places their trust in the author and does without thinking, there’s a good chance they’ll do well.

I don’t agree with everything in this book, and the gendering of intuition does not sit well with me personally. In the introduction Clarke says her primary audience is women, and explicitly writes her material for women in chapter 15, so that’s worth bearing in mind if you’re, well, not. That’s not to say there isn’t beautiful, useful material in the chapter though. Personally it seems weird to me to gender a human ability that everyone has, but as the author is writing from her perspective and personal practice with intuition and the divine feminine it makes sense, and there is still a need for space for women to heal that piece of themselves so it is an important chapter for that. 

So in short: “Intuitive Magical Practice” by Natalia Clarke is a sweet, open hearted sharing of intuitive practices within a pagan perspective, primarily aimed at women, working particularly with the elements and the divine feminine. It is packed with inspiration and personal experiences, to really show how intuition can be integrated into one’s pagan practice.

By Halo Quin, Author, storyteller, witch

Image: author

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‘Help yourself’ magic

There is nothing like spring coming back that invites us more into life. It calls for awakening from stillness and dreaming of dark winter. It pulls a body into a much needed stretch, into a new kind of movement and engagement with the world. It offers that space to hear a new song from within ourselves that had been hibernating and birthing in darkness.

It has been a tough winter for many in 2019 that made us stuck in chaos, confused and stalled, not much movement other than in dreams and other types of realities. The process had been necessary, as everything is always is, and the purpose of the ‘stuckness’ was to explore ourselves from a position of where we are and who we are, what are our realities and do they serve us. It has not been an easy download to understand and integrate, however, relying on intuition and instinct had been useful even those areas halted in space that invited asking help from outside. Sometimes there is nothing wrong with asking for help from outside when we are stuck and this can be particularly useful and necessary for those of us, who is not used to asking for help and instead there for everyone else. This was partly the work of this winter to get to know that pattern again from a perspective that actually it is absolutely ok to ask for that hand that we need to hold on to and it is ok not to lead once in a while. I also realised that when you do ask for help you then are able to help yourself better – an interesting insight, which manifested through some magical workings that also involved asking for help from the elementals. This is something I have not done before necessarily in this way, but, as always based on the intuitive knowing this is what came through.

I asked ‘Help me’ while in nature doing the work and two days later I got it. It came as a voice, a message, an insight that said ‘Help yourself’. It contained the energy of giving back to me the knowing and responsibility for my own healing. We are the best healers for ourselves without a doubt, but that does depend very much on our relationships with ourselves. Doing the ‘self’ work whether it is through a therapeutic relationship, spiritual practice, other activities, all of those together, will put you in touch with yourself like nothing else and that is the most important element to ensure one lives in a way that it ‘whole’, fulfilling and peaceful. Without a doubt the best gift of self work is you integrate back into what you were always meant to be with all your beautiful resources, qualities, unique gifts, resilience and potential intact. In order to get there we often need to ask for help, we need to learn to reach out and relate, connect without fear or judgement. We need to be vulnerable to become truly strong and grounded and we need courage and strength to be vulnerable when it is terrifying.

This spring feels already like a very nourished, turned over soil that is ready to share its bounty and wisdom with us if we are willing to be patient with our newly planted seeds, warm and kind with ourselves, accepting of all that we are, good and bad, twisted and glorious, strong and weak – all of that richness that is the soil of our bodies and the light of our souls. I am excited to see what is to come. It is all new again.

How magic is the last ‘go to’ approach

Magic is something very powerful, it can also be very damaging if misused and not handled with care, understanding or correct application. This is not about what you are capable of doing potentially to bring on a desired change, but how and when you do it. Magic demands respect in my book! It is a powerful tool and also a delicate thing that if mis-shaped, misused and abused will produce effects that are potent with unwanted results.

My life and my spiritual practice confirmed it for me over and over in a way of intuitively diverting me away from doing something I might have regretted later on or showed me consequences should I not have listened to my inner voice and rushed into things. With that ‘warning’ type of energetic exchange it also began to teach me how to use my intuition with regards to when and how perform magic. Not only it confirmed that it should always be the last resort, but it confirmed that all circumstances, elements, energies somehow need to be in a particular order, readiness to perform what is needed at the time.

I am an Elemental Witch, which means I rely on the wisdom of the Elements to guide me and create all of my spells and rituals and I always use my intuition to know what to include, how to place items and in which order, etc. as well as when to do it. I teach Intuitive Magic in my very first course that I brought out. You ARE your best tool, so to speak, and it is about holding the faith that you will know not just when to do something, but how to do it and what to use.

Before jumping into the cauldron and start cooking your spells, so to speak, spend some time with the cauldron. I am using metaphor here to demonstrate how other things need to come in and played around with and resolved before resorting to some magical doing, however, of course, there are exceptions when magic can be an additional tool to a mixture of approaches you would like to use. Magic can enhance a particular experience or increase your productivity in doing something. It can also serve as a tool that ‘seals the deal’, which acts as the last grounding effect of energy you have been working with in other modalities, be it expressing yourself through art, healing with herbs or checking things out with a doctor, if it is a health issue, or talking to people, having therapy sessions and using your own creative imagination to access your higher self for answers. Whatever it might be magic spells can be added to the mixture to complete a piece of work. This is something I do and it feels very grounding. What I don’t do is decide to do a healing spell, e.g. as the first call, or especially do a love spell when something is out of alignment within me without addressing a relationship in question. I have an understanding that some things not only will not work it can make it worse if done unconsciously and without due care, if you like.

When people come to me with questions and magic requests I always provide them with a list of things they could consider doing before involving some magical workings. I do my Intuitive readings with an empowerment message at the centre of them and provide suggestions relevant to a situation a client is bringing as well as shining a light on their potential, getting them to connect to themselves on a level that will facilitate that process of resolving something. I also do not produce magic spells for other people, but I do encourage them to create their own by tapping into their own potential and magical resources. I might give suggestions for ingredients they might want to look into, but ultimately what they put into their work it is their responsibility and a privilege to work with their own power.

Candle and Oils Magic e-guide release

Welcome to my new release!

I created this concise e-guide to Candle and Oils Magic due to popular demand

• Concise and easy to digest references and information guide
• Full colour tables and photographs
• Easy reference source for your spells with candles and oils
• Includes basic information on important tools and techniques when practicing magic
• Suitable for beginners. Includes an example
• Includes original design Elements cards
• emailed to you as a high quality pdf file after purchase

I enjoyed created this product for you immensely. It poured right out of me, which is always THE best way to create, in my experience. I hope you find it a useful reference and information resource.

Thank you for your support and love!

RawPagan

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£27.00

Intuitive magic vesus Ritual magic

There are many ways of practicing magic and many spiritual paths to follow, or you can even create your own unique way of doing things and I encourage and promote in my teachings to create your own practice. It is so much more meaningful and deeply relational if you base your practice on your preferences and what resonates rather than following a prescribed set of rules and rituals.