Author Judika Illes is a lifelong practitioner of the magical arts. She joined Lisa Garr (email) on Saturday night to discuss her daily Magic rituals and how anyone can bring Magic into their lives. Illes appeared on the program during the pagan holiday Lammas/Lughnasadh. "It's an excellent time to give thanksgiving for what it is that you have, [and] to set intentions for what it is you'd like to harvest," she said. According to Illes, magic is more efficient when tightly focused and a key to successfully practicing it lies in trusting intuition.
Those who practice the magical arts have sharper senses, can hear and see more precisely, better comprehend the people around them, and gain control over their destinies, she continued. Illes revealed how to cast a spell using a refrigerator. If someone is angry and will not communicate, write their name on a slip of paper, place it in a small container filled with water, and put into the freezer with an intent for them to "cool off," she explained. Leave it in the freezer even after the person calms down, Illes suggested. She spoke about candle magic, describing candles as "a messaging system to the powers that be." Anything that exists can be used in a spell, and always speak intentions in the present tense, she noted.
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Followed by Shaman Durek, a sixth-generation shaman, who spoke about how to step fearlessly out of this Blackout period of human existence to access a place of fierce empowerment through the tools and techniques of timeless shamanic tradition. He talked about discovering his abilities as a child, and recounted an episode he experienced in kindergarten after touching a young girl's hand. According to Durek, he saw a vision of the girl coughing up blood and getting sick, which caused him to scream uncontrollably on the playground. The parents were called into the principal's office where it was discovered the girl had been diagnosed with leukemia, he explained, admitting how hard it was growing up with his gifts and isolated from other children.
"People have betrayed themselves... the betrayal was in basically shutting off their natural senses and abilities," Durek continued. Everyone has a beautiful inner light which dims and turns into a mask when they start to project what they think people want to see, he explained, pointing out shamanism helps get a person back to the core. Durek also revealed what he learned from a spiritual guide while he was in a coma. "Human beings... think against themselves and each other, and they don't realize that as they think they create," he said, noting what one thinks and does right now becomes the path which forms the future. In order to generate a new tomorrow we have to think greater than what we see in the present, Durek proposed.