“Know the sub-consciousness to be an epitome of all experience and wisdom, past incarnations as men, animals, birds, vegetable life, etc., etc., everything that exists, has and ever will exist. Each being a stratum in the order of evolution. Naturally then, the lower we probe into these strata, the earlier will be the forms of life we arrive at; the last is the Almighty Simplicity. And if we succeed in awakening them, we shall gain their properties, and our accomplishment will correspond. They being experiences long passed, must be evoked by extremely vague suggestion, which can only operate when the mind is unusually quiet or simple. To have their wisdom does not mean the necessity of their bodies- the body modifies in relation to ‘means’ (we travel faster than the hunting leopard, but do not have its body), when it is the means it changes accordingly. Now, if we observe Nature, the early forms of life are wonderful in their properties, adaptablility, etc; their strength enormous, and some are indestructible. No matter what the desire is, it always is its accomplishment. A microbe has the power to destroy the world (and certainly would if it took an interest in us). If you were to dismember its limb, the mutilated part would regrow, etc. So by evoking and becoming obsessed or illuminated by these existences, we gain their magical properties, or the knowledge of their attainment. This is what already happens (everything happens at all times) though exceedingly slowly; in striving for knowledge we repel it, the mind works best on a simple diet.”
Spare, Austin Osman, The Book of Pleasure (self-love): Psychology of Ecstasy, Hermetic Library, https://hermetic.com/spare/pleasure (Accessed April 26, 2018).
My spirituality – or practice, or spiritual path, or however you’d want to call it – is very intrinsic. I feel like any spiritual doing I might involve myself in are centered around me trying to understand myself in this world; to understand my being here, my purpose and to get to the bottom of my mind and consciousness. To see what my mind and spirit are capable of; to understand myself as a whole.
Pretty cheesy stuff, I know. But that’s what’s been driving me spiritually the most.
I sometimes feel I don’t need an altar. I don’t need candles or a pentacle or incense. I just need my mind. I need the dreams that visit me. The rare moments of clearance where I know what is going to happen, and it happens. I need the striking realizations that I know what my life will look like in a while, and there will be no surprise when the happy times come, or the sad times. The feeling when I am investing all my thoughts into meeting someone, and then they appear before me.
I do not need tools, my only tool is my mind. I say this not to dismiss anyone who finds tools useful or to call my beloved self-made wooden pentacle rubbish, or to ignore my love for my tarot cards. I always need the Moon, it’s the only symbol and magical companion I’ve ever needed. But I recognize accessories from necessities, and my own conscious and subconscious mind is the latter.
I just want to share this thought I’ve had. That due to my spiritual path being so personal, I can’t seem to identify it sometimes. Which brings me to why it is so difficult for me to share it with other people in the first place. Even other magical people/witches/occultists… They will not understand it. It is so much a part of my mind and my constant inner dialogue that I find no words fitting to how magic works for me. It just does, in it’s own way.
The conscious, subconscious, and unconscious are different levels of awareness of the mind. Each one of these levels has their own specific job as it relates to the rest of the mind, and they all work together in order to facilitate the connection of awareness between specific information that is taken in through events.
Conscious mind:
The conscious mind is the mind that we are aware of. It is our focal point of awareness that are mind uses to perceive our surroundings, and our present thoughts. The conscious mind does not run the show, and is just a perceiver of the events that are happening, and because of this the conscious mind will you receive most of its information when needed from the subconscious mind. This is also the home of the ego, which chooses the content in which the consciousness will interact with, and will act as a gatekeeper for information, and experience. The ego also chooses what gets repressed and sent to the unconscious mind.
Subconscious mind:
The subconscious mind also sometimes known as the preconscious mind is the mind that we are semi aware of. It runs in the background so we are not completely focused on it, and we can choose to recall information from it in order to bring that information into our present consciousness. It is the place where we store, and receive data for later. Things such as our memories, beliefs, values, mood, emotions, behaviors, and our perceptions that we are not focusing upon stay within our subconscious mind, unless we focus upon it with our consciousness. The subconscious mind is in direct connection with the unconscious.
Unconscious mind:
The unconscious mind also sometimes known as the personal unconscious is the mind that we are not aware of. The unconscious is the deepest part of the personal mind. It is the place that communicates with us in our dreams. The unconscious mind can reluctantly share information to the subconscious mind, so that the conscious mind can receive it though this will only happen in certain circumstances such as dreams, or when these understandings are triggered by certain events. The unconscious mind can also be brought up through specific types of methods such as meditation, and hypnosis, and it is these understandings that give birth to shadow work. The unconscious will store unacceptable, or unpleasant things that we have repressed that causes us pain anxiety, and conflict things like hidden feelings memories thoughts, and desires, which is usually known as the shadow. other things that have just been forgotten, or were not important enough to be remembered also end up in the unconscious mind. A lot of the understandings that are stored here are the fundamental roots of your understandings, beliefs, and values and your justification for believing in such things, because of this your subconscious is always running the show from the background even when you don’t know it.
Occult Aspects 