The Magical Path: Q&A

The Magical Path
Q & A

Q: Right in the beginning you say your book is a course in real magic. Do you mean it? Is magic real?

A: Absolutely. Most people use different names for it. Business people call it strategic planning. The scientifically inclined call it physics or chemistry. You can even call it “intelligent design.” It is the art of creating something out of nothing — call it what you will. I’ve always liked the word magic, and I’ve always sensed that even though “stage magic” is fake, there is a long tradition of real, substantial magic.

Q: You write in your Introduction that “the magical path is a short path, a direct path to success as you choose to define it, and so is appealing and useful for a great many people, including artists, young people, the over-worked, underpaid, overwhelmed, or hopelessly lazy.” What do you mean by a direct path?

A: There are tried and true techniques that can have results that manifest very quickly. Going through a simple mediation called the Middle Pillar Meditation, for example, can have immediately positive effects on your health. It can also be used to attract more money into your life.

Q: You talk about your own “magical path” in the Introduction. Can you give us a quick version of it?

A: When I left college, I was in very bad health, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I wandered into a bookstore in Madison, Wisconsin, that specialized in western magic — something I was completely unfamiliar with. I left with a stack of books — and the first one I read, called The Art of True Healing by Israel Regardie had an immediate, positive healing effect on my life. That’s where I discovered the Middle Pillar Mediation, which not only stimulates your body’s natural healing systems, but can be used for all kinds of things, including wealth creation.

As it says in the book, These are the methods by which the dynamic nature of the subconscious can be stimulated so the human personality becomes transformed into a powerful magnet attracting to itself whatever it truly desires or is necessary to its welfare.

Q: Can we easily learn some of these techniques?

A: Yes, the book is filled with very specific exercises and techniques that anyone can learn. The only skills you need are to be able to dream, imagine, read, and write.

Q: Do you really believe that you have created your success through magic?

A: I have no doubt about it. And I never had to make some kind of leap of faith in these techniques, never had to come to believe anything. I just tried these meditations and exercises, and saw that they worked in my life.

Q: Are you saying you don’t have to believe in any of this — all you need to do is try it and see the results in your life?

A: Absolutely. Just try some of these exercises with an open mind, and see what happens.

Q: Some people have really negative views of magic, in any form.

A: Yes, and it’s kind of sad to me, because those views are based on fear. There are some people who misuse magic, it’s true. It can be used for good or ill. But we only want good in our lives, so we only use the powerful tools of magic for the highest good of all. One way we often end sessions is by affirming This, or something better, is now manifesting in totally satisfying and harmonious ways, for the highest good of all. This simple little affirmation keeps you on the right track. When using magic properly, there is nothing to fear at all.

Q: One of my favorite chapter titles is “Time and Money and the Core Belief Process” — what’s that all about?

A: It’s one of my favorite chapters too. Time and money are two major issues in most people’s lives, and they’re intricately related. I learned from James Allen’s brilliant book As You Think (originally called As a Man Thinketh) that it’s not only possible to master time and money, the process is not all that difficult. It simply involves taking a good, long look at our underlying beliefs about time and money — and then to understand that those beliefs are not necessarily true in themselves (in fact, lots of other people have very different beliefs), but they become true in our experience if we believe them. Once we realize this, we can learn to change whichever deep, underlying beliefs are not helping us to master time and money.

Q: You often say you try to give away the essence of what you know every time you speak, including interviews like this. What is the essence of what you know?

A: When you get down to trying to express the essence of what you know, the words can sound way too simple, or puzzling or enigmatic, like zen koans. The last 30 pages of the book are filled with quotes I call “Magical Passages,” because they all contain the essence of what I know. There are many ways to express it. Here’s one: You have everything you need: a miraculous body, a phenomenal brain, and a vast and powerful subconscious mind. Now it’s just a matter of focusing your mind in the right direction.

So be it. So it is!

Q: Can you give us an example of a few more of the “Magical Passages” at the end of your book?

A:

There is an ever-mysterious process of creation;
we can call it many things.
We will never understand how the process works,
but we can consciously set it in motion.
The tools we use are simply our dreams and imagination.
_____________

All creation starts with a spiritual impulse,
then becomes a thought, then an emotion.
When thought and emotion are focused,
physical creation is the result.
_____________

I close my eyes and see a field of light.
and I feel that light, and life,
in every cell of my body,
nurturing and healing every cell.
And I know that light,
and light, and love,
is who and what I am,
now and forever.
_____________

You
are a unique
creative genius, capable
of realizing your most expansive
dreams in life and fulfilling your true purpose,
moving up, and helping others move up, the pyramid
of human consciousness to self-actualization and fulfillment.
_____________

So be it. So it is!