The I Mage Nation
Previously I attempted to produce an Internet Radio Show discussing the use of tarot’s design to understand the New Thought concepts of Positive Thinking or Law of Attraction and Magick. The idea was to discuss how the four minor arcana suits of the tarot inform us of the correct model to use in order to acquire the powerful ability many people call “manifesting our desires.” It was supposed to be a simple concept with as detailed an explanation as I could muster about how to use the power of imagination, emotional loading, right mindedness, and “earthing” or “grounding” the desire. But I made several mistakes in the process. I wasn’t as prepared as I wanted to be, I was unpracticed at the software interface and using the BlogTalkRadio technology, and I accidentally erased my settings so that in the end the show only broadcast for 15 minutes and then vanished. So instead of just giving up on that whole idea, I’ve decided to go with another tactic and begin to present it here to you in this writing with a later follow up on BlogTalkRadio (so I hope you decide to listen in and maybe even get a free “mini” reading).
Wands (in tarot) represent the idea of Will. This is the original IMAGINATION that inspires us to want to create, move, dance, make and mold our lives. The Wand is the first of the four tools on the Magician’s table. As a representation of the Magician’s Will, this tool is perhaps first and foremost in his arsenal and is today what I believe we should explore in a certain light.
I would like to begin with a basic, simple understanding of the so-called “Law of Attraction.” In this idea, we have the concept that “like attracts like.” If you imagine all the success of life around you, if you feel successful, if you start using the thoughts and words of the successful, you will become a success. Very simple, yes? Easier said than done!
Most people seem to get confused the ideas expressed in Norman Peale’s “Power of Positive Thinking” philosophy and similar ideas expressed as L.O.A. and The Secret. Typically, a belief is that if we simply think it, simply wish it, simply want it, it will come true. Oh yes, there are all sorts of caveats to cushion the blow when this model of creating our own realities fails us. We say to ourselves, “I didn’t do it right,” “the Universe is telling me that now is not the time,” “there must be a lesson in this pain for me somewhere I’m not seeing yet.” And yes, at times those excuses do appear to us to actually have a point and if you think about it, it is hard to argue with a 40 billion year old Universe. But then again, if this is so, how is it that The Power of Positive Thinking, The Secret, and The Law of Attraction gets to be called a “Law” of any type? It seems to get broken so often.
And thank the Universe for that! What if Hitler had had his way and dominated the entire globe? Can you imagine a world in which the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy could simply manifest their whims with simple mind games? How many bank vaults would empty without nary a gun being involved in the exchange? It would be a horribly chaotic world if our minds and our minds alone where all that were needed in this reality.
Of course, if the historical figures mentioned above had actually known about Positive Thinking and/or The Law of Like Attracts Like, they wouldn’t have become the people we know them as. They would have been saved from their own terrible self-destructions had they known The Secret to Life as a meaning of peace and inner harmony. And so instead, for a moment, we are allowed to imagine the power of a man called Barack who for a brief moment in his High School career he experimented with drugs and rebelliousness. What may have he become if he hadn’t somehow learned how much his destiny was determined by the work of his own hands? What if instead he had become a racists separatist angry at the world and a 300 year history that was not exactly his own?
The power of positive thinking, the Great Work of willful co-creation with the Universe, does not begin nor end with thoughts in the head. It begins with the power of imagination. A great teacher once (or often, really) reminded me that “nothing ever happened on this Earth without it first being imagined.” As confusing as this may seem, imagination is not in the head – it is in the soul or spirit. It begins with a spark and hopefully rages as an enlivening flame. And it, like the heart and mind and body, is best when trained. And according to the magicians of the tarot, it is the first tool that must be mastered if we are to learn from this great book of ours.