Email From a Seeker

I received an email from a young girl – I’d peg her at 13-15 years old, but I could be way off. I’m posting the text and my reply, minus identifying bits.

Her email:

Hello,
I know this sounds kind of weird but I sort of need your advice and help if your willing to help me. I was browsing your website and I found your about me page. Things you described such as “seeing things” at a young age made me recollect several spiritual things I saw during me childhood. My parents have never been church goers and I have always thought that I would never have a religious affiliation. But I’m starting to think that Wicca is for me, but doing chants to myself just doesn’t seem like the thing to do. My religion is not really the reason why I have called upon you, I just need advice on maybe who I should go to locally. I have always felt as if there was something special about me, like I was meant to do something magickal. I have dreams about levitating things, but I still cannot levitate anything and I feel ridiculous trying. I have very vivid dreams, and some of my dreams have come true. I considered going to a psychic to see if she could tell me if I had any real power or if I was just imagining things. I need to know if this is something I should persue or something I am just imagining. There are not many magick shops around where I live and most of the people in my small town would consider witchcraft sinful. My mother did not want me messing with black magick, and she really doesn’t approve of witchcraft. But I just have this inner feeling that I was meant to do something. Is there any advice you could give me?

My reply:

Your email is rather hard to pin down to one question, so I hope you’ll forgive anything that reads as if I’m assuming things – I’m just doing the best I can with what you’ve written. First of all, where are you located? You don’t have to be specific, maybe tell me the nearest major city and whatever else may help me with answering your local contacts question. Secondly, how old are you? Still at home, obviously, but if I help anyone too young to get involved in the occult, I could really upset your family and get in trouble (potentially).

Levitating things – think about it. It’s a waste of energy to levitate a pencil across the room compared to just going to get it. Psychic abilities really aren’t about telekinesis, and their function is usually not used to gain one personal glory. The people you see on movies or TV are extremely exaggerated, particularly in shows like “Charmed” or movies like “The Craft.” An element or two of truth wrapped up in a whole shiny package of ridiculous. Magick is not about vanquishing demons or getting revenge on the jerk in your class. And people who allegedly help the police solve crimes through their psychic vision are very rare and never have that great of a track record. It’s hit or miss for most, and helping the police is a form of being in the spotlight that gives a great deal of pressure, making it hard to hear those inner voices – we want to get it right, so we dismiss what doesn’t sound good and then find out it was right all along. It happens a lot. I’m sure you’ve had it happen to you and you know what it feels like to be embarrassed and to wish you’d listened to your first instinct or intuition.

Wicca… eh. Wicca is only the most popularized form of occult spirituality or magical practice. It’s often the starting point for people who want to get into the arts, but it doesn’t have a whole lot to offer for the solitary practitioner. Alternative spirituality is definitely risky in smaller and more conservative communities, and it’s not something that makes devotion easier. Choosing to walk your own path in pursuit of spiritual growth is a commitment, and not one to be taken lightly. Once you set foot on that path, you instantly make things harder for yourself, as if the universe understood your goal and provided more intense lessons to ensure that you do, indeed, grow. To enter the magical arts for any other reason is called “dabbling.”

Dabbling gets you nowhere – You’ll go through maybe a year of intense experiences which will then taper off and eventually disappear. You might switch paths so that you get another infusion of that excitement, but eventually that will stop working. You’ll then get bored (or scared, if you’re really Christian deep down) and decide you’ve learned everything about magick that there is to learn, and you’ll quit. It’s that simple.

There’s never any end to knowledge or to learning, or to personal growth. How you get there doesn’t matter, but striving at whatever fires your soul into passion – that’s what matters. Power is transitory and pointless, but growth and wisdom are forever. You need to figure out what you want, and why you want it. Then your answer will be clear. What will you stay with forever? What does your soul yearn for? If it yearns for recognition or power, then ask it why? Ask it what’s underneath that yearning. Keep asking until you discover what you really want and what you’re really committed to.

Best of luck.
Sheta Kaey

And now I’m going to sleep.

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