Modern Magic

NOTE TO THE READER

Is this the book for you?

This book may be for you if you have:

• Ever been accused of being too sensitive, or ever wondered if your sensitivity was a doorway to a much richer, spiritual life.

• Engaged in meditation, and found pathways to deeper parts of yourself in your practice.

• Practiced mindfulness, awareness, and ways to stay present in the now, thus charging your actions with balanced intention.

• Bent into the mystical poses of yoga practice, finding a deeper purpose as you became one with your breath.

• Ever seen auras—glowing halos of color around individuals.

• Experienced psychic abilities, such as hearing another person’s thoughts or sensing someone’s emotions.

• Ever had an imaginary friend—someone that offered you protection and companionship as a child.

• Had a psychic or witchy relative with whom you’ve always been particularly close.

• Seen a ghost, or otherwise experienced the paranormal or unexplained.

• Sought out the advice of psychics or fortune-tellers, and found their messages to have a bearing of truth.

• Read tarot cards or read the future with other divination tools.

• Journeyed in the shamanic tradition, and have met your animal guardians or received messages from the Other Side.

• Known in your heart of hearts that a dream transported you to another world, where what happened may have been more real than anything you have experienced on Earth.

• Been at the hearth or altars of voodoo, hoodoo, and Old Craft practitioners.

• Worked with healers of any kind.

• Attempted manifestation, and used your mind to create what you wanted in physical reality.

• Heard the whisper of all divine life in the rustling of the forest branches, the crash of the ocean waves, and the wide expanse of the glittering night sky.

• Chosen to go green, finding sustainable and ecofriendly ways to alter your life and work toward living in harmony with all beings.

• Felt or sensed something you couldn’t explain, but knew in your heart what you were sensing was truth.

• Ever sought the truth, making you a seeker guided by your own internal spiritual compass to find answers that resonate with your heart and soul.

If you have experienced any of these things, if you have studied any of these things, if you are curious about any of these things—then this is the book for you.

I experienced, studied, and was curious about all these magical aspects of life, topics that have always been considered taboo and generally unworthy of serious investigation. I grew up surrounded by Eastern and New Age thought in the San Francisco Bay area, and found myself venturing into crystal shops at a young age, always seeking answers about myself and this world.

For the last eight years, I have worked in the technology sector of Silicon Valley. Being in such an analytical, data-driven industry prompted me to explore the other side of reality, to search for a richer existence. In early 2012 I sought out a past-life regression therapist, and got much more than a glimpse of my past lives. A singular vision—one that even

the therapist could not explain—prompted me to take a journey to try and understand what I had experienced. I was drawn to the world of intuition. I turned inward and informed my journey with a disparate collection of books and studies that might help explain the magic in me and in the world.

What I sought—and what I found—was that all magical practices are connected. This connection is actually very simple, natural, and user- friendly. By coming to understand magic and spirituality in a new way, I found not only what magic is, but why magic exists at all. I looked past the familiar tropes of angels, tarot cards, and yoga poses. I found that an underlying energy connects all magical practices. This connection is what I wish to share with you.

What I endeavor to do here is explain the foundation of magic: how to work with it, how to understand it, how to explore it, and how to reclaim your own magical heritage. Modern Magic: Reclaiming Your Magical Heritage demystifies the New Age, the mystical, and the spiritual and reveals how to access your own magic simply and how to apply it—with practical purpose—in your everyday life.

Since there has never been a book on this exact topic, I found that the text itself needed to comprise an eclectic mix of materials. Some ideas require scholarly or scientific explanation. Others are almost anecdotal in nature, couched in everyday circumstances, and even draw on pop culture references. Still others draw on diverse spiritual traditions and were informed by my own private, mystical path. Weaving together a master story on magic has required many threads, and I encourage you to follow where each bright thread of this tapestry leads—after all, in a magical worldview, everything is connected.

Your journey merely starts with reading this book—it continues with your own unique voyage toward reclaiming your magical heritage. I’m merely setting the stage so you can move confidently. I introduce you to what modern magic is, and why it is, too. I hope to give you the tools to find your magic so the wind may always be at your back on your own spiritual path.

Come with me and let’s journey deep into the crystal shop, past the glass cases, essential oils, candles, and go behind the veil to the Other Side, where true magic is waiting for you. The crystal shop is the last outpost in our modern world where spiritual seekers can find tools and practices to discover their true selves. Crystals and psychic abilities can seem esoteric and at odds with our rational, technological world. This book will be your guide to understanding most anything you could come across in the crystal shop, but in a modern and rational way.

You may be young, or you may be older; you may be well versed in the spiritual traditions of the world, or you may be seeking magic for the first time. Whoever you are, I welcome you to the path of reclaiming your own magical heritage.