How to Practice Magic in Service of Others
You’re in the right place if you want to…
learn what service magic is and how it differs from practical magic
understand how to use witchcraft and magic to act in service of others
become more comfortable practicing self care
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To start off the show, we look at our Tarot Card for the week and we look for moments that relate to this card in our daily lives. For this week, we chose the Nine of Pentacles. The theme of this card is maturity particularly in terms of wealth and abundance.
The woman in the image has accumulated this wealth and it has matured into something she can live on. I like to imagine that she is having her portrait drawn and that is why she is posed so elegantly.
This could be a person who is enjoying her life of luxury and she’s blessed. It could also be someone who has become bored with her comfortable existence. Having money can solve a lot of problems, but there is a threshold that marks where you have accumulated enough, and that more won’t solve any more problems.
This card is about achieving a certain level of comfort but it’s also about wondering what comes next. What is the next joyful experience that will lift the boredom.
You can hear Erica’s and Maggie’s stories related to the Nine of Pentacles by listening to the episode.
WHAT IS SERVICE MAGIC?
We already know that magic is useful for practical purposes—finding love, attracting money, feeling more confident, or grounded, or creative, increasing your intuition, and on and on. These are examples of magical purposes with a smaller scope of influence. These purposes are generally focused on your immediate bubble: yourself, family and friends.
There is also something called service magic, which is done for the greater good of all of us.
Service magic has a wider scope of influence, impacting people on a global scale. We can practice service magic for other people and those with no voices; animals, trees, ecosystems, soil, rocks, rivers, and oceans. This type of magic is about becoming aligned with the spirits of place, the ancestors, and humankind.
The rewards of practical magic are seen clearly and quickly: you attract a life partner, you get a raise, your abusive co-worker gets relocated to another department. The rewards of service magic are not as clear or measurable because the targets are social structures like racism, homophobia, misogyny, materialism, militarism, and greed.
There is a lot going on in our world, more problems to solve and causes to support than I could list. It is possible to care about everything, but it is less possible to devote yourself to the all. This is a hard choice, but I strongly suggest you choose only three causes to devote your time, attention, and money to.
This advice was given to me in 2016 by Jennifer Hofmann who has been sending out weekly activism checklists since Donald Trump was elected. She also suggests choosing a cause that doesn’t directly affect you.
MAGICAL METHODS
Sigils
My favorite form of service activism is the use of sigils. They are simple to create and you can add them to all sorts of things. There is a chapter in my book Practical Magic for Beginners and a training inside Mumbles Academy if you need a refresher on how to create and activate sigils.
Add sigils to your protest signs, fliers, letters or postcards, and petitions. Make them into amulets or talismans. Use water to draw them in rocks or signs in natural areas. Print them on tshirts, turn them into stickers.
The Tarot
The Tarot is a beautiful tool for better understanding situations. There are many spreads available online for exploring your subconscious mind and looking for opportunities to grow and heal. Additionally, each individual card has archetypal energy that can be harnessed for service magic. There’s a great list in the book Magic for the Resistance.
Additionally, consider purchasing Tarot decks that are diverse in terms of ability, race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexuality. And support independent artists wherever you can.
Crystals and Stones and Other Materials
Crystals are pretty. I know this, I have collected a lot of them over the years. It’s important to consider the environmental impact of mining crystals as well. Most of my rocks in my collection were gifted to me by my geological grandfathers. But I have purchased a fair few and I know there was a time when I didn’t pay attention to the origin.
Our greatest tool for activism in a capitalist society is money. It is incredibly important to use money in situations that align with our values. This goes for purchasing all our tools that we use. What is the source, who is profiting, do their business practices align with my vision of the world?
And when we collect things from nature, we must do so sustainably. If every person who visited a space took a rock or a flower or a pretty shell, there would be no more rocks, flowers and pretty shells that make those places beautiful.
Binding, Hexing, Protection
Binding is one of the best magical solutions for activism. You can bind a senator who is trying to remove water protection laws, or a police officer from committing violence against citizens, or an abuser from hurting their spouse or children, or a factory farm from operating with cruelty, or a pharmaceutical company from increasing prices on a drug, or a president from doing basically anything he wants to do.
Binding prevents further harm from happening to people, animals and the natural world.
Now, hexing is a bit more controversial. I myself see magic as a tool for healing and creating positive change. I tend to look for all other practical and service magic options, as well as mundane actions that I can take before resorting to hexing. But hexing is acceptable, especially when the cost of not hexing is further harm or loss of life for innocent lives.
Related: The Only Good Reason Not to Curse
Protection and defense, like shields and wards, are very important parts of offensive magic, like hexing, and binding. We had an episode earlier this year about protection magic and there is a course for defensive magic in the Mumbleship if you want more information about protection measures. In relation to service magic there are specific actions you can take.
Call upon your own deities, your spirit guides, angels, and ancestors.
Seek the support of those that align with the cause you are working toward.
Shield yourself and the space around you, especially when attending protests.
Set up wards and guardians in your home or enlist the help of the plants on your property or around your apartment.
Wear amulets or talismans, carry charm bags and crystals.
Mundane Methods
I should mention that practicing service magic isn’t a substitute for taking mundane action toward causes you care about. When it comes to being in service, we need to be working on all energy levels. The magical level is only one level, but we also need to look at mundane actions like engaging in elections, organizing and attending events, canvassing, protesting, letter writing, grant writing, donations, and all other forms of mundane activism.
Plus, all of these can be sprinkled with the magical methods we’ve discussed in this episode.
SELF CARE
I also want to mention the importance of self care. This is because taking care of yourself increases your capacity to serve others.
One often used analogy is to compare yourself to a cup. When you are full, you can share that with others. When you are empty, you have nothing to pass on. Self care is the practice of filling and refilling your cup.
For many people self care is often an afterthought, especially when there is a sense of urgency to do something and take action. Make sure you have something to give by caring for yourself too.
Being of service to others can be challenging, but the causes you care about need you. You are needed to uplift and amplify the voices of the people who are hurting, and you are needed to be the voice for those who do not have a voice. So, don’t let yourself burn out, fall into depression, or give up.
Make time for serving others, and balance it with the activities that bring you joy. Cultivate diverse interests so that your life is full and well-rounded.
This post is brought to you by Nutmeg
MEDICINAL - CAREFUL: Nutmeg is poisonous in high doses; use sparingly, or topically as an essential oil mixed in a carrier oil. Deters insects, increases appetite, promotes healthy digestion.
MAGICAL - Corresponds with active energy, the Moon and Mercury, Earth and Fire elements, and Sagittarius, and Virgo; attracting money/prosperity, bringing luck, protection, and breaking hexes; include in money magic and sachets; carry as a good luck charm and/or to increase the intellect; sprinkle powder on green candles for prosperity.
Send us a voicemail
We play one listener voicemail on each episode of Talk Witchcraft, with a few exceptions. To send us a voicemail, record a voice memo on your phone and email it to welisten [at] talkwitchcraft [dot] com. Please keep in mind that we only choose voicemails that are two minutes in length or shorter (even if they’re great!).
What we’re looking for in a voicemail
Share from your personal experiences (especially experiences that we could never have) and use that to illuminate the zodiac season or theme in new ways.
Ask questions of Erica and Maggie, so we have an opportunity to respond meaningfully to your voicemail during the podcast.
Use one of these prompts: Is there something happening with you and your life that aligns with the current zodiac season or a Tarot card? How do your experiences show us something new about the magic, something that we haven’t talked about so far?
Send a voicemail even if you’re behind on the podcast. If your voicemail is about a previous episode, zodiac season, or tarot card; that doesn’t mean we won’t choose it!
Tips for recording a great voicemail
Make sure you’re somewhere quiet.
Plan what you’re going to say ahead of time, because two minutes goes quickly.
Opt for talking freely based on a bullet pointed list rather than reading word-for word from a script.
Let us know if you’d prefer to remain anonymous.
Wait, don’t go yet!
Thanks for hanging out with me today. If you’ve enjoyed this post of Talk Witchcraft, I invite you to check out mumblesacademy.com.
Mumbles Academy is the place to be for intuitive souls at any stage on their WitchPath. Whether you are a Wildling at the very beginning of witchcraft journey and looking for a safe learning environment, a Creator who is already committed to their practice and wants to develop their witchcraft skills even more, or a Sage who full of wisdom already and is ready to share that with others, Mumbles Academy was designed for you.
With monthly masterclasses and live Q&As, an extensive archive of courses and training, and a supportive community to help you along the way with encouragement and advice, Mumbles Academy is the perfect place for you to be as you as you continue on your WitchPath.
Now it’s your turn!
What are your three activism causes?