Many of those who are new to magick assume that the mark of a master practitioner is the ability to get results instantly. Sometimes that can happen, especially when the intended outcome is relatively trivial and will have few repercussions on future events, but far more often the results will take some time to show up in the life of the magickian – anything from a few hours or days to weeks, months or even years. So why is this, and why, after thousands of years of magickal workings, has nobody been able to identify the elusive secret that would result in the never-fail instant manifestation of intention?
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The answer to this question is actually quite simple, and it is this: Time itself serves as a kind of ‘safety buffer’ between the moment of magickal intention and the eventual manifestation of that intention.
Such a safety buffer is necessary because, at some point in their lives, every individual projects an emotionally-charged (and therefore magickally significant) intention that would, if it were to manifest immediately, have severe negative repercussions in the life of the person issuing it and often in the lives of other people too.
For example, in a moment of intense anger a person might wish harm on another, perhaps even wishing them dead. Or perhaps, in in the heat of an argument, one partner in a business relationship might wish that the other would just resign from the company and leave. The driver of a car, in a moment of road rage, might like to imagine another vehicle skidding off the road.
It stands to reason that, if these spontaneous but negative intentions were to manifest themselves instantly, our lives would quickly descend into chaos. Whilst one might argue that they would never be se cruel as to deliberately wish another person dead, they might still project a negative intention in an undeliberate manner. And even if not, their own self-discipline in this respect wouldn’t negate the ability of someone else wishing bad things on them, and so the ‘safety buffer’ really is a very good thing for all concerned.
Being mindful of this safety buffer concept is helpful because it enables one to understand the importance of being consistent with their magickal intentions. In short, a magickian needs to project his or her intention on a consistent basis before it will manifest. Merely projecting an intention once and then immediately countering that intention with a contrary one will bring no discernible results whatsoever.
Getting an intention to manifest can be likened to boiling a pan of cold water over a camp fire. Placing the pan of cold water over the fire for ten seconds and then removing it wouldn’t be at all sufficient to make the water boil. To get the water to boil, the pan must be exposed to the heat of the fire consistently.
The same is true in magick. Projecting an intention to have a fantastic career and then spending the rest of one’s time projecting contrary intentions will result in little or no progress being made. To get results, and to get them as fast as possible, you need to be consistent with your intention for a long enough period to ‘push through’ the safety buffer described previously.
It is very much worth pointing out that the safety buffer is not a fixed period of time, but rather one that appears to be related to several different factors, including:
The power of the intention. The more energy which is invested in the intention, the smaller the buffer will be. Just as running faster would allow you to cover a specified distance faster than running slower, so a more intense projection of energy can push through the buffer more efficiently than a half-hearted projection of energy.
The potential impact of the intention. It seems that the bigger the impact an intention will have on your life and/or on the lives of others, the bigger the safety buffer will be. An intention to find a penny in the street is something that will have little impact on your life (apart from strengthening your confidence in magick), so the safety buffer in that scenario is likely to be very small. An intention to become a millionaire, on the other hand, would have a major impact in your life, and so the safety buffer would be much larger.
The purity of the intention. Whilst the morality or otherwise of a particular intention is a personal matter that every magickian must figure out for himself, there does seem to be a relationship between the purity of the intention and the size of the safety buffer. As a general rule of thumb, if an intention is wholly positive for all concerned (the intention for someone to be healthy, happy and at peace, for example) then the buffer will be smaller than if the intention was less than wholly positive for all concerned (such as getting a particular job at the expense of someone else).
It can therefore be concluded that the secret to manifesting your intention is to be consistent with it. When you have identified what you want to achieve with magick, be consistent with the expectation of success, and don’t entertain doubts that you will experience anything less. And, if you want your intention to manifest as quickly as possible, strive to project it with power and to make it one that will be positive for all concerned.
The magick of consistency doesn’t sound particularly thrilling, but the concept is an extremely important one. Your aim should therefore be to hold your positive intentions consistently day after day, week after week, until the necessary ‘safety buffer’ of time has passed and the mechanics of the universe allow that desire to manifest itself in your life. And, of course, if you happen to slip and project a single negative intention at any given moment, you can at least console yourself with the fact that the intention won’t immediately manifest as reality on the physical plane.