Aerik ArkadianThe Surprising Power of Gratitude: How a Simple Feeling Supercharges Magick
In magick, we often talk about things like power, will, and intention. All of those usual “heavy hitters” get front-row seats in books on spellcraft and ritual design. We’re always reminded to carefully visualize our intentions, right? But there’s a quiet, often overlooked force that permeates every working we do… and it’s sometimes so small that we might just miss it completely.
Gratitude.
Yes, gratitude. And I’m not talking about the thing that children are reminded to show after receiving holiday gifts, the polite “thanks” that you type in the closing of an email to a coworker, or the obligatory head nod you give to a stranger who held a door open for you. Those types of things are lightweight, sometimes even saccharine; they’re mundane.
I’m talking about filling yourself with the essence of acknowledgment, recognition, appreciation, and thankfulness. Now that’s magick.
What were you actually feeling the last time you lit a candle for that job-yielding, money-manifesting, loneliness-ending, road-opening, curse-breaking, woo-woo-inducing spell that you so carefully crafted the words and chose pretty colors and altar dressings for?
Gratitude is one of the most potent metaphysical catalysts that we have access to. It can transform the outcome of any spell, rite, or working. It has some pretty drastic implications when it comes to our inner state of being. Oh, and it’s endless — it can never run out of stock. And yet… we don’t always take full advantage of it.
The Frequency of Having
Before we get into some simple technique, let’s talk about resonance. Every emotion carries some kind of “energetic signature.” You might say, for instance, that anger sharpens. Likewise, fear constricts… and love opens. But gratitude operates differently. It’s a little strange, but gratitude recalibrates.
When we supplement our ritual mindset with feeling grateful, we shift our frequency from a place of scarcity (the sense of “I need” or “I don’t have”) to a place of abundance (the sense of “I have” or “I am”).
Tons of magick fails, not because of poor wording, inappropriate timing, or mismatched candle colors, but because the practitioner is operating from a place of lack. It’s like they’re desperately grasping for something. Absence itself becomes the star of the show. And absence is a terrible battery to draw power from.
Gratitude flips that dynamic. It roots us firmly in a feeling of… I don’t even know how else to say it, so I’ll invent a word: “enoughness.” Enough strength. Enough knowledge. Enough energy. Enough resources. Even though the thing we’re trying to manifest hasn’t yet arrived, gratitude allows us to operate as if it has. We can work from a place of fullness.
So here’s the key takeaway: Gratitude isn’t the result of manifestation — it’s the precursor.
Basic Operations
The age old Hermetic axiom tells us “as above, so below.” Right? That which is above is like that which is below. They’re reflections of each other. The other part of that is “as within, so without.” Our inner state reflects our outer state.
We’re usually taught, although sometimes inadvertently, to let our outer state define our inner state. We say “when I have ______, then I will feel grateful.”
No, no, no. A thousand times, no. That operates from a place of lack. It’s backwards, moving from the outside in.
Magick and manifestation can flow in the opposite direction. With magick, we can let our inner landscape define the outer landscape. We need to say “I have” — and feel all of that having. We need to work from the inside out.
So here’s how it goes:
If you don’t know what gratitude feels like, then please start paying more attention in your life. It’s a very particular frequency.
Some might say that all of this is just the power of imagination. I say it’s the power of magick. Getting in touch with the feelings that take place in your body is vital.
Applied Knowledge
There’s three points during ritual where you can begin to apply this knowledge.
- Before entering the ritual space: Sit and breathe. Ground yourself in the feeling of gratitude and be present.
- While performing the rite: This is the most important part. At the apex of raising and releasing your intention out into the universe, fully fill yourself with gratitude. This should happen at an action point — for a simple example, at the moment you’re lighting a candle.
- After concluding the ritual: Trust in the universe and in your magick. Be grateful that the work is done, then move on!
Gratitude’s Opposite: Fear and the Lust for Results
And now an important warning: the opposite side of the spectrum involves feeling fear or a “lust” for your results. This is when you become so involved with thinking about how you “don’t yet have the thing” or how badly you “need the thing.” It’s an obsession.
And… it’s completely self-defeating.
Frequencies in direct opposition to one another sum to zero. In other words, they cancel each other out. It’s just simple math, like adding -1 to 1.
It’s so easy to get caught up in these things. We might, for instance, perform a money spell, feeling fully confident during the ritual, only to find ourselves back to paying bills and looking at our depleted bank account shortly afterward. The worry and fear starts to set in. Did I do the spell right? Did I put enough energy into it? Is it going to work? Is it going to happen soon enough? We ask the questions. We dwell. We think. We obsess. And in doing so, we close the door to potential — the same door that we just worked so hard to open.
If you watched late-night TV during the 1990s, you may have heard a famous infomercial catchphrase: “Set it and forget it!” It was for a rotisserie oven. The company wanted everyone to know that their product was so convenient that you could literally just turn it on and completely stop thinking about it. And then suddenly, your dinner would be perfectly cooked and ready to eat.
Trust me, I have a point.
We need to start treating our magick that way.
No, seriously.
If you truly did the requisite preparations and made a real effort to put your intention out into the universe, then sometimes the best thing you can do is stop thinking about it.
Disclaimer: Gratitude is not denial. It is also not about pretending you’re fine when you’re not. You obviously must still do any and all mundane work required to get what you need. If you are trying to manifest a job, you must still apply to jobs, etc. I’m not suggesting being lazy.
I’m just saying: stop worrying. And I know that’s easier said than done, but if you find yourself drifting toward the obsession, try to return to the feeling of gratitude instead.
Conclusion
Gratitude is not what we do when we receive.
Gratitude is what we do so that we can receive.
That is all.
#enough #frequency #gratitude #magick #manifestation #occult #ritual #thankfulness #thanksgiving #witchcraft
PoleShiftBot
xKinGxKaoSx
Dining and Cooking
サファイア・ネオ
hervé
