Choosing TO CHANGE

This metaphor uses a common experience, viewing a merchandise catalogue, to induce trance and then to give the listener several metaphoric ways to change their own destiny. The basic metaphor is 'no matter how your picture was formed... it can be changed'.

 

The Catalogue of Magick

 

Setting the scene

A friend of mine told me a story that I think might interest you... it seems my friend received a large package in the post one day... a really heavy package bound up in cardboard.... but it had no sender's address on it.... My friend took it inside... and sat down in comfortable chair and carefully opened the wrappings.... and inside was a merchandise catalogue... a thick book with glossy pictures of all sorts of things for sale...

 

Induction

and on the front cover was the name... A Catalogue of Magick... and it said... 'Look within' .... the front cover had a picture.... it was hard to make out what it was... I wonder if you can imagine a spiral... and if that spiral was to start slowly turning... how you might find yourself falling into that spiral... feeling yourself going down and down... and as you go down and down... how all the colours can begin to fade... like lights going out in city at night.... and how that feeling comes of gently sinking... safe and secure... down and down... and how each breath can make you more relaxed... more and more relaxed... and you can imagine falling.... sinking... drifting away.... and as all the lights go down you can become so relaxed.... nothing to do... but breathing gently now... and maybe you can feel how deeply you are relaxing with each breath out... and how good it can be to just let go... and enjoy being relaxed... lying there... listening to my voice... relaxing ever deeper and deeper... and maybe you can imagine a large book... and how you open a book.... and turning the pages... and seeing a page inside

 

 

Imagining Change

And on that page are the words

'I wonder if you are artistic?'

And there on the page is a picture of an artist's frame for sale, and canvas to paint on, and paint in tubes and pots and buckets. And you know, in a book of magic.... the normal rules don't apply... this canvas was able to sense what you wanted, what you needed to paint, and you find yourself in front of that frame, with a blank canvas in front of you... and you look at that the canvas and feel attracted to it... to want to change it... and even as you think about what to put on it... the brushes move on their own and start painting... and they paint a picture of something that is bothering you... and just let it happen... and you might be surprised at what you can see.... and as you watch the brushes fill in more more details... and you can just look and wonder.... and there it is .... a picture of the thing you want to be rid of.... and you can look at it... sitting there... outside of you, separated from you.... just waiting... and you find a brush in one hand... and there's a scraper hanging there... and you can paint over parts of that image... and you can scrape off parts of the image... or you might decide to cut that canvas into strips and start again... and think about what you want to have happen to that picture.... and as soon as you think it... it starts to happen.... just let it happen.. watch as the brushes or scraper or other things do what you want to do to that picture...

[pause]

 

And turning to another page...

 

beside the words 'Are you the sort who likes to make things?'

there are bags with hundreds and hundreds of little stones.... round... polished with time.... smooth and warm in the hand... coloured stones... white and red and blue and black .... many colours... many sizes.... and instructions... for making mosaics... pictures made of tiny stones.... pictures that tell a story.... of lions and heroes and maidens and waterfalls and far distant lands.... pictures that can last forever, but aren't really there... just an arrangement of stones that fool the eye... and every stone in the bag... no matter how small..... can become part of a larger picture... and all those stones can be mixed and matched... and made into different pictures.... no one can tell which picture a stone belongs in... one stone can be substituted for another stone... one stone can be in many pictures... one stone can tell many stories, can't it? And people can find so many ways of arranging their stones... they can make designs... or random patterns or they might choose to create an elaborate picture of life as they want it to be.... stone by stone... and you can do that now... imagine a path... or or the floor of a room that you love... and watch as hundreds of stones pour out and arrange themselves into a pattern.... or a picture... and you can imagine moving those stones around... changing the colours... the shapes... until it shows you exactly what you want.... and you can watch as it comes to life... and becomes your future...

[pause]

 

And turning to another page...

 

the words... 'Do you like to do things with your hands?'

And there is a picture of weaving frame... with an incomplete piece of work on it... and balls of wool linking into it... a complex mix of different strands... and you find yourself in front of it... holding the part finished work in your hands... and you realise that it is not what you want... and you can tear the work out of the loom... or cut out parts of it... and you find yourself selecting this colour and that ... looking for the patterns you want... and you can see yourself... as if in a mirror... you see your hands picking, choosing, sorting, rejecting... and as you watch a pattern emerges... a new pattern... vibrant... happy... a pattern that can change and grow... and you can feel the softness of wool, the shiny silk, the rough texture of hemp... and there are needles... of many sizes... straight and curved... blunt and sharp... and somehow you know how to use these... as if you were born with them in your hands... ready to use... and slowly at first... and then more swiftly the weaving frame guides your thoughts... your hands... your choices... and a new picture emerges... and some of the details might be vague but you know that you are working towards the picture you want... the picture your deserve...

[pause]

 

And turning to another page...

 

Are the words... 'Are you the nurturing sort, do you like watch things grow?'

And there is a picture of a bin full of seeds.... all sorts and sizes and shapes of seeds... and as you watch a hand reaches in and scatters random seeds... and I wonder if you have ever seen those films where a seed sprouts and waves about and whole days are reduced to minutes?... and you can watch your garden as it grows... seeds sprouting and reaching upwards to the light... but in this movie... you can choose what these seeds will produce...

Will you grow spiky cactus or sweet apples, fragrant roses or dark moss, healthy plants or drooping stems? Because you can look around the garden... examine what you find growing there... and you can decide what you want to keep and what not.... you can decide what to rip out and put on the compost heap... old plants can be transformed, recycled into new and healthy ones... or they can be burned... and as you watch... the bright flames destroy the old and create new life... and that garden will grow exactly the way you want it to... a place for you to enjoy forever...

 

And in that book.... many other pages....

 

And my friend looked at many pages... but spent a lot of time on one of them particularly... thinking about possibilities... about change... about how when you think about it... nothing is fixed... everything can be changed....

 

and if you have a picture of something.... you can imagine it differently... painting it in different colours... or weaving new threads through it... or you can choose to rearrange the tiny bits that make up every picture... or maybe you might like to imagine things turning out a bit differently... or you can imagine getting rid of it... and making things the way you always wanted them.... and these things can happen, you know.

 

And eventually, I don't know how long... my friend closed the book... and was looking at the cover again... and the spiral started to turn the other way... and the lights and the colours got brighter.... and when that spiral stops you can find your self back in the present... feeling refreshed... and knowing that deep inside part of you is making the changes you want or maybe it has already happened? Who knows? That's the thing with magic, isn't it?

 

 

 

 

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