Part 2
I slowly rose from my bow with the thoughts of gratitude and prayer still on my mind, and I once again started to think of magic. However, for the very first time, I am not consciously thinking about making something happen. Instead, all of my thoughts are on the idea of magic itself and what it means to me.
While 'Will and Intet' might allow you to perform extraordinary feats of magic, the very basis of magic seems to be in wishes.
Magic to me is a wish given form.
'I wish for this to happen,' and if you really want it enough, it will. To me, that is the foundation of magic.
While 'will' gives it extra power and increases magic's strength, your 'intent' allows magic to be manipulated in a certain way; the wish is the source of magic done by man.
According to my understanding so far, 'will and intent' seem to be merely additions that wizards use.
Wizards and Witches use 'will' through continuous practice and the belief in themselves. For example, if you use a spell once and keep practicing until you believe that you can do this spell without fail.
The affirmations from all the success and beliefs in yourself that you can do the magic/spell and any spell, and if you do the magic/spell enough times, you will get the same result every time, is how will is cultivated, honed, and sharpened.
It doesn't seem to be something you naturally possess, but something you learn, either intentionally or through the nature of your surroundings, i.e., the way you grew up.
'Intent' is used through the structure of the spells, the incantations, and the wand movements.
Wizards hone these skills through continuous practice until they can simply direct their magic to do what they want, without the incantations or the wand movements.
These are used to declare your intent to use magic in a certain way.
I think the end goal with intent is to do magic with just a thought.
Once you want magic to do something, it happens without needing to understand the spell or any words or gestures associated with it.
After many ponder sessions, I have concluded that 'Will and Intent' go hand in hand; they synergize and reinforce one another.
Returning to my thoughts on what is magic and the foundation on which I perceive it.
The foundation of magic, to me, can be boiled down to the act of wishing something to happen, and the medium through which it manifests itself is our imagination.
The more we know, the greater our imagination grows; we can imagine more ideas, so whatever magic manifests in turn is stronger, more precise, and greater.
Continuing with my thoughts of wishing, let's say, for example, a child wishes to have a book he/she has seen or is in their sight. Imagination is the gateway and the medium that magic uses to fulfill the child's wishes.
The imagination in this case is if the child knows of a way, consciously or subconsciously get the book they want in front of him/her, magic will manifest through that.
In this case, he/she might have seen their parents bring the book, so the book might fly over.
It could also be that the child doesn't remember how he/she saw the book or how it was brought to him/her or read to him, so the book might just appear in front of the child because it teleported, or a copy came into existence the moment a child wished for it.
If it's someone with more knowledge on how they can get the book, magic might manifest in a different way. For example, if they know they can simply project the contents of that book like a holographic projection, magic might manifest that way.
This is what I mean by knowledge increases your imagination. If you know something can be done one way, your mind will help you imagine different things you can employ that knowledge to.
Thus, whatever the child imagined would happen through his wish is now part of his reality through the wonder that is the caster's imagination.
That is why imagination is essential, as it allows the magic to manifest.
To conclude, the foundation of magic is the act of wishing, and there are three pillars of magic.
Imagination (how magic comes to life after the wish is made), this can grow with knowledge.
Will (belief in self and magic; can also use emotions to interact with magic), it is honed through practice and affirmations.
Intent (if you want to change your wish in any way, whether to make it stronger and change its properties, honed through continuous practice).
I breathe in once more, a deep breath in, and a deep breath out.
I close my eyes again, keeping all these ideas in mind, my thoughts still on my reflection of magic.
And so, I make a wish.
At the very end of the deep breath I am inhaling, I softly speak for the first time since I sat down.
"I want to use magic", I made an earnest plea with my eyes closed.
The reaction is immediate; as soon as magic heard my wish, it manifested through my imagination.
The subject of my imagination has recently been levitation. All my practice attempts at magic have been about levitating something; even my first accidental magic involved levitation.
As I exhale the breath I held when I made my wish, I start to feel warm. The afternoon sun is already warming my face, but this warmth comes from within. It didn't start from any singular place. Instead, it feels like it has always been there. Just resting in my body, undisturbed, unnoticed.
'Mhhhnn, this is nice.' I think.
I am now warm and toasty; it feels like mid-seventies degrees. I can definitely tell the difference. It is hard to be this warm in London weather without layering up.
I finally open my eyes after enjoying the warmth for a bit.
The first thing I see is stones, sticks, and leaves.
They are all floating, everywhere, all around me. It looks like anything that wasn't nailed down to the ground is now floating. It even looks like there is a beauty filter on the world around me.
I reach out my hand, hoping to touch magic, and it moves!
I lifted my hand a little higher, and the floating pile rose. I realize magic is following my will. I am in control of magic right now.
My magic seems to associate hand gestures with movement for directions.
For now, I simply want to keep looking at my magic, so I don't try to control it in anyway and the pile of garden debris goes back to the height it started at.
After briefly looking around, I bring my focus in front of me.
There are so many things hovering in front of me; it looks like even the leaves from the plants on the other side of the garden decided to join the party and are now hovering in front of me.
The crickets and beetles also invited themselves to the party. I also spot a lone mouse in the mix.
I am completely and utterly spellbound, I can't look away, and I don't want to.
As the warmth slowly fades, so does the magic that holds everything afloat.
All I can think of is 'Magic is warm?'
You know that feeling of the warm bed and blankets when you wake up in the morning, right before you need to get out of bed. It was that, only this feeling was ten times stronger and more pronounced.
If magic were my bed and blanket, I would never want to get up and leave it.
It was only for maybe ten seconds, but I was in the presence of magic, flowing, existing, illuminating, and warming me. It felt like acceptance at a transcendent level.
For the first time in my life, I am aware of magic like never before. I can still feel the lingering warmth.
Any attempts previously at using magic were just feelings and emotions that led to the magic happening. I never felt like I was the one doing magic. I only ever saw the result of my volatile emotions.
It's different this time; magic actually feels, well, magical, not just a series of actions that result in an effect.
And it is beautiful.
I do believe I am in love.
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Ilene Woods, Mike Douglas - So This Is Love (From "Cinderella")
"So this is love, Mmmmmm
So this is love
So this is what makes life divine
I'm all aglow, Mmmmmm
And now I know."
- Henry's thoughts on magic.