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I have a special post for you today: I'm taking part in the Strategic Sorcery group's first Blog Hop! This month's topic is Planetary Magic. If you click on the links above that say "Previous" and "Next" you will be taken to the blogs of other people that participate in the Blog Hop where you can read what they have to say about Planetary Magic.

In a previous post I talked about the different masks we wear and how we can take advantage of these masks and even create new ones to suit our purposes, instead of letting the existing ones define us and limit us.

For most people though, this is easier said than done.

The most limiting thoughts, behaviors and attitudes tend to be the ones we're most blind to.

There have been situations in my life I spent years trying to change, trying everything I could think of to no avail, only to realize (or have a spirit point out to me) one simple attitude/behavior that was what was keeping me stuck.

Most of the times when this happens, it's something so obvious that I cannot believe I couldn't see it for so long. Everybody else would probably be able to see it right away if I had asked for someone else's help, but for me it was so ingrained an attitude that I just couldn't see it at all. It wasn't even taken into consideration, it was a default system setting I wouldn't even have thought to examine.

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There are many methods one can use to tackle this problem (and I will post about some of them in the future).

By now, you are probably wondering though what all that has to do with Planetary Magic.

Well, for starters, 80% of what I have to say about masks and personalities is the result of my work with Mercury. What is probably more interesting to you though is that working with the planets is a great way of exploring what you (or a version of you different than the current you) can do to cause change when you are stuck and really cannot come up with anything. What you can change in yourself to cause outer change.

So, without further ado...

When most people first come across planetary magic, they learn basic things each planet is "good" at.

When you need money or a new job you go to Jupiter or Mercury. When you want love you go to Venus. When you want to beat the crap out of someone you go to Mars. Delving deeper into planetary magic, we go beyond what each planet is "good" at. We begin to understand also how each planet's influence and powers manifest, and we begin to realize that every problem and every situation can be worked on with each of the planetary spheres.

All their attributes, their traits and the way they act are their "personality traits". Just as humans are all different and have different personality traits, so do planets. So before (or instead of) doing any kind of planetary magic to bring down those powers and cause the changes we want, let's consider how these planetary forces can manifest through us directly.

General Instructions

The process outlined below can be done as simply or as elaborately as you want. I would recommend working on the day and hour of each respective planet, though it is not strictly necessary for the purpose of the exercise. You can incorporate additional elements such as the Greek vowel for each planet, color correspondences, incense etc. This method will probably provide more benefit to people who are familiar with shape-shifting, or people who have at least some level of familiarity with each one of the spheres, so if you have never really worked with the planets before or if you only have a very basic understanding of each one, I recommend that you do some research on each one in order to understand them better ( "Seven Spheres" by Rufus Opus and "Advanced Planetary Magic" by Jason Miller can help you increase both your knowledge and your understanding of the spheres fast, and they will provide you with ways to do all kinds of magical workings with the planets too).

1. Begin by centering, followed by a few minutes of meditation to quiet your mind.

2. Focus on the planet you have chosen. See the planet above you (you can also print a photo of the planet to look at).

3. See yourself flying towards the planet. As you get closer the planet becomes bigger and bigger until it's occupying your field of vision completely.

4. See yourself falling into the planet, dissolving into it, merging with it. It is so much bigger than you that when you fall in it, you become part of it.

5. You re-emerge from the planet as a spirit of this planet. You now embody the powers of this particular sphere, as well as the personality traits that go with it.

6. See yourself flying back to Earth in your new form as a planetary spirit and taking a look at the situation from your new perspective. Take a look at your earth self and your life; see everything from the third-person perspective that being the embodiment of a planetary spirit gives you. As a spirit of (eg. Mercury), how would you tackle this situation? Remember, you now have the good and bad traits of your sphere and your ethics aren't human anymore.

7. When you are done, see yourself returning back to the planet, merging with it and returning all its energies to it so that you can become human again. Return to your body, ground and open your eyes. Write down all the different ways you came up with to tackle this problem as a spirit of this sphere.

The whole purpose of the exercise is to look at your problem (and at yourself) from an outside perspective.

In the examples below, you will notice some of the ideas are not what one would generally recommend (stealing for example). I'm not trying to suggest that you should use such means to resolve a situation, but it's important to realize that all the unethical or very hostile things you may never chose to do are still options that you have. Blocking such ideas when doing any kind of brainstorming just stops the creative flow. Note everything down, even if you know you would never act on some of these thoughts.

The examples below barely scratch the surface of what you can discover using this method. You can use these questions or you can come up with your own as you see fit. When you have completed this process, you will have many new insights as to what you want to change in the way you approach situations in order for the changes you want to manifest.

You will also have a better understanding of what to ask specifically from each planet if you intend to follow up with ritual planetary magick work.

Luna (Moon): What would happen if you created illusions in this particular situation? Would an illusion to make this person more charming or more honest (or less of something)  benefit their goals? Maybe you now see there are illusions others have created. Do these help the person's goals or do they hinder them? Would they benefit by removing them or would it be of more benefit to them if they just created the illusion that they still believe in that other person's illusion so that their enemies don't suspect that they are onto them? What if they just listened to their intuition more, even against all logic? Can this situation be resolved by simply ending it? Or by creating a new beginning? What about slowly diminishing something until it disappears, or manifesting something slowly but steadily until it comes into full form?

Mercury: If you gift them with more intelligence, would that help them in this situation? What needs to move or flow in this situation? What is stuck or what could they accomplish by stopping the flow of something in the situation? They can also just steal what they want! Or even just trick people into giving it to them. They can actually talk others into doing it for them, have they tried that? They can use their network of friends or coworkers to accomplish their desired result faster, join a pre-existing network, or even create a new network of people for their purposes. Also, there must be someone somewhere who had the same problem. Chances are they have written about it. They can benefit from researching what has been written about similar cases.

Venus: What if they tried to get what they want through their charms? If people like them, they are more likely to do things for them. When people like you, they are more forgiving of your mistakes. Can they use their beauty to achieve their goal? Maybe they just need to create fertile ground for their goal to manifest, or give birth to something new.

Sol (Sun): Their problem is that they don't believe they are the best. They probably need to let their inner light shine bright and dazzle everyone. Or be the leaders they were born to be. What would happen if they stopped being followers and started being leaders? Maybe they just need to be commanding for once. No "please, try to have this ready before the deadline if it's not too much trouble" but "Have this ready by Monday morning!". Maybe what's blocking them is all the past failures and the pain they still feel because of them. Let's burn all this shit away, let's heal everything! Let's shed some light on all these dark corners until all the ghosts have run away screaming, never to return.

Mars: Is the problem caused by poor defenses? Maybe it's caused by them always being defensive, thus allowing problematic situations to go on and on, when they should just go on the offense and get this over with for good. Maybe they should call the police, or hire a good lawyer and resolve this in court. Or maybe they just need more discipline to accomplish this goal.

Jupiter: Would they benefit from expansion of any kind? Maybe they need to be more generous with people. Are they the sovereign King of their Kingdom, or is their problem a result of them feeling they have no power over their circumstances? Have they expanded so fast that they can't handle it and this is what is causing the problem?

Saturn: Maybe this person really needs to bind a few people before they cause further harm. Or maybe someone has bound this person and the bindings needs to be undone for them to progress. Have they reached their limits in expansion and need the actual limits moved so that they have more room? Do they need an injection of wisdom because they are repeating the same mistake again and again? How does time factor into this situation? Maybe what they need is a strong curse to stop people that are really dangerous.

This is it! I hope you enjoyed this -a bit unconventional- way or working with the planets. Planetary magic can really transform your life, so if you have never tried it then give it a shot!

And don't forget to click the links below to read what the other contributors have to say about planetary magic!

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