In looking over my last posting, I thought I should add something about the art of thinking and speaking intentions to help create a more positive reality.

We don't always pay attention to our words, what they mean, how they're received, or the power of them. I realized this when teaching Spellworking; the Words of Power used in a spell must match the intention exactly. I was surprised that students found this difficult, even though the basics are very simple. But it's just a matter of shifting the thought process.

So, here are a few tips to help you phrase your intentions for the highest benefit, or to write a really powerful spell.

Always speak/think in the present. To say, "I will have unlimited wealth" puts it in the future. Always. It is forever just out of reach and never attained. Tomorrow never comes, right? Instead, say, "I have unlimited wealth". Create the space for the new reality RIGHT NOW and let your subconscious (or guides, angels or ancestors) bring it into being.

Avoid words like "wish", "need", "want" as that sends out the energy of lack. The Law of Attraction says what you send out is what you get back. To send out lack means you get lack in return. So, instead of saying "I wish for perfect health", again, say, "I have perfect health". Create the reality in your mind and it becomes physical reality.

Stay away from any negative words like "no, not, never" and any contraction associated with them. The subconscious doesn't recognize negative words. In saying, "I don't eat bad foods" means we've just programmed ourselves to eat bad foods because the subconscious will just skip over the negative and give us what we ask for. We usually say the negatives with a lot more vehemence than the positives. If we want someone to stop doing something, we're usually a lot more forceful. That force is translated into giving us a lot of exactly what we don't want.

In one of the Spellworking classes, we go around the room so everyone can speak for five minutes on something difficult that happened to them recently WITHOUT USING NEGATIVES. It's not as easy as you might think. Try it sometime around friends and have them check you if you slip. Chances are, you'll slip frequently because our normal speech pattern includes negatives all the time.

When forming intentions in your mind, keep them positive as well. That's what we aim for, but sometimes ego can step in with barriers, especially when we're getting close to overcoming something we've been stuck on for a while. In chanting for 40 days (the standard discipline to alter reality), it's pretty usual that around days 20 or 30, we want to stop chanting because we're too tired or bored or don't feel it's working. That's just the ego telling us we're getting close to releasing something that's held us back. It doesn't want to change and will fight to the death with subterfuge to stop us.

In one of my favorite books, Kinship with All Life, the author, J. Allen Boone, is taught by a magnificent dog how to send clear intentions through thoughts. It's not any easier to do than speaking without negatives. We don't usually marshall our thoughts that closely. But it can be learned and the results are astounding.

Pet behavior/discipline is a good example. Say you don't want your dog to pee on the floor. Not only do you use the big DON'T in what you tell him, you're usually clearly visualizing the last time he peed on the floor. The "not" is thrown out by his subconsicous and he psychically receives the vivid image from you of him peeing on the floor, so to him that's approval. Forceful approval as you're usually pretty damn sure you don't want him to do it again.

So you're sending him a very clear intention with word and thought that he's supposed to pee on the floor. Then you get mad (or at least I do when my cats do it) and the animal doesn't know what's going on. Instead, send a very clear image of the dog walking away and peeing outside.

One of my cats, Gus, likes to wake me up if I sleep in later than usual. He's a great alarm clock, but not on my days off. He usually taps me on the head and if I don't rouse, puts a little claw into it. Not to break skin, just to get attention. I could easily shove him off the bed and tell him "don't do that." But instead, I send him a mental image of him lying back down next to me and going to sleep, with words like, "please stop" or "give me more time". It works every time.

Another trick with intentions is to use all your senses in creating them in your mind. Meditation or concentration that creates reality with sight, smell, taste, hearing and feeling is far more successful than using only visualization.

If these suggestions are difficult to get the hang of right off the bat, please try again. Our Earth and all of humankind need forcefully positive intentions and words. Change a little part of your reality for the better and it becomes a catalyst for a bigger change.

Blessed be.