When I think about confronting change, I feel a strong resolve well up inside of me. I feel as if there is no goal that I cannot meet, there is no foe I cannot defeat, there is no challenge that I cannot overcome.

It's easy to day dream that we are strong. However, when a real change comes along we only start to realize how fragile our realities actually are.

Change involves the confrontation of some sort of external reality, but more importantly, a corresponding change in ourselves. The internal change is what scares us. After all, we respond to external stimuli every day and it has become second nature. To change inside is to modify our internal programming in direct conflict to our survival mechanisms.

Only through firm resolve, stubbornness and guts can one persevere. One must expect to fail, but have the resolve to try again. One must embrace the fear of change and come to understand it. Only by conquering that fear is one able to try again if they fail.

With that fear comes the pain of change. Fear and pain feed off of each other, so one must not only conquer their fear. One must accept the pain and fight their way through it. A battle on two fronts is the only path to victory- a loss on either front is inevitable defeat.

It is a battle that must be undertaken alone. Another person does not fully understand your own perspective. Their words of encouragement only detract from your position, and minimize your resolve.

When one passes through the Gauntlet, they only become stronger. Pass or fail we learn how to fight ourself, our fear and our pain.

We are our own worst enemies. We are our own victors.

The innocence of a child is a beautiful thing allowing for every minute to be a new and magical experience. Untainted by age, everything is new and full of opportunity. The images that flash before their eyes are constructing a reality of infinite potential as they slowly start to piece together their perception of existence.

Somewhere down the line, the innocence starts to fade. The child, once an angel of innocence, starts to fall. Perhaps it is the first heart break? The first betrayal? The first death of a loved one? All that matters is that the innocence starts to shatter against the onslaught of life.

In all of us lies that fallen angel. Think back to those childhood memories and you will their comfort, but also a pang of regret. That regret is the angel who once remembers what the innocence is like.

We are all fallen angels.

The role and goal of the adept is to gain and maintain mastery of the mundane. The next plane is to transcend the mundane by fully establishing an existence that is separate from what we know as the objective universe.

This transcendence is totally independent of reality and what provides mastery of life and death. Ultimately the mundane is temporary, bound by the constraints of life. By transcendening life itself, this creates a new reality independent and mutually exclusive to the objective universe. To an effect, it expands our subjective universe to not only include our perceptions of the objective, but what is beyond, and what we have created.

There are no limits, but only the blinders of mundane existance. Through noesis, we can stumble in the dark only feeling for what we know to be true. If one continues to try, they will eventually find a lightswitch.

The challenge of life is to find the opportunity to grow while trudging through the day to day drudgery. Life itself can manifest opportunity and the trap of human existence is to miss those opportunities while chasing your next paycheck. Growth is a subtle thing. Quite often you do not realize that you have just grown (or the opposite), but years down the line you are able to look back and see the triumphs and failures that have shaped you.

The real challenge is not to grow, but to realize and actualize upon the changes that you have made. A turn for the worse can make you evolve in great ways, but if you never realize the value of that experience have you actually grown?

Consciousness in itself is a deliberate act. One must recognize that the mundane contains ample opportunity while maneuvering to take advantage of what life holds.

Again, simple to say in words, yet so complicated to practice. So easy to go home at night and watch TV and drink a beer, while pushing off the inspiration that you will work on tomorrow.

Inspiration and opportunities come and go, so there will be more in the future. However, realized and acted upon, more opportunities are presented when those doors or open.

Unlimited potential lies in life if one is willing to take the gift when given. The benefits might not be realized for years to come, but hey- That TV show will be a rerun for years. Your inspiration will be forgotten if it is not cherished an nurtured.

Expected or not, many people are going through a significant level of change. Internal or external change, a number of significant challenges have taken place. I must remind myself, though, there are a new set of challenges on the horizin.

While I still have my home, my job and my family, I am going through an internal struggle. While my mundane patterns will vary to a certain degree, my Inititory patterns are at the brink of a sudden turn.

I can't help but feel a little depressed, yet I know it is only the shadow of the feeling of my friends who have been totally uprooted. At least my mundane remains static while my Initiation takes a peroid to reorganize.

Questions remain in my mind that I would like answered, though I do not think it appropriate to pose them at this point. For me it may be at the front of my mind, but it is appropriately on the back-burner for others.

Things have come into better focus, as I know see a glimpse of the perspective of our evacuee resident. Now is the time to rebuild, while cherising the memories. It goes much deeper for her, however, and I think she serves and an example of strength.

The simplicity of magic is usually the downfall of the magician. One fails to realize how simple it actually is. One spends their time searching for the grand opportunity to perform the working that will change their life, leaving ample situations behind to make the changes that they actually need.

Simplicity is the key. It is much better to make a series of small and successful changes, than to fail at the critical point of need. If one leverages the small opportunities, the need for large change decreases. The things that appear to be mundane at the surface are quite often the opportunity to make the changes that will affect our lives for their remainder.

A simple exercise that I do on an almost daily basis is to turn the mundane act of ironing my clothes into a significant magical act. The key to this exercise is to create the magical opportunity. Just the simple act of acknowledging that it is a magical act creates the nessecary ripple that exerts my Will upon the Universe. These few minutes every day transform the mundane into a powerful act of GBM.

The effect, you ask? The mantra of my grandfather was not to dress for your current job, but to dress for the job above you. These words are what inspired me to take the mundane preparation of clothes to the magical level. It has brought me success, as through my mundane job I have been noticed by a number of the executives where I work. Through this contact I has pushed forward the initiative to revamp a number of bonus policies that will make me a couple extra thousand dollars in income this year.

This leads to the second pitfall of the magician. Most magical acts set the wheel to turn, and mundane acts will keep the wheel turning. An act of magic rarely is sufficent to bring forth the desired change, but it is the catalyst to set things moving. At the risk of deglorifying magic, Alister Crowley was right by defining magic as a "Willful act". Nothing more, nothing less. However, a truly Willful act is much harder to achive than the name seems to imply.

So simple, yet so effective. So simple it almost takes the "magic" out of the "magic".

Of all of the uncertainties of life, death is the only thing that is unavoidable. The fear grips us all, leaving us to wonder if we will achieve all that we are capable of. Throughout it all, we never really realize what we have really done. We have touched the heats of many, but we are always the last to realize the impact.

It is through this act that we live forever.

The memory and legacy of those who have passed continues to exist in the minds that still live. Through this we are immortal. In some way, shape, or form the influence by the deceased has impacted our lives, and we will pass this down through our own actions. The legacy of all that have lived is passed, making our ways the culmination of many lives past.

Rather than fear death, we should only hope that we have left a legacy that stands up to those who have passed before us. The act of shedding a tear over the end of life of someone else exerts a ripple into the whole of existence. This manifestation of emotion demonstrates the energy that we put forth in regards to the influence that a person has already had upon us.

For those that I have outlived, I assure you that your legacy lives on. If only by example, I am bringing forth what I have learned from your passing to the world to be heard by those who are willing to listen.

While I cry over your death, I do know that you have only remainfested into something that I will only understand at the end of this life. I weep in sorrow that I will not be able to laugh, speak, or converse with you again, but I also rejoice at your transformation.

Carry on, fair spirit. Owl is taking you to the world beyond.