Golanv Circle
Moon Day
Magick & Medicine

Intermediate Practicum
Focus

Just as our Feathered Friends have keen insight to the world around them, we find that we too are able to achieve clarity for ourselves when we Focus our Will, Intent, Path, life and other activities we desire to Experience. Being scattered, disorganized and unfocused in Magick and Medicine can devastate the efficacy of our practices. Being chaotic does not always serve activities of life either. It simply hurts our energy of manifestation in whatever we are attempting to accomplish. 

So, how do we end up scattered in the first place?

Long and short of it, “life happens”.  Everything from babies to trauma can knock us from our trees. We cannot control everything around us, not in this plane, not right now. Humans have not evolved spiritually (energetically) to even glimpse that point yet. We have all had at least one bout of feeling like we were wandering aimlessly.  Some can end up in that state for years, drifting from their core practices that benefit them.  This happens as a result of having too many seeming options, too little outside help to guide us to our highest benefit as well as a lack of personal balance.  THAT is why even having an ability to commune with Self and sometimes Guides is so essential to spiritual growth. 

They are here FOR YOUR BENEFIT. To assist YOU through your Journey. It is worth it to get to know them.

Focusing Intent, Craft, Magick or Medicine can be a daunting task. Even if we have been in the Arts for years. As we move through our various stages of physiological development through Consciousness, some practices will change or stop.  Take shifting from Mother to Crone, or Father to Hermit, for example.

There are as many Paths as there are people.  We EACH have a different perspective. One of the things that prevents a lot of Practitioners from choosing how to Focus is that they feel that once they do, they are stuck with it. That is simply not true.  Your Path can change just as an altar is changed out. We do what calls to us. ALWAYS.

Changing Focus on our Path does not negate all of our previous Works, Thoughts nor Intentions.  It does not diminish our Experiences nor Knowledge but enhances the Experience. You cannot “unlearn” what has been learned.  Just consider the “why” for all things.  There is nothing wrong with changing Focus as needed, provided we are carefully considering why we are making this change and avoiding the temptation to hop continually from topic to topic. (That’s an avoidance issue, and a clear sign of needed Self Work.)

If we are a Practitioner who has ADHD or ADD, we may find that picking a single Focus does not work well for us each time. THAT IS OKAY. Many others struggle with this as well, and they have found that picking several subjects to Focus on and being able to jump between the few was most fulfilling to maintain Focus long term. This is perfectly fine way to go about Focusing our Path too — if picking one Focus feels too restrictive, or if we tend to hyper-focus for a few weeks and then lose Focus afterward. IT IS OKAY.

As we took a look at Intent back in April, we are looking at Focus for our Magick and Medicine in November.  This concept becomes easier to grab as we transition through our months of Involution with Mother Nature. (Involution) 

Focus becomes easier because we have refined what our Intent was set to at the beginning of our Journey here at 3CMM. We have begun our Involution and search of Self.

You did that correct? You asked yourself what you expected from 3CMM, as well as what you set the Intent to in order to benefit Self in the highest?

Think about what the personal Intent was in joining with 3CMM. Now, how can we refine that Intent with Focus to better serve? What needs to improve, change, be dismissed, etcetera. Below you will find our five questions to ask Self in order to help Focus your Intent as we move forward.

ANCHORING, OR CORNERSTONE PRACTICES
By the time we reach Golanv Circle, we have Experienced quite a bit in Life personally, in Craft, and with 3CMM. If we do not have a basic practice to fall back on, why not? Have you thought about it?

A cornerstone practice is something that we do on a regular basis that helps to solidify Craft, Cleanse, Clear, Ground, Protect, etc. NONE OF THIS requires input from anyone around us and is completely personal. This can be anything from observing moon phases with our eyes and whispering a word to our preferred energy or entity, to Ancestral Work by visiting those Ancestors with our meditations. It can also be things like regular tarot readings for our Self at our personally set times. The main qualifier of a cornerstone practice is that it happens at regular intervals in our life.

Examples to consider:
REGULAR Cleansing practices. These are non-negotiable practices that keep one Grounded and in touch with Self and our practices, every single week, year in and year out, no matter what is happening in our lives.

NO MATTER WHAT IS HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE.

We can choose something like the moon phases that have a timetable of their own, or we can set a timetable for ourself. The shorter our timetable is, the simpler our practice should be. If we want a daily practice as our cornerstone, it should be something simple, quick, and easy for us to accomplish every single day. Sipping Element Water upon waking.  Calling on Element Fire as we stir our coffee, or Element Earth as it is coffee.  We all understand if our practices started out small or routine, but as we evolve as a Practitioner, these too should become more complex. We expand, our processes expand. As we expand our Magickal and Medicinal Knowledge this naturally occurs. 

A weekly practice can be a slightly more involved ritual, or even a monthly practice can be quite involved without posing an issue for most Practitioners.  Three Circles Medicine & Magick has scheduled Moots and has ritual at half of them. 

It does not matter what we choose as a cornerstone; the examples given here are just common cornerstone practices. Think about what would serve us as an individual best, in our own life and Craft.

Do you want to be cleansing more regularly? Do you need to be in contact with spirits more regularly? Do you want to be keeping track of astrology or planetary energies in your life? Is divination something that you wish you used more actively?

A cornerstone practice is incredibly personal, and there is no right or wrong way to implement this concept into our Craft.   

ANY CHOSEN DIRECTION
This may seem obvious, but sometimes we just have to pick a direction and see how it works out. People who end up in a decision paralysis are generally worried about picking the wrong thing and not liking what they have picked. Fear of “being stuck” freezes them. 

Give yourself complete permission to give up on a direction if you decide you do not like it where it is leading. TRUST SELF.

Stop treating Self like we have to commit to something that does not feel correct for us and that we are shackled to it forever. If we pick a Focus and a direction in our Craft and three months in we decide that we hate it, give up on it and try something else. Take 3CMM for example. No one is going to berate us for stopping and starting if that is what YOU are feeling.

Your time spent learning is still valuable, and you have still progressed and you have still gained Knowledge! Even if what you have learned is “I do not like learning that”.   

Knowing about our preferences is incredibly valuable information and the sooner you can sort that out in life THE BETTER. Take for example Ceremonial Magick.  There are some Practitioners that feel like it is forced and contrived, or at times very Ego driven.  On the other hand, the same Practitioner does better at Earth Magick, “because it energetically flows differently”. Practitioners learn this by TRIAL AND ERROR. And, they TRUST SELF.

Now, knowing allows one to make a much more informed decision about the kinds of Magick and Medicine they learn about and practice in the future. (It allows some to eliminate an entire subset of resources, books, and traditions – making their decision-making process far easier.  Bottom line, give Self permission to be flexible with choices and to put down anything that is NOT serving to the Highest Benefit.
 

TO FOCUS, OR NOT TO FOCUS

If we are newer to the Craft, say five years or less, trying to find a focus might actually be working against the evolution of practice. The paralysis of not knowing what we should be doing or learning is still an issue for intermediate Practitioners, but choosing a Focus too early can stunt our spiritual growth as a Practitioner.

If this is you, do not pick a Focus immediately.  Instead, make not having a Focus the Focus of your craft. Your job is to learn widely and expose yourself to as much Knowledge, as many Paths, and as many techniques as you possibly can. Try a little of everything!

Viewing Craft as a buffet and learning about as many ideas and methods of Magick and Medicine as one possibly can make is a more well-rounded Practitioner approach and that may serve better in the long run. This is the time for us to go out of our way to look for books and websites that are outside the scope of our current interests and Knowledge of Magick and Medicine.

Take time to learn about everything from Chaos Magick, Ceremonial Magick, Herbal Magick and Medicine to Kitchen Witchcraft, Sigil crafting, Spirit work, and various methods of divination.  Fill in with Ancestor Magick and Veneration.  The options are endless! There is no end!

CURIOUSER, AND CURIOUSER
This is the real key to choosing a good Focus. 

What are you curious about? What piques your interest and gets you asking questions? What makes you excited about learning and practicing?

The answers to the questions above are the things that we are better served to be focusing on. like improving our motivation and continued effort towards learning. Practicing our Craft then naturally comes out of an intrinsic excitement and interest in what we are doing. CURIOSITY!

We will warn you, if you choose a Focus because you feel like that’s the focus you “should” choose, stop “shoulding” all over yourself.  Regardless of whether it grabs our attention immediately or not determines how much we will struggle to maintain interest long enough to become proficient in that area of the Craft or graduating that Magick School or another.

ADJUST FOCUS AS NEEDED

Again, changing our Focus is totally acceptable, especially if we are yet to find something that makes us burn with curiosity, passion and excitement. TRUST SELF. (Ever hear of “changing majors” in mundane school? Most do it at least once.)

If we find that we continue to struggle with the idea of picking a Focus and having to stick with it, it is recommended that we give ourselves a time frame for each Focus, even taking breaks between them if needed. 

For example, with small changes in Focus, we could choose a new Focus for each moon phase until we land on something that we love. Or, some Practitioners plan a “yearly recap ritual” to sit down and look at what has learned over the last year and to make a plan for the coming year.  They ponder what they would like to learn and perhaps what they would like to change or stop.

If we find that we have lots of subjects that we want to explore further, we find that Practitioners who “theme” their weeks, months, moon phases, etc find it easier to remain more Focused. 

An example, January might be Tarot, February might be reserved for Italian Witchcraft, and March might be Ancestral Work. When we find ourself coming to the end of a month and a particular Focus, reflect on how we feel as we transition at this time. 

Think about if it makes us sad to change or move on to something else.  Does it bring us relief to think about quitting school?  TRUST. SELF. However, if we find ourself reluctant to move on to the next topic, congratulations! You may have found yourself a Focus that you can stick with for a while. Let yourself dive into that Focus for as long as you want.

In the end, all of this is simply a way to help us build a personal practice that makes us happy, or brings us Joy. Magick and Medicine are supposed to make life better. Focus learning and practice on things that make one excited.
FOCUS ON WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY!

It does not matter what we choose, there are no right or wrong Paths, Focus, Intent, or any other thing. There is only Magick, Medicine and the powers found in all the varying forms that we can utilize to accomplish our goals in a thousand different ways!

Bottom line, Focus applies to all aspects of life. Do you have it?

Moon Day GN1

General - Journal - Book of Shadows

SUBMISSION: GN1 MON FOCUS (Due by Sunday)
Ask yourself what your ANCHORING, or CORNERSTONE
practices are for the following.
You may give one paragraph or more for each response.

LIFE STAGES (Answer the ones you have traversed,
or that you have Soul Memory of for Magick & Medicine
in your stages to come.)

MAIDEN/BACHELOR

MOTHER/FATHER

CRONE/HERMIT

REST/RETURN

EMAIL
Three Circles Medicine & Magick™
Please utilize the above email link
IF NO BUTTON IS PRESENT
to receive full Submission credit.

Lessons are subject to change without notification to Practitioners.
Late Submissions receive no credit without prior approval.