Journey to Ixtlan

The poem “Into Flame” is about the curative ways people use fire.


Into Flame

Healing comes in many forms
transformation reconciled
by a tool this may occur
to the south look for a cure
three ways to use the blaze’s form.

Another log tossed to the fire
scribed with runes for the sky
meant for those beyond the pale
asking for the favors writ
on wood consumed as they’re sent.

Burdens put to paper’s face
habits ill to owner’s fate
unwanted troubles sent away
discarded at the wheel’s request
now is time to burn the waste.

Memories haunt the present day
regrets linger where none should stay
these to twigs are assigned
attachments sent along their way
to cleansing fire they are consigned.

Now Vulcan’s kin have abet
supplicants with tools at hand
many ways to seed the change
into flame, conveyed by smoke
prayers and troubles sent away.

2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20161216.

I finished listening to the 7th Odd Thomas novel, Saint Odd, by Dean Koontz. There was lots of good feelings, hard sacrifices, and a generous sprinkling of fairy dust. I’m a firm believer in magic, and do a bit myself, but the true magic of the world lays beyond the flashy glitz. It exists in the moments of life when mutual existence is both acknowledged and respectively shared. In this place there is a magic that we can all experience.


No Magic
Poem for Day 113 – 20150423

Some say there’s no magic,
but I know that’s not so,
in many ways the truth is exposed.

See it expressed everyday
in the love of the people,
who owe you no due.

It is in the stranger’s dance,
or a partner you know,
of music and motion shared.

A spark of selfish caring,
held only to consider self,
so life may ever flourish.

The smile of a friend,
so bright and so wide,
to touch the heart, ease the mind.

Connecting in ways tender,
regardless of age or gender,
life’s voids breached together.

To know a thousand things,
and accept the multitude mysteries
that combine in life’s tempest fury.

Intimacy shared in many ways,
a mural with variations on a theme,
one’s need to feel mutually complete.

Art takes the breath to return life,
a moment of reflection asked therein,
as majesty of God’s grace is revealed.

Feeling safe in another’s presence,
to be in the place meant to be,
paths meet across an eternity.

Sensing life’s flow, in a moment,
to see correct action for time and place,
and to act with grace of surety.

These samples are life’s magic,
the ones that’s I seen
in my short span amongst friends.

Some say there’s no magic,
but there is if you look to the world
and see God’s spark in all of us.

© 2015. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved

A meme I answered back in 2007... goodness... I need to pull together an original thought!

1. What is your set of your 5-ever-favourite books(or films) and why?

Funny... I have a hard time coming up with a top five books. The thing is that I'm always reading something. To pick out a top five would do the remaining hundreds of books some measure of injustice. That said, here is a list of books that shaped my life:

“Only Dance There Is” by Ram Dass
The first conscious raising “metaphysical” book I read.

“Das Energi” by Paul Williams
Conscious raising prose

“Awareness : A De Mello Spirituality Conference in His Own Words” by Anthony de Mello
Get this book if you are at all interested in being aware.

“How to Make Your Life Work, or Why Aren't You Happy?” by Ken Keyes
An examination of happiness, habits, and preferences

“Anatomy of the Spirit : The Seven Stages of Power and Healing” by Caroline Myss
A modern holistic look at awareness and the connection between biography and biology. Excellent!

“The Wisdom of Insecurity” By Allan Watts
A wonderful examination of “I” and “me”.

“Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse
A big favorite of mine


2. What are the top beautiful places in your city/area you live?

I am continually struck by the beauty of the trees in my region. I speak of most any trees. They have a majesty that man made constructs struggle to attain and maintain.

3. Do you believe in angels?

Yes. I suppose I see them as another form of guide/protector/entity that exists in the pan dimensional spaces.

4. What's the best way of spending time?

It depends on what I'm doing. At work I am focused on things directly or tangentially connected with my employment. At home I am focused on relaxing and working on my own projects/interests. When I'm with my lovely mate I focus on fully appreciating her love and affection. Each of these instances has a "best" quality. My life would be incomplete if I did not have all these ways of spending time.

5. If you had a chance to have (even magic) ABILITY, what would it be?

I thought this was a great question. Here is the funny thing, I've already experienced what people would call "magic" abilities. The world of healing and prophecy are part of of my mundane reality. The thing I would really like to have now is sanity and the ability to constructively focus on the opportunities in my life. I would like to have closer relationships with my friends. I would like to have less anger, grief and guilt. I would like to be able to talk to my family. I guess I've gotten to the point that abilities are not enough. I now crave a quality of life that abilities, even magical ones, cannot directly manifest.

A friend wrote about some objects that had significance in her life. Their purposes were not made clear, but that was OK. It made me think about the role of objects in the shamanist's life. I was reminded that such objects could be categorized into two groups... totems and fetishes.

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Do you use totems? Have your created or have been given a fetish? Honor the first, and be very careful of the latter. This is the power that the medicine man's pouch carries.

I saw a documentary on Eddie Adams. He was an incredibly talented photographer who was also depressed. He created incredible images that others appreciated but he struggled to create the perfect photo that would make him happy, for a time. A friend of his commented that the work involved in creating a commercial photo bled them of creativity. The round and round of picking the photo, tweaking it, approving it, rinse and repeat, had its toil.

I can relate, though I don’t sell my photos. Instead I can relate that over working or analysis of a photo can remove the magic. I hope to avoid this to some degree. I take many photos, sometimes over thousand. I then review them and chuck out the ones that just don’t work at all. I then go through them and look at the one by one. I look for something special in their composition or look for a series of photos that express a wonderful move. These are kept and the thousand is cut in half. These have some magic by my estimation, and it is these that I share with others. I hope I choose well!

I'm currently researching the topic of 'shamanic magic'. My studies have found matching meaning with what would seem to be an unlikely source. The second show of third "Doctor Who" series is entitled "The Shakespeare Code". I found powerful corollaries to my shamanic studies in this bit of media entertainment. This is not really a surprise though. I hold that media entertainment is this society's form of myth. The mystical workings of reality are woven into our seemingly fanciful stories, just as it has forever been for other cultures.

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I believe that vibration, relationships, and an advanced understanding of the world are the beginnings of 'shamanic magic'. I look forward to exploring more both in my studies and in my entertainment.

Literary trivia... Shakespeare is credited with adding two to three thousand words to the English language including 'assassination', 'eyeball', 'leapfrog' and 'gloomy').

I've been wanting to write about magic, particulary from the shamanic perspective. A recent question on nonfluffypagans provoked me to some thoughts about the use of magic. I will do a blog on the nature of magic (source, karma, etc.), both general and shamanic, at another time(s).

The original poster said:

Do You Invoke a Magical Remedy When You've Been Injured?
Let's say that a person has wronged you in some way. You believe that it was an unjust act. You are pursuing your various legal options for remedy, but you want to do more. You want to have justice done, and balance restored, by initiating a magical act against the person responsible for harming you. Do you? Should you?

What is justice and balance? There are paradoxes here that could drive a person crazy or give them complete freedom of action. Ah... that is good stuff for another blog entry. For now I will focus on the possible actions one could take as a remedy to a wronging or attack.

I see responsive magical acts being divided into these areas:

1. do nothing - karma and balance will work themselves out in time


2. healing - this is good for self and may reach out to postively help the person doing the attack


3. defense - deflects/grounds actions of other with minimal (enough) impact on self (one hopes!)


4. justice - a tricky thing as it can impact both self and other


5. retribution - should/could be eye-for-eye; karma can impact self even as other takes the brunt


6. attack - grossly unbalanced retribution or unilateral pre-emptive strike on person after a retribution and before they attack again; damn the karma!

The list is in a sequence that of karmic "impact" on the person casting the magical act. A person still under attack could consider a healing or defensive action. This would be reasonable. Post-attack magic work would be healing and justice, but I have to say that seeking justice is a two-sided sword. Justice can reach back and have unanticipated but deserved treatment to the 'victim' if they had a part in the creating or maintaining the altercation.

Does anybody else have anything to add or detract from my possible magical responses to wrongings?

Most people perform magic by ritual mixing of tools, thus create a combination of vibrations that are sympathetic to the outcome of the magic. Positive energies produce positive results. Negative energies produce negative results. The results are weighed on a universal scale, with the quite hidden and subtle hand of Spirit determining the relative affects.

Magic, and the life from it derives, is very powerful. The visible effects may be manifest powerfully or with little force. The invisible effects are also there, and it could be said that the less visible the visible, the more powerful the invisible.

Work your magic with ethical responsibility. Do so with understanding. May the divine powers bless your workings and may you receive the results you wish.