It's all about intention... Or is it?

Today it is common to hear that magic is all based on your intention. As long as you have the proper intention when doing your work, you will have the results that you want. But is that actually true? Do our intentions override the actions we take, the words we say and the thoughts we think? 

The saying “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” is very true. Certainly, the drunk driver who gets in a wreck on the way home did not intend to harm anyone. You could say that Hitler had good intentions for the Aryan race that he believed in. (No, I am not condoning or justifying Hitler.) Accidents occur on a daily basis due to negligence despite the best of intentions by people. So, how much weight do intentions really play?

Now, you may be saying “Well, that is not magic. That is different.” Is it? Do we not believe that the physical world is a manifestation and reflection of the spiritual world? Have you ever quoted “As above, so below”? There is a saying that every conscious action is a magical act. Every one. Me typing at the keyboard of my computer is an act of intention, focused energy and will, an invocation of the creativity and the spirits of electricity all designed to manifest my thoughts into words that are then sent to your mind. Sounds pretty magical to me. 

We can learn very valuable lessons about magic by observing the world around us. After all, magic exists everywhere, in everything. It is kind of hypocritical to say that and then deny magic in everyday, mundane occurrences. Magical mistakes can happen, despite our best of intentions. We need to accept that the words you say, the actions you take and the thoughts you have can have an overriding effect on our intentions. It does matter what you do in your ritual or spell work. Thinking good thoughts and having good intentions alone is not enough. If it were, everyone would win the lottery.

So, what is missing from magical work besides intention? What do we need to put back? Well, to start, we need to look at what everything does. Why do traditions call upon certain deities or perform rituals in a specific way? What are you doing with that? Most traditions that have specific ways of doing things have it for a reason. Rituals build upon intention, applying proper symbolism, energy direction, and physical movement and action to produce results. Now, different traditions do things differently. There is not one way of doing things. But they teach a method of achieving results that has been tested and shown to work. Hence, it is a tradition. It has been done before.

The fallacy that we only need to have the proper intentions is harming out magical practice and our future generations of practitioners. They do not have the keys to combining all of the parts of magical knowledge into a working practice. This is not something that can be learned from a book. It takes work. It takes experimentation. Most of all it takes practice. If you never work at doing something how are you ever going to be good at it?

I do not say all of this to put down the importance of intention. Quite the opposite. You need to have intention and develop the focus and clarity of intent to make it useable. But that alone will not make magic. You have to put the proper energy into it. Not just any energy. The proper energy, whether that be from an elemental source, a planetary source, or a divine source. You have to have the correct actions that support it. Not just the correct actions in spell or ritual work, but also the correct actions in the mundane world that support it. Doing a spell to get a job is great, but utterly useless if you never turn in an application. Doing magic is great to help with communication with your significant other, but are you also looking at how you can improve that communication in a practical sense? Or are you just waiting for the magic to work?

We need to understand that every action is a magical act and has its own intention. We can have the intention to be in better health. We can focus on it and do a spell or ritual for it. But then, we do not exercise or eat healthy. We have two different sets of intentions. One is the intention to be healthy. The other is the intention to be stagnant and eat for enjoyment rather than health. Which are we putting more energy into? Which is having a greater impact in our life?

Intention is not the end all of magical practice. It is very important and necessary, but we need to stop putting all of the emphasis on it and start teaching responsible magical practice. By the way, there is a second part to the quote "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." It is "The road to heaven is paved with good actions."