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Banishing with laughter

Long have I heard the expression “banish with laughter”, and I don’t think it’s been until recent days that I finally grok the fullness of this sentiment.
It’s not just that magicians (self included) are forever in danger of taking themselves too seriously; it’s that we as people tend to be overburdened and overstressed. We have these high goals for ourselves which we are trying to meet on a regular basis, and all of the tiny things due to them just pile up. Because we seek to accomplish the Great Work, we join a mystical order. We then get responsibilities and obligations in said order. We face personal dramas and issues in said order. And then we wind up focusing on all of the stress due to those reasons versus the original and bigger issue to start with: which is to accomplish the Great Work.How many of us suffer from the curse of “We must do it all” and when we let down others because we are too overworked and overburdened to fulfill our obligations to them, we beat ourselves up thus exacerbating the original problem?

By now people are reading this and thinking to themselves, “Scarlet, you’re all over the place! What you’re saying is true, but what the hell does ‘banishing with laughter’ have anything to do with being a type A overdriven perfectionist?'”.

Simple. We in our stressful, overworked, overburdened, and even overmartyred have forgotten two essential things in living a happy and peaceful life:

  1. The ability to relax
  2. The ability to laugh

Without #2, we cannot accomplish #1.

When we are relaxed, we are more focused. Our intuition and ability to move with the Force, the Tao, or what-have-you, is increased. We no longer move against the grain but move with the flow and trust in the Higher Good. Our decision making abilities are therefore increased, and we feel better, look better, and are best capable of handling the situation.

Stress got you down? Too much on your plate? Wondering why the hell you took up this crazy spiritual/mystical path to begin with? Too much spinning around in your head of your lengthy To-Do lists to the point where you literally can’t think anymore and it hurts to do so?

Laugh. Banish your fears and stress with laughter. Laugh some more. Laugh until your sides and face hurt, and you realize that it’s all just too damned silly to begin with. Laugh until you realize it’s okay to be human, and we have to strive to be that first before we reach for the greater gold.

Go on, banish with laughter. I dare you. It’s better than any LBRP or BRH, I swear.

One thought on “Banishing with laughter”

  1. Feddy says:
    August 27, 2013 at 7:54 pm

    Laughter can be very powerful magick.

    When I was coaching little league, if I saw my pitcher was getting stressed out on the mound, I would yell from the dugout. “Laugh!” Usually they wouldn’t immediately, but when they realized I wasn’t going to stop until they did, they would humor me, and it would ease their tension. Once, I went out to the mound after my best pitcher (who was prone to getting stressed) had walked two batters in a row, and I told him: “If you walk another batter, your mom says you can’t come home.” He broke up laughing at the absurdity, which helped him relax.

    And a few years ago, when I was working at the ACLU and we were defending the right of the Klan to have a rally, many of my colleagues were advocating a counter-rally, to shout out their hateful speech. I advocated going down there and laughing at them, because, I argued, that getting into a shouting match would help legitimize their hateful rhetoric. Laughing at them would have the opposite effect.

    Reply

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