Setting Intentions with the Magician
In which I am interviewed and offer some thoughts about the fundamentals of magic
When Cecily Sailer of Typewriter Tarot asked me if I’d like to talk about the Magician on her podcast, I had the Magician card propped up on my desk. At the time, I needed the Magician as a reminder that creating the world I want to see takes work as well as a combination of confidence and nonattachment—conviction that I can do what I set out to do and a willingness to learn and adapt when my best efforts do not produce the results I had hoped for. Anyway, the point here is that the Magician was staring at me while I was reading Cecily’s email.
Was it magical synchronicity that Cecily asked me to talk about the Magician when I was working with the Magician, or was this a cool coincidence? And how do we tell the difference between the two?
I am a mystic by nature and a skeptic by discipline. I often tell Tarot clients that I don’t know if I believe in magic, but do I know when I’m working magic. As you will hear in the podcast, I love Dion Fortune’s definition of magic: “Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will.” What I love about this idea is that Fortune is talking about action that takes place inside us. The work of making our visions—our desires—manifest in the physical world begins inside us.
After this conversation, I realized that I wanted to start sharing some more of my thoughts about what magic is and how it works. But figuring out where to begin when talking about working magic proved difficult. My first thought to begin with intention, but then I considered that crafting intention has to begin with self-knowledge, and then I realized that the journey towards self-knowledge is never-ending, and…
Let’s start with intention.
First, a definition: When I use the word intention, I mean a statement—clearly worded and as specific as you can make it—of what you want to make manifest.
Here are some questions (adapted from guidance Starhawk offers in a workshop about creating ritual) that you might use to craft a focused intention:
Why do I want to do this spell?
What change am I trying to make in the world? In myself?
How will the world be different if I do this spell than it would be if I didn’t? Or how will I feel, act or be different?
What is the resistance to the change I am trying to manifest?
There are several things I like about these questions—aside from the fact that they come from someone who has been thinking about magic since I was in elementary school. I love that these questions help you get clear about what you actually want while they compel you to consider the interconnectedness of all life. Your desires do not exist in a vacuum. How might manifesting your desire have an impact on the people closest to you, on your community, on the ecosystem, on the planet, on the cosmos? And I read “What is the resistance to the change I am trying to manifest?” as an opportunity to revisit every preceding question. If you’ve come to magic because you can’t achieve your desire any other way… You may wish to use these questions to examine why it is that you want what you want, whether or not what you want is realistically attainable, and if getting what you want will actually be good for you or anyone else. If you’ve spent some time with these questions, you have probably developed an intention that will serve you well.
Some examples of intention setting
Here are a few intentions of my own:
I will travel to Portland in the Spring or Summer.
I will feel strong in my body.
I will make my home a healing, healthful place for myself, my family, and my friends.
Notice that these are all goals I’m working towards, not expressions of what I do not want. “I will feel strong in my body” is an aspiration. “I will stop hating myself for being fat” is an expression of self-loathing, and self-loathing is not a good place to start, like, anything. I am relegating that negativity to the past, not carrying it with me into the future. Similarly, “I will clean up this crap shack and stop living in squalor” would send me into a paralyzing shame spiral, while “I will make my home a healing, healthful place” is an expression of kindness towards myself and the people I love. Say what you want, not what you don’t want.
“I will travel to Portland in the Spring or Summer” is nice and specific. Given my current circumstances, it’s eminently doable as long as I make a plan and stick with it. I need to have enough money to get from the Midwest to the West Coast and money to spend on food and whatnot. I need to find a week when my BFF Kate can take some time off work and when she’s not overwhelmed by childcare needs. I need to make sure my partner and our kid are all set to get along without me, which for us mostly means figuring out the transportation situation as we only have one car and we’re two hours away from the airport. I’ll forego the rest of the details; my point is that these are all tasks I can handle. One more thing: This intention has a time frame. The other two intentions are a bit nebulous, so I might want to define what I mean by “feel strong” and “healing” and “healthful,” but they are as specific as I can make them right now.
Now, let’s run through the questions I listed above. I’m going to use the Portland trip as an example because it’s the clearest and least complicated intention I’ve presented.
Why do I want to do this spell? Kate is one of the most important people in my life and I haven’t seen her in a few years. I miss her. I also have several other friends in the region that it would be fun to see. Portland is a city I enjoy visiting. I haven’t really traveled since Covid, and I could use a solo trip.
What change am I trying to make in the world? In myself? Kate is my partner in witchcraft, and I would love for us to be able to create a magical event together—maybe just for our friends, maybe for a wider circle. Beltane would be the ideal time, as it’s a holiday special to us and many of the women we know, and I can imagine a bonfire and dancing and a communal sense of release and joy. Whether or not this, in and of itself, makes a change in the world depends on one’s definition of magic, but I generally try to add a justice component to any ritual I create, and I generally try to make it connected to the place where I am. My Portland friends can help in figuring out this part.
As for the change in me, the older I get the more I think about time passing and the more important it becomes to see the people I love. Kate is people I love—a lot. This alone is reason enough to travel, but I also intend to rest and have a good time.
How will the world be different if I do this spell than it would be if I didn’t? Or how will I feel, act or be different? These questions get at some of the same issues as the previous ones, just from a slightly different angle. One thing I think about from this perspective is the environmental cost of air travel. A roundtrip flight from Detroit to Portland emits 630kg of CO2. A cursory search suggests that I can pay various orgs to offset this contribution to climate change. Do I make this choice, which adds a not insubstantial amount to my journey? Or do I take Amtrak, which adds just about a week of travel time to my trip? These are important questions!
At a personal level, I hope to feel reconnected and recharged, and I hope that I will leave Portland having made a positive impact on the people I encounter and a place that has been good to me.
What is the resistance to the change I am trying to manifest? So, Kate and I have been talking about me visiting for some time now, but we haven’t made an actual plan because… You know, life. She’s a doctor and a single mom with two kids. I’m… me, which is to say congenitally disorganized, chronically overbooked, and easily distracted by shiny objects. (Guess my neurotype!) I am also an impulsive spender, which means that saving money for anything is a challenge. (Guess my neurotype!) Dropping out for a week or two means contacting editors to tell them that I’m unavailable, which is always terrifying for a freelancer; making sure I’m not missing a particularly important school board meeting; and letting the candidates I’m working with during this election cycle know that I am off the grid unless they’re experiencing a true emergency. This is in addition to the typical family stuff. None of this is impossible—or even difficult for some people who are not me—but I really do have to spell it all out to make sure it happens.
What is the resistance to the change I am trying to manifest? So, Kate and I have been talking about me visiting for some time now, but we haven’t made an actual plan because… You know, life. She’s a doctor and a single mom with two kids. I’m… me, which is to say congenitally disorganized, chronically overbooked, and easily distracted by shiny objects. (Guess my neurotype!) I am also an impulsive spender, which means that saving money for anything is a challenge. (Guess my neurotype!) Dropping out for a week or two means contacting editors to tell them that I’m unavailable, which is always terrifying for a freelancer; making sure I’m not missing a particularly important school board meeting; and letting the candidates I’m working with during an election know that I am off the grid unless they’re experiencing a true emergency. This is in addition to the typical family stuff. None of this is insurmountable, but I really do have to spell it all out to make sure it happens.
Now, we can revisit my original intention and see if it still seems sound. “I will travel to Portland in the Spring or Summer.” I feel like it works for me and, in interrogating it, I have already taken steps towards making it happen. The author Jennifer Williamson says, “Intention is more than wishful thinking. It is willful direction,” and I like that a lot. A thoughtfully created intention is a roadmap, an action plan. In setting an intention, you’re already working magic.
Intention setting and the Magician
At this point, you may be wondering what setting an intention has to do with the Magician. Take a fresh look at the card if you need to. Notice that, in addition to the wand the Magician has in their hand, they also have all the symbols of Tarot laid out in front of them. Wand, Cup, Pentacle, and Sword. Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. Passion, Emotion, Physicality, and Intellect. What I see are the basic elements of creation and the tools we can use to manifest what we see in the world. It’s my belief that magic doesn’t work if you don’t, and that working magic begins with setting an intention. Which is to say: If you’ve set an intention, you’re already working magic.
And here’s a workbook!
I’ve shared pretty much everything I know about setting intentions. I’ve also created a wee workbook that reiterates much of what I’ve already said without particulars from my own life and with some space for moving forward once you’ve defined your own intention.