KNOW YOURSELF
By Estelle Daniels

One Goal of Magic is to know yourself. In turn, the better you honestly know yourself, the more effective your magic can be.

One way to get to know yourself better is to take a personality inventory test. Not necessarily one which measures mental health, but one which measures character traits and preferences. The Kiersey Temperament sorter or the Meyers-Briggs personality test are among the best of these sorts of tests. These measure preferences, and can indicate how you tend to behave. In them, you are classified along four scales. From these four scales come sixteen personality types. Once you know your type, you can find many references to your type, and see how it fits into society. There are many websites on the Internet devoted to these topics.

Use what you have learned to determine one trait you want to change. Concentrate for a week on that negative trait, catching yourself, and trying to modify your behavior. Work on only one trait at a time, or you may be overwhelmed. But if you cultivate your awareness, you might find the problem may cure itself. Many of our negative traits are just patterns of habit. Becoming aware of them is half the battle.

It may be helpful to set aside fifteen to twenty minutes each day, right before bedtime, to think over your day. Look for things you'd like to change, how you might have handled yourself differently. In time, you will become more active in dealing with your personality and its quirks.

Dream interpretation is an excellent path for self-improvement. Write down your dreams in a journal. Many will deal with how you handled yourself, and possibly what you might have done better. Your higher mind is always watching and judging you and your actions. You will know if you did something not be in your best interests for soul development.

If you have a dream with uncomfortable emotional overtones, it might be a warning about something you did, and a deformed or crippled may be a strong commentary on your actions. What you did crippled you in some way, or kept you from your fullest potential. Your higher mind can be starkly honest. Listen to it through your dreams.

Dialoguing with yourself can help work through difficulties. If you are uncertain about how to conduct yourself in a situation, talk it out beforehand. Do it in your bedroom, or while you are driving. Nobody else need hear, but just actually saying the words, rehearsing yourself through all the possible scenarios, will help. You can use divination too as a tool for self-exploration. Ask a question several ways. In each answer you can find insight into the possible consequences of your actions. Meditation is another path toward self-understanding. Calming the mind and allowing your thoughts to flow freely can relieve stress. Ask for insight and understanding of yourself.

Any or all of these techniques can be helpful for getting to know yourself better. It may take time, but if you work at it a bit each day the awareness will come. Being fully self-aware and conscious about yourself and the world around you is what makes for a successful magician. Good Luck.