Spiritual Hygiene (astral defragmentation)

                                            

    Back in the day, one of the first computers I could actually call “mine” was a Compaq PC that had very minimal specs although the only one I can recall is it's whopping 5GB hard drive. It was an okay computer but like most PC’s it got extremely slow and crappy over time and something had to be done to make it bearable past a certain point. One way to alleviate this was to “defrag” it  which, to my knowledge, is a process to help the computer to access files more quickly and helps free up space on the disk. In other words, it turns the computer’s own powers on itself to fix it’s mind to not run so damn crappy. It dawned on me recently just how similar this is to the concept of “magick” (and I am not referring to the card game nor pulling tiny rabbits out of top hats).

    Computers are man's attempt at replicating the process of consciousness in another form to assist man with various tasks. So, thinking along that line of logic, magick (specifically white magick) is to the human mind what defragmentation is to PC's: it's a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation going on in the mind that has developed through normal use over a length of time. This helps the mind operate a bit better and thus life becomes more aligned with our true will.

    Another allegory for this could be the concept of spiritual hygiene. We’re raised to practice physical hygiene but we are rarely taught about "spiritual hygiene", even in religion where purity is thought of as virtuous. We practice physical hygiene because we know it keeps us healthy and pleasant to be with others —spiritual hygiene is the same idea but you're attending to a different part of yourself. If the word "spiritual" bothers you, you can maybe just call it "psychological hygiene" or balance. If our outward body needs hygiene and to be taken care of with food and medicines, why do we not think about the inward body? 

    So then the question becomes “what can we do to maintain our spiritual hygiene?” Well I’m glad you asked! Here are some ideas though not an exhaustive list:

-Go out in nature

-Tarot Cards

-Banishing/rituals

-Meditation (see tarot cards)

-Mantras

-Visualization (feeling coupled with seeing in the minds eye the balance you desire to include what your desires are).

-Listen to shamanic drumming

-seeing a therapist or psychologist.

-yoga (you are to balance the mind in things like raja yoga so that it’s powers of attention are turned back on itself to discover inner truths.)

-Et cetera et cetera

    Obviously in today’s busy world its hard to commit to doing such things but the benefits of such can not be overstated. We are conditioned to consume our culture and to distract ourselves endlessly but rarely are we taught to go within and discover who we truly are. To know thyself is neither popular nor encouraged by our media --and why should it, since it doesn't serve it's materialistic ends? But that doesn't make it any less important and we can all make a little time to do something each day. We have to take the time to eat, to sleep, to nourish ourselves physically but we also have to do the same thing spiritually/psychologically. It’s imperative to keep the spirit or mind operating at optimum efficiency, whatever particular ways we find to do this in healthy amounts. We should not let the cultured-conditioned ego run our life chaotically --we must find ways to release from it and ultimately tame it to fully realize what our true will is in our lives.