Hocus Pocus

I wanted to explain to my sister how my thesis was going along. I used the metaphor of magic.

It’s not that I have extensive experience crafting spells but I’ve read enough urban fantasy to know my way around an incantation or two.

The first step is to pick the spell you want to use and then line up the ingredients that you need. Now some of these ingredients might be a little hard to come by (e.g. blood of a dead sinner or the last breath of a virgin).

But you know it’s possible to collect these things. It’s not out of the realm of possibility. It’s just a matter of hard work and knowing a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy. Either that or you sell your soul to a demon to get some of these ingredients. I’ve watched enough of Supernatural to know that that isn’t a good course of action though.

 Halloween in San Francisco.

Once you’ve gotten your ingredients all lined up, you start to mix them. You say words of meaning. You stir a pot of green goo and watch as the bobbles pop in sync with your incantation. You do the witchy stuff that ties the spell to the purpose at hand.

It’s important to stay focused at this point. You have to make sure that all ingredients are used in the correct manner, and applied in the correct order. The devil is in the details, and if you don’t pay attention to him (and the details), he might come after you.

You’re getting close to the really exciting part now. You’ve done the tedious work. You’ve done the hocus-pocus witchy stuff. But you’re still not done.

You need to center yourself, collect all of your intentions and will this spell into actual existence.

It’s going to take determination. It’s going to take will-power. It’s going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done.

It’s not easy to create something from nothing.

You need to know with every fiber of your soul that you’ve completed the previous steps perfectly, because they are your foundation now.

You need to be steadfast in your determination to complete this spell. Doubt is not a luxury you can afford.

For some this last step is done in a frenzy of activity. For others it’s a slow burn, where you enter a meditative state. Regardless, you cannot stop until you’re done. And the last step will always be the hardest.

Hopefully you’ll succeed in the first try. The alternative is that you have to collect ingredients anew and start over, paying extra attention to ensuring that your foundation is sturdier this time.

 More Halloween in San Francisco. I really love Halloween.

I’m at the stage where I’m beginning to mix my ingredients. I’m binding my spell to the artifacts I’ve chosen to be a part of my thesis. I’m still not quite sure I’ve gotten everything just right yet, so I’m moving forward slowly, double checking that everything fits together as it should. That my ingredients complement each other as intended.

So please excuse me while I continue working my magic.