The Grimoire Day 22

Yes, Day 22.  Let's be about it.

Day 22

So there is this possibly apocryphal story that Dan Aykroyd carries around a badge when he is on set for a movie.  There's also the story about an artist who puts a feather in the back of their pants when they do... whatever art it is they do. 

I've heard this called a pattern interrupt.  The idea is that you live a lot of your life and mark a lot of your time on a sort of automatic pilot.  Acting and reacting in familiar patterns that your brain understands well from rehearsal.  That's all well and good.  A human brain is kind of a tremendous drain on the body's energy and anything it can do to carry you through life more efficiently is a benefit to your survival.  Most of the time. 

When you are trying to make magic, or art, or anything else that requires your full capacity of thought and correlation, then it's important to have those routines shut off for a little while. 

This is probably the reason behind special tools without mundane purposes.  When I pick up my broom, it could be to do magic or it could be to beat back the cat hair and guinea pig shed hay a little bit.  But when I pick up my TV glass shard, it's on.  When I put on my running shoes, I have to run. 

Sometimes you can use items to build up a different routine, a subroutine.  That is the purpose (other than the material and construction and not smelling like a barnyard in front of your coworkers) for the exercise clothing.  I dress for exercise to do my exercise and I do my exercise in part because I dress for it.  That's good too. 

All three things are really useful, and probably not magic at all, really.  But for the Pattern Interrupt, I do it with magic.  Same thing with building a new pattern.

Interrupting a Pattern - when I set out to do something, sometimes, I pick up a thing I own.  A few years back when I had more money than sense, I picked up a bunch of little designer PVC toy monsters.  They are really cute.  When I want to go outside of myself, go beyond what I habitually do, I will pick up on of those, take a moment to go to ground and whisper my intention to it, then slip it in my pocket.  The weight and the shape are the reminder I need to do the thing I want.  When I am done, I put the monster back and don't call on it again for the same thing, at least, not for a while.

Making a Subroutine - It's pretty much the same as breaking a pattern, only difference being I try to use the same item (usally a less obtrusive one) every time I try to do the thing.  And I try to do the thing often.  For instance, running shoes mean I am running.  I don't use them for any other purpose and when I put them on, I know what I'm about to do.