Sorrows and Prayers: Spiritual Bypassing Series

Buckle up buttercups, the download has finally downloaded and we are going into a series about spiritual bypassing. Now that Mercury and Saturn have stationed direct, so have I and there are things to be said. Pour your tea (I’m enjoying a pumpkin chai because ‘tis the season), blow three times for luck, bring all your nuance, and hang on. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

Sagittarius season is upon us and what is Sagittarius but the 8 of Wands in action? Finely controlled chaos is the name of the game for this archetype. In general, Sagittarius is represented by the entire suit of Wands as well as ruled by the planet Jupiter following the old adage “fortune favors the bold.” Sagittarius is represented by the archer, a symbol of forward movement toward a destined goal or object. Starting off this series strong, today we will be discussing intention. Yes, that intention and how it indeed is not, in fact, everything. Intention is a starting point, a kindling fire for any ultimate impact. Eyes on the prize vibes. Intentions definitely matter at the start. What outcome are we looking for? What are our expectations of this situation? Where are we in our alignment? How and who does this serve? All super important and super valid questions to begin any quest with. Here’s the thing though: the further on your journey you get, the less the intentions matter and the more the impacts start to come into play. We can intend all day long and not start, not finish, and/or not come through. We can intend to do well and end up causing significant harm (or intend to do harm and instead help matters along. Looking at you, bay leaf, honey, and cinnamon curse girl. Thanks for that bonus check). Imagination vs reality can be a tricky balance to hold but held it must be. Like the archer represented by Sagittarius, knowing where to aim our actions and movements helps create clarity. Intentions can be a reminder of why we are doing what we are doing. They can help keep us on the path and ensure our desired outcome; however, anyone well versed in archery (or anything else involving aim) can tell you that there’s more to it than eyes on the target. Keeping with our metaphor, posture, breathing, training, practice, and patience all come into play when trying to hit a bullseye from a distance. Even more so, weather conditions also matter and maybe sometimes (often) outweigh skills. Oop, something totally outside of our control absolutely can come along and make a mess. At that point, our intentions don’t mean much anymore. They also don’t necessarily matter if someone, unknowingly or otherwise, wanders in front of the target while we are shooting. Impact…is impact. Saying “I didn’t mean to!” or “Intention is everything!” maybe doesn’t cover our butts here. They certainly don’t undo or make up for the hole that was just created. Food for thought.

So how is this spiritual bypassing specifically? Well, firstly, saying “intention is everything” completely undermines the sometimes centuries worth of wisdom behind a particular knowledge set and allows for people to run amok spreading unverified information and then condemning other people and their practices based on made-up nonsense such as the three-fold law, which has no basis in any tradition outside of Wicca, which was invented in the 1950’s. If you want something more specific here, the vast majority of magical properties related to herbs are pretty congruent with their medicinal properties. Burning a bundle of rosemary with the windows open helps magically cleanse the energy of the home. Do we think it’s a coincidence that rosemary is also a natural antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral? Or do we think maybe rosemary got a reputation as a cleansing herb because it...literally cleanses? Is it intention or is it belief tied to aligned action rooted in reality? Back in the day, it was believed that illness was caused by evil spirits, so engaging in practices that reduced or cured illness was what spiritual (aka magical) practices were based in. It’s why the majority of old European grimoires are recipe books full of herbal remedies. Those weird ingredients? Colloquial names for herbs. Eye of newt is mustard seed, friends. Practical magic is the root of the sciences. Intention outweighing impact in herbalism is how you get poison. We can intend for that holly to be a symbol for protection all we want, but if you burn it indoors with that petition you will still create a toxic gas. Protection denied. It is what it is. Moreso, some things cannot be mixed regardless of what we want them to represent. Go look up a video of francium in water. You’ll see what I mean. In fact, if you are in the mood for a tailspin and already looking stuff up, you can go research how science is actually the patriarchal replacement for indigenous matriarchal wisdom. Same stuff, different font, stolen authority. Or how yoga was invented for women by women to help with menstruation and spiritual wellness and then forbidden to women by men due to…menstruation and spiritual wellness. It’s a fun time. Like that time I took a hypnosis class and realized it was reiki for white men. Moving on…

“Intention is everything” additionally allows for bypassing of aligned action and creates opportunities for scapegoating. “I don’t know how that works, it must be demons!” has been a common rebuttal from the religious community and has been used to do harm for millennia now. Branding herbalism as witchcraft was one of the ways the church justified burning the wise women so that people would go to doctors instead after education was institutionalized and gatekept. Their intention was to cement their authority to create what they thought would be a better world. Their impact was murder and erasure of indigenous cultures. Kind of hurts the “intention is everything” argument there. Intention was also the evidence (the only evidence, most times) used during the burning times as a basis for accusations. “She looked at me funny and then I tripped! She must have intended for this to happen!” When we are saying intention is everything, we are essentially agreeing with these people. Anyone else get the ick? We are also short-changing ourselves of genuinely valuable wisdom when we stop at the surface. Trust and believe there will be a post specifically on research as a requirement for effective crafting, but for now, I digress. Nothing can replace aligned action when trying to manifest an outcome. All the pink quartz and rose petals in the world steeped in positive vibes cannot make love present where love is not shown, practiced, or believed in. Reality is tangible, unfortunately, and so anything that is not tangible is not reality (note that “real” and “reality” share roots but are different words with different meanings). Even this blog and series. My intention is to inform and guide, but the impact may be that I piss a lot of people off. I cannot control how others interpret my words and all of my readers reserve the right to decide for themselves what they interpret as harmful or helpful. This is a solid example of something totally outside of my control impacting (or negating) my intentions. As another example, think about a time when someone said something ignorant as fuck to you and then hit you with “I was just kidding” or “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Did it soothe you? Or did you maybe feel a little gaslit? Did you feel like that person was taking accountability when they said that? Are you picking up what I’m putting down? If it doesn’t work in our relationships with others, it certainly won’t work in our relationships to ourselves and to the world around us.

Everything is a process, friends, with each part holding equal significance and requiring mindful transition. When manifesting anything, we start with intention, move through aligned action, and then assess our impact. It is this process that leads to growth via the self-reflection and evaluating if our impact indeed matched our intention. If it did,excellent! That’s evidence for being on the right path and moving with authenticity. If it did not though, that requires acknowledgement and adjustment. It doesn’t have to be a value judgement nor does it have to hold moral weight. It just has to be congruent with what we are going for. Holding each step with the same weight and importance helps balance out the process by creating a flow from one step to the next. All parts are necessary for a whole to emerge and sustain. When we start over-emphasizing one aspect of a process we are engaging in ego and automatically creating an imbalance. No one likes to realize that their intentions went sideways and created an unexpected impact. No one likes to be told that their best efforts aren’t enough or are actually harmful. Sometimes though, it is necessary. It’s called an ego-death for a reason. If our intentions really are pure, then we should be open to feedback and be willing to examine all of the impacts, not just the ones we like. Subconscious intentions do exist. Hidden motives also exist, even from ourselves. We can intend to move forward in life and then end up repeating the same cycles we are trying to break. Sometimes in trying to protect ourselves, we become our own abuser. My intention is to keep myself safe. The impact is me missing out of pivotal experiences because I’m afraid of the unknown. My intention is to keep my kids safe and out of harm’s way. The impact is them not knowing how to manage themselves and feeling like I don’t trust them. My intention is to keep my friends happy. The impact is me being disingenuous to myself and allowing boundary violations to keep the peace. My intention was to create a sleeping draught. The impact was someone got violently ill. Adjustments are necessary in these situations. Impact actually outweighs intention pretty much every time. This applies to spirituality and spellcasting in the same way. If you’re wondering why your spells aren’t working, maybe check your ingredients. Look at how you’re putting them together. Do they actually align? Furthermore, what are you doing after you finish the spell? Are you sitting around waiting for a hand to descend from the sky and drop your cast in your lap or are you out there looking for and creating opportunities with your actions? If I’m casting a spell for prosperity, I can’t just sit on my couch and do nothing and then just hope that money appears. That’s how you end up with a dead loved one who just so happened to have a fat life insurance policy. Rather, I can go out and look. I can check my skills and see how they work for me. I can get creative with my gifts and my talents and see how they can bring me things I’m looking for maybe in ways I wasn’t expecting. Open yourself up, friend. See yourself as a whole person rather than just as a wish and a dream. You exist.

To end with a shameless plug and align my actions to my own prosperity spell: I am open for booking. Therapy, tarot, astrology, spiritual coaching, energy work, or even just a good philosophical discussion. I’m here. I’m queer. You’ll get used to it. Tootles.

To catch this week's vibe in a song, listen to Sympathy Magic by Florence + the Machine here: https://open.spotify.com/track/6ExwNwWLXvvKr5hk6lkHUY?si=48fef5ea57154502