It is all too easy to put oneself down and simply dismiss desires as unrealizable, yet desire is an authentic feeling and, on the path of happiness, must not be denied. It is certain of course that false desire often comes from ego, and yet at other times we can intuitively distinguish the true word of the soul.

Rather than self-deprecation, what is more spiritually meaningful is to develop an ability to realize and present new possibilities from the realm of personal potential. This is made known through the agency of reckless imagination; Cinderella represents this principle.

 It is helpful to consult ones emotions and check whether there is good alignment between ones desires and ones choice in advance of action. If these do not align then ambiguous messages are being sent out that will lead to delay or failure.

 Having discovered, upon further examination, that further potential is within reach then action is called for, whereas some may dream and dally, others will live with the continual sense of the demand for movement towards fulfilment.

With consciousness of the attractive capability of ones personal magnetism, a clear and detailed outcome is visualized, and empowered by expectation of fulfilment. In this way imagination is employed as a tool of magick.

 Furthermore, imagination enhances success through its ability to readjust to feedback. Perhaps the first visualization was naïve or poorly crafted, so versions must evolve in response to experience, a course correction as for a wayward vehicle.

 It is thus discovered that on-going realignment in response to experience is actually a true path of self-awareness. Paradoxically, and perhaps surprisingly, it is failure that serves one to a greater degree than success. 

At all levels of existence - whether shellfish groping around in murky depths or kids making up games to learn skills - the absolute imperative of individual survival is self-sufficiency, even if the individual is in fact an individual group or species.

The lower orders have a wider perspective on what is considered to be self: the ant identifies itself with the colony, and expresses self-sufficiency of the colony, even at the expense of the particular ant. The cell of a human body is equivalent.

By feeling the connection between lower and higher, one can grasp that the individual's path of self-expression is not separate from the group's process of evolution. Each is not only interdependent, but is an aspect of the other.

Self-discovery is the emergence of the individual coming out of the group. The experience of high profile has a special quality that requires a clear statement, since the individual is subject to constant group pressure. They must stand, or fall back and allow another to claim centre stage.

Evolution unfolds not as step-by-step ascension of a ladder, but rather like the mist clears - with subtlety, in a non-linear fashion. The group shines its light of attention onto its current hero, whose magnificence elevates one and all, and who is then once again brought down by the mass.

The master does not waste energy by attempting to raise the group. Such divergence of focus would diffuse his will. He waits at the pleasure of the mass until opportunity arises, then strikes out for himself clear and strong, drawing support from those around who develop beside him.

Being oneself is the highest service one can offer to the group and to the Universe. Yet this self has rhythms: now active, now passive. These are the rhythms that vibrate in order to sound one's true note, and this adds to the harmony of the whole.

The mystery of life is not the same for everyone. Any attempt to impress ones perception upon another is vain. Such behavior rather shows of the teacher's need for attention, as an aspect of self-disclosure.

However, this impulse and its futility have a hidden importance: to stir up matters that would otherwise go unseen. To be known, knowledge must be experienced. Experience requires two sides – basically the presence and the absence of a quality or belief.

Which side of a duality is pertinent? The master reveals both aspects of his teaching by demonstrating pertinacity. Each student is given different material to work with, according to her degree and aptitude.

The essential self is always in danger due to inertia because ‘self’ is an energy configuration, therefore subject to entropy. Because it is kept awake when energized by conflict, the master chooses material of a provocative nature, in order to create a revolt in the student.

It takes this constant friction to maintain an uncompromising determination to fulfill ones potential. The highest vision is kept in view as a way to hold true to the integrity of the soul. This is done in order that determination becomes unshakable.

Otherwise, on the path of esoteric enquiry, one would be seduced by the magnetism of the mysteries and the challenge to expose them. There would be a real danger of losing touch with ordinary reality; impracticality and ineffectiveness would be the result.

As a life path, this degree offers constant proof that all is transient and nothing is what it seems. Ambition therefore is clearly foolish. Yet since all is folly, nothing is folly. Realizing this, one wins the freedom to be exactly what one is: nothing more, nothing less.

What we want and what we need are not always the same. In fact the compelling force of necessity is rarely kind enough to indulge our pleasures much. The mind’s sharpness cuts through to the nub of any matter and gives clear instructions that should guide us to the right path, yet there is often a contrary compulsion within us to go against what may be the best strategy and to follow what we hold a torch for.

Distracted by things of secondary importance, we can lose self-competence. Yet distraction itself is a requirement if we are to learn how better to concentrate our attention on appropriate matters. Indeed we have to learn discernment to know the difference between what is and what is not appropriate. The primary concern surely must always be to demonstrate and develop competence at being ourselves at the most profound level we can reach.

With care, we can learn how to look beneath the surface of the things that come and go, to find a centre deep and true. In every event or thing, however transient it may be, there is a central cause that speaks eloquently to us of its essence-nature. Whether we give our full enlightened attention to the essence of a matter or an object has great consequence, because attention illuminates our path to the future, and shapes our very being.

Life is a glorious struggle – a constant full-on battle between what we must do to survive and the purposes we pursue in order to give our life a meaning beyond survival and comfort. On this battlefield we are raised or we fall. Nobility of spirit is the reward for victory, a true reward that can be enjoyed to the end of our days on Earth – and beyond.

A more immediate and tangible benefit, as we extend our ability to distinguish the important aspects in a situation, is a growing mastery in organisational skills. Understanding how things work and how to make things work, is nothing short of magick. And what skill is of greater value to a magician than his ability to discern the key to a matter – and to know how and when to turn it?

However – a note of caution: our own personal power may well be comforting and impressive, especially when it is not rivalled. Yet it is neither omnipotent nor everlasting. So we learn, whether by example or bitter experience, that the wise respect the power of all others. Even those who seem meek may occasionally have their moments!

True personal power is as much expressed in our ability to accept and adapt to the inevitable as it is to change the unacceptable. The wisdom of a situation comes from finding the resolution of which of these two courses to pursue. We have to put aside distractions then, and organise our thoughts clearly, being aware that the powerful demands of relatively trivial pleasures can so easily pull us off track.

Raw substance emerges on earth through the interaction of unimaginable forces that can push tectonic plates into mountain ranges and form new continents. Within each individual the same potency is available; those who claim it have access to awesome creative power – that which brings new matter into existence.

Matter and energy interchange throughout eternity, in a long, slow, endless dance without limits of expression. Through cycle upon cycle, reality is reworked into different demonstrations of form by the constant process of recreation.

The very ground of one’s existence is shaped by personal experience to conform to one’s desires. In other words, at this intensity of passionate involvement with life at its most basic level, substance is shifted to conform to individual will.

Unlikely as it may sound, the entire face of the universe is subject to this process. It takes a mighty confidence to know and trust this, yet with such confidence, one can remodel reality entirely.

This is none other than the dramatic exposition of a profound cosmic truth – that humanity has the ability to constantly re-establish itself, and its complete character and circumstances, according to whatever new powers and opportunities may present themselves to whosoever is ready and willing to grasp the nettle and claim such authority.

The danger that goes with such influence is the genius one can have for futile turmoil and finding cause for upset in everything.

At a very high degree of attainment, the individual will experience this capability as the gift to establish a link into the absolute stream of life force that descends through the crown as a flow of energy and comes to rest eventually in the origination of entirely new substance.

That which distinguishes us from others is the ego; it gives shape to a unique set of attitudes, beliefs, habits and perceptions that spin the divine message into its own pattern of expression.

Interaction with the world at large subjects each of us to the spin of others, and we would become dizzily disoriented if the ego had less aplomb; it actually needs to feel a little self-important to do its job.

Constancy of change creates the illusion of superficiality; it often seems that not much in life has meaning or even consequence. Yet this view itself is a reflection of the instability of an underdeveloped ego. By investing more of itself in the details of what’s happening, here and now, during ordinary, conventional and mundane events, the ego can develop its necessary strength.

Then what ripens within a mature individual is a masterly efficiency to bring a measure of control and stability even to non-ordinary events – those unfolding during the transitional stages of evolutionary, or possibly revolutionary, crises.

Having mastered two important control issues – what to influence and how to exert that influence – then the possibility arises to demonstrate a rising above the ego, a spiritual lightness of being. This hints at one’s exalted station, speaks of the soul’s essential freedom, and is akin to the cheering effect of sunlight.

There is a test of relevance. So much of what seems superficial and trivial is indeed truly trivial and should be ignored if we are to avoid wastage of our own precious life force through careless diffusion. What is and what is not perceived as trivial remains at the discretion of the individual.

Transiency – symbolised by the racing of clouds across a windy sky – stimulates a renewal of vitality. Each momentary scene is a picture of how various forces have found dynamic equilibrium to express one particular fleeting truth of existence; each new scenario is another examination to see if we can handle it elegantly.

Whatever life throws up as a challenge or temptation, a person who is anchored to an inner sense of self will hold true and, touched little by outer circumstances, remain dignified and calm.

A squaw scratching a living at the roadside is an image associated with squalor and poverty – yet these are the outer conditions of her life and say nothing of the depth of richness experienced within.

This inner wealth is a cornucopia of gifts, and when a person draws upon these hidden resources of inventiveness they pay tribute to what is the heritage – the soul – of their culture. We can see the beads now as having a much deeper meaning, they are more than demonstrations of skill; they contain a poignant record of times gone by, anchoring us to a past upon which today’s reality is built.

Humanity has an astonishing ability to respond to any situation, however squalid, and find a way to express joy and creativity within it. One who has this realisation will move from one thing to another with no attachment to anything permanent – since anyway nothing is permanent – and no attachment to positions of importance, since nothing external has importance to the soul.

We need to avoid being stuck in the distorted interpretation that ‘nothing matters so life is sterile’. This leads to isolation and the self-fulfilling outcome of unfruitfulness. The fruits of ones abilities may well be inconsequential, yet without them, the skills that produce them cannot be developed, and these skills are treasures. The beads are near worthless; the skill is priceless.

Detachment is a state of grace; it is sometimes described by Sufis as ‘being in the world but not of the world.’ It certainly does not preclude full and sensitive participation in the affairs of others, it simply allows for that participation to be without agenda – having no intention to exert unasked-for influence.

The soul is impervious to the needs of the personality and seeks to be neither rich nor poor, neither loved nor despised, neither respected nor disdained. These are petty irrelevances that threaten to distract from the true purpose of the inner self, which is to experience itself as fully as possible.