The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

Early in my training with my teacher, I was given an assignment: adopt a couple of certain forms of psychic cleansing and protection, drawn from folk magic sources primarily.  This was something that I wrestled with constantly; I found something that somewhat appealed to me, and I tried to make it work, and indeed, it worked, kind of, sort of.

Some time later, I came back to this assignment with something like dread, as I feared being unable to find somethign that really worked, like all the tools - perfectly sufficient to the task - were an outfit that just didn't fit right, or which, while fitting, were just not attractive to wear.  And I found an idea, chased a thought sideways, put a little twist on it, and found something perfect.  And when I shared what I'd done with my teacher, she said that it was pretty awesome.

This is something that happens to me a lot - I have something that's good enough (usually something that works a good deal better than that particular assignment!), and I'm content with it, and don't think I need to go any further with it.  I have an adequate tool, a perfectly good methodology and technique, or whatever.

And usually, I do - I mean, I have my ritual cup sitting on my nightstand right now.  It's nothing hugely special, it holds water just fine in a good quantity for my needs, it has a pleasant shape and meets my quirks for wanting such a thing.  But I don't have any illusion that it's anything beyond good enough for my purposes.  It's possible there exists a cup out there that is mindblowingly amazing for me.  (I suspect in the real world I'll make one when my studio works.)  This ain't it.  But it does what I need it to.

I'm not a very heavy tool user, at least not in my head.  But I look around, and I see the collection of scarves I use for one set of protection magic, the perfume bottle I use for another bit of protection magic, I see my aforementioned cup, I note that the tools I put away so that the Celt's mother wouldn't see them haven't been put back where they belong...  So I think my head is wrong on this.  And some of my tools are good enough.  And some of them are The Right Tool.

Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about here?  How many of your tools are good enough, and how many of them are Right?  How do you know when a tool is The Right Tool?  How does it affect your magic to work with something that precisely attuned?  Can you make a good enough tool into a Right Tool?  How?

Early in my training with my teacher, I was given an assignment: adopt a couple of certain forms of psychic cleansing and protection, drawn from folk magic sources primarily.  This was something that I wrestled with constantly; I found something that somewhat appealed to me, and I tried to make it work, and indeed, it worked, kind of, sort of.

Some time later, I came back to this assignment with something like dread, as I feared being unable to find somethign that really worked, like all the tools - perfectly sufficient to the task - were an outfit that just didn't fit right, or which, while fitting, were just not attractive to wear.  And I found an idea, chased a thought sideways, put a little twist on it, and found something perfect.  And when I shared what I'd done with my teacher, she said that it was pretty awesome.

This is something that happens to me a lot - I have something that's good enough (usually something that works a good deal better than that particular assignment!), and I'm content with it, and don't think I need to go any further with it.  I have an adequate tool, a perfectly good methodology and technique, or whatever.

And usually, I do - I mean, I have my ritual cup sitting on my nightstand right now.  It's nothing hugely special, it holds water just fine in a good quantity for my needs, it has a pleasant shape and meets my quirks for wanting such a thing.  But I don't have any illusion that it's anything beyond good enough for my purposes.  It's possible there exists a cup out there that is mindblowingly amazing for me.  (I suspect in the real world I'll make one when my studio works.)  This ain't it.  But it does what I need it to.

I'm not a very heavy tool user, at least not in my head.  But I look around, and I see the collection of scarves I use for one set of protection magic, the perfume bottle I use for another bit of protection magic, I see my aforementioned cup, I note that the tools I put away so that the Celt's mother wouldn't see them haven't been put back where they belong...  So I think my head is wrong on this.  And some of my tools are good enough.  And some of them are The Right Tool.

Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about here?  How many of your tools are good enough, and how many of them are Right?  How do you know when a tool is The Right Tool?  How does it affect your magic to work with something that precisely attuned?  Can you make a good enough tool into a Right Tool?  How?

 
This sounds a lot like how I felt when I first discovered upscale knitting NEEDLES.  I knew the yarn made a difference - I didn't expect the needles to.

But .. yeah, you end up with the same stuff either way, but the RIGHT tools are just more comfortable and easy to work with and just FEEL right.

In state of contrast, none of my crochet hooks have ever been anything but just a handy tool.  They're nice and they're there, but I could replace them without a blink.

I'm not sure a good-enough tool can ever become a just-right tool, unless the problem with it was lack of use.  Like it needed the oils from the fingers to really shine kind of thing.  There's just a difference between functional and a joy to use.

Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about here?  How many of your tools are good enough, and how many of them are Right?  How do you know when a tool is The Right Tool?  How does it affect your magic to work with something that precisely attuned?  Can you make a good enough tool into a Right Tool?  How?

Most of my tools are "good enough". In fact most of them do dual duty in that if I need a bowl for some working or other I'll grab one from the kitchen cupboard, use it, stick it in the dish washer and put it back in the cupboard. The besom is the best thing I've  ever found for sweeping up dried leaves as well as sweeping unwanted visitors out of the door.

I'm sure my forebears in folk magic would have loved to have had bespoke tools but most of them would not have been able to afford to have "special" tools other than those they could make themselves. In fact the couple of "right" tools I do have are those I've made myself or have been made for me. I don't think they work any better but they give me pleasure to use.

Most of my tools are "good enough". In fact most of them do dual duty in that if I need a bowl for some working or other I'll grab one from the kitchen cupboard, use it, stick it in the dish washer and put it back in the cupboard.

 
I don't do an awful lot that requires tools but when I do this is pretty much how I work.

When I first started out I was so obsessed with everything being 'right' and good enough just wasn't... well, good enough. Rather than finding the right tools I ended up having none and becoming very stressed about the whole situation. Eventually I reached a point in my path where the right thing for me was to chill out and just use what I had on hand as and when it was required. I feel much, much calmer and happier about my path this way.

That's not to say if I found something that felt right I wouldn't purchase/use it, it's just something I no longer feel is of upmost importance to my particular way of working.

Unless the particular tool that will be "mindblowingly amazing" for you is obvious to you, you can waste a lot of time and money searching for that "nearly perfect for you" version of the tool. Perhaps, I don't worry about it. If the tools I have do the job well enough, I'm not going to waste much time, energy or money looking for that "awesome for me" tool. I will not turn it down if I stumble across it and can obtain it, of course.

I'm known people who fell into the "searching for the perfect tool" trap. They waste a lot of time searching for "perfect" and sometimes even put off actual work because their tools, while adequate for the job, just aren't  amzing for the job. I refuse to fall into this trap -- because I know how easy it would be for me to fall into "waiting for perfection".

 
This makes me think of the way we did things in the military.  There was always the "Dream" tool that we would prefer or desire if we could have it.  Then there was realility in that we made do with what was at hand and did just as well with them as any of the "Dream" tools would have done.

Many of them were probably unsightly to look at and at times cumbersome to use but they stood up to the daily demands placed upon them.  We could drop them, bang them or worse but as soon as we picked them up we knew them better than we would ever come to know any of those "Dream" tools.

Had we waited around for those special or "Dream" tools we'd still probably be waiting even today to get it done.

Granted some things one had to wait on the special or "Dream" tool but that was never because of what we needed to do with it but because of what some manufacture had placed upon the contract.

Dang. I screwed up the formatting of the quote code in my last post, so it's not showing up correctly.  I think I must have put a space in the last brackets, or something.

Unfortunately, Tapatalk won't let me edit it, so I can't fix it.  If another staff member could, I'd be grateful!

Thanks!

~ Aster

Done.

Absent

Thank you!

Does anyone else understand what I'm talking about here?  How many of your tools are good enough, and how many of them are Right?  How do you know when a tool is The Right Tool?  How does it affect your magic to work with something that precisely attuned?  Can you make a good enough tool into a Right Tool?  How?

In his informative book, "The Secret Temple," Robert Wang offers a lot of practical advice about magical instruments. He acknowledges that, for those without the time, money or talent to make their own (which is the best option), a "stripped-down" version can be achieved that, while lacking the "vitality" of those made by your own hands, will be adequate for the purpose. He goes on to say that, no matter how you come by the instruments (made or bought), the ritual consecration is the key to making them "right."