Magical Kindergarten

In the pursuit of esoteric, magical or shamanicbeing. You can have a person with a lot of magical
training, there is something that must be explained toknowledge and no being (a powerless magician), or a
all prospective and interested students. It's aperson with a very high level of being but no
condition created in our instant-gratification society byknowledge (a stupid saint). In either case, neither will
movies such as Harry Potter or "Crouching Tiger,be very effective in the worlds of magick and
Hidden Dragon." In these movies the high arts ofshamanism.
advanced sorcery, magick and wizardry are taughtSo if and when you embark on a journey to learn
from the beginning. Harry Potter goes to school andthe arts of magick and shamanism, be patient with
is immediately taught alchemy, transforming objectsthe process. Learn the fundamentals well because
from one form to another. He can fly on ayou'll need to know them instinctively later on. If you
broomstick right away. In "Crouching Tiger, Hiddenare going to do a banishment and you encounter a
Dragon," almost all the characters know some formbeing who could be either a ghost or an archetype,
of Kung-Fu, and can levitate and fight with a greatyou'll have to know immediately how to distinguish
degree of skill. While all of this makes for greatthem because you won't have time to think! A ghost
movies, it seriously misrepresents the learningcan be banished with a blast of electric blue, but an
process for magical knowledge. These moviesarchetype will fight back and send 10 times the blast
portray in two hours what can take decades toof electric blue back at you. It sometimes takes
learn, if at all.years before you understand the implications of the
Having said all that, let's now talk about magicalknowledge that you already have, and this is a
kindergarten. There is a kindergarten for magicalrightful part of the magical journey. An author who
learning just as there is a kindergarten for publicdoes a great job describing this path is Tom Brown,
school. In every form of learning, you must masterJr. His books include "This Vision," "The Tracker" and
the basics before you can move on to more"The Journey." If you want to get a real sense of
advanced techniques. Many fantasy novels do awhat magical kindergarten looks like, read his books,
much better job of portraying the process of learningthen add about 15 years to it, since he started when
than current movies. For instance, in a fantasy serieshe was 8 and most of us don't start this journey until
like "The Belgariad" by David Eddings or a novel likemuch later.
"A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. LeGuin, theDoes the thought of magical kindergarten sound
period of early learning and apprenticeship is spelledboring and interminable? It is in some ways because
out in more detail. In both of these books, youngwe don't get to satisfy that need in us to do
magicians-to-be balk at having to learn thesomething really big and glorious in the magical realms.
fundamentals of magick before being able to castAt the same time, though, remember that
spells, shape-shift or levitate. But in all cases, thekindergarten was a lot of fun. In kindergarten, you
masters force their young apprentices to learn theget to play a lot, and you're not required to do much.
fundamentals, sometimes for years at a time. In thisAs you take this journey, the path keeps getting
early process, they are teaching their apprentices thenarrower and narrower, so enjoy the path while it's
skills of seeing, stalking, will and control. A person'sbig and wide. Kindergarten is kindergarten, whether
knowledge can only be matched with his level ofyou're 5 or 50. Enjoy!
being, and all of these skills contribute to the level of