Money is frowned upon in most spiritual communities—and yet nothing kills the spirit like financial hardship. Here’s 10 keys of money magick to help you unlock your financial freedom!

Money is considered a dirty word in most spiritual circles. You are expected to be above it on the path of spiritual mastery while somehow also managing to fork over exorbitant amounts of cash for readings, healings, workshops and retreats. But the fact of the matter is that nothing kills the spirit quite like financial hardship, and the advice that predominates the marketplace comes from get-rich-with-nice-thoughts bestseller scams like The Secret and The Law of Attraction, which create far more harm than good.

However, in recent years a number of brilliant books and resources have emerged in the tradition of money magick, a living art that continues to develop with dazzling vitality. Money magick is not about dreaming a yacht into your imaginary backyard swimming pool. It is doing the hard work that it takes to heal, balance and restore your relationship with money.

As stated before: nothing brings down your vibration like the stress of financial hardship. There is no glory in poverty—it kills the spirit to worry about next month’s food and rent. Anyone that tells you that you shouldn’t do magic for money has never faced eviction or waited in line for food stamps. The soul cannot evolve when it is impeded by poverty-induced stress. The Taoist Immortals believed that if you are going to live forever, then you should not do so in poverty; it’s much preferable to spend immortality comfortably in wealth than worrying about the rent. To have secure financial grounding where your roots can take hold allows your soul to grow into the heavens.

Listed below are some fundamentals to start using money magick to unlock your financial freedom. There is a lot that you need to “get” before you can get rich. Got it?

1. Get into the Heart

Desire stemming from the head is polarized. The two hemispheres of the brain work together to create a world of beautiful dualities: night and day, sorrow and joy, agony and ecstasy. The richness of these dualities are the reason that you incarnated on this planet and wake every morning: to cry with joy at the sight of your child taking her first steps, and weep in sorrow at your father’s funeral. What unifies these experiences is the feeling of gratitude: gratitude for watching your child grow, and gratitude for the memories that you had with your father in spite of inevitable mortality. That gratitude, that unifying principle, comes from the heart.

The head cannot be relied upon to create a unified experience—it will always dissect through duality. “The mind is a great servant but a lousy master.” It is in the heart where you create a unified reality, where true abundance grows and lasting wealth is manifested. Get-rich-quick positive-thinking scams like The Secret manifest such shoddy results (or none at all) because they teach you how to “think rich” by creating from the head. The head will automatically manifest an opposite result to maintain balance. If you manifest prosperity, then poverty will be sure to follow. The hundreds of millions of dollars made by The Secret are now tied up in the courts due to an ongoing legal dispute between its creators. Also consider that the “think rich” mentality spawned Donald Trump’s empire back in the 1980’s if you need a clear example of the spiritual bankruptcy that manifesting from the head creates.

In the heart, you feel rich. Feeling rich means finding inner wealth through gratitude for things that aren’t necessarily monetary: relationships, health, natural beauty, and so on. When you start to feel wealth you will only begin to attract more of it. By discovering the treasure trove of friendship and beauty within, we can start to attract lasting wealth without. It’s like what Clarence Oddbody writes to George Bailey at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life: “Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends.”

The heart transmutes desire into compassion and leads to the measured fulfillment of both. Being in the heart gives you the solid ground to endure hardship without “losing your head,” and allows you to provide strength to others who are facing hard times without being completely drained. The heart is the axis mundi of magic. Without it, you have no ground to stand, let alone grow your wealth.

Check out the What’s This Tao All About? podcast for practical advice for getting into the heart and going with the flow.

2. Get into the Flow

You’ve heard it before: money is an energy. It’s fluid; it flows like water. It’s a currency, flowing like a current of water. This is what the bankers that run the world understand about it. There is no inherent value in coins or banknotes: it is the energy that we breath into them that give them value. We have the power to give money its worth, but we waste all of our energy giving it the power to determine our own worth.

The traditional Western magical view assigns money to the Earth element. However, In Money Magic: Mastering Prosperity in its True Element, Frater U.D. assigns money to the Air element. In Frater U.D.’s view, money is an idea more than an object. Ideas can be transported long distances and across time with greater rapidity and ease than material objects. We no longer spend long hours tilling the soil for a few shillings; instead we commute long distances to sit in front of computers and run our credit cards into imaginary debt.

The Air element is fundamental to international banking, where small fortunes can be transferred to overseas accounts in the blink of an eye; or the concept of PayPal, where you can have all of your bank accounts and credit cards linked for instant spending online. Modern communication technology has made this possible: it’s all up in the air. Air is also fundamental to money magick. In order to make money effortlessly float to you, it needs to be lighter than air.

But we needn’t stop there. Let’s look at how money can manifest in all the elements. When money is in its Earth element, it is a resource—the payment you receive from working long hours to keep the lights on, pay the rent, and afford groceries. When money is in its Air element, it is a bank transfer across international networks or a PayPal charge for a digital download. When money is in its Water element, it is a gift given from the heart (think of a hundred dollar bill in a birthday card from grandma, taking out of her modest pension). When it is in its Fire element, it is a drive—a donation to a political campaign that you believe could change the world. And when money is in its Etheric element, it is the spirit of wealth—that feeling you have that nothing could go wrong despite the obvious obstacles facing you ahead.

To learn more about how to start working with money as an energy, check out Frater U.D.’s Money Magic: Mastering Prosperity in its True Element .

3. Get Close to Your Shadow

You can’t make any progress if you can’t face your shadow. In Jungian psychology, the shadow is an unconscious aspect of the personality which the ego does not recognize. It is the shadow that inhibits the flow of prosperity into our lives. The desire for prosperity is met by an even greater and unconscious desire for poverty. There is a sadomasochistic drive within all of us that wants to remain bound by chains of desperation. The left wing radical unconsciously desires tyrannical oppression, the fundamentalist Christian unconsciously desires demonic possession, and the bright-eyed optimistic entrepreneur unconsciously desires abject failure.

Carl Jung once wrote, “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.” Bringing the shadow to light and integrating it with the personality through shadow work is an essential step to working with the energy of money. In economics, incidentally, “shadow work” refers to unpaid labor in the form of self-service, such as pumping your own gas at a gas station. Consider shadow work the necessary stop you need to make before you can ride the flow of prosperity.

There’s an excellent exercise that Tim Ferriss assigns in The 4-Hour Workweek that works well for our purposes. Before starting an entrepreneurial project, he suggests, make a detailed list of the worst-case nightmare scenario that could happen if your plan utterly fails. You foreclose on your condo, your car gets repossessed, your partner dumps you, your reputation is destroyed, you have to move back home and get a job a Starbucks, etc. Then ask yourself: would you still have your life? Would any of these things be permanent? What’s the likelihood of all of these things happening?

Frater U.D. suggests a similar, slightly more radical approach: imagine the worst case nightmare scenario and act it out. Lie in bed for two or three hours (or however long is necessary), screaming and crying in agony over the loss of everything you love. When it’s over, look at yourself in the mirror and ask: Am I still here? Have I truly lost anything of real value?

Whether you choose to write or act your nightmare scenario, be sure to banish it. Burn the list if you wrote it out, or clear your space with a powerful banishing ritual if you chose to act it out.

Integration of the shadow is not something that happens overnight. While the above exercises are useful, bear in mind that shadow work takes a very long time to fully comprehend and complete. It is helps to have a teacher or a guide.

Carolyn Elliott provides amazing services through her online classes and coaching for working with the shadow, and geting it to work in your favor. I highly recommend checking her out.

4. Get to Know the Local Spirits

If you start appeasing the local spirits, they will start to help you in unexpected ways. Regularly leave them offerings such as incense, libations, or energy. My girlfriend and I leave a stick of incense burning in our living room and on our patio every morning, and every new moon and full moon we take a walk around the neighborhood leaving sticks of incense in small pockets where the spirits dwell.

Cleaning up trash in parks and on trails is also a great offering to the spirits. My girlfriend has been blessed with random gifts for doing this. Once, she found an iPod under a bush in the park. Even more impressively, she found a pure silk veil at the top of a hiking trail after cleaning up trash on the way up. Making offerings to the local spirits in this manner have consistently brought us opportunities for work and business in ways that we couldn’t even before imagine.

Check out Jason Miller’s The Sorcerer’s Secrets and Financial Sorcery for more advice on working with spirits and deities to help with your money magick.

5. Get to Know the Planets

Along with the local energies, you’ll want to employ the service of planetary ones as well. A simple planetary offering looks like this: on the specific planetary day and hour, pour a libation and recite the Orphic Hymn of that planetary deity. (Hint: getting an app, such as this one makes calculating the planetary hours far more manageable)

Mercury: Ever heard the phrase “money talks”? Mercury rules communication, so by propitiating him you learn the language of money. He also rules travel, commerce, merchants and thieves. He is the money-as-air incarnate. Consider him your guide through a globalized world where boundaries are blurred and the language of money speaks in terms of international trade. He can get your resume noticed if you are looking for a job, or help your business go viral if you work for yourself. He’ll inspire you with new ideas of how to make money, open new routes for money to come to you, and protect you from thieves and trickery along the way. (Wednesday is Mercury’s day)

Venus: As much as economics are a science, they are an art as well. Venus rules beauty, love, pleasure and aesthetics. Her rulership of Taurus gives her fine taste, and her rulership of Libra makes her a charming socialite. Propitiate her for the art of subtle persuasion in a business deal, or if you need to charm a potential employer in a job interview. She can also help you acquire fine luxury objects, and aid in making you more appealing to others. (Friday is Venus’ day)

Jupiter: If there is one single planet that you should work with for prosperity, it would be Jupiter. He is the planet of generosity, wealth, expansion and sovereignty. “[S]overeignty… is tied to the concepts of freedom and mastery,” writes Jason Miller in Financial Sorcery. Call on Jupiter for freedom from the rule of others, and freedom from self-defeating ideas that prevent prosperity; call on him for mastery over your finances, and mastery over the bad habits that block wealth. One catch about Jupiter is that, because his power reaches so far and wide, calling on him for small affairs is a bit like writing a letter to Jeff Bezos asking for a special discount on your next purchase at Amazon. Fill your Jupiter offering with feeling and passion, let it be grand and magnificent—make your voice heard. (Thursday is Jupiter’s day)

Check out Austin Coppock’s Intro to Planetary Magic course to learn more about leveraging the energies of the planets in your favor.

6. Get Real with Your Budget

While Mercury, Venus and Jupiter are all great for money magick, their power is useless without Saturn. He rules law, order, discipline, sobriety, hard work, permanence, and limitations. Mercury would run himself into exhaustion, Venus would binge on the finest chocolate, and Jupiter would blow his fortune on a massive rager if it weren’t for Saturn’s limitation. But Saturn is not just a kill joy that wants to ruin everyone’s good time. He pushes you beyond your limits and forces you to create new ones. The Saturn Return is one of the major astrological transits you will encounter in life and initiates you into adulthood. It is through Saturn that things take form (child into adult). He can be called upon to banish debt (over your limit) and protect you from or aid during legal troubles (law and order/death and taxes).



He is not easily impressed by humble offerings and silly rituals. Hard work, discipline, and dedication—learning your limits and honoring them—impress Saturn. One of the best ways that you can learn your limits is by making a financial budget and sticking to it. A budget is the financial equivalent to knowing your body in a yoga class. If you over stretch yourself in a yoga class, you’re not likely to be going back for a very long time. The same is true about finances. If you overstretch your finances, you’re not going to have the wherewithal to meet your needs. Knowing the limits of your energy is essential to maintaining a balanced flow. The universe is not kind or fair, but it is just. It will take whatever measures necessary to adjust any imbalances. If you max out your credit cards shopping for clothes and clubbing with friends, expect a killer hangover the next day and huge debt at the end of the month.

Make a list of your necessary monthly expenses (groceries, rent, water, power, car payment, insurance, etc.), and cut out any extraneous expenditures. This means that you should start packing a lunch to work, staying in with Netflix rather than going to the movies, and splitting a bottle of wine (feel free to splurge with this one) at home with friends instead of hitting the club. Trust me, I know, it sucks. But you have to make sacrifices in order to grow (to take form) and the growth is worth the effort.

Check out the Mint app for help with planning your budget.

7. Get to Giving

Since money is an energy, it needs to flow out as much as it flows in—otherwise it stagnates. You want your money to be like a river, not a swamp. This is why billionaires open trusts, start charities or donate to their alma mater: they can’t buy everything in the world, but they still need a way to spend their money.

We all need money to survive, but surviving is worthless if you can’t keep your soul. To live in abject poverty crushes the spirit. Likewise, to hoard your wealth and never give to those in need rots your soul. It is pointless having money if you don’t help those in need. It’s like being a DJ and never playing at a dance club.

Create a personalize sigil that you will draw onto a dollar bill. Write the statement of intent something along the lines of, “Whoever spends this dollar will find a hundredfold return in wealth”—or choose your own to make it more personal. Now, go to the bank and take out one hundred one dollar bills (if you can make the sacrifice), and take the time to draw this sigil onto every single one of those dollar bills. The next time you see a homeless or needy person, give them one of these dollars. It is of dire importance that these dollars are never spent on anything other than being given to the needy.

When you’ve spent the entire stack, start a new one—or even donate your time to a local homeless shelter. You can also donate to a charity to support a cause that is close to your heart. Check out Charity Watch for a list of vetted charities.

8. Get a Mentor

You’re going to need help. If Walt and Jesse hadn’t met Saul, they wouldn’t have made it out of Breaking Bad’s second season alive. Finding a mentor is similar to the Buddhist concept of taking refuge in the dharma. It gives you the guidance and strength necessary to navigate the difficult path of self-realization.

There is no clear cut way to find a mentor. However if you are following all of the above steps, then you will surely find one along the path. “When the pupil is ready, the teacher arrives.”

9. Get an Altar

You will derive great power for your money magick by constructing a financial altar. Place a green altar cloth on a table and fill it with deities associated with prosperity, good luck talismans, consecrated candles, an offering tray, and so on. This is where you will make burnt offerings to the local spirits and pour libations to the gods. Also, leaving offerings of international currency will help you get out of the idea of money being tied to one single form. The most important thing is that you are creative with it, and that it expresses your vision of magic.

10. Get a Ritual

Ritual is the cornerstone of magic. You need to perform your work in the material realm if you wish to see material results of your money magick. Take any of the above steps and combine them into a ritual of your design. Perform micro-rituals daily (such as leaving offerings to the local spirits) and macro rituals of complex design with meticulous planning for big results (such as when a planet is well aspected in the sky).

While I have compiled to the best of my abilities a comprehensive list of essentials for money magick, this guide is just the beginning. Below is a list of teachers, tools and resources that are essential to take your money magick to the next level.

Teachers, Tools and Resources

What’s This Tao All About?

Dr. Carl Totton is a Taoist priest who has been practicing martial and internal arts for more than 50 years. In this invaluable podcast, he chats with Tod Perry about the fundamentals of Taoism, providing sound advice for practical application of the sometimes mystifying aspects of the Tao Te Ching and other cornerstone Taoist texts. Dr. Totton distills thousands of years of ancient wisdom into digestible chats that will help you get into the heart and go with the flow. The fact that it’s FREE makes it a true treasure of the modern age. Prepare to have your heart open and your mind blown!

Carolyn Elliott

Carolyn is a goddess of social media marketing, and a constant inspiration to those trying to find a way to unleash their creativity and make money doing it. Her free mailing list alone is filled with tips that will motivate and inspire your creativity, her book Awaken Your Genius will unleash the artist within, and her INFLUENCE online course will turn you into a one-person social media empire.

Jason Miller

Jason is a high magus of financial sorcery and wealth magic. His books The Sorcerer’s Secrets and Financial Sorcery are invaluable resources to have in any magical library, and his Strategic Sorcery online correspondence course will give you the keys to unlock magical potential that you’ve only dreamed about.

Austin Coppock

Austin amongst the best teachers in the esoteric arts and sciences today, and a renowned scholar of astrology. He blends ancient wisdom and classical technique with a fresh modern perspective that envisions a timeless universe. His weekly readings will keep you in step with the skies, and his online courses will fine-tune your planetary magic.

Planet Watcher

A free website to follow the current position of planets in the skies. Great for determining the best time to perform a ritual when planning complex planetary workings.

Hours

A great app for iPhone that quickly calculates the planetary hours. (Check out Planetary Times for Android)

Money Magic: Mastering Prosperity in its True Element

Frater U.D.’s book isn’t just a great money magick resource—it’s a veritable grimoire containing the fundamentals of Hermetic magic. The beach exercise at the beginning of the book is worth the cost alone, but the Mercury ritual will jumpstart your money magick with rapid success.

Mint

An immensely useful app for planning your budget.