When we were children, we accepted magic as a natural part of life.

Just because we’d never seen Santa delivering gifts didn’t mean he wasn’t real. We didn’t need to see the Tooth Fairy visit with our own eyes. We believed in magic spells and “abracadabra” and “open sesame.” We believed in wishes and shooting stars and winking birthday candles.

I see it sometimes in my own child, trying to magic away gray clouds to bring out the sun and believing in her heart that she has that power. I see it in her wide eyes as they look out at a natural world that’s still amazing.

It’s only when we’re grown that it becomes unacceptable to find our world amazing or magical. Some even choose to parent without Santa or the Tooth Fairy, believing that this is honesty and the best way to teach children about truth. We choose pragmatism and hard facts, and we forget that there is magic in the world, because the world tells us that there never was any in the first place.

And we believe it; it couldn’t be true after all.

I’ve been systematically mining to get to the core of my own heart. My intuition has been calling me down a certain path for the last couple of years now, and I have started to listen and to follow. I’ve had to be quiet at times and completely still (a challenge when I’ve been single-handedly raising two small children). But still, I’ve taken risks, and I’ve excavated my own life. I’ve pulled up relics and strange markings and all sorts of detritus that are meaningful and some that mean nothing at all. But I’ve looked deeply inward, so I can begin to shine a light outward, and I’ve discovered that magic still exists if only we choose to see it.

There are at least five sacred rituals we can use to access our deepest magic, but these rituals are best suited for those who have already begun an inward journey. They are useless for those who are in denial and stuck inside of the fear of change. But, for those of us who see that the only way forward is one step at a time through the struggle, we are open to everything that the universe needs to tell us.

Here are my favorite five rituals to begin accessing our magic again:

1. Be silent and still in meditation.

We cannot access our magic if we never shut up. How can we hear it if we’re constantly inundated with entertainment? How can we listen if we’re busy with our smart phones or tablets, or when we’re doing this and planning that? We need to get silent and still—and even close our eyes to go inward. Where is that special spark we once knew intimately? Can we light that fire and let it warm us from within? Can we remember who we were once before the world told us to be someone else?

2. Visit our inner child.

Our inner child is woefully neglected when we grow up. We consign him or her to Never Never Land, and we forget that we need to go back and visit. We forget that child entirely and don’t even recognize when some of our reactions come from that child’s fears rather than our present reality. Still, to align ourselves with our inner-magic, we must visit that child.

We need to remember what it was that made us happy as children. For me, I was a wild child who loved spending time in the woods exploring. I climbed trees and spent endless hours inside my own imagination. I took naps in the sunshine and played with animals and made art with fingerpaint.

To visit my inner child, I need to return to all of those things. I need to make and take time to spend time doing all the things that lit that magic spark in the child I once was. Only then, when we reach that child and spend that time, will we find the magic accessible.

3. Bless the temple.

This one often presents a challenge for us, but it’s a sacred and essential ritual. We need to bless (and even anoint) the temple that is our bodies. We spend so much time criticizing our own forms, when what we need to do is to worship and love and honor them. To bless the temple, we can indulge in a long, luxurious bath with scented oils that make us feel peaceful and happy. We need to bring our mindful attention to cleansing ourselves, and we can even follow our baths with a gentle brushing of our skin and hair. We can smooth on lotion or oils gently, anointing the temple and loving every single part of our being. In this way, we can bless the temple daily and allow it to be the honored vessel of our magical souls that it is.

4. Connect with our sensual (and sexual) selves.

It isn’t necessary to have a relationship to do this. What is essential is that we have a partner—even if that partner is ourselves—who loves, honors, and respects the temple of our bodies. Sex should be worship and connection and expression. We can even explore our sensual selves with massaging oils or scented candles to lend light to the darkness. We can play music that helps us explore the magic of sexual connection and sensual healing. We can check in with our bodies and explore that of a partner’s, if we so choose. But there cannot be magic where there is dishonesty or duplicity. Coming mindfully and wholly present to the experience is essential to accessing the magic within us.

5. Pay attention to the signs.

This one has been so valuable for me. I’ve been following a difficult path. It hasn’t had a lot of security or assurance, things that once signaled safety and belonging to me. There’s been a lot of risk, but also a lot of magnificence. I’m learning to pay attention to the signs from the universe (or the Divine, if you’d rather) that offer guidance. My decision continues to be affirmed every step of the way, and when I grow fearful, a sign appears that reminds me to be brave and to keep taking risks. I’m surrounded by people who uplift and inspire me simply by their presence. When we pay attention to signs, we begin to see the power and beauty of the universe itself and how we are a part of the whole.

Our lives are full of many things, but without magic, they seem stark and ordinary. No life needs to feel ordinary, even if our lives are filled with ordinary things.

There’s magic everywhere, and these five rituals can help us access it.

~

Author: Crystal Jackson
Image: Miranda Wipperfurth/Unsplash
Editor: Danielle Beutell
Copy editor: Yoli Ramazzina
Social editor: Yoli Ramazzina