Every Act Of Magic Begins At The Middle

The tree rises up from the middle of the swamp, a still and silent pole around which the dark mumblings of the currents flow. The tree is dry and still, the waters are the opposite – although their motion in this instance is barely detectable. The tree is the anchor and the fulcrum for the currents which flow around it. It is also the vertical axis, the pathway that can be travelled from the below to the above, back again and to any point in between.  Water will always find its way through the path of least resistance, much like magic.

Throw a stone into this pond and ripples will echo out from its point of impact. The tree is no different than the stone. This still midline is the organisation fulcrum of this entire micro ecosystem

As a craniosacral therapist I learned to listen to the macro and micro movements of the human body. ‘Life expresses itself in motion’, was my mantra. Through listening deeply to the fluid motion of the body, physical as well as energetic and spiritual; I help people heal through finding their way back to their own midline – through the embodied experience of their own organisational life force. By sitting very present and aware in my own midline, I was able to be the anchor to which the client’s nervous system could entrain.

In magic too, every creation story occurs in a midline.

As a witch the foundation of every act of magic is my own midline, my own sense that I am a fulcrum, anchor and centre of my body, my temple, the human compass,  indeed the universe into which my spell is launched.

I begin by slow, even breathing up and down the spine. I prefer to sit erect to more clearly feel my central channel, clear and open. With each outbreath, I have the intention of creating more stillness in my body, allowing my spine to be a vertical axis of stillness. This anchors me into the ground beneath it. The deeper my stillness, the more I have the sense of the energies and currents which move around me in my temple. I become the point of entrainment.

When I speak of midlines in the body, my intention is multi-layered. On the level of bone and tissue, we have a spine consisting of vertebrae, cartilage and muscular attachments that rise up through a body which is grossly symmetrical on either side. Arms and legs are mechanisms that ‘usually’ operate within a range of similar parameters.* On another level the spine is a conduit through which energy, fluid and indeed spirit can flow. It is the organisation centre for the nadis. It is tantric central channel and the conduit for the kundalini serpent rising up through the body. Midlines are present

The human embryo has developed a midline within 2 weeks when divided cells flatten into the disc-like ball of tissue which folds in upon itself to form what is called the Primal Midline. Through the primal midline flow differentiating cells and nutrients as the information required to form the embryo is imparted. Midlines are written into our human experience from the very beginning.

So too in magic.

The witch places herself at the centre of her compass becoming the midline through which the powers and energies can manifest and be worked. The neophyte magician may begin her studies with The Middle Pillar. Both place the operator squarely at the centre of her universe, strengthen and balance her body of light. They are the still axis around which everything moves. And if life expresses itself through motion, so too does magic. We engage with magic to effect change. Something moves, be it energy, life force, attitude. Even when in engaging in magic for contemplation or devotion, something will always be moved.

I see that midlines have three functions
1. They support – just as the spine supports and allows for the motion of the entire body, so too can this fundamental centre support and balance your magical practice.

2. They organise – A fulcrum is a still point around which something moves. Awareness of your midline makes you the organising ground from which your acts of magic will spring. Your spells and devotions come from deep within yourself and fundamentally powered by your own desire.

4. They transport and transcend – I’m thinking here of the flow of energy that rises and falls through the Central Channel of the subtle body, as well as the passage of fluid and neural tissue through the spinal column of the physical body, not to mention the spiritual and emotional awakening experienced as Kundalini energy.

Having an awareness of my midline is a central part of my practice not only as a healer and a witch but also in how I am present in the world. Developed over time, through meditation, daily practice of body scanning as well as my healing practices; I brought this same awareness into my witchcraft. It gave me the ability to know when to slow down and how to tell when my nervous system has reached a state of balance – essentially how to ground into a magical space. As well, it widened my perception and vision in spirit work and journeying, and it gave me much more control over how much energy I can move through my body.

The witch’s body is the body of magical consciousness and its entrainment with universal consciousness.  It is the fundamental awareness of the midline that serves to create an anchor and ground from which all of this may arise.