dinsdag 17 mei 2011

Poll: choose my next blog!

Of course magic doesn't exist! Silly me. But I am still very keen on knowing what might please you, dear reader. My inspiration is boundless and I can write for days, weeks, years. However I must choose what to write first. That's where you come in - if you like.

Wanna take a poll with me?
Thank you!
The poll closes june 4th, I shall publish the winning article around june 11th.
Oh, and I do have a back up plan. In case no one takes part in the poll (no guilt trip intended!).

Poll: Choose my next blog title


Current results:

Wanna create your own poll?

maandag 9 mei 2011

Magic visitors - just believe

Sometimes I feel a little clueless. Some people resort to shopping, also known as retail therapy; I admit to checking my stats. How many people have visited? What did they think? Unfortunately, the second question is not answered by my stats. So my curiosity keeps itching.

I could ask you directly: why are you here on this blog? What do you hope to find here? Do you find it? And what makes you come back? I'd be thrilled with any answer (tess[at]doucet[dot]nl, tweet or DM @spellfinder)) - but you may, of course, choose not to.

So here I sit, in my cluelessness. I am quite happy to go back to the stats and my fantasy. Of course, my inspiration may dry up if I find you keep silent (guilt trip about to set in)... nah. Not really - I'll write untill the day I die, I am sure. With or without reader dialogue. But still, I am curious. Looking for indications of who comes and why, I look at where people come from. Last week, someone entered "finding spells" on search engine Bing. Bypassing the question, who uses a different search engine from Google anyway, and why, I clicked through to the search results.


You'd think I'd thought long and hard about the title and headline of this blog. And I did. But I did not Google them before putting it up. Maybe if I had, I wouldn't have dared featuring them. Take a look for yourself, if you like - the most obscure Wiccan, magic, modern witchcraft sites enter into view. Now, I admit to wanting to look like Alyssa Milano in Charmed. Who wouldn't? I'd sign for her spellwriting skills, too. But witchcraft? Of course not.

My brother was the one who advised me to choose a name for what I do that leaves something to the imagination. I came up with "spellfinder" because of its associations with games and spelling, most of all. I love language in all shapes and forms, and I love its dynamic nature. Find the complete Dutch explanatory blog here.

Then again, among the wiccan search results, a guy called Tator Scot, named something I can really relate to:

We need to know, can anyone cast a spell? Yes! Anyone can cast a spell. The only requirement is that you truly believe the spell will work. Your belief is what gathers the energy required to cast the spell. The spell itself is a tool to focus that energy to accomplish the result that you desire.

That hit home with me.

Rethinking what I believe has liberated me and opened me up to the world - and the world, to me.

Reworking my belief system, and how that relates to my values, skills, emotions, behavior and environment/network, is in that sense the most powerful spell I have come to know, use and love. I have been a fan of Dilts' Neurological Levels, the "new pyramid" as opposed to Mazlow's old pyramid, to work at these things. Trying to attain congruency between the levels. You try it, it's fun. But most of all, if you try it, reworking it over and over again (iteratively designing), you'll strengthen it on all levels and improve your confidence. Daring to make unconventional choices as a matter of course.

There's no need to discuss or defend your choices anymore, when you know why you made them. You can share reasons when invited, of course - if you like. But the need to spend time on the negative energies other people may conjure up unwittingly around your ideas and actions just evaporates, when your faith in your own choices is strong. In other words: reworking your belief system is a strong method to protect yourself against the evil eye of jealousy and suspicion. You'll simply, effortlessly, blow all out of the water with a strong pyramid.

I'd say I am exercising smartness, wisdom and courage - but if you prefer to call that magic, then I do find magic spells. Or you could say: just believe.

As for my visitor numbers, I think I'll label this post love spell. Oh, and if that's why you came: the quick fix (if you don't want to go through all of that Dilts stuff) is to rent the movie Hitch, featuring Will Smith. Brilliant and a good laugh too!

Signing of with love, faith and hope,

Your true Spellfinder