When we look at what is going on in the world today, there is a lot of cause for celebration. Many people feel as if we have had a big win, and a collective sigh was released. It's like that moment when you first see progress on the work you've been doing, and you want to celebrate!
And there is nothing wrong with celebrating...as long as you keep perspective of the greater goals. Often, the first progress we see isn't lasting or permanent. This isn't to say it can't become lasting or permanent, just that if you stop doing the work, the progress fades away. It's like when you plant a seed, you spend all that time waiting, you water it every day and make sure it has sun and all it's nutrients...and when you see that first hint of green poking through the earth you know that your efforts haven't been in vain. But if you stop watering it, if you don't keep giving it access to the light, the tender new growth will wither.
This is something we always need to keep in mind. We need to be willing to stay the course, to keep working, even when we are seeing things start to change, we need to continue to push until we reach where we want to be.
I think this is especially true when we are working towards some long-term goal. Maybe we want to be more financially secure, so we do spells and rituals geared at getting us in a better place, money wise. And then we get a new job (with better pay) or a raise. The temptation is to think the spells have worked, and to stop. But it's actually still at the start of the venture! You need to stay the course until you are actually secure, where you want to be and able to maintain it.
Think of it this way: it's often easier to keep a fire burning than it is to have to keep relighting it. Sure, if you stop working, you can always start it up again, but you really have to start over. You can't just jump back in where you were at (especially if you've tidied up or disposed of your spell working bits). Even if everything in is in place, think about what must have happened for you to realize that you weren't where you want to be.
Often our path to progress is a very windy road, with lots of ups and downs. We make a little progress forward, but then we start to backslide. It's when we are moving backwards that we most often feel called to get back to working, but even when we are moving forward, we can use our work to help create stable momentum. Then, when we would start to move backwards, we already have energy moving us forward and it is harder to fall prey to those slumps!
Now, I'm making a distinction here between extended, continual workings and regular fire and forget type work. A lot of spells are one-offs. We do the spell, we send the energy out into the world, and we trust that it will do what is needed. In fact, a lot of spells can suffer from continued poking...because every time you go back to them, you need to keep the same intense focus as the first time, and if you let your thoughts become muddied or start wandering down the 'what if' rabbit hole, you start sending energy towards different outcomes and everything just gets messy.
In between one-off spells and continual workings we have set-time work. This would be stuff like 7 day candles or working on something for a full moon cycle. You know how long you are going to be working with the thing when you start, it's not dependent on your results. These give you a little bit of the benefits and drawbacks of both one-off and continual workings. You need to keep your focus tight for a specific period of time...that is what makes these types of spells more powerful. But, they are more like one-off spells in the sense that it is like taking a single spell and breaking it into bits, and each time you work, you do one of the bits. This can make harder things more manageable.
When I think of continual or long-term magic, I tend to think of healing and global issues. With healing, you don't know exactly how long it will take to finish the healing, because everyone heals at their own rate. We often keep a healing going until a person is fully recovered, using their base-line health as a measure of what 'well' means to them. I think of weight issues as being a form of healing...because you are wanting to return to a healthy weight. But because healing is such a tricky thing, with many issues that can come up, you really want to keep working at it until the final result is achieved, not just the first signs of healing.
With global issues, I think the people like to get caught up in the big causes when they are at their worst. When things are looking the darkest, we band together and make a magical stand against what we feel can't be tolerated. But we often then don't follow up. We try to approach these huge issues with one-off spells, and even if you get thousands of people working together from around the world...one time is often not enough!
I almost always think of any type of energy work as trying to swim with currents in a river. With group work, you are all in a boat together....rowing. But still, the river and it's currents are not only the natural flow of energy in the world...but also every other person who is thinking, acting or working towards a different goal than the people in your boat. Some of them might not be pushing directly against you, but they may be pushing you to the side. And some will be crashing right towards you, wanting nothing more than to shove you as far back as they can.
The problem is that no matter how big a push you give...when you stop working, when you stop rowing, the current still pushes back. Until you have reached your destination, until the world has accepted whatever change you are trying to enact...you have to keep rowing.
While this idea isn't completely centered around what is going on in the world today, I do want to finish with a bit of a thought. If things have been going on over the past years (or decades...or centuries) that you don't agree with...things you are willing to work against....don't stop when a small victory is gained! Even though we might be moving in the right direction right now...if we stop, we will be pushed back and we will loose what we have gained. And in the smaller sphere, if you are doing personal work, and you hit that first big win (but aren't quite where you want to end)...keep working!
It is tempting to want to take a break, to stop the work for a while, and to coast on the victory, but that can be harder in the long run. Instead, think of it as rounding that corner to where you can see the finish line. This is the time to push, the time to keep working and keep moving forward! There is plenty of time to celebrate and rest when the work is done.
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