Durgadas Allon Duriel - The Little Work: Magic to Transform Your Everyday Life

About the Author

Durgadas Allon Duriel (San Francisco Bay Area, CA) is an occultist, Yogi, therapist, astrologer, and tarot enthusiast. He is a formal practitioner of magic with more than twenty years of experience. He has been an initiate of the Hermetic mysteries since 2005, a journey that began with two and a half years of intensive training. Durgadas is also a licensed clinical social worker and a certified holistic health practitioner, and he has studied and practiced Yoga for over fifteen years.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

The Little Work: Magic to Transform Your Everyday Life 2020 by Durgadas Allon Duriel.

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First e-book edition 2020

E-book ISBN: 9780738761619

Cover design by Shira Atakpu

Editing by Brian R. Erdrich

by Mary Ann Zapalac; all other interior art by Llewellyn Art Department.

Tarot cards from Pictorial Key to the Tarot , by Arthur Edward Waite, public domain.

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Pending)

ISBN: 978-0-7387-6147-3

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Llewellyn Publications

Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

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Woodbury, MN 55125

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Manufactured in the United States of America

Dedication

Thanks to:

My mother, who read voraciously throughout her life and would be thrilled to see this moment.

Prabudh Noel, for over seven years of love, support, laughter, and conversation, including while I wrote this book.

My first spiritual teacher, who taught me how to fundamentally change my life for the better in ways I wasnt sure were possible and encouraged me to write.

My three degree mentors in my occult training, who helped me learn to love and trust again.

My second spiritual teacher, who taught me through example about devotion, divine love, and how to inflame thyself with prayer.

I wish I could show you, when you are lonely
or in darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.

hafiz

Contents

: Foundations of Magic

: The Basis of Magic

: Perceiving Energy and Energy Alignment

: Basic Magical Practice

: Inner Alchemy

: Beginning the Little Work

: Air: Refining the Mind

: Fire: Developing the Will

: Water: Allowing Our Emotions

: Earth: Grounding and Embodying the Work

: Spirit: Approaching the Great Work

Introduction

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

authorship disputed

W e live in a magical world. Many of us who are drawn to magic, mysticism, or the occult know this on some level. Perhaps weve always sensed theres more to reality than meets the eye or experienced this directly. We may not know exactly whats beyond the veil of everyday life, but we know its not mere superstition to suspect that somethings happening there. Many of us innately hunger to engage with this dimension of existence, sometimes to where disregarding the occult would feel like choosing to live blindfolded.

On the wave of this yearning, we explore disciplines like ceremonial magic, psychic development, shamanism, witchcraft, and Yoga. Many of us work with others whove walked the path before us, getting involved with groups, institutions, or spiritual teachers. We set ourselves to the task of joining the thousands of seekers throughout history who practiced magic in some form and experienced its reality and the awakening that accompanies parting the veil.

For many of us, this process is thwarted. Not because magic isnt real or because indescribably magnificent spiritual epiphanies and experiences arent available to us. Rather, because life gets in the way, and by life, I mean the day-to-day realities of the human experience in much of todays worldrealities like developing a career, managing money, navigating interpersonal relationships, handling adversity, and establishing a healthy sense of self.

Many of us who are drawn to metaphysics are metaphysically gifted and dont feel at home in the real world, which is unsurprising given how that world conceptualizes us (and if youre reading this of your own initiative, youre likely a metaphysically gifted person). While we may have been medicine people or seers in previous societies, were now relegated to the cultural periphery and in some societies, whats considered sane. Consequently, we dont generally receive training in our gifts to become healthy, high-functioning metaphysical adults. This leads many of us to play to our strengths while underdeveloping our weaknesses, which can make metaphysical gifts feel more like curses. We may feel flooded by psychic sensations to where they muddy our sense of self or feel like the physical world is too insubstantial for us to be effective within it. We may unintentionally attempt to avoid lifes difficulties with metaphysics, using it as an escape space, crutch, or defense.

This book answers that predicament. Its a manual for living in the real world in a way that facilitates metaphysical practice. Its the product of my experience as a metaphysically gifted youth who desperately needed spiritual training and then received that training and prospered. It also integrates the best of what Ive gleaned from years of experience as a psychotherapist, holistic health practitioner, and Yogi. I believe you can live the magical life your heart calls for. In this book, Ill show you how.

Many of us who are drawn to metaphysics feel like running away from the world, and some of us do. But even in the remotest of ashrams, our issues follow us (Wherever you go, there you are, as the saying goes). We must deal with these issues if we want to thrive and develop spiritually. What Ive learned is that we neednt go anywhere to lead a magical, holy life. We can build one where we are by mastering what I call the Little Work.

The Little Work

No one ever did great things well
who had not first done well with small things.

paul foster case

The Little Work is the development of life skills that enable us to function with increasing ease, such that we can devote ourselves to spiritual practice. Its a way of making ourselves the ashram. The name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Great Work, which is the pinnacle of Hermetic magic, wherein a magician abidingly realizes their divine nature. This is the enlightenment that millions of seekers have aspired toward throughout history. Aside from the rare instances where people become spontaneously enlightened, completing the Great Work requires many qualities, not the least of which is a sturdy foundation on the physical plane. How can we seriously hope to merge with the infinite and live to tell the tale if we struggle with tasks like paying bills on time, achieving straightforward goals, and weathering relationship difficulties?