One of magic’s main focuses is healing—healing of the self, healing of the earth, healing of humanity and nature.
In this sense, magic and self-care go hand in hand.
Self-care is a way to maintain your health, heal your spirit, and maintain or optimize your emotional, mental, and physical health.
Magic helps with self-empowerment and exerting control over your life, encouraging a focus on yourself as the best person you can be.
These are all things that can resonate well with the general goal of self-care.
The practice of magic seeks to establish or balance the connection between an individual and the environment.
If a spiritual aspect is added, then magic also seeks to balance or maintain the connection between the individual and the Divine.
Incremental Self-Care
There’s a tendency for people to say, “Oh, just exercise; your depression will vanish” or “Take up yoga and you’ll be a much better person spiritually!”
That’s not how self-care works.
Self-care is a complicated interwoven combination of hundreds of small acts and an attitude shift.
Using just one of the rituals, spells, or practices is not going to solve your problems.
But each magickal act will make you feel a little better and hopefully help you see that you are worthy of self-care and deserve to take the time and attention you need.
Even though it may not make your fatigue vanish completely, taking care of yourself is still a valuable thing.
Cleaning up a room won’t eliminate your anxiety, but it will make the atmosphere healthier and more comfortable to be in, and that’s important.
Fighting the Stereotypes of Self-Care
The media pushes self-care “solutions” in the form o sspa days and retail therapy.
It’s frustrating because these solutions assume that you are of a certain class with certain options available to you.
They assume that you have disposable income; they assume that you actively desire these things and deny yourself for some reason; and they assume that you have the time to engage in these activities, even as a treat.
These media suggestions also assume that engaging in these kinds of activities will fill a gap in your life, implying that you are somehow not normal if engaging in one doesn’t fill the void in your heart.
Take courage! The media view of self-care does not have to align with your sense of self-care, and, in fact, it’s probably healthier if it doesn’t.
Self-Care Guilt
Another stereotype of self-care is of someone lazily lounging on a sofa eating chocolate and ignoring chores.
This stereotype is harmful in that it suggests taking a few minutes to yourself between tasks is letting an unspecified “everyone” down in some way.
It implies that if you’re not wholly immersed in handling things, you are failing somehow.
This is one of the most harmful stereotypes associated with self-care because you are being told that you aren’t taking things seriously enough if you aren’t always working for the benefit of someone other than yourself.
It tells you that if you take a moment or two for yourself, you should feel guilt
