I had run away screaming from my computer support job. I was trying to sell myself as a programmer. I was self-taught in a college town full of computer science majors and got laughed at. I found myself in my favorite bookstore with a copy of Practical Solitary Magic by Nancy B. Watson in my hand.
That book ends with a week-long rite, which I adapted to finding a job I could do happily. I thought the process of a rite made such sense: carefully work out a very specific goal, then approach its appeal through each of the four planes-- affirmations, visualization, prayer, candle magic, etc.
Halfway through the week, I saw an ad that used words like "coding" and "Tek," so I applied. It was a typesetting job and I took it. That job taught me what I needed to know for a typesetting job in a real prepress. Surprisingly, it took a few years for me to notice how closely aligned this job and my rite's goal were. The affirmations I chanted were the work environment I was living.
Part of my goal was for the job to evolve into a work-at-home position. I'm now learning book indexing on my own for a working retirement. Ten years later, my first rite is still expressing itself.
-- Luke
