One soul of pure intent is of far greater potency than that of many souls who follow the tendencies of the personality.... Under the Law of the Great Ones, never before have there been so many endeavoring to fit themselves for being "Transmitters of the Purpose."

--Alice Bailey ( A Treatise on White Magic)

Practical mystics utilize the power of Spiritual Intention through invocation and evocation. You can learn to practice your highest Spiritual Intention daily, and it will become the guiding principle that governs all your activities, in fact, your whole life. This will be not only for your sake, but for the good of us all.

The practice of aligning with your Spiritual Intention every day focuses your energy and your interests away from your past and toward your unfolding future. It expands you beyond your personal life and brings you face-to-face with a greater vision of reality. In this new way of being, you may even choose to sacrifice some of your own happiness for the sake of something with a higher purpose. Selfless service, however, must come from a cup that is full, not empty.

Attempting to replace a needy ego's desires with selfless service to Humanity does not work because needy love isn't really capable of being truly selfless. For instance, sometimes being seen as one who serves is the motivation for service. The ego attachment is to appear "selfless." You may not be owning how much you need to be needed for your own self-esteem. If you still have a lot of unforgiven or unexamined baggage from your past, these "uncooked seeds" will sprout up in your service relationships. And, unfortunately, you might not even be aware of this. You will think your bad feelings are everyone else's fault!

Clarifying and focusing on your own true reason for being is one of the simplest yet most profound ways to cut through a lot of fragmented truths. This is active meditation, or positive, forward-moving prayer. You build qualities, rather than reflecting on them. Instead of stilling your mind, you are using it actively to build thought forms as a first step toward manifesting good works.

Allowing your focused Spiritual Intention to become a constant guide for all your earthly activities is more of an attitude toward life than an actual technique. Though it begins with a specific activity, later it will become a way of life.

Here are some qualities that are prerequisites for pure magical work:

1. A respect for spiritual law and cosmic principle as the governing forces of reality.

2. An inner sensitivity to recognize your Spiritual Purpose and mission in life.

3. The ability to recognize spiritual law in action.

4. The capacity to overlook nonessentials and to emphasize essentials.

5. A willingness to voluntarily suppress your personal interests for the good of the whole.

6. A steady contact with an inner Source of wisdom, strength, and love.

7. A willingness to do your part whenever your Divine assistance comes.

If you have the above qualities, you are on your way to becoming "a messenger of Truth and Love," a practical mystic. I've observed that when you commit to this process of putting God first, all your life circumstances will begin fitting nicely within this higher goal. In my groupwork with hundreds of people each year who are coming into spiritual expression of their life's work, we use the invocation at the top of the next page.

Your focused Spiritual Intent, when made conscious, gives you a way to emulate your greater Self right here, moment by moment, in your ordinary routines. It is an imitation process, where you call up to whomever or whatever it is that you desire to be. But once the new influences come, you must be willing to undergo whatever emotional, physical, and behavioral changes may be necessary for these purer qualities to come through. This is how we manifest heaven on earth. You are literally making yourself transparent, so you can shine forth with the qualities of your Higher Self with clarity. You are sculpting yourself into a bright instrument that matches the Ideal in its essence. This is not a path for the fainthearted! You must be willing to remove or purify anything that is in the way of your Truth.