You've mentioned before that plenty of people practice magic without realizing it, and that any focused intention paired with ritual action constitutes magic. In this light, I've realized I might have just begun a major magical working: namely, it's occurred to me that Dave Ramsey's financial advice may very well fall into a form of wealth magic.
He has people follow a specific system, with mundane tasks like budgeting, working extra hours, cutting expenses by learning to do with less, and saving/investing playing a major role, but prayer, reflection, as well as intentional generosity all also play a major role in his system; invoking a higher power, intentionality, and blessing others, in occult terms. He talks a lot about the importance of unity of will (which he calls being “gazelle intense”), has something resembling an affirmation (“If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else”), and even has a few rather amusing little rituals, with one being the act of cutting up one's credit cards to symbolize the refusal to take on any more debt.
If this is a form of magic, it would also explain the observation he has made, that people who follow his advice find that as they build emergency funds, then the rates at which they run into financial problems plunges sharply; it's not just that they have the funds, but that events which would lead them to need it drop as well. Dave Ramsey suggests focusing intensely on the sense of security and safety that the emergency fund provides, for motivation in order to build it and then maintain it once it's fully funded; but if I understand the occult theory correctly, that kind of focus would also have magical effects. If the emergency fund is thus, in addition to an ordinary emergency fund, also functioning as a magical working to dispel emergencies and bring about security, then this would make perfect sense.
If there is some sort of unconscious magic, this would also explain why so many people who struggle with finances find that his advice works when nothing else does; and why those follow his advice routinely end up comfortably wealthy, even if it seems like they shouldn't be able to on their relatively low income. He's helped people dig their way out of intense debts and rather severe poverty to reach comfortable retirements, for example. Given the notion of tracks in space, it could also explain why so many people find that even where it seems like it would make sense to do things differently, it is easiest to follow the steps Dave Ramsey advises exactly, because an enormous number of others have laid those tracks down for us to follow!
Meanwhile, on further reflection, it's struck me that his advice follows one of your core pieces of advice for wealth magic: focus on finding opportunities to earn money. Each step of the process he suggests is based on the principle that money must be earned, and then some of it must be saved for future use: he suggests working extra hours, taking on another job, and the like for those starting out; in other words, finding ways to earn more money! Even when it comes to investing money for retirement, he insists that it be invested wisely, in investment vehicles that have been proven to work over years or, better yet, decades; and that while some “investments” may promise much higher rates of returns, he insists on avoiding any kind of “get rich quick scheme”, insisting that retirement investments be made in more safe and stable investments; and that it will take years of work and intentional sacrifice in order to fully fund them.
The other interesting part about it is that he's also adamant that once the basics are done (a process which means getting the necessities to survive, getting out of debt, and saving enough to be able to weather most emergencies), donating money is an absolute must; which, if his entire system is a magical working, would bring blessings into the lives of those who follow his work via raspberry jam; which could help explain why so many people who follow his system end up with plenty of money flowing their way.
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He has people follow a specific system, with mundane tasks like budgeting, working extra hours, cutting expenses by learning to do with less, and saving/investing playing a major role, but prayer, reflection, as well as intentional generosity all also play a major role in his system; invoking a higher power, intentionality, and blessing others, in occult terms. He talks a lot about the importance of unity of will (which he calls being “gazelle intense”), has something resembling an affirmation (“If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else”), and even has a few rather amusing little rituals, with one being the act of cutting up one's credit cards to symbolize the refusal to take on any more debt.
If this is a form of magic, it would also explain the observation he has made, that people who follow his advice find that as they build emergency funds, then the rates at which they run into financial problems plunges sharply; it's not just that they have the funds, but that events which would lead them to need it drop as well. Dave Ramsey suggests focusing intensely on the sense of security and safety that the emergency fund provides, for motivation in order to build it and then maintain it once it's fully funded; but if I understand the occult theory correctly, that kind of focus would also have magical effects. If the emergency fund is thus, in addition to an ordinary emergency fund, also functioning as a magical working to dispel emergencies and bring about security, then this would make perfect sense.
If there is some sort of unconscious magic, this would also explain why so many people who struggle with finances find that his advice works when nothing else does; and why those follow his advice routinely end up comfortably wealthy, even if it seems like they shouldn't be able to on their relatively low income. He's helped people dig their way out of intense debts and rather severe poverty to reach comfortable retirements, for example. Given the notion of tracks in space, it could also explain why so many people find that even where it seems like it would make sense to do things differently, it is easiest to follow the steps Dave Ramsey advises exactly, because an enormous number of others have laid those tracks down for us to follow!
Meanwhile, on further reflection, it's struck me that his advice follows one of your core pieces of advice for wealth magic: focus on finding opportunities to earn money. Each step of the process he suggests is based on the principle that money must be earned, and then some of it must be saved for future use: he suggests working extra hours, taking on another job, and the like for those starting out; in other words, finding ways to earn more money! Even when it comes to investing money for retirement, he insists that it be invested wisely, in investment vehicles that have been proven to work over years or, better yet, decades; and that while some “investments” may promise much higher rates of returns, he insists on avoiding any kind of “get rich quick scheme”, insisting that retirement investments be made in more safe and stable investments; and that it will take years of work and intentional sacrifice in order to fully fund them.
The other interesting part about it is that he's also adamant that once the basics are done (a process which means getting the necessities to survive, getting out of debt, and saving enough to be able to weather most emergencies), donating money is an absolute must; which, if his entire system is a magical working, would bring blessings into the lives of those who follow his work via raspberry jam; which could help explain why so many people who follow his system end up with plenty of money flowing their way.
Does this kind of analysis make sense to you?