Running a 10K with Hekate

You don't need to "manifest", you just need to be consistent.

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with running. I’ve started and quit running more times that I care to count, usually making it 1-2 weeks in and that’s it.

But, this year, I’ve run a 10k race, and then a second 10k race!

But how? What changed? I started working with Hekate. I was taking Jason Miller’s course (The Sorcery of Hekate), and something finally clicked. There was one practice that flipped a switch in my brain and helped me be more consistent in several areas of my life, not just with running:

The Daily Mantra

In the class, there are two required practices - the daily mantra and a monthly Hekate supper. Consistency. Something that I had to do every day, no matter what. It’s such a small, easy thing. But sometimes at night when I was about to fall asleep and I didn’t wanna do it… that little 2 minute mantra was hard to do. But I did it anyway. I didn’t want to break the chain of days. It’s not like an app streak because this is something that actually matters. The act of pushing through and training the skill of consistency is what helped me to finally reach my goal.

I began treating my running like that unbreakable chain of mantras. I have to go to keep adding links to the chain. I went running even when I had to force myself to put on my shoes and roll my eyes before taking the first step. I didn’t break the link in the chain.

One of the struggles with long-term goals is that sure, we know that results come from consistency, but in this age of instant gratification, it’s hard to manage to push through the feeling of not seeing instant results.

Small steps, big results

So, I worked my way up from being able to run for one minute, then two, then five, then to telling anyone who would listen, “Omg! I ran for an HOUR straight! Can you believe that?!”

Probably I was annoying, but there’s something so exciting about doing something that you never thought you’d be able to do. And that’s something that you have to do one step at a time, one minute at a time, one kilometer at a time.

And this is something that I learned from my work with Hekate. I mixed the mundane with the magical. I did the mundane part (running), and mixed in magic to reach a goal that I’ve failed at for years. I didn’t “manifest” anything. I did the mundane work and used magic to support my goals and help me where I kept getting stuck.

Also, sometimes when I wanted to give up during a run, I’d say the mantra in my head. I repeated the mantra each time I took a step and it reminded me that each one of those steps was a link in the chain, each step was a building block toward my ability to run a 10km race.

So, what about you? What magic have you used in your life to reach your goals? Have you done something similar with building consistency? Is there a goal you are inspired to re-try with new ways of building consistency magically? Perhaps consistently writing and publishing your writing on substack? 😏 Tell me about it and let’s inspire each other.