Photos by Jemma Beaven Photography
The modern self improvement world loves to tell us that we can change our lives in an instant. We are bombarded with messages to “just think positively” or “manifest your destiny.” But true transformation isn’t a switch you flip; it’s a process you choose to participate in.
At the core of any lasting change, whether you are healing from an old wound, trying to build a consistent creative practise or stepping into a more authentic style of leadership, lies a foundational psychological truth: you have to believe that change is actually possible. In psychology, Albert Bandura called this self-efficacy. This is the deeply held belief in your own capability to influence outcomes. In the realm of personal growth, we’d call it the first and most vital aspect of magick.
This article explores how humanistic magick bridges the gap between untargeted optimism and real, grounded transformation. It’s not about escaping reality or waiting for the universe to fix things. It’s about giving yourself structured permission to change.
What Does It Mean to Believe Change Is Possible?
Believing change is possible does not mean pretending life is easy, denying pain or waiting for the universe to hand you answers.
It means recognising that your current reality is not necessarily your permanent reality. It means understanding that healing can happen. Confidence can be built. Leadership can become more authentic. Creativity can become consistent. Relationships can improve. Boundaries can be learned. Whatever it is that needs to change for you to become more authentically you.
In humanistic magick, this belief that change is possible is not blind optimism, it is the foundation of transformation.
Without the possibility of change, there is no reason to act. No reason to reflect. No reason to try again.
This is why we say belief, and the process of believing, is often the first “ritual”.
Self efficacy is a psychological concept developed by Albert Bandura. It refers to your belief in your ability to influence outcomes and handle challenges.
In simple terms, it’s about asking yourself “do I believe I can do this?”
People with higher self-efficacy are more likely to take action, persist through setbacks and recover from failure more effectively.
Bandura found that belief in capability strongly affects behaviour. Not because belief changes reality per se, but because belief changes what we are willing to attempt.
Self-Efficacy, Belief and the Magick of Change: Some Key Ideas
Belief is often the starting point of transformation and self-efficacy shapes whether we take action. Healing, creativity and leadership all require belief before behaviour changes can be worked through.
Symbolic tools such as tarot can help us access unconscious patterns and emotional truths so much so that it’s fair to say that tarot, meditation, ritual and visualisation create a useful structure for self reflection.
Why Belief Matters More Than Most People Realise
Many people think belief is this kind of soft, vague or unscientific concept but psychology disagrees.
Bandura’s work on self-efficacy showed that our expectations about ourselves influence motivation, resilience and performance. If we believe failure is inevitable, we often stop before we begin. If we believe growth is possible, we stay in the process longer.
This does not mean “just think positively” and everything will work out fine. It means that internal permission matters.
Carl Rogers wrote extensively about the actualising tendency. This is the human drive toward growth, fulfilment and becoming. Abraham Maslow explored similar ideas through self-actualisation, which is the movement toward becoming fully ourselves.
We believe that, for spiritually minded people, magick sits in that same territory. What if your rituals are not superstition, but structured permission to change? What if tarot is not prediction, but reflection? What if meditation is not escape, but a rehearsal for becoming who you want to become?
The Three Places We Feel Belief Matters Most
Belief tends to matter most where identity feels fragile. That usually happens in one of three places.
Healing: Believing you can become more than your wound. Sometimes people seek therapy, coaching, tarot or spiritual work because something feels broken. They may not even know what needs healing, only that life feels heavy, disconnected or repetitive. Often the first shift is believing they are allowed to solve the problem. That they are not fixed in this version of themselves forever. That anxiety is not identity. That burnout is not destiny. That old relational patterns are not life sentences.
This is often where symbolic tools help most. Tarot creates reflection. Journalling creates language. Meditation creates internal space. Ritual creates embodied commitment.
Creative Practise: Believing consistency is possible. Many spiritual practitioners, tarot card readers, coaches and creators do not lack talent, they lack trust. They move in cycles of intensity and disappearance. Inspiration and silence. Confidence and self-doubt. Often the problem is fractured self-belief and consistency. Consistency is rarely built through motivation alone. It is built through structure and repeated evidence.
Leadership: Believing there is another way to lead Many leaders quietly feel this tension. That they know how to perform at “leadership”, but they’re not sure it feels authentic. Traditional leadership often rewards certainty, speed, control and emotional distance. But many people are trying to lead through empathy, emotional intelligence, reflection and trust. They worry this will make them look weak. Often the deepest leadership shift is not skill-based, it is permission-based. Permission to lead differently. Permission to listen before fixing. Permission to use intuition alongside logic. Permission to create psychological safety rather than perform authority.
Simple Exercises for Strengthening Self-Efficacy
This practice works for healing, creativity, and leadership because it strengthens self-efficacy.
Each evening, ask yourself where did I act as the person I am becoming? Not the perfect version. Not the final version. Just evidence of the beginning of change.
Write down three moments. For example where you set a boundary instead of overexplaining, you posted the thing instead of waiting for perfection, you asked a better question instead of rushing to solve it, you rested without guilt, you trusted your instinct in a difficult conversation
This matters because the mind often remembers failure more easily than growth. Rituals as small repeated acts help correct the record and belief becomes stronger when it has evidence.
You can even combine this with tarot.
Pull one card as you ask where did I act as the person I am becoming?
Do not read the card as prediction, read it as perspective. Perspective on what part of you already knows the next step, or where you are waiting for certainty before taking action and what would change if you believed you were capable.
Final Thoughts
Magick is not always candles, spells or perfect rituals. Sometimes magick is the quiet moment someone decides “I do not have to stay like this”.
That belief is powerful. Not because it bends reality but because it changes participation in reality. And often, that is where transformation truly begins.
References
Credit where credit is due, we aim to cite our sources because we value truthful content. 3 sources were referenced during research to write this content, but you are encouraged to follow our links as well.
- Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. W.H. Freeman.
- Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin.
- Maslow, A. H. (1968). Toward a psychology of being. Van Nostrand.
About Humanistic Magick
Humanistic Magick is a psychology-informed framework developed by Andie Brookes that integrates reflective and symbolic practises to support meaningful, lasting personal change. You can explore the full reference guide here https://magentaschoolofmagick.com/what-is-humanistic-magick/
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