Chronomancy is time magic. If you’re doing a conscious magical act to manipulate time, you’re doing Chronomancy. I’m going to discuss a specific type that I find accessible within the frameworks of both Traditional Craft and Chaos Magic.

A word of advice before we begin: prepare to be flexible with your perceptions of physics, exotic physics, magic, and consciousness. Like any magic, you’re doing yourself a disservice by over-analyzing. Keep an open mind and allow the journey to unfold as a co-creative process between you, Spirit, and your mind. Nothing is true, all is permitted, after all.

We tend to think of time as an arrow, stretching from the past to the future. I want you to think of time as a plane. A vast, expansive plane that contains every moment that has been, is, and will be. Now, I want you to imagine that you’re somewhere on this immense plane.

As you move from place to place, moments happen. Events occur. Causality moves you from specific point to specific point (more on that later).

But let’s focus on where you are right now on that plane. Imagine you’re under a spotlight. And as you move, the spotlight moves. And it illuminates another moment different from the last. This spotlight is called the Free Will Moment.

As a creature of free will, you have the ability to move among the Time Plane to various moments. But because we’re predisposed to think of time as an arrow, we tend to move in the directions that causality takes us.

I get hungry >> I eat a sandwich >> I feel full >> I take a nap

This is causality. Also:

The sun rises >> it passes through the sky >> it sets

This is also causality. On a planetary scale.

Causality is not the enemy. On the contrary: it provides us structure. The Time Plane is a dizzying, nonlocal place that would be impossible to navigate if we didn’t have causality to return to. Can you imagine being able to move about to any moment and not understand the path that led you there? Or how to get back to the moment you just left?

Back to the matter at hand: the Free Will Moment.

Your greatest obstacle to moving to the moment of your choosing on the Time Plane will be your own mind. You will want to believe you’re either making it up, remembering it, or both. You must let go of this. Your mind is an amazing machine, an expression of the meeting of your immortal spirit, your soul life force, and your body. To say it can’t move through spacetime in more than one way is putting it in chains. What we call imagination is one of Spirit’s many languages. So abandon the idea that your imagination is not a legitimate tool of magical exploration.

I’m going to leave you with a simple exercise to explore the Time Plane. Imagine yourself under the spotlight of the Free Will Moment. Be aware that any and every moment possible already exists, and is all around you. And don’t be discouraged if you can’t see all those moments – that would be overwhelming and counterproductive. Just find a way to get comfortable with the idea that those moments are there in their infinite potential.

Now find a moment in your past. Do this in your memory. Now, imagine moving on the Time Plane to that moment. See yourself walking, running, bounding – however you feel you should move to this moment. Once there, experience the moment. Not with your memory, but with the senses of your spirit. What are the smells? What are the sights? Do they match your memory or are they different? Whatever they are, let them be. Don’t try to change them to match the memory.

Once you feel you’re fully in the moment, find yourself and make simple contact. A hand touch, a head pat, a smile, something small but significant. Do this with love, or some other positive emotion. Make it a good thing for you and your past self.

When you feel like you’ve made an impression, leave that moment and return to yours. If you can’t find it, end the meditation and return to your body. Your body is fully locked into the Free Will Moment and will get you back here.

Now, access the memory – not on the Time Plane, but with your mind. Do you remember the contact? Do you remember it from then or from now?

You will need to really lean into your sight for this one. Again, don’t pick it apart. If it feels right, trust the answer. Don’t shortchange your magic by convincing yourself you didn’t do it. Find the truth in it. If the truth is that it didn’t work, that’s okay. It takes practice. Be honest and patient with yourself.

Chronomancy is a complex, mind-bending concept, and even more so in practice. Contemplating these ideas is only the beginning. It will take some time to think outside of the ideas causality has built for us. For now, explore the Time Plane in concept and curiosity. You’ll be surprised what doors it can open.