Debt counselors like it when their clients use cash for all of their transactions.  That's because they understand that physical currency connects us to the power of money.  If you've noticed that most money-drawing and prosperity spells use a couple of bucks as a material component, rather than a checkbook entry or ATM receipt, you're seeing the same idea in action.  We don't fully realize the power of money if we keep it in the realm of bank balances and automatic bill payments.

This is no accident:  money is the earth element, so by definition it's a material component.  The fact that we've made various representations of money, from bills of credit to checks to a jumble of electron, obfuscates this fundamental truth.  Money is physical, and forging a relationship with it is going to be much more difficult if you can't feel it in your hand, hear its clink, or smell its peculiar, musky odor.

 

It is not always practical to carry or store large amounts of money, but for daily transactions, even if you aren't spending with magical intent, because handing over a wad of bills encourages us to think about what we're doing -- in other words, creating intent, magical or not.  Swiping a card is far too convenient, and we tend to spend less when using cash, because we are more likely to stop and think about what we're doing.

My family experimented with a cash-only lifestyle, and found it difficult, but we persevered and paid off our credit-card debt entirely.  (We still have oodles of debt, but it's wrapped up in things that will last longer than the payments, like a home.)  After falling off the wagon entirely, I started a new hobby, in part to get back in the cash habit.

Cash encourages intent.  That is its power.  Any questions?