The Work, The Work, and The Great Work: A Spirituality Guide for the Confused

I've been flailing around doing spiritual and animistic practice for years. Over that time, I’ve become more and more comfortable with a lot of things. But there’s some stuff that still makes me vaguely anxious. One example of this is whenever someone casually mentions 'doing the work.' My brain used to go straight into, ‘Am I doing it? How would I even know?’ It’s one of those phrases that gets dropped casually in books and blogs, but doesn’t seem to be actually talked about much. 

So today, I’m going to break from my current writing project to explore ‘the work’ as a topic that's never been clear, at least to me. When I first started Esoteric Potato, I said I’d be exploring topics that would’ve been helpful for younger, less interesting me. So I’m going to do just that. Both because I said I would, and because I really need a break from writing about urban animism, which has been like a direct download into my brain the last month or so. Lots of writing, reading, scribbling notes, frantic typing - it's exciting but draining. If you'd like to check it out, I recommend you start here [insert link].

So, what's "the work"? Or sometimes, "the Work"? In some contexts, I've seen reference to "the Great Work". Do you know what it means? It always felt like one of those assumed knowledge things. You know, 'assumed knowledge' - the bits and pieces we think everyone knows, so we don't bother to explain. For example, everyone knows Vegemite tastes like shit. Unless you're Australian, then it's awesome. That kind of assumed knowledge.

So I'll break it down and we'll see where we get to.

The work

A potato working under a tree

Phrases like, 'do the work' or 'on with the work' used to create paroxysms of anxiety for me. Am I doing 'the work'? How do I know when I'm doing it? Am I doing it right? These are all questions my younger self would've asked on repeat when coming across this phrase. Now that I'm older and less concerned with 'doing it right', whatever that means, my life is somewhat calmer. But it's a question worth answering.

Magic, contact with spirits and entities, divination, rituals - all take practice and effort. Some people seem to have an innate talent or ability where their ‘work’ just happens. Maybe that’s a myth? Even if it’s not a myth, I believe all of us have to put in time and effort to build meaningful and fruitful practice. Dedicated time spent 'doing' builds knowledge, confidence, and effectiveness. Finding the time and effort is a whole other thing, but if possible I recommend consistency and a vague plan of what to work on which is what helps me. If you need some tips (or in my case, a whole load of suggestions) check out Ivy’s work at Circle Thrice. 

While I’m harping on the subject, work - or time spent undertaking mental or physical effort spent on tasks to achieve an outcome - feels just like that. Work. It’s not all joy and sunshine. A lot of the time results don't happen - either the way you'd anticipated or just not at all, especially at first. If you're like me and have a full time paying job, a family, a home - all that requires attention, plus 'the work' = significant effort and motivation. Just like your paying job, it's work.

Put another way, for our praxis to be most effective we need to connect with it as an individual. And when we do, we’re doing ‘the work’.

The Work

I couldn't think of a snappy heading for this section, but I can imagine an Optimus Prime voice-over, saying, 'The Work' where you can hear the words are capitalised.

The big W version (as opposed to the small w version above) of the Work to me feels more like the collective we're all contributing to - the Work to bring humans back into alignment with the spiritual. There are a lot of ways you could say this:

• Promote the spiritual growth and connection of humans

• Lift us closer to the divine

• Help realise human spiritual potential

• Enable spiritual evolution

A solemn procession of hooded figures, illuminated by candlelight, ascends a mountain path under the darkening sky, creating an ethereal glow against the rugged landscape.

Each option sounds vaguely cliched and predictable, but don't discard tired old phrases as wrong or irrelevant. It's the exact opposite - we're each in our own way slowly re-enchanting the world, strengthening spiritual connection and attunement, and bridging that gap between the materialistic and the fantastical on behalf of all. 

Gordon White, author extraordinaire, uses the phrase 'being in right relation'. In many ways, those of us who use magic and look beyond the every-day are leading the charge, torches in hand toward where ‘we’ should or could be. As someone on Reddit said the other day, 'There are several roads home'. We are the vanguard on some of those roads.

The Great Work: in the spiritual sense

Brian Blessed. He would have to be the voice of this one, 'The Great Work!'. If you have no idea who I'm talking about, crawl out from under that rock and Google him. You'll recognise the voice, I guarantee it.

The Great Work reference can be found in a lot of places, but generally refers to both a process and a journey. The process of the Great Work was ye olde alchemists attempting to create the philosopher's stone which supposedly transforms iron into gold and grants immortality via the Elixir of Life. Cool, huh?

The process of creating the philosopher's stone can also be understood as symbolic. The Great Work symbolises self-discovery and transformation, attaining the highest version of the self. The origin of the term, according to Wikipedia, the great shining light of academic knowledge, tells us that 'the Great Work' is a term originating in Hermeticism and then other occult traditions, such as Thelema. 

The other term you might be familiar with is Magnum Opus, latin for great work. In this sense, a magnum opus might be the defining work of a painter, sculptor, or playwright. In some ways, I like this definition best - likening the creative mastery of an artist to the symbolism and beauty of magical practice is just poetry in action.

As an aside, Warhammer 40,000 also contains reference to the Great Work - the Adeptus Mechanicus' driving goal of restoring ancient technology and preservation of knowledge, driven by their belief in the Great Machine Spirit. As a Warhammer 40k fan, it always tickles me when I come across this reference.

But to be serious, the concept of the 'Great Work' represents both an alchemical process for creating the philosopher's stone, and in (probably) a more modern sense, a journey of spiritual transformation and self-realization.

A quirky potato artist dons a pink beret and goggles to create an artistic masterpiece

So What Does This Actually Mean for You?

Right, so we've established there are three flavors of "work" floating around the occult world, like a slightly melted carton of neapolitan ice cream. But what's the practical takeaway?

Here's the thing: you're probably already doing all three, whether you realize it or not. Every time you light a candle with intention, you're doing "the work." Every moment you help someone see magic in the mundane (or apologize to a parking meter), you're contributing to "The Work." And every step you take toward becoming the most authentic version of yourself? That's "The Great Work" in action.

The beauty is that they're not separate endeavors competing for your attention. They're nested, like Russian dolls made of spiritual practice. Your personal work feeds into humanity's collective work, which is itself part of that grand alchemical transformation we're all stumbling toward.

These three levels also interact in interesting ways. Sometimes you'll find yourself deep in

personal practice (the work) and suddenly realize you're contributing to something much larger. Other times, you might start with a desire to help heal the world (The Work) only to discover it's transformed you in ways you never expected (The Great Work). The boundaries blur because they're meant to - it's all one continuous process of becoming.

So the next time someone casually mentions "the work" and you feel that familiar flutter of spiritual imposter syndrome (maybe that’s just me?), remember: if you're showing up, practicing, questioning, growing, and occasionally talking to inanimate objects with genuine respect, you're already doing it.

You don't need to transmute lead into gold to be an alchemist. Sometimes the real philosopher's stone is the parking meter we befriended along the way.

What's your experience with "the work"? Have you found yourself contributing to something bigger than your individual practice? Drop a comment below—I'm always curious about how these concepts play out in real life.