How to be a Magician.

In the occult world there exist myriad interesting characters.

Rarest amongst these interesting characters is the Magician.

There are two types of people you will fundamentally come across:

The first are people who own books about magic. These are common. They tend to collect piles and piles of books and sometimes even read said piles and piles of books.

There is a subset of this group who appear to demonstrate an almost edetic memory for the contents of said books able to recite passages from "Magick in Theory and Practice" at will. They can endlessly quote what so-and-so said about the "correct way to ascend the tree of life" and are able to list the properties of every single planet on the planetary correspondence table.

When pressed upon the last time they actually perform the ritual these people tend to go quiet.

They will generally answer with well I’ve sort of tried something but I never really got into it or something along those lines. They very often use their carefully researched occult education as a shield for the lack of practice.

Better to look like you’ve done something to have actually done something and failed.

The second type are a rare breed.

These are the magicians, the practitioners the people who have actually done the work, attempted the rituals and seen what works and what doesn’t.

They have typically come up with their own systems and worry far less about particular doctrines or ways of working. They have much less generally to say about specific ways of practising as they have spent time developing their own methods.

They tend to have read some books but they have spent more time actually and practicing what is in the books. They understand that the occult is experiential and must be performed.

Most importantly and fundamentally they understand that to be a magician one must practice (and practice and practice and practice).

Magic is not simply something one does occasionally, It is a way of existing within the universe.

One of these types of people is not better than the other. They are simply different.

The question you must ask yourself is: "Do I want to be a magician?"

Neither choice is better nor superior.

If however you choose to be in Magician: practice more.

Mark