As I described in my previous post, How Magick Works, the concept that magick works by raising and directing some sort of magickal energy is currently the most popular paradigm for understanding how magick works. If you have ever read a spell from a book of spells and followed the directions, only to have no result, the cause may be that there was no magickal energy raised or directed toward the goal of the magick. The words and actions merely direct the energy you raise, they are not the magick themselves. So as you learn various important aspects of magick—rituals, correspondences, etc.—I would contend that it's also a good thing to develop your abilities with magickal energy. One

One of the most common questions I receive seems to be the most basic: How does magick work? Why is it that when you properly perform a ritual or spell you get the desired results? The simplest and most honest answer is: I don't know. It seems weird, then, that we should literally depend upon something when we have no idea of how it works. However, we do this all the time. We depend upon gravity holding us firmly to the Earth without knowing how it works. Oh, we may know that large masses have a quality of attraction, but this really gives us no more information than knowing if we properly perform a ritual we get results. We may somewhat understand how Einstein's General Theory of

Even though billions of people around the world believe in reincarnation, and the belief in reincarnation has existed for thousands of years, it remains a highly controversial subject. Personally, I believe that's a good thing. We should examine our beliefs to determine whether they are based in reality rather than fantasy. Most occultists, but definitely not all of them, accept reincarnation as a "given." Aleister Crowley, for example, thought he was the reincarnation of famed French occultist Eliphas Levi. He also thought that in a life previous to that he had been Edward Kelly, the assistant to Dr. John Dee, discoverer of the system of Enochian magick. Why don't more people accept

One of the questions I often receive is a request for contact with an occult group, order, coven, etc. As a policy, I don't recommend such organizations. The reason for this is that I, personally, have been "burned." That is, some time ago an organization that was great evolved into something that was not good. As a result, when I recommended that group, I was sending people into a bad situation. I never want to send people into such a situation, so rather than make a recommendation for a group with which I've had no contact for a long time, I just don't recommend any particular group. If people are looking for a group I do recommend places they can look to find one. For example, the