Many years ago, while living in San Diego, there was a young man who would visit an occult shop where I was working about once every two or three months. He lived over a hundred miles east, in the infamous "middle of nowhere," and rarely had a chance to meet and talk with people of a like mind. But he did read books! He would tell us of how he was doing rites from a certain book. Unfortunately, he had never heard anyone pronounce the word "rites" and he would say the word so it sounded like "ritz," as in the old song, "Putting on the Ritz." He was such a nice and friendly guy that nobody bothered to correct his use of language. I have no doubt he would have been highly embarrassed to learn

In the August 13, 2009, issue of the British tabloid, The Sun (as reported in Patti Wigington's Paganism/Wicca blog on About.com), a woman named Kim Yeates made a big mistake. She had a small crystal ball, just 4" in diameter,  that had cost her about $33.00 (20 British Pounds Stirling). She left it in her window while she was visiting friends. Like a magnifying glass, it compressed the light from the sun coming through the window to a small point...on the back of her TV set. The TV exploded and set fire to her sofa. When she returned to her apartment, she discovered over $16,000 worth of damage. Destruction from tools isn't that uncommon. I can't count all of the homes I've been to

I'm often asked for secrets to success in magick. Here is a concept for developing goals that will increase the success of your practical magickal work. I've written about this and explain it more thoroughly in a book scheduled to come out in 2010. I hope this will whet your appetite for more! For the greatest success in magickal work, make the goals of your magick SMART goals. The concept of SMART goals moved from the mystical to the world of business management in 1950s. The concepts were well known to mystics and magicians, but were codified and clarified by Peter Drucker in his book, The Practice of Management. I'm reversing that transfer now. SMART is an acronym (called a

For those who don't know me, let me tell you that beside being involved in magick, I have also been involved with stage magic for many years. As such, I'm a member of one of the most active forums on the internet for magicians, The Magic Café. One area of magic that has always fascinated me is where magicians simulate psychic or paranormal phenomena, a specialty called mentalism. For a long time, one of the many areas for discussion on the Magic Café has been "Penny for your Thoughts," where the topics were about mentalism. According to the owner of the site, Steve Brooks, over the years skeptics started coming to this forum and arguing with the mentalists. So he created a forum for the