Respect those who seek the truth. Be wary of those who claim to have found it. —Mark Twain One of the challenges of occultism and magickal practice is the challenge of achieving goals. One purpose of magick is personal spiritual evolution. At the same time, one of the things I like to say is, "It's hard to be spiritual when you're wondering where your next meal will come from." If Western society were more like that of India, where mystics are often supported by the gifts of those who recognize a person seeking ultimate truth, spiritual development might be the only focus of magick. But since Western society is not like that, using magick to obtain things on the physical plane,

I recently read an article (LINK) about scientists using a Ouija® board as a way to get information from the unconscious. Written by Clare Wilson, the medical features editor for NewScience, the article is actually a review and comment on a scientific paper entitled "Expression of nonconscious knowledge via ideomotor actions" by Hélène L. Gauchou, Ronald A. Rensink, and Sidney Fels. If you want to read the original article it costs $31.50. Since this post is going to comment on Ms. Wilson's article, I did not read the original. Ms. Wilson writes, "Typically a group of users place their hands on a movable pointer , or 'planchette', and ask questions out loud." Actually, this is

…King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites… And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines… —I Kings, Chapter 11, The Bible The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon by Edward Poynter Currently on exhibit at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (I searched a long time to find an image in the public domain that didn't show the queen, who is generally believed to have been from Ethiopia or Yemen —although her title implies she may have been from India— without the pale, extremely white skin associated with Europeans. It is far more

I have been a very fortunate person. As a result of writing Modern Magick, I've had the opportunity to meet incredible people, travel around the U.S. and Europe, and experience remarkable things. Part of my good fortune is that I was able to share information in Modern Magick in just the right way and at just the right time. As a result, it has remained popular. For that, I'm extremely grateful. Some people have called Modern Magick a classic. I don't concern myself with that. Besides, I've already updated the original edition twice, so I certainly don't think it should be set in stone. The important aspect is that it's presented information in a way people can relate to and use. With