There is a joke for the digerati that goes: "There are 10 types of people... Those who know binary and those who don't." Some of you reading this may get a laugh out of that...well, at least a snicker. The key to understanding it is the concept of "binary."Binary refers to the number 2 and especially numerical systems that use "base 2." Our regular counting system is "base 10" and has ten digits (0–9). Base 2 uses only two digits (0 and 1). In base 2, writing "10" is the same as writing "2" in our regular base 10 system. Understanding binary is important for some people today because most computers, at their deepest levels, are binary. Microprocessors that run the computers

Magick is not something taught in school. All forms of magick are foreign to most people's daily lives. Certainly there are some magickal practices that have filtered into daily life (often in partial or incorrect form and sometimes referred to as superstitions), but for the most part magick is something unique, special, and unusual. What little most people know of magick before they study it usually comes from movies, novels, or comic books and serves as plot points only. It doesn't reflect the reality of magick. Similarly, those who are simply against the practice of magick—because it would disrupt their personal view of the world—misrepresent the way magick works, the way magick

There's an old saying that goes, "If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." I've tried using hammers on screws, and it just doesn't work. Having the right tool is important in carpentry. It's also important in magick. Yesterday I received an email from a person who wrote, I am reading Modern Magick. I am on lesson three and do the the rituals LBRP, Middle Pillar, Circulation of [the Body of] Light, Tarot contemplation, four adorations and dream diary on a daily basis. One thing I have noticed is that I am more assertive than I have ever have been. Also, I am attracting all kinds of attention that I am not used to. Good and bad. I used to be well......invisible.

In Modern Magick I write about the two histories of the Kabalah. One, the most well-known version, is mythical and metaphoric. The second is factual and historic. This second history indicates that there are predecessors to Kabalistic thought and magick. One of these predecessors was local (i.e., Semitic) folk magick and beliefs. Sometimes, the folk traditions continued as a separate strain of spirituality. For example, you've probably heard of the cultural icons who are wearing a read string around their wrists for good luck. But according to Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky, "there is absolutely no genuine kabbalistic source for wearing a red thread around one's wrist to ward off the 'evil