Advice To An Absolute Beginner

[J@cksm1th]

Hello everyone. I'm an absolute beginner to magick. I've been doing a bit of reading and am mainly interested in the Western Mystery Traditions at the moment. The thing is none of the books seem to be written for someone starting out at the very beginning. For instance, books that outline various tools needed to do a ritual etc...And how to use those tools. Also the basics of ritual magick, like how to go about making a magick circle etc... Lately I've been reading about sigil magick because it seems like a simple place to start. Right now I don't have the resources to get into full on ceremonial Magick and, I have to admit, I'd rather keep things simple, stripping things down to what's actually needed to get results and adapting the Magick process to living in the modern, everyday, world. Practical Magick, in a contemporary world. And I need to keep things hidden for now cause even my closest friends would think I've gone completely nuts if they knew the life path I am beginning to take, perhaps becoming prey to satanic panic and plan an intervention/exorcism... lol. I guess I'm mainly asking for pointers on books to read for absolute beginners, that explain things simply, like, "Magick For Dummies," if you catch my drift. Bye for now. Will eagerly await replies.

 

[beardedeldridge]

Welcome to the forum. Sigil Magic as in Chaos Magic? If so that’s a good place to start (low barrier to entry, easily hid). Putting kids to bed at the moment but there are multiple threads discussing the foundational texts for it on the forum. Do a quick search and you should find enough to get started. Good luck on your journey!

-Eld

 

[HoldAll]

I would recommend leaving all tools, magical circles and whatnot aside for the time being and developping your mind instead, specfically by working through Liber MMM in Peter J. Carroll's "Liber Null & Psychonaut" (all books mentioned from here on are in the Library) - if you want, you can skip the 'Motionless' and the 'Breathing' bits and directly focus on empty-mind meditation instead (see Culadasa's "The Mind Illuminated"); make it a daily practice. This may become boring after a while, so I suggest doing the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

as well, just to see how your powers of concentration and visualisation evolve. Jason Miller's "Strategic Sorcery" (the new edition is called "Real Sorcery") is also recommended, particularly his version of the Bornless Rite - learn it by heart and learn to deliver it in a convincing, impressive manner, incantations such as this one are excellent preparation for later ceremonial work.

If you need results fast, @beardedeldridge is right - chaos sigil magic as taught in Frater U∴D's "Practical Sigil Magic" is the quickest way to achieve them.

Post automatically merged: May 14, 2025

Also:

Seeking Recommendation - Best book on magick for a beginner?

Hey all: I am new to the forum and to magick generally. So far in my journey I've been reading academic works on western esotericism. I'd like to start venturing deeper into magick and I want to ask for your guy's advice on where to start. Can any recommend their top books for beginners on...

wizardforums.com

 

[J@cksm1th]

I would recommend leaving all tools, magical circles and whatnot aside for the time being and developping your mind instead, specfically by working through Liber MMM in Peter J. Carroll's "Liber Null & Psychonaut" (all books mentioned from here on are in the Library) - if you want, you can skip the 'Motionless' and the 'Breathing' bits and directly focus on empty-mind meditation instead (see Culadasa's "The Mind Illuminated"); make it a daily practice. This may become boring after a while, so I suggest doing the

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

as well, just to see how your powers of concentration and visualisation evolve. Jason Miller's "Strategic Sorcery" (the new edition is called "Real Sorcery") is also recommended, particularly his version of the Bornless Rite - learn it by heart and learn to deliver it in a convincing, impressive manner, incantations such as this one are excellent preparation for later ceremonial work.

If you need results fast, @beardedeldridge is right - chaos sigil magic as taught in Frater U∴D's "Practical Sigil Magic" is the quickest way to achieve them.

Post automatically merged: May 14, 2025

Also:

Seeking Recommendation - Best book on magick for a beginner?

Hey all: I am new to the forum and to magick generally. So far in my journey I've been reading academic works on western esotericism. I'd like to start venturing deeper into magick and I want to ask for your guy's advice on where to start. Can any recommend their top books for beginners on...

wizardforums.com

Post automatically merged: May 14, 2025

Thanks so much for your reply HoldAll. I appreciate your advice and will definitely follow up on your reading and practise recomendations. I am so glad to have found this forum. Just one question, isn't the Bornless rite designed for K&C of the HGA? Or does it have multible uses?

Post automatically merged: May 14, 2025

Welcome to the forum. Sigil Magic as in Chaos Magic? If so that’s a good place to start (low barrier to entry, easily hid). Putting kids to bed at the moment but there are multiple threads discussing the foundational texts for it on the forum. Do a quick search and you should find enough to get started. Good luck on your journey!

-Eld

Also, thanks to beardedeldridge for your prompt reply.

 

[HoldAll]

Just one question, isn't the Bornless rite designed for K&C of the HGA? Or does it have multible uses?

It's originally called "The Headless Rite" which Crowley transmogrified into his famous "Bornless Rite" (which would have been ok but he changed the barbrous names/voces magicae to suit his own private mythology which is just not done). Miller likes "Bornless" better than "Headless" but his version is much closer to the PGM original. You can find a good description of the classic ritual here (the English translation is further down the page):

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

There's even a

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

on it... it started out in Antiquity as an exorcism, was allegedly used by Crowley to contact his HGA, and now TheDigitalAmbler/Polyphanes has spliced in additional bits for banishing, empowering and HGA purposes, which I think is fine provided you don't mess with the barbrous names like "Atheleberset", etc. I really love the part towards the end where you become a mighty creator god, or at least endeavour to become one. The power of this rite is not so much in the words but rather in the way you deliver them, that's probably why Jason Miller recommeded it, or as someone wrote, "How can you impress the spirits if you can't even impress yourself?" The point here would be to put one's heart and soul into the incantations, you really learn to appreciate the arts of the actor and the orator once you give it a try.

 

[Sabbatius]

I recommend reading Don Webb.

Don Webb - How to Become a Modern Magus
Don Webb - Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to the Left Hand Path

Webb's LHP works are written in simple script. He has been easy to understand. His Modern Magus book is useful for jumping right into working.
Overall, Webb is meat and potatoes.

 

[Parallax]

Hello everyone. I'm an absolute beginner to magick. I've been doing a bit of reading and am mainly interested in the Western Mystery Traditions at the moment. The thing is none of the books seem to be written for someone starting out at the very beginning. For instance, books that outline various tools needed to do a ritual etc...And how to use those tools. Also the basics of ritual magick, like how to go about making a magick circle etc... Lately I've been reading about sigil magick because it seems like a simple place to start. Right now I don't have the resources to get into full on ceremonial Magick and, I have to admit, I'd rather keep things simple, stripping things down to what's actually needed to get results and adapting the Magick process to living in the modern, everyday, world. Practical Magick, in a contemporary world. And I need to keep things hidden for now cause even my closest friends would think I've gone completely nuts if they knew the life path I am beginning to take, perhaps becoming prey to satanic panic and plan an intervention/exorcism... lol. I guess I'm mainly asking for pointers on books to read for absolute beginners, that explain things simply, like, "Magick For Dummies," if you catch my drift. Bye for now. Will eagerly await replies.

It depends, what are your goals? Then you should build around that.

 

[AlfrunGrima]

Consider to start your training with this, your later self will thank you. It is a building block in developing your magic skills. Kindof like playing scales for a (classical trained) musician.

Book – PDF - Energy Work: 101, 201, 301, 401 and 501

It's just 5 pages copied from Reddit but it may well be the only instruction you'll ever need. Mega.nz has decided to terminate my account due to copyright complaints again - the last time +16 GB of books were lost, this time it's 19 GB, and I'not sure if I want to go to all that reuploading...

wizardforums.com

 

[HoldAll]

The really important thing is to get a daily practice going, and I mean DAILY so you can never put it off to the next day and avoid getting bogged down in theory because reading books can never be a replacement for actually doing the stuff you're reading about - an hour of practising is worth more than ten hours of studying.

 

[MidnightProphet]

Chaos magick, aka the untrained complete idiot's guide to doing nothing in grand fashion.

Find the series on Agrippa by Esoterica on YouTube.

 

[Accipeveldare]

Hello everyone. I'm an absolute beginner to magick. I've been doing a bit of reading and am mainly interested in the Western Mystery Traditions at the moment. The thing is none of the books seem to be written for someone starting out at the very beginning. For instance, books that outline various tools needed to do a ritual etc...And how to use those tools. Also the basics of ritual magick, like how to go about making a magick circle etc... Lately I've been reading about sigil magick because it seems like a simple place to start. Right now I don't have the resources to get into full on ceremonial Magick and, I have to admit, I'd rather keep things simple, stripping things down to what's actually needed to get results and adapting the Magick process to living in the modern, everyday, world. Practical Magick, in a contemporary world. And I need to keep things hidden for now cause even my closest friends would think I've gone completely nuts if they knew the life path I am beginning to take, perhaps becoming prey to satanic panic and plan an intervention/exorcism... lol. I guess I'm mainly asking for pointers on books to read for absolute beginners, that explain things simply, like, "Magick For Dummies," if you catch my drift. Bye for now. Will eagerly await replies.

A great place to start would be following the syllabus of Peter J Carrols "Liber Null" as it teaches most basics any occultist should likely need.

 

[ArchonLynx]

Most of this stuff is inner alchemy & mentally induced states to speak to aspects of yourself or aspect created by the ancient magi long ago. All is within and nothing is good or bad.

Everything is a tool & should be seen as is

 

[dhirendra.dugar]

Consider to start your training with this, your later self will thank you. It is a building block in developing your magic skills. Kindof like playing scales for a (classical trained) musician.

Book – PDF - Energy Work: 101, 201, 301, 401 and 501

It's just 5 pages copied from Reddit but it may well be the only instruction you'll ever need. Mega.nz has decided to terminate my account due to copyright complaints again - the last time +16 GB of books were lost, this time it's 19 GB, and I'not sure if I want to go to all that reuploading...

wizardforums.com

By Robert Bruce?

 

[AlfrunGrima]

By Robert Bruce?

I see you don't have already enough posts for using the bookshares. Here is a long quote from the above mentioned book. With this exercses/procedures you will have enough to have a little start with it. And keep in mind: practice daily, it is a kind like learning to play an instrument, daily practice gives the best results.

"101: Freshman
The following is for those who have never felt energy.Spend 2-3 seconds focusing your mind so that there isn't anything on your mind except how you're focusing your mind. Hold your hands in front of your waist close together, like you're holding a small ball not much bigger than your hands. Visualize white light emerging from your body and flowing down your arms into the space between your hands, forming a ball. Start with imagination, but kick it up a level, projecting onto it a heightened level of reality, where you are mentally making that light energy more and more real, more and more substantial, with substance. See that substantial light energy accumulating between your hands, becoming thicker and more intense as you continue to pump more light energy into it. Every ounce of light energy you cause to flow into that ball of light is captured, none drifts off or gets absorbed back into your hands. It's just getting thicker and thicker, more and more real. If you're doing this with your eyes closed, build the intensity of your visualization so high that you practically feel like if you peeked you would see glowing energy in your hands. If you're doing this with your eyes open, put so much intensity into it that you feel like you're on the verge of seeing the same type of flickering distortion that you see with a heat mirage. Spend several minutes pumping more and more real light energy into the ball between your hands. Feel it grow as the intensely packed energy struggles to expand. Let it grow a bit bigger without moving your hands, so that the energy ball encompasses your hands.

Let it grow thicker and thicker, more and more intense, more and more dense, more and more real. Eventually, your hands will feel a physical sensation. About 85% of people will perceive a feeling akin to static electricity. About 15% of people will perceive heat. I've met one person who felt a different sensation that she could only describe as "spikey" but not painful. Whatever sensation you feel, this will NOT be something you imagine or project; it is not part of the visualization exercise. It is a side effect of the visualization exercise. It is the nerves in your hands responding to the magick energy surrounding them. Magick energy is just as objectively real as wind or radiation, and your nerves can feel it. Triggering that physical sensation is the goal of this exercise. It indicates success. If someone else is around and they place their hand between your hands, they too will feel the energy. They might feel static whereas you feel heat, because different people's nerves get triggered in different ways, but it's objectively real, and you are controlling it. Whether you get energy dense enough to physically feel or not, when you are done, bring your hands to your chest and visualize absorbing the light energy back into your body. Feel it diffuse effortlessly and easily back through your body. If at first you don't have success, keep at it. If you do have success, keep at it - trying to build up a ball of energy that triggers physical sensation more quickly with further practice. 201: SophomoreThe following is for those who can move energy but have never done anything with it.Build a tangible ball of energy in your hands. Next, put an idea of happiness in your head, like the giddy overwhelming happiness of a little girl who just got a pony from her daddy. Project that flavor of happiness into the energy in your hands. Feel the energy morph into the essence of that happiness. This isn't hard; energy responds to mental control, that's how you got the energy into your hands in the first place. It is even easier to imprint and resonate with a state of being that you assign it than it is to move into your hands. Next, lift the giddy-happy ball of energy to your forehead and push it into your head, not naturally absorbing it back into yourself but rather infusing your head with the giddy happy energy. Note what happens with your emotions. The next time you decide to make a ball of energy, do the same thing, except this time infuse the ball of energy with the type of deep satisfaction happiness that the father experiences upon seeing her little girl so happy with the pony. Note the difference in the resulting emotions.

Next time, only put about half the amount of energy into your hands that you need to trigger physical sensation. Infuse it with happiness (whichever flavor you want) and put it into your head. Note the differences that only using half the energy creates. Next time, supercharge your ball of energy, putting more energy into it than you've ever done before. Give it a happiness flavor of your choosing and put it into your head. Note how the effect is different from previous exercises. Next time, put the standard amount of energy into your hands, but instead of thoroughly attuning each and every ounce of energy with happiness energy, spend just a second or two aligning the energy, so that it's nowhere near as clear of an imprint as before. Put it into your head, see the difference. The next time, attune the energy as it's flowing down your arms, rather than waiting to attune it after it's gathered. Practice this until it's second-nature. Experiment. Explore. Try different emotions. Try different variables with what you're doing. See what happens if you try two emotions simultaneously. Have fun with it. Learn. If you have a partner to work with (or a spouse who doesn't mind being a guinea pig), try putting the energy ball into their head and ask them to describe the change in emotion they feel. (Don't do this if they're a skeptic; their belief will affect the energy just as certainly as yours will; and if they don't believe in this stuff they could subconsciously neutralize the emotion in the energy in order to preserve their world view.) ONCE YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY ALTERED YOUR OWN EMOTIONS USING THIS TECHNIQUE, YOU SHOULD BE COMBINING ENERGY WORK WITH RITUAL - any time you need to charge up a candle or oil or piece of paper or sigil or "put your intent" into something or whatever, either pump it full of pre-attuned energy or pump it full of neutral energy and then attune it, depending on where you are in your development. The attunement, of course, should be whatever role that item is supposed to play in the ritual. If you're charging a candle to bring peace into a troubled relationship, imprint the energy with "peace in the relationship"."