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Is he? I doubt that. I'm not aware of his personal life, but if he's not living in a van somewhere, he's not making enough from occult guru sales to cover his basic living expenses, much less call it successful. He's not raking in thousands of dollars a month with such regularity that a bank would give him a mortgage or an apartment would give him a lease. He's welcome to prove me wrong on that, but I'm certain he has other income streams in his household that cover most of his expenses. So he's not financially successful at selling magic, at least not successful enough to actually make much of a living from it.
But let's say he is. We can pretend. Let's say he's making major guru bucks. So what good is his magic if all it does it sell itself? That's the definition of an MLM, telling people that they can see how valuable his teaching is because of what it did for him, when the best they can do with it is the same thing. If you ignore his books and teachings, and anything magical done in relation to them, what else has his magic done for him that would qualify it as successful?
I know roughly how many people take SoH every month, at least recently, because of the Facebook groups you join with the course. It's a considerable amount even taking into consideration the hefty taxes imposed on the self-employed and that many, many retake the course for free. If you're "not aware of his personal life," I'm not sure why you're opining, much less claiming outright "you're certain he has other income streams." He's been published multiple times, he has multiple courses afloat, his work gets promoted. I have no idea if this translates to "guru bucks," but it's enough. If you have verifiable alternate information, cite your sources.
His magic doesn't just "sell itself," it gets testimonials. Here's one: I did things he suggested and they work for all the things that people do magic for (road opening, glamour, money, etc.). It's not hard to find other people who have had similar experiences.
I really do not care in the slightest bit if you don't want to have anything to do with him. He's definitely not for everyone. But what I want is an occult culture where businessmen are held to a high but reasonable standard, and this reactionary muddle isn't helping that any more than the hypemasters.
But if he isn't living in a van, I can guarantee you he isn't paying his bills on the profits of Jason Miller Inc. without other major contributing income streams. Publishing pays very little, and occult publishing pays even less than that. Fifty people paying full price for Sorcery of Hecate every single year is still less than $40K, and that's bound to dry up before long. I don't need to know anything about his personal life to know that a person cannot afford anything resembling decent family living on what you get from occult publishing and classes.
Not talking about publishing. Suffice to say, I can factually say there are a lot more people than fifty paying full price for SoH every year, at least this year. And it was quite popular a few years ago, so there may have been more in the past. (Or less. No way of knowing.) He also has several other courses to pad things out, including advanced Hekate courses. Black School is less popular by a fair margin, but I know a number of people who have taken it.
At any rate, I have no idea whether occultists who ask for money are shady grifters using magic to sap money or poor losers now, and this is all really beside the point and in bad taste to speculate about.
I would like to see an occult culture where people become well known for their use of magic, rather than for their teaching of it for pay. Those who can, do; and those who can't, teach. If their magic is worth anything, let them use it for something other than "successfully" selling it.
Why is magic different from every single other profession out there in that making money off of it isn't allowed? He used to do sorcery for hire and apparently preferred to do the courses. Who cares? JM IS well known for his use of magic, that's how he built the reputation to do this. And that reputation isn't perfect; I'm sure people have had bad experiences, but regardless. I know for a fact he has successfully used magic for other purposes than selling it since we have mutual acquaintances.
I'm glad noted, reputable practitioners are offering courses. We need a sane middle ground between "they are always con artists for doing this" and "everyone buy my course!!"
Take a class in dance, martial arts, painting, horseback riding, cooking, language, math... and the instructor can immediately prove their capabilities. They can usually prove that what they're teaching is real, that it works, and can prove that you can do the same (if poorly) right there on the spot. You might not be able to play Free Bird after your first guitar lesson, but you can definitely see that the guitar works and that the teacher can play it. With magic, there is none of that, you have to take everything on faith, and you have to build that faith entirely on reputation. It has zero comparison to any other kind of instruction or skill on the commercial market.
If you want to make money with magic, there are a zillion ways to do that without ever telling anyone what you're doing. People who decide their fortune and fame need to come from selling magical how-to demonstrate an alarming lack of imagination about the purpose and power of magic.
With magic, there is none of that, you have to take everything on faith, and you have to build that faith entirely on reputation. It has zero comparison to any other kind of instruction or skill on the commercial market.
This is ignoring a ton of complexity regarding certain non-magical skills which are less visible, but on the whole, I definitely agree that this is a challenge. Absolutely! But is that a reason to say people shouldn't teach magic at all? It's not. It's a reason to hold magic teachers to a high standard of ethics. And as I said previously, I don't buy anything, classes or materia or anything, from practitioners who haven't proven to me with free material that their methods worked. FWIW as I am just one person, JM passed the test. If this SoH spellwork works, and I shall know in two months or so, he will earn more of my money when I buy Hekate 2.
If you want to make money with magic, there are a zillion ways to do that without ever telling anyone what you're doing. People who decide their fortune and fame need to come from selling magical how-to demonstrate an alarming lack of imagination about the purpose and power of magic.
He and other professional practitioners didn't "decide their fortune and fame need to come from magical how-to." Almost all of the sane, pragmatic, reputable ones I know admitted that magic is one of the hardest ways to make money, but want to do it that way because of love of the art. The same way a guitarist might want to make music their career even though it's an incredibly difficult way to make a living.
Almost all of the sane, pragmatic, reputable ones I know admitted that magic is one of the hardest ways to make money, but want to do it that way because of love of the art.
They might say that, but how many of them got the same level of personal adulation from their non-occult business? Maybe they're not entirely in it for the money, but the guru game lets you play King and Pope to whoever bites your bait. Would there be people saying "This guy is the real thing" if he wasn't marketing himself as that? If he never had any kind of class or book, would you look at what you know of his career and be motivated to go knock on his door and give him $700 to teach you?
They might say that, but how many of them got the same level of personal adulation from their non-occult business? Maybe they're not entirely in it for the money, but the guru game lets you play King and Pope to whoever bites your bait. Would there be people saying "This guy is the real thing" if he wasn't marketing himself as that? If he never had any kind of class or book, would you look at what you know of his career and be motivated to go knock on his door and give him $700 to teach you?
So? Everyone wants to do well in life and be appreciated. Maybe they're not in it for popularity, but do want to be skilled at an art and recognized for it. Maybe they do want popularity, but their motivations are fundamentally to be skilled at an art and recognized for it. I'm not a Christian, and I don't see a need for my instructors to be falsely humble or unmotivated by acclaim as long as they behave ethically toward me and their shit works, lol. And classes and books are valid rubrics for success?
I know of some famous authors that use magic and if I had access to them, I would absolutely knock on their door and ask them to teach me. As it stands, I don't know where they live. I do know about JM and other teachers in the esoteric circuit, and I can test their material with what they publicly say. If I'm getting instruction from someone whose magic works for me and they're getting a means to live doing what they love, what's the issue?
For a moment, forget that Jason Miller has ever released a book, class, or anything, and pretend that he's just doing his own thing in his own way and not teaching anyone. Knowing what you do about his life, apart from anything connected to his teaching/spells-for-hire career, what marks him as the guy you want to teach you the secret keys of the universe? If we are prohibited from looking at any kind of literature, classes, or magic-for-money, where do we look to see any indication that he's a powerful sorcerer?
For a moment, forget that Jason Miller has ever released a book, class, or anything, and pretend that he's just doing his own thing in his own way and not teaching anyone. Knowing what you do about his life, apart from anything connected to his teaching/spells-for-hire career, what marks him as the guy you want to teach you the secret keys of the universe? If we are prohibited from looking at any kind of literature, classes, or magic-for-money, where do we look to see any indication that he's a powerful sorcerer?
Because, as I have said numerous times, he posted some material for free on the internet, and it worked for me. (Other things he provided also worked for other people whose judgment I trust.)
I encourage you to do the same with the people whose skill you're curious about, rather than speculating wildly on the internet about them.
I encourage everyone interested in the occult to do this and I encourage people selling magic services to provide free material for others to use to test their methods. It will make the occult world much better.
He also seems like he lives an interesting, stable, worthwhile life working with his passion (which, I think good magical practitioners can have a hot mess of a life for various reasons, but that's neither here nor there). But I would have to speculate to really know and I'm unwilling to do too much of that. It suffices that his methods worked.
Would you share which specific items these were and what circumstances led you to that assessment?
At this point in my life I am definitely beyond experimenting with occult blurbs from the internet, but thanks anyway for the suggestion. In my opinion, this type of evaluation can be misleading. If you want an example of how this can be misleading and why that might be an issue, I encourage you to get The Scientology Handbook.
Would you share which specific items these were and what circumstances led you to that assessment?
At this point in my life I am definitely beyond experimenting with occult blurbs from the internet, but thanks anyway for the suggestion. In my opinion, this type of evaluation can be misleading. If you want an example of how this can be misleading and why that might be an issue, I encourage you to get The Scientology Handbook.
It was specifically the Jupiterian cash box, which plenty of people have tried and which is outlined in his book on financial sorcery. Financial sorcery works quickly for me since I'm a freelancer, and it's easily assessed based on gigs. Made a noticeable difference. I got it from one of his video lectures or interviews--can't remember which one, but his "Magic for the Financially Stuck" video is on YouTube and has some good starting points if anyone's interested.
And any type of magical evaluation can be misleading. That's the type of art we're dealing with. That's why testing, even when you're a pretty advanced practitioner, is important. If you think you're above being "mislead," I simply don't believe you. And I'll be really frank--there was a lot of wild, misleading conjecture in your posts here.
I have encountered many people involved in Scientology. I am not a huge fan of Scientology as an organization, but it builds on the same type of evaluation that you are describing. Someone will go to the free literature, find some part of it that it works for them, and then justify paying the organization on account of that. Like the common "prosperity box," much of what they teach is just repackaged things from elsewhere, yet inevitably the CoS gets the credit because the person happened to hear it from them first. People like feeling successful, and when they try new things they like to see results. If they're excited, they will see results whether there's results or not, and then credit the guru or the cult rather than the Master Who Makes the Grass Green.
You say you evaluate Miller based on your experiences with his teachings. If you had no experience with them and had no intention to do so, say as an outsider not interested in learning or doing magic, what in his real life (apart from the books, classes, services) suggests that he's a sorcerer?
I have encountered many people involved in Scientology. I am not a huge fan of Scientology as an organization, but it builds on the same type of evaluation that you are describing.
I am not talking about joining a cult based on my experience with the cash box, lol. I am talking about choosing to take a course, and, partially thanks to financial magic, I can pay the cost. I'm studying magic anyway because I love it, so why not? The only way I can know if something is worthwhile is by testing it, playing around with it, exercising discernment, and keeping my wits about me. I have to say it's served me well so far; I've gotten some quite unmistakable results from magic, on top of just enjoying it.
People like feeling successful, and when they try new things they like to see results. If they're excited, they will see results whether there's results or not, and then credit the guru or the cult rather than the Master Who Makes the Grass Green.
Like any practitioner worth their salt, I'm well aware of this and take it into consideration when evaluating. However, as with many things in life, there are always such risks and you have to just learn to mitigate them. The presence of risk doesn't make an idea not worth doing. Many worthwhile things are done on a leap of faith. There are simply no guarantees that such a leap will succeed, but such is life. You make the best guess you can and you take safety precautions. I have to say, in this case, the threat level is pretty low.
Like the common "prosperity box," much of what they teach is just repackaged things from elsewhere, yet inevitably the CoS gets the credit because the person happened to hear it from them first.
Many things in life are sold "repackaged." Plenty of what SoH teaches is based on a very generalized visualization formula inherited from Tantric sorcery. That is all fine and I'm fine with it. The "repackaging" process can take creativity and skill to make presentable to new audiences, and can include new innovations. Original genius is, largely, a misconception. Most of your favorite authors artfully and adroitly ripped off of someone else.
Please specify which things you feel are misleading.
You made a bunch of wild guesses about the life of an internet figure neither of us know personally. Several of your guesses were verifiably wrong, such as the conjecture about how many members SoH has in a given month (which I have objective data on, given that I'm part of the fb group for one of the two cycles running this year) and that JM definitely wasn't making a living off of sorcery. Your original post about SoH was also almost completely wrong.
Several of your guesses were verifiably wrong, such as the conjecture about how many members SoH has in a given month (which I have objective data on, given that I'm part of the fb group for one of the two cycles running this year) and that JM definitely wasn't making a living off of sorcery. Your original post about SoH was also almost completely wrong.
I do not know how many people buy his stuff, and never claimed to. I can do some basic math, though, and I know if he's counting on subscribers he's not anywhere close to being financially enviable. Personally, I wouldn't buy a class on financial anything from someone who hasn't made himself notable wealth and proven that his method can do the same for others.
Happily. I take extensive notes. Helps me really hone in on what magic from 5-10 years ago was successful and what didn't work.
I do not know how many people buy his stuff, and never claimed to. I can do some basic math, though, and I know if he's counting on subscribers he's not anywhere close to being financially enviable. Personally, I wouldn't buy a class on financial anything from someone who hasn't made himself notable wealth and proven that his method can do the same for others.
1) As you just said, MLM schemers make themselves notable wealth and "prove" others can do it all the time. Short of seeing someone's tax returns, there is simply no way to objectively know how wealthy anybody is, and we have some notable examples in the popular sphere of consciousness of individuals who front wealth but are in fact scammers who have gotten away with pretending to have much more than they do. You can try something and see if it works for you, though, with little effort, and if you are careful and wise, little risk.
2) Magic isn't really the most direct or straightforward way to get wealth to begin with; a comfortable middle-class existence practicing one's art is "notable" to me, especially since I don't ascribe to occult versions of prosperity gospel and don't aspire toward lots of wealth myself.
3) How on earth can you know if his subscriptions aren't viable if you don't know how many subscriptions he has? lol
4) You were still objectively, factually, and almost entirely wrong on many points in this thread.
I pay an inordinate amount of attention to online chatter of the occultiverse and have a rough estimate of its commercial volume. I am 100% certain that there is just not enough cash flow to keep his ship afloat on the merits of Hecatism alone.
I pay an inordinate amount of attention to online chatter of the occultiverse and have a rough estimate of its commercial volume. I am 100% certain that there is just not enough cash flow to keep his ship afloat on the merits of Hecatism alone.
And I am 100% certain that if he has the subscribers in my cohort and half as many subscribers in all of his other courses combined, including the other SoH cycle currently running, he makes it to middle class. Frankly, I have much more solid data than you do here--not that I have much. But I have enough to know you're quite incorrect.
I'm not sure what you giving me dispensation has to do with anything Much of it was pointed out to you: saying SoH claimed it was historical (it openly does not and addresses so directly and at several points); saying SoH is "not his own practice" (how would you or anybody know?); "you are getting a system designed to sell you as a package" (again, complete conjecture--nobody but JM can know that for sure! certainly not someone who doesn't know if he's living in a van); the course was built "from scraps" (it is openly homebrewn but fits together quite coherently); and then just going on about someone's subscribership because "you know" they can't make decent money off of their classes when you actually in fact have no idea.
I don't really have any reason to shut down legit critiques of the course, and lol, some relative stranger's speculative finances really aren't something I care to argue about, but you seem quite intent on attempting to swing your nonexistent authority around and slandering people, and the occult community just doesn't need any more of that, on the seller or the average practitioner side.
saying SoH is "not his own practice" (how would you or anybody know?): saying "you are getting a system designed to sell you as a package" (again, complete conjecture--nobody but JM can know that for sure! certainly not someone who doesn't know if he's living in a van);
I would know. Over time there are consistencies among how people practice and present their work. I can reliably distinguish between what someone is reporting as having done vs. what they want you to do. It's not even a secret that the course is a product designed for you, that is part of the pitch-line. You and I both know for a fact that when he feels threatened, he doesn't break out his Summon Cerberus conjuration, that is something he is prescribing to you because he thinks it's cool. And it is cool, but it's not "genuine" or traditional ethnic/folk/classical magic and it's not what he himself does, so what is the point? The point is your money.
Like I said, I can do basic math. Based on your own calculations, you describe his situation as "middle class." Nowhere am I inspired to think of this guy as a financial wizard.
I haven't said anything at all about Jason miller on a personal level. As you note, I don't even know if he's living in a van. My critique is for the Sorcery of Hecate course, and the Jason Miller occult sciences brand, not Jason Miller as a person. If anyone thinks I'm mischaracterizing the course, the whole thing is right over there in the Book Shares section for free. OP asks for our opinions, these are mine.
Go back to your original post. I do research for a living, and I'm not putting that much effort to cite what was clearly there. Stand by what you actually said.
I would know. Over time there are consistencies among how people practice and present their work. I can reliably distinguish between what someone is reporting as having done vs. what they want you to do. It's not even a secret that the course is a product designed for you, that is part of the pitch-line.
1) Ah yes, the "trust me bro" university citation.
2) I don't care if it's a product pitched to me. Everything needs to be packaged for an audience--from a high art novel to sellable courses. I care if it works and if it's meaningful. I'm not going to get into a wizard war with this guy or anyone else, if I can help it; I don't need to know what he "secretly" does if it works for me, and we shall see soon if it does.
You and I both know for a fact that when he feels threatened, he doesn't break out his Summon Cerberus conjuration, that is something he is prescribing to you because he thinks it's cool. And it is cool, but it's not "genuine" or traditional ethnic/folk/classical magic and it's not what he himself does, so what is the point? The point is your money.
I don't, in fact, know that. I don't know what he does in his personal practice. He certainly includes plenty of personal asides and anecdotes in the SoH course that would not be needed, at all, to sell the course as a whole, so I see much more reason to believe that he has done a lot of this than your complete conjecture that he doesn't.
This isn't inaccurate or misleading, you just don't like me throwing shade.
I am always here for substantiated, insightful, useful shade. I am virulently against slander and conjecture stated as fact. You were demonstrably false at many points, and it's quite clear in this thread.
Like I said, I can do basic math. Based on your own calculations, you describe his situation as "middle class." Nowhere am I inspired to think of this guy as a financial wizard.
As I've said, I think middle class is just fine, lol. It's remarkable enough that anyone would make it in magic to begin with. He doesn't have a degree and lives in a high COL state. You are perfectly free to want to learn only from very rich magicians, but I'm personally not aware of any that are accessible that didn't have wealthy relatives to inherit from. I want a lot more out of life than wealth-- I more or less want the life that JM seems, by my best observation, to have, stable and devoted to an art that is hard to monetize. So I'm happy to go to him for guidance, among others.
Also, it bears mentioning that many, perhaps most by my impression, of the SoH subscribers aren't in the terminally online occult world and wouldn't be accessible to you, so even if you're as aware of the occult online world as you suggest, you're absolutely missing a huge chunk of people. There are a lot of quite ordinary people who are into magic, now, that aren't vocal about it, but are consuming content and buying material. SoH is particularly attractive to those people because it is a complete system that enforces a daily practice. (It doesn't teach you spellwork, sadly, but that's all that's missing.) So it's appealing to those people and appealing to people like me who have done this for decade plus, in part because it reworks techniques that have not been a part of the Western esoteric current in a coherent, rational, respectful way. That probably accounts for its popularity. Part of my rationale for taking the course was to see what resonates with broader audiences than WitchTok types or grimoire bros, and it's been quite illuminating in that respect.
Again, if you object to the course based on the fact it is sold, I seriously recommend just getting the Hekataeon. No need to ramble off lies about someone to justify a simple preference or different strategy for figuring out what occult material you trust.
Go back to your original post. I do research for a living, and I'm not putting that much effort to cite what was clearly there. Stand by what you actually said.
That ain't how it works. You accuse me of making false statements three times in this very post. It's on you to show which statements you think are false. I say none of them. You want to dispute that? Go for it, but quote it.
Exactly. So either he's really got to hustle to make sure his classes are packed and his books are flying off the shelves, or he's not actually making a living off them, which kinda ruins the idea that he's financially successful from them. He's doing OK. That's not the kind of success that gives you the right to sell your wealth building classes.
You are perfectly free to want to learn only from very rich magicians, but I'm personally not aware of any that didn't have wealthy relatives to inherit from.
I know a few who never inherited a thing, and live quite well as a result of their work. My first exposure to European magic was a guy who did actually have a model girlfriend, an expensive car, and his own very nice house. He got that from being a successful fiction author, not from selling classes on magic. His success was inspiring because he was obviously making it work for him. My first magical mentor was a guy who used demon summoning to win a major lawsuit against his city, and he won enough from it to buy a beach house, with no need to beg money from me. I was taught how to make infernal pacts by a guy who bought his own $3 million church and used it to collect sex slaves and free labor... there are indeed wealthy magicians of all sorts. There are several well-known music performers and famous artists who are practicing magicians... want to see their proof of success, just turn on the radio. Peter J. Carroll has been teaching people magic for free since the 1970s, and you can find him on the beach with a surfboard. If you insist on paying for classes, Oberon Zell has his stuff up for half the cost of Jason Miller's, and there's just no comparison between the two in terms of who's a real wizard. You go ahead and take podcast classes in how to make a prosperity box from a middle class advertising salesman, but realize there are other options.
1. It's neither traditional magic nor his own actual practice, but something made to sell to you as a package. You can dispute that if you want, but it's obvious to me.
2. A person who wants to be a magician ought to seek that out in a better way than taking online classes. Apart from whether one should take classes, I object to the idea that one can learn this way. It is lazy. It's popular because it sells you on the fantasy that you can just buy your way into the least part of magical anything. It won't make you a sorcerer, it will make you a class-taker. Great, have fun, but it's not exactly the Sholomance. Magic doesn't need to be a cottage industry.
It's how it works for any observer on this thread who can clearly see you whined about it being "not historical," lol. And that is what I care about.
So either he's really got to hustle to make sure his classes are packed and his books are flying off the shelves, or he's not actually making a living off them, which kinda ruins the idea that he's financially successful from them. He's doing OK. That's not the kind of success that gives you the right to sell your wealth building classes.
I hate to break it to you, but most people are wealthy for reasons that have nothing to do with magic, and having wealth doesn't give you "a right" to teach magic either--in part because there is no such thing as "having a right" to teach magic!
You can offer courses, and people can use their discernment whether to take the courses. Ideally, we have a robust, sane community that upholds people with good track records and fair business practices, but at the end of the day it's your choice what to do with your money and time and you must decide for yourself whether a magic teacher is worth it. The method I outline above is the best I have come up with to determine who is worth my money and time, though I am sure others have different ways of approaching it that make sense.
(Also, magic does not have a direct relationship with wealth at all. It is certainly not the most straightforward way to achieve wealth. I know plenty of people who have had stunning effects from magic in other domains of life, but aren't super wealthy either because wealth magic doesn't work as well for them or because their circumstances are incredibly hard to crack. Vodou is capable of incredible feats of magic, which I have seen firsthand with my own eyes on a visceral level no Western system can match. However, Haiti isn't rich. Because vodou can't fix the realities of colonialism and being a developing country on its own.)
In this next section, you go on about wealthy magicians you've known. Taking your assertions at face value, to most of these (except the very lovable Peter Carroll on his surfboard, bless him), I have two responses:
1) They don't live the lifestyle I care to have.
2) It is entirely possible their magic didn't work and they gained that wealth without magic, or mostly without magic, since, as you say, they did it without magic as a funding source.
My first exposure to European magic was a guy who did actually have a model girlfriend, an expensive car, and his own very nice house. He got that from being a successful fiction author, not from selling classes on magic.
I do not care about having a model girlfriend, an expensive car, and a very nice house, nor selling the sort of trashy (I say without judgment) fiction that makes you millions of dollars. I would much rather just have a stable, middle class existence making a living off of an art that's not very monetizable.
I was taught how to make infernal pacts by a guy who bought his own $3 million church and used it to collect sex slaves and free labor... there are indeed wealthy magicians of all sorts.
I do not care about having a $3 million dollar church, and I am certainly not in the business of using it to collect sex slaves and free labor. That's not the lifestyle I want. I would only learn from this man to exploit the infernal pacts and curse the hell out of him. I would MUCH, MUCH, MUCH rather have a stable, middle class existence making a living off of an art that's not monetizable.
Christian con artistry and sex trafficking also have much more income potential than making an honest living as a magic teacher, lol. You of course can feel differently, and I will freely wish you the worst life has to offer if you do, as should everyone here.
[going on about rich magicians] [......]. You go ahead and take podcast classes in how to make a prosperity box from a middle class advertising salesman, but realize there are other options.
I have done more than "realize" there are other options, I've studied materials from several of the people you list there. Because this is not a zero sum game lol. I can take some from JM, some from Zell, some from Carroll, and I have.
1. It's neither traditional magic nor his own actual practice, but something made to sell to you as a package. You can dispute that if you want, but it's obvious to me.
In your original post, you go on and on not about finding alternative teachers, but creating your own system. Which is it? You should be historically minded or this?
I don't dispute these objections because neither of them matter to me in the slightest for the reasons I've already given, at several points: revelation is ongoing; there is no way to tell if this system is "packaged" or not, and even if it is, the only thing that matters is if it's well designed and it works. I can't speak to the latter point yet, but someone else in this thread has.
2. A person who wants to be a magician ought to seek that out in a better way than taking online classes. Apart from whether one should take classes, I object to the idea that one can learn this way. It is lazy. It's popular because it sells you on the fantasy that you can just buy your way into the least part of magical anything. It won't make you a sorcerer, it will make you a class-taker. Great, have fun, but it's not exactly the Sholomance. Magic doesn't need to be a cottage industry.
This is such a laughable take, as someone who didn't take courses for many years (and was success at magic) and who took to taking them up late. I, and the vast majority of sensible people who take coursers, know that it doesn't guarantee anything or help you buy your way into anything. It's only something that can potentially help. There are advantages to taking courses (structure, ability to ask questions) over books, and vice versa (figuring out things for yourself, tailoring things to your circumstances), etc. There is no one approach that will grant you magical success. Only trying things out and seeing if they work will be a surefire way to tell if you're succeeding or not, and in case you hadn't noticed, I endorse that approach at many places in this thread.
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Also: "this person doesn't have 'a right' to teach courses and is a con artist for reasons I just know and can't prove, so people should do as I did and learn from someone who used a megachurch to front sexual and labor exploitation" is a hell of a take.
