Practical Magick: Ancient Tradition and Modern Practice

Practical Magick: Ancient Tradition and Modern Practice

Occult Scholar Mitch Horowitz Explores Magick in History and Practice for the Hands-On Seeker "Simplicity,” wrote legendary occultist Jack Parsons, “has been the key to victory in all the idea wars and, at present, Magick does not have it.” In Practical Magick, acclaimed historian and esotericist Mitch Horowitz responds to this call, distilling magick to its core essentials. Drawing upon ancient, Hermetic, Renaissance-era, and modern sources, Mitch dissects the building blocks of magick and provides formulas of immediacy, simplicity, and potency. He also surveys the history of magick, from deepest antiquity through the work of modernist intellects ranging from Newton and Schopenhauer to Crowley and Spare, finding connections to current studies in psychical research, quantum theory, and perceptual-based reality. Readers receive to-the-point instruction in sex transmutation, sigil work, Tarot, backwards causation, the power of silence, tilting the scales of luck, magickal environments, and “spontaneous deity petition.” Mitch shows how to maximize your practice—and not overlook results when they arrive (a common malady). Also considered are delicate topics such as the lefthand path, curses, modern novelties in magick and Hermeticism, the ethics of magick, and the bulletproof veracity of ESP research. Mitch asks, finally, whether magick can be practiced without rite or ritual, delivering the individual to his or her fullest gait. Here is an unprecedented journey from a “believing historian” who undoes historical knots and explores magick in its richest and most practical dimensions. “I love Mitch Horowitz”— Dan Aykroyd "An amazing author”— Duncan Trussell “The thinking-man’s mage”— Douglas Rushkoff “Mitch is solid gold”— David Lynch “Horowitz’s reflections are grounded in his history and a life of personal experimentation. He is not proposing yet another ‘system,’ nor asking the reader to believe or agree with him; instead, his invitation is to follow him to the fringes of reason and try things out for oneself.” — Ferdinando Buscema,  Boing Boing “An ambitious, fascinating, and provocative volume written for those who  do  seek to use magick. Beyond all else, it aims to convey the quintessence of a seasoned practitioner’s personal understanding of why magick works and how you too can succeed at it. To make this quintessence more digestible, as a respected occult historian, he has provided the reader with a great deal of fascinating context . . . There may be books with similar titles, but none will challenge or provoke like this one . . . Horowitz isn’t just a scholar, he’s a vetted practitioner whose insights and historical depth invite you to transcend your previous magickal limitations to cocreate the life you most desire.” —Jordan Gruber,  Quest  magazine “Mitch is an extremely prolific author and historian who writes about consciousness, the occult, and a lot of other mysterious topics modernity seems either unable to integrate or outright rejects. Lest you be unnerved by the Crowleyan title, Mitch’s writing stands out for its fundamentally sober, journalistic engagement with the material…the book’s an impressive blend of interrogated history and hands-on, practical techniques. In this era of worsening economic and social brutality, I believe his focus on and methods for more meaningful living are valuable.” —Will Solomon, Counterpunch “Easily one of our most sophisticated public intellectuals on the parapsychological tradition” —Jeffrey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought, Rice University “I burned through it in a day. I absolutely devoured this book because I loved it so much. I love all of Mitch Horowitz’s books but some of them I’ve read and I'll never read again. Some I refer to. This one has gone straight into my little pile of books I am constantly going to go back to. It’s an exploration of the practice of magick but delivered in an incredibly clear way…And he has done it beautifully…It’s simultaneously very accessible, very practical, very stripped down, but also very inclusive…Essentially he’s taken a really deep look at ritual magick, chaos magick, the practice of magick through the centuries and he's worked it all down to one book that’s got unbelievable practicality and ease of execution…You can understand it from day one as a beginner; you can understand it as a seasoned practitioner…It’s absolutely great. I cannot recommend it enough…And I like the man. I like the way he lives his life. I like the way he conducts himself. He lives his stuff.” —Danny Buckler, The Right Side of Mad, YouTube One of today’s most acclaimed voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult,  Mitch Horowitz  is a PEN Award-winning historian whose books include  Occult America, The Miracle Club, Daydream Believer, Modern Occultism, Happy Warriors,  and  Practical Magick . A former vice president at Penguin Random House, Mitch has written on alternative spiritua