through certain actions, into a desired physical form on
this plane of existence. A magician deliberately seeks
these pools of otherworld energy, tapping into them and
adding their power to the energy for manifestation that
each person holds within her/himself. Because humans
have a difficult time relating to abstract ideas, we call
these energy pools God and/or Goddess. This otherworld
energy needs two catalysts from the human magician in
order to create a desire: human willpower and a deep
desire to accomplish a specific goal. You cannot
halfheartedly do magick for something; it will not work.
You must want very much the results you are striving to
create; you must be totally involved in the candle
ceremony—body, mind, emotions, and spirit. That is
why it is easier to do magick for yourself than for others.
To do magick properly, however, may take some
rethinking. The original magick of affecting an event
through willpower has degenerated, in most modern
minds, to the acts of a stage magician, who does sleight-
of-hand tricks and affects no events. There is no
similarity between ritual magick and stage magick.
To prepare yourself for performing magick, you have
to rethink what is possible or impossible. Magick cannot
be placed under a microscope or proved in a laboratory.
It lives in the mind of the user, manifesting itself in the
results. When you realize that certain actions bring
results, nothing is impossible.
One of the biggest hurdles to using magick is the
erroneous belief that to be spiritual you cannot be
concerned with material things. In defining materialism,
one must understand that there is a difference between
being concerned with material well-being and being
controlled by material things and miserliness. It is not
wrong to use magick to have a better life. In fact, if a