This is a book of practical exercises. There is no theory, no history, and only so much explanation as will help to make doing the exercises easier. It was written in antithesis to the numerous books in the Western occult tradition that are all theory, all history, and no practice.

Over the years many readers wrote to me asking whether I could recommend the best text of practical exercises that would actually teach them how to work ritual magic. They were tired of reading about how to do magic, and wanted to start doing it for themselves. I recommended books containing practical exercises, but came to realize that there was no single book that was completely devoted to step-by-step training in practical techniques, without confusing theorizing or long-winded historical background. I decided to write the book myself.

The Magician's Workbook has only one purpose, to teach how to do magic. Because so much of ritual magic is worked in the mind by controlling and focusing the instruments of the mind, such as the visual imagination, the will, and the emotions, all of these exercises emphasize the internal aspect of magic. This aspect is sadly neglected, even in books that contain numerous exercises and rituals. Usually in these books you will find techniques or rituals described in an outward way, with series of physical actions. It is, of course, necessary to describe what is to be done physically during a ritual, but without an accompanying description of what is to be done mentally, the ritual will be powerless and will fail.

These forty exercises cover the whole range of basic skills required to work magic, and the fundamental rituals and ritual techniques that every Western practitioner must master. They are presented not merely in an outward, mechanical way, but in an inward, living way as well. Believe me, unless you fully understand internal magic, nothing you attempt on the physical level will bear fruit. You must know what to do in your imagination, on the astral level, in order to make your ritual exist on that level of being, and you must possess the mental skills to energize it on the astral level so that it will exist with power, and not remain a mere pale ghost on the astral. When your rituals have equal reality both on the physical and the astral level, then and only then will they become effective.

I've divided this book into five progressive categories of exercises. The first category is done in the mind only, and carried on throughout the day while at work or at home. The second involves reclining exercises done in the imagination. The third uses seated exercises that combine both the inner and the outer worlds. The fourth category uses standing exercises that begin to teach fundamental techniques of ritual. The final category involves moving exercises, such as complete basic rituals of Western magic. Earlier exercises support later exercises, so that the learning process accelerates with its own momentum. For the benefit of beginners, these exercises are arranged and divided into both a forty-week learning schedule, and a shorter maintenance schedule.

These exercises are immensely powerful for transforming consciousness. At different times in my life I have practiced all of them on a daily basis, and can attest to their effectiveness. Some are traditional techniques, others were developed by me for my own use. Only one criterion was applied when deciding which exercise to include in this book - did it get the job done? All of these exercises work.

In order to avoid confusing beginners, I have used the Golden Dawn set of esoteric correspondences throughout this work. It is the standard in Western magic. Every practicing occultist should have a thorough understanding of the Golden Dawn associations for the elements, the quarters, the drawing of the pentagram, and so on, before moving on to other systems, such as my own Mercury-centric New Millennium Magic system. Beginners can study these exercises without worrying that they may be learning a non-standard system of magic. If, at a later time, they feel that the Golden Dawn system is restrictive or awkward, they can adapt these exercises quite easily to my own personal system, or any other system of magic that may appeal to them.

I am proud of this book because I feel that it is the first to adequately describe the working of magic simultaneously on the external and internal levels. Each exercise is exhaustively detailed, with no prior knowledge assumed in its description. Too often teaching texts provide only a skeletal outline of rituals, and this outline tends to become briefer and more obscure as the book progresses, because the author assumes that the reader has retained a full awareness of previous material. I wrote these exercises in such a way that someone could pick up this book a year or two after reading it, turn to one of the final rituals, and merely by reading its description work that ritual adequately, without a need to reread the entire book. As much as possible, each exercise is self-contained.

This is my response to all those who have asked for a truly practical set of teachings about ritual magic. Its purpose will be fulfilled if it allows beginners to experience the reality of ritual work, with all of its immense power to transform from the inside out, not only consciousness, but life itself.

ISBN:0-7387-0000-2. Price: $17.95 US. Llewellyn, 2001.