Awake in the Starlight

When I made the decision to admin my Facebook page, I had envisioned myself regularly providing my followers with updates on my current writing projects and ideas for future writing projects. I thought it would be great if those who enjoy my books could follow along the writing process of each new book I put out into the world. They would be able to track the progress of each manuscript as it made its way from being just an idea in my head to a published work. If you do follow my Facebook page, however, then you already know that I haven’t done that at all. The Elemental Equilibrium took maybe a year to write. During that time, I didn’t really provide my readers with regular updates on how the manuscript was coming along. Currently, I’m working on two more books, but have yet to mention these projects on my Facebook page. I believe I owe my followers and fans an explanation for why I have been so silent about my projects. After all, I frequently mention that I value the suppo...

I got a question earlier today asking about a passage in The Spirit of Magic . The passage consisted of me mentioning that several people have claimed that becoming a magician is the hardest endeavor a human can attempt, followed by a statement that I don't agree with this. The question was what human endeavors I considered to be more difficult than that of becoming a magician.  I want to begin my response by discussing the following passage from Bill's commentary on IIH. "Do not become discouraged. Realize, however, that this line of practice is possibly the most difficult thing on earth to master. After all, in book one you are preparing to internalize in yourself the essence of all spiritual wisdom and power that exist on this planet." Let me make a few things clear. First, Bill is not exaggerating. In the process of working through IIH, you do prepare to internalize in yourself the essence of all spiritual wisdom and power that exists on this planet. The th...

I came across an article earlier today about a study on "pseudo-profound bulls**t." It's posted on my Facebook page along with a comment by me that I would write a blog post later giving my thoughts about the study and the way its results were interpreted.The tone of the article itself seems to be intended to draw people in or to appeal to the large part of the population that does not take paranormal activity, alternative medicine, conspiracy theorists, or New Age nonsense seriously. Ignore the biased writing in the article and just dig through it to collect together the bits and pieces of the referenced study. Consider the following categories of weirdos. By weirdos, I mean people that normal people would consider weird. By normal people, I mean people who are normal. Don't get caught up on these terms. You know what I mean. 1. Believers in the paranormal 2. Believers in alternative medicine 3. Conspiracy theorists 4. Adherents of New Age nonsense 5. Student...

If you follow me on Facebook, you're probably aware that this whole month has been a massive shitstorm of deadlines and that all of my free time has been replaced with last-minute scrambling to meet deadlines for various projects and proposals related to my work. Despite this, I couldn't help but take a break today to catch up on some of Camelia Elias's latest posts. One of them, titled Parallel and Oppositional , was quite interesting. In that post, Elias discusses remaining parallel to the world and ignoring those who are oppositional to you. One thought that popped into my mind while reading this was that it's difficult to act in a perfectly parallel manner if you are oppositional to yourself. In many modern esoteric circles with ties to the chaos magic movement, individuals are not seen as individuals, but as sets of individuals. In PsyberMagick , Peter Carroll writes the following. "You do not have to sell your soul to succeed with off-white magic. You...

After reading the title of this post, you probably think it's about the void. You're wrong. This post isn't about the void. It's about the fact that two contemporary adepts and magical authors are deeply interested in the void and frequently write about it. I think this fact is worth some discussion. For those who haven't figured it out, the two adepts I am referring to are William Mistele (Bill) and Josephine McCarthy. As far I'm aware, Bill is pretty unfamiliar with Josephine's writings and Josephine is pretty unfamiliar with Bill's writings. Their respective approaches to magic also differ greatly. However, despite that they are unfamiliar with with each other and have different approaches to magic, I have made two observations. 1. They both write frequently about the void. 2. A lot of what they write about the void's properties is the same. Let's discuss the implications of both of these observations. In the first one, we begin by not...

Three swords have pierced her heart and broken it. Many years will pass before her heart heals, but if those three swords are not destroyed forever, they will surely pierce through her heart and break it again. The first sword is arrogance. She thought he would stay with her. She assumed he would never find anyone as good as her. She didn't realize that the world is filled with numerous women who are at least as attractive as she is. She didn't know that, unlike her, many of them are kind and compassionate too. They have beautiful souls. They are more than just a pretty face. The second sword is laziness. A relationship is a dance, and it takes two to tango. She assumed he would do all the work because he was in love with her. She never made an effort to identify the imbalances in their relationship and rectify them. She never made an effort to understand him so she could connect with him. She never made an effort to understand herself in order to learn the ways she was ...

What is the hidden option/possibility? The purpose of this blog is to document my journey as a magical author and serve as a medium through which I can express the various thoughts, musings, and insights I have as I undergo this journey. Since writing and magic are both arts, I want to begin by discussing a subject that is central to art but rarely discussed in the magical community. This subject is imagination. Now, you are probably thinking to yourself “What is this guy talking about? The magical community is filled with discussions on imagination.” Well, if by imagination you mean the plastic imagination, then yes, you are correct. The visual plastic imagination, or “visualization” as it is often called, is viewed as one of the fundamental skills of magic, and therefore, writings on the subject are many. The auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory plastic imaginations are not discussed or written about nearly as often, but they’re still discussed and written about. ...