The Study of Magick
"I. DEFINITION- MAGICK is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will...
II. POSTULATE- ANY required Change may be effected by the application of the proper kind and degree of Force in the proper manner through the proper medium to the proper object...
III. THEOREMS
(1) Every intentional act is a Magical Act...
(2) Every successfel act has confromed to the postulate.
(3) Every failure proves that one or more requirements of the postulate have not been fulfilled...
(4) The first requisite for causing change is the thorough qualitative and quantitative understanding of the conditions...
(5) The second requisite of causing any change is the practical ability to set in right motion the necessary forces...
(6) `Every man and every woman is a star.' ..."
-From Aleister Crowley, "Magick in Theory and Practice"
The best introductory text I've found, for the complete beginner in Magick, is Donald Michael Kraig's "Modern Magick". This book does contain errors (for a list, click here ) Since I haven't performed the exercises described in chapters 9 and 10, I can't recommend them to you, but the book as a whole is quite good.
An excellent book along the same lines is Israel Regardie's "The Golden Dawn". This book also contains errors (see above link). The New Falcon book "The Complete Golden Dawn System" may have less errors; I don't know, I don't have a copy.
Other Useful Texts:
"The Tree of Life" -Israel Regardie
"Qabalistic Tarot" -Robert Wang
"The Mystical Qabalah" -Dion Fortune (Don't let the first couple of chapters fool you; this is a good book!)
To More Advanced Students:
It's difficult for me to recommend Aleister Crowley. The quotes above are straight-forward and easily understandable; a lot of his work isn't. It also appears that he truly believed he was the Beast 666, but what he meant by this and what a theologian means aren't exactly the same. In spite of his flaws, he knew more about Magick than nearly anyone, so he is a riddle worth attempting to solve.
"777" is a very good list of kaballistic correspondences, and I don't believe it contains any errors.
Israel Regardie's "The Eye In The Triangle" is a biography of Crowley which will actually help you to understand Crowley. After reading this, you could read Crowley's "autohagiography" (the autobiography of a "saint"), his "Confessions". (It's 900 pages, and Regardie covers the main points anyway.)
If you've read all the books mentioned so far, parts of "Magick in Theory and Practice" will begin to make sense to you. For more information on Crowley, click on "Villa of the Mysteries" below.
Errors in the Texts
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