Words of such limited wisdom as I can offer to young occultists:
Work several times a day, work every day. Frequent work -- whether it's
meditative, ritual, talismanic, narcotic, whatever -- frequent work gets
results.
Read critically. When possible, don't pay for what you read, since you
can spend thousands of dollars and accumulate bulky libraries without learning
much. Read a lot. Question a lot. Doubt a lot.
Examine many people, likewise critically. Hundreds of people may claim
to have power, wisdom, connections, whatever. Magic is all too often a
game of make-believe -- I believe in your power if you will believe in
mine. This sort of childishness wastes a lot of time if you associate with
other magicians, so be on your guard for it.
Magic will often mix up with the shady elements of society: bohemians,
criminals, etc. Use your head. Be suspicious of anyone who does crime for
thrills: such people are generally stupid and clumsy. Be respectful of
people who are good at doing crimes: they are dangerous.
Magic may very well drive you insane. There's nothing wrong with this:
sanity is very overrated, and you may well choose to go mad in the way
of your own preference. More power to you: but watch out and don't let
anyone lock you up. Madness can be powerful: just take precautions. Magic
may ruin your emotional life and subject you to more powerful emotions
than you've ever had before. It's ok, just ride the wave. Scoff at people
who claim that you've messed up your karma and you have to give up occultism.
That sort loves to say that one must give up because they give up so often
in their own work.
The best magic is often the sort that you have within you already, that
you believe in and feel comfortable with by instinct. Often you may find
that you were a great magician all along, but you needed to experiment
with things that weren't your style in order to convince yourself that
your instincts were right all along. Very often I have tried something
new, exotic, and well-reputed only to discover it didn't work for me because
I had something better inside myself all along.
The Golden Dawn style hermetic magic is all very well, but it often has
a lot of hot air for a little bit of result. Read Dion Fortune, but also
read Draja Mickaharic, who is much more down-to-earth than the GD crowd.
Everything Dion Fortune wrote is good: The Mystical Qabalah is her
best. Her fiction is very worthwhile. Paul Foster Case is worthwhile, but
nothing spectacular. Crowley is a waste of time, but an entertaining read.
Good prose style, lousy magical style. Franz Bardon is worthwhile but often
overpriced. His work on evocation is cheaper than the others, and worth
several bookshelves full of "chaos magic." Terry Pratchett is fiction,
but he actually has better occult instruction than most self-proclaimed
occultists. You're better off learning magic from Terry Pratchett than
from (e.g.) Peter Carroll or William Grey or Silver Ravenwolf.
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