How to Become a Modern Magus Book Review Part 2

After reviewing it recently, I asked my subscribers if they’d be interested in a further discussion of Don Webb’s How to Become a Modern Magus. With a single exception, all said yes, and some even anticipated it. Respecting that and enjoying Webb’s work, I’ll examine several more of my favorite parts.

Unlike (typical) self-help books advertising the cliche “just be yourself,” How to Become a Modern Magus explains that this could be terrible advice. For the average person, being themselves is a ‘product of a culture designed to empty their pockets and mind.’ As most self-improvers know, the cure to this is limiting your exposure to social media and entertainment. A rule I like to use (for myself) is to create more than I consume. Another way you can break mainstream conditioning, the author explains, is by surrounding yourself with artists, writers, provocateurs, and occultists. Essentially, that means not-fitting-in alternative thinkers.

Somewhat sarcastic, Webb advocates perceiving them as ‘exotically flavored junk food.’ On the contrary, there’s the notion that you are the summary of the top 5 persons you hang with. Depending on the situation, being around such rebels, edge lords, and other children of the Aeon of Horus, may not be available to all of us. Luckily, we have unlimited access to all sorts of content and books. So there are no excuses.

How to Become a Modern Magus offers utilizing your appearance as a tool for ‘making friends and influencing people.’ Rather than following fashion trends, the author suggests establishing your unique swagger and using it as an advantage. The key isn’t to be trendy but to seem as if from another ‘more magickal world.’ Whatever outfits you pick, they should bring your genuine best self into action. I also suggest considering Damien Echols’s thoughts on rocking so much black.

Elsewhere, the book arduously reiterates you should avoid falling into the stereotype of the kind of person who has all the books and ‘knows all the mysteries’ yet is out of shape and unhealthy. In fact, considering its mentionings, that’s one of its primary goals, which I enjoy as a gym rat and semi-self-improver.

I’ll add that anyone who did it knows that building a head-turning physique ‘greatly’ impacts all aspects of your life. The truth is that when you are jacked, people take you a lot more seriously; they want to be around you, as that makes you attractive and even rare. It is one thing to dress emo, edgy, or gangsta, and utterly different when you back that with a remarkable physique; The same is when messing with magick. It not only justifies but makes it look good. Plus, bodybuilding helps balance your nephesh or Sheut, a crucial step on the path. But you can feel free to let me know whether you agree.

After explaining that not all demons are evil, to which I’d say that angels are not what most people think them to be, Webb addresses Western thought’s unhealthy dichotomy.

The latter reminds me of self-help gurus, former navy seals, and hustle culture dogmatizing stoicism and suffering. Likely, expecting such a reaction, the author addresses the ‘either-or’ mentality issue. Though both are rooted in magickal thinking and Persia, neither the Stoic nor the Epicurean way serves the magician. While one denies the spiritual and mental and the other material world, the author explains that the practitioner aims to develop an equilibrium between both.

That matches ‘as above so below, as within so without.’ Moreover, Webb encourages using your advance in the first to help improve in the second, and vice versa. Consider Michael Aquino’s introduction to the Seven Faces of Darkness if you have it around you. If you don’t, watch my video, as it discusses that.

Elsewhere, Webb explains Set also means stabilizer. Being the one constant in the universe where everything else is variable, Set is the ultimate role model for the magician. He is also associated with the most stable/immortalized self Akh (perhaps Chia Qabalistically), and the most fragile part Kat (perhaps G’uph Qabalistically). Given that by associating with Set, IMHO, the magician ultimately achieves that equilibrium. And if you think about it, what is the ultimate true constant in your life?

Resonating with modern concepts for total self-improvement and with parts of my first book, the section reveals the operator’s perception must evolve in two ways, covering both realms. Doing so results in the realization that memory ‘doesn’t equal the past.’ A primary aim of societal control is ‘to interpret your Past for you, giving it the meaning fitting its structures best. On the contrary, vividly remembering your Past and true powers, synchronicities, and magickal moments is the key to achieving Xeper. The Essential Guide recommends creating a journal and rereading it occasionally.

The Essential Guide Defines Xeper as: ‘the extension of existence to a further level of being.’ Elaborating on that, How to Become a Modern Magus reveals the state of Xeper is one of self-remembrance. I don’t know about you, but this reminds me of the more classic Qabalistic notion of ‘the path of return,’ climbing on the Tree of Life.

Xeper means ‘coming into being,’ and it’s the word of the Aeon of Set. Like Thelema is that of the Aeon of Horus. Check my Thoth Tarot Hanged Man and Aeon cards videos to learn more about Eons. Also, let me know if you’d like a video on Aeons. The magician’s goal, Webb explains, is to extract/distill the power and joy of their Past. Or, as Webb defines it, to ‘exorcise it from the garbage,’ which is actually painful.

Meditating on this wisdom gem, I found three options for your Past. Leaving it available for society/others to define and orchestrate based on their expectations, criteria, and plans for your future. Never examine it, but let it dominate your present, stumbling into the unordered lego Blocks. Or actually deal with it, building them the way that serves your future best, empowering your magick and life. Feel free to let me know if you agree.

Webb reveals that meaningful verbal formula is one of the best ways to store energy. Also called a Word-will, that’s used as a storage (or container) holding high-energy states. Encouraging discovering such words that particularly impacted your life, How to Become a Modern Magus recognizes four as very active today. Meaning Will, Mystery, ‘By the Same Word, and ‘Coming into Being,’ These words are Thelema, Runa, Ipsos, and Xeper. Tied to a particular scholar and system of magick, each of them deserves a separate post. So feel free to let me know if that’s something you’d be interested in.

The first that accomplishes, the author explains, is discovering weaknesses in your personality, as if having a life coach from the cosmos. The second is getting more precise results from the aspects of the ‘Great Work’ requiring emphasis. Last but not least, that will let you become an actual teacher of the stuff you learn. As we know from modern science, teaching is the best way to learn.

While pushing the limits of your perception is desirable, Webb notes, only an ‘idiot can have absolute certainty in their intuition/HGA.’ The author explains that achieving the first while avoiding the latter can be done by acting on minor impulses. Said differently, that’s taking advantage of what Napoleon Hill defined as hunches. Well-known to many self-helpers and advocated by modern New Thought scholar Mitch Horowitz, this requires spontaneity and immediate action. Taking to the practice to the next level, Webb advocates combining it with sincere gratitude when getting positive results. Expressed to yourself with your evening practice, this gratitude allows positive self-rewards to open you up.

The same is reinforced by an earlier section where the author advocates incorporating spontaneity, wonder, and risk, as that allows Spirit to manifest. This is very interesting to those in self-improvement, as they are usually taught to wake up and do everything the same way every day.

Crediting the New Thought pioneer Emil Coue for his invention and contribution to psychotherapy, How To Become a Modern Magus utilizes the autosuggestion method. While the same is baked into the book’s whole system, Webb regards it as far superior to willpower for initiating significant and meaningful changes. The reason is that the former operates within the boundaries of the ego. In contrast, the second is aimed toward the subconscious, which is the power source of the magician and self-improver. Though, in modern days, the second seldom understand it.

Like The Essential Guide, How to Become a Modern Magus, remarks that while getting inspired by champions of Magick like Crowley, Dion Fortune, etc., can be productive, you should not underestimate your accomplishments and progress. Also, do not take any story about such people in a literal sense, which is something I wholeheartedly agree with. But that’s just my opinion. Let me know what yours is. Aw, and BTW… What are your thoughts on How to Become a Modern Magus and both parts of my review of it?