Last time, we explored the advantages of Magick over nootropics or psychedelics for deepening self-knowledge and leveraging skills, talents, and latent potential. We covered why the Great Work might be a powerful companion to modern creatives, entrepreneurs, and self-improvers.
In this one, we’re flipping the perspective — addressing good reasons to pause or even stop practicing. This includes examples of when Magick doesn’t serve meaningfully, so your time and energy could be invested better.
Distraction and Entertainment
If you’re reading your fifth grimoire this month but still can’t stick to a budget, workout routine, or consistent sleep schedule — pause.
Magick is not a replacement for discipline. It’s meant to enhance it.
— POTB
Many use the occult to escape the work everyone must do:
- facing their fears,
- confronting laziness,
- increasing self-awareness and
- acting on their potential.
Magick forces you to address each — but the more you resist, the less progress you make.
Consider the most influential occultists who ever lived. Besides being magicians, they were accomplished:
- Artists,
- Writers,
- Scientists,
- Inventors | Innovators
- and often polymaths.
Said differently, they were capable, high-status individuals. Forming egregores with others like them gave their Magick great power. Use that as a model, prioritizing bettering yourself at what you do.
- If you are a writer, write;
- If you are a coder, code;
- If you are a designer, design;
- And if you can’t stick to a single craft, be a polymath.
Whatever the case, practice more. Reaching a magickal level of mastery puts your Magick on steroids.
— POTB
Mental Obesity
Magick is active and experiential. Hoarding techniques and correspondences mean nothing if you aren’t practicing daily. It’s like bodybuilding.
- Fasting,
- Proper Nutrition, and
- High-Volume Training.
Most know that these will get them jacked, yet they do nothing.
Consuming knowledge without applying it leads to mental obesity. You don’t need more secrets. You need more reps.
— POTB
System Jumping
Like the world of ‘healthy living,’ occulture is full of trends that come and go:
- About a decade ago, it was all about Golden Dawn and perhaps a bit of New Thought.
- Then it moved to Thelema.
- Then it turned out that Golden Dawn and Thelemic books are full of blinds and don’t pack enough mystery.
- The Aurum Solis had a moment, only to be succeeded by the Left-Hand Path, Chaos Magick, and later Franz Bardon, after which I stopped tracking.
In nutrition, there were periods when the paleo, keto, and carnivore diets were on a pedestal. While each has evidence, those keeping a great shape stick to some basics. Others obsess over ‘superfoods’ and are still overweight.
In Magick, some master a system’s fundamentals and improve their situation by working relentlessly on themselves and letting that system support the process. Others struggle with basics like losing weight or meeting primal needs, collecting ‘secrets grimoires.’
And BTW, based on my research, the ‘actual grimoires’ are an incomplete system.
Hypocrisy and Delusions
The point of navigating the higher Sephiroth is getting better outcomes in the physical world of Action Assiah.
Malkuth is not less important than the others. It is the final result, synthesis, or the finishing line, as described in Mystical Qabalah.
A person told me they can’t wait for their HGA to kick in, so they no longer have material desires. This is destructive and dangerous, as it shows what Fortune defines as the pathological type. Namely, seeking surrender and retreat and leaving ‘unconquered territories.’
The Dharma of the West demands more life and achievement. Now, this applies to all living as cosmopolitans on the Internet.
It is the era of the crowned and conquering child which is about mastering life by conquering your circumstances, not seeking an escape. Think of David Cherubim’s Thelema, The Way of the Strong.
The Neshamah is not your best or most capable version, but it definitely includes it.
5=6 implies that micro and macrocosm are so flawlessly linked that lofty abstractions can readily manifest in the physical, actually creating an impact.
Think of the works of great creators, knowing that Spirit and Matter are the two conditions of the same thing.
Unlike yogis who seek a retreat, practical occultists bring the Godhead down, making the divine law prevail in the Kingdom of the Shades. They bring order to the physical entropy by realizing ideas and concepts.
The Neshamah is also your Genius, which, if you figure out how to channel, won’t ever leave you broke. It actually wants you to thrive, creating your own horizons, not barely surviving.
Ironically, the person who waits for their HGA to save them from ‘material things they don’t need‘ also asked about rituals for material gain. So, there’s an apparent contradiction.
If that resonates, I think it’s time to do something else.
- Journal,
- Reflect deeply, and
- focus on tangible improvements in skills and well-being.
If your Magick isn’t making your life better in Assiah — it’s not Magick; it’s fantasy. And if it does, it truly is, regardless of whether it involves rituals.
As Regardie and Duquette say (paraphrasing), making a good living is a remarkable magickal accomplishment many underestimate.
Ignoring Your Natural Talents
Magick shouldn’t be a distraction from your talents and predispositions. It should bring those in full force, letting you tap into the cream of the crop of your being.
Are you bypassing your ability to lead, build, or create because you think power is only found in ancient symbols?
Real power is about alignment with your true nature. If your practice doesn’t enhance that, drop it — practicing non-attachment.
Too Much History
Occulture often leans backward, obsessing over the results and personal lives of the greatest. Besides entertainment, pure historical facts don’t offer much. For instance:
Knowing exactly what Rose Crowley did after or before telling Crowley to pay attention to the Hawk-headed God adds zero value to your results.
Had occultists invested the time they spent obsessing over history into building habits, actual practice, and study — they’d be unstoppable.
Rather than looking into the past of people long dead, focus on building your optimal future. If Magick helps, invest in it and use it. If it doesn’t, don’t.
— POTB
Rather than looking into the past of people long dead, focus on building your optimal future. If Magick helps, invest in it and use it. If it doesn’t, don’t. The greatest occultists of the past were actually looking into the future. You can’t really be ahead of your time by constantly looking backward.
Build the identity and lifestyle of a high-agency person testing what you do in the real world and getting actual feedback.
- Optimize your body and mind,
- Master your crafts,
- Do your rituals,
- Track your results and adjust if needed across the Qabalistic Worlds.
Magick isn’t about collecting tools. It’s about becoming a tool sharp enough to shape your reality.
— POTB
But that’s just my opinion. Let me know if you agree. And thank you for your time.