In my novel, The Resurrection Murders, I described a magickal order called "AMOCT." For years I was a member of a similar organization. They were set up to give home lessons, and the lessons were set up into three basic sets. First came the introductory set of lessons that lasted about a year. Then came the basic instructions that lasted about four years. Finally, after you had studied the basic texts, you would move on to the advanced lessons which would continue, theoretically, for life. When I was in the introductory lessons, I was told that the "real" secrets were in the basic lessons. When I reached those basic instructions, I was told the "real" secrets were in the advanced lessons.

In his 1973 book, Time Enough for Love, Robert A. Heinlein wrote, A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. I agree with this idea. My mother used to express the concept that someone could be a "jack of all trades, master of none." I've come to disagree. Why not become a master of all things you want to master? I've worked as an

In my previous post, I described the three necessities of grey magick. At the end of that post, I asked if anyone thought I had missed something. Several people, here and on my Facebook account, felt that emotion was important and that I had left it out. Well, yes and no. It's absolutely true that I didn't mention emotions per se. However, I most certainly did stress and include the concept of the importance of using all your emotions in Modern Magick. I gave only the briefest description of the three necessities in my previous blog post, but certainly using all your emotions is an aspect of what I called "The Second Necessity," knowing how to generate and control magickal

In Modern Magick I describe three general types of magick and equate them to the concepts of white (spiritual), black (negative), and grey (practical). If you follow the system in the book, you'll learn that these are only descriptions about the results of the magick. The techniques for all three are similar or the same. When many or most people get into magick—influenced by the fictions found in fairy tales, novels, comic books and movies—they are most often focused on grey magick: making actual, observable changes in their lives and the lives of others. Some think that if they merely mumble some ritual in an arcane book that a pot of gold will suddenly appear, the family dog will