How To Become A Wizard (With Or Without Magick)

Chapter Three: Of Mechanics and Psychology

"Andin man is a three-pound brain which, as far as we know, is the mostcomplex and orderly arrangement of matter in the universe."

-IsaacAsimov

"Themost merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of thehuman mind to correlate all its contents. Welive on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas ofinfinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."-H.P. Lovecraft

"Likemost living creatures, the pigeon quickly associates the pressing ofthe lever with the reward. But when a timer releases a seedautomatically every 20 seconds, the pigeon wonders, what did I do todeserve this? If it was flapping its wings at the time, it willcontinue to flap, convinced that its actions have the decisiveinfluence on what happens. We call this "pigeon superstition"."

-Nemo Nobody, portrayed by Jared Leto in the film Mr.Nobody.

This chapter isgoing to be the longest and probably most confusing part of themanuscript. It's taken me forty years to get a good understandingof magick, and I'm trying to impart it all to you over the courseof one normal-sized book. You don't necessarily need to understandeverything I'm about to get into in order to truly become a Wizard,but if you can hold out, it will only help. Then, in the nextchapter, we'll break into how to use magick to make money, and thenext chapter will move on to how to cast love spells.

You in? Good,because this chapter is going to bridge the gap between science andthe supernatural.

You'rethe Best... Aro-oooooound!

Inthe last chapter, we started with Star Trek, and this was by design.It may turn some people off,but Star Trek, despite how easy it is for shows like Futurama to makefun of it,is actually a very deep and powerfully meaningful show whichincorporates some occult philosophies and symbolism.Most importantly, however, is how it shows a group of peoplewho are, as best we can tell from what we're given to see of them,almost always at the very top of their game. It shows a society ofpeople who have gone through enough terrible situations on their ownplanets that they have decided to straighten their own mess outbefore carrying it with them out into the universe.

Ourdaily lives coincidentally don'ttake place on board intergalactic starships traveling across vastsolar systems in a matter of seconds. As such, we don't exactly needto always be at the top of our game in this daily struggle. If yourlife and the lives of hundreds of others aren't dependent on youpressing the exact right button at the exact right time while yousimultaneously trust hundreds of other people to be doing the sameelsewhere on the ship, it doesn't seem necessary to be perfect.

Butnow, think for a second about everyone you've ever respected. Thinkof the people they respect.In fact, you're reading this right now because you picked up a bookabout how to be a Wizard, so think of every magick-wielding characteryou've ever known of that has the respect of other people in theirworld.What is the one thing that defines all of them?

Thisoverwhelming respect of everyone around them comes partly due to thefact that, no matter how flawed they may be, they always do theirbest to project themselves as being at the top of their game. Byhaving at least the appearancethat they are in control of the universe, they actually dohave some level of control.

HowFluffy can you get?

There's a thingreferred to as "Fluffy Magick"in more modern pagan and witchcraft circles. This is colloquiallydefined as any special power little kids want to have because theysaw it in an anime or a comic book and thought it was cool.

There's a reasonpeople are so intrigued by this "fluffy" magick, which includesthings like throwing fireballs, flight, "glamours,"mind control, telekinesis, and invisibility.Sure, it's because many of us grew up with fictional stories ofcharacters who have all these abilities and more, and wield themskillfully and with great effect upon their foes, but the underlyingreason may be surprising despite its simplicity.