“Treat your craft and its tools as sacred and profound, treat your body as a temple of spirit, treat your mind as a conduit to the Creator, and make every breath a sacred celebration. If you do all this you will no longer be a magick worker…you will BE the magick itself”
Moonsilvered (aka Rev. Susan Davis/txsuemom)

In order to grow spiritually you must maintain the balance and integrity of your “self” in all its manifest parts. You cannot improve on one aspect of yourself without giving equal attention to the other parts of your unique self. By learning to analyze, enrich and stimulate all of your different parts you will grow into a person who can share fully or stand alone in perfect contentment.

At the urging of my students I am offering this book as a general guide to developing and maximizing all your potential. Many sections will touch only briefly on a complex subject because there are already detailed volumes on that single topic. Specific disciplines you are expected to explore more fully in those other books on your own and expand on my basic comments with them.

I have been practicing my art for so many years that it is difficult to sort out all the myriad things I feel are critical to developing yourself into a person of wit and power. Feel free to skip past the skills you have fully mastered and explore in more depth those things that really catch your attention. This book is intended to be a springboard to your own adventure…

The volume is comprised of three main sections geared toward beginning, intermediate and advanced work. It is based on the same teachings that my individual students receive from me and includes lots of psychological concepts that are used by therapists every day from many different schools of thought, but with a practically pagan point of view. Each level consists of work in five areas of your life and you really need to work all five aspects to fully benefit yourself. This book deals with your emotional, magickal, mental, physical and spiritual states. It is set up to guide you to new depths of self-awareness and self-control which are both needed before you can truly manifest your Will and Intent in the world.

I believe that there is no power without control and balance, there is no contentment without knowing yourself, there is no way to plumb the depths of this life without first plumbing the depths of your self. Witchcraft is a process of choices more than anything else. You must constantly decide to act or react, to do or stand still, to learn or ignore the life-lessons that the universe sends you. Without mastery and control of your personal world, all you can do is float helplessly through life, instead of steering yourself into the currents of energy and making them tools to your hand. This book will bring all five systems into a state of power, grace, and balance at the same pace. You will expand yourself slowly and surely, master challenges and build up a store of knowledge and confidence based on success.

I ask only that you work through this book in the order in which things are presented. I have attempted to build on each basic concept with ever increasing depths as you progress, but it is crucial that you work all five areas at the same level. For that reason, I offer all of the basic ingredients in the first section, how to combine them in the second section and the last section contains words for those with skill and experience in craftwork.

I repeat this in all the other aspects of life, as well. Skipping to the advanced work first or only doing the magickal work without doing the other four disciplines will only hinder you in the long run and make the goal of mastery slip even further from your grasp. In order to be an effective energy worker you must be in balance and have control, so you must bring all the aspects to the same level of awareness and focus at the same time.

Above all else, remember that the same things hold true in your spellwork as in life in general:

That which is not within you , you cannot find outside of you

You were not born to fulfill the needs of others above your own

You were not guided to magickal energy to be a bystander in life

Your own higher power/eternal spirit is the ultimate spirit guide you should consult

There is no person so wise that they can live your life for you

Respect must be earned. It is NOT a by-product of age or wealth

It is better to walk away then allow another to drain your energy in useless argument

Action is better than stasis: You are either moving forward or wasting a limited resource, time.

Every so often, walk backward and look at where you have already walked, sometimes the greatest lessons don’t make sense until later, and only if you consider your past.

Write in your journal every day even if only to write, “same old thing”, and the current date. Years later these daily notes become priceless to you.

Treat every encounter, word, act and thought as a sacred act. Your smile or words can condemn or rescue another spirit, so always act as if you are a unique messenger of spirit, for it is true.

Remember to be human: laugh, cry, curse, spit, kick, or run naked in the sprinklers. Find your joy within and you will never have to hunt for it without.

Be at peace with yourself and the Universe will treat you gently, or will at least give you the tools to ride out all the storms.

I have included lots of charts and lists for you, and I hope that some of what I have written resonates deeply within you and makes you think, and makes you feel, and if I am very good at my craft, even go “Ah-ha” at least once.