Before You Do Magic: Train Your Mind to Awaken Occult Skills

by Donald Tyson

Countless Books Teach the Mechanics of Magic
This One Develops Your Occult Mental Skills

Before you perform spells and rituals, you need to develop your innate abilities. Otherwise, you'll just find yourself going through the motions without achieving any practical results. Regardless of your experience or traditions, this book’s 120 exercises will help you gain the energetic focus needed to make your magic more effective.

Donald Tyson provides twelve chapters that each cover a different topic and why it is necessary for better magic.

• Occult Sympathies • Controlled Breathing • Meditation • Visualization • Concentration • Dramatization • Incantation • Realization • The Aura • Scrying • Channeling • Astral Projection

Within each chapter are ten exercises to choose from that will help you strengthen the corresponding topic or skill. Find the exercises that most resonate within you and apply them multiple times to build up your esoteric abilities and open yourself to the realm of magic within your heart and mind.

Genres: Witchcraft

249 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 8, 2025

About the author

Donald Tyson is a Canadian from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Early in life he was drawn to science by an intense fascination with astronomy, building a telescope by hand when he was eight. He began university seeking a science degree, but became disillusioned with the aridity and futility of a mechanistic view of the universe and shifted his major to English. After graduating with honors he has pursued a writing career.

Now he devotes his life to the attainment of a complete gnosis of the art of magic in theory and practice. His purpose is to formulate an accessible system of personal training composed of East and West, past and present, that will help the individual discover the reason for one's existence and a way to fulfill it.

Reviews

[Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good overview of foundational occult skills but a bit standard to books of this type.

[Alan D.D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunque corto, es un libro que tiene muchísimo valor. El estilo del autor es claro, conciso, pero no escatima en detalles. Es de esos que le añaden más profundidad a tu práctica como brujo. Las instrucciones son claras desde el inicio, y el autor es claro cuando afirma que si uno de los ejercicios no funciona a la primera, prueba de nuevo y de nuevo, pero que es normal que algunas personas tengan mejores resultados con este o aquél. Indispensable.

Although brief, this is a book of immense value. The author's style is clear and concise, yet spares no detail. It is one of those books that adds significant depth to your practice as a witch. The instructions are clear from the very start, and the author is explicit in stating that if one of the exercises doesn't work the first time, you should try again and again—though he notes that it is perfectly normal for some individuals to achieve better results with one specific exercise over another. Indispensable.