How to Become a Modern Magus: A Manual for Magicians of All Schools

by Don Webb

A detailed step-by-step program for building a magical practice

• Offers a full 12 months of activities, rituals, spells, and exercises to help you acquire magical skills and knowledge and achieve your goals

• Details the practice of Egyptian Soul Craft, including how to work with the KA and the BA and how to perform magical workings with Egyptian deities

• Shares spells for specific purposes, from manifesting wealth to summoning lost things to healing ailments, as well as providing templates to create your own rituals and custom spells

In this practical training guide, Don Webb lays out a detailed step-by-step program for building and sustaining a magical practice. Based not on Eliphas Levi’s correspondence system but on an older form of Egyptian magic, as well as drawing on Chaos Magic, shamanism, and the secret techniques of the Temple of Set, the program offers a full 12 months of activities, rituals, spells, and exercises to help you acquire magical skills and knowledge and maximize your strengths over the course of a year.

Beginning with the hows and whys of magic, as well as the real dangers of the occult and how to avoid or cure them, the author shares experiences from his 45 years of personal work and 30 years of teaching the magical arts. He presents the Inshallo Rite for creating a magical helper as the first step on the road to becoming a magician.

Presenting a chapter-per-month curriculum, he explores the magical powers of elements, gods, and esoteric traditions, with weekly and daily exercises as well as emotional and mental training connected to each month’s topic. He examines the four elements in depth, sharing rites, invocations, spells, and activities for working magically with each element.

Based on more than three decades of magical teaching, Don Webb’s guide to becoming a modern magus will help beginners start their magical journey and support experienced magicians to revitalize and balance their existing practice.

Genres: Magic, Spirituality, Occult

480 pages, Paperback

Published January 17, 2023

About the author

Don Webb teaches High School English in a reform school in rural Texas by day, Creative Writing for UCLA Extension by night. He has a had a mystery series at St. Martin's Press, a series of books on contemporary and Late Antique magical practice from Runa Raven Press, and more than 300 published short stories of SF/F/H. His work has been translated into 11 languages.

Reviews

[Jesse Salens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don Webb has always had a way with Magic and I have always gleaned useful nuggets of theory and practice from his Works. This book is a well laid out full year of magic that should be useful for anyone on the path, regardless of experience. Inside you'll find exercises on divination, ritual, but I think most importantly a chance to put some regiment around them, record results and reflect back throughout a full year.

[Nerine Dorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, way back when I first sparked an interest in Western esoteric traditions, I cut my teeth on Aleister Crowley (might as well jump in the deep end, amiright?) way back in the early 2000s and also the Donald Michael Kraig classic Modern Magick: Twelve Lessons in the High Magickal Arts, which would be interesting to revisit now years later. Lately, I've become a huge fan of the writings of Don Webb, who not only is a fantastic author of weird fiction, but his writings on more esoteric subjects take an approach that appeals to me. He is both wise and funny (a rare combination), and is in possession of a vast cornucopia of knowledge that makes me wonder if he doesn't have a clone helping him parse all that information. I've learnt much from him over the years, and have enjoyed such titles of his as The Mysteries of the Temple of Set and Overthrowing the Old Gods: Aleister Crowley and the Book of the Law. Don brings to the table a healthy dollop of common sense with plenty of the strange in a way that inspires seekers of the mysteries to engage in magical play. When I went through a period of magical stagnation a few years ago, it was Don's writing, in conjunction with a timely reading of my friend Ramsey Dukes' Ssotbme Revised – An Essay on Magic, that rekindled my puckish delight in all things magical.

In any case, I can most likely gush on endlessly, so let me rather get to the point of this review. With all the literature on the topic that's out there, with more traditions and luminary figures in the esoteric world than you can shake a wand at, what I truly appreciate about Don Webb and his writing is that he's so gosh darned accessible and approachable. But whether you meet him in person, communicate via email, or open one of his works, I get the idea that he's big on communicating clearly, with a healthy side order of mischief that will shake you out of your comfort zone. I approve of mischief. It causes you to look at the world slantwise, which is perhaps a much-needed skill these days.

I'm approaching Don Webb's How to Become a Modern Magus from the perspective of someone who's spent years reading a pile of literature. I consider myself quite au fait with many of the approaches and concepts, and I'm glad to say that for me How to Become a Modern Magus succeeded in making me reconsider many of the core concepts of the Western esoteric systems from a fresh perspective.

Don combines his own experiences (and those of people he's encountered) with the knowledge that he's garnered over the years in a book that's not only a fascinating read to gain an appreciation of the work of a modern magician, but he also pulls together a wonderful structured curriculum that will benefit those who are new, as well as those for whom this is not their first rodeo. If you're comfortable in your own practise, it can be useful to follow a 'how to' course that may well highlight areas in your own life that require some honest self-reflection and work. Shake things up. Dance to a slightly different tune from what you're accustomed to.

In this book, you'll most certainly be challenged to step outside of your comfort zone, to not only consider discrete aspects of Self and how they relate to concepts such as the Elements (earth, air, fire, water) but also be presented with core concepts of ritual work, while also engaging in the kind of magical thinking that Ramsey Dukes so delights in (those of you who're au fait with Dukes' tone will be on familiar turf).

When I did my first read through How to Become a Modern Magus, I found myself highlighting so many little paragraphs that are worth a second look – but it's beyond the scope of this review to reproduce them all. You'll really need to go look/see for the ones that resonate with you. What I do take away, even as I work through the book month by month now, is that this is about getting to know aspects of your Self; it's about discovering what it is you truly want; it's about engaging with Mystery; and it's about projecting your Long Desire out into the world and figuring out how to take those steps that will bring you to what you want. As in what you truly Desire. (Thank you, Lucifer... IYKYK.)

Okay, so that's my paltry attempt to try to encapsulate this book in a nutshell. I don't think it's possible, actually, since everyone who does embark on the journey of working through this book is going to have a very different, individual experience. Honestly, this title has come at a good time for me when I've wanted suggested periods of focus on different aspects of Self – a magical boot camp, as it were. And whether you're a rank beginner or a seasoned practitioner, if you engage with this book sincerely, you're in for quite a journey.

[Mitchell Stern · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s a lot of interest in this book, but two big things undercut it. There’s a lot of padding-I think the insights provided could’ve been covered in a book about three fourths as long. Secondly I do not like the investment Webb has in whitewashing and advocating for Stephen Flowers, who is affiliated closely with white nationalist Norse pagans. Webb’s defense against this boils down to little more than the classic ‘he has black friends’ defense and he continues to favorably cite him throughout the book which bothered me a lot. I’d probably give this four stars without the Flowers stuff.

[Mathew Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a fantastic book to work through, written by someone who knows his stuff,
you can't go wrong with picking up this title. Huge book, it is incredibly thorough, and
will walk you through a very well planned out year's guide of just what the very title says,
how to become a modern magus. Also, as the subtitle suggests, it matters now of which
school you adhere to, or what beliefs you may or may not have, this one is a must-have
for anyone! Very well written, as always, I can't more highly recommend this book.

[Albert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bloated and rambling. Doesn’t cite sources. Doesn’t included references for all works referenced. The constant belly aching about Crowley and OTO (across multiple books even) is tiresome. Two stars for including a modicum of information not found in other contemporary esoteric works. Another meh work from ToS.

[gromhaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, a whole iniciatic sistem into the modern magick. I really love the way as Don Webb explain things, its make me laught a lot ! and I got a lot of insights reading this book.

[Peter Crispin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughtful and well-written, with a diverse collection of sources from many religions and styles of magical practice.
I greatly enjoyed learning more about the author from his experiences, and the correlations between concepts that have been perceived in different ways by different social groups.