The Sorcerer's Secrets: Strategies in Practical Magick

All in all the book is great but you have to approach it with a very open mind and take what is said with a grain of salt. I find myself referencing it constantly as I slowly build up my practice. I loved this book. It was a fascinating, well written and entertaining read. The author has a pretty great manner of engaging his readers and I can see myself owning all of his works in due time. But if you take a heavily moralized approach to magic and have a "peace love and light" attitude about the world in general this book may not be the best book for you.

I've never done this before. I normally highlight, and put sticky notes on pages of interest. Yes it blead through the back, made sure it wouldn't get on the next page, but somehow I don't feel bad. Off the bat, in the about (after the introduction), the author explains their reasoning for choosing to use the term "sorcerer". I have no issue with this (I didn't until the author also used sorceress, and realized they chose a term, that they don't consider, or use, in a gender neutral way). They then go on to use magician (a term not used for witchcraft, it's associated with being admittedly fake, purely illusion, a show, more than the association with gender) as an example as masculine leaning term. Wizard, is the closest to a masc leaning term for the practice. And witch as a feminine leaning term. Both of these, are actually, literally.... they're actually gender neutral terms. The author was speaking in a general sense, even generally a magician is not considered a practitioner. I noted this bias. The author continues by claiming these two represent definitive opposites. Witches "generally associated" with the moon (completely... untrue...), calling the moon's energy feminine. Magicians (wizards), "generally associated" with the sun (also, wrong...), describing the masculine as the sun. While I understand that these books tend to involve a lot of the authors personal beliefs and that's okay, but the author mentions these all as general beliefs, not their own. More and more people are rejecting these ideas of masculine and feminine energies. They're just calling them what they are, rather than the constructed idea of what falls where. And other people have completely different views on what is masculine and feminine energy depending on many factors. I found the underlined words to be a bit ironic. Which leads to my next comment. Chapter one, while I agree that not everyone is born with the same gifts, I don't agree that not everyone is born equal. Yes, gifts are different, but everyone is born equal and after the About that came before, it really struck a chord with me. Doesn't see people with less, different than,, or useful as an equal..? I agree with the message, but that one sentence, was too much, that one jab at other was bias. Making the paragraph a mix of fact and bias, essentially, sort of, saying that if you don't agree with everything then you can't accept this hArD and subjective fact. If you're not born with long fingers to play piano, the will to learn is a gift in itself is it not? The opertunity to learn is not a gift? Is being born with long fingers what makes a gift in music, or is the practice they do what makes them good at it? As well as art, if you're not color blind it's easier, but that doesn't mean you can and are an artist. I also don't believe that art, math or music is relatable to magickal gifts. As whether you're good at spacial awareness or not you can still learn how to be. Which is opposed to the theme. Theme being some people just don't have the same gifts, some people can't and won't be able to practice the way they would like. Whereas you have to be missing your arm to be unable to paint, something that typically happens after you're born. I continued reading, it's rare for me to feel like a book is dragging along, perhaps it was because of the previous pages, but the author repeats things in different ways for a couple pages. Due to the previous issues I've I've with the book, I'm hesitant to continue, but I do truely believe the author has important, helpful information to share. I don't doubt their practice. But due to some attitudes, impressions, I'm worried that I'll be put off for the rest of the book, just as I was when I read the first pages. I do intend on finish the book, it has an interesting format, I enjoy seeing more of this in books, but it'll take, who knows how long.Is the book the pictures showed. Good grammar, punctuation.If you find some issues with this as well, all I can add is to find another book, or to proceed with caution.

I wish I had discovered him before... particularly before spending all that money on books from the Gallery of Magick. I mean those books are allright, but they feel like they hold back on a lot, and their extra cour$e$ seem to be where they share the good stuff. But Miller, or the Inominandum, just lays it out cristal clear. I love this no-nonsense approach to occultism. He gives you enough info to start as a beginner, but also opens up a whole new world of possibilities for your older stuff. He has a structural approach that allows you to fine tune previous rituals, because you realize where you can trim the unnecesary pomp and just focus on the actual operative parts of the rituals. He really has changed the game on ritual magick, I used the tense correcty, not changing it, he changed it, full stop. And you can tell because he has become a reference on many serious occult blogs. Even some blogs with snide remarks about where he draws some of his "shortened" formulas are very telling (he tells you where they come from anyway), since they are recognizing his voice is important in any occult discussion. I love most of the books I bought from him (4 books so far) and would recommend them, only Financial Sorcery seemed to spend one too many pages focusing on hard skills (or typical financial advise) and left me wanting more succes-magick related techniques. The rest of his books are fill with great insight and plenty of formulas to expand or beging your workings! Ashé for him.

This book is a wonderful resource, whether you are brand new to magic (Sorcery) like I was when I read it, or you're an experienced sorcerer. This book has something to teach pretty much everyone. With that said, I do have to say that not everyone will be able to appreciate such a book.The Sorcerer's Secrets is a general guide for Sorcerer's. It covers pretty much every situation in life a sorcerer would face, so it is very comprehensive, but the advice in some of the chapters is not for everyone. The book encourages the heavy use of cunning to get ahead in life and provides several strategies on when and how to use it, whether it's landing your ideal life mate, getting a pay raise at work or whatever else. As such, it often touches on methods of manipulation, both psychological and magical. I read this book together with a friend and he found a lot of this information abhorrent, however, I think it would be good to have. Just because you read it in this book does not mean you have to do everything you read. But it would be good to have access to such wisdom should you find yourself in a time and a place where you need this information. It's good to prepared for every eventuality and this book will make sure you have tools at your disposal to handle any situation you encounter.Beyond that, my main complaint with the book is that, while it offers a lot of information in it's pages, it doesn't clearly state "Here is how you should begin developing you magical abilities." You have to take what is offered in the book, set your own starting place and craft your own journey into magic using it's information. I started with just some of the breathing techniques listed in this book and even that has made a world of difference in my life, so I definitely look forward to digging into the meat of the book more. But you have to be pretty good taking the information and making your own magical road map with it to really benefit from the book.Also, there are several points where the author hints at things or suggest things but never really explains it or fleshes it out. You have to be good at reading between the lines and maybe take notes for further research. To add to this problem, he often touches on a topic and says "But I don't have time to talk about it in depth here because that would take a whole book of it's own to talk about." And I have to wonder, why mention it at all? It's quite annoying when a promising technique or tidbit of knowledge is hinted at but then swept away the way it is.And lastly, I feel that a lot of the book is a rough outline in many ways rather than a proper book of strategies. It's a somewhat vague and heavily generalizes guide, which comes with pros and cons. There are, as I mentioned, suggestions for most every eventuality but there is also a large amount of information I'm going to have to research on my own because it's barely touched on in this book and never really explained. But I suppose that is what the rather comprehensive further reading section is for.Lastly, the book is long and tall, and quite large. It took me quite a while to read through each individual chapter. But the lamination on the cover is peeling all the way around the book. Not the greatest quality cover but otherwise, good for the price.All in all the book is great but you have to approach it with a very open mind and take what is said with a grain of salt. I find myself referencing it constantly as I slowly build up my practice. I loved this book. It was a fascinating, well written and entertaining read. The author has a pretty great manner of engaging his readers and I can see myself owning all of his works in due time. But if you take a heavily moralized approach to magic and have a "peace love and light" attitude about the world in general this book may not be the best book for you.

I am a huge fan of the author's first book, Protection and Reversal Magick, so when I found out that he had a book coming out on just practical magic, I was very excited. Having waited for this book for over a year now, I must say I was disappointed when I finally did get to read it.The book itself is divided into two parts. Part one, "Basic Training," has four chapters. Chapter one is about "the gift" that some people have for magic. Personally, I think this chapter was a waste of space. Chapter two talks about the concept of three levels: divine, astral, and physical. This is a useful concept in magic but I wouldn't say it's anything more than that. The rest of the book assumes that this is the model/world-view the reader has chosen to follow and it can get kind of annoying. Not every magician believes in gods or spirits, but in this book we are treated like we do. Chapter three introduces the reader to some "subtle keys" that are useful in practicing magic. Breathing, gazes, and hand gestures are discussed. The only one I personally found useful was the section on breath. Chapter four, "Regular Practice," was probably the most problematic for me personally. Here we are introduced to meditation (nothing wrong with that), spirit offerings (good if you're into that sort of thing), daily invocations of the holy guardian angel or "Invocation of the Bornless One" (quite lengthy verbal incantation with not much else). I'm not a huge fan of the concept of the "holy guardian angel" and even if I was, I wouldn't be reciting a two page invocation every day to get into contact with it. Finally, we are introduced to a ritual he calls "The Pillar and the Spheres," which seems like a stripped-down and re-vamped version of the Middle Pillar Rite (google it), without the Hebrew names. I'm actually a fan of the MPR because it is very useful for powering-up before spells and such. I use a simplified version that doesn't involve reciting any names of god and it works very well. His version doesn't really speak to me because it's very specific in what to recite, and only a magician who has the author's exact beliefs would find it useful. It would have been better to give the reader a technique that was more secular.Part two, "Strategic Sorcery," is the meat of the book. Here we find chapters on divination, influence, money, protection, and love. There's also a chapter that discusses court case magic, health magic, and on becoming a professional sorcerer. Personally, I skimmed through the chapter on divination. It's not my area of interest at all. The other sections of the book provide very "strategic" ways of going about things. There are interesting techniques and spells introduced that can be very useful. He talks about psychology and NLP, hoodoo spells, summoning of planetary energies and spirits, and then putting it all together strategically. To be honest, what he calls "strategic" most of the time, I would call "overkill." Most of the time you don't need to attack a problem from every angle to be successful in resolving it. Less is more, KISS (keep it simple stupid), and all that. Another complaint I have about this section is that most of these techniques and spells were not new to me. As someone who has studied hoodoo, I knew all of the spells and techniques he shared from that tradition. The only new techniques I've learned from the whole book are the ones from Tibetan mysticism, but those were few and far between unfortunately.Some other things that I found annoying:"Contrary to what people in the `it's all in the mind' school of magick think, purely mental magick tends to generate purely mental results." - The Sorcerer's Secrets, p. 29As someone who is very much into direct/mental magic right now, I know that this statement is false. In fact, the only reason I am so interested in mental magic right now is that I noticed that my spells were starting to manifest while still in the planning stages (i.e. they were still just thoughts in my head). I've done further experiments and my mental magic has definitely produced results in the physical plane.Another little thing that bothered me about this book is the editing. Or the lack there of. The whole book is littered with errors that the average reader can spot pretty easily. I've read self-published books that are better edited than this one. It's pretty embarrassing. I guess someone just fell asleep on the job.In conclusion, while many of the techniques and spells in this book are useful, the author's opinions get in the way most of the time. The author says in the introduction that he does not want this book to be either a training manual or a spellbook, but a "field guide." I myself would have preferred a spellbook, because the spells were the most useful part of the book.So do I recommend this book? It depends. If you're new to magic and don't know anything about hoodoo, this book will have a wealth of knowledge that you will find useful. But I recommend taking a lot of what the author says with a grain of salt. And many of the basic training techniques will probably not speak to you since they are so specific to the author's own personal system. If you've been around the block a while, this book is not a must-have but it still does have some interesting tidbits that might be new to you.Overall, this is not a bad book at all. It's just that for me personally, I already knew most of the stuff in it. That, coupled with the author's slightly preachy attitude, did not make this a very enjoyable read for me.

--EDIT: After some more time working with these techniques, I had to come back and give this book another star, because regardless of what specific path you may be on, this book contains guidelines for a core magical practice that is very straightforward and doable but still potent. However, you have to be willing to give it a real try, I would say at least 30 days. Even if you think it's not your bag, sometimes the best way to define your own path is to try somebody else's. Daily practice is perhaps the most important factor in developing both your path and your skills, and the only reason I don't give this book 5 stars is because I think the author could have made this clearer. The author does say it, but because I think it's so important--and indeed is the most useful aspect of the book--I think that point could have been developed further. If you don't already have a consistent daily practice, whether because you're a beginner or lazy (like me) or whatever, I believe working with the techniques in this book will benefit you. If it turns out they're not exactly your cup of tea, you'll have a better understanding of how to develop your own more effective practice. Speaking for myself, over time my results from these techniques improved considerably, enough so that I feel confident that they will be helpful for others provided you "do the work."--The book's main premise is that sorcery/magic(k) is more effective when coupled with actions on the purely material plane. For example, if you want to land that job, by all means enchant your resume and carry an amulet, but also dress well for the interview, use postures and behaviors that convey confidence and friendliness, and even add some NLP techniques to make yourself more persuasive. The specific magic(k)al techniques suggested derive from Tibetan Buddhism, hoodoo, and Graeco-Kabbalo-medieval ceremonial magic. (There wasn't much from the Buddhist current that I could see though.)Reasons to buy the book:--If the concept of integrating sorcerous and non-sorcerous action toward pragmatic ends is new to you, something you've never thought much about, it'll be useful to you. (But note that it does not pretend to be a spellbook and the spells it does contain are ones you can find versions of in various places.)--If you are a person who just does not think strategically and you need some guidance. (This is why I got the book.)--If you don't have a daily practice to build power/energy and you aren't sure how to start one.--If your magic isn't producing real-world results, or not the kind you are looking for, the perspective and techniques in this book may be very useful.Reasons not to buy the book:--If you're already using sorcerous and non-sorcerous techniques together in your endeavors, this book is unlikely to add a lot to your practice.--If your practice is more devotional/religious and you're looking for divine inspiration, it's not the book for you. That's just not the focus of the book. Likewise, it's not a grimoire so if you're looking for new spells, this is not that book.--If you're not into ceremonial and planetary magic(k), forget it. There's a lot of it in the book. The overarching advice, however, can be incorporated into any magic(k)al tradition.--If you are a total newbie to sorcery (with no knowledge of the terminology and such), or you are super experienced and regularly get the kind of results you planned for.In other words, the book's main utility--to my mind--is as general lifestyle advice for the magic(k)ally-inclined and the results-oriented-but-not-very-good-at-strategy. The basic premise is good advice, if a little obvious (actually it probably would be very novel to most of the Wiccans I've encountered). I have to admit it's something I should incorporate more into my practice because I naturally think more intellectually than practically. I'm currently trying some of the author's suggested techniques BUT I don't resonate with ceremonial magic and therefore some of the techniques feel stilted and contrived to me. My results based on the daily practice techniques provided have been only so-so in comparison to others I've used (they sure seem to be effective for Miller, though, as he was able to quit his day job and is now a full time professional sorcerer/writer/teacher). But I haven't finished my road-testing, and if the results prove very dramatic I will edit this review accordingly.