Practical Magick
ByPublisher Description
”Simplicity," wrote legendary occultist Jack Parsons “has been the key to victory in all idea wars and, at present, magick does not have it.” Practical Magick, acclaimed historian and esotericist Mitch Horowitz responds to this call, distilling magick to its core essentials.
Drawing upon ancient, Hermetic, Renaissance-era, and modern sources, Mitch dissects the building blocks of magick and provides formulas of immediacy, simplicity, and potency. He also surveys the history of magick, from deepest antiquity through the work of modernist intellects ranging from Newton and Schopenhauer to Crowley and Spare, finding connections to current studies in psychical research, quantum theory, and perceptual-based reality.
Readers receive to-the-point instruction in sex transmutation, sigil work, Tarot, backwards causation, the power of silence, tilting the scales of luck, magickal environments, and “spontaneous deity petition.” Mitch shows how to maximize your practice—and not overlook results when they arrive (a common malady).
Also considered are delicate topics such as the lefthand path, curses, modern novelties in magick and Hermeticism, the ethics of magick, and the bulletproof veracity of ESP research. Mitch asks, finally, whether magick can be practiced without rite or ritual, delivering the individual to his or her fullest gait.
Here is an unprecedented journey from a “believing historian” who undoes historical knots and explores magick in its richest and most practical dimensions.
“I love Mitch Horowitz”—Dan Aykroyd
"An amazing author”—Duncan Trussell
“The thinking-man’s mage”—Douglas Rushkoff
“Mitch is solid gold”—David Lynch
“Horowitz’s reflections are grounded in his history and a life of personal experimentation. He is not proposing yet another ‘system,’ nor asking the reader to believe or agree with him; instead, his invitation is to follow him to the fringes of reason and try things out for oneself.”—Ferdinando Buscema, Boing Boing
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About Mitch Horowitz
One of today’s most acclaimed voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult, Mitch Horowitz is a PEN Award-winning historian whose books include Occult America, The Miracle Club, Daydream Believer, Modern Occultism, Happy Warriors, and Practical Magick. A former vice president at Penguin Random House, Mitch has written on alternative spirituality for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Time, and The Wall Street Journal. A frequent presence in national media, Mitch hosts Discovery/HBO Max’s Alien Encounters; plays himself in Shudder’s V/H/S/Beyond, a 2025 Critics Choice Award nominee for Best Movie Made for Television; and hosts SpectreVision’s podcast Extraordinary Evidence: ESP Is Real. His work is censored in China.
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