I tend to divide magical training into three parts and three stages. A practical part which develops magic muscles, a part which familiarizes the practitioner with spirits, mental states, planes, etc, and finally a part that is about theory and philosophy.

In the early part of magical training, the practical is far more prolific. The practitioner needs a lot of guidance and they need to learn to communicate with their spiritual side. After a while, they know what they are doing with most stuff and our focus moves to developing familiarity. At this point, they should be able to do magic rituals, manipulate energy and be confident with working in dreamspaces. The only practical is more regular exercises and complicated techniques to build to full astral projection while they develop familiarity with elemental kings, spirit guides and some friendly deities. Later they need knowledge of various systems of mystical ascent and they can be left to do the practical themselves. At this point, the training is much more theoretical and philosophical. It is entirely up to the initiate to take the theory, write their own rituals and develop their own familiarity with the relevant entities and planes and practice themselves.

Because the initial articles are so important for developing the early practical energy work they also appear in Magic Muscles.

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