Book Review: 'How to Become a Modern Magus' by Don Webb
Don Webb, How to Become a Modern Magus – A Manual for Magicians of All Schools,Rochester, VT: Destiny Books, 2023
Put simply, this book is a sight for sore eyes, and I am greatly honored at having been offered the opportunity to review it prior to its release about one month from today. My gratitude to the author shall be weighed 'negatively,' in the sense that it has lightened my heart and if you want to understand the true significance of such a statement, you'll need to read this book and practice its curriculum; I have no doubt that it will come to serve as a guiding light for more than one generation of aspiring Magi. If it doesn't find its place among such classics as Peter J. Carroll's Liber Null and Psychonaut or Frater U.:D.:'s High Magic, the only reason I can imagine will be that the curriculum involved is hard work (not that the others aren't, but Webb pushes us where Carroll does not).
The ways in which I perceive this book's value in the overall landscape of esoteric literature are highly compatible with the focus and aims of this site, which is one reason I'm all too happy to make this book review the very first post here.
Owing to its essentially synthetic nature, magic(k)—actual magic(k)—has always been diverse, its experience highly idiosyncratic. One of its great mysteries, in fact, is that even in the most organized and highly-standardized systems, the adage 'your mileage may vary' remains truer in magic than in any other field, including art. This is truer now than ever before, with magic(k) currently enjoying certain forms of cultural ubiquity possibly not seen since distant historical times. Nonetheless, whether or not a world full of esoteric practitioners realize it, within the vast ocean of magic, certain currents dominate not only the market, but the magic(k)al landscape itself. They reach into us and touch our psyches even if we never learn the language to describe them, and one notable result is a market full of one-stop "How-to" manuals that boil down to the author's personal synthesis of Golden Dawn magic, fused with this or that cultural motif; sometimes these are heavily disguised, and some more honest authors will openly cite their sources and inspirations, but are still offering their own specific synthesis. Let me be clear: There's nothing wrong with that. It's such a successful model because it's a useful one and is also one that many people thirst for. As an added bonus, it can help keep an entire niche of the publishing industry afloat because the model's limitations also come with a solution that will ensure the sale of more books: Some resonance with the Golden Dawn model is to be desired because of how much they got right, and the trick is tweaking that formula to better suit different individual profiles while keeping the model current. In other words, the Golden Dawn built a nice car, but some people want a different hood ornament, maybe a themed paint job, or some custom fenders, but otherwise, that'll get them where they want to go.
Those more ambitious than that might do as I once did, and study tomes such as Regardie's The Golden Dawn and Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero's "Self-Initiation Into the Golden Dawn Tradition" because, having been raised on chaos magic(k), we understand that this is like studying the fundamental principles of engines themselves so we can build our own car from nuts and bolts. The reason there's such a demand for the above-described market is because, as anyone who has tried it on their own has learned, that's a lifetime's undertaking—and then you still might not get there! Who has that kind of time to devote to magic(k)? Those who do, likely don't have the inclination to use their time that way (don’t ask me how I know).
There are two downsides to the custom G.D." model of esoteric publishing:
If a suitable G.D.-based synthesis for you hasn't been written yet, you might have to wait for one that fits.
A G.D. synthesis is only as good as a given practitioner's understanding of the G.D. itself.
How to Become a Modern Magus solves both of these problems handily, especially in one important way: It goes far beyond the scope of what the original Golden Dawn was capable of achieving by successfully incorporating all subsequent progress made in occulture ever since, and does so in relatively compact form that also manages to leave ample room for the student's individual needs, tastes, interests, and proclivities. By doing so, he avoided the pitfall made by many other how-to manuals that go a different route and heavily emphasize a chaos magic sensibility: For those who do crave a certain level or type of structure, some of those can be too open-ended to be practically useful. This isn't a matter of quality so much as individual preference.
The artful balance struck by Don Webb between structure, freedom, and the honest terrain of magic conjured a certain analogy the entire time I was reading it and its one that fits very well with the theme of this site: That of customizing a character in an open world game.
For the sake of this analogy, the "world" in the "open world game" is the territory of magic(k) itself. The practitioner/reader of the book is the main character. The book itself is the character customization system, or at least that's what I think of when I consider how it's set up.
As if to accentuate the idea of "character" development, the curriculum is built on the concept of "masks," such as the masks worn in ceremony by ritualists throughout the ages, with one mask for each month. The book lays out a 12-month study, which is a powerful form for magical development and initiation for reasons Webb explains in the chapter corresponding to January, "Janus." For each month, there are certain basic things every character will do, and then there are options for customization that can be thought of in a similar light to spending skill points in an RPG: There will be a range of suggested media to study for each month, for example, but it's up to you to decide which books you choose. In some instances, two different ritual practices are suggested, and you decide which to perform based on your needs and goals. You decide where you focus your efforts and they will determine, in the end, what kind of Magus you become. Also, in an approach similar to learning an open world game, the student is encouraged to read the entire book before beginning the study, probably in order to make the most informed decisions along the way.
The book is divided into several sections. The opening section includes a preface, an introduction to magic(k), and what I consider to be the most important section by far: 'Dangers of Occultism.' This section of the book alone is worth the price of admission. Why? Because this section pulls no punches and gives it to you straight: The A, B, Cs of how and where magic(k) will usually go off the rails. I have been practicing and studying magic(k) for over 25 years and I have yet to read a treatment of the dangers of the occult that hits the mark quite like this one; all that experience, and I had to take a break from reading because no book has ever called out so many of my own missteps so directly. Some sources gloss over the dangers because being honest about them is no way to sell books. Others don't go into too much detail because the authors practice and advocate such a structured practice that they've never even seen half of what could go wrong without all that hand-holding. On the opposite side of the spectrum, some sources do a disservice by overblowing some dangers or using fantastical and improbable stories of disaster to make their point, coming off as alarmist and leaving a more intrepid magician scoffing...possibly at their own later peril. Don Webb hits the nail on the head by being necessarily dire where appropriate, by providing only solid reasoning rooted in extensive and often unfortunate personal experience, and by not being too concerned if the warnings he offers hurt your feelings. As someone who has made many of the mistakes he warns against, I can attest that it's better to swallow the bitter pill and Webb gives us what we need in that department.
The next section, covering the first five months of study and practice plus a one-week break, focuses on the principle of barriers and crossroads before venturing into a study of elemental magic. Webb goes all the way back to the principles of Bardon and even farther back into history to ground the character in the very "stuff" of both themselves and the world around them. These explorations will bring the practitioner into very deep relationship with the elemental components of both their bodies and their minds and the work outlined is no walk in the park. Many systems are designed so as to save their more serious 'Dweller on the Threshold' moments, the ones that 'separate the wheat from the chaff,' for an intermediate or later phase, offering the low-hanging fruits of easy elemental sorcery before asking the student to look deep into their souls. Webb places this barrier at the very beginning of the work, and if you choose to cross those gates, I am confident you'll thank yourself for it.
Next comes an even more important section: 4 months of study on Egyptian Soulcraft, plus a break. This section is unique in that it carries on the theme of "modern" magic(k) per the book's title, but through working with one of the oldest existing models of the soul (or soul-parts). This appeals to me because I was raised on an occult and esoteric market saturated with New Age soulcraft consisting of the rehashed European misunderstanding of Vedic metaphysics (you know what 'chakras' are because an Anglican priest with a proclivity for young boys thought he understood them, and anything you might have read about them can probably be traced back to his book, 'The Chakras.'). It's refreshing to have that mold broken with an introduction to Egyptian soulcraft that builds in a modern perspective and also weaves it into some of the wider esoteric currents in which all occultists swim; the discussion of Egyptian soulcraft and deities is contextualized within the Aeonic framework set forth by the same legacy as the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis, which is likely of interest to many modern magicians. I personally find this essential because among the sources most likely to be leaned upon without credit due to their reputation, those having to do with Aleister Crowley's Aeonic Formula are probably near the top of the list; many Wiccans and neo-Pagans boycott Crowley because of the parts of him that they find abhorrent, yet also swim within the waters of the currents he set in motion, but choose to remain willfully ignorant of important key principles as a result. Usually, those who don't land there end up becoming total Crowley fanboys who aren't critical enough of him and also crystallize many of his ideas into dogmas, which only fuels the first group by confirming their gripes. Very few understand that in the environment Crowley created, whether we like it or not, taking a middle road is the most empowering path. Don Webb does this masterfully. In the culmination of this section, Don Webb does one of the other things he does best in his books on the occult: "Goes there" with regard to seriously discussing immortality, the thing that systems like the Golden Dawn are sheepishly pointing at and still holding forth as a "pie in the sky." Many readers will put down a Webb book if they hadn't already because of the way he seats the discussion of immortality as a serious end after also having spent so many pages efficiently cutting through the bullshit that's out there. This is another reason many will appreciate this book as a unique gem: It goes where other systems merely point—and then it asks, "What next?" Remember, we're still only 9 months in and we're already at the outer limits of what common modern G.D.-syntheses promise.
Next, Webb spends the final three months exploring the "What next?" part. If the Golden Dawn is about building a car, Don Webb takes us into the territory of where to drive it. How does one develop further, beyond the perspective of immortality? That must be the only perspective from which it even becomes meaningful or useful to speak of navigating the currents of time and fate, but that's where we must obviously go next, and Don Webb fearlessly takes us there in yet another "first" for me.
One other thing bears mentioning: It is very clear that this book is a labor of love. Attention has been paid to some of the subtlest details, the entire course has been carefully planned with the safety of the Mage clearly kept close to heart and what's more, in ways that are deeply informed by both solid knowledge and the clear wisdom of experience. Don Webb did not really have to write this book. The love he put into it, you will see, is the secret ingredient to a masterpiece.
It is only by refusing to pull the punches, by telling the entire story, and by daring to seriously incorporate the farthest conceptual reaches of possibility that one can think to honestly fit the blueprints for a magical and initiatory path so neatly into a single book. The material is formidable and the course outlined is not for the faint of heart; however, for those looking for something like the magical equivalent of a guide to scaling mount Everest, this would fit the bill. It is the kind of book I have dreamed of for decades and even dared to imagine, but never thought I would actually see. It has the flexibility and room for creative expression of a chaos magic manual, the balanced relationship with the elements I've sought in vain for decades, the hard-hitting questions and observations necessary for any real magical progress, and a way of illustrating how to unlock the sacred power of all symbolism, including the modern. It proves more definitively than ever that one need not choose between the sacred and the profane: The art of merging the two is still what magic is all about, and will be in 2023 and beyond.
One last analogy pertaining to open world games comes to mind regarding this book: I will be focusing many upcoming posts on an open world game that is widely thought to have redefined the genre, and that is what this book will do for the occult book market. This is a new gold standard.
Classic cars are great and restoring them and customizing them is fun. However, if you would like to build your own car from the engine up while incorporating cutting edge technology, all you need to do is set aside the necessary time over the next year to work this book.
Don Webb has surpassed himself again, perhaps his best lesson (taught by example).
Look for How to Become a Modern Magus: A Manual for Magicians of All Schools to hit local bookshelves on January 17th, or pre-order it now at Amazon.
 | A guest post by
|