The Sorcerer's Secrets: Strategies in Practical Magick

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 stumbled across Jason Miller's materials, and I found his style refreshing and engaging. I respect him as a practicing mage, as well as respecting his pragmatism and humility, and I have grown a great deal as a practitioner by implementing his materials. I particularly love his blending of Eastern mystic arts, the Craft, and the Art. Making this useful and accessible to a Western audience is no small feat. Compare that to Crowley. Before I began studying Jason's books (I own all but one) and courses, my divinations were all over the place. Using the prescribed formulae and practices in this book, I am much more accurate and specific in my divinations, to the point that I have seriously considered offering for others as a paid service. Regular meditation and offerings have greatly altered my spiritual landscape, for the good. Beyond useful practices, the reader comes away with an operating procedure that will be of use for life: thoughtfully blending mundane action, divinations/intelligence gathering, and ritual to achieve desired results over time. This is one of the most consistently used books in my occult library. This book is loved, and it shows: a broken spine, tabs for areas of special importance, etc. Some of the practices have replaced my earlier used Golden Dawn style practices, such as the Pillar and Spheres working, which with the mileage I've gotten out of that working alone, I think it warrants a purchase. There are so many wonderful gems offered in here, the Cliff's Notes of Jason's magickal career. I do warn that there are several typos, and while off-putting, the typos do not take away from the usefulness of this text. The content is too valuable for me to be punitive in my review. So, 5 stars!

Jason Miller has written a powerful book here, a book that is packed with a multitude of means and methods for experiencing the divine and much more. Off the bat he warns that not all people are cut out for the work. This warning keeps the guards up to the effect that the material he has produced here for his audience's benefit is not the Sunday cartoons, but material one needs to practice daily and put some serious spiritual elbow grease into. My recommendation is plow in and have your fill which means buy this book, read it, study it, and practice all that it proposes every day with passion and potent intent.

In keeping with my covenant with the spirit Bune, I can't say enough in favor of this particular Daimon. The conjuring featured in this book was the author's fulfillment of his end of the bargain. Basically Bune likes attention. He likes for word about him to be spread abroad. In return he will grant you reasonable financial boons. I had used the conjuration provided in this book, with a little something extra, and politely suggested (not forcefully commanded) Bune to appear in my scrying device. Which he did. All in purple, skin included. His is a very friendly and almost joyful presence. I get a "fun" vibe from Bune. I asked for a specific amount in a specific time frame and he came through as an unexpected gift of more than I had asked for came my way DAYS after the evocation. I thank Jason Miller for his brilliant book which helped influence a change in how I approach things magically, and for making this simple conjuring available to the magical public. Most of all I'd like to thank Bune and recommend him to all magi interested in financial magic.

I need to write an immediate review for this book as I was blown away by how taken I was by Mr. Miller's work. I began reading this book late at night as soon as I realized the contents on the envelope which contained it. I paused having to put my baby bed and fell asleep myself for a couple of short hours waking in the 3 o'clock hour. I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! With two young children who tend to be early risers, I knew I'd likely be tired the next day, but I really didn't care. I NEEDED to know this information. Additionally the information presented was done so in a conversational manner which I could understand. For that I am so grateful. There was not a lot of jargon I didn't understand. There was also further direction and additional recommended reads included as well. I recommend this book to anyone interested in magick/sorcery who has been intimidated, overwhelmed, or confused due to the wide array of information available on the subject and the various methodologies and approaches that are out there. Let's face it - there is a lot! Mr. Miller teaches it in a way anyone is capable of grasping. Even if you do not wish to delve into all areas of sorcery, I guarantee there's a take-away in this book for you that will serve to your benefit. BUY THE BOOK. READ IT. He's the real deal. Magick works. In Light, Reiki Master Kate

Overall, I felt that The Sorcerer's Secrets offered something most books on the occult don't: solid strategies for successful magic without pretense or froofroo theory. Miller focuses on techniques and strategies more than on spells, and he draws techniques from sources both magical and mundane. He's also eclectic without falling into the hard relativism one so often finds in eclectic works. I found a few of his techniques unique -- they clearly derive from someone who does real magic rather than someone just fantasizing about what they would do. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how magic can cause practical changes in life. Two flaws mar the book for me, though. First, and most seriously, it cites its sources rather haphazardly. There's a Greek invocation, for example, with a transliteration that will be of no use (as it doesn't distinguish vowel length), yet there's no citation for the original to look it up. There's a footnote, but it's not a proper citation, merely a thanks to the translator. Such lapses are common and a serious flaw for me. A less serious flaw is the apparently complete absence of an editor. Sentences will often have multiple verbs (one, usually the second one, more precise than the other, which tells me that this is an artifact of hasty revising); verbs will not agree with subjects; apostrophes are sprinkled in with no regard for any grammatical convention. Most people might find that trivial, but it drives me nuts, and in more than several places actively interferes with the reading process. In one place, he intimates that the book went from writing to the shelf in eight months. That's fast, and it shows. The book still gets four stars, because the information is that good, but it needs an editor.

I just received “The Sorcerer’s Secrets” book and I’m only just starting chapter 4. I can already tell you that I LOVE THIS BOOK. The print is perfect even for me who can read it without glasses l. The cover is awesome I love the intricacies that it has as well as the drawings inside. The first 3 chapters are incredibly useful to me. I’ve always had a hard time mediating, but after reading the Meditation part I can already say that the “The Gate of Heka Meditation” is the one for me. To me it’s very detailed and I actually tried it last night and it worked for me! I have read ALL the reviews and I just went with my gut instinct and I’m glad I did. The first 3 chapters have a lot of really good information as well as exercises that I feel would benefit all. I can’t wait to read the rest of this book for I’m sure that I will be learning on how to be better in the craft. I will update once I finish reading it.

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. 29 As 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.