Gary St. M. Nottingham - Ars Speculum: Being an Instruction on the Arte of Using Mirrors and Shewstones in Magic

Foundations of Practical Sorcery

We live in an age where we are awash with information on allsubjects, and to this the magical artes are no exception. Whilst the student ofmagic can easily access all manner of electronic files there is nothing quitelike a book.

A book can not only be picked up and read, but will, in manyinstances, over time, become a friend, guide and teacher who has assisted thereader on their journey throughout their life. Quite simply books canchange lives and this is why those who have been in positions of power throughthe centuries have tried, and often failed, to keep knowledge out of the handsof everyday folk. This is perhaps primarily because they feared the powerof the book to cause change, and change is what the seven books in theFoundations of Practical Sorcery series will cause.

Today the magical artes have never been so accessible,although that doesnt mean the demands that the arte makes upon thepractitioner have been lessened in any way. While the arte is, in principle,for all, not everyone will have the self-discipline, the will and theimagination to succeed therein. However for those who do have these basicattributes or are prepared to acquire them there is much to be gained from thepractice of magic in all levels of life. For many people their ingress into thearte will be by books, and the exploration of and working with the informationthey contain. There is nothing like experience even if your magic provesless successful than hoped for: there is no such thing as failure inmagic, because every experience will, at the very least, teach the practitionersomething, even if its just to try harder next time!

Of course some will have access to a magical group and theknowledge and collective experience to be found therein; but for many this willnot be the case. Magical groups regardless of hue by and large have muchto commend them, but not all of them do. I have in the past beenapproached by people who have gone through a coven system yet then been led toask me to help them practice and study magic. It seemed their coven didnot in fact practice the arte; which left me wondering what was it that theydid do. I am aware of similar approaches made to other magicalpractitioners, which has left me concluding that some magical groups and covenscan actually be detrimental to an individuals magical development andunderstanding - although this is certainly not the case with all by any means.

Foundations of Practical Sorcery goes some way to rectifyingthis deficit in any students magical life. They offer clearmagical instruction and accounts of magical acts to be performed, thus makingthe arte easily accessible. The methods and techniques presented are all basedupon my own personal knowledge and experience which goes back over forty years,methods and techniques that have worked successfully for me and will do so forany reader who applies them accordingly.

In many ways I was fortunate, during the autumn of1972, to meet a magical practitioner who taught me much regarding the arte,generously affording me the run of their magical library as well. Having beenschooled extensively in magical knowledge from my mid teen years I considermyself to have been extremely fortunate and lucky to have had many experiencesnot easily available to many people. Thus the present Foundations of PracticalSorcery series is the distillation of four decades of successful magicalworkings.

Each of the seven volumes gives a clear account andrendition of one or another area of magical instruction that I have receivedand have been taught. They are presented to the reader in a clear andworkable style which will provide them with a concise and firm foundation,allowing the serious magical student to explore the Western Magical Tradition,the inheritance of us all.

Gary St. M.Nottingham, February 2015