Hello everyone. I am wondering what magical path or system you think would be best for focusing on magic that brings about change in the physical world. It doesn't have to be spells, but should have some tried and true way of using magic to bring about tangible results. I believe this is called low magic, and The path that seems most compatible to this mindset is chaos magick.
I'm not really interested in worshiping or accepting beliefs on faith. Also I am uninclined to follow a path that requires me to constantly follow a set of rules.
If anyone could recommend books and sites with this perspective on magic, I would appreciate that too.
Any system of magic can bring about change in the read world, as long as those changes are realistic. Some traditions may focus more on internal changes and spiritual experiences, sure. But beware the ones which claim to change weather patterns, materialize things out of thin air, and other similar things. But most of those same traditions which focus on inner change will also enable external change through their methods.
I understand they all can bring external change, but I am looking for a system that does that primarily or exclusively. I would rather be myself than change internally aside from mastering the skills I need to make the magic work.
If you're primarily interested in "getting things done" then I'd suggest looking at basic candle-burning magic and cunning lore, both focusing on the trade rather than spiritual insights. Having said that, a fair few charms and spells do appeal to holy powers, but you're going to be hard-pushed to escape that when looking at traditional sources.
Try The Master Book of Candle Burning by Henry Gamache, The Magic Candle by Charmaine Dey, The Black Toad by Gemma Gary, The British Book of Spells and Charms by Graham King, and generally anything grimoire/spell book based. Troy Books are pretty good for publishing older material.
by change in the physical world, i hope you do not mean physical changes [like turn someone into a toad or flying on a broomstick] because there is no path in magick that can make physical changes. spells can effect situations in the physical [healing, luck, love, wealth, job] but you cannot wave a wand and POOF something appears.
you don't need a religion to practice spell casting, and the only rules should be determined by you. you might enjoy Earth Magic by Scott Cunningham, each chapter is a brief introduction into various types of magickal practice. for non-spell related paths, perhaps research The Law of Attraction [basically do good receive good, do bad receive bad. i believe that's the point of the book The Secret.]
Something many people come to learn is that internal change will facilitate many external changes. A slothful person will not suddenly land a dream job. But changing themselves to a motivated person will help land better employment.
This is part of the maxim 'as above, so below.' That is, as you develop your inner self, you develop your physical life. It also applies to 'know thy self;' you learn which aspects you really desire to work on, and your priorities list may change drastically. With those changed priorities, yiu will decide what is more important to affect un your circumstancean
I get it that you've had to tell people magic can't do this and that a lot of times, but I am not talking about fluff spells. I also understand that some internal change is inevitable to bring about change in the world.
