As a child Mario Rodríguez yearned to command real magic. As he grew up the world tried to teach him that he had no talent for this kind of magic and that he should settle for the rewards that society offered—respect, recognition, family, money—rewards that were nice but never quite enough. His spirit still craved magic. All he had to fall back on were books about sorcerers and shamans whose exploits kept his childhood ambition alive, barely. One day a new possibility opened up—the sudden chance to get close to someone who offered a real entry into a more exciting, magical way of living. Wow, he thought, maybe he was special after all. Of course, this tantalizing offer was a trick. Mario really was no one special. He didn’t even care that he was being tricked because he felt more alive than ever. What he finally accomplished was to fully accept his lack of specialness and to live his life as an exercise in “controlled folly.” Synchronicity, or meaningful coincidence, became his guide. Gradually, he learned to give his best without expecting anything in return, knowing it was all folly, and this liberated him. Then realized that we all have real magic at our fingertips but that something clouds our view. Something makes us ignorant of our own power. There are many books about masterful teachers, gurus and shamans but few examples of an ordinary practitioner’s struggle to move from being a lover of ideas to a different way of living. Mario’s teacher’s invitation was always: “Don’t take my word for it. Try it and see for yourself.” Mario took that invitation seriously. For those who sense that something undefinable is missing in their life, this book can help point to way to a completely different approach—a path to pragmatic magic and transformation.