Anyone can practice magic to improve their everyday lives. Practical Magic for Beginners is a straightforward introduction to magical practice for Christians, Pagans, Jews, atheists, and people of all religious traditions. This comprehensive training course presents the foundations of spellcraft and ritual magic through short, simple exercises. Readers explore their energy and senses, and then move on to developing skills in extrasensory perception, divination, and introspection. Magical timing, magical processes, ritual space and tools, journaling, and dreamwork are explained and discussed in depth. This nondenominational guidebook also includes twenty rituals related to friendship, love, prosperity, health, and other common concerns. "Easy to follow, this useful volume will aid anyone who wants to master the basics of practical magic."― Publishers Weekly "The key to magic is not talking or reading about it, but actually putting it into practice. In Practical Magic for Beginners , Brandy Williams presents the techniques and methods to do rituals and spells without focusing on any particular magical tradition, philosophy, or spiritual path. This makes Williams' book an ideal introduction to all of the basic concepts used in magic, including energy work, divination, and psychic development. "―Donald Michael Kraig, author of Modern Magick "The book is packed with practical exercises and practical, straightforward advice. Recommended to all beginners, as well as those of you with some experience, but who are finding it difficult to get results from the spells and rituals you are doing."―Avalonia.co.uk Brandy Williams is a Wiccan high priestess, a Pagan Magician, and a Tantric yogini. She is an elder in Coven of the Mystical Merkabah, which was founded in 1984. She has worked with the Golden Dawn group Temple of Light and Darkness and with Ordo Templi Orientis. She meets regularly with the Theurgy Forum hosted by Hercules Invictus, which brings teachers of theurgy together in public conversation. Currently she studies Shri Vidya with a private teacher. She teaches at magical conferences in person around the country and virtually around the world. She is also a master gardener and lives with two partners, three cats, and a dog. Visit her online at www.BrandyWilliamsAuthor.com . one Moving Energy Every ritual-in fact, every magical act-we perform relies on our ability to move energy through our bodies. Understanding energy is the key to understanding how to work magic. It's the word we hear most often when people talk about magic, and it's the least well defined. Mostly we learn what the word means from context-how people talk about energy. The word energy means something different to a scientist. If you know the scientific definitions of the word, it's very tempting to use them to explain magical energy, so it's important to keep in mind that they're not the same. The scientific understanding of energy is at best a metaphor for magical energy; if you lean too much on the hard science definitions, you run the risk of limiting your understanding of how energy works in the occult sciences. In daily life we talk about the energy that makes electricity, which runs the house at the flip of a switch. Companies buy and sell this type of energy as a commodity. We also talk about physical energy (our ability to move around, whether we are tired or fresh and relaxed) and emotional energy (whether we are depressed or excited and raring to go!). In magical terms, energy means something different from all of these definitions. It is a power that we cannot measure with an instrument. Magicians talk about an energy body, which can circulate and store energy. There is also the energy of the forces around us: the elements of fire and wind and water, the planet earth, and the other planets in our solar system.We understand the energy of these forces and how they interlace within our world. Energy constantly moves in your body. You can attract energy from other sources, and circulate it inside yourself. You can also use your body to move energy around in ritual space. In this chapter we will be focusing on how your personal energy interacts with the energy of your environment, and how to control that interaction consciously. The body comes equipped with its own human energy. Martial artists sometimes call this energy chi or ki. You can feel it very easily just by raising your hands. Feeling Energy Lift your arms to chest level and turn your hands so that the palms face each other. Hold them there for a moment or so. You have set up an energy connec- tion between your hands.What do you experience? Do you see the energy, or feel it? Give yourself a moment to notice your reaction before you read on. It's okay if you don't feel anything; it can take some time to become aware of chi. People often describe the feeling of energy flowing between their hands as tingly or wa