My Great Quest

In the faded halls of my earliest memories the voice of my father can still be heard. He told me of an obscure book he had read long before I was born. He called it 'The Magic Story.' The full title was The Magic Story: The Message of a Master by John McDonald. My father's description of it, and the mysterious “master,” excited my imagination. It was a tale of a man who had learned the secret of living in his proper domain of power and used that knowledge to live life precisely as he wished. In fact learning about this book was one of those pivotal moments that changed the course of my life.

The Quest

Unfortunately, dad couldn't remember where the book had gone, if he actually ever owned it, or even where he had gotten it from. Thus began a quest that lasted nearly a decade. The book had been out of print for many years and it could not be found in new or used book stores or local libraries as best I could tell given the archaic search methods at my disposal at the time.

Father had related to me a few precious details about the man who the book called the master. The ability to clearly visualize and “out picture” that mental image was at the core of the story. It occurred to me that, since my considerable efforts to find the book had failed thus far, I should try to use what little I knew of the techniques in the book to find it!

My quest took me to the Public Library in New York City. The librarian informed me that the book I sought was not part of the branch there and it was archived and not available for borrowing. There is a separate building, an annex, that is part of this great library where rare and out of print books are stored. She said she did have a listing for the book and asked if I would be interested in photocopying it since that was permitted. At last! The object of my search was within walking distance of where I stood. The streets, traffic lights, and people passing on all sides were a blur to me. Armed with the request ticket the librarian had given me I thought of nothing else but getting to my prize.

A Sacred Key

Arriving at the annex I handed over the ticket as if it were made of pure gold; a sacred key that opened the door to the secrets of the Universe. The attendant handled my sacred key as though it were made of pure paper. He typed information into an ancient machine that sent a request to a faceless stranger in an undisclosed location in the annex. After several excruciatingly long minutes a conveyor belt lowered the book out of a hole in the ceiling. It descended as if from heaven. Finally I handled this faded original volume published in 1929.

The subway ride home to the Bronx and the entire rest of that day are featureless and forgotten- except for how I pored over those photocopied pages!

What My Quest Taught Me

So why should my story be of interest to you? Because this and other books that tell of magickal powers and the mysterious people that wield them are often fiction or loosely based on third party accounts; accounts that may or may not be factual. We readers are left to decide to believe or not. That felt too much like religious faith to me. My need to know for sure if magick was real or not set me on a quest to either prove or disprove its existence TO MYSELF.

Fast forward many years to today. At this stage in my long association with practical magick and its application I can tell you this much unequivocally: some stories of magick and mysticism may be fiction but the power we call 'magick' is most definitely REAL. We all have access to it if we take the trouble to learn the how-to of it and actively apply what we learn.

Those tales of powerful sorcerers, wizards, witches, shamans and all the rest fascinate me even when they are sensationalized and exaggerated. We don't know the limitations of what a magick worker can do so these stories, albeit fictional, give us something to aspire to!

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Note: an updated version of this book is now in print: The Message of a Master. There have been some changes in this new version and a minor omission or two but it's still a great read!