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A well trained magician, whether through auto-didacticism or by means of an external teacher, develops up over the course of years what might be called his or her own personal toolbox. Inside this toolbox are techniques ranging from the vibration of divine names to stock invocations to numerous geometric figures that can be traced in the air or the minds eye at a moments notice to a vast list of correspondences. The toolbox has a physical component as well; reference books, rituals that have been written by the magician or passed down by a teacher or order, robes, lamens, magical “weapons” and temple paraphernalia, etc. And of course there are those skills that connect the physical with the mental; making talismans, putting together wands or scepters or perhaps a bit of handiness with a sander or router. As the new magician begins their studies their toolbox is, per force, quite small. Over time certain items will be added to it and others will be removed depending on a variety of circumstances. What you will find below is a generic “blueprint” of a ceremonial magician’s toolbox at the beginners, intermediate and “adept” levels. Your own toolboxes will, of course, differ from this in some respects but it will hopefully serve as a workable template for you.

The Beginner’s Toolbox
The Hebrew and/or Greek alphabet with basic correspondences such as numeric values, pronunciation, astrological correspondences and the meaning of the letters’ names, if any

The names of the ten sefirot and their corresponding divine names

Basic understanding of the 4 (or 5) elements

A diagram of the Tree of Life

Vibration of Names

Tracing and visualizing letters and/or geometric figures, possibly in color

A basic banishing ritual and some understanding of its mechanics

A basic energy raising rite, such as the Middle Pillar and some understanding of its mechanics

Basic meditation skills (i.e. keeping the mind relatively still and quiet for a period of time)

Basic sewing skills, being able to follow a simple sewing pattern helps as well

A robe, the color of which generally depends on what you have been reading or what tradition is being worked in, usually black, sometimes dark blue. Possibly a silly hat of some variety, such as a “nemyss” will be required when working in some orders.

If working in a tradition, either as an initiate or alone, some knowledge of the history of that tradition

If working in an order, some knowledge of the initial initiation ritual will likely be required and tested

The Intermediate Toolbox
The Intermediate Toolbox will contain everything from the basic toolbox, along with a deeper understanding of that toolbox, plus:

Further knowledge of spiritual beings; archangels, angels, choirs of angels, (for the sefirot, planets and zodiac), elementals, etc.

The 22 paths on the Tree of Life, connected to the tarot

Knowledge of several divinatory methods; astrology, geomancy, tarot, etc. This will generally be tied in with one’s qabalistic cosmology.

Basic alchemy, either practical or spiritual

If working with people a general understanding of group ritual mechanics as well as a growing understanding of solitary ritual mechanics

General qabalistic and hermetic knowledge; i.e. cosmology, basic texts, history, etc.

Basic woodworking and painting skills

If working in a tradition a grade sash (in the case of the GD anyway) and/or admission badges

The ability to project invoke and project differing types of energy

Knowledge of intermediate banishing rituals, such as the greater Pentagram ritual

The Adept’s Toolbox
The Adept’s Toolbox includes a deeper understanding of the above and grows almost exponentially from this point on.

Knowledge of the complete methods of invoking and banishing elemental, planetary, zodiacal and sefirotic energies, including all appropriate Names, archangels, angels, geometric figures, sigils and letters

Knowledge of, creation and consecration of magical “weapons”, talismans, flashing tablets, etc.

Knowledge of Enochiana and its relation to qabalah

Advanced understanding of the various forms of divination previously studied, often with correlations to one another as well as qabalah and Enochiana

Further knowledge of the spiritual hierarchies, this will be used in conjunction with invocation and banishing

The visualization and assumption of “God forms”

Ritual creation for the solitary and possibly a group as well

Astral projection and/or skrying

The application of God forms in both skrying and ritual work

If working in a particular tradition or order, further knowledge of the initiation rituals and their underlying formulae as well as the ability to use that knowledge to create new rituals

Again, if working in an order the adept would be expected to be able to function as the primary initiator in an initiation ritual; which means near complete knowledge of the ritual itself, the layout of the temple and the magical energies that are employed as well as a significant amount of control over those energies.

New robes (often white) and tools, more sewing and wood working and painting.


This, then, is the basic toolbox. A decent magician can get along well with nothing more than these things, and an excellent magician should be able to conjure demons naked in the middle of a desert, however you will find that if working in an order there will quite often be much more beyond this.

Glad to be of service. If you like Regardie's idea in Pomegranates you could look into Giordano Bruno's Ars Memoriea, which is where the Regardie idea has its genesis in. You may also find John Michael Greer's two articles on the practice of memory useful:

Ars Memorativa: the Art of Memory - part 1
Ars Memorativa: the Art of Memory - part 2

This is something I need to look further into myself, especially as the Renaissance occultisms have become quite interesting to me.

Mmmmm, me too!

Its a difficult question; I've never spoken ancient, or even modern, Greek, so I couldn't really say for that. While there are some slight differences between modern and Biblical Hebraic pronunciation, they don't seem to be particularly significant. More importantly, though, the Hebrew of Jewish mysticism isn't particularly Biblical, with the earliest Kabbalistic texts not pre-dating the 10th century or so. Most of the changes in the languge seem to be in the area of how its written (i.e. the addition of vowel marks) and the words themselves (i.e. new words, old words used in new ways, etc.) but not as much in general pronunciation. There are, however, two major dialects, which do have, occasionally, some significant differences in pronunciation. I do not know if anyone has found one to be more magically or mystically affective than the other.

I should note that part of my peeve about modern Hermetic pronunciations of Hebrew have more to do with respect (and not looking like an a** in front of someone who actually speaks the language) than magical effectiveness. It seems to me that if one considers a language to be holy then actually learning something about it is in order.

I agree with most of this, however a few things seem off:

Language. The whole hebrew or Greek think is purely subjective. I know that hermeticists may utilize them a lot, however this is not indicative of the effectiveness. I know from experience that Latin actually works best for me. So perhaps instead of having it be listed as exclusively "Greek or Hebrew" change it to a 'language of power' that the person can connect with and draw more power from.

Robes. Yea, I have a robe, but do I use it? lol no. I've been practicing for quite a while, and I can honestly say that a robe is not necessary for a magical work. It may act as extra 'frills' to a ritual (like a candlabra in the background) but rarely has a significance of it's own unless specifically stated in a ritual.

Hermeticism!!!! Most of the things listed here are specifically for a hermetic. I know this to be necessary in the hermetic orders, but I think a large part of it has to do with the magician choosing which path to follow, and as the some necromancers put it, establish your own "clerical underworld". Sure, you can know the names of all the sephiroths, angels, and demons, but who is to say that those are the only ones out there? I honestly use neither in my work, but prefer to stick to astral, elemental, and dead spirits.


Those are my only quarrels with this list. It sounds very order specific. Other than that, good job on the compilation. smile

What about eastern magics? sad

well chi feng shui and more stuff seem like it could be related to magical/spiritual things.