So I'm looking to start working with a magical system.

I've fucked around for years in classic eclectic occult tradition collecting information from different sources, but not actually doing much. Within the last year, I started some sporadic practical work, had some good results, and buoyed by those wins, I want to do more. I'm at a point where I feel like I need the guidance and structure that would have been historically provided by a magical society or school, in terms of establishing a daily (or nearly so) practice for building magical muscle.

I know Introduction Into Hermetics is kind of a meme around here, and it's been recommended to me. I'm also looking at the A.'.A.'. course of study as published in Book 4, and I've heard that Enochian magic is a complete system in itself. I'm considering just joining an extant magical society, but those usually come with membership dues, plus you gotta actually interact with people. Still, I'm looking at Temple of Set, Dragon Rouge, and A.'.A.'. (I live in California, so there are a few geographically adjacent A.'.A.'./Thelemite groups for me to pick from.)

Anyone have any experience with any of these systems/groups? Or any other recommendations for complete, practical magical systems?

In case it's relevant, I mostly work with Western ceremonial magic in the Hermetic tradition, but I'm open to information from everywhere, as long as one takes the proper care with the cultural/historical context. I figure the tech should work nearly regardless of your worldview, if it's good tech. I also draw from such varied sources as African diaspora religions and Shintoism, so worldview conflicts shouldn't be a problem for me.

The best magical system is one that you create yourself. If you keep steadily adding to your practical toolset your abilities will improve quickly. Just pick a goal and go for it. Don't be afraid to experiment.

>>3383
This. Also I did the Kabbalah Magic And The Great Work of Self Transformation initiation (first probatory grade).
I also did the headless ritual adapted by Gordon White in one of his books, I believe Pieces of Eight.
Both got me going, but in the end the correct answer is what the other anon said. Pick something, do things, learn things. But do things, otherwise you don't really learn and you stay armchair pleb.

Tbh I've studied i to this for a long time and with it all said and done I think just spamming vital energy might be best. At the same time it really depends on where you start, but the masters of the earthzone for example don't ever labor over complex rituals and all to physically manifest right infront of you, they just do it... almost casually at that. With that being said I think vital energy might almost be a priviledge to mankind as given not every being is tetrapolar i don't see how anything short of full tetrapolar humanity could comprehend a fully tetrapolar energy. Another point towards vital energy in my opinion is it's versatility and ease of practice, one of the most important parts in energywork is concentration and depth, on multiple levels but practice-wise its about practicing what you do for decades, and focusing all that time on the bare-mininum so the time is all concentrated as much as possible, aka training 10 years with the 4 elements is 2.5 years trained in each element, but training 10 years with vital energy (which can do anything the 4 elements combined can do, becuase it is the 4 elements combined) is 10 years trained with vital energy. That being said, I think alotta people might need to first develop a good foundation to efficiently practice vital energy but honestly? Besides anything else you're working on that seems to be about all you need for anything. No-mind can be good for building concentration at first but as a death-meditation its only good for killing things off internally and its not something you wanna do long-term if you're looking to become a god. In no-mind you focus on the absence of movement and thoughts, literally spiritual death, and that can be good for killing off unnecessary external desires and build a calm, steady mind, but like all saturnian practices you'll wind up an old man doing that so if you need it at first, use it until you don't need it then just go for vital energy cause there's multiple accounts of it wasting jing. That's just the basics so beyond that I'd recommend getting into mental wandering and astral projection so you can actually fucking learn sonething without scouring through the hundreds of pages of a bullshit narcissist who doesn't actually know shit and hides it with big words, besides Initiation Into Hermetics (which's absolutely riddled to the core with errors btw), I don't think there's really that much to learn on this plane besides basic shit and mostly lies, but if its any solace, vital energywork is fully capable of bringing you to any heights of magical achievement, just possibly not as efficiently as whatever some alien magus in the earthzone might have

>>3392
Can confirm. Vital energy cultivation is top tier. However, not long ago you swore by spamming water meditation. What happened to that? Also your post reads very messy.

John Kreiter is the fastest way to kill your guru and forge your own path.

>>3397
>Can confirm. Vital energy cultivation is top tier. However, not long ago you swore by spamming water meditation. What happened to that? Also your post reads very messy.
Lol, sorry about my posting-style, I'm not a good writer. As for water, yeah its good for general vitality and immortality-related things but I quickly switched over to vital energy after reading about and experiencing the astral and, I decided pretty quickly after that I'm not too interested in physical immortality. Practically and basically speaking, Water is a good compromise between the raw vitality of fire and the longevity of earth. If you ask me water's even better than fire for vitality practically speaking cause whereas fire is just vitality itself, water governs your ability to pull in and store vitality, so basically its like pressing a button to get 1 dollar, vs pressing a button to get 1 dollar everyday and each consecutive press gives you one more dollar a day. Now given I'm not really too big on physical immortality anymore and astral immortality's alot easier, I figured vital energy might be more efficient to work then since it works every element little by little, practicing only one energy is most efficient for growth and vital energy is one of the only energies you can safely solo forever, and given it works water by extension, I'll probably be good enough in water and earth to be astrally immortal atleast by the time (if) I die physically so it solves all the problems water-solo did but with more benefits

I'm actually not too sure anymore if water 's actually jing or if its earth, it all depends in what's easier to enchant actually... and ironically I think it might actually be earth cause, the opposite of recieving is giving and between air and fire, fire is the best at giving obviously, so on the other end of the spectrum earth should be better than water at recieving. So given that logic earth is jing and in complete contrast to what modern Reddit Taoists like to purport, you can restore and even directly and actively cultivate jing. Jing is simply your bodily earth element and it governs your body's ability to hold in and store energy. Becuase it itself is energy, when your body burns away all its shen and qi it then relies on jing to energize itself similar to how it burns muscle when it runs out of fat, and when you lose jing you actually lose your ability to store energy in-general, so once you've burnt jing you completely lose the ability to live with as much energy as you used to in the past, hence you age and become more frail. Its actually possible to not only increase jing but, eventually you can even cultivate and perfect your earth element to the holy state of infinity, thus gaining the Godly attribute of earth... immortality