Introduction
Kyler James shares his candid thoughts on magick and so much more in this post. With extensive experience as an actor, author, and practitioner, he provides unique insights.
Kyler emphasizes devotion, passion, and integrity in magickal practice. He warns against shallow dabbling, stressing the importance of honesty and keeping one’s word.
Readers are sure to find inspiration in Kyler’s perspectives. Links are provided at the end for those wishing to learn more about his work.
Huge thanks to Kyler for taking part.
Hello James. Thank you for inviting me to be here. You have offered me a lot of specific questions and I
think the best thing I can do is to give you some spontaneous thoughts on what I feel is most important in
magick.
I don’t talk enough about my acting training with Stella Adler and my experience as an actor for 20 years. I may be a psychic, a witch, a magician, an occultist, but I think deep down I’ll always be an actor at heart—and in a way, that’s my most important approach to this work. Stella was and still is my biggest influence on my writing, my books, and my psychic interpretations. Let’s cut out the nonsense here. There’s a lot of nonsense in the magickal world. Stella said that the function of technique is to free your talent. Reminds me of Nietzsche’s thoughts on Apollo and Dionysus. Apollo, the cerebral, is like the intellectual part of the work; and the Dionysian is like the talent. Nietzsche said you need both for every work of art.
My experience is that most often, people have one or the other, but not a balanced whole.
What impressed me so much in my early days with the OTO rituals (especially the Gnostic Mass) and the
Wiccan rituals I first attended, was that these people were great actors. A good actor is not a phony. A
good actor is in touch with his/her power. We start with Apollo, the intellect, like Stella’s script interpretation class. She said that a script is skeletal, that the actor needs to fill in the background and
meaning. You can tell almost everything about a character in the first few lines, similar to how I can tell a
lot about a client with the first few Tarot cards.
Devotion, not dabbling, is required. How did the word “dabbling” get used so often for magick? If you’re
going to do it, it has to be part of your soul, part of your blood. There’s no half-assed approach. One must devote one’s life to it, just as an artist must devote his/her life to their art.
Every one of the 78 cards in the Tarot is such a part of my consciousness through many years of study and practice of many disciplines: Kabbalah, Wicca, theatre, and classical music, especially Wagner. So important to me. We must have equal intelligence and equal passion.
And I want to say this before I forget. The single most important aspect of my work and accuracy of my
readings is that I keep my word in my life. A practice of honesty and integrity in all aspects of my life is
what makes my words true when I speak with a client. As the Wizard in Washington Square Park, I can’t
believe how many people lie to me—don’t keep their word with me. How do they expect me to be
honest with them if they lie to me from the start? I’m talking about saying things like, “I’ll be right back.”
I just tell them, “No you won’t! I’ll never see you again in my life!”
Let’s face it, most people are liars. Billy Joel said:
Honesty, such a lonely word
Billy Joel
Everyone is so untrue
Honesty is hardly ever heard
and mostly what I need from you
And then people complain about all the phony psychics around! If you’re a phony and don’t mean what
you say, then you deserve a phony psychic! Haha Stella and I are/were both Aquarius, fixed mind. Fixed air. When I’m right, I know I’m right. And I’m usually right. My slogan on my website says: “I’m always honest and I’m usually right!”
You can have all the magical training in the world, but if you’re not honest, if you don’t keep your word, then your magick is useless. Both Crowley (in Moonchild) and Starhawk (in The Spiral Dance) make this
point. Page 111 in the original Spiral Dance practically changed my life. She says that people who would aspire to do magick must have a profound belief in the power of their own word. You can only accomplish this if you are an honest person in your life.
I know this is why people trust me and come back to me. They tell me I’m usually right.
My moon is in Virgo and I’m very disciplined. Every ritual, every magickal hour, has to be just right. Call it anal, call it what you will, I believe in perfection. Call me arrogant—nothing is more important than the work, getting it right, getting it exact.
I’ve published 3 books and they are my children. People wouldn’t believe how neurotically I’ve worked
on them! They each took me years. I had two literary agents and one wonderful publisher (Rebel Satori
Press) who has published my 2 novels and recent collection of articles and short stories. I’m currently re-
reading my debut novel, THE SECRET OF THE RED TRUCK, because a filmmaker client of mine is
considering it for a film. I wrote this so long ago—and I can’t believe how good it still is! It has four
different narrators, each telling the story from their own POV. I’m amazed that I accomplished this—and
I’ll never do it again!
I wrote both my novels in my 2nd Degree of Gardnerian Wicca. 2nd Degree is like a cave, the underground—and its symbol is the inverted pentagram, something I feared a long time ago. It’s just
going deep deep deep into yourself.
In case you haven’t guessed, this is all being said spontaneously, and I thank you James for allowing me
the freedom to do this in my own way.
I think the worst “sin” an actor can have is to bore his/her audience. So (having been voted Most Dramatic in High School) – I’ve got to do things my own way and not answer questions about magick in a conventional blog interview way. I’d put myself to sleep!
I think you can experience most of what I have to say in my 3 books: THE SECRET OF THE RED TRUCK (a
novel), MERCURY’S CHOICE (a fable of New York City), and most recently THE HIGHER GENIUS: Magical
Tales of New York City. This collection contains previously published articles and 3 short stories, also published before in magazines. You can read 3 of these articles on my site: www.kylerjames.com under
Psychic Counseling.
I don’t like to go on too much about all this stuff. It becomes just words, words, words. I believe in action! If you’re going to take this path, put your ALL into it. It’s your life, your soul, your integrity, your passion, your raison d’être. That’s true in all the arts, and magick is certainly an art. Remember Nietzsche: Apollo and Dionysus. The light and the dark. The intellect and the passion. The technique and the talent.
Express your talent and don’t compromise your soul.
Accomplish your Will with passion, power and integrity.
Settle for nothing less.
More power to you all!
Love, Kyler
