{"id":2171,"date":"2026-03-04T22:58:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/?p=2171"},"modified":"2026-03-04T22:58:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:58:51","slug":"mind-over-magick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/mind-over-magick\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind Over Magick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For probably a year now I have been mulling over an essay idea that boiled down to \u201cyou\u2019re not an idiot to have faith in magic.\u201d I was going to discuss the placebo effect and cognitive behavioral therapy and the similarities between that and magic. Then in waltzes Richard Kaczynski, with his PhD in psychology, his dissertation on the structure and correlates of metaphysical beliefs, and his years of experience with Western esotericism, and does my thing a million times better with his book, \u201cMind Over Magick: The Psychology of Ritual Magick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kaczynski truly achieved something amazing with this book. \u201cThe guiding principle of this book\u201d is \u201cto feature scientific research whose results shed light on psychological processes at work\/play while practicing magick,\u201d from the text. He\u2019s done the work of sifting through the research to explain the effects of ritual, yoga, meditation, tools, and more, on the self. It\u2019s rarity to discuss the scientific method in the same text that expounds on the work of Aleister Crowley. And if they all ended up as compelling as this one, I would welcome more into world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, I struggled to write this review, and I\u2019m embarrassed at how my poor my attempt to explain this inspiring text. All I can say is, do yourself a favor and get a copy of \u201cMind Over Magick\u201d by Richard Kaczynski, you won\u2019t regret it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get your own copy here.<\/a> (This is an affiliate link to my Bookshop, which supports independent bookstores throughout the United States. If you use this link to purchase the book, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you enjoy The Magical Buffet? Considering supporting The Magical Buffet on Patreon! For only $5 a month you\u2019ll receive monthly tarot\/oracle forecasts, classes, and behind the scenes updates! https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/magicalbuffet<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kaczynski’s exploration of the psychology of ritual magic is not to be missed!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2174,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2171\/revisions\/2174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}