Jason Miller is a man who likely needs no introduction. Not only is he one of the more well known magicians today, he is one of the few who works magic as a full time job, putting food on the table and paying the bills (a truly remarkable feat in and of itself).

Furthermore, he is my magic teacher. I am a student in his Strategic Sorcery course which I would I suggest to anyone who is serious about practicing magic.

Q: What do you consider your greatest magical achievement?

A: Probably my career. I make a solidly upper-middle class living doing and teaching something that is not supposed to exist according to the world. People not into magic told me that it was a waste of time and effort because magic is not real. People into magic told me that you couldn’t or shouldn’t make money at it and if you did you would be making poverty level income at best.

As it is I make a great living and do it by serving a community of students in way that they tell me is helpful and meaningful for them.

Running your own business is as close to being king as most of us can get in this day and age. You make the rules and decide how it’s going to run. It’s your own little utopia if you do it right. Your own private hell if you don’t. Doing it right is big magic.

Q: Who are your personal heroes, those who most inspired you on your own journey?

A: First and foremost is my main teacher John Myrdhin Reynolds, aka Lama Vajranatha. His dedication and knowledge and patience with me have been endless in both western and eastern magic. I have many other teachers that have inspired me, from Ms Krubner who taught me my first protection spells, to Cliff and Micha Pollick of the Chthonic Auranian, to Kunzang Dorje who tolerated me living with him for a month, to Ms April who ran the first Botanica I ever regularly hung out in… there were a lot.

There are a lot of authors and hero’s that helped shape me as well of course: Paul Huson, Donald Michael Kraig, Kathryn Paulsen, Franz Bardon, Aliester Crowley and so on. There are historical figures like Paracelcus, Ra Lotsawa, Giordano Bruno, St Cyprian, Cagliostro, Padmasambhava and so on. Ultimately though it is the teachers that I had the luck to meet in this life that had the greatest impact.

My peers too are a constant source of inspiration, not only other authors and teachers but some Sorcerers who cannot be public in their work. Having live teachers you can interact with as well as a smart and caring peer group are more important than the big names.

Q: How did you come up with the name inominandum?

A: I was given it while scrying the 28th Aethyr back in 1995. It represents an important formula for me and strikes at the heart of what I do and who I am. Sadly it’s a terrible name for marketing, so I had to use my real name when I started writing books, and the URL www.inominandum.com is an awful thing to say when I am being interviewed on podcasts or radio. Potent magically, but shite for marketing.

Q: What importance, if any, do you place on full visual manifestation of a spirit during evocation?

A: People look at this issue the wrong way, like visual is best, other signs are less, and no signs are worse. That’s not really it, the issue is one of what is most appropriate for the situation. I can be important depending on what you are doing.

If you are looking to question, or initiate a relationship with a spirit then full visual (or auditory, why is everyone so focused on visual?) appearance during the rite is ideal. Sometimes though a spirit may find it necessary to speak through dreams because that state offers the best and fullest way to communicate. In other scenarios people get hung up on spirit evocation when all they are really looking for is something best served by a spell that calls upon that spirit, and doesn’t require the spirit to manifest at all – just accomplish its task.

There are other methods of communication that also grease the wheels a bit without having to “break reality” in the way that evocation sometimes can. I have been made fun of for saying that evocation can be the spiritual equivalent of fracking, but I think it’s a good analogy. At times, its important because that level of contact is the only thing that will do, but at other times there are mystical methods, spiritualist methods, and even divinatory methods that might be easier on both operant and spirit.

Q: What was your first “oh fuck, this shit is real” moment in your personal magical practice?

A: When I was five I had a mystical experience, that pretty much did it as far as “there is something more going on here”. As for first successes that made me realize magic was a way to work with these forces, I have a hard time remembering which came first: a summoning of the Devil that actually caused an appearance that not only I saw, a money spell that turned up the exact requested amount within 24 hours, or a curse that taught me well to take such things seriously.

Q: What is one piece of magical tech you could not live without?

A: Meditation. It is not necessary for magic, no single thing is, but it is the most important tool for knowing ones own mind – which in turn is how you know anything at all, be it in magic or anything else.

Q: At what age did you start practicing magic and why?

A: I had some psychic experiences when I was younger but I started reading Tarot at 14, then actually practicing magic beyond that at 15. The Magus was the first book on magic I ever read.

Q: What is your advice to the young aspiring magician just getting started today?

A: It’s work, so get to it. Read a few books or take a course then get to it. You do not need to read everything before practicing. You need to get practicing and have some adventures with it. Even if it means getting your fingers burned. Access to information is the great gift of the age, but information overload and feeling you have to know all of it can be the corresponding curse. Learn as you go.

Q: Of the books you have written, do you have a personal favorite? If so, which one?

A: Financial Sorcery is without a doubt the most important book I have written. It has helped the most people by far, and has helped a lot of people completely re-frame their relationship with money. I get the most accolades and sales for Protection and Reversal Magic but the fact is that only a few people will wind up having a spiritual attack that they need help with, but almost everybody has issues with money from time to time.

Q: How do you respond to Christian evangelists knocking on your door at dinner time?

A: It has never actually happened, but in general I politely explain that I am not interested but I will take any literature offered. If they say they will pray for me, I will thank them, because it’s a kind thing for them to do.

Q: What effect and focus do you think magic should have upon politics and world events?

A: Well that’s really up to the magicians that wield it. I work in a private cabal that does magic on these things and there are others. What I can say is that people need to dig into the details and work on specific goals and areas rather than host very vague and broad operations. For instance rather than get people together and work on electing candidate X as President, it would be better to identify three key highly populated counties in swing states that would sway a vote. Take the time to gather links from that place to use in the ritual, and than plant links from the ritual in that place. Similarly headquarters of various lobbyists and corporations can be effected with sorcery with a lot greater effect than a few people getting together to do some vague spell to “reverse global warming”.

All Sorcery is local.