Before You Begin
Everything the Order has to offer is on this site, free, and in the public domain. There is nothing to sign up for and no one to ask. You can begin today, and you can stop whenever you like.
That freedom cuts both ways. No one will check on your progress, correct your mistakes, or tell you that you are ready. The left-hand path places responsibility for the work on the one who does it, from the first page onward.
What You Need
- A notebook that you will use for nothing else, and a pen.
- About twenty minutes a day that you can protect from interruption: ten for practice, and ten for the record.
- A quiet place where you can sit, speak aloud, and write.
- Honesty, especially with yourself.
- A reasonably stable footing in ordinary life.
What You Do Not Need
- Money. Nothing here costs anything, and nothing you need for practice has to be bought.
- A teacher. The texts are written to be used without one.
- Tools, robes, altars, or ritual objects. You may use them if you wish, but none is required.
- Membership, permission, or anyone's approval.
- Any particular belief about gods, spirits, or magic. You need only be willing to test.
A Suggested Reading Order
This order is a suggestion, not a requirement. The texts can be read in any sequence, and most readers return to them many times.
First Week: Orientation
- The Left-Hand Path, for an overview of the tradition as a whole.
- Philosophy, for the Seven Tenets of the Order.
- The Shed Skin, the founding statement of the Order. It is short; read it twice.
First Month: Practice Begins
- First Workings. Read it through once, then begin the daily record and the stillness exercise. Keep both for thirty days before you go further.
- Practice, for an overview of how the disciplines fit together.
Second Month: Deepening
- The Nightside Record, to strengthen your record-keeping.
- Venom and Remedy, before you undertake any nightside work, including the Descent in First Workings.
- The Seven Coils, to understand the shape of the work ahead.
When You Are Ready
- Against the Locked Grimoire, on secrecy, initiation, and why the Order publishes everything.
- The Blind Maker, on the error to which the path itself is most exposed. It is addressed to the practitioner who has begun to succeed, and it will mean more after some months of practice than before them.
For Reference, at Any Time
The following pages are not part of the Order's teaching. They describe the wider left-hand path, and can be read in any order as questions arise.
- Origins of the Left-Hand Path and Currents of the Left-Hand Path, for where the path came from and the forms it takes today.
- Faces of the Adversary and Symbols of the Left-Hand Path, for the figures and signs you will meet in other books.
- Self-Deification, for what the path aims at.
- On Magic, Study, and Working With Others, for questions that arise once practice has begun.
Keep the Glossary and the Frequently Asked Questions at hand as you read.
A Few Honest Words
Most people who read these pages will not practice. Of those who begin, most will stop within a month. That is not a judgment; it has been true of every serious discipline in every age, and it is better to discover early that a path is not yours than to pretend for years that it is.
If you do continue, you will find that the work is quieter than its imagery suggests. It consists mostly of sitting still, writing honestly, and noticing what you would rather not notice. Its rewards are real, but they arrive slowly, and they cannot be shown to anyone else.
There is no test at the end. There is no end. When you have made something of your own, give it away.