About eleven years ago, my entire magical career took a huge left turn.

That’s not an entirely accurate metaphor. What happened to me was more like spinning slices of the planet like a Rubik’s cube until a new destination was suddenly within easy reach to my left. THAT kind of “left turn”.

I began actively participating in Palo Mayombe. Long story, not going to relate it here because it’ll probably be a book. Suffice it to say, I made a complete and total departure from the type of magic I’d been practicing for the past thirty years. And, out of all the traditions I’d mastered over a lifetime, I quickly found out that Palo leaves them all in the dust in terms of speed, effectiveness and just plain raw power. I was in awe of the things I saw happen.

And yet, it wasn’t “Pagan”. At least, not in the way most magical traditions use the word. Some could argue that, as the oldest and most feared system of magic in the world, Palo is the MOST pagan tradition in existence. But that’s not how modern Pagans use the word.

There wasn’t any scripture to memorize, no fancy costumes, no volumes of holy books to be consulted, no charts or tables to determine the proper alignment of the stars, no Elizabethan monologuing inside a painted circle. Just straight-up, no-frills magic. And it worked better than anything I’d seen in my life (and those of you who know me know that’s saying something!).

So, for the past two years I’ve been studying and practicing, working with my companion spirit tucked away in his little house, and literally watching miracles roll off my fingertips. I’m not even initiated yet, and I’m blown away by how directly and immediately I’m getting results. And the other day I hit on a realization.

None of this was “pagan”. Was I even “pagan” anymore?

I wasn’t conjuring spirits to visible appearance across a circle, garbed in my robes and lamens. I was sitting down at their house with a cup of coffee and a cigar and having a pleasant chat with them. I wasn’t compelling them with chains and magic weapons. I’d bring them presents and they would do me favors. We talked like normal people, not like extras from King Lear. It was all so … normal.

And it was happening Right Now. That’s what makes Palo so relatable to me – it’s not focused on fifty years ago, or a hundred years ago, or a thousand. It’s going on Right Now, and the spirits understand about cell phones and the internet. They talk to me all the time, not just during consultations. They have completely practical considerations in mind when they work, and so far they haven’t asked me for anything all that outrageous or exotic.

About this same time, I noticed that I started having less and less interest in the various pagan groups I’d participated in before, especially the ones whose politics seemed to revolve around the various interpretations of obscure minutiae of ancient holy books. I mean really, who the fuck cares? I would read over various discussion groups and see all the meaningless blather, arguing over who said this and what source quoted that, and the various gematriatic manipulations of blah blah blah, and that was all I could think. Who. The fuck. CARES?

Does anyone care who has the “proper” lineage of Argentum Astrum anymore? Is there any way to even know? Let’s line up all the initiates and give each one a simple magical task to perform. And the Wiccans! Let’s see if they can stop bickering over who has indoor or outdoor plumbing and actually accomplish some goals with their lives! And the Golden Dawn can stop picking Regardie’s bones any day now, and start writing some fresh original material. Arthurians? Please. Khemites? Yawn. There’s so much bullshit on the market now that I could huck a handful of seed into Barnes & Noble and have a golf-course quality lawn inside of a week.

Everyone’s so god damn concerned with getting their fifteen minutes of name recognition that they’ve forgotten to create something to be recognized FOR. I’m doing more and better magic than I’ve ever done in a lifetime of epic magic, and I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of this. Maybe it’s precisely because Palo doesn’t have big-name pagan street cred that it’s free from all the trappings and baggage of “pagan” traditions.

Maybe that’s why I like it so much. I’ve stopped having to LARP a magical career and actually started living a magical life.