If It Was Easy, Everyone Would Be Doing It!, by Francis Breakspear, with contributions from Kate Hoolu and Dave Evans
Hidden Publishing, 9780955523731, 327 pp. (incl. bibliography and index), 2008
Francis Breakspear has written another light-hearted guide to magical practice, with periodic intrusions by the academically-inclined Dave Evans, and the sociologically-minded Kate Hoolu. Breakspear casts himself in the role of both taskmaster and as acts a source of comic relief.
I say this book is light-hearted, but it is also meant to be worked through, not merely read. Breakspear constantly calls upon the reader to examine themselves — attitudes, food habits, recreation, sex — and, further, challenges the reader to challenge themselves. Many of the exercises focus on expanding one’s self-awareness, and becoming more fluid in one’s sense of identity.
The title of the book serves as a refrain to remind readers this work isn’t always (or even usually) easy. There are numerous exercises, all very practical and geared towards expanding the new magician’s mind.
The chapters loosely gather a jumbled collection of opinion and experience, presented in a manner that’s straight-talking with little tolerance for bullshit, which is refreshing in an introductory text.
Following are two appendices, the first details the birthing process for the present text, and the second is labelled as a glossary, specifically a “Glossary of Important People, Groups and Concepts,” but follows a vague narrative flow, rather than being alphabetical, chronological or otherwise logically arranged.
If It Was Easy, Everyone Would Be Doing It! would make an excellent starting point for the novice magician.
