I spend a bit of time using keyword searches on file sharing sites. It’s almost an act of divining itself, based on the interesting results I achieve and new paths I am led into.
I think it was something I was reading by Lon Milo DuQuette that referred to something by Poke Runyon, which sounded interesting, so I started looking for material on Runyon. I found an article from GNOSTICA, vol 5, no. 9, whole no. 45 entitled Magick and Hypnosis. In the article, Runyon posits that the reason so many are misled on how to perform “magick” and what kind of results to expect from it go all the way back to the superstitions of Victorian and Edwardian magicians. As in, the element of self-hypnosis was there before, but they “left it out,” and what’s left is a confusing maze for the student. Can confirm. You can either read and study mountains of thou shalts and oddly specific incantations, or you can go into, or out of, your own head and find out the lay of the land for yourself. Hell, some practitioners have been doing it on their own long before they read a single word on how it’s supposed to be done. Why? Because they intuited the hypnotic element on their own.
In any case, the article recommends Leslie M. Lecron’s Self-Hypnotism: The Techniques and Its Use in Daily Living as a quick primer in mastering self-hypnosis, which he insists is required for any practitioner.