Damien Echols is an Occult Author

Back in 2015, Damien Echols wrote an article for Vice about how he used meditation and magical practices to keep himself sane on death row. Echols was one of the West Memphis Three, a group of teenagers convicted of the murder of a young boy mostly because they were "weirdo loners" and because Echols was interested in occultism.

That provided prosecutors with a motive back in the Satanic Panic days, since what the fundies were going around telling law enforcement is that occultists did what they did "just to be evil" - as opposed to, say, casting spells that have an actual function and are intended to produce practical results. Echols has now written a book on the practices he was able to keep up in prison. The book covers pretty standard Regardie/Golden Dawn methods - LRP, Middle Pillar, and so forth - but Echols offers his personal experience of how these rituals and techniques can be employed in extremely difficult circumstances.

Though our culture has consigned “magic” to fiction, stage illusions, or superstitions about dark practices, the magick Damien learned is an ancient Western tradition equal the Eastern practices of Buddhism, Taoism, and yoga in its wisdom and transformative power. Here he brings you an engaging and highly accessible guide for bringing magick into your own life, including:

• What is High Magick? Damien clears away the stigma and reveals the history and core teachings of this extraordinary art.
• The Four-Fold Breath—a foundational meditation practice to train your mind and body to channel subtle energies.
• The Middle Pillar—how to bring divine energy into the central channel of your body for empowerment and healing.
• The Qabalistic Cross—a centering technique to help you stay balanced and protected regardless of circumstances.
• The Lesser Rituals of the Pentagram—powerful practices for banishing negative energies and invoking energy to manifest your goals.
• Working with angelic beings and other spiritual allies to support your practice.
• Creating thoughtforms to assist you in your ongoing magickal development.
• Guidance for overcoming your doubts, enhancing your visualization skills, creating talismans, practicing magick ethically, and much more.

“Magick is a journey,” writes Damien. “It’s a continuously unfolding path that has no end. You can study and practice magick for the rest of your life and you will still never learn everything that it has to teach you.”

Mark Stavish used to say that "nobody ever got enlightened using the LBRP." That's probably a true statement since generally speaking you need to invoke in addition to banishing in order to make real spiritual progress. But I think it's safe to say that Echols offers a unique perspective on these rituals and their overall effectiveness. Yes, you can do magick on death row without tools or implements or anything really, and it can and does work. Echols' example shows that these well-known rituals can indeed by part of a comprehensive spiritual practice that expands and uplifts your consciousness.