The Ritual Life: Companion Workbook & Study Guide (PDF)
You finished The Ritual Life with a head full of angels, orders, and arguments. This workbook is where you sort them.
Built chapter by chapter to match the book exactly, all twenty-two chapters across its four parts, the Companion Workbook & Study Guide turns a single reading into a study you keep. Each chapter opens with a short, spoiler-free orientation that sets up the question the chapter investigates, so you always know what to watch for before you read. Then it gives you the tools to dig in: the chapter's key terms and names defined the way the book defines them, a short reading from the primary record itself, discussion questions worth arguing about, and a three-question self-test so you can check what actually stuck.
The readings from the primary record come only from public-domain sources: Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy in the English edition of 1651, John Dee's angel diaries as published by Meric Casaubon in 1659 and in the edition of 1842, S. L. MacGregor Mathers's translations of the Key of Solomon (1889) and of The Book of Abramelin (1898), and The Book of the Law as first published in 1909. Everything else is a paraphrase, and the workbook labels it as one, plainly, on the page.
It also builds in the book's own honesty contract. The Ritual Life keeps three registers separate at all times: the archive (what the record shows), the temple (what practitioners claim), and the laboratory (what research shows). Every chapter ends with a short exercise that asks you to sort the material into those same three piles yourself: what the evidence says, what practitioners claim, and what nobody knows. That one habit works on every magical claim you will ever meet, in this tradition or any other.
Whether you read alone with a pen, run a book club, or teach the material, this is the companion that keeps the wonder honest and the thinking yours. Nothing in it requires you to believe in spirits, join an order, or perform a ritual: the book describes the tradition, and so does this workbook.
What's inside
- Coverage of all 22 chapters of The Ritual Life, in the book's own order, across all four parts: The Old Books, The Golden Dawn and the Beast, The System, and Magic in the Morning
- A spoiler-free orientation for every chapter, so the book's conclusions stay the book's to give
- Key terms and names boxes for every chapter, defined the way the book defines them
- A "From the primary record" reading in every chapter, drawn only from public-domain sources, with paraphrases clearly labeled
- 5 discussion questions per chapter, 110 in all, written for journals, book clubs, and good arguments
- 3 self-test questions per chapter, 66 in all, with a full answer key at the back that gives the reason, not just the letter
- A "three layers" sorting exercise in every chapter, built on the book's three registers: what the evidence says, what practitioners claim, and what nobody knows
- Ruled notes space in every chapter section
- A master timeline condensed from the book's own Appendix A, running from the Greek Magical Papyri to the present day
- A full glossary drawn from the book's own Appendix B
Who it is for
- Readers of The Ritual Life who want to go deeper than one pass through the text
- Book clubs and study groups working through the book together
- Teachers and homeschoolers who want ready-made questions grounded in the primary sources
- Anyone interested in ceremonial magic, the Golden Dawn, or Crowley who wants the history, the claims, and the psychology kept honestly separate
Delivery and format
- Instant download after checkout, delivered by Payhip as a single PDF file
- 55 pages, US Letter size (8.5 x 11 in), designed for home printing or tablet reading
- Print-ready with embedded fonts and generous margins for binding and handwritten notes
- Yours to keep: reprint the chapter sections as often as you like for your own study
The set: Ancient Worlds Bundle
All three companion workbooks are gathered as the Ancient Worlds Bundle, all three together at the best price, available now on this store. If you plan to read the whole shelf, the bundle is the way to own the set.
The Ritual Life: Companion Workbook & Study Guide. Written by Franklin Onikan, author of Gods of the Clay Tablets, The Ritual Life, and The Descent of the Watchers. Copyright 2026 Franklin Onikan. All rights reserved.