Requirements Needed To Have Success In Occult Arts, Aye Options

Ever since i have been acquinted with the occult arts I KNEW THIS. I knew that the occult arts are not for everyone; just like not everyone can be a highly paid lawyer, or a marathon runner, or a singer in a heavy metal band, a mathematician or have a phd. The list goes on and on. Now i think Bym touched upon this too in one of his recent posts so kudos to him.

So i've been thinking lately, what are the requirements in order to succeed in the occult world DESPITE how diligent you approach the magickal systems? What i mean by that is no matter how diligent ( and how hard) a man with low intelligence tries to comprehend a magikal philosophy he probably won't fully absorb it as well as an astute student of the arts.
So again, what ARE the requirements?

1) Gift/natural talent. What i mean by this is that magick is not a science, it is an art. Having said that, ( now i think Darmage talked about this too prior to this post) you need some form of talent in order to achieve success in the occult arts. Just as chess or soccer or computer engineering, you need to have a natural desposition for the art in order to be good at it so to speak. It needs to be your destiny.

2) Intelligence. You NEED to have ATLEAST an average intelligence to be competent enough to absorb all those thousands of books and theories on complex matters with complicated language, metaphors and hidden meanings.

3) A strong memory. Without a strong memory how could you possibly remember ( and digest) all those facts and theories and statements written by those who have written books on occult related subjects? Not just that, but how will you be able to build on your vocabulary ( which is quite important I think since it will help the magickian tremendously when it comes to studying books ) without a strong memory? Not just that, but a strong memory will undoubtedly help the magickian memorize the conjurations/rituals etc as well.

Make a post below showing whether you have all of these ( or not) and how it has impacted your magickal lifestyle.

Comments , criticism welcome.

On the whole, I would agree, but memorization skills are just that--skills. This means they can be learned. Some people are better at it than others, but still, usually this is something that most people pick up in grade school.

I would add that persistence, a willingness to be flexible and to learn from your mistakes, and enjoyment are also critical to magical success. Effort is great, but if you're not having fun putting in the effort you'll get nowhere. That doesn't mean it's going to be entertaining all the time, but if the net effect is that you wind up loathing what you're studying, you're wasting your time. And giving up after only one or two tries likely means you weren't that interested in the subject to begin with anyway.

I've found that studying the occult arts most of my life has taught me to solve problems, work around things and/or accept things I can't solve, and generally roll with the punches that life inevitably dishes out. These are pretty mundane benefits, but they're also valuable ones, and I'm thankful for them.