Part of the ritual is to induce and facilitate a change in consciousness, to enter trance. Ritual articles are considered special and kept from outsiders. Members go through a series of initiations and degrees. The magical knowledge of the group is kept secret. Most magical world views include a belief in reincarnation, alchemy, the Atlantis myth, and astrology and the other divining arts.
Many groups have a sense of at least a partial common history.
The works of the ancient mystery schools, the Gnostics, and more recently, Francis Barrett, Eliphas Levi, Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, MacGregor Mathers, and Aleister Crowley are all usually considered important. Groups vary in ritual, organization, in attitudes toward drugs and in the specific calendar used. All shades of belief in between those two are also held by magical groups. It is impossible to go into great detail about the history and suppositions of these groups, but several things should be mentioned. The Knights Templar, at least on the surface, appear to be important antecedents of modern groups.