Well, you got it. That's all magic really is. Discipline. Miracles do happen, but that's God, not a guy waving his hands. All the stuff about demons, banishing rituals, etc, that's allegory for your own imperfections, aka learning discipline. IMO its fine to do, if you know that that's all you're doing, but people do have a tendency to ascribe extra significance and elaborate stories to things. Or just be a Christian, and that has all the same lessons and probably less hubris.

I hope you're still on good terms with your Catholic friends. They really are good people - the doctrinal differences are insignificant. Maybe I'm butting into something and shouldn't...

Well, my aim is to be on good terms with all the faiths. I'd like to be able to attend mass, a Baptist church, a mosque, a synagogue, and a Buddhist temple all in one week, and people be okay with it. I've heard Christians say that's wrong, and I think they're wrong. God is God, and yeah there's a Deceiver out there, but God is still God. Its really simple math. Its kinda like one Bitcoin equals one bitcoin, or Satoshi saying he doesn't have time if you don't get it.

And to loop back to Masons... I've heard them say very similar things. They're not bad people. I'd know - I have a very sensitive Spidey Sense.