Perhaps you're an apprentice just leaving the tutelage of your master, a journeyman between profitable regions, or even a recently uprooted master. Whatever your station, whether the blame lies with you, none of this will this grimoire address. Instead I will focus on how you can gain a foothold or turn back your personal fortunes through the lens of my experience. It is the birthright of all those who are capable of planeswalking to establish their own domains and spread our Gift.
My travelings have brought me to a realm that appears to be ruled by under-sized equines, almost none among them fit to be a steed. The peculiar part is that they also have high amounts of innate magical potential, which was why I initially became interested in this world. I had observed some of their goings-on and approached a medium-sized village in an amicable manner, and they appeared to be as friendly as they looked. Upon cultural exchange of magical practice, just a harmless sample to gain their trust and gauge their alignment to the Gift, the niceties fell away. I elected to simply observe their society after this, and begin the first step of sovereignty: Knowing your enemy.
I believe most people would be hard-pressed to call these creatures enemies. Most people are also not prepared to become truly powerful. The culture of these ponies (as they call themselves) inhibits the personal growth of their own citizens and anyone who is too closely aligned to them. This dynamic is why I can simply live outside of their world, needing to pass unseen in their settlements only for research: I was simply taught to be more independent than most of these creatures can countenance. It is most probably not their fault, as they are born herbivorous, and beings like this tend to cluster together for strength. However, one key difference between this society and a herd of animals on the plain as most readers would know them, is that they have a godhead, for lack of a better term. Two, in fact, though one seems to be a lot more popular. One represents the day, and is by far and away the avatar most ponies have a reverence for. I had thought the diarch of the night might perhaps be someone I would approach, but she had found me first, exhibiting a power to appear in dreams, and an utter lack of understanding to boot. Knowing now of this potential, I have taken greater care to shield my mind from intrusion than I had thought necessary.
I am now called a "dark wizard", as is all too common for practitioners of the Art. This gave me cause to parlay with the rivals of ponykind:
Griffons, whose internal strife and myriad unsettled blood-debts make them ill-equipped to be even a puppet-state.
Buffalo, with their disagreement over land-rights, which ultimately did not overcome a more base fear of the Art that all too many species exhibit.
And finally the Changelings, who had been driven nearly into extinction by forces from without, which was something I had not observed before in this realm. Typically, ponies are said to try and intervene and make peace or defend the weak.
The Changelings by far have been the most reasonable species to negotiate with, as they have the most to gain from a powerful ally. Instead of being herbivores or perhaps omnivores, though they are shaped like equines, they seem to metabolize the emotion of love, a hard-won admission from their leader. She seems to appreciate the power of the Art, even with her clear apprehension. We have come to understand one another as well as a man of my position can with another leader. Negotiations are certainly assisted by the fact that she, who calls herself "Chrysalis", is virtually the only creature of her kind I have need to speak to, on account of her collective consciousness. A useful skill in a leader.
We have had a much more productive cultural exchange, in the trades of stealth and espionage. I have my patron to introduce them to, and they have generations of experience with their quarry. Their leader has voiced on numerous, all too numerous, occasions that she intends to overthrow their "Princess". I have decided to join in this venture, because their species cannot evolve as it stands; They are simply too comfortable and inter-reliant despite many having the magical potential to be in small groups or even fully autonomous. By cutting their primary tether to their innate herd-instinct, I can create an environment more fertile for the Gift. The queen of this maligned society beginning to practice the true Art is no small part of why I have aligned with her, as it will certainly liberate her charges when it trickles through her mind. It is a blessing hidden to most that these ponies did not try to integrate the Changelings, they would have been a lot weaker for it.
After the bulk of our exchange, I have carved an ethereal path between her home and the site of my redoubt. It is a relatively small thing for a man of my station to shape the material world, even if it does feel oddly smooth on the thaumaturgic sense. For a species like the ponies, who are in no small part capable of flight, it is important to hide ones home underneath a heavily-wooded area so as to increase the amount of time before it is discovered. It helps that these woods are filled with creatures that are hostile to other forms of life, to deter scouts, and to be a source of material components for the Art.
There is one other equine-appearing creature in these woods, who appears as though she may dabble in the Art as well, though inquiring as to her practice seems a poor decision at this juncture: She is in a loose sense my neighbor and may try to track me down, if she hasn't caught eye of me already. I have taken rudimentary notes on her practices and ingredients in case they become useful.
In your home it is important to have everything in its place, that is to say, everything important behind two or more wards. Spirits from the creatures you harvest for your spell components can be repurposed into servants for the home that are not seen, but are bonded to do your bidding. Your productivity and ability to plan are magnified when you do not have to leave your study. When possible, the home of a magus should not appear to be a home from the outside: The easiest method is to create an underground space or build into a cave, being sure that you are indeed capable enough to dispatch or escape from any previous inhabitants.
When you're preparing every avenue for your personal sovereignty, you have to get creative. In this realm I have discovered the most magical potency for the least body-mass - The humble Breezie, a creature which looks like a pony of this realm, but small as a pixie and with long antennae. They appear at first to be incredibly weak creatures, most insects being readily capable of defeating them in single combat. Grouped together and shielded with your magic, with a little suggestion to get them to work in their best interest, they are a force to be reckoned with. A swarm of them only a little larger than the average pony is capable of scrambling the scrying framework that covers their capitol city. In the dead of night, I am fairly certain that the protectors of Celestia and Luna (The aforementioned diarchs) do not know what the flickering magical blob was that caused a ripple through the thaumic frequencies. That is a mere taste of what we will be capable of marshaling in my joint efforts with this Chrysalis, provided she does not act rashly. Of course, her hive has been surreptitiously warded to detect mass movement should she act on her own, because I will be deploying everything I have prepared to that point if she acts. I will not allow her to squander the chance for a new species to become an avenue for the Art to progress.