Customer Reviews

The Angel Summoner (World Religion and Magic Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hummm, what can I say to anyone wishing to buy this book? Simple!
I think that almost everybody worth his salt would be able to give more information in 25 pages than this book contains in 224. Like almost any New Age bubbles it could gives you a good idea of the concept of "infinite nothingness" but not much else. If you are searching for that, men I tell you: you are at (one of the numerous) good places! But if you are looking to practice angel magic, (I guess you do) you will not achieve that goal by purchasing that book. No Way! Now as I hate to finish anything on the negative side, l take this opportunity to recommand to all seekers some of the best books on the Magical Arts.

1) "Initiation into Hermetics" by Franz Bardon (the best ever).
If you have the money to buy only one book on the Magical
Art, make this one your choice.

2) "The Book of Solomon's Magick" by Carroll 'Poke' Runyon.
(The best PRACTICAL book on Solomonic Magic ever written).
Solomonic Magic revised into a coherent system. FINALLY!
Waiting for a second (Hardcover) edition.

3) "The Lesser Key of Solomon" (Joseph H. Peterson).(This one
is more scholarly than practical. In fact, it is probably the best scholarly work on the subject presently on the market. Seals of the spirits are sometimes clearly different and from a more reliable source than those issued from the too much popular MS 2731). Very good Job. Kudos!

4) "The practice of Magical evocation" by franz Bardon (once again 'The Great Bardon'). Another one to buy. Absolutely!

5) "The Ritual Magic Manual" by David Griffin. All the G.D. rituals. Absolutely complete, easy to follow and superb! If you want to first be initiated and then after deeply practice the G.D. ritual corpus, this book is your Nirvana.

6) "Visual Magick" by Jan Fries. A very very good book by an independant seeker and great magician. Focus on individual practices, sigilization, shamanism).Very great stuff for those (like me) who prefer an independant way to practice magic. In fact, everything by Jan Fries is great.

7) "Magick in Theory and Practice" (but yes Crowley is arrogant)

8) "Initiation to magic" by Julius Evola (not easy to follow but
great stuff)

9) "Taoist Master Chuang" by M. Saso (for those who loves the
Eastern paths, as I do and dont identified themselves to "Winnie the Pooh").

Good "REAL" Magic to all!

This book simply shows you little fragments of different sects of angel magick. And if you have been attracted by the phrase "ancient art of summoning and communicating with angelic beings", sorry but the books says little about how. The book has a handful of rare information, but the book does not help you out with how to use them. I think its better that u buy 5 different books on angel magick than gt this.

James' book is a historical summary of angelic magic from the beginning of time to today. His interest is historical, so the book has a more "objective " flavor than most books published by Llewellyn. Especially recommended for "armchair Magicians" (i.e., people who like to read about it but rarely do it.)

Read it! Loved it! Shared it with friends. This is one of the better books on Angel Magic I have read. I keep it on my nightstand just in case I need a quick review. Applause to Geoffrey James for his wealth of knowledge and his ability to write it in a clear and concise manner.

The book's title and publisher unfortunately lead almost anyone to assume that this is a how-to book as opposed to a purely historical account. The author and publisher probably share some blame in this area.

Far worse, I found that some of the historical sections seemed to be fundamentally wrong and suggested that the author had not done sufficient research on larger topics to move beyond hype relating to Druidic magic and the like (which to him seems to be nothing more than a large lump of European pagan magic). This error is compounded by placing fairy magic firmly within a Judeo-Christian context (rather than a Christianized context which would have been more accurate).

In line with these problems, I tend to be extremely skeptical of Mr James' conclusions relating to the age of various rituals and I don't see anything approximating a proper analysis of them in the book. I think that it is generally accepted that some elements of the rituals in various grimoires do go far back, but until proper analysis is done, one does not know what those elements were. On the whole, I suspect that A. E. Waite was fundamentally better qualified to give an opinion than Mr James.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy the biography of Dr Dee, and the brief summaries of the Golden Dawn, and the discussion of his experience watching an angelic conjuration, but on the whole, this means that the book does not live up to the author's intentions in my view, and I would thus recommend it *only* for these sections (which make up less than half the book).

I have read many books about angels, in english and spanish, but this one was superb.