Customer Reviews

Basic Sigil Magic

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

 

 

I picked this book up by accident, I'd ordered <u>Practical Sigil Magic</u> by Frater U.D., but this one had come in instead. I thought, what the hell, and bought it anyway. I now wish I hadn't.

The book is broken up into two parts 'The Psybermancer' and 'The Psybernomicon', it's unclear why. It's also unclear why the author spells magick with a 'c' in the title, then switches to 'ck' throughout the rest of the book. I'm not particularly bothered by which spelling is used, only that it be consistent.

After throwing out the mind - without giving a decent explaination as to why (pg. 15) and denying the power of emotions and their useful place in your life (pg. 16-17), Cooper then decides to do away with karma as well (pg. 17).

Before you can master the effects of your mind, you need to understand it, and in doing so, yourself. Take the example of emotions given (pg. 17) he suggests that 'each time you find that you are being negative, stop, remind yourself that your thinking will effect the outcome.' Denying how you think and feel will only surpress these thoughts and emotions until you burst, which can far more disasterous. He offers no real solutions to fears or doubts, just suggests you push it down a little deeper. He does away with karma, denouncing it as a useless concept, but doesn't seem to have a firm grasp of what it means, then decides to fabricate his own debt-system, calling it 'The Great Law of Tenfold Return'.

Copper's preference of Spare over Crowley seems not to have any real foundation, a common thread throughout this book. While I don't necessarily disagree, I would like to see an explaination given. The only quote by Crowley cited is secondhand, coming from a book by another author - it looks as though he's not even bothered to read Crowley before forming this opinion. There is no mention of Crowley in the bibliography.

The concepts presented in this book are barely even a rehashing of everything that's already been established much more effectively by other authors, and in more depth. The only new concepts he presents are baseless and useless.

I found this book to be a useless load of rubbish. Perhaps this ridiculous magickal philosophy is explained futher in his other works, but I found this one such a waste of time that I'm not inclined to persue them.

Of 110 pages in my edition, only 9 pages offer clear sigil info; Cooper admits he's lifted that info from another author -- and it was info I already had from a class I was taking. I had hoped this book would elaborate on class material.
The rest of the +100 pages seem irrelevant to the title: a mix of derision against other beliefs, and explanations for basic wicca (magick etc), visualization, and chakra info which can be found in hundreds of other books. The hundreds of other books, however, will also likely give better foundations for these concepts, and without having to wade through Cooper's ranting and railing. Out of the thousands of books I've read or owned, this is 1 of only 3 books which I will throw out.
I wish I had known of Cooper's other titles before I considered this book -- unfortunately, I relied too heavily on the misleading number of explanatory drawings to make this purchase. Do some research on this author before you buy.

I expected at least a bit of useful information from this book.. and it was totally useless to me. The author spent the all but a few lines merely summarizing modern metaphysical practice and his opinions on the matter. When he did finally get to the point of the book, it was pitiful.

I picked up a copy of this book because I was looking for another method of working magick and I`ve had an interest in sigils for awhile now. When I read this book I was highly disappointed with how the author basically says that anyone who believes in Karma or some other type of fate is just wrong. The author never gives a logical reason as to why he thinks the philosophy of Karma is wrong, but rather just says it`s wrong. The author also has a tendency to ramble on and on about how magick is created from the subconscious rather than mentioning at all the other idea of sending out energy to the universe to cause change in your life. I give this book 2 stars because if you have no knowledge of sigils at all you may find some useful information here. However, if you do have knowledge of sigils or if you are part of a religion that believes in Karma I wouldn`t waste my money on this book. You`ll just get angry with the author and want to throw this bok out the window.

i did not enjoy this book.

it takes a Very Simple technique, and adds a whole bunch of useless fluff to it, without giving much explanation of theories, or even any new ideas on "gnosis".

What makes magick work, is the ability to communicate our intentions to our subconscious mind and the most effective way of doing this is via symbols or sigils. This book explains the significance of sigils, how to create them and how to charge them with psychic power. The work is divided in two parts: The Psybermancer and The Psybernomicon. The first deals with the basics of magick, critical self-analysis, magical preliminaries including the altar and equipment, rituals and formulas, the creation of sigils and a discussion of inhibitory an excitatory gnosis. The author provides extensive information on whirling gnosis and charging methods for the sigils. Chapter Six: The Master Ritual includes pieces on words of power, the use of sound and the colors of magick. The Psybernomicon examines the concept of color in magick in detail, including white, red, black orange, green, blue, yellow and silver, and the last chapter provides magical techniques and exercises. The book concludes with a bibliography and index. I found it to be quite an enjoyable read with simple instructions and sound advice.

I bought this book at a local shop today, and I have to say, I wish I had checked out the ratings here first.

Phillip Cooper takes 40 or so pages just to get to talking about sigils. Prior to that, he tells you how to think and what to believe to make sigils work, while interjecting at regular intervals how stupid the belief in karma, reincarnation, and other things he does not ascribe to, are.

This book told me a little about magic in general, and in that regard it was slightly helpfull, if only for giving me other topics to research. But the negatives outweight the positives in the book so much IMO, that it is not worth considering.

If I can find the reciept for the book, Im returning it. But if I cant, like another reviewer said, it will be one of the few books Ive ever thrown out.

I'm a little surprised at the low rating this book is receiving. I'll admit that it is a basic introduction to sigils, and of all of Cooper's books, I use this one the least, but it is still a very adequate and complete introduction to basic sigil magick. Many people seem to be dissappointed that sigil magic is so simple - but that is the whole point behind the technique. Personally, I was dissappointed with Frater U.D.'s sigil magick book because it took many pages to cover what Cooper did in a fraction of the space. Cooper took those extra pages to give the student of magick some very useful and practical tools and advice. What people call filler is really Cooper's personal approach to magic, a very clear and streamlined approach (see my review of "Basic Magick" for a more in-depth review of that system). The much criticized second half of the book is a basic division of magical symbolism along the lines of color, much like Peter Carroll presented in "Liber Kaos," but it is very different from Carroll's system, and just as valid as any other symbol system presented in the countless books on magic(k) on the market (though I do find the planetary division presented in "Basic Magick" more to my liking).
The majority of critics seem to take much offense at Cooper's so-called "arrogance," and his animosity towards guilt-laden beliefs like karma, the law of three, and original sin. I find it interesting that Cooper's enthusiastic defense of personal responsibilty and freedom incurrs such vehement criticism. I also believe what most people see as arrogance is really a misunderstanding of the author's intentions. Cooper is very passionate about people taking control of their lives back from the illusions that have held them back for so long. I find it refreshing that he calls belief in unnecessarily restrictive and spiritually crippling ideas like the most common interpretation of karma and sin "silly," and "unscientific" because that is exactly what those ideas deserve to be called. It might be an interesting exercise for those who take such offense at Cooper's criticism of karma and the like to take a look at their own criticism of Christianity, Satanism, or any view that they personally find ridiculous. The man is taking a firm stance, and that is something to be commended, if for no other reason than that it is so rare in the all-too Politically Correct (and hypocritical) environ of the "occult community."
"Basic Sigil Magic" is just what it claims to be - an introduction to sigils and how to use them in magical ritual - and, personally I can't find much fault in that.

The title sums it up.Bought it months ago.Did not find it worth finishing.Yes,there are worse books out there.But,better are available.What disgusts me is the current price asked by sellers.

The problem with most truths are that they are so plain Jayne simple, they by-pass our focus completely because as human beings we need stimulation to grab our attention and truth doesn't stand up to the fancy of (dare I say) drivel. However, this book isn't crap, it's just not good. Like many books, it starts off good but ends with dross. Honestly the basics of sigil enchantment (as I like to call it) could be presented on one 8 x 14 1/2 piece of paper. A book of this magnitude fails because it falls into a few traps such as a new approach to power and how everything previously presented and different ain't the way yet it includes such formulas albeit altered to bring acceptance by a synthesis and thus the contradictions commence.
The book can serve as a launch pad to a few key things by honestly, I feel that there are better books on the subject.