Customer Reviews

Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult (Disinformation Guides)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

If the occultophobes of the world had any sense, they would leave the Harry Potter series alone and forget all about it. THIS is the book they should be trying to burn.

Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult is a collection of essays and articles by leading voices in the occult world. A total of 40 written pieces take up roughly 350 pages here. A small sampling of these includes Phil Hine on magical initiation, Donald Tyson on the Enochian Apocalypse, and Boyd Rice on the connections between the Biblical Leviathan and the mythic Dagon.

An entire section is devoted to the infamous Aleister Crowley, his life's work, and those who took his ideas and ran with them. Fiction writer Grant Morrison (The Invisibles) delivers his philosophy on modern magickal practice as a lifestyle. Erik Davis discusses the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and its significance to the practicing occultist. Tau Allen Greenfield debunks the popular history of Wicca.

This book reprints an interview with late Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey by author/musician Michael Moynihan (Lords of Chaos, Blood Axis) and Dr. Stephen Flowers's essay "The Secret of the Gothick God of Darkness." Only Robert Mason's article on the "Ahriman Consciousness" seems strangely out of place; it reads more like a vaguely Christianized version of David Icke's conspiracy theories than the work of a practicing magician.

Be advised this is not a "spellbook" as such; a few articles give practical advice for starting points and point the way to further study, but the book as a whole is an exhibit, not a seminar. But it's a very well-assembled and stimulating exhibit; read it to learn, evaluate, and be inspired.

Young readers or newcomers to this area of interest may be surprised to learn here there is much more to the world of magic than astrology, Wicca, and themed-deck Tarot cards. This book is a joy in that it not only acknowledges the existence of a darker, more volatile side to the occult, but gives it legitimate coverage beyond a cursory two-sentence summary in dismissive, generalized terms. Get your copy now... before the book burners do.

Because I consider it my duty to buy any book with the words "Magick" or "Occult" in the title, I picked this one up against my better judgement. On the whole, my initial fears were that this would be cartoonish, poorly written and obtuse. Even the name, cribbed from one of Aleister Crowley's works, worried me. That being said, I am very lucky that I purchased this book anyway.

Richard Metzger, the compiler and editor of this collection, has done the occult world a great service by bringing together this series of articles and publishing them in one soft cover. Containing the works of authors such as William S. Burroughs, Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey, Timothy Leary, Donald Tyson and Robert Anton Wilson, this collection isn't any sort of theoretical discussion of magic. What you'll find here instead is a series of examples from fairly famous people who have actually practiced magic.

Many people who've been practicing or living magically for some time will still have a lot to learn from this book, just as I did. The examples are eye-opening in some cases, and at the very least thought-provoking in others. I often found myself saying "Wow... I've never thought of doing it THAT way."

My only real objection is the heavy emphasis on the use of illegal and illicit drugs. I understand that the use of these substances has been linked very closely with the occult, especially in the United States, but the way this book seems to promote the use of these substances upsets me. Still, there are enough examples of magic without drugs to satisfy my tastes.

All in all the book is very well put together, with a lot of detail, good editing and nice illustrations and pictures. I whole-heartedly recommend it to students of magic from intermediate to advanced. Beginner's might want to get a little more grounding before experimenting with some of these ideas, though. Good luck!

Intuition drove me to buy this book: I've always been skeptical about anything containing the words "magick" and "occult", as western propaganda is effective at doing its work, and they still aren't words I would use if I wrote a book on the topics deployed in the Book of Lies.

This book talks about philosophy, social change, drugs, history, mind and conscience, world abstraction,... I was gladly surprised by many of the articles, but I think the one which describes best what this book is about is "Are you illuminated?" by Phil Hine, which depicts the process in which westerners get near the edge of their own culture and begin a journey which penetrates deeper beyond the bounds of normal life and can initiate a process of self-destruction in our highly structured lives.

I used to think about Buddhism as a godless philosophy disguised as a religion; now I'll have to review my concepts on "western magick", and acknowledge the very reason why it is called "Occult".

Even if you have a bookcase full of every stripe of esoterica (and really, how many times did you need the LBRP explained to you, anyway?), you will find unique and varied wonders to entertain and delight you in this fantastic anthology. Really, there is nothing else like it in print.

On the other hand, if you are just starting to explore magick and the occult (and lean more towards William Blake and William Burroughs than heavy metal), this is a wonderful, literate place to start.

Finally, if you simply enjoy reading intelligent writing about revolutionary ideas and individuals, you'll find plenty here to interest you.

This anthology almost makes up for the fact that you can't find archived episodes of "Infinity Factory" on the web anymore.

This book is impressive.

Opening with an introduction by Grant Morrison and some of the chapters from his forthcoming (we hope) book, 'Pop Magick!', The Disinfo Book of Lies is a beautiful and above all else -useful- collection of varying magical practises.

This is not to say that it is a flawless piece of work; a few 'articles' left me with a definate bad taste in my mouth. However, these are easily occluded in the overall quality of the other works. Even the articles by Genesis P-Orridge, whom I am definately not a fan of, were stimulating, well-written and worth the time.

A friend of mine put it best "Books on magic and mysticism always tell you to improvise and innovate, but never show you examples, suggestions, or ideas that may be considered innovative. This books shows you people that -have- and -continue- to create effective, original and resonant magic."

Buy This Book.

This book, although just a collection of essays, is a must-read for anyone seriously interested in the occult. The information is extremely helpful and the numerous biographies of distinguished persons such as Jack Parsons and Ida Craddock are inspiring.

This book, unlike Metzger's MISERABLE TV series is a joy to have. If you are a person open to the idea of alternate realities then you will find some of the best speakers from that fringe world here. You should not think of this as a typical "disinfo" offering such as "You Are Being Lied Too". This material would more easily be imagined as a series of essays along the lines of subject matter Robert Anton Wilson might discuss. Much of it deals in one way or another with magick and alternate mind states.

Reminding me considerably of some of the old Rapid Eye tomes that were published by Creation Books back in the late 80s, the 'Book Of Lies: The Disinformation Guide To Magick & The Occult' certainly follows suit with a similar style and content that some of us Generation-Xers are already more than familiar with. That said and done however, the 'Book Of Lies' is primarily a work for the new generation of occultist; and yet even if you're not occulturally inclined this book would certainly not go amiss on your coffee table or on a shelf in your bathroom within reaching distance from the throne...

(...)

I like this book, it's a really good introduction into the "Hidden" side of reality.

Focusing, obviously, on the "Famous" ones to sell copies, I like that it goes into Spare and lots of other more obscure stuff.

After collecting a lot of modern books on magick, I've decided to purchase a book for "psyching" myself up to enter what I call "the mage mindzone". This book is the kind I was looking for. Disinformation's Book of Lies gives me a lot of inspiration I need when it comes to my lifestyle. This is good, so deviously good. Five out of five fireballs.