Customer Reviews

Hands-On Chaos Magic: Reality Manipulation through the Ovayki Current

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Hands On Chaos Magic is a strange book. Part grimoire, part self-initiation, moreso than anything else, the book is a tour through the underpinnings of magic. Don't mistake a "tour" for a quick or trivial read - this book is _dense_ - dense with ideas, exercises and enthusiasm. Nearly everything one needs for a rewarding magical practice is inside:

Calming/medidation

Trance-Generation

Sorcery

Invocation

Evocation (the section on servitor creation is particularly excellent)

And Psychology? In a magick book!? Fortunately, unlike some attempts to meld psycholgy (as a discipline) into magick, Andrieh uses an understanding of how the mind works to help hack rituals, etc. making them simpler and more effective.

Divination, unfortuantely, gets a "you should totally learn this...somewhere else." It would have been welcome to see Andrieh's spin on this topic, at least giving it a chapter with an exercise or two especially as many of the later exercises incorporate divination.

The book is broken into a series of short chapters with exercises (sometimes referred to as "games") sprinkled throughout. The exercises range from some "training" exercises to more advanced workings and rituals. Some are solo, some meant for groups, They're well thought out and more often than not...fun.

That fun can be deceptive - the rituals are fun, yes, but often serious and require honesty and intensity from the magician. Fortunately, the book is paced well, with the short chapters providing a well-thought out and comprehensive approach to building skills that will enhance the later rituals.

As with most chaos magic books, there is no overarching mythology in the book - the concepts are applicable to any tradition. The lack of such a mythology may be offputting for those who like/expect that sort of stuff, but that same freedom lets the concepts and techniques fit right into any practice that you may currently be undertaking, whether just starting out or if you're looking for a new way of looking at the old favorites.

Highly recommended.

When I first encountered Andrieh Vitimus' work; "Hands On Chaos Magic" I was seriously skeptical. I have been a Ritual Magickian and Hermeticist for over 35 years. I have studied ALL of the ancient, historical, and modern authorities in the lineage. However, I have had the perception that Chaos Magic was just a manifestation of a desire for Magickal power, without the willingness to dedicate oneself to hard work and study. I associated Chaos Magic with dilettantes who dressed in black, had a bunch of piercings, lived in their parent's basements, and had read 4 books in their entire lives. I discounted them and anyone who identified himself as aligned with them. The label Chaos Magician was an insult, as far as I was concerned.

Reading Mr. Vitimus' book has changed my beliefs about Chaos Magickians or at least caused me to accept an exception, in his case. He is truly a Master, although in a different discipline from my own. I have examined the theoretical aspects of his work as well as the application, and most importantly the 'games' he uses to illuminate the teaching of his material. I most highly recommend this book and endorse its author. He has created a tome far superior to the writings of any other in the field.

If you can only buy one book this year on Magick, make "Hands On Chaos Magic" that book.

Andrieh Vitimus' new book- 'Hands On Chaos Magic' is a magical training workbook that makes the techniques understandable and accessible for everyone. Andrieh explains the concepts in a way that is clearly understood, easy to apply, and comes across with a genuine tone and great sense of humour. He doesn't show the common dry "high magical speak" common of many books that deal with magical education. This book is very informative and FUN to work through- the exercises make ones magical practice something to look forward to! The techniques are not only useful in magical practice, but also in mundane life as well- exercises for controlling emotions, various techniques for changing personal patterns to create a better life, as well as the solid magical techniques for becoming a better magician.

I highly recommend this title to ALL audiences- from beginners to advanced practitioners alike- there truly IS something for everyone here. And if you get a chance to work with Andrieh at one of his in-person appearances- definately do so! He is an experience not to be missed!

I am so very thrilled to have this book added to my library. It is a well thought-out labor of love. I would recommend it to both the beginning or adept occult practitioner as well as anyone who is seeking to improve their life in all aspects. "Hand-On Chaos Magic" prompts the reader to grab hold of the personal power within and allows one to reach into the furthest depths of the imagination. As an artist, I have found the words of Andrieh Vitimus to be extremely useful in removing creative blocks that might otherwise hinder my inspirations.

This work is well written, easy to work with, easy to understand, practical, entertaining and free from the "rules" which stifle us all.

Thank you, AV, for an incredibly AWESOME workbook and WONDERFUL read!

Andrieh Vitimus has joined Hine and other Chaos Magic Legends in producing a concise, user-friendly guide to practicing Chaos Magic. Not for the faint of heart, Chaos magic is not for everyody, but the techniques in this book are so Universal in their appeal, as to have something for all magicians, beginning to Master level regardless of their discipline. This is destined to be one of the best selling Occult Publications of our age and I suspect will soon become a classic. Highly reccomended reading and for use for advancement.

I was thoroughly impressed with this book. It's not really a book, it's an epic, a great work. It is long and really involved, and if you are not a serious occultist magician, then you will lose patience with it, cause it's almost 400 pages. If you want to get good at pretty much everything, like energy work/manipulation, healing, hexing, in/evocation, servitor creation, etc, this is the book for you. The author pretty much points you in the right direction to get as powerful as you want in any type of magickal skill.

If you are looking for fluffy bunny light reading, this is not for you. If you want a serious introduction that leads to much more advanced work in nearly any magickal skill, this is the book you should get before all others. It's my opinion that it was probably intended to be the only book that the author wanted to write about learning magick. He does not mention any other books he may have written to try to tempt you to buy them, but he does frequently mention books by Phil Hine, Peter Carrol, and the NLP guys that he has learned a great deal from, the knowledge that he passes onto you.

There is no dogma attached to this book, aside from the suggestion that you should work with or worship any spirits that you deem appropriate to help you achieve your goals. There is no harsh tone or one way to do things mindset either. It's very open to allow you to experiment and find what works the best for you. It's not freaky and gothic like Konstantinos or Raven Digitalis, but it does have some rock solid material that could hurt you if you are not careful with it. Warnings are provided.

Some possible short comings of this book would include

a LOT of energy, invocation, evocation, and entity creation exercises that are best done with a partner. If you have a few friends that are into magick and practice together, this would instead be a very GOOD thing, but if you are a solitary practitioner, this is somewhat limiting.

The chapters on astral projection mainly detail building the astral temple, and some basic astral work, that involves expanding previous exercises in the book, such as ways to combine AP with invocation and evocation. The actual method of achieving astral projection is not well detailed as it is in other books on the subject, but this is NOT a book about APing, it's more of a very well done complete energy magician's guide.

Again, a LOT of exercises are well thought out and detailed, and even made into games, and if you spend the recommended time doing them, you will get a LOT out of this book, even though it would be somewhat time consuming to get good at them, not unlike any serious hobby.

I tend to agree with the author that magicians are born, not made. But, we all possess a degree of psychic talent and it's up to us individually to explore the limits of that talent. If you're interested in learning how to develop your prowess and to perform real magic then this book is for you. What you won't get from this book: high-minded philosophy; dogma; ritual; superstition; religion; the unnecessary trappings of ritual, such as robes, wands, and other props. What you will get from this book: real magic made simple and brought into the 21st century, a practical and daily applicable magic that, if you practice it, will work for you. Have I been able to actually manipulate my own future and create a better one for myself? Yes, I have. Although I was naturally gifted and discovered an an early age that I could manipulate energy quite easily to effect change in my life and others' I nonetheless have learned/adapted some great techniques from this book, and I use it, and I highly recommend it to all of my clients, and I have no compunctions whatsoever about highly recommending it to you. Use it and change your life for the better! The man speaks truth in a common sense, down-to-earth manner.

It's rare to find this kind of discussion...verging on conversation...in book form. Andrieh Vitimus takes the BS out of belief system and presents what feels like the straight scoop. I have been doing this in one form or another for a long time and this is the best read on the subject that I have come across. Congratulations on a classic!

Throughout the bookstores and the internet, I scoured for good chaos magic books that's light-hearted for my tastes. I read about Hands-On Chaos and checked out its preview and reviews. The first thing that came to mind is "fun yet helpful". I ordered the book and within a week it came. My intuition was right. It's fun because of its excercises and its many references to popculture. It's helpful because it has a lot of suggestions that could improve your personal magic. For a chaos magic book, Hands-On Chaos is a delightful read yet it greatly supplements my practices. My only complaint is that it lacks illustrations (to show examples of what the author is talking about) but the great deal of content makes up for it. If you're a novice, this book should be included in your studies. Regardless of the chaote's experience, Hands-On Chaos is a great book.

This book is a non dogmatic fantastic read. If you want to learn real techniques to manipulate your own reality- this is the key. Andrieh lays it out in simple easy to understand manner that is superb. If you ever get a chance you should go to his Chaos Magick Boot Camp. It is a truly a unique opportunity to learn how to transform yourself. If you give it a chance it will change your life. Check Andrieh's site for details on his next boot camp.