Customer Reviews

Learning Ritual Magic: Fundamental Theory and Practice for the Solitary Apprentice

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

 

 

THIS BOOK IS ONE OF THE BEST PURCHASES I HAVE MADE IN MY LIFE.
It is an incredibly in-depth and extensive introduction to practical magic, and is an invaluable tool to help develop the skills of meditation, concentration, observation, imagination, visualization, memory, and will power. Also, it is an excellent introduciton to tarot cards, Qabalah,number symbolism, the theory of the five elements (water-earth-fire-air-spirit) and an incredibly vast range of esoteric/occult philosophy... all of which intertwine and overlap, and mix in with the practical work. I am absolutely amazed at how much substance and depth has been packed into every chapter.

encountering magic can be difficult without a starting point or guide- the subtitle of this book says it all, it is a way for people to start on their own. Each chapter is organized in a very clear and straightforward stye, and each chapter is a lesson that you work on over two weeks (or more, if you have time constraints). The lessons develop on eachother, so the book takes about 9 months to finish... getting through it and doing all the exercises is, in itself, a great way to develop your willpower!

The rituals taught in this book are the Qabalistic Cross, the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, and the Middle Pillar exercise. These are rituals are all from the Golden Dawn tradition, and are basically meditation and visualzation exercises intended to develop your inner faculties. While the rituals are excellent, i find the real value of this book is the tarot exercises and work with the Tree of Life... while these are essential and fundamental aspects of occult philosophy/practice, it can be difficult to find an entry point into learning about them. The exercises in the book guide you through incredible exercises that provide an incredible practical way of learning about the tarot, Qabalah, number symbolism, and much more. there is also great emphasis on learning about your psyche and increasing body awareness.

I had also considered buying Kraig's "modern magick", and Newcombe's "21st Century hermetics", but decided against them when i compared them against this book. i am extremely happy with the decision! compared against the other two this book seems far more practical, and more likely to provide an intensive/thorough experience for people who want to develop their inner abilities.

I'm half way through this book now, and though i like to wait until i'm totally finished, i felt i should put up a review to help people who may be considering buying this book or others like it. i can gaurantee that the reason other people have not reviewed it yet is because it is a book you need to work with over a long period of time. this might scare people off, but ultimately what you get out of anything is proportional to the effort and time you put into it... i look back over the parts i have read again and again, and astonished that the book always reveals deeper layers of meaning with every read. definitely one of the best purchases of my life...

I highly recommend this book to those interested in exploring the Western Mystery Tradition. The authors start you out immediately with practical work that builds on itself. On top of that, you have mandatory reading from other occult works. After a few weeks, you will know if you are cut out for it and if you want to continue.

For me, it helped me build a daily routine in which I dedicated myself to the work. After four months, I felt competent to begin working on the Cicero's Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition without stumbling over the beginning exercises.

All in all, from personal experience, this is a great way to get started in your studies and practice.

In other books of magic, the teaching begins with elaborate memorization and the learning of rituals. Greer, King, and Vaughn take a slightly different approach: Instead of providing their reader with spells and magical rituals (though there are some), they choose to provide the student of magic with a series of training exercises that the beginning magician should perform in order to be a more effective magician.

The difference is profound. As Jason Miller wrote in The Sorcerer's Secrets: Strategies in Practical Magick, "First comes the working, and then comes the work." Yet one can perform all the magical rituals in all the books in the world, and still not be able to magic one's way out of a paper bag. As Greer, et al demonstrate, magic is about changing consciousness. That means relying on what they call the five-finger exercises: for meditation, for entering into stillness, for cultivating mindset, for understanding the Tree of Life, and more. One cannot become a rockstar songwriter-guitarist without practicing guitar and learning the fundamentals of rhythm, melody and lyric poetry; one cannot become a rockstar magician without practicing magic, but also practicing the underlying qualities that make a magician effective.

This book is hard work -- hence my rating of four stars, not five. This book will NOT make the reader a better magician. It will providing you with a series of training exercises that will make you a magician... if you do them.

The book makes use of reading exercises for which one can read from Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah, Israel Regardie's The Tree of Life: An Illustrated Study in Magic; though there are other other writers to choose from; it's also important to have a Tarot deck... I used the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck, and it's useful to have a very simple deck from the very first day one works with this book.

My only concern for kabbala was to learn what it's all about. By no means to actually practice it. So by that account I would give this book only 1 star, but I'm being fair in the fact the it is very well written and easy to understand.

Most of all, that the author makes no insane gestures for the use of magic. So if you actually intend to engage in magic, then this is a good starter book. It's written to take a beginner by the hand through the process of preparing for hard core magic practice. A 9 month training regime.

This book is somewhat unique in the field of introductory magical books in that it doesn't really deal with history or provide multitudes of rituals. It focuses instead on slowing and steadily building up a bedrock of foundation for a spiritual practice. On one hand, this is somewhat off-putting to me, as it seems to take far too long to get to even the most elementary ritual practices, but on the other, this might be a good approach for a total and absolute beginner. Personally, I shelved this book and never did much with it.

I picked it up at the library, but after only a brief read I have to buy it for myself. I'll use the library book until it arrives... then send it back to the library for someone else on the path! This was in the NEW BOOKS
section, hooray for my librarians!

This book is too much into WhiteManWorld, too much describing the finger instead of what the finger points at. Getting out of the box of White Man culture is not so easy, for those who live in their heads. One needs to spend time in Wilderness, or solitude, alone, to let the spirit bubble up into consciousness, no book can substitute for that. Some other books help with this subject-Lost Secrets of Ancient Hawaiian Huna, Volume 1 Secrets of Shamanism: Tapping the Spirit Power Within You, The Future Is Yours: Do Something About It! and ThetaHealing. There is a Sufi story about moths, and the only moth that really understands the candle is the one who gives himself totally to the light, and the light gives itself to him. This applies to shamanic work. Shamanic techniques work from the larger self, especially in service to others. Shamanism means working with the subconscious, and at times superconscious minds. It cannot be apprehended by the conscious mind, the ego. Without a strong intent of service to others, many things just don't work, or work only slightly. Whispers of the Ancients: Native Tales for Teaching and Healing in Our Time gives you some idea of how very different natives storytelling is, how stories shape the Universe, and so does House of Shattering Light: Life as an American Indian Mystic, & Journey to the Ancestral Self: The Native Lifeway Guide to Living in Harmony With Earth Mother, Book 1 (Bk.1) These are very good basic books, to getting out of the box of White Man culture. Wong Kiew Kit's books on Chi Kung show how ideas like this survive in Chinese culture. Western culture is lost in the literal, and won't look at the deeper meanings of its stories. Neville Goddard has ideas on this, as one example among many. So do Joseph Murphy The Power of Your Subconscious Mind (Empower Your Life) and Max Freedom Secret Science Behind Miracles and Serge King, in Urban Shaman. The other 5 star reviews are correct- by way- their needs were precisely fulfilled by the book. Read each review, see who you are, and you'll make the right decision.