The Magician: His Training and Work [Paperback]

Walter Ernest Butler (Author), W. E. Butler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1979

His Training and Work

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Wilshire Book Company (December 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087980212X
• ISBN-13: 978-0879802127
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #686,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, although a little too difficult for the begginer., September 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Magician: His Training and Work (Paperback)

This book is one of the best I know in the subject. When I first bought it about five years ago I could recognize this fact clearly. Nonetheless, it is my opinion that this book is not for absolute begginers. When I read it for the first time I understood some things, but others escaped my comprehension. The third chapter, for example, on Qabbalah, is quite technical and philosophical, perhaps even too "stratospehrical" for readers without SOME (not neccesarily large) formation on Qabbalah. Re-reading it now, after five years of constant work and study on the subject, all these doubts have been solved... but not precisely through THIS book. There is a good section on de Middle Pillar exercise and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, and an excelentet chapter on talismans which includes the three different and interesting theories regarding the magical charge. On the whole, it is a very good book about magical theory, and in this it is accesible even to absolute new-commers to the subject, although technicalities make it a little dense even to the experienced reader. I would say that this book is a must for students of the occult and arm-chair and practical magicians alike, but I don't give it five stars because even for the sholarly occultist it is sometimes a little hard. Nonetheless, anyone pursuing magical studies seriously should have read this book at least once. I would include it, along with Regardie's, Fortune's and Kraig's books in the list of "10 books a magician should read"

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Worthwhile, December 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Magician: His Training and Work (Paperback)

I agree with the previous review, I just wanted to add that I find the initial obscurity one of the great things about this book. It's written in earnest (no pun intended), and it deliberately sets out to avoid presenting the truths of magical thought 'on a plate', as so many of the more recent books on the subject attempt to do - with unfortunate results. The importance of independent thought and study is a maxim for anyone on the magical path - this book is full of useful information, and is likely to be one that the reader returns to periodically, to find that it sheds new light in unexpected areas. Highly recommended.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Introduction to Western Magic, May 28, 2007

By 

Understanding and Wisdom - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magician: His Training and Work (Paperback)

W.E Butler has written a sane, comprehensive and informative introduction to magic and managed to fit it all into a slim paperback.

During his life, Mr Butler travelled and trained in India and was also a friend of Dion Fortune, who he greatly admired.

He was involved with the Theosophical Society and their teachings as well as the Liberal Catholic Church.

He co-wrote the Helios Correspondence Course with Gareth Knight which would later become the Servants of the Light Occult school.

This work is now becoming increasingly more expensive and rare but well worth the effort one might put in to find it.

The book has had several different editions printed including the Melvin Powers edition for sale here, initially quite inexpensive.

There appear to be no new current editions available.