Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts (Llewellyn's High Magick) [Paperback]

Donald Michael Kraig (Author)

Book Description

Series: Llewellyn's High Magick | Publication Date: 1988

"Modern Magick "is the most popular, most complete, step-by-step instruction manual on how to do real magick that has ever been published. Already over 100,000 people are using it.
Author Donald Michael Kraig wrote this after teaching the information in classes for ten years. It is refined, tested, and easy to understand. It is filled with exercises, techniques, and rituals to help you. It is presented in a series of eleven lessons. Follow the lessons, practice the rituals and techniques, and by the end of your work you will be a magician.
What does it cover? Rituals, healing, initiation, talismans, astral travel, creative visualization, psychic self-defense, evocation of spirits, the Kabalah, physical exercise, and magical tools such as wands.
Want more? You'll also learn the secrets of true meditation, how to use the Tarot, how to remember your dreams, how to do the rituals of Western Magick, including rituals of the Pentagram, Hexagram, Middle Pillar, Rose Cross, and Watchtower. You'll learn how to manipulate magical energy, secrets of relaxation, Wicca, pathworking, Tantra, and sex magick.
Once you have finished working your way through this book you will be an accomplished magician. You will be able to perform real magick. Then this book will become the most valuable reference tool in your collection of books.
What if you want to know even more about a subject? No problem. Each chapter has a bibliography so you can go even deeper into any topic. There is an annotated bibliography at the end with even more resources.
In the new, second edition the contents pages contain more information so it is even easier to find what you need, but there is also an entirely new appendix with answers to many of the most frequently asked questions that Kraig has received over the years. This book is a must!

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

I still remember reading the manuscript of Modern Magick. Today, as I look over the second edition of this book, I remember why I was so impressed with it back then and remain impressed now: format and breadth.

The breadth of this book is amazing. It covers so many topics that you will be astounded. From Witchcraft to Kabalah, from reincarnation to astral travel, from charging talismans to pathworking up the Tree of Life, this book has it all. Do you need to know rituals for banishing? They're here. Do you want to learn how to make magical tools? It's in this book. Do you want the secrets for safely calling up spirits from the famous grimoires? You can learn it here, too, along with the secrets of sex magick and Tantric sexuality.

But all of these exercises, rituals, and techniques — all of this information — is no good unless you can make use of it and understand it. That is an area where this book really excels. Instead of simply throwing out all of the material at once, this book has a progressive format. What you learn in lesson two is based on what you learned in lesson one. What comes is later lessons is based on your study of the previous ones. Because it is progressive, Don doesn't have to waste space by repeating what came earlier. But because you constantly use everything, you can go much deeper into every subject.

If you have a first edition of this book, be sure to get a copy of the second edition. It adds a section on answers to common questions and more informative contents pages. I think you will be excited with it, too. I know of many people who have worn out two or three copies of this book. Entire magical orders use it as their text. Isn't it time for you to begin?

About the Author

Donald Michael Kraig graduated from UCLA with a degree in philosophy. He has also studied public speaking and music (traditional and experimental) on the university level. After a decade of personal study and practice, he began ten years of teaching courses in the Southern California area on such topics as Kabalah, Tarot, Magic, Tantra, and Psychic Development. He has been a member of many spiritual and magical groups and is an initiated Tantric.

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875423248
• ISBN-13: 978-0875423241
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #311,351 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

84 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a QUALIFIED review of this book-read here, January 29, 2005

By 

anonymous "!@#$%^&*(" (Richmond,KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts (Llewellyn's High Magick) (Paperback)

I have basically lived this book for about the last three years.I have taken my time in going through it and studying it and practicing the material thoroughly, both for practice and practical use.I have almost finished it now, as I only have two more chapters to work through.
I am not, however, saying the work is perfect.The main thing that attracted me to this book was its higher degree of usability.I had a pretty good background in magick (of the pagan style, mostly) long before I picked up this book.I knew of the western (hermetic) tradition but I had never found it easy to put the material into practical use. In too many high magick books, they just throw the information at you with no explanation at all of how to use it.This book actually explains it to a much greater degree.For me, it was the missing piece of the puzzle that opened up high magick for me.
The results have been astounding.Suffice it to say that I have done things with the knowledge in this book that scientists (and other people who lack common sense) would deem absolutely impossible.I have not studied this book alone,but in conjunction with the works of Agrippa,Crowley,Regardie, and others.I have NEVER blindly followed the author's view on anything.And I must say, he never encourages anyone to treat his writing as gospel truth.At times, I have altered the practices (in small ways, mostly)
to fit with my own style of magick.
To the beginner in Magick, this book is a godsend.But don't treat it like a bible, and always get more than one opinion when trying to research the occult.Magick is not an exact science but an intuitive art,so don't trust just one author. i have found things in the book that did not make sense to me:for instance, in the elemental consecration rituals, the names that are used to charge the tool are NOT the same names that are actually written on the tool! they are all mixed up.
the holy name for fire is abbreviated and used to charge the air dagger.the holy name for air is shortened from SHADDAI EL CHAI to just EL, and is supposedly used to charge the fire wand.and it is so on from there.The right names are there, but they seem misplaced.For myself, I chose to set them right, as I see no benefit at all in charging an elemental tool with a name that corresponds to a different element entirely.I would recommend this to anyone.
here is a reading list to help you negotiate Kraig's book and cross-reference it with other(sometimes more reliable) matieral:
"3 books of occult philosophy" by henry cornelius agrippa
"777" or any other book by Crowley
"A garden of pomegranates" by Israel Regardie
"the golden dawn" by Israel Regardie
"the mystical qabalah" by Dion Fortune
"the chaldean oracles" attributed to Zoroaster

86 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This IS the ONE for beginners and experienced as well, September 2, 2002

By 

Ixus "radion" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts (Llewellyn's High Magick) (Paperback)

After all those years of wondering about magick and trying to find a book which really teaches you the REAL secrets of magick, this book wins the ultimate MUST HAVE. Very good for those who are starters in Magick. This book lets you understand and learn the Whats, the Hows, and the Whens of Magick. You will be able to understand other books on the Occult once you have finished reading this book. Most of the beginners would like to jump to COOL Magick like Goetia - then upon reading it and trying to summon things - nothing happens - then you start wondering if you have to read between the lines, well, in a way yes. So, before jumping to those more advance versions of Magick, this book will be your guide to understand what Magick is and how to use other Magickal or Occult books.
I know many who likes to skip chapters just to learn what one wants to learn. If you are serious in Magick, take your time to go from the beginning. You need to build up sufficient knowledge of how to let Magick happen. As for experienced Magicians, I would say that this is a good reference.
This book is mainly based on Kabbalistic Magick and a few Low Magick (nature magick). Too bad there isn't much on Enochian. I've been followin the lessons in the book and I can say that: its not complicated and Magick WORKS (this statement are for those who are sceptics)!!
All in all this book provides you with good history in Magick though not in detail but still not too boring. For those serious in this, I would also recommend the audio tape to pronounce the difficult words there are in the book.

67 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on Magick (2nd edition), December 24, 2002

By 

J. Dougherty "Kalimir" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Modern Magick: Eleven Lessons in the High Magickal Arts (Llewellyn's High Magick) (Paperback)

MODERN MAGICK
by Donald Michael Kraig

There is a problem with the first edition of this book. In lesson 7 the olympic/planetary seals are totally messed up. Meaning he assinged Hagith (venus to the the seal of Phalec (mars) and so on and so forth. Now to the experienced magician they could spot this right away, but the beginner will have absolutly no clue that there is a mistake here. Now it does not matter if this is the authers fault or the editor's fault there is a mistake. Otherwise the book is very, very good but not excellent. I give the first edition four stars. Plus the talismans are ok I like the way he describes a way on how to make talismas and amulets in a pagan way.It has pretty good info on the subject of amulets and talismans. If you are interested in making talismans get Making Talismans by Nick Farrell. This may be the only book you may need for powerful and postive magick using talismans and amulets.
The second edition is much better where the mistake is corrected. But the auther from what I read did not mention there was a mistake in the first edition. Now on to the more postive review. The book is excellent for those who are interested in Ceremonial Magick. It deals with the magick of the Golden Dawn tradition. The chapters are divided in lessons. There are a total amount of 11 lessons. There is information of the Qabalah and the Tree of Life. He gives many rituals throughout this book, including the ritual of the pentagram, the hexagram ritual, the rose cross ritual and much more. The Watchtower ritual he gives is a more simplified version although very effective. You will find a lesson on sex magick here as well (you may not want to have your youngster read read chapter 10). In lesson 9 you will learn a bit on the Goetia. Also you will learn how to make some of the tools used in CM. Although he does give a brief history on wi! tchcraft and the oppersion of it throughout time this book does not have anything to do with Wicca at all. You will learn about talismans and amulets and how to create your own. You will learn so many thing from this book. This is suitable for the beginner who knows nothing about magick and is suitable for those who know about magick and has a lot of experience and wants to get into Ceremonial Magick. This book also makes a wonderful reference as well. Also I would like to mention that the second edition has a section on the frequently asked question on magick as well. Also at the end of each lesson this is refering to the first and second editions there are questions at the end of each chapeter about each lessons. I find this book to be valuable and intelligently written. This book is a hot seller the first edition has over a 100,000 copies in print! This is a book that I seriously recommed to anyone who is interested in learning CM. Kraig did great work with this! one!
Five stars for the 2nd edition *****