Customer Reviews

Mystical Dragon Magick: Teachings of the Five Inner Rings

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The is the continuation of D.J.'s first book Dancing With Dragons. This book takes one further on the path to working with Dragons by guiding one on how to enter the five rings of the Dragon realm. Dragons are true magickal power and only the serious minded should seek their ways. I purchased Dancing With Dragons when it first became available and I have been entranced ever since. I was thrilled to see this second book and discover the more intimate ways of seeking Dragon help. I loved the frist book, but I feel as if I can really connect with the Dragons in this book. I appreciate the fact that the path of the Dragon is taken seriously by Ms. Conway and Dragons are presented as the wizards, teachers, guides, and wise ones they truly are. These books open a tremendous world for anyone seriously seeking the Dragon path! I love all of D.J. Conways books and I hope she'll establish a more intricate website in the future!

One thing I've noticed about DJ Conway is that most people who learned dragon lore on their own usually don't like her. Many said she's read too much into Dungeons and Dragons, and it appears in her new book, she's traded D&D for Harry Potter. Each of the five "rings" is a set of lesson objectives, each set complete with its own title, uniform, symbol, color and honor code.

As per her last dragon magick book, Conway has come up with new ideas that are completely uniqe to her. She has layed out a map of the Muliverse the likes of which no one has ever seen, listed dragons names no one else has ever heard of, and she herself has even found a previously undiscovered element to add to the traditional Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light and Chaos.

Besides all these extreme claims, there is little in the book that few students of magick will find new, even when compared to Dancing with Dragons. Conway again covers colors, herbs, stones. She has added runes and astrology to the book, but nothing any serious student hasn't seen before. Finish it off with so called meditations that lead you by the nose as far as what you see and how it all makes you feel and what you'll say to whom and essential "tests" which you'll only visualize yourself passing anyway.

The only thing I can say is to connect with your dragon co-magicians and guardians and learn from them personally. If you haven't established that kind of relationship, work on it. There is nothing new, essential or even inspiring about this book.

After D.J. Conway's first book on Dragon Magick, I was hoping to see another, better, one- but not from her. As with her other books, it was merely some kind of Wicca with the word "dragon" thrown in at key intervals. This one is essentially the same, but with even more added to it. Elements from Shamanism (soul retrieval, power animals, etc) are brought into practice, and there's a shiny new powerful element, Storm, to work with (but be careful, it creates massive change and can be dangerous!). I REALLY like how, despite claiming to be working with both Eastern and Western dragons, you ONLY use the elements and associations mostly found in Wiccan practice, completely over-looking the fact that Eastern dragons would be more likely to work with their native elements (which AREN'T Earth-Air-Fire-Water-Spirit). I still find the element/colour correlations she uses to be ridiculous and very D&D, nor does the 'number of toes' thing make sense, considering that she only talks about dragons with four and five toes, while I've known several with three, which she doesn't account for. And what about those with less than three toes? More than five? Yeah, I thought so. Dragons, in my experience, aren't pigeon-holed into such classifications so easily as in this text.

I find it also funny how the system she uses to be fairly similar to that given in Miyamoto's "Book of Five Rings", and it is, in fact, found in her "Books of Interest" section in the back of the book. Someone else who was shown the dragon way? Or just inspiration for Conway's own book?

Another thing that irks me is the whole feminist feel of this book. If you notice, ALL the leaders of the 'dragon clans' are female, and there are at least two ALL-FEMALE groups. Not to mention the awkward use of 'her or him'. A bit ignorant to believe that females are most important, and this is coming from a physically female reviewer.

The meditations you find in this book really do just lead you by your nose; these aren't 'guided meditations'- they're scripted. She tells exactly what you're supposed to say and do, essentially hand-feeding you your 'experience'. I don't believe that's how such meditations are actually supposed to be.

And then, there is this talk of 'the Annihilator'. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't read it, but it's essentially just another scapegoat for our own innate faults, though that's not what she'd have you think.

There's also some story further in that has to do with Atlantis, space-faring people, and some other stuff that reminds me of the initial Atlantis story from The Illuminatus! Trilogy (minus the Cthulhu mythos part), which I find quite amusing.

There is also a list of dragon names referenced in the book, however, only half of them actually ARE used in the book, leaving the other half to (probably) meet for yourself. However, one name listed actually has nothing to do with dragons, and is a Greek goddess (Hecate). Adding to that, the numerous clan names sound like they were taken from the first Spyro game or off of the internet (White Dragon Breath= Silver Dragon Breath forums[est. 2001], anyone?).

There are a number of other issues I have with this book, but I believe this review is long enough.

I'd rather suggest you try connecting with dragons yourself and learning directly from them, instead of listening to this mis-informed and cotton-stuffed piece of tripe.

When I bought this, I thought great a structured method to work with the Dragons. I found that while it informs you as to your progression (read between the lines carefully or you'll miss much), when I actually came to follow the instructions the dragons have other ideas. Again, as with all things, this is just a guide only, and should be seen as such. Good ideas though.

I purchased this book, as well as Dancing with Dragons, several years ago. After much contemplation, I've come to a few conclusions, namely: Take it with a grain of salt.

This could be said about most of the author's works, really. Conway has a 'flavor of the month' habit when it comes to publishing books. Whatever is popular at the time seems to be the area she is an established professional in at the time.

However, I'm not saying there isn't anything productive that can't be taken from the text, just never rely on anyone's views too much as being indisputable fact. There are some lessons to learn, but never mistake everything you read as being the only way to go about something.

I've used Conway's books as a sort of springboard for my own spiritual exploitations. And while I've personally found little of it to be fact, it's a good place to start if you're interested. Just keep your mind open to other ideals and never let one source influence your opinions too much.

In the end we each go our own paths. This book is an acceptable first stepping stone, but over all useless to the advanced practitioner.

Let me be the first to say, I love dragons. Absolutely love them. I work with one, have a smaller one that visits my apartment occasionally, and another that has passed in and out of my life since I was 13. They, and I, took one look at this and laughed.

If these so called "Ring Tests" were true tests, wouldn't the dragons mentioned be offended by her giving away the solutions to each and every one of them? And of the eastern dragons, what of them, and their natural elements of fire, water, wind, metal, and wood? If you were to call a metal or wood dragon an earth dragon, they would come off rather offended, and dragons are not the beings you would want to offend. That is just the beginning of the oversights in this overhyped bit of fantasy trash.

This is simply repackaged Wicca 101 garbage spouting from an over-prolific author who is desperately grasping for more cash. I judge each book individually, however, and some of her books are alright. Just don't waste your time with this one.

For someone who does dragon magick, this is an excellent addition to the book Dancing With Dragons.

i think this book is a great follow up to the first book dancing with dragons by the same author. it is likened to the main course in dragon magick.

An excellnt bpok, for those that truelly believe in Dragins.

An excellent source to delve deeped into the Magickal World of Dragons.

Always remembering that "Respect' should be help in high esteem, when dealin with Dragons.

I received Mystical Dragon Magick in a very timely manner it is in perfect condition and I love it.