Customer Reviews

An Outlook on our Inner Western Way

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

 

 

Ever wonder why the Western Inner Tradition seems like such a muddle of magic, occult and other esoteric traditions? This can be very confusing for the initiate. William Gray clears the fog by explaining the begginings of the western esoteric tradition and its development in comparison to the eastern way. He gives a nice sensible history of the western way from the beginnings of humanity to the present, and shows what "magic" means to the tradition. While this is not a manual of magical practice, he gives sound and clear advice to get the initiate started along the path. He explains the three streams of practice, the intellectual, mystical, and emotional, and how different people are better suited for one or the other. I think he does a good job of cutting through a lot of the nonsense associated with magic and gets to the core of what the practice is, and can be about. This book is well suited for those who have an intellectual thirst for knowledge and seek understanding of the western path. It helped me to understand and claim the western tradition for my own, and gave me a solid basis and starting point for magical practice.

I found William G. Gray's summation of the Western Inner Tradition enlightening and enjoyable. It is a short book consisting of nine (9) chapters tracing the roots of the tradition to possible futures. A recurring theme is that of the 'Sacrificed King' from it's former practice to it's modern development of change in ourselves to become one with the divine. He speaks of temples and how they are but the physical symbols representing an inner condition. He will clarify many things in this book about the basic beliefs of the Western Inner Tradition. I'm glad William G. Gray wrote this book. If you want to learn more of this tradition and Gray's own particular organization his books should be purchased. These include the Sangreal Sodality Series which present the bare bones of the Tradition and his other complementary books.

William Gray is a very approachable author and acccomplishes a lot in conveying the history and tradition of the Western Way. The challenges faced by the reader will be the general dry writing style, the dated material, and the somewhat shallow approach. On the other hand, it is a great primer for someone new to the tradition, and would be a great second or third book to read if looking to pursue this path.

I enjoyed William Gray's "Qabalistic Concepts: Living the Tree" and picked this one up just to read more of his stuff. It was okay, but not very satisfying. Even considering that it was written as an introductory overview for a beginner, I still can only give it three stars.

First its strengths: It is short. It explains "magical" concepts in plain English rather than in "mystical" terms. It makes no outrageous claims of power or magical miracles. It is a calm and sensible call to moral responsibility and action.

Its weaknesses: The action called for is vague. The end result of following the Western Way is undefined. (Chaos magic is about getting observable results; Gray's style of magic is about "evolving" to some sort of "higher existence." What is that? In his defense, Gray admits that the most valuable Inner Secrets cannot be told; they must be discovered by the individual, because spiritual Truth is very subjective.) It was written in 1980 and betrays several concerns particular to that time period - a fear of nuclear obliteration, a fear of a sinister Media Conspiracy, a fear of the emergence of a technocratic totalitarian state (a la Big Brother from _1984_). Also some factual errors. Gray is a good magical theorist, a good teacher, and what he knows from his own experience, he knows well.. but don't trust him with historical data about the origins of things. In just one example, he states (with no sign of hesitation) that the practice of sticking pins into a wax doll in order to harm someone is a de-evolution of the concept of acupuncture which originated in the East. Seriously. I know magic is about making cognitive links in unexpected ways, but this is just sloppy. Even in 1980 it was well understood that sympathetic magic is the most primitive, and Voodoo (or something like it) would have long pre-existed a sophisticated science like acupuncture. Mistakes like this hurt Gray's credibility.

William Gray has written better than this, and I'm a little disappointed ... but overall, this is still probably the most useful and most honest introduction to "the occult" for those with short attention spans. Just keep in mind WHEN it was written and try to read around the author's paranoia.