12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
?, December 26, 2000
This review is from: Rune Magic (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) (Paperback)
I'll admit there is some information of use here, but... I think Mr. Tyson has a problem discerning his personal views from real tradition. He approaches rune magic with a very strict ceremonial viewpoint. There is nothing wrong, in my opinion, with using runes along with other systems, but I think he takes it a little far when he treats the Norse pantheon like they are some type of lesser spirit to be commanded. Anyone who has studied Norse deities should be able to conjure the amusing image of a human trying to order a god like Odin around.
A quote here should illustrate his off key, over complication. "An hour or so before ritual, bathe, drain the water from the tub and refill it with fresh water. Kneel before the tub and speak a prayer of cleansing over the water. As you pray, drop several grains of salt that have been previously consecrated into the water and bathe again. Dry yourself and don the ritual robe--a plain white garment that allows comfort and ease of movement." Only after this are you allowed to do the simplest of rituals. No doubt these are NOT in any way related to Old Norse traditional practices... sounds more like an obsessive-compulsive bather than a rune magician to me.
He also seems to feel a need to bleed on almost anything he makes. If he were a truly skilled occultist it would be understood that a sacrifice of magical energy and life force could be made just as well without continual self-mutilation. I'm not completely against using your own blood in magic, but this guy goes, once again, a little too far. I think he may be a masochist as well, who claims you can't get very far in magic if you don't make his suggested sacrifices. His instruction for making a rune wand come strait out of old ceremonial gremoires and includes 9 days of fasting, abstinence, and avoid of excess. After his elaborate, and self-damaging, instructions to create this item he instructs you to destroy it after one use... after a while you'd become anemic if you practiced this much. Further more, in most case people believe the runes to become stronger with time, not corrupt. I honestly think he should stick to the old school ceremonial magic he takes his intricacies from.
The main point of interest in his book lies with the rune worlds, where you astral travel into a rune symbol. However this could be done in a variety of ways. You don't need this book, by any means, to do runic meditations. He even goes so far as to tell you what each world is like. The rune worlds will be perceived differently for each person. There will be similarities and guidelines, but the worlds will appear as they wish to whoever visits them. It's a matter of understanding and personal perception. My suggestion... if you want true Norse Rune magic buy a book by Edred Thorsson or Freya Asswyn.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your money on this book!, January 23, 2002
This review is from: Rune Magic (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) (Paperback)
Yet another example of the drivel put out by the Llewellyn pulp-mill. Ceremonial magicians should stick to the Kaballa, and Christians (which this guy obviously is) probably should not be dabbling in Runic magic, anyway. The item I found most offensive in this book was the assertion that since Isa is "treacherous and deceptive" it therefore MUST be feminine. Sorry dude, WRONG MYTHOLOGY!!!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I'M GRADING ON A CURVE!!!, March 28, 2003
This review is from: Rune Magic (Llewellyn's Practical Magick) (Paperback)
Unfortunately, there are very few decent books available on the subject of runelore . . . even more unfortunately, this happens to be one of the better ones. Judging from the reviews, a lotta folks will be in disagreement with my charitable decision to bestow three stars upon this book (the hardcore Odinists all gave it 1, and the New Agers all gave it 5), but I have my reasons. Although his interpretations of the runes comprises a mish-mash of several different systems, and although he makes a number of technical errors (trying to impose rigid Western Ceremonial ritualisation upon the runes -- and hey! Where did that pentagram come from???), I still kinda liked this book. A long time ago, this was the book which originally got me started on the Path I now walk. This was the book which really got me interested in runelore, and encouraged me to seek out other (and better) books on the subject (like Futhark by Thorsson). Please note that this book is heavy on divination practices, which I am personally opposed to using the runes for. Please further note that Mister Tyson has oversimplified the concept of bindrunes -- a very dangerous practice best left to those who really know what they're doing. One thing I liked about this book was in Appendix 2, where Mister Tyson attempted to get a better understanding of the runes through meditation and automatism -- this resulted in a seperate poem for each individual rune, some of which are actually quite good. Take his interpretations of the runes lightly, as they are his personal interpretations and it is good to see them from different perspectives now and again; however, know that I -- and apparently many others -- are in disagreement with much of what this book has to say.
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