Customer Reviews

The Voudon Gnostic Workbook: Expanded Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This is indeed an excellent book and I am happy that Red Wheel / Weiser are republishing this at last.

However I have massive issues with this Oberon Zell-Ravenhearts synopsis above. Clearly he has never actually read the VGN as it is not about classical voodoo but rather Michael Bertiaux's take on the subject which differs widely and can be seen as a unique and powerful magical system. Nothing really to do with Marie Laveau etc. All this "headmaster of the school of wizardry" nonsense does is dumb down magic and generate confusion and mis-information among the public as to what the occult is really about

I would also like to point out for potential readers to beware the term "expanded edition". I have compared the original Magickal Childe edition with this and the only expansion is the added introduction - which is not by Michael Bertiaux. Also the text on the back cover says that the book contains the originally missing diagrams and vevers, however this is not actually true and there are no diagrams in the book.

whilst I think that it is great that the book is reprinted and I think that Mr Bertiaux has produced some truly excellent work I think that cheap - "off the cuff" publishing by the likes of Red Wheel / weiser has marred this otherwise excellent book and their false promises make this an edition to avoid. Perhaps we will see some better publishers take this on in the future.

Paolo Sammut

I first saw this book years ago in the library when I was at university and thought it was quite an interesting practical handbook for those interested in occult arts. When I heard it was being reprinted I was pleased and eagerly ordered a copy.
Like others who have posted reviews, I was disappointed in the quality of the book -- I expected it to have been updated with at least professional typesetting and layout rather than an exact (almost photocopied) reproduction of the original version. And this version doesn't include any of the diagrams!
Luckily the publisher has made an errata PDF available (which includes the missing diagrams) on their product webpage [...]which you can download for free.
It's still a good book -- it's just disappointing that it isn't better quality, and the "expanded" bit was really just a new two-page intro.

I bought this book because I was facinated by what might come of a fusion between the folk religion of Voudon and the mysticism of Gnosticism. It starts out as a spellbook. For instance, in Chaper 1, Lessson Seven is "Hoodoo Secrets For Getting Lucky Numbers That Win". Lesson Nine is "How The Hoodoo Man Keeps His Nature High". The aptly named Papa Gayday is the go-to spirit here. But then it soon takes a cerebral turn with heavy use of jargon and continues for the rest of 600+ pages and never again mentions Papa Gayday. It seems to be mostly abstract discussions of various energies, different catagories of spirits, described with lots of scientific buzz words. An example from page 237. "You are familiar with the magickal order of IAOZAAM. It is a type of magickal psychology and therefore is based on occult contents. By contrast is the work of the NAOZAAM: The Neo-Pthagorean Academy of Zothyian Analysis and Magicko-Metamathematics. This is the F-true part of the logic of consciousness." OK, I admit I picked an extreme example, but it wasn't hard to find. After a short time of trying to plow through prose like that I bogged down and never finished the book. Now if this is your cup of tea, by all means get this book, there is enough here to keep you busy for years. This book really requires a familiarity with Voudon, which as should be obvious from the tone of this review, I do not posess. It was for me like siting through a foriegn movie with no subtitles. This is one of those books I never would have bought if I could have browsed through it in a bookstore. If Amazon had printed the Table of Contents (ten pages), I would have given it a pass.

This book is an obvious fabrication and fruit-cake mix in my opinion that has nothing to do with actual Vodou. Rather, it panders to Western persons seeking to white-wash and bastardize what is otherwise a beautiful tradition. once again, in my opinion.

I have been a practitioner of various forms of magic(k) and spirituality for over twenty years, and a teacher of the same for some years, and I think I can safely say that Bertiaux's Voudon Gnostic Workbook (VGW for short) is one of the most astonishing, challenging, and frustrating works of magick one is likely to ever encounter. The challenge of this book, and the controversy surrounding it, compare to similar points often raised about the works of Crowley and Kenneth Grant -- i.e., that it is a difficult work that reflects its author's unique perspective but, despite its flaws, there is no substitute for it that comes close to its style, and you either love it or hate it.

To begin with, as some critics have rightly noticed about this work, do NOT expect a traditional or even historically credible account of actual Voodoo within the VGW. Bertiaux basically accedes to this point by using idiosyncratic spellings such as "Voudon" and the clever "Vudu" and slightly humorous variations like "Vudutronics" to distinguish his unique treatment from others. If you seek a historical or traditional depiction of Voodoo culture, you should look elsewhere. That said, Bertiaux is clearly a natural born mystic (not unlike Crowley) who brings his creativity and endless, exhausting inventiveness to a subject too often bogged down in orthodoxy for its own sake. By placing creativity and innovation in the forefront of his work, Bertiaux demonstrates, again like Crowley and Grant, that a creative mind IS the ultimate source of real magick, no matter what label you give it.

The VGW is, honestly, more "gnostic" than "voodoo." That can be seen as a feature or a bug depending on what you're looking for. Bertiaux's prose style if often twisted and confusing, and this is a book that demands multiple readings and note taking. Do not expect an easy read, and do not expect to understand much of what the author is trying to say without a solid background in Jungian psychology, Heideggerian ontology, and even chaos magick. This is a book that one has to live with over a long period of time to really absorb. In one sense, it reminds me of another difficult and long tome, Gurdjieff's "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson." Gurdjieff refers to such books as "legominisms," or word-objects that cast a spell upon the reader by the very way they are written and presented. Be prepared to open yourself up to this sort of quasi-hypnotic effect when you dive into this thing. Such books are magical tokens in themselves, capable of having an initiatory effect upon the reader as a result of deep reading and consideration.

But don't be put off by all this difficulty either. The VGW is an eminently practical tome, full of short exercises, meditations and rituals that anyone can easily perform with a minimum of preparation. The "Dedication to the Hoodoo Spirits" that is found in the beginning of the book is a good ritual to perform as you set out on the task of reading the VGW. The book's five sections can easily be dealt with one at a time. Indeed, the book was originally written as a series of separate lectures and later compiled into its present form, so going through piece by piece is a recommended practice. There is still a sense with this book that you are missing something that can only be provided by in-person initiation and one-on-one mentorship, but realistically speaking that is unlikely to happen for most of us, so we have to make the most of the material we have. And that material is impressive, covering a dizzying array of "vudu," gnostic Christianity, diabolism, Thelema, chaos magick, theology ... an eclectic smorgasboard that never really seems to synthesize as a coherent whole, but the individual parts are no less interesting or valuable for that flaw.

The recent Weiser reprint is just that -- a reprint, not really a new edition; it seems to be simply a photo-reproduction of the original book's headache-inducing typography (except for an added preface and conclusion by Courtney Willis). This is a major fault, but given the inaccessibility and high cost of the original out-of-print edition, it is better than nothing for now.

In sum: A challenging, idiosyncratic, creative, frustrating, but irreplaceable work of modern magick.

This edition DOES definitely contain all of the lessons & diagrams that were said to have been "left out".
They are all in their own section at the back of the book. When I received my copy I was pleasantly surprised to find them included,to the contrary of the claims I read here. This rare text is now presented flawlessly & worth it's weight in gold.

This book itself is a work of art-The perspectives of Bertiaux are truly a masterpiece.

Too many seem to think that an author's view must coincide with all that society has ever programmed them to believe possible.

If you're a student of occult sciences,this is a must have book... to learn from,gain insight from & know that YOU must "create" throughout your lives,without always having someone to hold your hand......

As a practicing Bokor, I have found some of the information in this book useful while other parts of it not-so-useful. Why? Well acceding to several LCN members of Bertiaux's lodge, you really need to start with his "Seven Monastery Rays" course which is a massive 3 year project to work thru. I have been personally taught by several leading Occultists over the years and thus did/do not feel the need to buy the Seven Rays course just to understand this text.

This book has 10 lessons in "Lucky Hoodoo" which forms the basis for using the rest of the book. (I originally saw these Lucky Hoodoo lessons in a Voodoo course by James Todman and am still not sure whether Todman or Bertiaux owns the rights to them.) Bertiaux then goes on to discuss the "Grimoire Gheude" which is a listing of the 10 Spirit LWA Families from Legbha-Nibbho to the Voodoo Monks. These follow the Qabalistic Tree of Life as the Voodoo Monk Family are in Malkuth, Lewd Family are in Yesod, Spider Family in Hod, Baron Family in Netzah, and so on. Your understanding this part of the book alone, will help you make contact with some new and unique LWA Spirits (so what if they're not Haitian LWA? Who cares? They're unique Spirits nonetheless AND worth making contact with!)

While there are no Veves for these Family LWA Spirits in the VGN, Todman provided his version of them in his course of the Ten Voodoo Spirit Families. I reproduce these in my own Voodoo Sorcery Course which allows you to make contact with these powerful entities.

There are some unique and fantastic aspects of Spirit contact that this book can help you out with but there are a LOT of pages that are not only filler material but useless unless you're a student of Bertiaux's and hooked into his LCN society.

Is all lost? No! There are other interesting aspects of this book that can be useful but it will take you time and effort to wade thru the miasma of lBertiaux's own lingo & jargon really to understand it. There is a brief glossary at the end with some explanation of terms used in the book which is most helpful but much of the weirder stuff either has to be taught to you by an LCN member OR direct from the LWA Spirit Families themselves.

The section on Cultes des Ghouls is not only fascinating but will help you learn more about the Gheude, death and the mysteries of death. To make sense of this, bear in mind the idea of `Astral' as you read it and this will make far more sense to you. ;) I also found the material on Gullotte to be helpful in a practical way. Realize that there are elements of Lovecraft, Kenneth Grant, Thelema and Bertiaux's own weirdness mixed in with the Vodu material and that makes for difficult reading and wading thru material that'd be better explained elsewhere.

Note: You do NOT have to join LCN nor become Bertiaux's pet pupil to make contact with the Grimoire Gheude's LWA Spirit Families. I know many will say otherwise and let them but these entities are not bound by the LCN and they are eager to make outside contacts and will reward you for doing so. Baron Zaraguin as head of the Spider Family LWA is one example. He is a powerful Spirit and will help you in many ways. His specialties are Magic as He is the Lord of Hod and the Were-Spider Guild.

All in all, this version of the VGN left a LOT to be desired. You can download the missing Veves from Courtney Willis' site (just do a google search) but after I got my new copy, I received a packet in the mail from Weiser/Red Wheel with the missing info and diagrams.

Also, I was sorely disappointed to discover that the new publisher was too lazy and cheap to use a different font than the one that Herman Slater's Magickal Childe publishing company originally used back when the book first came out. This font sucks! Other than that, the book is good to own and study. Use the first 10 lessons and make your life a little better for it.

This is by far the best work in occult studies available for public. The book worth the money spent simply because methods described are working. Bertiaux is the only practicioner, who prefers TO PRACTICE instead of to just discuss the matter without applying any practical work (as many occultists do nowadays). He is real DOer and all his works confirm that. That is why all his books are so expensive and rare. Very practical. You'll never regret that you bought it.

I waited many months for this book to come out, and I still believe it has much valuable information, but not one drawing or chart was inserted before printing. This makes it useless and not worth the money. How can you work a magical system when the printer omitted the most important part of the text?

I'm really disappointed.

This huge volume is definitely a fascinating read, although I can clearly understand if readers got lost in material. It is a facsimile of the original, so any typographical errors in the original have obviously been carried through to this title. If reprint were considered, I would suggest a metaphysically inclined editor go through it. The early chapters of the book (How to Be a Big Lucky Hoodoo) offer a bit of practical knowledge that can be used immediately. The rest of the book contains a vast introduction to the universe in which Michael Bertiaux operates. To get the most out of this material one would be best off enrolling in the 4 year training program that is offered, as some of the information is deliberately censored in this version of the text, and several concepts that are introduced may not be fully explored for the reader to have a firm grasp on them. It is, however, a very interesting journey and one that gives the reader insight into the possible depth of such practices. I would recommend it be read by the serious student of metaphysics, and I am sure it would be a valuable addition to the practitioner's library as well, even if only as a reminder of the value of composing one's own system of magick as opposed to using someone else's.