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Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting
 
 
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Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: spell section, magic allies, pure springwater, Evil Eye, Baba Yaga, New Year (more...)
3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting + Magic When You Need It: 150 Spells You Can't Live Without + Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses
Price For All Three: $42.17

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While millions have been drawn into the magical worlds of Harry Potter, Charmed, and Sabrina, how many have realized that the art of spellcasting should not be considered out of reach? Enter Illes (The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells) who provides an elegantly written introduction to the magical arts. In recent years there have been scores of Wicca and witchcraft books published for beginners but Illes distinguishes hers by summoning a broad spectrum of traditions rather than restricting it to one culture, such as Celtic, or one instrument, as in candle magic. Illes sees magic as the birthright of every daughter and son of Earth. She writes, Magic in its purest form consists of a dialogue between Earth and yourself... whereby you are able to express your desires, receive and recognize a response and are then able to make your wishes and desires come true. The first half of the book imparts an overview of the magical arts, with a particular focus on how animals, spirits, dreams and the four elements are harnessed. The second half offers dozens of spells, many quite simple, to help achieve various practical goals. Many will find this new book to be a fine place to start their magical journey. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Review

While millions have been drawn into the magical worlds of Harry Potter, Charmed, and Sabrina, how many have realized that the art of spellcasting should not be considered out of reach? Enter Illes (The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells) who provides an elegantly written introduction to the magical arts. In recent years there have been scores of Wicca and witchcraft books published for beginners but Illes distinguishes hers by summoning a broad spectrum of traditions rather than restricting it to one culture, such as Celtic, or one instrument, as in candle magic. Illes sees magic as the birthright of every daughter and son of Earth. She writes, Magic in its purest form consists of a dialogue between Earth and yourself... whereby you are able to express your desires, receive and recognize a response and are then able to make your wishes and desires come true. The first half of the book imparts an overview of the magical arts, with a particular focus on how animals, spirits, dreams and the four elements are harnessed. The second half offers dozens of spells, many quite simple, to help achieve various practical goals. Many will find this new book to be a fine place to start their magical journey. (Aug.) Publishers Weekly, Copyright A(c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Weiser Books; 1 edition (August 1, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1578633915
  • ISBN-13: 978-1578633913
  • Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #309,395 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Judika Illes
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
spell section, magic allies, pure springwater, animal allies, henna paste, drops essential oil, charm bag, rub your body, aura cleansing, magical goals, spirit allies, dream pillow, animal ally, spiritual protection, salt scrub, psychic protection, fragrance oils, infused oil, botanical material, pure magic
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Evil Eye, Baba Yaga, New Year, Florida Water, Maneki Neko, High John the Conqueror, Saint John's Wort, Dittany of Crete, North America, Baron Samedi, Native American, Associated Elements, Lucky Hand, United States, West Africa, Associated Planet, Desert Alchemy, Green Hope, Low John, Northern Europe, Papa Legba, Healing Herbs, Hungary Water, Middle Eastern
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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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3.4 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Actually 4.5, August 6, 2007
By Natureboy (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
This is an excellent book! After reading through the preview version on Amazon I was so excited that I actually went out and bought it immediately. I love the writers style and how thoroughly she addresses each of the topics. Some of the topics I've never even seen discussed in other wiccan flavored books about magic. I would have given the book 5 stars except for a few minor issues related to the editing and the research.

After reading the background on the book I found out that it is a new edition of one of the author's earlier books on earth magic. As the author says, she added some new material but left the old material in as well. This is both one of the strengths and one of the weaknesses of the book.

In some parts it seems the author replaced terms like "earth magic" or "natural magic" with the term "pure magic" to be in keeping with the new title. Although I can understand why this was done, it ruins the flow of the message she is trying to convey. To me this is just a minor issue.

However, my one big concern is her discussion in regard to ethics. It looks like her research was lacking in this area or she simply overgeneralized. She mentions a "few basic tenets shared by all schools" and then quotes a version of the Wiccan rule "Do what you will, but harm none." At best, it was a typo and should have read "most schools," at worst, she deliberately ignored that not all schools have the same ethic. Even a quick look at the non-Wiccan magical traditions would have shown that many schools are not adverse to spiritual justice spells even if they would harm another person ie. bringing a criminal to justice. This section could have used some updating to either present a more accurate picture of the ethics found in other schools of magic or to simply state that she is presenting Wiccan ethics, including the rule of three boomerang effect (which is also a common Wiccan idea). As a side note, although the author claims that this book doesn't have "those" kinds of spells in it, her 5000 Spells book does.

Also, her deities associated with magic section was a little disappointing. It appears that she did very little research into the original mythology and folklore associated with the deities she describes. She gives her own versions of of them, which may work for her, but its not completely accurate from an academic point of view. I couldn't help but laugh at her modernized novela version of the story of Isis and Osirus (Asar and Aset actually). Although it was memorable, it was also misleading and in my opinion somewhat disrespectful to the Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. For a better description of the mythology and functions of the Egyptian deities check out "The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt" by the Egyptologist Richard H. Wilkinson.

In addition, for some reason the author seemed focued on the female deities associated with magic and basically ignores or minimizes the male ones. The major male one's such as the God/Magician Odin or the Master Egyptian magician/God Thoth were only mentioned in passing in relation to the female deities Freya and Isis and even then the depiction wasn't accurate (BTW Odin only learned Vanic magic from Freya not the magic of the runes or galdr). It would have been much better, and more honest, to present them as they appear in the actual mythology and folklore and leave it at that rather than distort or water down their significance and power. I don't see how it helps any aspiring magician to ignore the male energies in magic. At the very least she should have included references in the text to "scholarly" works regarding the deities so people could research it and make up their own minds about the nature of these beings.

However, that being said, I think the book is aimed more at people who are more interested in doing love or prosperity spells than in pursuing detailed academic research into mythology and folklore. If you are the academic sort you'd probably recognize the issues immediately or at least do further research anyway so it doesn't matter that much for you, if you aren't the academic sort and aren't interested in folklore you probably wouldn't care anyway so either way it isn't a huge issue.

Overall I think this is a very good beginners book for people wanting to pursue natural magic. In fact I think it's the best one out there and I've read a lot of them. My only recommendation to people buying this book is to make sure that you follow up with your own research on the topics covered in it and don't take anyone's word as truth until you've tried it and checked it out for yourself.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading subtitle, January 25, 2008
By rantboi (Dayton, OH United States) - See all my reviews
  
The subtitle of this book says "a complete course in spellcasting." Well, this books has very little about spellcasting and how to do it. There's lots of discussion of nature and there are plenty of spells, but there's really not much info on "how" to cast spells, which is what I expected from a book titled "Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting."

You can get more spellcasting info in the first one hundred pages of her other book, The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells, than in this whole book.

The reader should also note that "Pure Magic" is a second edition of her other book, "Earth Mother Magic (which is out-of-print), with minimal changes.

Here are some books that can actually teach you how to cast spells:

"Power Spellcraft for Life" by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
"Embracing the Moon" by Yasmine Galenorn
"Helping Yourself with White Witchcraft" by Al G. Manning (sounds fluffy, but it's actually really good)

As for this book, if you're looking for a spellcasting manual that will teach you how to cast spells, I don't recommend it.

-Ater
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, January 25, 2008
Please be warned that this book is a republished version of Judika Illes' "Earth Mother Magic", with slight alterations. It remains an excellent book, especially for those with a wish to enter the world of witchcraft, but with no idea how to begin. It covers a wide variety of subjects and several usefull spells while remaining clear and easy-to-read at all times. I highly recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars New Age Bath Salts for the Aching Bones of Muggles
This is dull, politically-correct Nature Worship, not Earth Magic, but compost. As in "Repeat after me: There are no bad colors" (p 25). Read more
Published 13 months ago by FYI

5.0 out of 5 stars Glad it's back!
I loved the earlier rendition of this book "Earth Mother Magic" and am glad its enjoying a reincarnation as "Pure Magic. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Stephanie Rose Bird

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book. I bought it at Barnes and Noble yesterday, but:
After many previous readings at a local library in my area, I decided to buy this book for myself, and it's already been very valuable to me. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Josh Clayton

4.0 out of 5 stars Could be worse
This is a reprint of her earlier title, as several other reviewers have said.
However, in comparison with the fluff that we find in a great many other introductory magic... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Sara Croft

1.0 out of 5 stars What a rip!!!!
If you have "Earth Mother Magic" then you essentially already have"Pure Magic".

I don't know if the author is lazy or simply doesn't have anything new and original... Read more
Published 22 months ago by R. Askew

1.0 out of 5 stars Not my favorite book I'm afraid.
This book got great reviews on the back so I bought it. Not my favorite book. I find the book title a bit misleading.
Published 22 months ago by Mrs. Alice S. Franceschini

4.0 out of 5 stars A Very Good Read
Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting

I found this book to be very informative. I would have, however, liked more of a glossary for the beginner. Read more
Published 22 months ago by A. Hodder

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent primer for any new witch and collections catering to them.
PURE MAGIC: A COMPLETE COURSE IN SPELLCASTING offers a primer for any apprentice wizard who wants the foundations of spellcasting. Read more
Published on September 7, 2007 by Midwest Book Review

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