Books About Doing Magic

[qos]

It's been a long time since I've seriously read a book about magical practice, and I'm interested in starting again.

I know that Evolutionary Witchcraft by T. Thorne Coyle is very good.

Any other suggestions?

Comments

[oakmouse]

I definitely third the recommendation for Thorn Coyle's book! She's excellent.

My personal favorites are "Apprenticed to Magic" and "The Magician: His Training and Work" by W. E. Butler. They aren't comprehensive by any means, but he packed a great deal into fairly few pages and every time I read them I see greater depth or something important I missed on prior readings. I like books that slowly unpack over time like that.

My DH gave an excellent review to Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki's new book, cd, and card set "Your Unseen Power". It may be wickedly expensive and freighted with a bad title, but it contains a lot of meat. I haven't worked with it myself but DAN is a most capable mage.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for all your input in these comments.

I looked up "Unseen Power" and was startled by how expensive it was.
Is the review you reference posted anywhere?

[oakmouse]

In theory the review will be published in New Witch, but in practice they haven't let him know yet if they accepted it.

It *is* bloody expensive, but you get a workbook, nine cds of Dolores teaching (and her voice is worth every cent, bright gods can she talk beautifully), and two symbolic card decks (one of the qabalistic Tree of Life, one of godforms). It's not a bad value for the money.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the info.
If the review gets published, or if it could be shared privately, please let me know.

For right now, I'm going to keep it on my Amazon Wish List and come back to when I'm done with the first book I've purchased.

[oakmouse]

Soitnly. When I checked with him just now he said he's expecting to see it in either New Witch or Pangaia before too long. When it appears I'll give you a head's up. He also said that if you want to contact him directly, he'd be happy to tell you what he thinks of DAN's set. You could pop me a line (my email is visible to my FL) and I'll put the two of you in touch.

Certainly I don't recommend dashing right into the substantial investment that DAN's set represents. Rather, perhaps do something like familiarize yourself with her work through browsing and see if her style resonates with you at all. Honestly, from comments you've made since I originally responded, I'd recommend Butler first. He's great at training in the basic principles of magic and mediumship, and he teaches material that's applicable to various different systems. I've found his work to be as useful as an adjunct to RJ Stewart's faery materials as it is to Dion Fortune's polarity work.

Dolores also has a book called "The Ritual Magic Workbook", which is very good and covers useful ground at a much lower cost than the set.