Book Review: Draiocht: Rites of Celtic Sorcery

Draiocht: Rites of Celtic Sorcery

by Ian Corrigan

(Tredara Hearth; 2011) 132 pages

$13.99 (www.lulu.com)

Ian Corrigan is no stranger to the worlds of the Occult and to Paganism. He has been involved in Celtic Paganism for nigh 30 years now which gives him a solid advantage in that he has skated between both worlds as both a Priest in the Druidic clergy of Arn Draiocht Fein as well as a seasoned Magician.

I first met Ian back in 1991 after I had relocated back to northern Ohio. He was involved with Stone Creed Grove an approved ADF Druidic grove located in Cleveland. What struck me about Ian other than his 6'4" height, barrel chest & his deep rumbling voice was that he was like me, a scholar who liked to investigate various aspects of the Occult but also enjoyed practicing Sorcery. Over the 20+ years I’ve known Ian he has been my go-to-guy for all things Celtic since that is his desired area of study.

What Ian has offered in Draiocht: Rites of Celtic Sorcery is a manual of practical Sorcerous Occultism that will have you delving into the murky world of Celtic Magic & Mysticism. In the beginning of the book, he takes time to explain the complex world of Celtic mythology in a scant few pages. Now mind you he does this in a very concise fashion and even tells you this is merely the crib notes since Celtic mythology is a deep and intricate type of myth. 

What makes up much of these background pages are his chapter on “The Five Invasions” and the succeeding chapter on “Concerning The Noble Ones”. While you may be think you don’t need to read these chapters, I can assure you reading them WILL HELP you understand more of why Ian has his spells and charms laid out the way they are. After the background pages, there is a centering charm Ian has used for years in Druidry & when performing Open Circle groups to help you tune out the world and tune into the Spiritual awareness you are about to embark upon.

Another thing you will discover is how the author is big into attuning yourself prior to trance work. This is something few practitioners bother to do and even fewer authors bring up which is often one of the best practices you can partake in. You are led word by word into a deep, relaxing trance that will help facilitate the flow of Magical power. In fact all of the centering charms & trance state prep work is to help you as a practitioner build power and work with it responsibly. This is something you also don’t find in many books on Magic.

One of my favorite chapters was his “Book of Fire & Water: Using the Two Powers For Sorcery”. Learning this rite helps the practitioner to learn to utilize the powers of fire for manifestation and water for flowing energy. This thought pattern reminded me somewhat of how Franz Bardon used the electric & magnetic principles in his “Initiations Into Hermetics”. However what this ritual really does is culminate in the Cahi Draoi or the "Druid’s Sanctum" which is the invisible chapel of the Druid’s power. This is something that has to be experienced and I cannot do this justice with mere words.

The next useful section is the one for the “Daily Shrine Charm” which is an excellent daily devotional that you can utilize in your practice if you do not have any sort of daily devotions going on. Plus you learn things like Hallowing an area, sanctification of the elements, and so on. There are also several pages devoted to a “Simple Rite of Offering” which is a fantastic ritual that could be used in almost any Spiritual work as it is both tasteful and polite to the Spirits.

You’re shown various sample offerings to the Celtic Gods as well as a charm for seeking an omen or an answer to your query. You’re given 9 powerful herbs and 9 stones to use in your Celtic Sorcery. The real fun begins with “A Cauldron Spell for Calling A Servitor” and here we begin basic Spirit work. He also teaches you other cauldron spells so that cast iron cauldron you sent away for and paid a small fortune to have shipped to you can finally be put to good use! We're talking solid spells here folks that the author has used repeatedly over the years not made up McWiccan nonsense.

More Spirit work is found when he gives you the rite for “Encountering An Ancestral Teacher” which is something I have yet to experiment with but is on my to do list. The book goes on & on with practical Sorcery rites as they relate to the Celtic pantheon but can be easily assimilated into your regular Sorcerer’s daily routine if you should so desire. There is far more tot his fantastic modern grimoire than what I have laid out here. You get 132 total pages of beautifully laid out material by a scholar, author, artist and bard.

All in all I give this book 5 out of 5 stars for completeness, layout and material that is both usable as well as adaptable. If you’re practicing with a so-called Celtic Wiccan coven and are NOT getting the results from the magic they’re teaching you but you don’t want to give up the Celtic system, give this book a definite try. You won’t be sorry you did. If you’re interested at all about the Celtic pantheon and how modern Celtic scholars do things, then THIS is a book you want to have on your shelf as a reference.

Expanded Edition of Pragmatic Magics

I've decided to re-release Pragmatic Magics with it cleaned up, new art & professionally done illustrations as well as some new material being added primarily in the area of Spirit Work.

Suffice to say when I wrote PM back in 1993, I had been working with Spirits for only four years at that time and did not feel confident enough to release my recommendations as to how to work with Non-Physical Entities (NPE) in a book I was releasing to the general populace.

What will be presented in PM's expanded edition is how I work with Spirits rather than any sort of argument as to why I do so versus how anyone else does it. For all intents & purposes, PM is a grimoire or my version of how I work with Sorcery instead of some sort of academic finding. People who read my works tend to be more interested in finding answers for their own problems than worrying about academic or historical accuracy.

With that said however I am not foolish enough to say that the subjects of history & academic discussion regarding Spirits are without merit. In fact, these subjects are important for practitioners to study if for nothing more than as a way to help themselves wrap their minds around a truly abstract field as Spirits.

What I will be focusing on in the Spirit Work section of PM will be how to work with some Spirits who won't try to eat your soul so that you can potentially work with them in a meaningful manner and develop a bond so that you can have some assistance when the chips are down.

Here is the (tentative) revised cover for the new edition of Pragmatic Magics.

Palo Rant

The other day, I was listening to Candelo Kimbisa’s March 11th program of Candelo’s Corner (on KDCL Internet Radio) where Candelo was really honked off and on a terrific rant. While on vacation he said he wanted to check out some of the Net’s other Occult talk shows and one of them was by a bunch of uneducated types who were making all sorts of wild, goofy claims about Palo that simply are not true. I think Palo is experiencing what the rest of us in the Occult have or are still experiencing which is people talking out of their proverbial ass on subjects they know next to nothing about. 

According to the broadcast, some of the people on the misinformed talk show panel were targeting Palo with downright stupid assertions about how it is a black eye of Santeria and other ridiculous claims. I guess someone on that show made the claim that Palo is actually from Brazil. LoL Only someone who is truly ill educated would make that sort of mistake! Is not this the norm in the Occult? Wannabes who get airplay or a book are automatically relegated to being an authority simply because they’re on the air or have a book out with a sheeple publisher. Ugh!

When you’re passionate about something you truly love, you tend to be protective of it as well as ready to fight for it at the drop of a hat. Candelo has been involved in Palo for decades and has devoted a large portion of his life to Palo thus it really upsets him when ill-informed folks say nasty & wholly untrue things about his chosen Spiritual system. Would you expect someone like Laurie Cabot to stand by and allow some ignorant fluffy bunnies call Witchcraft, “Satanic, Evil and full of perverse people”? And yet we have people out there who don’t know their own ass from a hole in the ground telling others what Palo, Witchcraft, Vdou, Hoodoo and other systems are. That’s like an auto mechanic trying to explain aeronautical engineering without any training.

Another topic Candelo was truly irate over was the plethora of so-called ‘Spirit Pots’ being sold on line by amateurs to the unwary. What’s happening here is the Nganga of Palo is being fraudulently and poorly copied by folks who are neither involved in Palo let alone the ATR. These wannabe pots are simply black cast iron cauldrons with some dirt, 21 Palo sticks and Gods know what else. I think he said there was someone in South America who had photos of one on a site and the guy had a ‘rubber snake’ in the pot. I get the symbolism but this sort of thing is not the same. 

At best such Spirit Pots are dangerous to screw around with. You have no idea what the Palero has to go through to receive his Nganga from his Tata. It is far more involved than you can imagine and a Nganga is not made over night. The process takes quite a bit of time to construct and then the Spirit has to agree to live in the microcosmic world of the Nganga that the Tata has made.

What’s happening is someone wants to get in on the Spirit trade by trying to make and sell a copy of a sacred Spiritual item like a Nganga or Prenda. All you’re getting is some dirt, sticks and a cast iron cauldron that does nothing. Is this any different than the haunted jewelry sold on eBay. People who read a book and then decide they’re going to do a ritual over a ring and presto-chango! the ring is enchanted with a Spirit. LoL Not so easy Mandrake, it doesn’t work like that. 

Initiatory systems are important because initiation itself 
changes you and your life. They’re also important because it separates the wheat from the chaff where priestly caste is concerned. One should not call oneself a Priest/ess of any Magical religion unless has gone through the proper training and received the go ahead from their teacher.

One of the big important points of initiatory systems is that you have a guide/teacher right there for you who should allow you to grow and make mistakes and do their best to keep your heinie out of any serious trouble. You have support in the form of Spirit Guardians who have been with the House for many generations as well as folks who have been there, done that before and made the same mistakes who can and will walk you through it.

This is not to say that non-initiatory systems aren’t supported or watched over but rather that Palo, Vodu, Santeria and other neo-African traditions have a much longer history and lineage that can be traced. There are some Witches claiming lineage going back to the 1800's but it’s very difficult to know if any of these claims are true or not.

Initiatory systems like Palo have a dollar cost factor involved and it’s not simply to make money but rather to pay the costs for the assistance of the Palero/a’s needed as well as for the drummers, dancers, food, rental space for the ritual, liquors used and so on. Neo-African systems such as Palo have Spirits that require money to be made for services rendered because the Spirit Itself wants to be able to buy Its own food, liquor and whatever else It wants. You don’t find this in Wicca, CM and other new age neo-religions.

Remember something folks, when Gerald Gardner was bringing out his Witchcraft to the world, Palo was already out and going strong. In fact, all of the African diasporic traditions were going full tilt in countries like Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, Belize, Trinidad and so on. Even American Hoodoo is older than Wicca - IF we go by Gardnerian time tables of when Ray Buckland brought that belief system over to the US from England.

Like any belief system, the ATR (African Traditional Religions), has its pro’s and cons as well as its good and bad folks. You simply cannot look at one Palero who may be a bastard and use him as your poster boy for why Palo is bad. Doing that is no different than when born-again Xians do the exact same thing to Wiccans.

Want to have your own Nganga? Go talk to a bona fide Palero. Want to work with Spirits without being initiated? Go practice Goetia Sorcery.

Opinions Are Not Gospel

Well I’ve again stepped on someone’s toes and pissed them off. While I do not go out of my way to intentionally do that, it happens from time to time. It’s what happens when you’re outspoken. At times I’m willing to make a stand whereas most tend to sit idly by and let things fall where they may.

So then is the real problem about ego or is it passion? Probably with me, a little of both. When you’re passionate about something you tend to spend more time, money and effort at it than you do at much else. If you have no passion, then your JuJu sucks.

You like to stay alone & do the lone ranger thing? Good for you! Hermits have always been either held in fascination OR fear by others. It’s a choice that unnerves folks because as humans we’re social animals by nature. We like to hang with others of a like mind and discuss and do things that interest us. 

Ever been at a coffee shop around a bunch of nerdy intellectuals who you had SOME common interest with? One may want to discuss Kafka or Stein and the conversation actually gets interesting but when you bring up Metaphysics or the Occult, you can hear the crickets chirp. So you feel alone and just figure no one else likes what you’re so esoterically interested in.

I’m not out to hurt (let alone bully anyone) hell I’ve suffered bullying for years as a kid and a couple of times as an adult. Ever been bullied by an intellectual? It’s NOT funny like they make it appear on TV and you’re just supposed to sit there and take it especially if s/he is your ‘friend’ or acquaintance.

My problem is I’m too damn open when someone asks me my opinion. But people take opinion as if it’s gospel. Um it’s NOT folks! Hello? It’s O-P-I-N-I-O-N. If I don’t like the way something is and I’m asked about it, I’ll say so. Oh my that automatically makes me a jerk. Well you’ll have that because it’s just an opinion and more often it’s an opinion based on the limited parameters either the question or situation demands.

I had a friend and co-worker ask me about his Scion when he got one of the first of them. It was turd brown. No really it WAS turd brown color. Ugly damn thing. A turd brown box rolling down the road. Now this guy was a part time stand up comedian at comedy clubs and he took offense to what I said! LoL I had a ball with it and got him later to admit the color was turdish looking.

And then there’s times when I will say what I like about something and what I don’t like. Funny how when you say something you don’t like that too can piss people off. Excuse me? Opinion here! This doesn’t mean I think it’s bad ALL the time but man people are bitchy when it comes to something they did. Some practitioners love tearing into someone else’s book and tearing it apart.

Even if I can’t stand a book because the author didn’t explain some things fully or what have you, I DO TRY to find something GOOD to say about it even if it’s just the pretty cover. If I can’t do so without being truly jaded, then I won’t write the review and try not to mention the book or author to others. If asked about it, I’ll simply say I’m not a fan and leave it at that.

Do I get pissed off at bad reviews about my own books? ONLY IF they’re taking pot shots at me and not what’s presented in the book. I’ve had a couple of folks point out some things in reviews that made me think about the revisions so it could be made easier to understand. My book, Pragmatic Magics has been around since 1994 when there were only books published by individuals through vanity presses or they had to be accepted by sheeple publishers who were (& still) putting out pablum on the market.

Odd thing is when I sold my books from home, I rarely got anything negative from folks. Usually the emails were about clarifications (again which I noted for future revisions) or to tell me about how something worked for them. I’ve had that occasional email of “Hey Moloch I did X and nothing happened” and sometimes through process of elimination, you discover WHY Joe Wannabe didn’t get what he asked for. So you try to help him by suggesting some things to help him get past the block.

It’s all you can do. For the longest time I did not sell anything on my site other than books and eventually people wanted the formulas I recommended or they wanted a Spirit Familiar or a Thrall so I opened shop to help and make some money. Today I like helping folks as best I can. I’m still outspoken - some say obnoxiously so - but that’s okay many like me just the way I am. I don’t pretend to like you then stab you in the back; if I don’t like you, you’ll know it.

You don’t see me trying to ride a wave of media & festivals like so many do. Been there, done that in the beginning. That’s for people who like to camp out and deal with lots of smelly types who dislike bathing. Plus it’s difficult to hold a conversation with someone when they’re on an acid trip or buzzing on some substance while you’re clear headed. GODS that’s a pain! They ask a serious question, you try to answer them and they just nod their head and ask you about stuff you’ve already answered before! Arrgh.

Nor do you see me trying to study a topic for a year and then write a book on it. Really? A year? Yes a ton of people do just that. It’s stupid but they do it anyway. I wrote PM in 1993, six years after I’d been involved in the world of Sorcery. My ex will tell you I lived, ate and breathed the Occult. We didn’t have kids who needed to be at soccer practice; we weren‘t all that interested in sports; we didn’t do much drinking/partying so my wife and I never went to many parties; just did our own thing.

There are people out there who got involved in Vodu and after a brief time wrote books on it. Some folks did the same with Enochian Magic; others the same with Evocations and so on. That gets old. You can be a good writer and know very little about a subject to pull off a full length book. But the vast amount of that is surface knowledge and they have nothing deeper than what’s on the surface.

In my opinion, Sorcery and other forms of Occultism takes several, long years of practical study and work to get good at. Your ego better be prepared to be assaulted by the Spirits who will enjoy throwing doubts in your path.

Why I Am An Occultist

Labels are something we tend to kick around to both identify and help us categorize information. This categorization often includes ourselves as well as the entire universe around us. Sometimes the categories are archaic and other times they are completely invented and modern terms. Neither is superior to the other simply because they are being used as labels of indentification.

With some people, some labels frighten them such as ‘Satanist’ for example. The reason for this is due to both religion and pop culture. Religion has in the past used the term Satanist to denote a degenerate person who lusts after the world which according to them belongs to Satan. In their cosmology, Satan is evil because he defied their god Jehovah.

Pop culture has taken the word Satanist and used it as some sort of bogeyman who is used as the antagonist in movies, TV shows, stories/novels and the general media. Some depictions of Satan or Satanists have been foul and twisted showing the most heinous atrocities attributed to Satan and Satanists. And yet almost every Satanist I have ever met tends to be some nerd who sits and reads philosophy, religion and loves to argue politics. That’s the Satanists I know.

I label myself a Sorcerer since I am someone who practices Sorcery by using ingredients, words as well as spells and rituals. Sorcery does not involve religion unlike Wicca or even Ceremonial Magic where much is covered under Yahweh’s divine knowledge. Sorcerers come under the Occult classification more so than Paganism due to Paganism is a blanket term that covers pretty much anyone who is not Xian, Muslim or Jew.

The term Occult simply means ‘hidden’ and it hails from the world of astronomy, not Magic. An Occultist is someone who seeks hidden knowledge and/or methods of power that have been hidden.

I have in the past identified myself as Witch or Pagan for the sake of simplicity when meeting others. Often if I merely say, “Im a Sorcerer or Occultist” this throws up flags and then the questions come rapid fire from those who do not understand. Actually I prefer to have time to explain to others what these terms mean so they are on an equal footing with me and we can talk intelligently together.

Often terms such as Sorcerer and Occultist have been used in a negative fashion by Wiccans and Pagans and even Ceremonial MagicKians in a smug, self-righteous manner to downplay the use of Magic for worldly gain as if being broke and poor was somehow a badge of honor. Hollywood has depicted Sorcerers and Occultists as opportunists who will stop at nothing to get whatever it is they want. With some individuals, that may be true but myself? Not so and that’s because I have a conscience I keep by my bedside.

One of the most difficult things for modern practitioners is to walk down a path in the center between Fluffy Bunnies on one side and downright evil on the other. Few try to do this and instead either throw in with the Fluffy Bunnies OR the darker left hand path walkers who typically will obliterate anyone in their path. I’ve never really liked extremes one way or the other thus I choose to walk more of a neutral path which I call Occultism or Sorcery.

The Occultist is neither a RHP nor a LHP but instead choosing to walk a neutral path where once in a while s/he steps over onto the right hand side or if necessary over onto the left hand side. It is not an easy journey as there are many pitfalls along the way on either side due to pressures from peers, pop culture and general consensus. More or less you’re molded by extremists of one ilk or another or as they used to say in the old days, “You’re guilty by association.”

As an Occultist, I have the choice to do as I wish when such must be done. I try and stay level headed and persevere through tough times by applying the knowledge and wisdom of practical Occultism with advice I get from Spirits as well as divinatory practices. This does not mean that I am not passionate because passion or emotion is what fuels Sorcery. It is the level of desire that you have as a practitioner that takes your spell or ritual to where you want it to go. Too many misguided people think it is all about intent and really it’s a misnomer more than anything. They just do not understand that their level of desire is the rocket fuel that propels their intention to where it needs to go to manifest.

One of the main reasons though I prefer to label myself and not receive labels from others is I know how such labels apply to myself and not accept them from half-assed individuals who primarily want to quickly pin a label to you without thought or knowledge of why.

Far too many Pagans and McWiccans are morons from the standpoint of morality, ethics and that idiotic word, karma. They typically spew whatever knee jerk reaction they’ve been led to believe by sheeple authors. Conversely, I dislike how many LHP people often label me as a LHP when clearly they’re just as whacked as the McWiccans are. The left hand path is often linked to Satanic or, at the least, dark forces which tends to be positions of malice, spite and hatred.

It is difficult to have to deal with both sides and still maintain an even balance. Again as an Occultist, I find it often necessary to step over the boundaries into one domain or the other as I see fit which means I make the conscious choice to do so rather than react to what life has thrown at me through knee jerk manipulations.

What you label yourself is powerful. Just understand exactly why you chose to label yourself and what it means to you as well as seek to learn what the other labels are and mean. Who knows? You may be a fluff bunny at heart or a smug Satanist who wants to pull the plug.

Spirits Need Photographs

Hello there again. Your friendly neighborhood Sorcerer has some advice for you folks. Yeah I’m a jolly friggin’ mood as I HATE this time of year in a very big way. So bear with me...

Many of you reading this have this silly ass notion that Spirits whether they’re some random fey, ghost or even God/dess are all powerful like Aladdin’s Djinni legend was supposed to be. Well they’re not. Sorry to burst your bubble but that’s the truth of the matter.

Can they work miracles? At times. Will they help you? Depends on the situation and their attitude towards you. For instance if you’re an obnoxious clod who simply calls on them to bail your fat ass out of hot water, then the odds are stacked against you. However if you’ve been working with this Spirit for some time now, there is a chance they will.

“But Moloch, such and such says otherwise” - oh really? Ever think that such and such is blowing smoke up your ass just to make you feel better? Hell mostly Xians are the dimwits who think Jesus and Yahweh are all powerful. Uh-uh. (But it’s okay to let them think they are)

There are a lot of factors involved in whether a request gets A) answered and B) the answer you seek. Factors such as what you programmed into your own life just prior to being birthed has a lot to do with things. There are some lessons - even painful ones - that we need to learn and asking the Gods to help us avoid them will result in no response.

One of the silliest things I get asked a lot is to ‘pray for such & such’ for instance like Joe Blow. Pardon me? I don’t know Joe Blow do you have a photograph of him? No? How do you expect any Spirit to find Joe Blow? Do you think the Spirit will enter your mind, see Joe’s face and then go off to heal him? Doesn’t work that way.

Xians have this silly notion that their ‘God’ can fix anything and knows everything. No one knows everything. I don’t care if Jesus said he knows everything (which he never did) it’s a downright lie. Further there are lots of names that are common like John, Joe, Steve, Richard, Alan, Frank and then the surnames like Jones, Smith, Miller, Goldman, Yoder, Johnson and so on.

Think about it for a moment. You’re a Spirit who has been asked to help ‘Joseph B. Smith’ in NYC. Okay you ask WHICH Joseph B. Smith? What does he look like? Where does he live? How old is he? What is his birth date? You need some details to pinpoint WHO Joseph B. Smith is.

But people ignorantly (or stupidly) expect Spirits to automatically know that ‘my friend, Joseph B. Smith needs prayer for healing’. Really? How much of a friend is he if you don’t have a current mug shot of him? Gimme a break already. I’m not the only one who thinks prayer requests via name is silly - Spirits do as well.

How are Spirits supposed to find the exact person you are asking for help with? Again are you mistakenly believing that Gods are omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent? If so you’re mistaken. WAY mistaken. Yahweh isn’t - He says so in the Bible. Jesus never said he was any of these things. Neither do the Greeks, Norse, Aztec and so on.

Frankly, a Spirit CAN help or hinder a person if there's a photograph of them and no name or date of birth known. The photograph is plenty as it shows them. You should clearly have one of their face not with a helmet on or anything that obstructs the view. If the guy wears an eye patch all the time, then that's fine but a welding helmet or a full faced motorcycle helmet over their head will not suffice.

Again if a Spirit claims to be omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent, then take that with a HUGE grain of salt before you buy into it. It’s utter nonsense.

Starting Points: Books

Let’s discuss that one thing that makes Occultists and Pagans go merrily skipping to the store to purchase: books. While I have discussed books in the past on my old MySpace blog, I have decided to reinvent the wheel yet again.

First off realize that books are merely a starting place, nothing more. I don’t care if you’re hot for Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, he would tell you they are merely a starting point, a springboard if you will, for your mind to venture down the road to. Surprisingly many reconstructionist CM’s want to quote him like Pat Robertson does the bible as if it’s scripture. While pleased that some feel his work was worthy of that, I highly doubt Henry C. Agrippa would approve.

Why?

Because even though his system is consistent within itself, it’s not meant to stay stagnate. Occult systems were meant to be grown, expanded upon and improved with care. To do that takes careful reading and of course experimentation. Ah yes experimenting OUTSIDE the system a.k.a. thinking outside the box.

Systems that stay stagnate end up dying and that’s because those who created or presented them to the world tend to want to put their foot on the necks of those who would openly experiment with them and note results. In other words it’s an ego thing.

If you consider a book a system as presented by its author, you have a better understanding of the material than if you simply read the juicy parts (if there are any) and leave it at that. Yes sometimes you have to slog through the author’s bullshit philosophy, ethics lessons and how s/he views things like karma but doing so helps you to understand where the author is coming from.

Personally I tend to shy away from books heavy with fear filled warnings of karma and other ethical mumbo-jumbo. Many prefer to read those books in the hopes that these authors have something great to say. In my experience the vast majority of them are parrots parroting othe parrots thus it gets old to yet read another chapter on karma and ethics.

When you’re trying to figure out what to read, often you’re told to read everything you can find. I disagree. My opinion is that it is wisest to choose a book, read it from cover to cover and then experiment with what you’ve found in it first. This helps to reduce the amount of mental clutter about things like crystals, stones & herbal uses which if you’ve read ten pagan books, you’ve discovered there are eleven ways to use a given herb, root or stone.

Once you’ve read through a book it’s time to experiment with it. Trust me, there are hundreds of 101 books out there on the market and gee, it’s not like everyone and their brother is an author these days. LoL You can’t help but bump into someone whose writing a book or has written one even at the friggin’ laundrymat!

How do you choose a book to start with? Well first off my opinion is to look for a book on a subject you have interest in. “But Moloch I want to learn it all!” well sorry to burst your bubble McDuff, but ya can’t learn it all. Period. You have just this one lifetime (at the present) to make a go of it so what interests y ou most? Divination? Sorcery? Healing? Spirits? What? Once you’ve decided, then it’s time to narrow the focus yes again. If it’s say Divination then are you interested in cards? Runes? Oracles? Dreams? Astrology? Because there are a plethora of ways to do divine the future probabilities.

Now there are classics in every field of interest and by classics I mean these are the old standards that folks used when books on such subjects were rare. Before Gerald Gardner came along, there were relatively few books on Witchcraft but Leland’s “Aradia: Gospel of the Withes” is a classic. Some consider the works of Margaret Murray to be worthy of study even though her theories of Witchcraft being an ancient cult have been derided by other scholars.

If you can’t find anything that others consider a classic in the field of interest you have, then try to find something written more recent. Yes now with everyone and their brother out there writing books, what is worthwhile to read and not? Good question.

I suggest trying to find a large section of Metaphysical books at say a large book chain, then designate some time to thumb through them on the subject you have interest in. What you’re looking for is ‘completeness’ rather than a big name in the field. For instance if you have an interest in Witchcraft, do you go with a Llewellyn author or a non-Llewellyn author? Well if you go with the former, realize your book will be white-washed of anything that even hints of non-white magic.

Do you really want to pollute your mind with material that tries to steer you clear of learning anything about how to defend yourself using black magic? Ask yourself if this is a wise thing to do. If you live in a world where all is rainbows & dancing clouds, then okay be my guest and choose the fluffy bunny books; however if you live where life is a day-to-day rat race and drive by shootings occur with frequent abandon, then perhaps knowing something about black magic would be helpful.

If you’re going to study the Four Elements it is wise to learn how to use them for all situations not just the positive ones. Same goes with the Planets as well as any system of Magic. You may think you’re Pollyanna but realize that life doesn’t just throw lemons to you but often ROTTEN lemons that you cannot do anything positive with other than throw in the garbage. Okay with books and a balanced system where you learn to do good and evil, you have the wherewithal to not have to be bent over every time some asshole comes around trying to make your life miserable.

Books do not carry power - unless they’re a talisman which is a discussion for another time - but what they do carry is knowledge. Good, balanced books carry a wide variety of knowledge not just the ‘heal a sick animal’ type of knowledge. A book that shows you how to survive is not complete unless it shows you how to hunt, fish and forage to eat.

So find a book that covers the subject matter and study it. Experiment with what the author suggests. If you’re told to do the exercises in it like I tell my readers in my own “Basics of Metaphysical Empowerment” booklet to do for six months to a year, you will benefit from the practices. Do the work. Learn it well. THEN experiment.

I’ll discuss books in my next blog installment.