Stealing the Fire from Heaven

by Stephen Mace

Stephen Maces "Stealing the Fire from Heaven - A Technique for Creating Individual Systems of Sorcery" is often touted as an excellent starting point for the aspiring magician/sorcerer as well as the experienced magician. Dagon Productions is proud to announce the publishing of the revised and expanded version of "Stealing the Fire from Heaven". "This essay offers a technique that individuals can use to create their own systems of sorcery, systems precisely tailored to fit their own unconscious minds. By following its instructions, the reader can cause his or her subliminal self to design its own symbols to represent the powers that lie within it. The result will be what is essentially a personal language of power, one that has meaning only for his or her self, but full of potency because it is his or her own soul’s way of expressing itself." - Stephen Mace

Genres: Magick, Occult, Witchcraft, Magic, Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most practical and easy to understand book on magick that I've come across. It also strips everything down so much so that anyone with the determination and drive to actually push themselves can do it. It has a great take on sigil magick and tons of useful ideas and information. The banishing ritual in it is great and far less complicated than the "Lesser Banishing Ritual of The Pentagram". (Also it contains none of the Christian symbolism!). Stephen Mace needs to be given due credit for cutting through the bullshit and delivering a nice little book that ANYONE can use.

[Scott Ferry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read yet on the subject of Austin Osman Spare and the magick he practiced. Amazing and usable.. cannot recommend a better book.

[Fabian Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book very much. TBH I was expecting it to be more of a Chaos Magic book, with more of a shamanic content, but it seems to be about AOS sigil magic (Spare for dummies), with the Abramelin procedure and Thelema tacked on, so not entirely homogenous or integrated. For me, the whole concept of the Guardian Angel is problematic, and I'm not sure I even believe in such a thing or archetype as being useful or reliable enough. For me it is 'giving your power away' in a fast food enlightenment manner (relying on an agent excessively to tell you what to do) rather than stealing power! Is the HGA the same as the animus/anima? That was Mace's idea at the time, maybe he has changed his mind, but I am not sure I fully subscribe to this theory. Also he implies that the Mace method angel may not necessarily be the same as Abramelin HGA - then if so why call it the HGA and treat it as such? He explains this doubt as the two traditions (AOS and Worms) are centuries apart, but so what? That is hardly an explanation and does not necessarily have any relevance. This area seems a bit confused or unclear at least. Anyway, I have bought the translation of the Worms book and have referenced it many times. The actual procedure for me is less interesting than the word squares and I had hoped initially that this book would fuse sigil magic with word squares but it was no such thing. The book does not even mention word squares. The emphasis on Thelema philosophically and in terms of direction is rather overpowering but I will concur there is much to learn from that area in parts. I found the frequent references to 'God' slightly irritating however, as it is presumptuous and don't expect people to impose their theistic beliefs on me in what is supposed to be a book promoting individualism. Writing style can be pompous at times but he gets away with it overall. No references list! References are mentioned in body of the text of the book but without including page numbers.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A product of its time, this book does indeed achieve what the author sets out to - presenting an approach to creating your own system of magick, inspired by Spare and Crowley, two different kind of practicionners.

A worthwhile short beginner book, written in a readable, conversational way - and without references. Great for a breeze through, I probably wouldn't purchase it.

After reading it, I can see how Spare influenced author Aidan Wachter. I definitely recommend Wachter for people developing their own systems of sorcery.

This book can be found free online, which is why I really wanted to consider it. It's an excellent conversation starter and place for inspiration. It rewrites too much of Spare and Crowley for me to give a higher review.

What I appreciate most bout this book the most is how logical it is. It seems that chaos magic is quite logical, and that people confuse symbolic image preferences in images for The Magick itself.

[Marika Charalambous · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book on getting familiar with Chaos magic. It's an introductory book, so you do have to go out there and study from more books for more indepth information, however if you've ever wondered what is CM and if it's something you want to pursue, this book will open your eyes to the possibilities.

[Pxan]

This book is fantastic, especially if you come from a Jungian perspective. Stephen Mace during the course of the book shows how you can create your rituals, symbols and spells.
Truly a worthwhile read, if only for the banishing ritual in chapter VI, which is the best banishing ritual that I ever saw.

I will update my review once all those emotions calm down, and I can write a proper review.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A humorous and understandable discussion of Chaos Magic. It refers heavily to Austin Osman Spare and discusses Sigils, automatic writing/drawing, conjuring/banishing, astral projection, talismans and the like.