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Encyclopedia of Black Magic
Describes the beliefs and practices of magicians, occultists, and followers of the left-hand path from ancient times to the present, including classical and medieval practitioners, voodoo, tantra, and modern figures such as Aleister Crowley
160 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 1990
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 14, 2014
A book has to be pretty bad to 'earn' one Goodreads star from me, so that should say a lot about 'Cassiel's' Encyclopedia of Black Magic. I probably picked this up on a whim a long time ago, flipped through looking at the pretty pictures, and then shelved it for 20 years or so. I wish I'd never made the first move.
'Cassiel' is supposed to be occult 'specialist' the late Fred Getting; I've never read one of Getting's books and this one is sure to steer me clear of any in the future. His writing is painfully stilted, often going out of his way to refer to himself as 'this writer' (though occasionally he slips and refers to himself in the first person). The structure of this book seems forced into the categories opened on every other page, so completely unlike an encyclopedia that Britannica should probably go dance on the man's grave in joy over his passing.
Whether one is looking for direction in how to perform magical rites, or just data on things magical, this book will not satisfy. What it ends up being is a fairly slap-dash, short compendium of anecdotes and unsourced second-hand information offered in a humourless and occasionally priggish manner. 'Cassiel' seems to be fairly firmly planted in Catholicism, and pitches from that angle whatever points regarding the 'blackness' of the magic under discussion. Thus, any sexuality involved in a magical system is 'perverse,' with no further qualification, and those who might wish to get involved in magic should just steer clear of the whole mess rather than 'be eternally damned.'
The sole benefit of this book is that it is lavishly illustrated in colour, but the illustrations are sometimes inappropriate to the matter they're accompanying, or just as often not given any reason for being there at all. Photo sources run from reproduction of personal grimoire pages to movie publicity stills, so there's a little bit of everything in here. However, a well-stocked occult library surely will have them in better books.
If I had to give this book a one-line review (as I was tempted to), it would be:
Holy cow, what a piece of crap.
'Cassiel' is supposed to be occult 'specialist' the late Fred Getting; I've never read one of Getting's books and this one is sure to steer me clear of any in the future. His writing is painfully stilted, often going out of his way to refer to himself as 'this writer' (though occasionally he slips and refers to himself in the first person). The structure of this book seems forced into the categories opened on every other page, so completely unlike an encyclopedia that Britannica should probably go dance on the man's grave in joy over his passing.
Whether one is looking for direction in how to perform magical rites, or just data on things magical, this book will not satisfy. What it ends up being is a fairly slap-dash, short compendium of anecdotes and unsourced second-hand information offered in a humourless and occasionally priggish manner. 'Cassiel' seems to be fairly firmly planted in Catholicism, and pitches from that angle whatever points regarding the 'blackness' of the magic under discussion. Thus, any sexuality involved in a magical system is 'perverse,' with no further qualification, and those who might wish to get involved in magic should just steer clear of the whole mess rather than 'be eternally damned.'
The sole benefit of this book is that it is lavishly illustrated in colour, but the illustrations are sometimes inappropriate to the matter they're accompanying, or just as often not given any reason for being there at all. Photo sources run from reproduction of personal grimoire pages to movie publicity stills, so there's a little bit of everything in here. However, a well-stocked occult library surely will have them in better books.
If I had to give this book a one-line review (as I was tempted to), it would be:
Holy cow, what a piece of crap.
February 15, 2013
very informative. contains good information and lots of obscure information
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews