Book Review: Summoning Spirits: The Art of Magical Evocation

I wanted this book ever since I was a boy. I was a little disappointed. Would have been a good read at age 15 instead of 31.

The serious and challenging subject of summoning spirits is unfortunately handled here only at the surface level. Most of the book includes a primer on the history of scrying and magical evocation, especially the work of John Dee and Edward Kelly, followed by some visualization exercises for beginner’s work in the Astral. This is followed by only the most basic information about the tools and rituals of the Order of the G∴D∴, offering all of the flashy elements of dramatic ritual but none of the esoteric meaning behind them.

I mean, this is just Magic 101.

The act of summoning spirits, however, is not a “beginner’s” hobby, and requires years of study and spiritual discipline. This book doesn’t even begin to cover summoning on the Astral until page 129 (there are only 209 pages total). One interesting part was Konstantinos’ writing on tulpas, which here he calls egregores. The ideas and rituals mentioned here are quite useful. All in all the book works well as a handbook for a more experienced or well-read magician, but is a bad idea for a novice. Novices will do better reading Modern Magick and Liber Null & Psychonaut first.

N.B. after finishing the book I will be attempting to make a tulpa which I failed to do at my first attempt in 2013. It will be interesting to see if my abilities have grown since then or if I’m just deluding myself, ha!

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