Practical Magic Books

Don Webb's (and Dr. Flowers') method of research and practice is one of the two most effective methods of magical practice I've encountered in my fifteen years of magical work. This is the method of active engagement with the magical current through research, study and the effort of putting the knowledge into practice. If you're interested in more than armchair theory and the Typhonian current appeals to you, get this book and put it into practice. You will be greatly rewarded for your effort. The methodology detailed in this book will work for any magical current of the reader's interest. This book is currently quite costly on the used market. Hopefully Runa Raven will republish the book so it will be accessible to a greater audience.

I can not express the importance of this book and Set's role in the Universe,get this book if you can.

Its out of print and I hope Runaraven press puts it out again!

SetiDraconis

Ho Drakon Ho Megas!

This is one of those rare texts that engages and enriches you. Treat is as you would a wise old friend and you will reap great rewards! I would buy a copy for everyone that I know if I could afford to do so!

This book is backed up by a lot of scholarship, and avoids the trap of exploiting ancient Egypt by hanging fantasies on it like so many lesser authors have done. It _is_ practical, and my only qualm is that it doesn't really capture _my_ imagination, anyway. Just becuase you imitate rituals from the past doesn't mean at all that you are experiencing what those ancient magicians were practicing. We cannot share their mind-set (pun intended).

Don Webb's work, the first public offering from the Order of Setne Khamuast within the Temple of Set, stands as one of the first in what will hopefully be many antidotes against marshmallowy occultism.

Using the same general research method that Stephen Edred Flowers (aka Edred Thorrson) used to reawaken the Runic Tradition Webb dives deep into objective scholarship in order to subjectively synthesis an authentic remanifestation of a Tradition. This is not simply an act of imitation of the past but a contemporary reawakening viable in the contemporary work. No attempt is made to suggest that the individual using this material will experience what was experienced in the past but it will give them the necessary material to partake of some of that Essential quality without looking towards the past with rosetinted glasses.

If the Hermetic Tradtion or 19th and 20th Century Heremetic influenced magic like the works of the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley have an interest for you this book will make an excellent addition to your knowledge base of Typhonian Hermeticism, its practice and its influence.

This book can not be ignored. full stop.

Beginner, Intermediate or Experienced - new or at it for the last five hundred years. Reincarnated Rabi of some dubvious order or new ager wanting to move beyond the obvious information told and retold in a hundred books on the subject.

This book provides the reader with a solid basis in Western Mystery Qabalah. In many ways it could be called a "work book" in addition to a "manual" and although it is a primer, it contains far more than just the basics. Its a manual as it provides the information and the mechanics on how the qabalah fits together, its a workbook as it also provides the reader with many excellent exercises and meditations. Its a solid primer on the subject as it contains all the basics, but it is also much more as it contains some rarely seen qoutations from sources other than the obvious.

Rankine is a master of the qabalah, yet it he makes no pretentious claims to being any thing of the kind. However,it is obvious that he understands his subject inside out, the words flow, without the need for superfluous words to make it sound over complicated. Qabalah is a difficult subject, but one well worth studying, I have myself been reading and practising for more than ten years, but still feel that there is more to learn. This book provides me with much new material to work with and some great insights on rituals such as the Middle Pillar makes it even more of a must read for students of the Golden Dawn and related systems.

My only wish is that this, like the series of books the author is producing with Golden Hoard Press, could be produced in a hardback edition! But that is just being greedy!

This is the latest great offering by David Rankine, who apart from being one of my favourite magickal pin-ups, seems to be producing some of the best work on western mystery tradition magick at the moment. Sensible, yet accessible. Intellectual, yet easy to read. Theoretical, yet practical. I am sure you get the picture!

Climbing the Tree of life is a nicely produced paperback, the binding is good, the layout makes it easy to find what you are looking for and the writing, well it is more than just great, it is excellent.

I would recommend it to anyone wishing to study the Qabalah from a magickal perspective. It is far easier to follow and understand than some of the other books on the market, but does so without loosing touch of the subject, without the need for filling space with words which are meaningless.

What is even nicer about this book is that the author doesn't force his religious views upon the reader. Christianity is deemed as valid as Paganism or indeed any other spiritual path. Refreshing.

This book is great. It is as simple as that. If you are interested in Qabalah, then you should be reading it. Reading this book will give you access to the ideas, research and practices of a man who understands the Qabalah throroughly, it will save you reinventing the wheel and you will benefit from his excellent explanations through and through.

Qabalah, or Kabballah or whichever way you choose to spell it continued to be a painful experience for me until I bought and read this book. Rankine's take on it shows that he has done his research, but not only through books and journals, through hard work in the system itself.

The book gives all the theory you could ever hope for. It gives practical examples and exercises and it gives insights that I could only vaguely glimpse in other books on the subject.

No doubt that there will be some who struggled through Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune and other books of that era on the subject of Western Mystery Qabalah who will pick up this book and scratch their heads in disbelief. This book is no-nonsense, no-fluff, ultra-practical, ultra-readable, ultra-excellent.

The author has been a practising magickian for many years and through the material made available in this book, I have no doubt that he must also be an excellent teacher.

If you have an interest in magickal qabalah you can do no wrong purchasing this book. It will in time, I believe, replace most books on the subject available today. No doubt it will ruffle some feathers with new informed and thought through takes on the Middle Pillar and other such rituals, but it makes perfect sense and gives perfect well thought through reasons for doing so.

Part of me felt like I should keep the knowledge of this book to myself. It is a real insight into the mysteries, but this book should be shared. You will save yourself years of struggle and gain great insights if you work through the exercises and visualisations in this book.

Enjoy.

This is a good little book. The author has definitely done his homework and put a good deal of effort into this book. If you are looking for a book on the Qabalah from a Western Hermetic approach (like the Golden Dawn) then you will enjoy this book.

It does have a few typos in it. There are several on page 148, where the typesetter didn't put certain numbers in 'superscript,' above the line; this makes for some confusion until you realize what has happened. There are a few more of these typographical errors.

One issue I have with the book is that it attributes Kether to Pluto. I realize that other occult authors have done the very same thing, but I take issue with them, too.

Chokmah is Uranus, since Ouranos was the Starry sky, and Chokmah is the Sphere of the Zodiac, it doesn't take a lot of imagination to see this. Kether is Neptune; it is often called the 'first swirlings' which remind one of the galactic swirlings in space. But what if it is talking about the 'first swirlings' in the sea in the heavens, as G-d separated the waters from the waters. Neptune, then, would make a perfect candidate for Kether, as the mystical intelligence which is a part of Neptune's planetary energies.

Pluto is better suited to Da'ath. A planet that is not a planet for a Sephirah that is not a Sephirah. Da'ath is transformational and so is Pluto. They seem like perfect partners to me.

This book is a great reference, though. It has some interesting Gematria and some good observations on the Mystical Titles for each Sephirah. If you are thinking about buying this book, go ahead; you won't be disappointed.

Peace Profound,

Neshamah

This was by far one of the most important texts i have ever owned. I only hope i live long enough to get a new copy when it returns to publication. The content was brilliantly put forth for beginner and adept alike. Not only as a text for worshipers but also for cerimonial magicians . A tribute to the Gods and a text worthy of the best marks of any tome.

This book is in no way is the last book you will need in your quest for finding 'The Right Book'. I have come to believe there is no One Perfect Book , anywhere. However, it is a good introduction for those who want to practice Low magick, using the Egyptian Neter (godforms) It gives a brief synopsis of the most 'popular' gods, and even a few you never head of. A Cairo Calendar, and a few meditative chants to call specific gods. Its hard being Pagan, and not being of the Wicca or CM Paths. Not many books have been written on Egyptian Magick, or correction, written well! I highly reccomend this book to anybody who has been searching for a morsel of information solely based in Egyptian Magic, without having a doctorate in Hermetics. Id say its good for an Beginner to Intermediate level reader.

This was one of the best books that was made available. Unfortunately, it didn't last long, and that's the publisher's fault. The author is a lovely lady (I had the opportunity to e-chat with her for a short amount of time shortly after the book came out) and her style is warm and convivial. It is clear how much she is devoted to the ancient Gods of Tamera, and this book has made a significant impact on my own spiritual practices. If you can find a copy, and love ancient Egypt; get it now! Don't wait. Hopefully she will be able to find a publisher who will re-release this book. When this happens, you can be sure I will be picking up another copy. ;)

Although this book had an unfortunately short life it was very well done. For anyone interested in the Egyptian Gods, myths and/or Magick this is a fantastic starting point. The authors style is warm and friendly, feels more like chat in your living room. The author obviously feels a great deal for her subject matter and treats it with great respect. I enjoyed it immensly.

I'll come out and say that I love Cunningham's books (I've reviewed many of his other books) and this is no exception. I've always been into cooking, and this IS the book to have for the Kitchen Witch, with the magical properties of foods, spices, recipes and much more.

This was the prior edition of his book "Wicca in the Kitchen", but I went with this one because it was cheaper (hey, I'm a witch on a budget) and I really like it.

As with most of Scott Cunningham's work, this book is an excellent reference source for information about food and magic. The phrase "kitchen witch" has come into vogue over the past few years but Scott Cunningham was one of the first to make this subject accessible and interesting to a variety of readers. He compiled information from a variety of books (each listed in his annotated bibliography) and created and very useful and informative book. A must have for any true "kitchen witch"

...Once again Scott compiled a fine work that covered all areas. Covers things such as: Ritual of Eating, Food Magic, & Festival Foods. Covers food then in catagories: Breads/grains, Cakes, veggies, fruits, herbs/spices, dairy, etc...etc...in these sections each item is descibed, the lore is given, magical uses, ruling planet and element, and the energies (eg. peace, healing, love etc...) Then there is over 60 pages of magickal diets. (love, protection, money, sex, etc..) Wonderful useful tables and mail order sources lastly. This book couldn't get anymore useful! I keep mine right with my cookbooks in my kitchen, like a good kitchen witch!

This book is about as complete as you could get, aside from the exclusion of meat... His explanations are valid however, that red meat hinders psychic development, and many magicians are vegetarians as it is. Aside from that, the book is VERY comprehensive and I have not found much if anything that appears to have been overlooked.

Scott begins the book with an overview of the magick in food, and how to harness it. He then divides the next part of the book into chapters for each separate food "group", such as: fruit, breads and grains, alcohol, eggs, spices and herbs, etc. The history of each food is given, such as where it was discovered, and what peoples ate it the most. Under each section specific foods are given, such as barley and rye in the bread section. Each listing gives the planet, element, energies, lore, and magickal uses. The information is practical and useful, just like the rest of his books.

Part III details magickal diets, such as love, money, spirituality, weight loss, and peace and awareness. Here Cunningham gives a listing of foods pertaining to each magickal goal and suggestions on serving each. Finally, even junk food and fast food is covered, for those of us who can't live without it. A table of correspondence and a glossary round out this wonderful, well-written book.

I wholeheartedly suggest trying to find a copy because I guarantee it: if you eat, you'll find use in this book. Bright blessings.

Written in the manner of a journal, this book is about intentionally changing one's beliefs in order to be more in cooperation with one's true self and with earth. Honest, spontaneous, and unstructured ceremonies are shown as a sincere source of transition. Laying Doubt to Rest, the Children Shall Lead Us, Conscious Intending, and Importance of Compassion are insightful chapters.

The author expresses vividly all of the feelings surrounding each of the unique ceremonies. You learn from her how it is to present these ideas wholeheartedly in venues where dogma still remains in some form, and also in private moments that have a greater purpose. This is not some artificial motivational speaker delivery, nor a book on lighting candles; it is a very individualistic and unique view into ways to acknowledge doubt, place it gingerly although firmly aside, and garner solid inner steps toward a deep honoring of yourself and the world you are connected to.

Honesty means fairness and straightforwardness. Honesty also means a genus (Lunaria) of European herbs of the mustard family with 'toothed leaves' and 'disk-shaped siliques'. You will find an uprightness of character in her expressed thoughts that is refreshing. Some of this book addresses 'building confidence', and the bumbles that go along on that stairway. Ironically, sometimes to get over a self-imposed fear, it is necessary to fail on occasion until one learns that failing is not so bad after all and is part of the process of becoming more confident. This she shows with dignity.

The sharings are endearing, expressing the sometimes cautious and delicate weavings in our thoughts before and as we create something or some event. There are grand emotional rewards; some minor let downs dealing with striving to perfect our own `Findhorn' garden, and inner dialogs that contain solid advice that soothe and nourish our psyche in these times. There's no overbearing formula imposed such as you may see in other current popular tomes; there is instead a spontaneity of expression tailored intrinsically to each event whether small or large.

This author shares with us both the naturally awkward and the rewardingly strengthening nuances of what it means to really believe you create your reality. You see the multi-layered beauty of the full range of emotions, and what is learned during the unfolding.

In a world of the overconfident and the underconfident, this book makes a fine bridge of balance between the two extremes, making for sincere integrity in intent and clarity in the sharings described within.

Especially interesting are her truths, trusts, and tales in the ruins of the megalithic temples.

I am thankful for this book. The thoughts and ideas shared coincide with my own beliefs and helped to strengthen and enlarge them. I read a quote from it about being happy to be alive and awake and privileged to be in my life at this time and place every morning before I start my day. It centers me. Reading this book has helped me on the path to finding a center, a point of gravity, an anchor that is true and comes from within.
I received "The Secret" a week after I devoured Winnifred's book. I read the first chapter and then shelved it, to reread "The Magic of Everyday Ceremony."

The back cover of this beautifully written book describes it as "an inspiring and practical travel guide" into the realm of ceremony. This is exactly what I found it to be--a guide whose strength lies in its very personal approach. Reassured by Sippel that bumpy roads and detours are as much a part of most exploratory journeys as are the glorious mountain tops, I let her lead me, chapter by chapter, into unfamiliar territory. I found myself enlarging my definition of ceremony, opening my eyes more to moments of magic and coming to realize how even mundane events can have an element of the sacred (see chapter: "Is a Wart Worth a Ceremony?").

Even with its many examples and suggestions for ceremony, I do not see this primarily as a how-to book. For me it was an invitation and a challenge to have the courage to follow my own path into ceremony and life in general, to be forgiving of my failings, inventive, playful and grateful for the magical around me. I highly recommend it for what it teaches about ceremony and the richness of life.

Years ago I became disenchanted with established religion. I needed more than anything to find my own spiritual path. However, I noticed that I missed the ceremonies, ceremonies with words that no longer spoke to me, but ceremonies that made something special of a meal, an event, a holiday. Then I was fortunate to find this gem of a book, a book that has brought ceremony back into my life in a way where I can feel at home with it, where I can feel it's my creation to share with others or to experience only for myself. For example, the circumstances of my birthday last year were such that it wasn't possible to be with friends or family. With inspiration from "The Magic of Everyday Ceremony," I was able to use the elements of ceremony to make my day special, but more than that to make it a celebration of what matters to me. Without great fanfare or cost I was able to connect to my playful and my spiritual sides--which I learned from the book can come together in ceremony. The magic was to experience for the first time in my life how a day that's precious to me does not have to include others to be a celebration. Thank you, Winifred Sippel, for this gift to my life.

As all his books, this one is another excellent guide for those that are in the Path........

After reading & really comprehending the meaning of the reality that his words describe you would reach the same conclusion I did. And that is, that, "if man used everything he knows for man instead of against man, then every man would be great, and no one would be poor. And that is the scariest thing to anyone who believes that he is truly great. It is only in this foolishness that he remains ignorant & eternally dead."

Franz Hartmann was a Rosicrucian and this book contains many Rosicrucian principles although not stated as such. This is an uplifting book inspiring one to become the best person you can be.

Theosophist, Rosicrusian, physician, author are a few words to describe Dr. Hartmann.
The title to this book is misleading. At first glance of the cover and title I didnt expect much. Every once in a while a book will come along that earns a special place in my library. This is one of those books.
Most books on magic, Kabalah ( however you want to spell it ), and the occult are fluff...parables to keep the uninitiated chasing thier tails and scratching thier heads. I have come across few that lay out the fundamental truths to life the universe and All. So many people claim to be an occultist or mystic but do they really know what forces they are manipulating...how thier mind works in that magical realm...the true effects of our will being imposed on nature...or for that fact what nature is? A student, practioner, mystic, mage, that is really trying to do the Great Work will educate themselves on the fundamentals of thier craft...how and why it works...
So many times I come across Christians, Pagans..etc...and ask them where thier craft comes from, how it works, WHY it works...When I am lucky I get a long lineage of teachers...gods..prophets etc...that led the way for that particular belief system. I fooled myself when I thought other followers of magick would at least do better than thier Christian brethren and at least research thier belief structure beyond what clergy/teachers say...to question and search for the reason why truth is truth, where it comes from and how it works the universe.
If you want to know why those spirits you call up come to your circle...if you want to know how Jesus walked on water...if you want to know why as sure as thinking a thought is as much a sin as acting the thought out...if you want to know how God heals...if you want to truly understand why...how...where your magic or religion works then put down the wand, put down the door knocker of the next victim you are going to lead to the kingdom of heaven, and start educating yourself on the science of magic, the science of religion, the science of spirituality...how it works on the brain, in our lives, how it affects the universe around us...this book is a good start.
Do yourself a favor. If you are a seeker of truth, knowledge, magic, spirituality, religion, physics etc...buy this book and read it.

Since you are already seeking books on magic(k), psychic abilities, and the like, then I don't feel the least bit strange about telling you this.

I was in a relationship not too long ago. The thing we both had deeply in common was a love of the occult and magic(k)al studies. We were at a book store shopping for her first ceremonial/Wicca text, and this one (no joke) fell off the bookshelf at our feet. She ended up buying it that day, and I ended up sneaking off with it when I could to practice some of the exercises to enhance my Ceremonial Magic techniques.

This book bridges the gap between Llwelyn's dime-a-dozen Wicca books and the great work (Magnum Opus) of Franz Bardon. In his "Initiation into Hermetics", he spends the first half of the book getting his readers to undergo (more or less) all of the things that Brandy Williams will have you do in this book. The difference is that in Brandy's work, you don't need to have 5-6 hours a day to devote to magical study and mental mastery.

Introspection, meditation, energy, sense mastery and enhancement (individually and collectively), journal keeping, and forming better habits in general are the order of the day for all True Magi. These are the proper stones upon which you build your own temple. If you want to know more about yourself and your role in this world (and others, potentially), you owe it to yourself to buy this book!
Good Luck, and Blessed Be!
:)

exercises to prime you for magickal work. I've been involved with this tpe of work for a very long time and I must say the book doesn't waste time.

Highly Recommended! This is a great book for the beginner and experienced magician, alike. It’s packed full of very useful skills and easy to follow rituals.

It does not go into wide discussions on origins of wicca, it does not go on and on about wicca/witchcraft as religious system and its incorporability into your own religious belief (if different).
It goes on to explain about the way of the witch, giving plenty of exercises and sound advice on posture, meditation, grounding and centering, feeling your centre, energy work, directing energy, seeing the aura, finding your magical voice, magic circle, moon-phases, chakras etc, on to the ritual itself.
No mumbo-jumbo, no religious overtones, no silly songs praising this or that goddess (if i want a book on that, I'm sure there are many available) just sound practical advice for beginners on how to enhance your capabilities and how to use your own skill in making things manifest for you.
The author draws from many sources, from wicca and ceremonial magic, to buddhism and martial arts - actually from most systems which acknowlledge the Energy the witch uses to manifest.
The book is very well organized, goes from basics on to more complicated stuff and does not skip a step.
I wish I had known of this book years ago!
Not a word in this book is wasted.

If you're new to the subject Practical Sigil Magic is a good place to start. If you already know how to do sigil magic you'll probably find this book redundant. On second thought, you might find a few ideas here that you never thought of before (this author has a habit of doing that). Good, clear information. The book should have been called Sigil Magic for Dummies.

This book is superb, and it is a travesty that something so groundbreaking is out of print. Frater U.D. has performed a great service in making Austin Osman Spare's works comprehensible to the average magickal practitioner, such as myself. All one needs for this type of magick is a pen and paper, as well as the desire to perform a five-second ritual to implant one's wish into one's subconscious. And I haven't even mentioned the fascinating Alphabet of Desire! It is fair to say that this publication has changed my entire way of thinking about magick and mental processes. Believe me, in case of fire, this book is what I would save first.

Practical Sigil Magic by Frater U.D. is a book for people interested in achieving results. It is forthright, intelligently presented and does not meander from its objective.

All in all, the book is rather scarce, and expensive. However, upon acquisition one quickly discovers that it is very much worth whatever the price tag that accompanied it. The rich fullness of information contained within its pages is not to be found on the web.

With that in mind, upon reading the book and putting its teachings into practice, it becomes quite obvious why PSM is so sought after, and why it is unlikely that it will ever be reprinted - it was never intended for the eyes of the masses; indeed, giving this book to the unprepared would be closely equivalent to giving handgrenades to toddlers.

If you are seeking a book that will supply you with a small but very versatile range of relatively simple but exceedingly potent techniques, showing you how to quickly and easily access and alter both your own innermost being and the fabric of your local reality field, look no further. Practical Sigil Magic delivers completely.

As for obtaining a copy of PSM, watch eBay for it. Practical Sigil Magic has gone for as little as $65 for a good clean copy (moon waning, well after full), and for greater than $250 when the moon is waxing to full.

Understanding that, if you are serious about acquiring power and knowledge, you will get yourself a copy of this book. It is indispensable.

This was the first of a few books on Sigils and Chaos magic, that i had read. It is far easier to read and work through than those b peter Carrol, and I have had some success with the performance and charging of sigils. Just be aware of thet fact thet you need to be specific about what you " wish for " you just might get it with a twist If you leave things vague.

This is an excellent sourcebook for D20, or really any RPG game (it would be really good for the Conan RpG as well).

The Primer is essentially a book of spells (plus magic items and a few other goodies) taken from the Dying Earth world of Jack Vance. Vance, as many know, was a seminal influence on the original D&D, and an influence whose impact is badly needed by the game today. Of all the orignal literary sources, Lieber, Morcock, Howard, and (if indirectly) Tolkein, Vance was arguably the most grown up in his sensibilities and certainly the most darkly comical. His Dying Earth novels were very sardonic laced together with a delightful vein of black humor, somewhat akin to George Bernard Frasers Flashman books, only a bit more forlorn.

If you see D&D today as becomming increasingly like an all too serious G-rated video game, the influence of the Dying Earth perhaps means a return to something like the dark wit of HBO's Deadwood, or a David Mamet play.

Needless to say some people were eagerly anticiating this book, and it's a shame it didn't get more attention in the RPG community. The Primer was a side project, a collaboration between Pelgrane Press which publishes the highly amusing niche RPG based on the Dying Earth, (The Dying Earth RPG) out of the UK, and an unknown US writer who was apparently a Vance fan.

The Primer is well written, preserving both the peculiarly sardonic Dying Earth "tone", and much of the whimsical con-artists humor of the Dying Earth RPG. It also adds a more sinister undercurrent of horror in bridging this to the D20 world. For example, one of the major features is an innovative spell failure system. This is optional, but if used the new spells all have the potential to backfire, sometimes in an amusing, if often very dangerous manner. The extremely iconoclastic magic items can be similarly hazardous to the rash user.

The spells are very evocative and beguiling. While many are quite powerful, they are often much more indirect in their application than typical lazer like spell effects of many modern RPGs. Most are highly condusive to plot immersion, some almost qualify as adventure hooks on their own. This equally true of the eccentric magic items which are strange and tinged with dark mystery. (If you are the kind of person who enjoyed the miscelaneous magic items in the original DMG you will love these artifacts)

This book is especially valuable because while it contains Vance spells which were lifted from the Dying Earth and put into the original D&D (Tensors disk, Prismatic Spray..) as well as over a hundred highly creative spells created by Pelgrane specifically for their Dying Earth RPG, (such as the hilarious Ominous Enthusiast or the Charm of the macroid toe). It also includes at a score or so new spells invented especially for this book, including many innovative Cantrips. In fact the very large section of Cantrips are alone worth buying this book (my personal favorite being 'The Vulgar Interruption.') These Cantrips make it actually fun to play a low -level magic user again.

While the strong points are the cantrips, spells and magic items, there is considerably more to the book. Compared to the highly innovative and unusual magic, the three Prestige Classes are intresting but do not stand out far beyond the standard fare available in many sourcebooks. The system for creating Vat creatures is quite amusing however and poses intriguing possiblities for higher level game play, though it may need to be tinkered with to fit into some campaigns. (I know some people used it as the basis of a system for creating new monsters.) The book is rounded out with a section on certain Djinn like creatures called 'sandestins' which can serve as minions to Arch -Magicians, and there are also some useful essays on integrating Dying Earth genre into D&D.

But it's definately the spells and artifacts which make this book. If you have a Wizard or a magic inclined rogue in your party, and you want to inject some mystery and wonder into your campaign, this book is an absolute must. The spell failure system brings an entirely new dimension to magic, allowing such dynamics as the amateur or half-trained wizardling risking powerful magics which may lead to dire consequenses, or even the seasoned Mage tempted to risk destruction in ever more powerful endeavors. Magic comes to life as never before in D&D with this spell failure option... we used this book in our campaigns and this dynamic alone led us in many unexpected directions.

Its a shame this great little book didn't draw more attention when it came out, and apparently will not directly be followed up by more Vance material from Pelgrane (though they are collaborating with some other D20 / OGL writers on some new projects) The Primer was tanked in a couple of reviews (unfairly and quite prematurely for the most part) and basically disappeared in the flood of mediocre D20 products.

One issue which was pointed out in some of the reviews was that a few of the spells and items were not balanced perfectly. "What happens if you cast it underwater? What happens if you shrink to 1 inch and are swallowed by a cat and then the spell wears off and you grow back to normal size?".

Some stuff does need to be looked at, to be fair. We did some tinkering with the spell failure system for example before we got it just the way we wanted it for our campaign. Players used to very strict 3.5 rules interpretation who don't expect to custom tailor suppliments to their own campaigns may not like this aspect, as a DM who never uses things 100% as is off the shelf it did not bother me. Also, there are no rules for manufacturing the magic items in the book, which per Dying Earth canon are generally assumed to have come from the very ancient past, and may or may not have been created by sinister entities. Again, I actually appreciated this.

There were also some web suppliments which were posted on the Pelgrane site which addressed some of the balance issues, some other fan questions, and included some added material. Not sure if they are still available.

Bottom line, as a DM I really enjoyed this book. My players loved the new spells and items, and the magic users in my party, dabblers and serious practitioners alike, have taken a whole new interest in Magic. In short, the Primer really brought a lot of "magic" into our campaign in more ways than one. If you like a more challenging 'low fantasy' environment, or if you like Jack Vance, you will definately appreciate this book.

A must have for anyone interested in the Dying Earth RPG.

This book rocks! The only problem is I cant put it down and get to work on time! Its hilariously written and has a mad amount of new spells and gadgets. My favorite is probably Olfactory Confusion, or maybe The Vat Creatures. It's far better than your average D20 book. The only thing that I think could probably make it better is perhaps more artwork. Just before you get started make sure your boss or teachers are cool!

My brother turned me onto this book; I had been out of gaming for a bit, but a weekend spent poring over this soon-to-be classic has me enthused and virtually incapable of attending to anything else. I have never read the Dying Earth books (a deficiency soon to be corrected) , but this is such a rich and challenging world that I can see Dying Earth in all of its manifestations taking up ALL of my free time in the near future. Great resource for spells, especially the low level spells, and really unique, interesting magic items. The writing is good and often very funny. The spell failure system is a great innovation and there are some really interesting combat feats. I would have liked to have seen more of these types of feats and more higher level spells, but this is all new, very stylish and it's well worth the price... there is way more useful material here than in most D20 books

The authors have a wonderful gift for connecting the mystical to the everyday. They also prove very conclusively that spirituality and abundance are not mutually exclusive, and that money is a form of energy that can be invoked, directed and amplified. The technique that they teach here is built around the sign of increase. Further magical techniques and exercises include the rituals of the black mirror, getting help from your subconscious, reading your dreams and the fivefold Prana sequence for increasing psychic energy. The style is simple and engaging, making for reading enjoyment and stimulating the reader to go through with the interesting exercises. This is an excellent manual on achieving personal prosperity, probably one of the best. The book includes an illustration of the Sign of Increase, a catalog of dream symbols and an index to the practices of creative money-making. It will amply reward the reader if you put the exercises and techniques into practice.

If you are serious about money, energy, and magick, then this book is a must-read. From personal experience I can tell you that, if you're motivated, apply what is taught, and are willing to give money a new place in your life, this book will pave the way to greater wealth. Enough said, just do it!

If you are serious about money, energy, and magick, then this book is a must-read. From personal experiance I can tell you that, if you're motivated, apply what is taught, and are willing to give money a new place in your life, this book will pave the way to greater wealth. Enough said, just do it!