Modern Magick - New revised edition

Hello folks!

Just browsing the old Llewellyn site and spotted that there was a new edition of a classic GD/Ceremonial magic book..
(hope the rules state I can post this link, as I've forgotten what the rules are these days!)
Modern Magick

Anyone got this new edition? What did you think of the old edition?

x

Oh, brain got finally in gear as I realised the new edition hasnt been published yet...

OOPS lol.

oh well, the thread is here for when it does

???????????

How is this book a " new edition of a classic GD/Ceremonial magic book.. " ????

I used to have a copy of the old edition, but gave it away. A classic? Hardly. But it's a good intro to ceremonial magick and is highly practical. The last point is the thing that makes the book better than average in my opinion. It's no good just reading about magick, you've got to get your hands dirty.

One criticism I have is Kraig's tinkering with some of the "classic" rituals. I'm going from memory here. His pentagram ritual is a good example. At the part where the magician says, "for about me flames the penagram", you are traditionally meant to visualize the circle and four pentagrams drawn during the ritual. Kraig, on the other hand, instructs the reader to imagine themselves inside a giant pentagram. Now there is nothing "wrong" with Kraigs inovation per se. But it is the sort of thing that can confuse people who are new to the subject. They see the same ritual presented differently in another book, and before you know it, they are off on a fruitless search for the "right way".

Another case of a simple typo or misreading???
About me flame the pentagrams / about me flames the pentagram. The first has a clearer meaning, the second could mean either.
There are HEAPS of these little goofs in magick and related literature and CAN lead one off on a wierd tangent away from the 'right way'.

Right ... I'm off to do a long and involved magical search on the origin of the 'penagram'

ravenest said:

Another case of a simple typo or misreading???

Click to expand...

Possibly. Or maybe it's an attempt to move the ritual back towards the original GD format. As far as I know the "traditional" pentagram rite, with hexagrams above and below the magician, is actually a Crowley inovation. The original Golden Dawn ritual had "Before me flames the pentagram - Behind me shines the six-rayed star".

Ugh...

Yes, these few previous posts provide perfectly examples of what I am currently struggling with as I make my way through Kraig's book.

I'll save my rant/story for a more appropriate thread but suffice it to say that Modern Magick has some aspects to it that I've found frustrating as a new student.

MercifulMight said:

Ugh...

Yes, these few previous posts provide perfectly examples of what I am currently struggling with as I make my way through Kraig's book.

I'll save my rant/story for a more appropriate thread but suffice it to say that Modern Magick has some aspects to it that I've found frustrating as a new student.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't this be an appropriate thread? Do you want to say more about what's frustrating you? I've had the book a long while and it's been some years since I worked through it but I'm happy to offer any perspective.

ravenest said:

Another case of a simple typo or misreading???
About me flame the pentagrams / about me flames the pentagram. The first has a clearer meaning, the second could mean either.
There are HEAPS of these little goofs in magick and related literature and CAN lead one off on a wierd tangent away from the 'right way'.

Right ... I'm off to do a long and involved magical search on the origin of the 'penagram'

Click to expand...

You can probably save yourself a long and involved search. The GD made the pentagram ritual up, along with the various banishing/invoking, passive/active pentagrams etc.

I am pretty sure that pre-GD, magicians didn't use banishing rituals. They made it up. We don't have to use it. It's become almost like a superstition that we 'have' to.

I wouldn't assume they are goofs, if by that you mean mistakes. I don't think there is only one right way to do pentagram ritual. I think the best way to learn about the ritual is to pick one that appeals to the magician and start doing it. Does it really matter if it's flame or flames? Small details like that won't make a difference to what the ritual is doing to us on an energetic level.

I started doing a version of the pentagram ritual 6 or 7 years ago, I guess. Maybe a bit more. My experience of doing the ritual has changed and my understanding of it has changed through the doing of it. The version I do now is quite different to the one I was originally taught (which is also different to the standard GD one) because I've changed it as my understanding and needs have changed.

Jellybean said:

You can probably save yourself a long and involved search. The GD made the pentagram ritual up, along with the various banishing/invoking, passive/active pentagrams etc.

I am pretty sure that pre-GD, magicians didn't use banishing rituals. They made it up. We don't have to use it. It's become almost like a superstition that we 'have' to.

Click to expand...

The LBRP is a GD invention I believe, but it's not unprecedented, pentagram rituals are referenced before them by Levi, and the idea of a pentagram having a point for each element goes back to Pythagorus. I think it's more accurate to say the GD developed and systematized them. Pre-GD magicians did use similar concepts, but the focus was on holy water, incense, cleanliness of the magician, bathing and specific prayers or circumabulations etc.

I don't think it matters much what version anyone uses, just that you choose one. Feel free to rant away here MM, it's as good a place as any