Comprehensive overview of magick with multiple perspectives provided. Good attention to relevant historical details with a focus on making magick in the present.

I picked this book up mostly out of curiosity. I didn't expect anything overly practical since the premise of this book is that it contains "contemporary insights and experiences from practicing magicians." The title alone led me to the conclusion that I would essentially be reading anecdotal accounts of various practices from the authors' lives. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I wasn't overly eager to pick it up. There were several points in the book that were so bogged down with historical information that I felt like I was reading a text book. I also felt that the organization of the book was a little scattered.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of this book to review.

I found it interesting and thought provoking. There's plenty of books about spell and magic and just a few that makes you reflect on what living magic means.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

You could summon a demon to help you find arcane knowledge in a dusty old tome. Or you could order a book from Amazon. I'm just saying. Not only is it more efficient — with one-click delivery and free shipping — but you're still summoning a demon and it's still a form of magick.

Not really like this book, there is some information. A look at their lives in magic. Each author gets a few chapters to share their essays.

Living Magic is an intriguing read that is full of tips and tricks with lots of useful information. A book I am sure to read again and again.

What a wonderfully organized book! While I do feel you need some basic understanding of magick to fully comprehend the topics being discussed at times, it really is a great book full of information. I suggest you have a good foundation before jumping into read this though

This book is organized well, and offers a lot of interesting information and thoughts on a variety of topics.

I feel like the reviews giving less than 5 stars and saying its not what they expected have never read anything by Frater U.D. before. He consistently turns magickal teaching on its head and shows a perspective that, though not new, isn't talked about in mainstream texts and media that spoon feeds the same correspondences and watered down rituals over and over.
The information and truths in this book are there for those who are ready to read them. Those that are not, won't grasp and that is ok. Its not for everybody. I want to emphasize that - this book is NOT for everybody.
However if you want to read the experiences of magicians who aren't afraid to put magick to scientific tests, who are willing to play, and will reveal how the world works underneath the mainstream babble - this book is what you want to pick up. Yes these are personal essays and not how-tos but there are a million how to books out there that won't encourage you for one moment to think for yourself. These writers do just that - they share what they do and ask that you try it for yourself and really think not just outside the box but ignore the box completely and step into the chaos that is beyond it.

If anything, the way this group of authors came together and the topics they discuss should be a jumping off point for your own real life group experiences.

Philosophies of Magic

I'm not quite sure what I thought this was going to be about from its description at one of my favorite book review sites. I typically love books by this publisher, so I thought I would check it out. Despite its title, it doesn't really seem to be about what I would call “living magic.” Rather, this has been written by four ceremonial magicians, and each chapter is an essay written by one of them that touches on their history with magic, philosophies, and other aspects of magic. It feels rather loose and disjointed, with no true organization. If you're hoping for a book that will help you actually practice “living magic,” you will be disappointed as it has little of “practical” use. Not to say that some essays are not fascinating or good reads that get you thinking… because they are on both counts. If you are interested in intellectually exploring magical concepts, you might enjoy the insights offered by four well-practiced magicians.

This isn't exactly what I was expecting. I was thinking I would learn more about magic and its practice, but most of these essays were about metaphysical connections and went way over my head. I was looking for something more practical than theoretical.

Well written, concise and rather enjoyable. There's a lot here to get one thinking and inspire curiosity in the reader. A great addition to any witch or occultist's library.

The introduction purports that there are less than 30 books that actually teach how to get results from magic in the world and that "You're holding one of them." A fairly pretentious claim, though it's true that a massive amount of books on the market are what we would call 'fluffy' and basically all say the same things as each other. I'm always looking for the exceptions.

The rest of the intro tells some history of 'The Bonn Group' in Germany that eventually formed the German section of the IOT (Illuminates of Thanateros). This will be of interest to those who have read about the original group in England started by Peter Carroll and Ray Sherwin and the subsequent spread. Very little information has been available about the German section. The one thing that bothers me is the claim that the Bonn group founded the IOT, yet no mention of the actual founders in England anywhere in the book. It reeks of credit grabbing.

The chapters are written as separate essays about different aspects of the subject. I had the impression that at least some of them might have been re-purposed from earlier publications. The first chapter, written by Frater U.D., is about the terms 'high magic', 'low magic', etc. Like the introduction, it's largely based in history and the experience of the author. The second chapter, by Harry Eilenstein, is a similar relation of the author's historical journey into magic and I began to think here that the four authors were giving information about their experiences to put the reader in context, but then the next chapter is by Frater U.D. again.

This one at first appears to be another dose of nostalgia, but turns out to be a long winded way of explaining probability and seeming coincidence in magic and just pointing out that it works. The only thing that made me smile indulgently was the assertion that anyone explaining magic through science is wrong. I've seen some brilliant explanations of how magic fits neatly in with chaos science, though to be fair there are many articles around where the writers seem to try too hard to make things fit and we can't expect every magician to fully understand chaos physics.

Next up is a chapter by Josef Knecht. With only a light mention of personal history from this third author, he waxes philosophical about the nature of magic and some of the relevant contributions from Carl Jung and how psychology relates to magic. Finally Ice Magic, an approach originated by Frater U.D., gets a mention and a general explanation, simple but clear.

The fourth author, Axel Büdenbender, follows with an interview style essay that tells his background and experience with magic. So now we're a quarter of the way through the book and it has been more memoir than magic, but useful information to put in context and the footnotes refer to chapters to come that sound promising.

Then after a chapter about mind states in magic we have Frater U.D. again and another historical chapter on famous magicians, magical Orders and the "fetish" of legitimacy. Harry Eilenstein then talks about telepathy and finally we're given an exercise to try! Beginner's stuff, but it's a start.

The chapters go on this way, Harry about Da'ath magic which apparently requires a belief in a supreme diety and a lot about Chakras, then finishes up saying the chapter is an "attempt to sketch its essence and describe its properties" but doesn't go into what he actually does in the practice.

I found the chapter on mistakes in magic particularly interesting and something that would be of great value to anyone who is new to their magical journey.

The trip down memory lane is interesting for those who are interested in what people were doing in that era and the philosophical concepts mostly have merit, but halfway through the book I was still waiting for the promise of how to get results from magic promised in the Introduction, though there has been much of interest about magical theory.

We do finally get some detailed instruction in chapter 18 about German letter magick, after a comprehensive history of the man who started it, Rudolf von Sebottendorf. Much of this history takes us through politics during both world wars, so Nazis come into it. I found it different than what I might have expected as it focused on intoning and posture magic.

Overall I found the book more *about* magic than instructional for the magician. It was often verbose and I disagreed occasionally with some of the ideas, like the very limiting idea of defining magic into models. However, it was refreshing to see astrology given serious consideration within the context of some schools of magic that too often discount it.

I'm not sure who the target audience is meant to be. Those familiar with magic through the 1970s-1980s will find much familiar, some gaps in history filled in and some potentially interesting perspectives, but those new to magic might not be able to put a lot of it into context. Still, I enjoyed reading it.

Is Magic a response to our feeling powerless? IMO yes and this excellent series of lessons or talks remedies the situation. I was excited to read this as Magic is fascinating to me and I have always wondered if miracles existed only for others but not for me. When i started reading this book I became aware of what I could do to improve my life. I also learned about what other magicians have discoved and the pitfalls and gifts of their studies. This is the first book Ive read that impressed me with its common sense approach to learning magic to improve my life. I had to admit that maybe I ahd been approaching it wrong . After reading this well written and very interesting book I had a map for future discoveries and progress in my daily life. Which IMO is what magic is all about.

This is an interesting book, four magicians are presenting their ideas, experiences, philosophies, rituals and practical advices about magic. Just from introduction, we can see that many teachings of this book are deserving to be carefully considered in the occult sciences. Almost every essay here will stir your interest: about politics and Crowley's "Do What Thou Wilt", about different types of magic and Kabbalah stations, about telepathy... even one complete system is presented, similar to rune magic. And, of course, though it is expected that the reader will have few different ideas than those presented in the text this book is nevertheless one awesome and particular presentation of magical world.