Rating: 
Summary: Unique
Review: This volume is a workbook. The exercises it recommends are very specific and very concrete, and there are clear and measurable criteria for their correct completion. A simple reading of the text (without practicing the exercises) would almost necessarily be wholly unsatisfactory and even frustrating. Large numbers of startling inferences can be made from reading the text. However, only through practice can the inferences be verified or denied. Undoubtedly, many of the exercises recommended here are very difficult to achieve. The great attraction of the book is that it outlines an obviously rigorous system of practice that may lead the practitioner to a greatly enlarged, enhanced, and integrated life. Because I have only had the book a short time and my practice is not yet sufficiently intense, I can say almost nothing regarding whether the content is correct or not. Only personal experience can really tell. However, the whole system is so detailed, so sophisticated, and so potentially helpful that I would feel cheated in life if I didn't at least try it for myself. It could, of course, be entirely wrong. With something of such potential importance, I think it wise for each person to determine the truth or falsity of the claims personally.
Rating:
Summary: Not for everybody
Review: With all the praises this book has been getting, let me make this clear: THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR EVERYBODY. And don't think that this is the only magic-book you'll ever need. Wrong. This book containts a complete initiation system which is a true description of the first Tarot Card. But this course can take a lifetime to amster if not many lifetimes for many people. You won't become a magus overnight. I disagree with the person who said that you shouldn't read ahead until you complete a step; nor that by doing so, you will finish the book in 2 years. It is safe to read ahead; it will also take many, many years to master the whole course. This is THE book for serious magic. But be warned: it's only for the most disciplined, most determined students. Also, don't neglect to study the writings of other adepts.
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