Rating: 
Summary: Not very useful, but mildly interesting..
Review: This book did not turn out to be what I expected. Kraig used to teach an occult class through this mail order thing, and this book is basically an archive of all his lessons. It pretty much goes like this: He rants for about five pages, which leads up to a new ritual that must be learned or a new tool that must be created. Then he says something like, "Do this for ___ months before moving on". In other words, this is not a book that you can read, cover to cover, and gain new insight on magical workings. It's meant to be a like a virtual teacher, and in my opinion, it's not very useful.Kraig's writing is very dogmatic. Have you ever read occult writings where the author stresses insignificant details and threatens you with negative effects if you don't do it right? "Your dagger MUST NOT be lowered throughout the ENTIRE RITUAL.. or else Michael will whack you with his sword! Your pentacle disk MUST be BLACK, and NO OTHER COLOR! Definetely NOT Green, Brown etc, or else DEMONS WILL COME AND CHEW ON YOUR GUTS FOR ALL ETERNITY!" It's authors like that that I really can't get into. His writing is informal and easy to understand--overall it's an easy read--but his information is questionable and fairly useless. There are also typos everywhere. The outlines of rituals can be useful, but it's nothing you can't find somewhere on the internet.. the diagrams of the Tree of Life in relation to Freudian psychology is interesting, as are the tables pertaining to the angels, angelic orders, and sephiroth. A lot of people recommend this book and praise it as something great, so if you have some extra money, go ahead and buy this book. However, it never helped me to become a better mage or develop any of my skills, and I doubt it will for you.
Rating: 
Summary: excellent, practical and flexible
Review: I am amazed at the breadth and depth of Kraig. The lessons and techniques he presents are clear, simple and straight forward. This book was actually my first step into the world of Magick. Before reading this I was just curious, after reading this I am practicing and amazed with what I have seen. My only problem with the book is its focus on the practicals. There is a lot of time spent on "how-to". More then I would have personally liked, but as much as the title implies with the word "lesson." It felt like a class, a great one, but a class. If that isnt your thing you might not consider this a bible and a classic like I do.
Rating:
Summary: Great for a beginner
Review: "Modern Magick" was the first book I bought on the subject. It is divided into eleven lessons, which are progressive and each are user-friendly in the sense that the exercises could potentially accomodate any kind of person.
The information in this book ranges from tarot to dream interpretation, to rituals and making talismans. As a beginner, I found this book very helpful since it is a step-by-step how-to guide. However, this book would probably be too basic for someone who knows a lot on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Grey Magick/Sorcery
Review: I think Grey Magick is defined as bringing things into your life. This is a book about Grey Magick. The author forgets or assumes that his readers already have a sound background in occult philosophy - quite necessary, I've found, for magickal workings. I like the bibliography - the book was well researched. It's kind of too watered down though and overly positive (It's like teaching 4th graders Art and crafts). DMK tries to mesh Golden Dawn and Wicca - it didn' turn out so well. From his style of writing and his tone he appears to be targeting the new Neo-Pagan youth market. I think people should be able to deal with everyday before attempting high nagick. However, if you are mature enough (emotionally and spiritually) and want to learn Grey Magick or Sorcery this may just be the ticket. One thing though, there such things as manevolent spirits and Astral junk that will seem to be attracted to you when you do the exercises put across so be careful. Don't be surprised if you wake up and see a dead body besid you with a giant reptilian head - as the author says, just remeber it's not really there, it's just there astrally. The same author who says that things must exist on the astral plane before they become manisfested materially. Connect the dots yourself. ... PLEASE TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THE TEENAGERS WHO ARE TROUBLED OR WHO ARE JUST [angry] WHO PICK UP YOUR BOOK AND PUT THEMSELVES AND THEIR FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN MORTAL PERIL. GUIDE THEM, GUIDE THEM, GUIDE THEM AND WARN AND ADVISE THEM STRONLY, EVER SO STRONGLY BEFORE THEY PURCHASE THIS BOOK.
Rating: 
Summary: Great book except for evocations!
Review: This is a great manual for the begginning magician, buy this book and find some blank tarot cards and make your own cards for the tarot exercise.He recomends you buy another book in the course, if you are into evocation buy Konstantinos': Summoning Spirits.His(Kraigs) evocation tech. was stolen from Runyon without credit ...in my opinion ... Runyon is on the right track on the color of the earth banishing pentagrams though they are not light blue! Anyway great book just ignore the evoction stuff.
Rating:
Summary: A coherent and progressive course
Review: This book is not only a systematic course in the Magic of the Golden Dawn; the author also offers us insight into his own practical experience of Magic. He guides the practitioner step by step into the arcana of a powerful system. Even advanced practitioners will find helpful information about various techniques. The rituals are clearly explained, and the author guides the reader in the choice of other books that will help him on his way.
It really is an essential work.
Rating: 
Summary: It could be worse
Review: Unfortunately, Kraig's book is incomplete and inconcise. It's fine if you want to practice Ceremonial Magick, but first you should learn the basics of plain old Magick. Read "Liber Null & Psychonaut" by Peter J. Carroll, "Basic Magick" by Phillip Cooper and "Real Magic" by Isaac Bonewits. No amount of Qabalah or Alchemy can give you all the practical information in these three books alone. And one other thing: the information on using the Keys of Solomon is hardly original, and worse yet, dangerously incomplete. Go to the original source: "The Book of Solomon's Magick" by Carrol 'Poke' Runyon, and the accompanying video, "The Magick of Solomon".
Rating:
Summary: Great book on Magick (2nd edition)
Review: MODERN MAGICK
by Donald Michael Kraig There is a problem with the first edition of this book. In lesson 7 the olympic/planetary seals are totally messed up. Meaning he assinged Hagith (venus to the the seal of Phalec (mars) and so on and so forth. Now to the experienced magician they could spot this right away, but the beginner will have absolutly no clue that there is a mistake here. Now it does not matter if this is the authers fault or the editor's fault there is a mistake. Otherwise the book is very, very good but not excellent. I give the first edition four stars. Plus the talismans are ok I like the way he describes a way on how to make talismas and amulets in a pagan way.It has pretty good info on the subject of amulets and talismans. If you are interested in making talismans get Making Talismans by Nick Farrell. This may be the only book you may need for powerful and postive magick using talismans and amulets.
The second edition is much better where the mistake is corrected. But the auther from what I read did not mention there was a mistake in the first edition. Now on to the more postive review. The book is excellent for those who are interested in Ceremonial Magick. It deals with the magick of the Golden Dawn tradition. The chapters are divided in lessons. There are a total amount of 11 lessons. There is information of the Qabalah and the Tree of Life. He gives many rituals throughout this book, including the ritual of the pentagram, the hexagram ritual, the rose cross ritual and much more. The Watchtower ritual he gives is a more simplified version although very effective. You will find a lesson on sex magick here as well (you may not want to have your youngster read read chapter 10). In lesson 9 you will learn a bit on the Goetia. Also you will learn how to make some of the tools used in CM. Although he does give a brief history on wi! tchcraft and the oppersion of it throughout time this book does not have anything to do with Wicca at all. You will learn about talismans and amulets and how to create your own. You will learn so many thing from this book. This is suitable for the beginner who knows nothing about magick and is suitable for those who know about magick and has a lot of experience and wants to get into Ceremonial Magick. This book also makes a wonderful reference as well. Also I would like to mention that the second edition has a section on the frequently asked question on magick as well. Also at the end of each lesson this is refering to the first and second editions there are questions at the end of each chapeter about each lessons. I find this book to be valuable and intelligently written. This book is a hot seller the first edition has over a 100,000 copies in print! This is a book that I seriously recommed to anyone who is interested in learning CM. Kraig did great work with this! one!
Five stars for the 2nd edition *****
Rating:
Summary: You will want this book.
Review: If you are at all interested in ceremonial magick and learning real magickal techniques this book should be your bible. This is the only occult book that I have seen that doesn't just tell you how to do certain rituals, this book breaks down the system of magick in a graduated course of study so that the student can learn to properly raise and control energy in order to make magick really work. It is by far the best book on the subject that I have seen and if I could only have one book of magick to work from this would be the one. It is clear that the author has not just researched Magick and the Kabbalah, he is no doubt an expert who has practiced it successfully.
Rating:
Summary: Great beginner book
Review: An excellent choice for those who want to practice High magick, as opposed to most who just read about it (whilst claiming Magus status). Very basic, step by step lessons that will lead the aspiring magician to greater knowledge and ability. When done the lessons, you'll be ready for more in depth study. A GREAT starting point to begin your magickal journey. Zis
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