Rating: 
Summary: Are you ready for the challenge?
Review: A refreshing change from the influx of new age fluffy bunny modern Wiccan 101 material that we have been surrounded with. This book is not exactly about "making a pact with the Devil" per se (in the Christian sense) - it's aim is to challenge that thinking of the modern occultist or magickian practitioner as to releasing just how much Christianise Western society dominates our subconscious.
There will be those who knock this book because it doesn't follow the fluffy new age modern Wicca aspect but if you want something to actually challenge you in the way you think, especially useful for any kind of serious occultist, then this book does just that - in fact the introduction does that!
While I have worked with the left hand path, I do not call myself a Satanist or Setian or anything like that - I believe in the polarity of things. And just as there is the yin/yang and masculine and feminine which balance out each other, so do the "light" and "dark" aspects.
I really don't understand so-called Pagans, Wiccans and Wytches who are afraid of the shadows - take a closer look at what happens within nature without your rose-tinted glasses. Or take a deep breath and read something challenging - like this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Rude Awakening
Review: Anyone that buys this book is Wasting their time and money. The old days are over when Demons were commanded by people using xian god names to make pacts.Today if anyone tries to make a pact will get a rude awakening. Pacts are disrespectful to the Demons, plus you are commanding them in the xian god's name. I warn anyone who buys this book..Don't Buy It, and try to command any Demon mentioned in this book. You will So Regret it.
Rating: 
Summary: An intelligent look at Satanism and humanity.
Review: Ave,As a Luciferian, I tend to be a very harsh critic when it comes to works that deal with Satanism and Demonic entities, and I can say with little hesitation that this is a great book concerning the Left-hand path of magick and personal growth. While yes, the rituals within the book itself are of an era passed and seem almost "silly" now, there is much in the ways of technique that can be salvaged from these rituals. Any decent magickian will be able to take what they find intersting from the rituals and discard the rest.
The REAL gold within this book is the personal encounters that the authors give of their experience working with these entities. This shows a great deal of courage on the part of the authors as magickains who discuss their workings with the frankness that they do tend to be shunned by the masses as either heretics or lunatics. And of course they go into the general neurosis that society seems to have when it comes to the supernatural (originating from both the religious reich and the fanaticly-"rational" pseudo-intelligencia).
There are a depressingly few books on Satanism and the occult in general worth their money, but fortunatly thoes which ARE worth the paper they're printed on go above and beyond expectations and create somthing revolutionary. What Crowley did for magick oh-so-many years ago, Jason Black, Robert A. Wilson, and Christopher S. Hyatt are doing again.
Ave,
Mastorn
Rating:
Summary: An intelligent look at Satanism and humanity.
Review: Ave, I am a Luciferian. I tend to be a very harsh critic when it comes to works that deal with Satanism and "Devil worship" (for lack of a better term). I can say unafraid that this book is tops on the list of books concerning the Left-hand path that have been made within the last 30 years. The simplified versions of each of the grimores is quite enlightening as to the framework of "christianized" evocation. I personally do not use such rituals to evoke entities. I see is as hypocritical to invoke the names of the Christian god to summon a compleatly different entity. I would normally hold this against the authors, however, they make their understanding of Satanism quite apparent throughout the rest of the work. The testimonies of Jason Black's own experiences are quite helpful to the practicioner of any system. I recommend this book to any serious magickian. Ave,
Mastorn
Rating:
Summary: demon
Review: Christopher Hyatt is one of the most enjoyable iconoclasts to ever walk the face of this planet. In collaboration with S. Jason Black, of course, he eloquently destroys your mind, in the sense of happily showing you ways of tearing down many of the misconceptions, biases, and prejudices you and others have been filling your pretty little head with all these years. Is Dr. Hyatt perfect - hell no. This is precisely why his works are ultimately so convincing. Eschewing the tendency on the part of most "academics" to proselytize their message from a haughty, self-righteous perspective, Hyatt goes in for the intellectual jugular with street smarts. He uses intelligent but emphatic, concise dialogue that gives you the goods pronto (and in a nicely self-effacing manner that shows you he has struggled himself). Somehow, within the context of breaking down orthodox views (Hyatt was highly critical of church officials long before it became fashionable) and obliterating all our stupid thoughts, he manages to give us hope. Pacts With The Devil, like so many of his works, performs the ritual of giving you options to change your viewpoints and then supplant them with new and improved ideas. Sort of like rebuilding the transmission in your car. Your "cortex converter" gets a much needed oil change that - contrary to popular opinion that destroying some of your 'core' beliefs is bad - leaves you refreshed and fulfilled, with at least most pistons firing like they should. Yes, my friend, you are getting torqued. This is what's so elegant and fun about it - you get the things you originally set out for once you break down so many of the original ambitions and expectations you came with. How Zen. How Kabalistic. And yes dear pagans, ironically (the Devil would love irony, wouldn't he), how very mystically Christian.
Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings
Review: Finally, an author who is intimately involved enough in the subject matter to bring it across sincerely. Written as if he's your own personal tutor, matter-of-factly and in your face, especially when retelling his own chilling experiences. The artistic renditions of some of the demons seem a little amateurish and silly (one of them has an afro), but that isn't a major point of the tome.
Overall, a refreshingly different--refreshingly sincere--approach to the subject matter.
Rating:
Summary: A shot of adrenaline into the veins of modern occultism
Review: Hyatt and Black are definately the saviours of occultism. Finally, we have a book that really understands and applies many of the principles of the left hand path while at the same time being funny, entertaining AND well illustrated.
This book is NOT a key to working the old grimoires. From just about any perspective, they are unworkable and pretty much the product of silly wannabe heretics who for some reason found it appropriate to "control" Satan by calling up Jehovah. It doesn't work and never did.
However, the book is very successful in capturing the ancient rebellious spirit of the magicians gutsy enough to consort with the devil. As silly as it may seem to some now a days, it was punishable by death back then.
Hyatt provides awesome psychological analysis of Satan and his hosts without falling into the trap of simply regarding them as "archetypes" like many other so called Satanists.
It is in Black's material that the book really shines. Most people who write books on occultism don't include personal accounts of magic simply because they have NEVER IN THEIR LIFE DONE ANYTHING MAGICAL!! They will wax on about theory but they have never and probably will never cast a spell to save their lives. Black, on the other hand is a PRACTICING magician and provides many useful anecdotes that you will gain more from than a whole stack of Wicca 101 primers.
Good luck in all of your dark endevours here and and I really hope you consider buying this book.
Rating:
Summary: Whoa!!! This is what I'm talking about!!! About time!!!
Review: I bought this book and many books on the occult and it never fails to scare people who have no clue what they fear so much. One lady even gave me the evil eye(a lowly technique) upon purchasing this book. After I read it I felt I was being educated to the interconnectedness of many religions and even the origin of the Devil in Christianity. It is so petty how the major religions demonise each other and all faiths that are different from their own. As I grew up I snapped out of the mind control of monotheistic religious views and I feel ever more loving toward all people exept those who hate in the name of their God. This is a middle finger to all those who would enslave your mind and cage your soul. Mad Props to the authors!!!
Rating:
Summary: fun facts about pacts
Review: refreshing, totally respectless and funny. yes funny - and if you know yer magick literature you also know that funny books are very hard to come by in this field. «pacts» is black and hyatt at their best (like this other nasty little [person] they have created: urban voodoo). the techniques described by the magick «duo infernal» are fine and well tuned - most of them are known by the experiencend magickian though. the history part of the book is very entertaining. its the fresh attitude of the authors that makes this boook such a fantastic read. great stuff. rogue stuff. magick without pomp and circumstance. magick for the 21. century.
Rating:
Summary: Rude Awakening
Review: The authors open with a bit of demonic theory and brief overview of Satanic and demonic pacts throughout history. They explain that they 'prefer to believe in the existence of non-human forces', while at the same time acknowledging that there is 'no "proof" of their existence in the scientific sense. More, [there is] no proof that these forces are good or evil - or that even our human concepts apply to them' (pg 16). The histories they've collected are varied, and humourously recounted. Unfortunately a bibliography is not included, and the reader is left to seek out the source of most of these stories hirself. However the entire text is peppered with personal anecdotes, both awesome and entertaining, and the reader is easily drawn in. The authors state that the 'paramount utility of names and sigils is as a beacon to the hidden world from which magic draws its power.' Noting that 'this is why traditional forms are important and still useful. Not because the standing armies of Hell literally exist?but because when certain signs are made, and certain actions performed, it is understood by "another" what you are calling and how "it" (or they) should respond' (pg 109). The practical section includes rituals from the The Grimorium Verum, The Grand Grimoire and The Constitution of Honorius, as edited by the authors 'in order to make them more sensible and useable by the person so inclined' (pg 149). Ritual methods are explained clearly and simply, with alternatives suggested in place of the traditional sacrifices required, presumably for variety and freedom of choice as well as the obvious legal reason. Also included are demonic names, lengthy calls, sigils, and illustrations by S. Jason Black. Highly critical of the Christian church, the authors take every opportunity to mock it, whether or not the point made is relevant to the discussion at hand, seemingly only included simply because one of the authors have a personal grudge against the religion he was raised in. However, as they state themselves: 'No matter what we call ourselves, "neo-pagan" or "new age" or "yogi" or "atheist" we are still puppets for the patterns and fears etched into our minds with acid as a child. Unless we directly confront those symbols and fears, "principalities and powers", there will be no breaking free, and when that confrontation occurs, long-repressed forces will rise up that will result either in empowerment or collapse' (pg 66). Perhaps this minor obsession with the 'evils' of Christianity is merely a reflection of that. While hardly a scholarly text, it is informative and entertaining; a practical approach to the more 'sinister' side of occultism. The authors assume the reader already has some familiarity with occult theory and practical experience. Those with a kindling interest in the 'darker' path will find this book a welcome addition to their library.
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