The Ritual Magic Manual: A Complete Course in Practical Magic

This is the book I recommend to everyone, it is practical, written in an easy style to read and understand for advanced or beginners. You must absolutely have this book in your collection for any price, it will change your life for good. Personally I have a large collection of magical literature but this is the most complete and practical book of all. You will be following the footsteps of one of the spiritual Giant of all time, Fater. D. Griffin.

An excellent resource fo any practitioner of the Golden Dawn system of magic.

excellent

I've been waiting for a while to get my hands on "The Ritual Magic Manual"-- for years I've refused to pay anything close to the going Amazon rates for this book. My persistence and patience eventually paid off, though, and I finally have my own copy (purchased from an auction site for well under $100). Much to my relief, "The Ritual Magic Manual" was worth waiting for. Truth be told, I was thoroughly prepared to dislike this book-- heck, a part of me really WANTED to dislike it-- because I've followed the author's blog posts for some time now, and while they've occasionally contained something interesting or useful, I've more often found them to be full of hyperbole, posturing, and outright incitement. Frankly, I long ago formed an opinion that David Griffin possessed NONE of the qualities you'd expect from a self-professed Adept of the Golden Dawn (although he admittedly looks positively spiffy in his Star Trek uniform). I say this only to explain where I'm coming from in my review of his book. "The Ritual Magic Manual" has persuaded me that I should at least be willing to reassess my perceptions about David Griffin. While I still very much dislike the David Griffin that has presented himself to the world through his blog posts, at least now I have an inkling that there may be some substance behind the posturing. This book is substantial! In some ways it may even be groundbreaking. You absolutely have to admire the way that Griffin has adapted the Golden Dawn Enochian system so that it can be equally and consistently applied to elemental, planetary, zodiacal, and sephirothic magical operations. There appear to be some genuine magical breakthroughs here which I look forward to studying in more detail. I also like the fact that Griffin is attempting to "rectify" the Golden Dawn's system of Enochian spelling and pronounciation by going back to Dee's Enochian manuscripts, many of which were not available for study in the 1890's when the Golden Dawn corpus was being established. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Griffin's revised Enochian is any better (or any worse) than previous Enochian systems, but again, I look forward to studying his system in more detail. The color plates in this book are STUNNING!!! What more can be said about them? If you've ever worked with the elemental tablets, I'll bet you feel a familiar jolt the first time you lay your eyes on them here. In fact, the illustrations throughout this book are really nice, adding clarity to what is described in the text. Overall, what I really like best about "The Ritual Magic Manual" is that it attempts to create a progressive curriculum of Inner Order studies for the self-initiate. While many people consider Regardie's books to be the last word in Golden Dawn literature, in truth, Regardie only published the Order papers that he had in his possession. His books don't begin to approximate the in-person training and mentoring that an Adept would have received upon being advanced to the Second Order. This book neatly fills that void by providing a step-by-step reference to each of the major magical operations of the Golden Dawn, arranging them so that they can be studied in progressive order of difficulty and/or complexity. I should point out that I don't endorse this book as part of any Golden Dawn 'canon.' That's not my role in writing this review. The material in "The Ritual Magic Manual" represents a new stream of the Golden Dawn occult tradition, and students will need to decide for themselves IF and HOW it fits into their own spiritual practices. In fact, that's sort of my take on Griffin and his role in the various "wars" between his and other Golden Dawn factions-- at this point, instead of giving a fig about which Golden Dawn offshoot represents the 'true and authentic' lineage of the original Golden Dawn, I think there are really several EQUALLY legitimate and EQUALLY viable streams of the Golden Dawn tradition which took completely divergent paths some time ago. Studying the Golden Dawn magical system shouldn't be a zero-sum game, where some factions can only "win" as long as other factions "lose." With the contents in this book, Griffin has firmly established-- in my mind, at least-- his place among those promoting their unique streams of the Golden Dawn tradition. And I think that when books of this caliber are still being produced, the entire Golden Dawn tradition is alive and well, and ALL of its students are better for it.

This book is the essential Outer Order training manual of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, outer order of Alpha et Omega. Nothing like it has ever been published before. With the Reformation of 1999 it was decided to make the material that had been Inner Order also available to the Outer Order, and this book is one result. [There is now new and secret material completing the Inner Order, and further New Magic synthesizing and connecting the systems into an integrated whole.] Everything needed to complete GD basic training is between these covers, and that means all the Elemental Work, Planetary Work (through the Planetary Hexagrams), Zodiacal and Sephirothic Work, with some vital extensions of the Enochian Work too... pronunciation guides, 12 Zodiacal Kings, Colour and the Sigillum, etc. There are also a number of essays to tie this all together, and the book is certainly not lightweight... when you pick it up you know that you are holding a solid manual in your hands, and one that hides nothing from you. For the first time it is all there between two covers, revealed as a full system of Rosicrucian Magical Theurgy. The 6=5 Material is there too - with the Demonic set in proper context. Do not be put off by negative reviewers - they are almost every one in the employ of a rival GD (Reconstructionist Franchise and anti-Traditional) Order, and their campaign of poisonous anonymous hate-blogs and defamation is well examined elsewhere. Great Works attract enemies unfortunately. The jealous, the threatened, the deluded. HOGD/AO certainly attracts Trolls like moths to a flame. The RMM has also become a target for those Witch Hunters and their political agenda. If you can't find a copy at a price you can afford - and yes, it is now a rare and much sought after tome - then just join the HOGD/AO through their online portal and you will receive the text in sections as you progress through The Great Workings of the Outer Order. The Ritual Magic Manual is an historic text. It will always be remembered as the book that marked the end of the pre-Reformation Golden Dawn, and the beginning of the new era, which only now in 2012 is resulting in the revelation of New Magic from the Third Order behind the Golden Dawn and Alpha Omega... thus completing the Three Order System that had always been intended from the moment that Lux e Tenebris contacted Mathers! [The SAME Continental European Hermetic School holding the Rosicrucian and Magical Lineages they bestowed on GD and Alpha Omega over 111 years ago, is now once again guiding Golden Dawn from within! Yes, I DO mean what I just wrote - so do not be surprised by the volume of filth thrown at HOGD/AO by her detractors since 2002...] This book must be placed in that wider context of the evolution of the Order and of the Magic, which until the reappearance of the Secret Chiefs in 2002 had never been completely revealed. History will memorialise it, but it is in every way a book to be USED, and used NOW! In Service to the Rose! LVX!

Israel Reguardie's book Shows the golden dawn teachings of the past well the new falcon edition, and the Llewellyn edition of the same book shows the rituals from the s.m temple this book is the book of the modern day golden dawn. The idea that the author has started a war within the different g.d. groups is insane even Israel reguardie did not have direct lineage to the original temple of 1888. In fact The Thelemic temple of the Golden Dawn has recentily added a new flying roll and nobody is bitching about it, But god forbid David griffin treat the grades on the tree of life not as military ranks but as actual grades that everyone is entitled to earn and be a part of. The book itself is well written I don't feel like the need the experience of a certain grade and makes a great reference companion to reguardies book I am proud solitary practitioner I talk to the author on facebook some times he's very patroitic and will gladily anwser any questions about the rituals without trying to sell you a membership

This is just a re-hash of other material.

The book is a “must-have” for any student of the Golden Dawn”. My “go-to” book.

Very bad quality item. Its just a photocopy binded together hardcover. Its printing quality is also bad. I do not recommend buying this book.