Christopher Penczak is a marvel – ten books in five years and each is well-written, interesting, and practical. His latest contribution is a leap into a new direction – magic without tools – and he makes the jump effortlessly.
It is not so much that traditional tools are no longer valid, but instead that once the reader has fully mastered them, we can move on to manifesting our will directly through meditation, visualization, words, and the focusing of our intent. This is the purest form of magic.
After reviewing introductory techniques to alter consciousness (mostly through breath work) Mr. Penczak uses paradigms found in several cultures (chakras, the web of life, astrology, the five elements, and the Tree of Life) to illustrate different ways of harnessing energy to create change. Although there is a section on spells, they depart radically from the kitchen-recipe ‘pinch of this, eye of that’ spell casting normally done. These spells use no herbs or stones, but instead rely on energetic correspondences like colors, planets, entities and words of power. Ranging from the ‘Alarm Clock’ (programming your mind to wake without an external alarm) to the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ (manifesting prosperity) the 28 spells are (for the most part) practical and illustrative of Mr. Penczak’s teachings.
I highly recommend this book for those who have been working with magic for more than just a few years, or who have no problem with working entirely mentally.
~review by Lisa Mc Sherry
Author: Christopher Penczak
Llewellyn Publications, 2006
pp. 240, $12.95
