{"id":2708,"date":"2010-08-11T17:28:03","date_gmt":"2010-08-11T21:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=2708"},"modified":"2010-08-11T17:28:03","modified_gmt":"2010-08-11T21:28:03","slug":"the-temple-of-high-magic-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=2708","title":{"rendered":"The Temple of High Magic for Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take note publishers, name dropping works. Months ago I received a review copy of \u201cThe Temple of High Magic: Hermetic Initiations in the Western Mystery Tradition\u201d by Ina Custers-van Bergen from Destiny Books. It had a not entirely exciting cover and was authored by a woman I had never heard of. However, I noticed the forward was by Gareth Knight <\/a>and that the author was initiated by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki <\/a>so I knew that this book had to be something special. And boy howdy was I right.<\/p>\n

Obviously I\u2019m no expert on the Western Esoteric traditions, because let\u2019s face it, I\u2019m not an expert on anything, but I will dare say that this is the best introduction to the subject matter I\u2019ve ever seen, or possibly that\u2019s ever been published. My introduction to the subject matter was the book \u201cMagick for Beginners\u201d by J.H. Brennen<\/a>, which I still highly recommend to anyone looking for a tiny taste of Western Occult practices. In writing him a letter (yes, I liked the book so much that I wrote the author), he suggested looking at Dion Fortune <\/a>and Israel Regardie<\/a>. Fortune and Regardie are both respected pillars of the ceremonial magic community but their works are dense and difficult for a beginner to wrap their brains around, or at least for this beginner they are. If only \u201cThe Temple of High Magic\u201d had been available then!<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>Bergen\u2019s book thoroughly answers the question, \u201cWhat are the Western Esoteric traditions all about?\u201d Seriously, if some random person I met on the street that I had never seen before in my life went, \u201cHey stranger I\u2019ve never seen before, what is all this Western Occult\/Mystery stuff like?\u201d, I would say not a word and put \u201cThe Temple of High Magic\u201d in their hands.<\/p>\n

This book is only 383 pages including index, bibliography, glossary, and table of correspondences, and yet it answers any question you could possibly think of as a beginner. Better still, this book despite being translated from Dutch speaks clearly and goes light on jargon. Bergin covers the roots that feed into the current practice of Mystery Traditions today, explains the significance of temples, tools, and robes, covers Tree of Life basics, Chakras, features loads of exercises and rituals, and more, more, more!<\/p>\n

This is the book I should have read before attempting to tackle Regardie\u2019s works, or slowly suss out Fortune, and it is definitely a book for someone looking to learn about these traditions but isn\u2019t looking to necessarily actively participate in them. In other words, this is probably the only book a generalist like me would ever need. That said, this book could easily be the springboard for someone with some interest in the topic to become someone looking to actively begin serious study and practice. I guess what I\u2019m trying to say is, buy this book and then buy a second copy to give to anyone you know with even a passing interest in the Western Esoteric Traditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"