The Three Rays of Witchcraft (Paperback)--by Christopher Penczak [2010 Edition]

by Christopher Penczak

Excellent Book

Genres: Witchcraft, Paganism, Occult, Magick

Paperback

First published May 1, 2010

About the author

Christopher Penczak is a Witch, teacher, writer and healing practitioner. His practice draws upon the foundation of both modern and traditional Witchcraft blended with the wisdom of mystical traditions from across the globe as a practitioner and teacher of shamanism, tarot, Reiki healing, herbalism, astrology and Qabalah. He is the founder of the Temple of Witchcraft tradition and system of magickal training based upon the material of his books and classes. He is an ordained minister primarily serving the New Hampshire and Massachusetts pagan and metaphysical communities through public rituals, private counsel and teaching, though he travels extensively teaching throughout the United States.

Born in Lawrence, Massachusetts on May 10, 1973, Christopher was raised in an Italian/Polish family while living in Salem, NH. After twelve years of Catholic school and becoming an avowed agnostic, he initially pursued an interest in chemistry, stemming from a childhood fascination with alchemy and herbalism. As a youth, he had an out of body experience, passing out in a fourth grade science class, but observing the whole scene in spirit, from above the room. While in high school, he was visited by an apparition of his recently deceased great aunt. These two experiences made him question his dedication to science and pursue a study of the mystical and occult, as well as his artistic pursuits. He attended the University of Massachusetts as a vocal major, earning a Bachelor of Music Performance/Music Business in 1995 and set his sights on becoming a full time performer. While studying classical voice, he founded a band called Doctor Soulshine that fused mystical imagery and shamanic concepts to traditional heavy rock music.

While in college, a long time friend and teacher introduced Christopher to the principles of witchcraft, meditation, tarot and spell work. At first he was skeptical, but his experience with a healing spell at a full Moon ritual was enough to convince him that there was truth to these ideas and he sought to understand more. He took classes with Laurie Cabot, in her Cabot Tradition with an emphasis on Witchcraft As A Science. He was fascinated with the science and philosophy of her teaching, grounding witchcraft in sound thinking and personal experience. A psychic healing experience left him with a sense of empowerment and spiritual connection. After this initial training, he studied with an assortment of witches, shamans, yogis, psychic readers and healers in the New England area, developing an eclectic path of personal witchcraft. He later focused on the healing arts, completing training as a Reiki Master (Teacher) in the Usui-Tibetan and Shamballa traditions and certification as a flower essence consultant and herbalist.

After graduation from college, Christopher began work at the A&R department of Fort Apache, a recording studio and record label in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He soon found himself leading meditations and ritual groups for friends seeking to know more about the Craft. During his time in the Boston area, Christopher experimented with the ideas he later wrote about in his book City Magick: Urban Rituals, Spells and Shamanism. The initial ritual group formed the nucleus of the first Temple of Witchcraft series.

Although having no real interest in teaching formally, Christopher received a message during a meditation in 1998 to start teaching more and begin writing. Thinking it was his imagination, Christopher ignored it, saying to himself and the universe, “I’m too busy with my music career. If you want me to teach, give me the time.” The next week he was laid off from his job and had plenty of time. Although with a booming economy and many job opportunities, Christopher had no luck finding a position in the music industry, or a more traditional office job. When he posted a few flyers about meditation and witchcraft classes at a local shop, the response was immediate and he began teaching cla

Reviews

[Steve Cran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well Christopher has went and done it again, he wrote another awesome book. Basing this book on a theory put forward by Helena Blavatsky in Theosophy and later expounded upon by Alice Bailey Christopher explains how we too can use the three rays to improve or use for or own magic. Theosophy is based primarily on Eastern Philosophy and mysticism and translated into modern western terms. Theosophy is also one of the building blocks for Modern Ceremonial Magic and present day Wicca. Most people are very unaware of this. I would recommend studying up on theosophy especially in light of the fact that Wicca is changing rather rapidly in Neo-Wicca and a lot is changing.
What this book does is to weave various different strands into a system of magic that has bits and and pieces from Modern Ceremonial Magick, Shamanism, Kundalini, Hinduism, traditional British witchcraft and Conjure Magick. This book has lots of information and the author Christopher Penczak is well read and well studied. A lot of information though can be both a good thing and a bad thing.
As stated in the introduction modern witches today have a huge bag of tricks or tools to choose from but they do not always work well or go together in a working philosophy or theology. The first ¾ of the book reads rather smoothly and everything seems systematic and useable but after75% of the book the reader feels over whelmed and swamped with just too much information and once again taken from many threads that are attached to the philopsy of the three ways.
The three rays of Theosophy are three in number. The first one is read and it represents will. This ray is normally associated with warriors and kings and is meant to embody true purpose. In modern times this translates into politicians, explorers and executives. Since this is will this will normally correspond to working with angels. Angel work is done in Enochian or Ceremonial Magick. The second ray is that of love and is the color of blue and corresponds to Christ like love which is healing all accepting. The third ray is yellow and it represents intelligence.
Since there are three rays one will not be syurprised that everything goes by threes in this book. The Goddess can be described in three and as can deity in general. Pulling from Modern Druidic Religion. Oak trees are strong and powerful and works with will , sky gods and Kings. Ash has association with Faery Realms. The Ash which acts as a gateway between our world and the spirits is used for intelligence. Hence the names Straight Path, Bent Path and Crooked path correspond in 123 order.
Spiritual anatomy both within ourselves and without happens of a level of three. We are seen a a microcosm of the universe. As Above so below. If we want to effect change then we must be prepared to make changes internally in our own consciousness and energy system before we can hope to have them manifest in the outer world. The three worlds we are used to are the upper world of Gods and Angels, the Middle Earth being where we live and the lower world which consist of the world of the dead. It corresponds well with trees who have branches reaching to the heavens , trunk place in our present world and the roots going down to the underworld.
The book makes full use of techniques from Kabballah, Druididism and Faery lore . There are mediations and rituals which one will find very use ful. The information can get over whelming but worth the read.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a lot of useful nuggets here, a long with a lot of things I rolled my eyes at and kept flipping pages. It is a sprawling book that tries, I think, to be a theory of everything for witchcraft. It is so eclectic as to be distracting. Still I'm giving it four stars, three and a half maybe, but rounding up seems the thing to do.

[Greyer Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christopher Penczak integrates all the sources available to us as Modern Witches in the Modern World. His writing style is practical. If I had not already discovered "The Tree of Enchantment" and figured out my own theory on the combination of all the parts based on it, this book would be essential to me.

[David Salisbury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great work as usual from CP. Crooked path work doesn't really sync up with me right now, so that's the only reason it loses 2 stars. It would also have been great to see more exercises with the cauldron and ray workings. But the writing itself was very enjoyable to read.

[Lilly Rosemeade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a little dry in some places, and I highly recommend reading The Cauldron of Poesy before reading this book.