Incantations and Enchantments: The Power of the Voice and the Breath in Magic

by Donald Tyson

The human voice is one of our most powerful and primal tools in magic, and now you can learn how to use it more effectively in your own practice. Esteemed magician Donald Tyson presents an advanced look at how to compose spoken charms and spells, enchant objects, use words and names of power, control the living breath, and more. Tyson walks you through three categories of incantations―healing, love, and protection―and he shares different types of spells within those categories. He shows you the inherent potency of vibrating words and vowels, providing numerous examples from historical texts and occult practice. You'll also learn about enchantments for herbs, potions, wands, and even people. From binding the wind through knot magic to using alliteration and repetition, this book balances scholarship and practical workings.

Genres: Occult

288 pages, Paperback

Published August 8, 2024

About the author

Donald Tyson is a Canadian from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Early in life he was drawn to science by an intense fascination with astronomy, building a telescope by hand when he was eight. He began university seeking a science degree, but became disillusioned with the aridity and futility of a mechanistic view of the universe and shifted his major to English. After graduating with honors he has pursued a writing career.

Now he devotes his life to the attainment of a complete gnosis of the art of magic in theory and practice. His purpose is to formulate an accessible system of personal training composed of East and West, past and present, that will help the individual discover the reason for one's existence and a way to fulfill it.

Reviews

[Elyse Welles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard book for me to write because on one hand, the direction it took was just not one. I would’ve wanted it to. It focuses mostly on Hermetic understandings of incantations and enchantments. I think I was looking more for practical lore and wisdom, and instead, this mostly focused on ancient structures and introducing them.

There were some incantations written by the author, but the container/ritual for using them was pretty loose and left it up to the reader which works for an advanced practitioner, but isn’t very accessible.

I think that was my biggest thing, there wasn’t enough exercises and ways of engaging with the techniques explored, they mostly were just an exploration of ways to use enchantments and incantations. Overall, it was interesting, but not my favorite read.