Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult

by Richard Metzger (Editor), Grant Morrison (Introduction), Michael Moynihan (Contributor)

Disinformation's "wicked warlock" Richard Metzger gathers an unprecedented cabal of modern occultists, magicians, and forward thinkers in this large format Disinformation Guide. Just as Russ Kick's Guides focusing on secrets and lies from the mainstream media, government, and other establishment institutions rethought what a political science book could look like and whom it would appeal to, Book of Lies redefines occult anthologies, packaging and presenting a huge array of magical essays for a pop culture audience. Just some of the
An introduction by comics genius Grant Morrison, who also contributes a threepart article on Pop Magick.

Genres: Occult, Nonfiction, Magick, Magic, History, Religion, Philosophy

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Richard Metzger is a television host and author. He was the host of the TV show Disinformation (United Kingdom Channel 4, 2000–01), The Disinformation Company and its website, Disinfo.com. He is currently the host of the online talk show Dangerous Minds.

(source: Wikipedia)

Reviews

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Q: A book that announces itself as a book of lies would have to have the truth hidden somewhere in it, right? (c)

An onslaught of cool and funny and original and outrageous and outlandish stuff, including:
- Conventicles
- Memeplexes
- Heteroarchies and holiarchies
- Sexual neurasthenia
- Thanataesthetics
- AHRIMANIZATION OF CULTURE
- Iagla - Serpentine wisdom
- Occulture
- Gnosis
- Sahaja
- Illumination
- Fractal elves
- Glossolalia
- Psychedelics (way too much about it which is why, on 2nd thought, I'm taking a star off for this)

The names of the essays are delightful: My fav is: 'Are you illuminated?'.

A compendium of things on the intersection of occult with quirky and absurd and wise, of course.
A must read for people who don't really want to go the athame-wielding , herb-brewing, sky-clad ways of the traditionalists but who want a peek at things that maybe are just a tad out of this world.

Cool stuff:
Q:
In the apparent derangement of our times, this book is both a call to arms and an armory also. (c)
Q:
… magic allows us to take control of our own development as human beings. Magic allows us to see the world entire in a fresh and endlessly significant light and demands of us a vital and dynamic collaboration with our environment. Magic brings coherence and structure to psychological “breakdowns,” psychedelic experiences or transpersonal encounters. Magic allows us to personify our fears and failures as demons and outlines time-honored methods of bargaining with these feelings or banishing them. Magic is the sane response to a world filled with corporate ghost-gods, roaming, mindless laws and peering surveillance lenses. Above all, magic is about achieving results. It's about manipulating real-time events, dealing with devious “spirits” and other autonomous energy sources. It's about conjuring dead pop icons to do your bidding and writing it all down so that it reads like an exciting adventure story and changes the world around it. Magic is glamorous, dark and charismatic. “Magic” is the hopelessly inadequate Standard English word for a long-established technology which permits access to the “operating codes” underlying the current physical universe. Becoming a “magician” is a developmental skill, like learning to talk, to reason, to empathize or to see perspective.
Magic, in short, is Life as it is meant to be Lived by adults. (c)
Q:
As magical work progresses, you will be forced into confrontation with your deepest darkest fears and desires. It's easy to become scared, paranoid and stupid. Stay fluid, cling to no one self-image and maintain your sense of humor at all times. Genuine laughter is the most effective banishing ritual available. …
Banishing reminds you that no matter how many gods you talk to, no matter how many fluorescent realms you visit, you still have to come home, take a shit, be able to cook dinner, water the plants and, most importantly, talk to people without scaring them. (c)
Q:
The magician's job is not to get lost in the Otherworld but to bring back its treasures for everyone to play with. (c)
Q:
Study YOURSELF the way a hunter studies prey. Exploit your own weaknesses to create desired changes within yourself. (c)
Q:
For some reason, I have always considered myself to be a warlock. Even when I was very young. I don't know why, really, but it is true. I have had this self-identity for as long as I can recall. There was never a time when I didn't feel this way. (c)
Q:
Magical consciousness is a particular way of seeing and interacting with the real world. I experience it as what I can only describe as a “head-click,” a feeling of absolute certainty accompanying a perceptual shift which gives real world transactions the numinous, uncanny feeling of dreams. Magical consciousness is a way of experiencing and participating with the local environment in a heightened, significant manner, similar to the effects of some drug trips, Salvador Dali's “Paranoiac/critical” method, near death experiences, etc. Many apparently precognitive and telepathic latencies become more active during periods of magical consciousness. This is the state in which tea leaves are read, curses are cast, goals are scored, poems are written.
Magical Consciousness can be practiced until it merges with and becomes everyday consciousness. Maintained at these levels it could interfere with your lifestyle unless you have one which supports long periods of richly associative thought.
EXPERIMENT:
As a first exercise in magical consciousness spend five minutes looking at everything around you as if ALL OF IT was trying to tell you something very important. How did that light bulb come to be here exactly? Why does the murder victim in the newspaper have the same unusual surname as your father-in-law? Why did the phone ring, just at that moment and what were you thinking when it did? What's that water stain on the wall of the building opposite? How does it make you feel?
Five minutes of focus during which everything is significant, everything is luminous and heavy with meaning, like the objects seen in dreams.
Go.
EXPERIMENT:
Next, relax, go for a walk and interpret everything you see on the way as a message from the Infinite to you. Watch for patterns in the flight of birds. Make oracular sentences from the letters on car number plates. Look at the way buildings move against the skyline. Pay attention to noises on the streets, graffiti sigils, voices cut into rapid, almost subliminal commands and pleas. Listen between the lines. Walk as far and for as long as you feel comfortable in this open state. The more aimless, the more you walk for the pleasure of pure experience, the further into magical consciousness you will be immersed. (c)
Q:
EXPERIMENT:
Pick a traditional god or demon from a book on magic or mythology and learn all you can about your chosen subject. I suggest you start with a benign deity unless you're stupid or hard and want to get into some nasty dirty psychic business, in which case pick a demon from one of the medieval grimoires and hope you're strong enough to handle the intense negative feelings “demons” embody.
However, I'd suggest starting first with Hermes, the god of Magic, in his guise as Ganesh. Ganesh is known as a smasher of obstacles and part of his complex is that he opens the way into the magical world, so it's always good to get his acquaintance first if you're serious about following a magical path.
Call fervently upon Hermes. Luxuriate in his attributes. Drink coffee or Red Bull in his name or take a line of speed, depending on your levels of drug abuse. Fill your head with speedy images of jet planes, jet cars and bullet trains. Play “Ray of Light” by Madonna and call down Hermes. Surround yourself with FLASH comics and call down Hermes.
Tell him how very wonderful he is in your own words, and then call him into yourself, building a bridge between your own ever-growing feelings of brilliance and the descending energies of the Big Idea.
The arrival of the god will be unmistakable: you should experience a sense of presence or even mild possession (remember what this MEANS; we are “possessed” by Venus when LOVE destroys our reason. We are all possessed by Mars when ANGER blinds us. Learn to recognize the specific feelings which the word “possession” describes. This will allow you to study your chosen Big Idea and its effects on the human nervous system at close quarters without becoming too frightened or emotionally overwhelmed.)
You may hear a distinct voice inside your head which seems to have a strange-yet-familiar quality of “Otherness” or separateness. Ask questions and make note of the replies in your head. Remember anything specific you hear and write it down no matter how strange it seems. Maintain the sense of contact, question and response for as long as you're able and see what you can learn.
Remember Hermes is a trickster also and has a love of language and games, so be prepared for clever wordplay and riddles when you contact this Big Idea. Sometimes the rapid torrent of puns and jokes can seem like a nightmare of fractal iterations but if you're going to play with Hermes, be ready to think fast and impress with your wit.
If, on the other hand, there's only a faint hint of unearthly presence or none at all, don't worry. Try again with Ganesh, Odin or a god you feel more in tune with. Keep doing the experiment until you succeed in generating the required state of mind. It's not difficult; if you can make yourself Angry or Sad or Happy just by thinking about something (and most of us can), then you are already capable of summoning gods and Big Ideas. (c)
Q:
It must be remembered that you can't go beyond your ego until you've developed one to go beyond. The ego, as Individual Self, is scaffolding for what we can call super-self or the memeplex (to use Susan Blackmore's term for what we call “personality” —see The Meme Machine (Oxford University Press, May 2000) for more on Dr. Blackmore's revolutionary theory). (c)
Q:
Relax into fear. (c)
Q:
… receptive wonder. This is the knowledge that at any time, without warning, any life event could spin you sideways into Illumination. … Initiatory states often tip us into mental entropy and confusion, and this is a good time to free yourself from the bonds of the Past and the fetters of anticipated futures, and live in the now of your physical presence. Transform fear into wonder and open yourself to new possibilities. (c)
Q:
Sahaja … “spontaneity.” (c)
Q:
We have become addicted to a “sameness” of experience, and thus have difficulty coping with novelty or change. Hence the tendency, when faced with a crisis, to rely on learned habits, rather than actually observing the situation. Conversely, the magician has to recognize that there may well be an abyss around every corner, and that what rushes full-tilt at us must be faced head-on. (c)
Q:
What characterizes an experience of illumination? Some of the prevalent factors are:
A sense of unity—a fading of the self-other divide
Transcendence of space and time as barriers to experience
Positive sensations
A sense of the numinous
A sense of certitude—the “realness” of the experience
Paradoxical insights
Transience—the experience does not last
Resultant change in attitude and behavior. (c)
Q:
Gnosis is not merely the act of understanding, it is understanding which impels you to act in a certain way. Thus as you work with magic, so magic works upon you. (c)
Q:
In shamanic cultures, synchronicities are recognized as signs that you are on the right path. (c)
Q:
If the universe has a spiritual design, perhaps the soul is like a widget running along a conveyor belt, having new devices added to it or taken away as it passes through various incarnations which are stages in its education. (с)
Q:
Don Juan reveals the alternative worlds shown through psychedelics as tricks-of-the-eye universes, whole realms of otherness revealed in mirror-scratches or the shadow-throwing flickers of candle flames. These are parallel dimensions of beings at once extremely threatening and powerful, and on the other hand, evanescent and ephemeral. (с)


Funny stuff:
Q:
Reading about magic is like reading about sex; it will get you horny for the real thing but it won't give you nearly as much fun. (c)
Q:
the first time I ever jerked off, it was to a picture of a butt-naked Maxine Sanders, Queen of the Witches. I think this explains a lot about me, actually… (c)
Q:
for the eager beginner nothing beats the WANK TECHNIQUE. …
Be that as it may, magical masturbation is actually more fun and equally, more serious, than the secular hand shandy…
However...one does not change the universe simply by masturbating… (c) Good to know.
Q:
I do hope this book is like having a nuclear bomb go off behind your eyeballs or a razorblade slashed across your brain. (c) I'd rather it didn't, thanks, though.
Q:
Try launching your sigil while performing a Bungee jump from a bridge, perhaps, or sit naked in your local graveyard at night. (c) Nice suggestion.
Q:
Build your own god and set it loose. (c)
Q:
EXPERIMENT:
Use the techniques you've learned to summon classical gods and demons and apply them to beings you KNOW for sure can't be real, like Jack Kirby's comic book gods, H. P Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos monsters, Pokemon characters, or Clive Barker's Cenobites. You will discover that you can evoke any of these outlandish characters to physical appearance. …
Summon James Bond before a date by playing the themes to Goldfinger and Thunderball while dressing in a tuxedo.
Or try summoning Dionysus, god of creative delirium, in his Trickster aspect, as Ace Ventura, Pet Detective from the Jim Carrey films—surround yourself with your own pets or toy animals, play the movies, imitate the actor's distinctive moves and use them to formulate a physical sigil which you can enact within in your designated ritual space. Do this until you BECOME Dionysus as Ace Ventura. Record what happens to your sense of self and think of ways to use these new “godlike” qualities you have summoned into yourself (or brought forth from your “subconscious” depending on which model you choose to explain your experiences).
Think of these new qualities or gods as applications and upload them when you need to use them. The more you run the application the more convincing and intrinsic to Self it seems to become. This is why actors sometimes find it difficult to “come down” from roles and why magicians often feel possessed by gods or demons. Applications are being run.
You will soon realize that gods are “qualities” or default states of consciousness available to everyone.
With much practice you will become proficient at accessing these states in yourself. Do not, however, assume that these states are ONLY internal psychological processes. The Big Ideas have been here long before you and will be here long after you are gone. They can be regarded as immensely powerful autonomous qualities and should be respected as such. Summoning too much ANGER into your life can make you a bore and a bully, summoning too much COMMUNICATION at the expense of other qualities can make you a conversation-hogging pedant and so on.
There is always danger when one “god” is worshipped in favor of all others. (c)
Q:
Demoting the concept of the “individual” by deliberately engineering multiple, conferring “egos,” personae, memeplexes or selves is intended, at least by me, as a method of breaking up the existential, calcified, individual “Self” into more fluid Multiple Personality constellations, by exposing “the personality” as just one behavioral option from a menu of many. (c) Enticing.
Q:
For every McDonald's you blow up, “they” will build two. Instead of slapping a wad of Semtex between the Happy Meals and the plastic tray, work your way up through the ranks, take over the board of Directors and turn the company into an international laughing stock. (c) This guy must really hate fast food.
Q:
It seems that language, our ability to apprehend and manipulate symbols and signs, has evolved to fill a unique ecological niche—the space between our ears. (c)
Q:
No holiarchies, no hierarchies, and no heteroarchies, only perfect continuity.
True transdisciplinary knowing, a process of knowledge similar to the child's mind
…
Energy which is distinct from that associated with the secular concept of energy—energy that is efficacious with motion—instead it is energy that is efficacious without motion.
The conventicle—the only authentic social structure that can enter and leave this space; the conventicle is a completely future oriented concept with no elements of past social structures. (c)
Q:
People have been talking to gods and demons for far more of human history than they have not. … the demons are of many kinds: “Some are made of ions, some of mind; the ones of ketamine, you'll find, stutter often and are blind.” (с)
Q:
A friend of mine suggests this is our radio entelechy ripping out of the organic matrix. (c)
Q:
Being monkeys, when we encounter a translinguistic object, a kind of cognitive dissonance is set up in our hind-brain. (c)
Q:
One experiences glossolalia, although unlike classical glossolalia, which has been studied. Students of classical glossolalia have measured pools of saliva eighteen inches across on the floors of South American churches where people have been kneeling. After classical glossolalia has occurred, the glossolaliasts often turn to ask the people nearby, “Did I do it? Did I speak in tongues?” (c)
Q:
There was a declension of gnosis that proved to me in a moment that right here and now, one quanta away, there is raging a universe of active intelligence that is transhuman, hyperdimensional, and extremely alien. I call it the Logos, and I make no judgments about it. (c)
Q:
The mushroom is full of answers…
I don't necessarily believe what the mushroom tells me; rather we have a dialogue. … The mushroom states its own position very clearly. It says, “I require the nervous system of a mammal. Do you have one handy?" (c)
Q:
I realized there were occult hierarchies, secret cabals, treasuries of wickedness to be studied over millennia. (c)
Q:

[Dafna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edit to add to this review in the year of 2024:

Looking back on this review all these years later, I want to apologize. It is scathing and without cause. Being a creator and writing is a very difficult and vulnerable task and while I’m sure the book wasn’t my cup of tea, I could have been far more just in my review. This year was a bad time for me and I hope that you’ll give this book a read and not rely on the review of an angry girl who has a lot of growing up to do. ❤️

***************

I was incredibly disappointed in this book.

There were a few essays in the beginning which I thought were excellent, but it all went downhill from there. This book is everything that I despise about hanging out with most magicians and discussing magick. It's mostly self masturbatory material that has little to do with magick theory, and how it can be applied to a wide range of traditions. It is for the most part, writings about drugs, and some magician's favorite artist, and the regurgitation and dilution of valid techniques that belong to ancient cultures.

A lot of appropriation, and a lot of hogwash. I was hoping for more.

[Mid Fimbulwinter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently, the only people who have untold secrets about the occult are white dudes, or are famous because of their connection to white dudes.

There tiny nuggets of interesting buried in this collection of essays, but most of the writers were self-absorbed misogynist asshats whose ideas deserve to be forgotten. From the essay about why Wiccans should shut up and obey the writer because he's Crowley's heir, to some very baffling essentialist messes, most of this was a waste to time to read.

I gave this two stars because I loved the Grant Morrison essay on Pop Magic that opened the book. The rest of the book was about 50% terrible, though the bits on the history of the modern occult were interesting - I especially found the part on Jack Parsons to be good.

[Matthew W · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not a bad compilation of writings from disinformation, a company that otherwise seems interested in proliferating crypto-Marxist ideas. Hell, this book even features writings from the wise Baron Julius Evola and "Occult Fascist" Michael Moynihan. I also enjoyed article on the influence of magic on junky hero William S. Burroughs and his dream machine friend Brion Gysin. An essay on H.P. Lovecraft's influence on the Occult and vice versa I also found interesting. Most of the other articles, essays, and interviews in "Book of Lies" are at the very least somewhat entertaining. I must say this compilation far exceeded my expectations.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

There was so much good information in this book that it will have to be read at least one more time. Many of the articles were not digested as well as they should have been, because I simply wanted to finish the whole thing. A good example of one of my reading shortfalls: I want to finish the book that I am reading instead of completely understand the subject. This must stop!
Damn CDO (OCD, but in alphabetical order)

7/12/10 - Reading it again, some very good ideas practice. I am on chapter 2.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has taken me months to plough through this, and for some odd reason I started reading the essays in reverse order.

Anyway, it's a very well named book, because it is indeed a book of lies.

Those essays that overlapped with areas of history, science and archaeology with which I was familiar, it was clear that the writers were putting forth what I can only describe as complete and utter lies.

Which leads me to conclude that the whole basis for 'magic' is the idea that we can all choose what we want to believe in. And if we want to believe in this stuff? That's fine, that's our choice. But don't expect anybody else to be swayed.

'Define yourself' is a great message, but it's completely muddled in Occult circles by a whole bunch of crazy people and charlatans who either want to sell you something, or just convince you of their own pompous self-importance.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where to start with this one? Hmmmm? I rarely write long reviews and this probably deserves a longer one, but I'm still keeping it short and sweet, at least for now. Most likely will come back at some point to add a few more specific details on a couple of my favorite essays.

Let's just say this was an interesting read that I skipped around with rather than reading in a linear fashion. Occult themed essays on "magick" and philosophy. I enjoyed this book, but not everyone will appreciate what it has to offer. Included are essays written regarding the work and philosophies of Crowley, H.P. Lovecraft, Leary, LaVey, etc. Also, an excerpt from Robert Anton Wilson is included from his work titled "Cosmic Trigger."

[Cobertizo · Rating 4 out of 5]

"(...)Los administradores de las fuentes de sonido actúan simplemente como catalizadores que permitían a los presentes convertirse en parte de un momento trascendental. Olvidado el ego, la situación fue fugaz, pero el éxtasis y la experiencia quedaron fijados en nuestro inconsciente para siempre.
(...) Este acontecimiento no tenía límites en el tiempo. Nos miramos en el espejo de nuestros Yoes y nuestro ser se reunió y supo lo que era librarse de la forma programada de entretenimiento que normalmente recibimos. Estábamos, en efecto, presentes en un Templo. En un triunfo de la carne. Un sagrado lugar prohibido, de donde el espíritu brotaba como flujo sexual a través de nosotros. Una capilla de nuestras mentes cantando el mismo deseo humano de romper los límites de la temporalidad, la separación que sirve de propósito de control de la sociedad, siendo un escalón más en el camino de la práctica mágika... veneren esta noche"

Hermano Malik, noviembre 1987. Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth

[Daryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Goodreads First-Reads giveaway win! Wow. What to say about this book? First impressions: the printing looks bad - cheap, yellowish pulp paper and poor reproductions of art. It took me five months to slog my way through this collection of various essays, all supposedly connected in some way with magick and the occult. (I took some notes on each essay early on, but quickly stopped that.) I was hoping to learn something new or interesting about the occult, but that hope was dashed early on, too. I love the "idea" of magic and such, and like to read fantasy and horror books, as well as those slightly skewed outside of the mainstream. However, I realize that those things fall solely within the realm of fiction. And it's pretty hard to take seriously any discussions of demonology, occult forces, angels, and mystical other worlds when one doesn't believe in the concepts of God or religion to begin with. Anyway, onwards through a review of the book's various sections!

The first section, "Magick in Theory and Practice" I found very frustrating. Magic seems to be defined here as anything the author wants it to be. Magic can be psychological, linguistic, or artistic; magic can be subconscious or conscious - ideas themselves are magic. In my notes, I circled the phrase "lots of mumbo-jumbo." And there are lots of drug references. Sure, drugs can put you in an altered state of consciousness. That doesn't make the things you experience real or magical. It just means you're fucked up.

Section II, "Chemognosis" deals further with drugs, LSD, DMT, & DPT (whatever those last two are) and how acid trips can reveal other worlds and enable contact with alien entities. Right. One of my favorite bits here dealt with the idea that hallucinogenic mushrooms are extra-terrestrial and trying to communicate with us. It contains sentences like this: "My vision of the final human future is an effort to exteriorize the soul and internalize the body, so that the exterior soul will exist as a superconducting lens of translinguistic matter generated out of the body of each of us at a critical juncture at our psychedelic bar mitzvah." Convinced yet?

Section III, "Icons" has essays about (in)famous magicians of the past. Magic here is basically psychology, enhanced by more drugs. Painting and art are magic. Hallucinations from flashes of light (strobes) and trance states induce magic. Somewhere the phrase "literal immortality" is used. Sorry.

Sections IV & V, "The Great Beast 666" and "Scarlet Women" feature some biographical information. I'm glad I stuck with the book at this point, because some of this was actually interesting. Lots about Aleister Crowley (more charlatan than mage, of course). I found the section on Ida Craddock especially fascinating, an early feminist who explained her lack of having a husband by explaining she was married to an angel with whom she had sex every night. This story enabled her to carry on her work fighting for women's rights. Did she really believe this or was it just an elaborate cover story. Who knows? My bet is on the latter.

At this point, my notes end. But Sections VI, "Secret Societies" and VII, "Sympathy for the Devil" cover witchcraft and Satanism (Anton Lavey's Church of Satan, in particular) in a slightly more rational and less hysteric manner than one might find in mainstream writing, especially when writing about Lavey, who I found an interesting and generally misunderstood individual. Satanism is not what the media or what fundamentalists would have you believe.

By Section VIII, "Occult War" things had devolved quite a bit, back to the nonsense and impenetrable gobbledygook that I found in the early parts of the book.

Am I glad I read this book? It certainly wasn't what I was expecting. A lot of it frustrated and downright angered me. There were bits and pieces that interested me (seriously, Ida Craddock - check her Wikipedia entry), but they were so few and far between that I can't recommend this collection

[Pawl Schwartz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great easy to read primer on everything you need to know. Well not everything, but if you've even had an inkling of interest in the unknown, this book will help you along your path. Its full of great scholoarly, biographical and wacko articles on intensley interesting people. It also sheds light on an entire culture full of genius ideas and great minds that goes unnoticed and unpublized. This is a must read.

[nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not necessarily everyone's cup of that proverbial tea, but if there's a part of you that's curious or drawn to it, read it. Lots of short essays in a collection, some are easier to read/digest than others...but surely fascinating and inspiring, clever stuff. Makes you think. And that's always good.

[Steve Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of some of the strangest, most provocative pieces you'll find dealing with magic and the occult. Some of the articles were mind-bendingly weird, yet I still feel like I took something away from them. There's a lot in here to stoke further study, and I'm sure I'll come back to this again and again over the years.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine book on the subject of modern occultism and lucifer fans. Paints a picture of satanism as a loose group of marginalized intellectuals rather than blood drinking killers. Though there are alot of drug taking/freaky sex having weirdos, but who am I to judge?

[Frank Deschain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is at times a great primer on the theory and application of magick. At other times, the essays are tedious and have absolutely no concrete instruction. Overall, the book is okay but far from the ultimate magick tome that it initially aims to be.

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, this one was fairly dull. It's full of magickal hogwash, but it contains a few genuinely interesting essays too. I wrote a far more in depth review on my blog if you are interested.

[sadako · Rating 5 out of 5]

extremely entertaining. Freaky exposition on Jack Parsons. Extremely intriguing parts by Genesis P. Orridge.

[Tomb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must confess.. I only read this because Grant Morrison was in it.

[Savaş Manyaslı · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and good read but very very 90's.

[Justin]

I liked some of the authors, but most of the content didn't interest me.
Since the book was well organized it was easy to find what topics appealed to me.

[Kirby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blah blah blah blah blah. Biggest collection of indigestible run on sentences I have ever read. There is a hint or two of some interesting ideas that are worth exploring but you have to dig hard into the gibberish before you notice them. Couldn’t come close to finishing it.

[Malcolm Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I liked some of this guy's other books when I was in my rebellious teenage phase but this is just hippy-pseudo religious-nonsense that made me lose respect for the series.

[Dustin333 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great starting point to some really cool areas of thought and or praxis.

[Dharmagape Christao · Rating 3 out of 5]

A massive adhoc mixture of occulted truths and half truths, ambiguous conclusions, and thinly veiled luciferian and satanic thinking. Not great at all

[Zoey Selwyn]

read Morrison's preface...a little unhinged and self-centered but also same

[Patrick Mooney · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is with honor and great synchronicity that I post this 33rd review of a truly essential modern day manual of magic.

Richard Metzger, like many good magicians, is not an easy character to figure out, especially in terms of his own personal, magical agenda. If you see him speak, listen to his interviews, or read his writings, it is clear that he is a thoughtful and intelligent man. However, there is also some cocksure stagecraft to his work that creates the feeling that one is being led deeply into a maze where you will be abandoned and then have to figure your own way out.

That's what happened to me. Fortunately, all of the others who contributed to this very useful collection of perspectives have a strong clue or bit of advice to see you through the challenging material, and ultimately, the illusion of LIFE itself.

If this book does not inspire you to research further into some of its treasured knowledge, then you can only go so far with what is presented here. But, for the serious student of magic, this book serves almost as a faculty symposium of mages, witches, warlocks and summoners, which is what I feel Richard ultimately meant to accomplish.

I came across this book just as I was making the break away from my Catholic, Christian upbringing, right after the false-flag attacks on the World Trade Center on September, 11th, 2001. That event, in and of itself, is a classical and useful example of MAGIC IN ACTION.

Armed with the knowledge that was gained in this compendium and elsewhere, I was successfully able to reinvent myself as a White Wizard, like Gandalf from Tolkien's mythical world, and ultimately re-purpose myself as an artist and social luminary, pointing the way for others out of the ignorant mass of mainstream reality and into the Heaven Realms of my own heart's deepest imagination.

That is a priceless joy! Thank you, Richard Metzger, for contributing to my spiritual and magical liberation!

[Matt Moran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting - coffee table book format. I've read a few of the essays within: I'm mostly interested in sigil magic & working with invocations, thought forms & archetypes. Experimenting so to speak. Some of these I found hard to follow, rambling and not very to the point. P-orridge's essays being a case in point, they seemed to be full of theoretical assertions & not much practical "do this & you should get that" instructions. Grant Morrison OTOH wrote the intro & one very straightforward article on sigils & pow! Very understandable, clear writing, I got that right away. Phil Hine's essay I'd read elsewhere in various permutations - useful stuff about fear in there, may try & use that with respect to anxiety.

[Edric Unsane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent anthology of the history, types, and imaginings of the occult. There is something for everyone (interested in the occult), yet the Book of Lies may not be for everyone. From easily digestible works, to works where one may find themselves asking "when will the chapter end?" From outright fun writings, to the crazy and delusional, the Book of Lies has it all. It's a good anthology; put together with care, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in the Occult.

[Benjamin Rubin · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're interested in a modern-day view of occultism then definitely read this book. Beware however, that there is a load of seemingly bullshit info behind many articles. Yet many are interpretations. The earlier articles could be of high interest to those interested in philosophical ideas. Not everything in this book comes across as a lie.

[Glenn Liddell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heart almost every essay in this book and I have read it cover to cover several times after picking it up as a result of the longest string of strange coincidences ever. Lots of insight into the way magick is lived.