Book Review - The Ritual Magic Manual, By: David Griffin

Review by: Frater Q

The primary purpose of our book reviews is to point interested seekers of esoteric wisdom to helpful books that may aid on the pathway of Light and Magical development. I am sorry to say that we have failed the readers of this website in that we decided to ignore a book called the Ritual Magic Manual written by David Griffin in 1998. When several occult scholars looked at the book, and some of them wrote reviews, most were shocked that such a thick book (666 pages) was stretched out like silly putty and could have been written in about the size of a thick pamphlet.

When this book first came out, our first thought was to think that anyone who looked at this book in a bookstore would immediately see that it was a repetitive compendium of the same thing over and over again… Once a person realized that they would be investing a hefty amount of cash for a book that provides little information on a repetitive basis, they would not need a review to help them understand that their hard earned money would be better spent on other sources.

Sadly, the book never reached the bookstores. If it could, it would certainly die an ugly death on the bookshelves once the browser realized that the resources of a pamphlet had been fleshed out into the size of a doorstop.

Currently, this book is being pitched on a Golden Dawn website as a rare treasure. The fact is that there is nothing rare about it, except for the fact that Mr. Griffin somehow got the book to end on exactly 666 pages.

Imagine if I were to teach you how to ride a bicycle. The key to teaching you how to ride a bicycle is to teach you the fundamentals. This means that you would have the skills necessary to ride a red, blue, orange, yellow or any other colored bicycle. This is common sense. The formula for riding a bicycle is the same no matter the color! One you grasp the formula, you then know how to ride any bike despite size or color.

The Ritual Magic Manual fails to teach the concept, or the formula. Rather, through repetition it repeats the same information adnauseum. This gives you the illusion that you are buying a thick book filled with valuable information, when in fact you are getting the same rituals repeated over and over. Sorry for the repetition in this review, but it’s critical that you understand the nature of this book. In addition, virtually all the information is found in other books that are far less costly. Chic Cicero, Donald Michael Kraig, Pat Zaleweski and Israel Regardie have written some such books.

Finally, as if the author just can’t help himself, he throws a chapter in the Ritual Magic Manual for invoking demons. Teaching neophytes and non-initiates is certainly part of the Golden Dawn tradition …. NOT!

This book cannot be found at your local bookstore, but copies of it turn up on scribd.com from time to time. I assure you that if you plan to print up your own copy, plan to have a tank full of printer ink and a forest of paper. As magic books go, we can't totally fail this book, but we give it a D-



			Review by: Frater Q The primary purpose of our book reviews is to point interested seekers of esoteric wisdom to helpful books that may aid on the pathway of Light and Magical development. I am sorry to say that we have failed the readers of this website in that we decided to ignore a book called the Ritual Magic Manual written by David Griffin in 1998. When several occult scholars looked at the book, and some of them wrote reviews, most were shocked that such a thick book (666 pages) was stretched out like silly putty and could have been written in about the size of a thick pamphlet. When this book first came out, our first thought was to think that anyone who looked at this book in a bookstore would immediately see that it was a repetitive compendium of the same thing over and over again… Once a person realized that they would be investing a hefty amount of cash for a book that provides little information on a repetitive basis, they would not need a review to help them understand that their hard earned money would be better spent on other sources. Sadly, the book never reached the bookstores. If it could, it would certainly die an ugly death on the bookshelves once the browser realized that the resources of a pamphlet had been fleshed out into the size of a doorstop. Currently, this book is being pitched on a Golden Dawn website as a rare treasure. The fact is that there is nothing rare about it, except for the fact that Mr. Griffin somehow got the book to end on exactly 666 pages. Imagine if I were to teach you how to ride a bicycle. The key to teaching you how to ride a bicycle is to teach you the fundamentals. This means that you would have the skills necessary to ride a red, blue, orange, yellow or any other colored bicycle. This is common sense. The formula for riding a bicycle is the same no matter the color! One you grasp the formula, you then know how to ride any bike despite size or color. The Ritual Magic Manual fails to teach the concept, or the formula. Rather, through repetition it repeats the same information adnauseum. This gives you the illusion that you are buying a thick book filled with valuable information, when in fact you are getting the same rituals repeated over and over. Sorry for the repetition in this review, but it’s critical that you understand the nature of this book. In addition, virtually all the information is found in other books that are far less costly. Chic Cicero, Donald Michael Kraig, Pat Zaleweski and Israel Regardie have written some such books. Finally, as if the author just can’t help himself, he throws a chapter in the Ritual Magic Manual for invoking demons. Teaching neophytes and non-initiates is certainly part of the Golden Dawn tradition …. NOT! This book cannot be found at your local bookstore, but copies of it turn up on scribd.com from time to time. I assure you that if you plan to print up your own copy, plan to have a tank full of printer ink and a forest of paper. As magic books go, we can't totally fail this book, but we give it a D-