Magic Spell Books – Buy Them or Not?

How many of you own magic spell books? And how many of you would like to own them? At least one? I have to admit, I’d like to get my hands on few old-school magic spell books. They would look great on my bookshelf. And that’s all they would do, because honestly, for most people they’re not worth anything at all.

I will explain what I understand as “magic spell book”. I’m not talking about guidebooks to psychic abilities development, or energy work, or specific occult philosophies. These are useful. Also, I’m not talking about classic grimoires, old books of magick. What I’m referring to is quite simple: a book containing magic spells (most modern books, quite some older books as well). Spell for “this”, spell for “that”, that you can use simple by reading them letter by letter in your sacred space, moving your hands in specific ways etc. These are “magic spell books”.

And let’s be honest – magic spell books are paperweights. If you can’t read between words, they’re useless, and purchasing them is a waste of your money.

Why Magic Spell Books Are No Good

There’s simple reason why these books are useless. Because they’re meant only to make money on popular subject. They’re filling the niche on the market and that’s all, trying to persuade you that you need to follow the spell letter by letter, action by action. They never provide the reader with mandatory “behind the scene” knowledge. They don’t explain why you do this, why do you do that etc. They just throw a spell on you, and tell you it will work.

If you really want to learn about magick, read Magick in Theory and Practice, by Aleister Crowley. You will see the difference. Crowley do not provide you with step by step spells or rituals. But he explains what magick really is. Even so, if you can’t read between words, Crowley’s “Magick…” won’t teach you anything. You need to understand the very core of magick and occult practices, without it – no book will do you any good.

And Why Magic Spell Books Are Good

These paperweights might be quite useful when you already understand the principles of magick, and you need… ideas for rites. I mean – like you would like to know “what else can I do with magick“. But this won’t do you any good if you will already understand that there are no limits – whatever you can think about, you can achieve with magick. In such case, even this use of magic spell books will be worthless.

But I have to admit – even if modern books are quite useless, owning 200 years old book with magick spells is quite fascinating. Such books just looks great and I guess that’s the only reason why you should own it.

What Books Should You Use Instead?

Classic works, like mentioned publications of Aleister Crowley or classic grimoires like Lemageton, The Picatrix, the Book of Sacred Magick of Abramelin the Mage.  Modern books of Peter J. Carroll on Chaos Magick are also great. Or workbooks for energy work like these of Michelle Belanger.

Some more general books describing specific philosophies (runic magick or runes in general, Kabbalah, Hermetism) are worth reading too, encyclopedias of different sort etc.

Technically, only paranormal fiction and spell books won’t do you any good – beside these, every single book might add a little pieces to your overall knowledge. Just keep in mind that you need something like “bullshit detector” .

Do you own some magic spell books? How did you get them? Do you find them useful or useless?

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