The Occult Review is a monthly column featuring some of the best customer reviews on books of Magic, Mysticism, Esotericism and more. Reviews featured in this article are submitted by verified owners of the books or products from our site. While all approved reviews earn points, these reviews have earned an additional 250 points for inclusion in this article. If you’d like to have your review considered as part of this ongoing series and earn points towards future purchases, simply submit reviews of your purchases and read about our review program.
Esezezus By Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule – Limited Edition Hardcover with CD and Map of Hermes
I was and still am completely enthralled when I reading and could not put it down. It was a very dynamic experience. While the paintings and pictures are marvelous it is the prose that absolutely steals the show and provides many interesting insights to ponder over. If you do any PGM sorcery, you will find many useful tools wherein.
The album is also excellent for trance work and can be used in ones own personal praxis. There is a track for Volva Voluspa that I will be using during my scrying sessions.
—Lindsay K.
HIDDEN PATHS by Denis Poisson – Limited Edition Hardcover (Collectors Edition)
This book was a joy to read. The writing style is quite conversational and friendly to the reader. The construction of the book is also delightful. Well bound, properly length ribbon, beautifully marbled boards. My only gripes are hardly even complaints. 1. It was such breeze read that I shot though it in about 3 sittings. It was just that enjoyable. 2. I was hoping for a bit more. Not at all the fault of Denis, but that it left me hungry. Hidden Pathways is a delight to read and is an essential book for those being to learn about occult practices.
—Josiah Bowers
TRUTMEZZER: A Blade of Two Ways by Frater Acher – Limited Edition Hardcover
One can never go wrong with Frater Acher writings. The books starts out with the Germanic history of blades used in sorcery. What is nice about Frater Acher’s writings, is that they provide reference and sources for where their information is coming from. This is nice as it adds some legitimacy for some people who may need that. It also adds some historical content for how the knife and its usage was perceived by the Germanic peoples of the past. The second part is also historical, but in the context of non Germanic people, and how they related to blade and its manufacture.
Overall this book was informative, but nothing that was mind blowing. My main concern with this book is the price. My philosophy around book buying is that books that cost more than a dollar per page are books that don’t make it on the self, unless it is really wanted. This book is 77 pages and has a cost of $65. This is a newly published book and its price is almost out of my price range philosophy. It isn’t a cloth covered book, but it does have some nice foil work on the cover.
A person could live their magical life without this knowledge in this book and still excel in the use of magical blades. So the price is a bit high for the amount of content that a person receives, and the quality doesn’t match the price in this persons opinion.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, but the information isn’t essential information, more like, add on information to give a person historical context of the use of blades and how to make them.
—Benjamin
TWO ESOTERIC TAROTS by Peter Mark Adams & Christophe Poncet – Limited Edition Hardcover
This discussion of two experts on the tarot (Christopher Poncet & Peter Mark Adams) is very interesting and counters the argument that the tarot wasn’t assigned esoteric meanings until the 18th century. Their discussion made me realize I must read Adam’s book on the Sola Busca Tarot and anxiously await Poncet’s books forthcoming with Scarlet Imprint.
—Kurtis
