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Almost a year on the Underground and this is my first time in the Magick sandbox. Hm.
I've been considering delving into magick for a little while now. When I was a kid, I read up on all sorts of strange and esoteric phenomenon (please keep in mind that to a 13 year old what are commonplace beliefs to one person may be strange to him. No offence meant), but I always looked at it from a scientific/historical viewpoint, and never got personal. Just by the proximity of this thread, and by lurking here and there, I've become interested again, and am considering going to the next level.
I haven't decided where to start, but everytime I've come here to ask for advice, someone has already beat me to it (threads on chaos and shamanism recommendations). My finances being what they are, I can only afford to purchase one book so I thought I'd hedge my bets and get something that came highly praised.
So, I'm about to make my decision, and along comes this book, City Magick by Christopher Penczak (ISBN 1578632064). I'm shelving it at work, decide to take a gander inside, and lo and behold the page I open to has this to say.
"I owe a particular debt to the new and daring generation of comic book writers (believe it or not) who face reality with new lenses. Grant Morrison, chaos magician and writer of the Invisibles, was a tremendous source and perhaps the inspiration for the book. Leave it to Mr. Morrison to demonstrate an actual magical initiation and adventure through his comic books. His creations are like the grand adventures of Carlos Castenada - fantastic, but very real on a different level of reality. These things only seem crazy to the uninitiated, those who work in only one world. Morrison gives us sorcerors like Tom O'Bedlam, living on the streets, teaching the upstart young hero how to walk between the worlds of the city. Together, they visit Luan-Dun, the city of the Moon in the sunless shadows of London. The unlikely hero, the mundane boy or the future Buddha is initiated reluctantly into the mysteries of the world and takes up the cause as his own. As demonstrated by the work of Joseph Campbell, the story is an age-old one, told again and again in our ancient myths, through our science fiction trilogies like Star Wars, and even through our comic books. Grant Morrison would probably be less than thrilled to find his work inspiring another New Age book, but it's the core of the work that counts, not necessarily the medium, and I hope he'd appreciate that. He and his peers inspire me greatly. They, along with other writers, musicians, and artists, are creating the new myths. I hope some last as long as the classics that I grew up learning. Their work is worth checking out, as entertainment and as a thouhgt-provoking new mythos."
He also includes the Invisibles in his bibliography. I wasn't sure if this had been mentioned anywhere else on the board. Sorry if I'm repeating.
Leaving aside his statement that New Age books are a medium, I can't tell whether this is bullshit or not. I don't have the critical abilities to determine what might be a decent magick book. The ideas about the city presented in the Invisibles was something I found very fascinating, and I'm tempted to take a chance on this book, especially since I just happened to flip directly to this page on my first look.
I guess my question would be, does anyone know if this is any good or not? Or should I play it safe and pick out something that is definitely good? |
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