did find Write Your Own Magic to be inspirational, I read it in about one day (casually reading it in small chunks over about a 12 hour period). So...it's not going to take you hours upon hours to read, nor is it overly hard to get started using the authors techniques. Write your own magick contains lots of good, useful information on using the power of positive thinking magickally through the power of written and spoken words. Sections take the reader through twelve chapters (with an afterward, several appendices, bibliography, recommend reading and an index), some of the useful information covered includes:

Chapter 1 detailing how words ARE magic
Chapter 3 with information on manifesting your dreams and finding your life's purpose (who couldn't use help in those areas...lol)
Chapter 4 determining what to ask for
Chapter 6 the ritual

I did particularly enjoy the section in chapter three regarding the five year plan...which most people have heard of or dealt with at some point in their lives...I found it to be a fun "take" on the process!! If you follow the book, developing your plan and implementing it with Mr. Webster's technique, you've gone a long way toward finding and achieving your life's purpose!!

Having said this...I do want to point out that this book could just as easily be shelved in the psychology or self-help section as in the New Age, Metaphysical, or Magic/Pagan section of your local bookstore. As a matter of fact in the first few chapters (if the title did not specifically use the word "magic") you might not even know that this was a book on using magic to improve your life...and surprise...this is an issue I have with this book...I'd like to feel that it was more than a "run of the mill" self-help book right off the bat!! I bought this book sight unseen from Amazon for my birthday...to read out of curiosity and to possibly recommend to my students as a good starter book and I find that I have a more than a few mixed feelings about it...I DO feel that it has a lot to offer the absolute beginner and that it's useful as a reminder how powerful one's state of mind can be in affecting what energy we send out and receive in our life, but I also feel that it has an extreme "new age" almost fluffy feel to it that is somewhat disconcerting.

This IS a good magickal "cookbook" for complete beginners. It stands above many of the others on the market by providing general methods for doing magick as well as prewritten spells. What I really like about this book is that the main component or teaching tool is not JUST a string of prewritten spells...this volume actually requires a bit more of the reader than the usual introductory book on this subject and I feel it does a more than adequate job of giving the reader the tools needed to use magic for one's own personal needs -- even if those needs were not directly covered in the book.

There IS some interesting info as follows; in chapter seven we see some magical methods from around the world for sending a wish out to the universe. The next chapter covers making written amulets and talismans, followed by a brief chapter on using crystals and gemstones, a small but relatively harmless chapter on mandalas, followed by a short chapter on group work. The last chapter of the book discusses more formal spells, with a good number of prewritten examples; however, everything here is VERY brief and while it is interesting, it's not enough for the total novice to actually begin using any of these methods...this overview is at best, a springboard for those areas you'd like to study more in depth!!

So, in the end, I find that I feel this is NOT a stand alone volume on the practice of magick in everyday life...it would be used best as part of a "set"of books recommended to get one started studying and practicing magick as part of your regular spiritual practices!!

I give it a B for content and usability...mostly because the information from chapter 7 forward is largely unusable unless you buy a bunch more books do a heck of a lot more research (and that's just to achieve a beginner's usable level of knowledge on each subject)...but don't let that discourage you, there is lots of info to be had here and it IS presented in an easy to use format. I would personally use and recommend this techniques in this book as PART of a larger reading group or "set" of books...to give a more rounded and accurate skill set to the reader!!

I give it an A for price...with a list price of 9.95, it's perfectly reasonable for a book of this size (about 250 pages including the appendices and index) and caliber of content!

AG ;-) ( )