Review of Ray Sherwin's new book, "Ouroboros"

[thief_and_a_liar]

I got a pdf of this book from Sherwin himself, promising him to write a review. Here it is:

Review of Ray Sherwin's new book, "Ouroboros".

It is a short book, 110 pages.

First, Sherwin goes into everything that went wrong with the occult order Illuminates of Thanateros, that he was a part of creating.

He then comes with some of his own opinions regarding magic:

"No-one needs to be ritually sodomised or exposed to human sacrifice and vile abuse for their own personal development."

"It has always been my view that the pursuit of money disables magical ability."

He muses about his self and his environment, and then goes into the mechanics of sigil work. He comes with some advice about using sigils, like working with a sigil over a period of time instead of forgetting it.

The rest of the book consists of some poem-like stuff. I am not a fan of poetry, so I leave this to those who like that sort of thing.

Sherwin is against occult orders, and believes it is more powerful to work alone.

He also does not seem to like evocation and invocation that much, stating that sigils provide a more direct route. He also says that talking to the subconscious is like talking to a stranger whose english is not very good. This reminds me of what Dion Fortune said in her Psychic Self-Defence book, that the subconscious mind does not understand language at all. But it understands pictures.

I really shouldn't read occult literature. I have read enough of that sort of thing, and never seem to learn anything new anymore. Still I was curious about Sherwin's new work, as I have been a fan of his previous books. So, for some this book could be worth something, but it wasn't exactly worth much for me.

-thief

[Moon1ight]

Thanks for the review :) This part really interests me: "He comes with some advice about using sigils, like working with a sigil over a period of time instead of forgetting it." -- since this is kind of what I do already. The Fire-And-Forget approach never really worked for me, and I sure did try. So I'd like to know, what does he suggests for "working" with a sigil? How does he get "Power" into it etc. ? And also, what do you suggest to the same questions ;) if that fits your style?

Edit: Thief answered in the IRC "He says he keeps the sigil in mind as much as possible. also, not making the sigil a desire, instead making it as something that has already happened, or something like that" -- thanks :) So nothing to new here.

[thief_and_a_liar]

I think that in the process of creating a sigil is where you do most of the job.

Sherwin says that it is a mistake to make the sigil into a desire or a wish.

"The Result of my sigil already exists."

As to working with a sigil over time, he just says to keep the sigil in mind as much as possible.

To get power into the sigil he mentions yoga I think. And well, we could make a very long list of things to do to power a sigil.


-thief