Arcane Lore : “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Occult … But Were Afraid to Ask”

Rating:
Summary: Very interesting. . .
Review: Lotsa excellent commentary on astral combatives and psychic self defense -- by far the best book I've read on the subject! There are no "similar" texts to compare it to, but I must say that I found it far more informative than any of the "psychic self defense" manuals by Denning & Phillips, Dion Fortune, or even Robert Bruce. Humorous as well!

Rating:
Summary: Catch-All Grimoire
Review: There is an unfortunate trend in the occult community to nit-pick a book to death. Some books are academic enough to stand up to such scrutiny, though as a result are dry and boring to read. Even texts for chaos magick, which was once a breath of fresh air, are now borish and verbose. Arcane Lore is not one of those. This book is meant to be a comprehensive text on magick and the occult, though is presented with such pinache as to read like a comic book. Arcane Lore is the worn and oil stained mechanic's guide to the automobile that is occult reality. More a compilation of notes, experiences, and humor than a structured document. It is irreverant, funny, and functional. The only reason I am giving this a 4 of 5 is that a large portion of the book is a compilation of quotations from other authors, not as much original content as the page count suggests.

Rating:
Summary: VERY COOL BOOK!!!
Review: This book was great! The author quotes extensively from over 250 sources, discusses the subject matter from a very unique perspective, and uses humor to make a number of important points. This was a lot of fun to read, and I learned a lot. Just the chapters entitled Common Sense Psychic Self-Defense, and Astral Exploration and Combat are well worth the price! Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: what's up with this?!
Review: This strange item is listed in the occult fiction stuff, but it doesn't even pretend to be fiction in fact. Instead it is the opinion and rambling of some unnamed occultist, who has decided to commit his every idea to writing. I found the material mildly amusing, with some good advice, some bad, and a number of plain errors of fact. The author seems to enjoy categorizing those he disapproves of as [people] and silly people, and while he may have some actual exerience in occult practice, he also seems strangely gullible about things like conspiracies. Probably nearly half the text is filled with quotes from other authors, including, oddly enough, the material from the Church of the Subgenius, which the author seems to take seriously!
If you've already read widely in the occult, and you'd like a laugh, this book might be for you.

Rating:
Summary: SPOOKY STUFF. . .
Review: This was a good book, and surprisingly quick to read (I finished it in 2 nights). It made me nervous. First, I started to think that the author must be insane . . . then, I began to worry that maybe I was insane, because what he was saying started to make sense! Intuitively, I've suspected some of these things for quite some time. He talks a lot about how a number of unseen influences can affect people, and describes how someone who is unaware is defenseless. He also details the many aspects of the dream state, and how to protect yourself from things that would attack you -- whether in a lucid dream or on the astral plane. It's spooky thinking about all the negative and potentially harmful energy out there -- in the physical world, as well as the unseen -- but being aware of it, and being familiar with its nature, makes it less dangerous. A little bit of knowledge is all you need to keep yourself safe, and this book provides it.