Blood Magick

Rating:
Summary: Vampire Magick, Blood Sorcery, or Both?
Review: Finally, an author willing to take risks! Until this book came out, there was a serious lack of information available on the actual practice of blood magick. This book is a bold compendium of magic theory, rituals, philosophy, and detailed how-to sections on the actual use of blood (like how to get it & how to use it safely). The author seems to have specifically left out any overt mention of vampires. Though I think that was done intentionally so that the book would appeal to a wider audience, because the thing reads like a proverbial vampire bible. I see this book becoming a core text for anyone interested in vampirism, witchcraft, or the occult.

Rating:
Summary: Intriguing ideas
Review: I found Blood Magick to be an intriguing and insightful book, that offered up an approach to using blood in magick. I would've liked to have seen a bit more focus on how the author used blood and the AD&D like compedium of spells didn't exactly work for me, but the concepts are very workable and the language is easy to understand.

Rating:
Summary: A new classic.
Review: I found the book to be informative, detailed, responsible, and useful. The information was presented clearly, the techniques are applicable, and the system can be layered onto a person's own pre-existing tradition. The author systematically presents a magical practice that, until now, has been obscured by taboo and disinformation. However, I do have to point out the fact that the spells in this book (and in other Seth books), have a creative flair that many serious occultist may find disagreable, though I did not. The only reason I am giving this book a 4 of 5 is that even though the description of the book states that it is a text that can be used by beginners, there are some techniques, concepts, and entire chapters that are quite complex. This book is really meant for those with more knowledge and experience than the average neophyte, and should have been marketed as such.