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Rating: 
Summary: Housewife's Magic
Review: Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki is obviously a skilled and knowledgeable master of her craft. Her teachings are useful and comprehensive and I am sure many readers will find this book most inspiring.However, I did not find what I was looking for when I bought the book mainly because of it's title. It describes rituals for the classic post Golden Dawn way only. Witchcraft of the more domestic sort could also be ritualized using this book, but that's pretty much it. Followers of all other magical paths, such as Thelema, Chaos Magic, Grimoiric Magic and wilder sorts of witchcraft will find this book restrictive and conservative to the point of being hardly usable. According to it, their magic can't possibly work anyway, though it most definitely does. Another grudge I have with this book is that it does not clearly distinguish between more and less important lessons. Endless pages are spent detailing mundane topics such as how to physically clean a ritual room and giving very specific instructions on the construction of less important ritual tools such as candleholders. I missed a lot of "This is but a suggestion and being stuck here shouldn't stop you from going on with the important part." sentences. Rituals are rather shallow and never go beyond the intensity of an average Holy Mass - which is understandable as this book is an introduction. They are also lengthy and invocations use to be so long they can hardly be learned by heart and spoken "deep from the heart". It seems the rituals in this book do not aim to cause much of the change Ashcroft-Nowicki knows magic is, but rather form a ritual base for the spiritualist quasi-religion she teaches. Which is not everything ritual magic can be - not at all, folks. If I was as bound to my path as Ashcroft-Nowicki is to hers, I'd have given this book one star. If I followed the same path she does, I'd have given it four.
Rating: 
Summary: If you only bought one book on magic, buy this book!
Review: Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki's "Ritual Magic Workbook" is a must have for beginners and experts alike. Dolores is the Director of Studies of a modern day Mystery School teaching the wisdom of the Western Mysteries. Her rich practical knowledge and insight are made available here for the student who for whatever reason chooses not to undertake the formal tuition of a Mystery School. The beginner can expect to be taken through an in-depth one year curriculum consisting of personal spiritual development and invaluable insight into the construction of a personal temple. The creation of a magical temple is invaluable to the work of a ceremonial magician. In such a temple, the aspirant may expect to be challenged to grow and stimulated to unfold the magical and spiritual potential that lies within. Dolores also points out that one day this temple will no longer be necessary for it will have become "the Temple not made by hands" the total internalization of the physical temple into the subtle bodies of the intiate. The expert may expect further insights from a recognized authority in the esoteric community. One of the many innovations offered by the author is the use of the "Temple Floor Cloth" for those practioners unable to set aside a room for a Temple. The "Temple Floor Cloth" can be set down for the ritual and taken up so that the room can be returned to more mundane use. The author gives practical advice on creative visualization and means of raising power from the Qabalistic tradition to the tradition of the Craft. How to behave in temple and what initiation truly means are fully explained. Readers may work as solo practioners or follow her suggested guidelines towards forming a ritual group that may one day work as a Lodge of the Mysteries. A rich course of study is presented along with a suggested reading list for future study. Rituals to consecrate and seal the Temple on the various subtle levels are given as well as how to align your Temple to three traditions of your personal choice. Seasonal rituals take the practioner through the magical year and much variety is given so that the practioner can experience the various paths of the egyptian, the greek, the craft etc. How to make and use talismans is clearly explained. If you only read one book on the occult and the Western Mysteries, read this book. It will ground you in the all important foundations that will allow you to practice safely and effectively. Expect to be changed for the better!
Rating:
Summary: A collection of great tools for WORKING with rituals
Review: I take exception to much of the previous review ("Housewife's Magic"). It's important to read the title and understand that it's a workbook, and the word "work" describes the intent of the book very well. The central theme here is preparation for magic, by working. The cleaning, the building, the readings, the attention to the details of the magical implements ... they all serve the purpose of focusing energy/concentration and achieving the discipline needed to effect change through will. You've utterly missed the point if you think these are just a bunch of mundane details and are unimportant. They're the meat of the book, they ARE the real magic, and the heart of the discipline being taught here. The "followers of other magical paths" can bypass all that and skip to the sensation-seeking, but why bother with a book like this if you believe it's only the rituals themselves that matter? I enjoyed it for the detail about the making of the implements and the temple. So it's practical, as described, but a fuller self-initiation requires several other books and thus the suggested readings at the ends of each chapter. If you want to put your hands to meditative use so you are well-grounded for further explorations, then this is a marvelous introductory book.
Rating:
Summary: A collection of great tools for WORKING with rituals
Review: I take exception to much of the previous review ("Housewife's Magic"). It's important to read the title and understand that it's a workbook, and the word "work" describes the intent of the book very well. The central theme here is preparation for magic, by working. The cleaning, the building, the readings, the attention to the details of the magical implements ... they all serve the purpose of focusing energy/concentration and achieving the discipline needed to effect change through will. You've utterly missed the point if you think these are just a bunch of mundane details and are unimportant. They're the meat of the book, they ARE the real magic, and the heart of the discipline being taught here. The "followers of other magical paths" can bypass all that and skip to the sensation-seeking, but why bother with a book like this if you believe it's only the rituals themselves that matter? I enjoyed it for the detail about the making of the implements and the temple. So it's practical, as described, but a fuller self-initiation requires several other books and thus the suggested readings at the ends of each chapter. If you want to put your hands to meditative use so you are well-grounded for further explorations, then this is a marvelous introductory book.
Rating:
Summary: Restricted magic?
Review: This book does give valuable insights, but I find the practical part very hard to actually carry out. Is magic restricted to people who can afford to use a room only for temple purposes? The part on how to make a temple floorcloth to use instead of a physical room is, in my opinion, not thorough enough, and not supported throughout the book. And the suggested reading is very hard to get hold of. The general observations seem to give more freedom as to how rituals can be carried out, and I somewhat miss that in the practical part. I find the book useful as a source for ideas and inspiration, and for the magical insights in general.
Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: this book is the book that you should get if you are just starting out or want to know what exactly witchcraft is about it talks about how you need patience and it says that it would take a year to do all of the stuff in it so you need at least 5 minutes a day ith it and within the first chapter you will feel as though you have really accomplished something.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent pathway
Review: This is indeed an excellent _workbook_, but to get the full value you do need to not only do the work but read all of the books required for each chapter. And therein lies a challenge because nearly half of them are out of print. Information given in the required books is _not_ repeated in the workbook so if you do not have the listed texts you are going to barely skim the surface of her lessons. The book requires around 68 other books to be read and studied to get the full value of the course. That said and full warning of it now given, it is an excellent introduction to Ritual Magic. Two of the required books are out in revised editions with new titles; Alan Richardson's Mystical Kabllah is to be found in his Magical Gateways and J. H. Brennan's Experimental Magic is now Magick for Beginners. Be prepared to haunt used book sources and do a lot of serious study and practice. You get out of this what you put into it.
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