Christopher PenczakBesprekingen

It's been years since I've read an introductory book, and this follows up Cunningham's solitary books well. There are a few mentions of "true" Wicca and "true" magic, but not with the usual air of haughtiness.

interesting ideas

Love this book series! 💜💜💜

Love this book series! 💜💜💜

Love this book series! 💜💜💜

Too formal for me.

Not one of his best books but a good read for anybody wanting to communicate with the spirit of plants and work with there energies

I used the excercises in this book when I did a return to my year and a day lessons. I find reviewing the basics every now and then helps me to go forward in my practices.
This book was remarkably clear and helpful when going in detail on the whys and hows of basic magic principles.

A fairly interesting book with some unique ideas and concepts. One thing I really liked about this book is how it really talked about spirit relations, and it also talks about the nature of the other levels of the Otherworld. One of my biggest complaints and beef about this book is that really does not truly seem to differentiate between simply doing a guided mediation or visualization to actual journeying at points. Other than that a really nice book.½

3.5 stars, but I can't get the setting to do that.

A solid collection of material on how to do magical protection. Not only spells and rituals but also discussion of mindsets for protection, from a Wiccan perspective. If you're not familiar with specifics of protection work this is a good starting point. Penczak covers how do protect yourself from the perspective of the Hermetic elements, herbalism, stones, and other forms of spell work. While I am not Wiccan and do not ascribe to the philosophy, this is solid material.

Building on the Inner Temple book, this one goes further into magic as practised by those who hold that witchcraft is a practice and not a religion. I love these books.

Excellent book for the witchcraft practitioner not bogged down with deities. Sets out the basics, and the accompanying cd is just as good.

Full review located at http://paganbookreviews.com/2009/07/19/the-living-temple-of-witchcraft-by-christ...

This is an excellent introductory book on the ascension movement. The author is very comprehensive in tracing the various roots of the movement and explaining different concepts and principles within ascension spirituality and those who identify themselves as lightworkers. He also explores ascension cosmology and briefly touches on a myriad of associated topics including reincarnation, channeling, ascended masters, the rays, chakras and includes multiples correspondence tables. I don't always agree with some of his correspondences or interpretations, but that is to be expected considering the scope and subjectivity of the material.

The author brings a very personal, humble style to his writing that helps make some of these lofty concepts more approachable. He is very honest about how he discovered the movement and how his Wiccan background influences his approach. He touches on multiple facets that compromise the modern new age movement, and one could read this book just as much for a comprehensive introduction to the new age movement as for ascension spirituality, which could be considered the leading edge of the new age movement.

Review located at http://lupabitch.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/city-magick-christopher-penczak/

AWesome meditation CDs Wirth getting if you want to go deeper into your normal meditative state, some are guided and some are just the music.
Lots of drums

I could not put this book down! Excellent excellent introduction to shamanic practice, intended for an audience well practiced with meditation and magick. The exercises in each chapter are invaluable.

I have to agree with other reviewers and recommend this book. I enjoyed the elemental exercises very much and would also highly recommend purchasing the CD set that goes with it.

My only problem was that I got a little less out of this one than I did out of Inner Temple of Witchcraft, but that is mostly due to the fact that I started out with this information from other books (for about 7 years before I read this one) and those books were more "outer" heavy whereas the meditations, etc. from the IToWC were newer to my experience. I suppose I learned a little backwards from the way Christopher teaches.

If you're a newbie, get these books first, then move on to others. You can't beat the solid foundation you'll get here.

This is one of the few books on witchcraft that didn't leave me feeling dumbed-down and dizzy. Most Witchcraft 101 books spend a good deal of time going over what have become well-known and relatively obvious facts about pagan deities, nature and its energies, the sabbats, and the very basics of magical tools and techniques. In this book, however, Penczak chooses a few of the more intriguing (and, for beginners, often intimidating) practices and explores them in depth.

Rather than the usual cursory chapter on magic--which is often no more than the repetition of warm-fuzzy affirmations about how "anything goes" and the power is "all within you" anyway--Penczak devotes two chapters to a detailed explanation of the theory of spellwork, discussing first the guiding principles of energy and the "science" behind magic, and then turning to a treatment of spellwork as artistic crafting. This is the only book that didn't take me from "it's easy!" to a "sample spell" of five or more exotic ingredients and astrological correspondences in one giant leap. Step by step, Penczak builds on knowledge in an intelligent and instructive way, without implying either a dumbed-down make-believe approach or an all-or-nothing game of calculations and memorizations.

This is also one of the few books that does not place visualization as the primary tool of magic. I found this immensely comforting, as I have worked intuitive magic for years without hardly any visualization or "mystic experiences" (and always felt I must somehow be "doing it wrong"--even if it worked!). Overall, his approach is a scientific one, primarily, and yet it incorporates the foundations of personal and thoughtful spirituality as a necessary building block for (and ultimately the goal of) witchcraft. A great book, well worth the read.

This is the book I recommend to ALL witches who are interested in Reiki. It has all the level 1 to 3 information. It has information on how reiki can be incorporated into ritual and spell work. And (what I think makes it wonderful) it has TONS of additional symbols in the last few chapters. Chris Penczak has a wonderful, conversational way of writing that makes the reading easy and enjoyable. I'd give it more stars if I could!

Wonderful information on programming your trigger and incorporating magick into your every day life. Alot of this information is also in the IToWC book, so that is why it only gets 4 stars.

Wonderful book (I love ALL his books) that gives you excellent information and tools on meditation, visualization and magick. I don't think I would be as far along as I am today without the exercises in this book. The companion CDs are highly recommended.

Signed by author

Coming soon to my personal collection.