True Magick is an interesting read, if you are reading it as a basic introduction to Wiccan Magick.
Amber K. does a good job of presenting her philosophies and thoughts, injunctions and warnings in a coherent fashion, allowing the reader to understand how certain things are working and why they are happening.
I believe, however, that the failure of this book is that Amber tries to make it a text for all magick and it does not work. She presents a brief (one paragraph to one page) descriptions of other magickal paths, and she implies that what she lays down in this book applies to these paths as well. The rules for Wiccan magick do not apply to alchemy and never have.
I'm going to go on this facet for a bit to allow the reader of this review to see where the differences are.
The thoughts on the Rede and not harming none only apply to Wiccan magick. In every other tradition of magick out there, there is no such injunction. It is assumed that you are mature enough to understand what will happen if you decide to go on with the spell despite these consequences. It also assumes that you are mature enough to not complain when those consequences come home to roost in the case of negative magick.
She has rites of invocation for the God and Goddess, but Wicca is the only theurgical system that uses a Goddess. The Enochian system, the Rosicrucian system, the system laid out in The Keys of Solomon, and the Qabalah do not have female deities, but it is once again implied that invocation of the Goddess is a requirement.
It is the same story for the Directions, the Elements, the Spirits, the magickal process itself. The timing of magick which Amber goes into says that the Full/New Moon as well as the days of the week are what is important, when in the Greater Key of Solomon, there is no mention of the moon, but quite a complete section dealing with the planetary hours.
Now, I am not saying that this book is completely bad. There is a lot in it that is good and worth the purchase price. But it is not the be-all, end-all that is implied. The one disclaimer that I remember seeing talking about this was so brief that one could quickly pass it by and never register that she is speaking not for the more traditional magickal systems.
However, as a work on Wiccan magick, it rocks. There is clear descriptions of the morals relating to Wiccan magick, the processes that one should go through to do spells, the consequences and the injunctions against using magick for personal profit. You may as well throw your wand down a well if you charge, she states in regards to Wiccan magick.
Other than the one huge complaint of trying to be too much the one tome of magick that there is, I have really no complaint with this book. She lays it out in such a way that anyone could understand the concepts involved and the needed materials and disciplines.
All in all, as a book on Wiccan magick, I give it 4 1/2 stars out of 5. However, because she never states that this is the magickal system she is focusing on, I am forced to give this 3 starts out of 5. Thankfully anyone who is at all familiar with other magickal systems will be able to spot this bias fairly easily.
Reviewed by Daven
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