Review: Ceremonial Magic & The Power of Evocation, by Joseph C. Lisiewski

Ceremonial Magic & The Power of Evocation: A System of Personal Power, by Joseph C. Lisiewski
New Falcon Press, 204 pp.

This books is a paradox in that it is both an excellent reference book and tome and at the same time illustrates what happens when a magician becomes inflexible. Lisiewski makes some excellent points about the new age movement of magic and the problems that can occur if you only visualization. Also his point about being as faithful as possible to the grimoires you work with is well worth noting in terms of the build-up of magic and belief that can make an evocation successful, or not as the case may be.

I also found his magical axioms to be highly useful in terms of understanding the subjective synthesis and offering an explanation of why and how magic works. The axioms alone are worth reading and considering.

With that said I also found a lot of this work dogmatic and faulty. The need, for instance, to say a prayer to the god of your childhood faith because of the subconscious is rather odd, given his association with Hyatt. It is certainly possible to deconstruct such beliefs from the subconscious. Lisieweski also made some assumptions about evocation, such as what happens when an evocation fails which makes a generalized assumption about the success or lack thereof of evocation. Having succeeded and failed with evocations I will note that my failures did not produce the same results his did. Finally his subjective synthesis, while intriguing also has a lot of room for exploration beyond how he defined it and I’d suggest not limiting yourself to what he has to say about it.

Related:

1. Review: Techniques of High Magic, by Francis King and Stephen Skinner
2. Review: The Art and Practice of Geomancy, by John Michael Greer