Howlings from the Pit: A Practical Handbook of Medieval Magic, Goetia & Theurgy [Paperback]

I have a couple of problems with this latest book on Ceremonial Evocation Magic by Joe Lisiewski. I must begin by noting that I am not disputing his methodology - I have little doubt that this "Old System Magic" really works for him and for many of his readers. I would also like to say that anyone serious about Magic needs to read this book, and its predecessor, Ceremonial Magic and the Power of Evocation. Together, they will knock a considerable amount of sense into you - even if you have no intention of ever performing an evocation ceremony. For the most part, I love his writing style, and wish more people/authors would have the guts to just say what they mean.

But, before you go burning your Crowley, Golden Dawn, DuQuette, Greer, Regardie collection, destroying and desecrating your working tools which you have carefully crafted over the years, and alienating yourself from all of your fellow lodge members (which Joe directs you to do as Step #1 in the process), you may want to consider the following:

The first, in my opinion, is that this book (like his other on the subject) is premised on the reader coming from essentially a Catholic (at least a strong Christian) background. If that is not you, then you are going to have some instantaneous problems to overcome. Don't burn your library until you get this point. He very quickly writes you off if you are not of said background, by telling you in one short paragraph that, well, you ought to pray to Christ anyway, because it will be good for you as you pursue this magical path. (Beyond the obvious concerns here, I have boys with white shirts and black name tags knocking on my door telling me this too!)

The second is the slightly less obvious matter of fundamental hypocrisy. Joe uses a lot of ink reminding you that you must use Four Words... "Where Are The Results?" and/or "Show Me The Proof". I love that! They are valid questions which we should all be asking ourselves every time we practice!

So... Joe, in his promotional notes is touted by his publisher as being a "noted physicist". Therefore, again, before you burn your books etc., Google-search his many noted published scientific works in the field of the Relativistic Space-Time Continuum. (Ph.D.s must publish or perish they say). You should find them along side Stephen Hawking's works.

A very wise friend and respected Mage once told me that the best way to make a small fortune publishing occult literature is to start out with a large one. You should therefore surmise that Joe is independently wealthy and highly successful, having expertly commanded those Goetic Demons to do his bidding over many years now, and is merely publishing these works either for fun, out of the tedium which often accompanies aristocratic malaise, or he is genuinely interested in sharing his secret for success with a very small segment of the general public, and you are lucky enough to be one of them. (On the other hand, if this is his master-plan for achieving fame and fortune, I suspect that he may have been duped by some of those nasty little demons).

Maybe we could we ask Joe to "Show us the proof"? Where exactly on the list of noted physicists is he? Did he make Forbes this year? With all of those evocations and real-life results, as a scientist, surely he has at least attempted to follow some scientific methodology and dispassionately and objectively record some of his manifestations in some way, thereby knocking the quantum physics world on its ass. Joe, please, where are the results, where is the proof? Please.

As we await the Howlings from the Pit DVD, and the many scientific journals, continue to do the work toward developing your spiritual self and your personal connection with the All. Read and re-read your library. Buy this book and his others...read and consider them carefully and add them to your collection. "Study, learn, understand and practice" - use it all. Form your own processes; they will work for you just as this system works for many, or go ahead and try this one. Just keep your wits about you, always.

This book is made up of the written material from 8thmatrix.com together with four magical journals (Howlings from the Pit part I-IV). I've already read all those sources, but I was happy with the book nonetheless. The information contained in the book is priceless. It is well organized in chapters which makes it easy to find the topics you're interested in.

This book is a compilation of Lisiewski's "Howlings of the Pit" newsletter that he put out for a year, along with his detailed answers to readers' questions from his website, put in a decent order and given needed structure. The methodology is simple but difficult to grasp if you are firmly rooted in the "anything goes" New Age style of magic, where you can improvise rituals, imagine circles of protection instead of inscribing them on the ground, and substitute ingredients for whatever you have handy - all concepts Lisiewski strongly disagrees with. Essentially he makes the point that the "instant results" generation and the ancient grimoires do not mix well, and if you want to make use of the grimoires' magic then you are going to have to put the effort and work into understanding it first.

He recommends reading materials, based on his experiences. These materials are chosen to help create the proper connections in the mind of the reader, in order to see the world in a certain way. Reading, understanding, comprehending, and then doing, creates this synthesis necessary to work the magic of the old grimoires. It's this synthesis - the worldview - that allows the magic to happen. And it's not something that can be obtained simply by reading a book - you will have to put the effort into learning practicing the material. You have to know why you need this or that ingredient, what the spoken words mean, what the symbology is for, etc.

He also makes a very important point about the effort that one puts into their magic - essentially, the more work you put into the working, the more powerful the result. This means not taking shortcuts and not just ordering all your supplies off the Internet, but actually putting the work into obtaining them and preparing them as described in the grimoires. He approaches magic in a logical fashion.

Think of the magic of the ancient grimoires as a door with a very complex mechanical lock. The better you understand the positions of the gears, tumblers, pinballs, and springs that comprise the lock's mechanism, the greater your ability to conquer the lock and open the door. But go beyond that. Try to understand the locksmith's frame of mind, what he might have been thinking, what his influences were, what his mindset was, and you will understand more about why he selected those components and configured the lock just so.

When you understand the lock well enough that you can build your own lock, THEN you will be able to make substitutions and change out gears and pinballs and tumblers and get similar results as the original locksmith. If you try to make changes to the mechanism without understanding the lock, the likelihood of making a mistake, causing the lock to severely injure your hand, break your tools, or simply render the lock unusable, increases dramatically.

With knowledge of this particular, complex lock, you gain knowledge of how locks work in general, and can recognize a well-oiled, well-crafted lock from a shoddy, mass-produced one. Lisiewski is a master locksmith who learned his craft by studying lots of locks, as well as learning from other locksmiths along the way of his 40+ year magical career. This ties into one of the points Lisiewski is trying to make about substitutions or the "use whatever is on hand" New Age frame of mind. It also is one of the reasons there's so many armchair magicians (many of whom have never attempted a ritual themselves) and very few real magicians who can get real results.

People do not like being told they will have to work and put effort into something in order to get what they want, if they're of the entitled generation that expects to be offered the world on a platter "just because". This book - and all of Lisiewski's books - are goldmines of information for those who can recognize their true value. Be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that because something is hard to do, it's not worth doing.