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| The Temple of High Witchcraft: Ceremonies, Spheres and The Witches' Qabalah | 
 enlarge | Author: Christopher Penczak
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy New: $7.44
You Save: $12.51 (63%)
New (36) Used (10) from $7.44
Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 184503
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 576
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.4
Dimensions (in): 9 x 7.5 x 1.6
ISBN: 0738711659
Dewey Decimal Number: 133.43
EAN: 9780738711652
ASIN: 0738711659
Publication Date: October 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New! 2007 Paperback.
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
"This is foremost an engaging textbook designed for home schooling the advancing witch, and it is encyclopedic in its rituals, charts, and even homework assignments." ?Publishers Weekly
THE CRAFT MEETS HIGH MAGICK
Take your spiritual evolution to the next level by mastering the essentials of ceremonial magick. In this much-anticipated fourth volume in Christopher Penczak's award-winning series on witchcraft, he introduces the concepts of the Qabalah and the rituals of high magick, and explores the deeply interwoven relationship between these traditions and the Craft.
The teachings in this book correspond to the element of Air, guiding you into the realm of creative and critical thinking, communication, knowledge, and truth. Four preliminary chapters introduce the basic concepts, history, and skills you will need for your journey. Next, twelve formal lessons, in the witches' traditional year-and-a-day format, provide instruction in the fundamentals of ceremonial magic:
The Qabalah
The Tree of Life
Symbol and sigil magick
Elemental constructs
Qabalistic Cross
The four worlds and their correspondences
Middle Pillar
Pathworking
The Ritual of the Rosy Cross
Invoking and banishing rituals
Fluid condensers
Barbarous words of power, magickal constructs, and the Goetia
The book's thirteenth lesson culminates in a ritual initiation fusing the traditions of witchcraft and high magick?the creation of your own Reality Map. The cosmology you create will be based on your own spiritual experiences as well as the philosophies and practices of ceremonial magick.
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| Customer Reviews:
Great for the newbie pagan July 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked this book. It inspires and educates at the same time. Great for a learning pagan and experienced one also.
Another great contribution from Christopher Penczak February 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I had the pleasure of meeting Christopher Penczak a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised at the time with the extensiveness of both his knowledge and his interests. The many books he has authored over the years clearly illustrate his diversity as an author and teacher, and also his own development as a magickian, witch and Priest. It often surprises friends of mine that I take an interest in Penczak's work as they tend to judge him on some of his earlier work, some of which I have to admit to have never read, what interests me the most about his work is that it is fluid and that it shows progressive thinking based on a wide range of experience.
Some purists might moan about the way the author draws in strands of Qabalah and ceremonial magick to expand on Wicca, but any that do miss the point, which is that Penczak correctly returns to the traditions which were roots of Wicca to expand on the skeleton and flesh out the bones of practice and ritual with material which flows from the same sources. Another of his strengths is that Penczak gives a wide range of practical exercises, giving the reader the opportunity to experience firsthand and thus gain more insight into the messages contained in his writing. This is further amplified by the CD: Temple of High Witchcraft by Penczak, Christopher, with its 4 CDs containing 16 meditations and pathworkings on the ten Sephiroth of the Tree of Life, the four elemental realms, the inner temple and rising on the planes. And of course it is always easier to listen to such meditations on a CD than read them from a book when you are working by yourself.
A top 'must have' pick for any collection strong in Wiccan concepts and practices. January 6, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
The fourth volume in Christopher Penczak's series on witchcraft, TEMPLE OF HIGH WITCHCRAFT: CEREMONIES, SPHERES AND THE WITCHES' QABALAH introduces a focus on ceremonial magick, offering teachers which correspond to the element of air and guide users in basic concepts, history, and skills in a series of overviews, introductions and informal to formal lessons covering symbols, elementals, pathworking and much more. The conclusion is a ritual initiation using witchcraft traditions, making this a top 'must have' pick for any collection strong in Wiccan concepts and practices.
Introduction to Qabala for Pagans November 21, 2007
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book is the fourth in a series on Witchcraft by Penczak. It follows a very similar layout to previous volumes. The first four chapters introductory reading, then thirteen lessons to be studied in a year and a day. The first lesson is basics, then one lesson for each sepherot (plus Da'ath), then ending with an initiation. The material on the Qabalah follows orthodox Golden Dawn teaching very closely. There us not much material on the 22 connecting paths nor on the Tarot. In fact it is remarkable how little information is conveyed in 500+ pages. Other writers cover much more in less space. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. For pagans unfamiliar with the Qabalah the conversational tone and lucid exposition is very helpful in learning what is, in my opinion, a dry and intellectual subject. All in all, I would say this book will be of interest mainly to those familiar with his three previous volumes. Ceremonial magicians will find it too elementary to be of much use. But for pagans who are curious about the Qabalah and how it could be incorporated it into their craft, it can be very useful.
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