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A review by hissingpotatoes
Six Ways: Approaches & Entries for Practical Magic by Aidan Wachter
3.0
This book presents the author's worldview, which is essentially animistic and posits that magic is done by connecting to spirits/powers from the Otherworld primarily via the meditation, trance, and ritual methods he outlines in the book. Magic is a tool we can use, along with the mundane, to take action/responsibility/self-reflection to enact a change of state. While much of the wording is "this interpretation is how things are," the overall tone is "do what works for you" with an emphasis on doing the thing rather than necessarily believing the thing. The author builds on the skills he introduces and provides options for the reader to choose from, depending on their preferences, though some of the suggestions are cultural appropriation (e.g. hoodoo honey jars, using the Hebrew alphabet as "magical").
The author presents theory and exercises on many topics in short chapters; the concise sections and lack of fluff (at least in the first 2/3 of the book) make the text very accessible. The last bit veers into repetitive self-help or lofty philosophizing; cites questionable authors; and makes bizarre implications like that children are the unintentional talismanic result of sex, that people unintentionally invite energy vampires/codependent relationships into their lives (i.e. victim blaming), and that you should do a ritual to clean yourself of those types of relationships instead of, you know, talking to the other person, despite him providing an example of when talking it out actually saved the friendship.
If you're going to read this book, I recommend that you already be familiar with magical theories and practices so you can better parse the context of what the author says, take the useful parts, and discard the problematic ones.
The author presents theory and exercises on many topics in short chapters; the concise sections and lack of fluff (at least in the first 2/3 of the book) make the text very accessible. The last bit veers into repetitive self-help or lofty philosophizing; cites questionable authors; and makes bizarre implications like that children are the unintentional talismanic result of sex, that people unintentionally invite energy vampires/codependent relationships into their lives (i.e. victim blaming), and that you should do a ritual to clean yourself of those types of relationships instead of, you know, talking to the other person, despite him providing an example of when talking it out actually saved the friendship.
If you're going to read this book, I recommend that you already be familiar with magical theories and practices so you can better parse the context of what the author says, take the useful parts, and discard the problematic ones.