The Occult Book Review

This overview of the grimoire tradition is an essential addition to any collection. Davies is both thorough and entertaining in his opinions and histories. This is probably the perfect approach to take when trying to cover such a broad spectrum of traditions and cultures. To purchase Grimoires: A History of Magic Books go  here. Video review here:

In Thomas Sheridan's extensive study of Irish mythology and history the reader gets a perspective which combines both a folkloric and symbolic framework. This is an often overlooked type of examination when it comes to Irish history but one which is most valuable to the unbiased thinker. In many instances accurate exploration and indeed interpretation of Irish megaliths has been forced to fit a worldview which sees Christianity as the most logical and enlightened conclusion. While many Irish archaeologists and historians of the twentieth century had a reflexively Biblical starting position this is no longer an excuse for academics today who have extensive documents, comparative religious sources and archaeo-astronomical evidence at their disposal. Depressingly, Sheridan demonstrates that even with this potential for new appraisal, up until recently Irish archaeology has still been reluctant to accept and embrace the true scope of its pagan past. Rather than succumbing t...

One of the most affecting aspects of this book is Keel's pessimism throughout. This is a man who has witnessed  far too many strange occurrences to be entirely comfortable even trying to explain possibility, never mind offer any ultimate answer. Keel's conception of a super-spectrum is certainly intriguing and was a relatively new and unique view at the time. At least as far as English publications were concerned. Today, we have translation of anthropological texts by such writers as Ernesto De Martino and we can see that these explanations and experiences were always part of folkloric and mythological traditions. The absence of an index is unfortunate but as the book is quite a slim volume this does not present too many difficulties which can not be overcome with note-taking.   Enjoy the review... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-mDU3_Y02s