Full Guide to Becoming a Real Wizard, Witch or Necromancer (Osari the Wise)

Full Guide to Becoming a Real Wizard, Witch or Necromancer
Osari the Wise; Abraham Atias, translator
Library Tales Publishing
Nonfiction, Spirituality
** (Bad)


DESCRIPTION: Despite centuries of political, social, and religious persecution, the world's ancient magical traditions not only survive, but thrive in the modern world. With the New Age movement and the Wiccan revival, more and more people are discovering the true power behind some of Mankind's oldest, most misunderstood beliefs. But what is real magic? How does one actually go about becoming a true magic-worker? Based on the works of Osari the Wise, this book seeks to answer questions that newcomers, and the just plain curious, may have about real wizardry and other forms of magic.
A Kindle-exclusive title.

REVIEW: Downloaded during a freebie window, this looked like just the sort of thing to inspire and inform my efforts at crafting fictional fantasy worlds. After all, why completely reinvent the wheel when Earth has so many magical systems from which to draw literary inspiration? Unfortunately, this book proved anything but inspiring.
It started on a shaky note, going out of its way to connect true magic to God, and - despite its assertion at equal time for all magic systems - skewing heavily toward Jewish Kabalah traditions. It then wandered, with mind-numbing tediosity, through all manner of historical and prehistorical minutiae of minimal relevance to the subject. (With its repeated emphasis on the fact that a true wizard is a well-read wizard, it seemed that a fair chunk of these dry dissertations could've been condensed with a simple "Further Recommended Reading" list; this eBook was, after all, supposed to be merely an introduction to the subject, not an all-inclusive volume.) Osari also contradicted himself over the course of his book. At the outset, he claimed that the notions of "black" and "white" magic were mostly misunderstandings imposed by outsiders, that all magic flowed from the same, ultimately godly sources and it was only humans who insisted on attaching such connotations; even necromancy, he declares, can be as benevolent or malicious as a body chooses to make it. He then goes on to outline the dark, dangerous, and downright demonic practices of those who would harness dark spirits and dare to coerce the dead from their rightful resting place. Aside from such contradictions, the text walks itself and the reader in circles more often than not, as though trying to pass off sheer dizziness as enlightenment. Poor editing, which butchered several passages and repeated many others, didn't help make this any more readable.
Between the preaching, the tangents, the confusing presentation, and overall tedium, I barely managed to make myself finish. I learned a little from Osari, but not nearly as much as I'd hoped to learn, leaving me decidedly uninspired.

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