The Book of Black Magic Paperback – March 30, 2004

Arthur Edward Waite published what is, in my opinion, one of the most comprehensive and accessible commentaries on ceremonial magic and black magic to date. This is the first well-written book I read on black magic and it ergo has a place in my heart forever.For those of you who are considering the book, Arthur Edward Waite goes through a series of the more infamous grimoires (to date) and gives a thorough explanation of their history, scope, underlying premises, where the material originated from, what is novel to the work, and often the historical zeitgeist leading to its creation.My only issue is that Waite's treatment of Lemegeton uses less accurate manuscripts. The Harley MS 6483 and Sloane MSS 2731, 2825, 3648 are the most accurate and contemporary MSS on the Lemegeton Clavicula Solomonis. Peterson's Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis is currently the standard on this text, which actually even addresses the popular A. E. Waite's Book of Black Magic and corrects some of his shortcomings.I shouldn't have to say this, but I implore you read the preface. So many people try to read scholarly works without reading the preface. This preface grants the direction and scope of the work, which you have to read in order to meaningfully understand the author's positions, biases, philosophies, and commentaries on the esoteric works he is addressing.

Basically a comparative compendium of several of the classic grimoires, it is quite reasonable as a sort of primer for those with an interest in the style of magic written about 5 centuries or so ago. I do not expect most modern wiccans would care for the attitudes and methods represented, but whether they like it or not, it is how magic was done and still is done by some.Due to the rather comparative nature of the work, it was necessary for Waite to be rather sketchy in his examination of the grimoires. That is quite forgivable. He made no claim that he was including the ancient texts word for word, or even complete instruction from them.As a sort of sampler, it is quite excellent. A person interested in the darker sides of magic can use this book to find what they might be looking for and then seek the actual text Waite quoted from in his excerpts. The older the better, since the modern reprints sometimes have left out bits the publishers feared might be "objectionable".My one real displeasure in the reading was noting Waite's comment on the formula referred to as "The Composition of Death", where he mentions that it appears to him that the formula would result in a liquid rather than a powder. This indicated that he settled for available english translation of the time and did not bother to check the older versions. If he had, he would have known that the formula in the english version was incomplete.That small displeasure was more than balanced by his reminder to readers that while in modern times the sacrifice of a lamb or goat to get parchment may seem bloodthirsty, it was an everyday occurrence since paper was not actually available when many of the old grimoires were written. The only way you could get a guaranteed clean sheet of parchment was to make it yourself, since some parchment dealers would wash writing off used parchment and sell it as new.A classic in it's own way and always a refreshing read free of the "politically correct" viewpoint that seems to have become popular to impose over such works.While I would not recommend it alone without additional reading from the original texts he quotes, it's quite reasonably well done.

It's a great book. It is a comparative literary criticism on ancient grimoires. I've seen people complain about that on Amazon, I suppose they thought it was going to teach them how to conjure spirits. No, this is just a comparative piece of literary genius. Although it is a bit wordy, which A.E. Waite is known for (even Crowley thought so.) A.E. Waite was a smart man and did a lot of research to write this book. It has tought me about many grimoires which I never heard of. It is one of the ultimate source books for this topic. I would definitely recommend it to anybody who is a beginner at magick, or somebody who just wants to learn more about it from an academic perspective. This book is of academic quality, and has lots of fantastic plates of sigils, seals, etc.

The Book of Black Magic by Sir Aurthor Edward Waite put together as a reference studied as a science in his time (Arthur Edward Waite (1860-1942) a professional on mysticism, a historian of mysticism, alchemy, magic, and the dark arts....If you can sense empathically and magically energies like me than this book packs alot of power...unlike the Necronomicon by SIMON (which is primarliy FICTION, this book by WAITE can help the right student of the dark arts, but beware! There is something evil that can be evoked; the dark magical aura of this book made me sick at first because its too powerful and too dark to a magical "sensitive" like me (to everyone else it is a simple reference that is all). Soo good as a book of the dark arts for the "right" magical student and definitely NOT recommended for muggles!!!--review by JASON XAVIER (sensitive and student of the dark arts)

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