Christopher Penczak- author

[Light Chakra]

Alrighty, you guys need to do me a favor and tell me what you think of Penczak if you've ever heard of him... Because I feel the need to go out and buy some books to keep myself busy 'til I hook up with this Gordon fellow from the phoenix moon coven...
Anyway Penczak wrote a book I really liked when I flipped through it, but I just wanted a smidge of information from it then. And a friend of mine raved about one of his books on her website... Inner Temple of witchraft.
One of you may have seen it but didn't buy it or something. The cover is red and has the symbol for fire on it with a fire burning in it.
He has a series of books like this, one with a water symbol, and one with an earth symbol. He also wrote 'The Witch's Shield' which gives a good many inventive ideas on how to work protection magick and such.
So does anyone want to raise any possible concerns?
I haven't really read them thoroughly, but his views on polarity are good and as I said his protection magick ideas are inventive and original.
In his book 'gay witchcraft' he talks about how straight couples represent a balance in the physical world; whereas gay couples represent the astral world... Of course he goes into greater detail than I have.
Anyway, tell me what you think.  

[Doctrix]

I've never heard of that author. Very interesting about the gay couples. Let us know what the books are like when you have read them thoroughly.  

[Light Chakra]

Well I've been reading the first few chapters this evening and am finding myself unable to put the book down for any great length of time...
He is very thorough and makes analogies (sp?) that everyone can get.
The idea behind this book, which coincidentally the title makes it sound like crap, Instant Magick is that you can a) take the bits and pieces of a spell apart to understand it (which is a smidge obvious), and b) get your mind to associate gnosis with a certain posture etc., like crossing your fingers, so that you slip into it faster and can do magick better on the spot.
He's also big on the fact that the inner affects the outer faster than the outer can affect the inner, so he says that you start a spell inside you, and make an effective change within yourself, and then let the magick flow outside to affect a change.
Some of his techniques to do so I never would have thought to do though.
I mean I use omnimancy all the time, and I channel it through my hands, but I never stopped to think that that was my trigger.
Well I've rambled on enough for this evening, I haven't even made it into the third chapter...I should probably keep reading before I finish doing the whole 'critics rave about Christopher Penczak' thing... wink  

[Light Chakra]

I have at this point read the main of, and what I believe to be the most important parts of, Penczak's book at this point.
And now I am conflicted...
Alot of what he writes early on whatever he really talks about makes loads of sense and is incredibly well written. Really the main of his book is exactly as I have said above inspiring and creative;however, most of the information or referance charts he has in the back of the book contest alot of things I've read, and alot of things I personally believe, such as red being for love and courage, this makes sense no? Also he put things like (colors are sticking in my brain right now so bear with me) green for earth which is commonly agreed upon as earth's main color, but then he also put green for water... confusing much.
Pink being a lighter shade of red one typically defines it as fire... He says, drumroll please, earth... which really throws me off.
But to each his own I suppose.
Other than that I can't complain much... Just his information charts are all off by a fair ways, some are on to an extent, but most are off by a fair bit.
Uhh also he, I'm finding, has a tendancy to revisit stuff that he's written in other books in fair enough detail to have not needed to have written it in another book. I've read his 'The Witch's Shield' to an extent, and in the chapter based on magickal safety in this book, he says alot of the same things he said in his other book... Which you know makes him consistant, and isn't really a bad thing... But then what's the point in buying the other book if you're going to explain everything in this cheaper book?
Oh plus, his rituals while effective I'm sure, just sort of lack something... I don't know exactly what, just the magick even looking at the spell I can tell it won't feel the same as what I personally am used to... It may just need some personal touches, redesigning it to where I can say it's mine... But I'm not sure that that is entirely it either...
But don't get me wrong he is a good author, very thorough with things particularly with breaking down why the three main components of a spell (in his words being Clear intention, Energy Direction, and an Altered Consiousness) work together and how they do so as well and what your part is in them. Plus he breaks down each of the three main parts to explain best how each of those functions and how it works individually.
I'll give him mrgreen wink 3nodding and a half smilies out of five on benefit of the doubt, I'm assuming that the second half of the actual book writing (taking away rituals and correspondance charts) will be as good as the first half.
Thank you for not dying at the sight of my thoughts being presented in such little fragments... I try not to make it so random, but I actually am tired for once and definitely need sleep... Thought I'd put this up before I forgot and didn't have anymore time. We had a storm today, and I didn't go to school, we actually had a flood watch, and a man got struck by lightning, he was missing teeth... But I'm not sure if that was because he was a hobo or because he got hit by lightning... wait... I'm rambling, oh um yeah so I actually go to school tomorrow and start preparing for contest which is in a week aaaah! I'm in choir we go on our trip and compete next friday.
So I'll leave you now with a bookreview, smilies, and the random goings on of Austin Tx! Live music capital of the world baby whoo! *falls asleep*  

[Naomi Tinuveil]

I am currently reading his second book in the temple series. The Inner Temple being the first one. The Outer temple (the one with what looks like earth on it) is the second. and The Shamanic Temple (with what looks like water on it) is the third.

Anyway, I'm on the 6th chapter of The Outer Temple. And your right, I was a bit thrown off at the title but let me just throw in the quick cliche to never judge a book by its cover. I must admit that it has swayed me towards the more religious aspects of the craft; seeing as how I never really played to heavy into its archetypcal higher deity structure. But what really got me was the fact of how open he is with his view points and personal experience. And I admire the fact, or should I say, I connect with the fact of studying witchcraft as a science rather than a religion. But aside from all of that, I like and admire the way he puts such abstract ideas into a compound reality based concept. I myself being a virgo need definate physical and logical evidance to support my abstract/spiritual theories. I guess if you would like to be technical, I have no "faith" I lack the ability to believe something blindly, I need facts . . . and Penczak is one of the view if not one of the only authors I've come across that can lay it out in a way that my mind will and/or can pass judgement on. I have yet to read the Inner Temple which will probably be my next book (though I have skimmed through it), and if I continue to find resolution within his views then I will more than likely check out his book on shamanistic practices.

I also picked up a book written by him (that I didnt' realize was written by him at the time.) on Reiki. Some may agree with his logic, others may not. But I for one admire his work; while I don't take ALL of it into a literal sense, I am quickly finding myself adapting some of his principles into my own theories.

I've written my small rant about my views on his works. sweatdrop ::Scratches back of head:: After you finish the book you'll have to come back and tell us how it was so I know what I have to look foreward to and what to brace myself for, so to speak (incase it turns out to be a loud of hogwash)

Just throwin in my two cents,
~Asha  

[TeaDidikai]

What does he say about Reiki?  

[Naomi Tinuveil]

TeaDidikai

What does he say about Reiki?

I am unsure, I had picked it up for my fiance because he had said he found interest in it. However, I myself have not read nor studied Reiki. ::Shrugs:: I'll have to ask him about it when he gets home.  

[TeaDidikai]

As a Reiki Master, I am curious. There's as much bullshit out there about Reiki as there is about Wicca.  

[Light Chakra]

All I know is that he pulled a no no in his reiki book.
He apparantly put the symbols in it and explained them, someone somewhere said that you don't learn the symbols until you have attained a certain degree.
He does however explain things in the same manner that many can get, as with most things.
I haven't read the book though, this is based off a review I read somewhere.  

[TeaDidikai]

Light Chakra

All I know is that he pulled a no no in his reiki book.
He apparantly put the symbols in it and explained them, someone somewhere said that you don't learn the symbols until you have attained a certain degree.
He does however explain things in the same manner that many can get, as with most things.
I haven't read the book though, this is based off a review I read somewhere.

It's the second degree. The main reason for this is that until you attain your second attunement, you are unable to use them.

It's like giving a child a gun and sending them out on a battle field before they know how to pull the trigger.

I'm curious to know what he says about attunements and initiations along with the different lineages and traditions.  

[Light Chakra]

I've seen some before, but they may have been fake...
Are they really all squiggly and stuff?
Or are they all chinese and stuff?
Just curious.  

[TeaDidikai]

Light Chakra

I've seen some before, but they may have been fake...
Are they really all squiggly and stuff?
Or are they all chinese and stuff?
Just curious.

Show me the glyphs and I'll tell you if they are accurate.  

[bobz]

The author seems interesting From my wanderings (of which I've had many) he seems to be running through a mild chaos magic paradigm (Especially from what you've told me so far) I saw The Witches Shield ages ago and found myself drawn to it, but that said, I've got a LONG list of books I've been meaning to read and I've promised myself that I'll buy no more till I've finished at least the next few on my list.  

[Jishin]

I have Penczak's City Magick. That's a decent book, although the idea of the Worldscraper as opposed to the World Tree is pretty silly, I think. It's mostly a 101 with a strong urban twist -- fine supplemental material for the most part, I think.

But it doesn't make any claims or anything of that nature. It's just a basic book with some cool ideas. I don't know about the rest of his material.  

[TeaDidikai]

Jishin

I have Penczak's City Magick. That's a decent book, although the idea of the Worldscraper as opposed to the World Tree is pretty silly, I think. It's mostly a 101 with a strong urban twist -- fine supplemental material for the most part, I think.

But it doesn't make any claims or anything of that nature. It's just a basic book with some cool ideas. I don't know about the rest of his material.

Isn't that the book where he gives spirits like "Punk" and "Spray Paint" godhood?