The Secret Lore of Magic Paperback – August 19, 2019

When most people hear the word “magic,” they automatically think of the illusions performed by the stage entertainers who bill themselves as magicians. But from time immemorial, a different kind of magic has fascinated – and frightened – millions of people all over the globe: the magic that attempts to harness “supernatural” forces to achieve a desired end. However, so much nonsense has been written about this type of magic that it’s hard to come to grips with it. Author Idries Shah redressed that imbalance with his landmark book THE SECRET LORE OF MAGIC, which draws directly from primary source material: grimoires (books of spells), some of them of great antiquity, that don’t appear to have been derived from other such books. The research he did to write THE SECRET LORE OF MAGIC was no mean feat, as the source material wasn’t easy to hunt down. Shah presents the spells, symbols and incantations exactly as he finds them in the original grimoires, without superimposing his own interpretation – while adding useful background information on the magical beliefs and techniques of the practitioners. As a result, the veil of mystery that had long obscured the subject is pulled aside, giving readers a clear glimpse of just what’s involved. THE SECRET LORE OF MAGIC is a fascinating and well-researched book, which I strongly recommend to anyone who’s at all interested in the subject.

"…The process of learning is the process of discovering what really exists….” says Peter Brent in The World of the Sufi. The texts made public in The Secret Lore of Magic do exist, and have existed for some time, but largely out of sight. They are provided to the reader as a “…comprehensive reference system…”, as the basis upon which rests that magical world of sorcerers, conjuration and rumour previously shrouded in fantasy and desire. Whether any part of it “really exists”, who knows, but Shah researched, translated and provides the essential materials.Albertus Magnus advises placing the stone “Bena” (which is like a Beastes tooth) under the tongue so that you “…may conjecture and tell of things to come.” And, in A Book of Spells, The Marvels of the World, [number VII, Like Affects Like], says that “…the turners of one metal into another called Alchemists know….how like nature entreth and rejoyceth his like…” I may find that unconvincing and “Bena” a nonsensical term, but Albert the Great, whose last name suggests loadstone and “amalgam”, replies [number IX] “…every man dispiseth the things whereof he knoweth nothing, and that hath done no pleasure to him.”Nowadays, of course, there is academic and other research into the sociological influence of the occult and this book perhaps prefigured that in its cultural and psychological approach. Shah goes further than that, and a reviewer on Amazon UK has helpfully indicated the rationale for Shah’s two books on magic as - information, prevention and a suggestion that there are, also, forces beyond the ordinary. Well worth buying for all those reasons. Plus, if you did want to bind a few spirits, this, I suppose, would be the book!

A collection of grimores relating to ceremonial magic. Oddly, does not contain The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. If you are seriously interested in this study, IMHO, you would be better served with that work. This a good collection of fantasy, though.

This book is almost impossible to find, but it is by far the most authentic collection of reference or "cook books" concerning the actual practices of sorcery, necromancy, demonology and the creation of amulets and talismans in existence. Most of the other books available on the subjects of witchcraft and sorcery are either modern fabrications or selected excerpts from this book. Whether one is a practitioner or has a sociological/historical interest in the subject, this book is a must-have.

Books written by Idries Shah, help in de-mystifying things and help in evolving one's perspective. A must read.

Interesting information.

This classic brings together translations of a half-dozen of the most important medieval 'grimoires' - magicians' how-to books of the late middle ages and renaissance. It includes the Greater Key of Solomon, the Goetia of the Lemegeton, the Ars Almadel, the Grimoirium Verum, Albertus Magnus' Natural Magic, and excerpts from Agrippa. All are presented in a raw form, free of the various 'corrections' (and expurgations) of Mathers and Waite.The book *is* hard to find, and has been removed from all of Shah's booklists that i can find. It has become, in its own right, a hidden and forbidden volume. If you can find it, it remains unmatched for all-in-one-place lore.

All item received in good order

Sometimes you just have to know, what others are thinking.

Crazy, entertaining but repetitive, often funny, very original. These were among my first impressions of THE SECRET LORE OF MAGIC. Did Shah derive all his materials (including the drawings) from old manuscripts, or did he invent some of it, I couldn’t help wondering? Perhaps, by taking liberties, he was illustrating an aspect of this literature. Magic is a field where the human imagination runs wild.For answers I turned to Wikipedia. The book was published in 1957. Since 1933 Dennis Wheatley had been writing occult novels with titles like THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and TO THE DEVIL – A DAUGHTER. He had become one of the world’s best selling writers. Sirdar Iqbal Ali Shah, Idries Shah’s father, revealed that the reason why he and his son had published books on the subject of magic and the occult was ‘to forestall a probable popular revival or belief among a significant number of people in this nonsense’. He said that his son researched for several years before publishing his two books on magic. Later Idries Shah told PSYCHOLOGY TODAY that the main purpose of his books on the occult was to provide information. He went on to say that ‘there do seem to be forces …which do not come within customary physics or within the experience of ordinary people.’Reading the book almost sixty years after it was first published, what struck me was that, although we rarely resort to talismans or indulge in occult rituals, magical thinking is still an acceptable and widespread method of attempting to solve problems. It is as much a part of us as walking upright on two legs, but is as hidden from us as our bones. We use it as a substitute for effort and knowledge, and in the hope that through it we will avoid pain. It determines our decisions about going to war and can affect how we treat illness. It is evident when we use religion to seek power or wealth, or to further our own ambitions. We reinforce it when we switch on our computers and turn to social media, or type ‘curing’ in an Amazon search for books.Although we are still far from harnessing the power of Solomon’s seventy-two Spirits, the past sixty years have also seen magic being converted into knowledge. We have learned to understand and employ more effectively the power of the placebo and of hypnosis.Sufi books can be written with a main purpose but be capable, at a different time, of supplying other insights. Iqbal Ali Shah described his son’s two books on magic as important, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Wanted an hardback copy of this excellent book, have had old paperback for many years. This new addition is nicely printed and easy to read.This book should be on every occultist bookshelf a must have

Great read!

High magic - lots of wands, sacred knives, and sacrifices