Book Review: “Shaping Formless Fire: Distilling the Quintessence of Magick”, by Stephen Mace

Shaping Formeless Fire: Distilling the Quintessence of Magick, by Stephen Mace, New Falcon Publications, (c) 2005.

This is a very short book, only 90 pages, and it is composed of a series of essays the author wrote for various publications. Most of it is very basic and probably would not appeal to a more advanced worker, so I was a little disappointed. I was looking for something different and new, and something for the advanced worker. But scattered throughout the book are a few very interesting ideas that I have not seen anywhere else, and they inspired me to some new thinking.  That is always what I am looking for in a book.

The reader can tell that the author was influenced by Crowley and Ceremonial Magick along the lines of the OTO and the Golden Dawn. Among the most useful ideas was chapter 5, on Banishing and Cleansing. I have made a variation of these ideas a part of my daily practice, which I spell out in detail in the 5 part series that I wrote, the email tutorial that comes with the subscription to the Persephones Haven blog. (See subscription button in the upper left hand corner of the web page). The author is also influenced by Austin Osman Spare and Chaos Magick, particularly the use of sigils, but the beginner will definitely want to read some books by Phil Hine about Chaos Magick first,  because the little bit that Mace goes into is not enough at all to really teach anyone what Chaos Magick is about.

In fact, the book deals with too many beginning subjects for the advanced practitioner to get a whole lot out of it, though as I said, there are a few good ideas scattered here and there, throughout. Unfortunately, there is not enough for a beginner, either, because Mace does not go in depth into any one topic. I think that is because the book is made up of a series of short essays that were written as magazine articles, so they are extremely basic introductory ideas presented for people that otherwise would not know about them.

If anything, this is a good book for beginners to read through to make notes about all the different topics that he or she can research and explore in greater depth. The author is obviously very well read and very experienced as a practitioner, so I found myself wishing he had gone into much  greater depth and detail on any one or two of the topics that he dealt with so briefly in his essays. I am definitely going to be looking out for more of his books. I am hoping that at least some of them are much meatier than this one. The publisher listed some related books as well, such as books by Phil Hine on Chaos Magick and books by Crowley and others on Ceremonial Magick. However, there is no formal bibliography, and I found myself wishing that there could be an extensive one.

Happy Reading!

BB,

Vivienne

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Persephone emerges from the Underworld…

You may have noticed it has been a long time since I posted. I wish I had better news to report or a more pleasant reason, but unfortunately last year was the worst year of my life, so let me explain what has been happening:

The first and lesser blow was that my lover of almost two years left me at the beginning of July to take a job in Japan. I spent most of June helping him get ready to go, and was understandably depressed when he left; I was also planning a vacation for the last week of July with my niece, in MA. Unfortunately, the day my niece and I got back from our vacation, on August 2nd, her brother, my 15 year old nephew, committed suicide. We got the news as his mother, my sister, was driving my niece and I home from the airport. I spent the following weeks helping my sister and niece deal with the fallout, and dealing with my own grief.

Fall faded into winter and I started feeling somewhat better, and had a brief spurt of activity as I tried to get back into the swing of things. I twittered here and there, dabbled on Facebook… and then the cold weather came, even here in Florida. I do not know about the rest of you, but I do not do well in cold. I have arthritis in my neck, and this year it was made much, much worse by the unrelenting and unusually cold weather, to the point of crippling me — it has been all I can do to go to work each day and sit at the computer all day, and I have had nothing left over when I go home. I have been spending most every evening and weekend flat on my back, and even simple pleasures like needlework and reading have caused me so much pain that I would have to take frequent breaks. Working on the computer in my off hours on my own personal projects has been impossible. Now, I tend to hibernate during winter months anyway, and go into hermit mode. The cold weather makes me feel very sluggish and sleepy and sometimes depressed, and I do not feel up to talking to anyone or doing anything except quiet, passive activities like reading and crafts, snuggled up with my kitties. This year, after everything else that happened, and dealing with crippling pain, that period was much worse and lasted much, much longer than it has in the past.

Now, at last, I am beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. This week has seen the return of some warmth and spring-like weather, and unlike previous weeks, it did not hit just for a day or two and then plunge back into the 30s at night. I have been in much less pain this week and therefore in a much better mood, and have been able to manage a few hours sitting up in the living room working on my counted cross stitch, rather than ensconced in my bedroom with pillows under my neck. I got a Care and Feeding of Spirits Newsletter out for the first time since November. I booked another speaking engagement for our local Wiccan Meet Up at the end of May (I am speaking about modern day vampires again). And at the vampire meet up last Friday I asked everyone how they would feel about trying to make a book out of the recordings of our last two years worth of meetings. In other words, I am starting to feel up to being productive again, and the urge to write is creeping back into my veins like a caffeine IV. It is amazing what sunshine and a little warmth will do.

I have hopes that we have seen the last of Jack Frost for this season, at least here in Central Florida, and that my neck will therefore also continue to improve — though I worry what next winter will be like for me, as it has never been this bad before, and arthritis only gets progressively worse — there is no cure and there is no reversing the damage that is already done, we can only try to slow it down.

It is times like these when I really resonate with the story of Persephone, spending the winter months in the land of the dead and finally emerging to great celebration and happiness in spring to the land of the living. I hope I will be able to make up for my hiatus with extra productivity over the coming summer months and get some good material written here for you — I can definitely feel myself going into teaching and writing mode. Maybe it is just because it is spring, but I want to create something again, and that is always a healthy and joyous feeling!

Happy spring everyone.

BB,
Vivienne