Edward C. Peach (aka Ophiel) was an occultist who wrote books during the 60s and 70s. This particular book, "The Art & Practice of Astral Projection", was written in 1960 and first published in 1961. Ophiel published it himself under the moniker "Peach Publishing". The copy I have was published by Weiser in 1998.
I bought this book as part of a lot on Ebay and really wasn't sure what to expect. I had not read or even heard of Ophiel but the books in the lot sounded interesting and weren't expensive so I gave them a shot. I will read the other two books at some point as well.
When reading this book, you have to remember that it was written during a time when there wasn't very much information readily available regarding the occult. Ophiel had been researching these topics during a time in which a lot of this information was still kept secret by magickal groups.
That being said, the information holds up pretty well. There are definitely some mistakes here and there but overall it's a good introduction. The book outlines four different methods of astral projection as follows:
Little System
Dream Method
Body of Light Method
Symbol Method
All but the first system are Ophiel's interpretation of methods found in other reference material. The Little System is a method discovered by Ophiel and documented here.
This book also gives instructions on the Qabalistic Cross along with the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram. He does not call the rituals by these names however. He does give pretty good instructions on these rituals (with a few minor errors) but you should definitely study them in the Golden Dawn books if you're serious about performing them on a regular basis. These are very important basic rituals that should be read, studied and performed by any aspiring occultists.
Overall I think this was a great introduction not only to astral projection but also to the occult in general. I have my own favorite beginning books but this would be a good starting point for some people. You will need to look past the fact that this book was not copyedited however. At times it was a bit off-putting to read streams of consciousness, sentences in all caps and continuously being told to write Ophiel for more advanced information. However, like I said earlier, this is a fine introduction.
No comments:
Post a Comment