Name: Anonymous 2015-09-03 10:21
This is the second edition, with additional material, of Coleman's book. I have seen only the first edition, which I reviewed as follows:
This is an extremely interesting and carefully designed treatment of some methods of working with spirits, meant for use by mature and sensible people with considerable previous experience in magic. I particularly value the author's insistence on the slow, gradual development of one's own skills. Someone who is impulsive and impatient by nature probably ought not to attempt the program of work that Coleman describes.
Just what these spirits may be, will always be controversial. Are they parts of the necromancer him(her)self, something like Jung's semi-autonomous complexes? Are they parts (archetypes) of something like Jung's collective unconsciousness? Are they the souls or spirits of other human beings, either living or dead? Are they other-than-human incorporeal beings, of one or several kinds? Are they denizens of the Other Places, who occasionally enter the confines of Our World? Do a few of them occasionally come from High Reality, beyond the parameters of time and space? Are they just apparitions, as will often appear in a psychomanteum constructed and used along Raymond Moody's lines? Are they, perhaps, something beyond any of these possibilities? -- Indeed, are some of them one thing, others another, yet others a third thing, and so on? I see no way to answer these questions with absolute certainty.
Whatever the spirits may be that one encounters by Coleman's methods, they seem to be very skillful in adapting to (or exploiting) the expectations of those who encounter them, presenting themselves just as the necromancer hopes (or fears). Some of them clearly want to be summoned, for their own unknown purposes (which will not be the same as the necromancer's purposes), and will make themselves extremely appealing to achieve their aims.
This means that deep self-knowledge, grave dispassion, and a good measure of caution are needed for this work.
This is an extremely interesting and carefully designed treatment of some methods of working with spirits, meant for use by mature and sensible people with considerable previous experience in magic. I particularly value the author's insistence on the slow, gradual development of one's own skills. Someone who is impulsive and impatient by nature probably ought not to attempt the program of work that Coleman describes.
Just what these spirits may be, will always be controversial. Are they parts of the necromancer him(her)self, something like Jung's semi-autonomous complexes? Are they parts (archetypes) of something like Jung's collective unconsciousness? Are they the souls or spirits of other human beings, either living or dead? Are they other-than-human incorporeal beings, of one or several kinds? Are they denizens of the Other Places, who occasionally enter the confines of Our World? Do a few of them occasionally come from High Reality, beyond the parameters of time and space? Are they just apparitions, as will often appear in a psychomanteum constructed and used along Raymond Moody's lines? Are they, perhaps, something beyond any of these possibilities? -- Indeed, are some of them one thing, others another, yet others a third thing, and so on? I see no way to answer these questions with absolute certainty.
Whatever the spirits may be that one encounters by Coleman's methods, they seem to be very skillful in adapting to (or exploiting) the expectations of those who encounter them, presenting themselves just as the necromancer hopes (or fears). Some of them clearly want to be summoned, for their own unknown purposes (which will not be the same as the necromancer's purposes), and will make themselves extremely appealing to achieve their aims.
This means that deep self-knowledge, grave dispassion, and a good measure of caution are needed for this work.