Review of Ophiel’s Art and Practice of Astral Projection [View all]

I’m willing to bet many of you have not read any of Ophiel’s little books. I would not have taken any special notice were it not for the enthusiasm shown by Fr. Thabion (Poke Runyon) in this Hermetic Hour podcast (Go on, listen to it. The bit of business with the call-in by Dr. X is worth the price of admission, over and above the usual ration of wit and wisdom).

Ophiel (equals the magical pseudonym of Edward Peach; it refers to the ruling intelligence of Mercury. Nice choice: he says that one of his other books goes into how to find a proper magical name) lived in Southern California, and died in 1988 at the age of 84. According to the book, he studied matters occult for over 30 years on his own, having once been surprisingly turned down for admission into an unnamed magical order (probably because he was already no beginner when he contacted them). His delivery is straightforward and folksy. The books were originally self-published before Weiser picked them up, and they were never copy-edited; so they read like long letters from a wise but not pedantic old friend. Ophiel is completely frank about where he stands on his journey, what he knows and what he doesn’t. He is also brutally frank when assessing the worth of other occult authors, so if you find horn marks on one of your sacred kine while reading this, I warned you!
http://freemanpresson.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/review-of-ophiels-art-and-practice-of-astral-projection/