In the Pagan community there are many jokes made about New Age (eg. rhymes with ‘sewage’) practitioners and their focus on the ‘white light.’ For Christopher Penczak to take on an exploration of ascension and light workers is courageous, and perhaps crazy. I absolutely admit, I had a very hard even picking up this book to start reviewing it. My experience with those who work with angels, as Angels – Uriel, Michael, etc – has been negative. Reading a whole book about the practice, even by such a great author as Penczak, was hard to contemplate.
The first section of this book deals with the roots and underpinnings of ascension and the movements associated with it. Even for me, someone who is more than passably familiar with the roots of modern magick, this section was a revelation.
At this point, he gets serious. Section two discusses the principles of ascension, its anatomy (that is, the mapping of various aspects of our Selves, like the Four Bodies: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water; or the soul, Oversoul and Monad), various structures of reality (the Tree of Life, the seven planes, the thirteen dimensions, etc.) and spiritual hierarchies. The third section deals with “Allies on the Ascension Path”: ascended masters, angels, the fey, and ‘starry ones’ – extraterrestrials (which Penczak calls ultraterrestrials).
By now we are about half way through Ascension Magick and this is when you realize you are in the midst of a 500-page ‘introductory’ manual. From here on out the reader is shown various ways of using the magick of ascension – rituals, healing, channeling and spellcraft.
Throughout Ascension Magick, Penczak discusses a huge variety of topics, including sacred calendars, secret histories, Theosophy, Left hand Initiations, individual progress and planetary, galactic and cosmic ascension. The words may inspire you, but they never become a manual of the One True Way.
Is this an essential book for the average Pagan? I’m sad to say, no. It is, however, a priceless resource for those who are interested in a path involving Ascension Magick, and for those who wish to expand their personal knowledge beyond the ‘usual’ in all areas of magick.
~review by Lisa Mc Sherry
Author: Christopher Penczak
Llewellyn Publications, 2007
