Magic Squares And The Tree Of Life: Western Mandalas Of Power Options

Anyone ever read this book? I thought I'd buy it but wanted to see what others thought first? The 2 reviews on Amazon don't seem to say much on it so I figured I'd go to the experts. Bym, any thought?

Greetings!
I normally don't 'pan' books that I haven't read...*sigh* BUT...
I do own a book by the same author, Nineveh Shadrach. The book I own is "Magic That Works" by Shadrach and Frances Harrison. They publish their work through Ishtar Publishing (ie Ishtarpublishing.com) I am unimpressed. This book blends (poorly, I might add) Hebrew (qabbalah/Tree of Life) with Arabic (Djinn magic) and Sumerian~Chaldean (divine/planetary names) using a patched together numerology (that doesn't add up) and gematria (and I use this term loosely). Each chapter references various Arabic treatises that are either ancient or unobtainable in this hemisphere. The bibliography never changes and it pulls most of its references from an Arabic work that there is only one copy of and cannot be accessed for corroboration. Neat. It's like those authors that reference their own works in their bibliographies....siting them as objective source material. Crapola! In my book the numerology doesn't work, the sigils referenced either haven't been quality checked for mislabeling or outright errors and/or are spuriously based on unreferencedable material. Granted, I'm far from being an authority on these subjects...but if I notice these things this work would never pass a scholar in the field! I'd wish for ChaosCrowley to peruse this stuff. He'd either throw up or laugh himself to death! My book also goes into the attainment of the HGA...siting various patched together remakes of Golden Dawn and Wiccan ritual material. Stir in a liberal helping of 'Djinn' magic ritual and there you go, a new rehashing of old material done badly.

Taking that into consideration I'd take it that your book wouldn't fare much better. IMHO. I could be wrong. I've certainly been wrong before but I also have a good nose for crap. Looks like crap, smells like crap, feels like crap...(and you guys thought that I'd say tastes like crap...perverts! *grin*) yup! CRAP! Now I'm not sure about how they tell you how to employ the Magic Squares but in my book they said "just having the square in close proximity..." was sufficient. ??? Standing next to a car doesn't automatically give you a working knowledge of that car! True, the Arabic people were great mathematicians and astronomers but I have yet to find a comprehensive guide in the understanding and utilization of the magic squares other than using them cryptographically to form 'words of power'...and in that I could be dead wrong! I just don't know! (some help, huh?) If anyone out there understands the intricities of the squares actual usage then please tell me! Matter of fact, we'd all like to know! Don't tell me that it was just to draw geometric shapes (like sigils), I've done all that. *sigh* I was reared on numerology but have yet to have it produce anything of any real substance other than the blatant associations of numbers and the patterns it shows in nature, etc.

These books from Ishtar publishing are ones recently 'leaked' to the public by Mr. Shadrach. I seem to recall connections with another forum by CreepyHollows fame that seemed to have direct access to these books/sources. I could be wrong...my brain is soggy and hard to light. Isn't it amazing that with the advent of military occupation we are now being bombarded with Arabic Magic and Djinn rituals? They (the very ubiquitous 'they') say that most of all this ritual was handed down by word of mouth (orally) thereby explaining away any written testimony of its existance. That's probably mostly true to us Westerners but in the Arabic world there must exist other forms of writings/scrolls other than this one lonely scroll from the 1200's Alas...we may never know! OR...you could shell out the big bucks and start to collect this guys works. I'm not rich enough! There, I've soapboxed enough and will welcome anyone elses take or observations. I'd really like to know more but not this watered down amalgam of regurgitated pablum...it is an insult to true scholars! (I'm just an old man with gas, LOL!) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/5.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/horse.gif)

I am not familar with this title, but the content and name alone reminds me of another book:

"Western Mandalas of Transformation: Magical Squares - Tattwas - Qabalistic Talismans (Llewellyn's Golden Dawn Series)" by Soror A.L.

No djinn mentioned in it, purely qabalah and Golden Dawn material. Lot of background and table 777 type information. The main focus of the book is creating mandala type images from the squares for use in meditation. Glossy, colored ones already produced in the book which I have found pretty effective in use.

Not sure what exactly you are looking for but if Bym pans the other book and you still want one on the squares go with this one. I enjoyed it.