Pop Culture Magick [Paperback]

I'll admit that when I first heard of this book, I was really skeptical. When it was published, I didn't know Taylor, and I remember the calls that he was a sellout, a poser and an idiot. That a book based on popular culture and especially the "Buffy Summoning" was just a stupid, fluffy concept. I refrained from commenting because I hadn't read the book, but to me it sounded interesting since at its core, Chaos magick uses the same concept.

Now I've read this book and I think it deserves an honored place next to "Oven Ready Chaos". For those of you who aren't familiar with that book, it is considered to be a seminal work of Chaos Magick.

I will state this from the outset, this is not a book for a novice magickian. It is a book that it dense with information and it makes HUGE assumptions as to the reader's experience level and knowledge. This is a text that pretty much requires that the reader be very familiar with their own magickal system and that they have multiple years of experience casting spells and manifesting their desires.

Taylor takes the reader from that starting point and begins showing them how their magickal works can be even better by using pop icons in their workings. The primary concept in this book is that if magick is affected by the amount of people believing in it, then it can be made even MORE effective by using symbols and icons that masses of people ALREADY believe in, like Pop Culture icons. Using a figure like Wolverine from the X-Men for the cynical Ronin figure in a working for warriors would be even more effective since Wolverine himself has such a fan following and their belief has already charged the idea of Wolverine that you will be using. Heck, to listen to many scholars this is exactly how the Gods were created, a pop culture icon given enough power and belief so that it goes really good.

He explores this concept as well as the benefits and pitfalls of working with this kind of energy. He also shares some personal works and examples throughout. Just about every mass media method of communication is listed, with a few exceptions. While television, music and movies are all put together in one chapter, it is still noted that it is possible to work with those entities coming from that media outlet. I think I also just realized why he gives those such a brief treatment; the fact that icons coming from those outlets pass by in a flash and by the time one really learns the icon well enough to work with it, the attention of the culture as a whole has moved on to other things.

There are some things I had a problem with, and it is not the material itself.

His delivery is pretty dry throughout. This is partly because of his background in academia, which tends not to like descriptive and imagination stirring phrases. The tone, while sounding arrogant, actually isn't. It is the tone one generally has when they are very experienced in an aspect of life and is trying to transmit that professional competence to an audience.

The anime part of the book, where he is taking specific anime series and using them to illustrate his point, uses series that are popular, but may not be known to the reader. One example of this is he goes into great detail comparing the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion to the Kaballah (which honestly I believe it is based on in the first place). Throughout that section he makes a basic assumption that the reader is as familiar with the series as he is, so he doesn't explain things to those who may not know what happens in the series. Readers would have to watch the entire series and the movie just to make sense of that section of the book. He does this again and again in the video game section as well, and you can see hints of it in other areas. So while the concepts are solid magickal work, these sections I feel could lose the reader.

I'm going to give this book 4 stars out of 5 ultimately. The somewhat limited appeal, the assumption of knowledge in the latter chapters and the tone conspired to reduce the score from the 4 1/2 I wanted to give it. But still, this is a HUGELY needed work, and anyone who is involved in the Esoteric, Magick, Discordianism, Pop Culture, Chaos workings or even standard Ceremonial magickians or Witches would be well advised to read this book, if for no other reason than to understand this important core concept.

I know I'll be recommending it to many many others. Taylor, my hat is off to you my friend. Well done.

The first thing you notice in reading it is the book is remarkably tame and sane. The author, who can calmly discuss how pop culture characters are in a way like new gods or comic book layouts can give you magickal ideas, does so in simple, sane, and academic style. It has the feel of a straightforward, unpretentious lecture more than anything else.

The book has three major concepts in it:
1) The idea that belief empowers popular culture figures and this belief provides power.
2) A modern occultist can find inspiration in popular culture.
3) Occultism is usless if you just talk theory.

The book goes through various kinds of popular culture, looking at specific and general ideas the author has derived from them, exploring the practices the author has done himself, and giving exercises and suggestions for people who are curious. To the author, whatever resonates with someone has occult potential.

What is presented is therefore a mixture of actual application by the author, suggestions for the reader, and an exploration of useful ideas and concepts. This is a hands-on book that sets up basic theory, then jumps right into activity. The author, in short, encourages you to get out there and get to work.

Between the occult advise, there are also some fascinating insights on Pop Culture, media, and more. There's no small amount of psychology and sociology in the book, and some interesting concepts about Pop Culture are introduced.

Its hard to rate this book as there's nothing I've quite seen like it. So I give it a 5 for the mixture of sanity and truly thinking outside of the box.

Taylor Ellwood's Pop Culture Magick can best be seen as a transitional book taking one from the world of fantasy to the real magick that exists behind every doorway and in every shadow of our world. Popular culture may not be popular among many of today's occultists (with the exception of some of the Chaotes), but if Carl Jung was right, and humankind does play out its rite of passage in dreams - or even if Kenneth Grant is right, and literary workmanship is the result of transdimensional communication - popular culture can then be said to have evolved from the archetypal images implanted into our thoughts. It is our ultimate play of inspiration like Shakespeare's portrayal of the Faerie Folk in Neil Gaiman's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Most of those that get into the occult do so from various other mediums, whether it is comic books, role-playing games, or paranormal television shows. Most also struggle when first entering the occult scene because of the voluminous amounts of texts and practices required to make any real progress. Many give up on the occult not long after due to frustration.

Ellwood's book presents the occult framed by the modern images of popular culture, including those aforementioned comic books and role-playing games. If ever there was a book that eased the transition from fantasy to reality, this would be it.

This isn't to say that Pop Culture Magick is a beginner's book. Though Taylor Ellwood tries to keep the mumbo-jumbo down, and makes each and every exercise as simplistic as possible, there are a few assumption made that will force the novice to look elsewhere for additional material. This book, however, was never meant to be the end all. It was specifically meant to show individuals how to incorporate pop culture into there own current occult work, and Ellwood opens up many pathways for the user to accomplish this feat.

The most intriguing chapter of Pop Culture Magick has Ellwood dissecting anime cartoons with a hair-splitting scapel. He manages to inform the reader of all the occult and spiritual dogmatism present in anime, and goes at great length to examine the similarities between Neon Genesis Evangelion and the Kabbalah. Quite fascinating indeed.

Pop Culture Magick is a book of ideas. No, scratch that... a book of new ideas; and a refreshing change from the regurgitated techniques and information spilling out of many current publications.

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