Customer Reviews

Raising Hell

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Raising Hell: A Concise History of the Black Arts and Those Who Dared Practice Them by Robert Masello is an concise but comprehensive overview of the history of occult arts throughout the centuries, filled with interesting stories and creative characters in search of power beyond their control. The book is divided into several distinct sections, each dealing with a specific aspect of the occult arts, giving the reader a wonderful glimpse into the powers which lie in the great beyond. Although it makes mention of numerous sources and reference material, by keeping the details to a bare minimum he only serves to wet one's whistle on the nature of his survey, making readers want to delve deeper into regions unknown. A great start for people interested in the occult but don't know where to start.

Not a bad book to begin with, but not something that is going to interest people above 'apprentice' level. The extensive bibliography has some good suggetions. Decent. I recommend it as a starting place for only for serious students. The only people I wouldn't recommend it to are those who confuse witchcraft (not a religion) for Wicca (a religion) (we don't want to offend those who want to white wash 'magic' and the occult).

I recommend anything by R. Cavendish as a better read.

Although this book has a lot of documented information about magicians and Satanists, it continues the widespread belief in the United States that Satanism and Witchcraft are the same religion. Over and over again, Masello interchanges the terms of devil worship and witchcraft. In so doing, he encourages the same beliefs that caused the burning times earlier in our history. As a witch, I was extremely offended by the author's comparing me to people who call down demons to do evil. Witches do not believe in a devil or demons, neither do they cast spells or make potions in order to do evil to another. Witchcraft teaches followers to bless others and to do good. Please do not read this book thinking you are getting honest information about witches and witchcraft. The information maybe true, but it is true only of people who worship the devil.

This book is a great resource for anyone who is just starting his or her study of the history of black magick. It gives an overview of some of the darker practices and the bigger personalities involved. I give it three stars because only half the book is really about black magick. The rest is about occult practices that I don't believe fall under the heading, such as alchemy, divination and dream interpretation. It would have been nice if Masello had used that space to go into more detail about what the magicians actually did, but it is still an interesting historical study of the occult.

234 pages full of history, dealing with necromancy, sorcery, astrology, alchemy and prophecy. The book also deals with great occult pioneers like the chain-smoking Helena Blavatsky, the far-seeing Nostradamus and the famous Comte De St-Germain. It explains the origins of magic, black and white, diving deep into its myths, background and evolution.

This book explains in detail about the history about the Black Arts and those who practiced them. It has explained everything to me in aclear, concise manner. I now have abetter understanding of the black arts. This book is hard for me to put down and is very interesting toread. I truly recommend this book to anyone who is curious about the black arts.

For all of those who are novices or beginners in the quest for forbidden subjects, such as necromancy and spell casting, this book provides a great introduction. It's filled with different subjects and settings, so there never really is a point at which is becomes boring or repetitive. A must for all those interested in demonology!

Masello deals thoroughfully and in a very entertaining way with the History of the Black Arts through the five chapters of the book. It is focused on the Western tradition mainly and it is a bit brief.

- Chapter 1 tells us about black magic and sorcery, including nice examples of spells and anecdotes.
- Chapter 2 speaks about Necromancy, the art of raising the dead.
- Chapter 3 is devoted to Mystical Orders: Cabbala, Rosy Cross, the Masons and other.
- Chapter 4 includes the History of Alchemy and its adepts, such as Paracelsus and Seton.
- Chapter 5 collects the historical facts about foreseeing the future and divination methods.

The book also includes a glossary and a complete Bibliography, as well as some illustrations. The information is complete and enjoyable, though I would have liked it had more data about female witchcraft.

The subtitle of this book, "A Concise History of the Black Arts", is adequately chosen indeed, since about seventy percent of Masello's book is taken, in some instances almost verbatim, from the book "The Black Arts" by Richard Cavendish. Quotes, anecdotes, even examples given or questions asked in "The Black Arts" return with a savour faire in "Raising Hell", severely hampering the reading enjoyment and learning, and having very little new to add.
Now, this is not a good book. Masello either treats subject matter that has been treated better and more thoroughly in "The Black Arts" (and this book antedates "Raising Hell" almost 30 years!). The remaining writing seems info that has been snatched from encyclopedias, book blurbs, or other pop occult books, and is very shallow. For instance, Masello very superficially explores 'secret societies' such as Freemasons, Templars, Rosicrucians, etc., devoting about a page and half to each of them, giving some quick info about how/when they emerged, what they supposedly did, and who had a bone to pick with them. There's no analysis, there is no further investigation (resulting in some errors here and there), no association with other events or orders. Five minutes and a web browser will give you more detailed and interesting knowledge.
Since this is clearly a pop book it also has some rather toe-crooking 'humor' and jokes that doesn't befit the subject. In fact, my personal opinion is that approaches such as these to occult philosophy, hermetism, alchemy, and mysticism are for a large portion to blame for the well-nigh absense of academic or serious interest in the shadowy side of our history of thought and experience. From our (though decaying) typically western rational ideologies and philosophy we do not look kindly upon "irrational" practices such as The Black Arts, and hapfully bestow them on deluded mortals, heretics, madmen, deceivers, or circus artists, oblivious to the intertwining of occult philosophy and thought with our history, from pre-Biblical times to the Enlightenment and beyond.
Apart from some nice reproductions of illuminated art, this book has very little to offer to anyone that has either a strong interest, scholarly attention, or just someone that wants a quick read on 'Black Arts'. Cavendish's broad-sweeping study "The Black Arts" still is an authoritative and daring introduction into something as confusing and intruiging as occult philosophy. Go for that one instead, and leave this one behind.

Well researched and written -- with charm, wit, and just the right degree of irreverence, I have only a couple of negatives to note. First, Robert Masello doesn't sufficiently discuss key aspects of what he calls "Black Magic and Sorcery" -- e.g., the Black Mass. Conversely, Mr. Masello devotes far too much space (at least 20% of the book) to what he entitles "Fate and the Future," which deals with palmistry and other such practices that have little or nothing to do with "hell raising." Still, I enjoyed this book and do indeed recommend it.