Kabbalah, Magic & the Great Work of Self Transformation: A Complete Course Paperback – Illustrated, August 8, 2006

Review of: "Kabbalah, Magic & the Great Work of Self Transformation: A Complete Course Paperback," – August 8, 2006by Lyam Thomas Christopher (Author).This is an excellent guide. The publisher's overview of the text reads: " Advancing to higher levels of ritual magic with purpose and power requires an exaltation of consciousness-a spiritual transformation that can serve as an antitode <sic> to the seeming banality of modern life. Based on Kabbalistic techniques, the teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and an Hermetic tradition spanning nearly two thousand years, this innovative new work introduces the history of the Golden Dawn and its mythology, the Tree of Life, Deities, demons, rules for practicing magic, and components of effective ritual. A comprehensive course of self-initiation using Israel Regardie's seminal Golden Dawn as a key reference point, Kabbalah, Magic and the Great Work of Self-Transformation guides you through the levels of the Golden Dawn system of ritual magic. Each grade in this system corresponds with a sphere in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life and includes daily rituals, required reading, written assignments, projects, and additional exercises. Knowledgeable and true to tradition, author Lyam Thomas Christopher presents a well-grounded and modern step-by-step program toward spiritual attainment, providing a lucid gateway toward a more awakened state."Kabbalah is an ancient paradigm for living. It teaches that all of the branches of our lives - health, relationships, careers - emanate from the same trunk and the same root. It's the technology of how the universe works at the core level. It's a way of looking at the world that can connect you to the kind of permanent fulfillment you seek.Kabbalah teaches universal principles that apply to all peoples of all faiths and all religions, regardless of ethnicity or where you come from. The beauty of studying Kabbalah is that you can't be forced to think in a particular way. There can be no coercion in spirituality. All we can do is simply share information with you and hope that you will apply it to your life with the intention of bettering it.With that said this well laid out text provides a self-instructional course in the basic Kabbalistic System which serves to "initiate" the reader. The text is broken down into ten chapters with two appendices, endnotes, works cited, and index at 363 pages. The chapters are listed in descending order: One: The Only a Few Will Rise; Two: The First Steps; Three: The Secret Lineage; Four: Neophyte; Five: That Darkly Splendid World; Six: The Mind Born of Matter; Seven: The Liquid Intelligence; Eight: Fuel for the Fire; Nine: The Portal; Ten: The Work of the Adept.The basic structure of this guide/instructional is based upon the foundation of the Golden Dawn's elemental grade system. That would be the Israel Regardie GD System and not some of the other clandestine GD systems. What I admire and like about this text is that the explanations of the pathway materials is broken down for true Neophyte use. I wish I had this text decades ago. For those seeking the light, this is a good source of illumination. Five stars.

After spending several years going through a dark night of the soul, I finally found this amazing mentor. The book is incredibly well written. Amazing results will happen through patience, perseverance and the understanding that everything he tells you to do and specifically what not to do are all there for a reason. Luckily for all of us doing the Great Work, Lyam has started a YouTube channel under the name Lyam Thomas Christopher, and also has a blog on Medium (the app) under the title Forbidden Realms. I believe he is even doing consultations now. People have complained that this knowledge has been kept from the masses, but no longer! Lyam is a true adept and he is willing to help those who will do the work.

My copy of this books is dogeared and filled with notes and underlining and half a dozen bookmarks. Obviously you'll want to hear more than this, but I write this to demonstrate how important of a book this is to my life. I want to say it's the best of the Golden Dawn self initiation books, but perhaps it's best looked at as an alternate to the Ciceros' book. Maybe the greatest difference between it and the method used by the Ciceros is with Christopher you tend to study the original rituals rather than reenact them imaginatively.A caveat, I've been a self initiate since 2004 and therefore don't have any idea what this book will look like to someone only vaguely familiar with the Golden Dawn The Golden Dawn, at this point, is almost like a nascent Christianity with all kinds of "denominations" and factions popping up, so its incumbent upon the seeker to sort the wheat from the chaff. A powerful spiritual system should change the seeker in a holistic manner, so what I'm personally looking for are the writers who understand what the work of the Golden Dawn does to you on a psychological level. Christopher understands that when you start this system, you're probably going to go through some phases that will totally redefine what you thought suffering was like. Let me tell you, for some of us this is almost excruciatingly painful and it's even harder when you're constantly reminded (for good reason) to keep silent. But if you stick with the program it's likely to change your life in ways that are specific and profound to you. I had an experience after working with this book that was so stunning that it completely changed my life.Christopher structures the book by grade, the main curriculum is introduced in chapters that he equates to each grade of the Golden Dawn. The curriculum is possibly one of the most involved in the tradition and its method of dragging all sorts of (previously) inner order rituals into the outer is sure to be the matter of debate. But what I think Christopher does brilliantly here, a point I totally disagree with on at least two previous reviewers, is the commentary, the way he weaves texts, teachings and mythology as a narrative that ties in to the particular grade work. This is the type of thing self initiation books need because as essential as books by Regardie and Zalewski are, the perhaps hidden assumption is that most of the psychological angle comes from working with teachers in a temple or organization. If you're a self initiate, you may not have these resources and if there's any (major) glaring weakness in self initiation books its a clear warning that what you're about to undergo isn't the same thing as receiving a sermon in church, or debating over a passage in the New Testament or discussing spirituality with your friends.This book makes clear the work and I can't imagine anyone who applies themselves to this system won't find their life changing in a way beyond their wildest imagination. But it's incredibly hard and often very painful work, especially in that your progress correlates to your persistance. However one thing that becomes clear is once you get started, it gets a lot easier to sort the wheat from the chaff.