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As beginner material goes, this book is top-notch. In fact, this book is what gave me my start into Occultism. As I said, if you're a beginner this book is for you. If you're more advanced, it makes an interesting (and useful) read, but certainly will not give you much to work with that you didn't have already.

The review below makes some rather unfortunate statements, the most striking being the idea of this book having an Anti-Semetic tone. That the Kabbalah has its origin in Greek Culture is hardly a new or controversial standpoint to anyone other than an Occultist, and to take this to be Anti-Semetic is just foolish.This book stands as one of the few books written to the Occult audience with a strong historical background and top-notched scholarship. It is an excellent companion to the Greek Magical Papyrus in that it removes much of the coding and allows for a more Post-Modern outlook.Brooklyn

Regarded as a pioneer within the field of Runic Studies and semiotic analyses of the Northern Mysteries (Northern European and German proxemic regions), Stephen Edred Flowers has delivered a powerful holistic view of magical practices in the Eastern Mediterranean region. His research is based on over twenty years of academic study, including a PhD from the University of Austin, Texas. Flowers has singularly defined the cultural trajectory of Runic studies through a vast output of books, pamphlets, and research papers, as well as developing several institutions for praxis and cultural/memetic propagation.The book is far more authoritative than many 'New Age' volumes by jettisoning the usual simplistic studies of runes by other authors, and being extensively cross-referenced to other literature.By referring extensively to source texts and adopting a creative postmodern worldview (which is compared to Traditional and Modernist approaches), Flowers is able to outline the complex Hermetic theories, cosmologies, and symbolic systems (notably the Greek alphabet and Egyptian hieroglyphics).The value of this work for the contemporary magician, memetic engineer, and Spiral Wizard, is that Flowers has re-constructed psychological and cultural DNA, devising conceptual tools and rituals that can be used for Self-change within everyday life.

While Dr. Flowers has contributed a great deal to runic studies, he seems to be limited to his expertise. _Hermetic Magic_ gives a naive view of the greco-roman mystic system, which is best left untouched by him. The book is little more than a guide to setian dogma and antisemitism (e.g. creating a theoretical "greek cabalah" in order to incorporate the cabalah into the western world.) Overall, the book is better than most new age works, but is still far from being a classic.

Instead of writing a book on magic based on the unreliable imaginations and research of other authors, Flowers goes directly to the source texts and gives a strong foundation to build upon. My only complaint are the illustrations because they look very amaturish (yes, I'm an art major!)