Gateways Through Stone and Circle Paperback – Illustrated, 27 Jan. 2015

This book is nothing but fantastic. Frater Ashen has done proper research and he never makes it boring to read. If you are interested in the Seven Planetary Archangels and have not worked with them before, then this book is definitely a must have. Frater Ashen's approach is quite traditional in the sense that he tries to the best of his abilities to stay true to the old classic grimoires, but he does not claim that he is an authority or sits with all the answers himself. He encourages research and is clear about his sources. I find his approach to be very tidy.There is a lot of useful information here, but don't expect it to answer all your questions or do all the research for you. This book is primarily for giving you a method and a system to work with the seven planeterary archangels. And for that purpose it is excellent.

amazing book , inspirational

This book is a slim paperback of around 180 pages documenting a person's experiences using the text 'Drawing Spirits into Crystal,' which originally featured in 'The Magus' by Francis Barrett, but is available freely online as a stand-alone text on the esoteric archives website. The book gives instructions on how the author made the equipment from the original text in addition to his experiences of the Angels themselves.The reason I have not given this book five stars is multifaceted. To begin with in terms of content, there is a contradiction in an Angels name given in two sections of the book, which to me is a rather big oversight on behalf of the publisher and the author. The author also advocates using four demon kings on the Holy Table to summon Angels, which to me would make more sense to use the four Angelic rulers or elemental kings instead. In addition to this there are a number of spelling and grammatical errors throughout the book. His instructions for making the equipment are not too detailed, but give you a rough idea how to do it.The book itself is a very slim paperback and it is well over priced at £19.99, the manufacturers printing price is far cheaper than this (I checked), a more realistic retail price would be £9.99. This seems to be a trend with modern occult books being set at ridiculously high prices with content that shows no evidence of being proof read. The author unfortunately used a fictitious name 'Ashen Chassan,' although not quite as bad as Cornelius Rumsuckle, there is no biography to check his credentials. If an author wishes them-self and their work to be taken seriously they should be honest with the reader, use their real name and include a real work history / biography.In my opinion it would probably be better to actually read and follow the original text of 'Drawing Spirits into Crystals' rather than buying this book, since there is very little original material that can be found elsewhere online, for example 'Modern Angel Grimoire' a pdf by Rufus Opus. The book does gain two stars for the tattooist style artwork, which although at times is rather detailed it can be inconsistent i.e. a poor line drawing of angel.I would advise the reader to purchase a copy of 'The Magus' by Francis Barrett instead, which is much cheaper, contains the original text and includes a lot more information.

Unfortunately I have to agree with the previous review on this one. Without having read it but knowing of the authors insightful blog and dedicated practice I had considered the review to have been harsh but despite the above appraisal of the author and his work.... this book is simply a review on 'The Magus' and the technique given there. There's little substance to it other than personal information.I had been hoping to pick up a hardback copy of this but missed out, deciding to buy the paperback suddenly an email came through with the hardback listed for some £100 +. Purchased it and regret having done so, there are terrible spelling mistakes throughout, really bad, a whole paragraph is even reprinted. I've dropped a star because of this. Neph Press did bad on this one have not seen such a lack of proof reading in a limited edition book outside of Lulu.com. The book could easily be a blog article discussing the book The Magus, it neednt be a book itself.Hear the author, a great guy btw is bringing out another book soon. He is personable and deservingly popular because of it but unfortunately this does not add meat to the bone when it comes to scholarly work or guidance.Might be worth a purchase but no way the cost of the paperback, I'd honestly pay £5 for it as an article on the technique and even then I'd frown at some of the 'fluffy' advice given. Grimioiric working is no joke, scrying a dark mirror can be dangerous, angelic forces aren't a play thing and if you're not careful you can cause harm to yourself and others.Buy, 'The Magus'. There's more content and advise there and it cost less than this. Wish the author can do better in the future. Selling my hardback copy.

Frater Ashen Chassan has set the bar for preparing the tools and ritual for practising the Trithemius method of Drawing Spirits into Crystals. His attention to detail is inspiring and the steps and rationale for making the tools are easy to follow. I found myself learning a bunch of crafting skills in making the tools to spec, but in doing so it will give you the skills to craft almost any other magic tools, talismans etc going forwards. If you aren't handy or willing to learn to be, you can commission them from him directly via facebook. His descriptions of his rites and experiences will have you champing at the bit to finish your tools! Ultimately, the test is in the application. And for me and I understand many others, it works brilliantly. A must for your library, and one worth getting out of the armchair and actually doing the work. Because the best way to learn about the spirits is to engage with them directly. This system, elegantly presented by Frater Ashen Chassan, gives you the means to do exactly that.

A fantastic book. One of my favorite books of magic. Took a lot of inspiration for my personal practice from this, however, when money and logistics allow, I will absolutely follow the operation to the letter. This is real, old school, renaissance magic. End of discussion. It is a deeply Christian (though non-dogmatic) practice which calls for prayers and conjurations made in the name of God-as understood by Abrahamics. The ritual is quite different from the Golden Dawn system; no Banishing or Invoking Pentagrams, etc, and is unpolluted by today's popular Crowley-isms and pseudo-occult/New Thought fluff. Seriously though, it will be a massive challenge to the average practitioner without craftsman skills. It would behoove you to find a carpenter as well as a supplier of ebony if you want to do it "right." But I've found that, as Magic is an Art, it is therefore flexible and mutable. There is no ortho-praxis IMHO in magic per se… unless we're talking about the established rites of Orders, even then however, the rites can be adapted by the clever and knowledgable Mage. Still, there is a purity and as such a strength to following established instructions without deviation… when possible. The difficulties almost always pay off.

I confess because of a healthy envy I was expecting more extreme and even boring long details of the incredible magic tools that Fr. Ashen Chassan builds. This guy is really an artist and a skilled magician.But instead, he describes the work done in a very clear and methodical way, without in any way seem unattainable for others.This means: Fr. Ashen being a long time skilled magician, presented a fantastic source of information about the "Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystals" great work, without being a boring text, nor some obscure thing.I already follow some of his work for some time and this book has been a good surprise, especially for presenting information that is useful to any other practice of CM. For example, great suggestions for scrying and learn how to improve it. Or working with another person (a very interesting chapter).Each chapter stud following what appears to be a natural sequence of events to reach the execution of summoning rituals and its results.A reading really useful for my work and one more permanent reference source.I suggest his blog too, more material and always usefull good references: http://bryanashen.blogspot.com.br/(please sorry my bad english)

Fascinating read. He shared a lot here; goes into great detail on his construction of Trithemius of Spanheim's invocation tools and rituals. He also seemed to have some excellent advice earlier in the book for those looking into scrying and was quite upfront with the beginners on what kind of work they have cut out for them and how many hours over how many months they'll be staring at the black mirror or crystal trying to get results before (as I'm going to put it - not the author) the light of Yesod makes itself more tangibly known.I'm quite new to the study of Hermeticism but am often astounded by the kinds of information that have been coming out in recent decades from the people who are on the cutting edge and fearlessly exploring this stuff, trying to get it right, and trimming the medieval protective rhetoric off of the meat. This book is a classical example of that kind of scholarship - not just giving you theory but walking the results. Many thanks to Fr. Ashen on a fine contribution to modern Hermetic culture and understanding.

This book is a concise and very effective method of employing the DSIC process for communing with Archangels. I used this book in conjunction with Rufus Opus's Seven Spheres book and I got amazing results. What does that mean exactly? It means that I employed the methods listed in this book to establish a connection with the angels listed to assist me on my spiritual journey. This is not a easy process to follow and I doubt that most practitioners today would make the effort necessary to gather the materials, let alone the spiritual preparation, i.e. prayer, fasting, and abstinence from sex, necessary to gain any real results.