Only our beliefs block us from magic
931487
The 2nd chapted was a bit slow, however, I liked it better than most books of this genre.  What I liked best is that Artemis Fowl a non-magical character has found entrance on his own accord into the world of a very elite magic magical creators who do not welcome outsiders, expecially mortals.
The premis of this book for me was that we can all experience magic and only our beliefs systems are holding us back.
695650
This is an excellent book and taught me much about why America is where it is today.  One thing it also did was speak to the lack of real spiritualism in America today.

"What about self-denial, then? If you had a God, you'd have a reason for self-denial."

"But industrial civilization is only possible when there's no self-denial. Self-indulgence up to the very limits imposed by hygiene and economics. Otherwise the wheels stop turning."...

"But God's the reason for everything noble and fine and heroic. If you had a God ..."

"My dear young friend," said Mustapha Mond, "civilization has absolutely no need of nobility or heroism. These things are symptoms of political inefficiency. In a properly organized society like ours, nobody has any opportunities for being noble or heroic. Conditions have got to be thoroughly unstable before the occasion can arise. Where there are wars, where there are divided allegiances, where there are temptations to be resisted, objects of love to be fought for or defended-there, obviously, nobility and heroism have some sense. But there aren't any wars nowadays. The greatest care is taken to prevent you from loving any one too much. There's no such thing as a divided allegiance; you're so conditioned that you can't help doing what you ought to do. And what you ought to do is on the whole so pleasant, so many of the natural impulses are allowed free play, that there really aren't any temptations to resist. And if ever, by some unlucky chance, anything unpleasant should somehow happen, why, there's always soma to give you a holiday from the facts. And there's always soma to calm your anger, to reconcile you to your enemies, to make you patient and long-suffering. In the past you could only accomplish these things by making a great effort and after years of hard moral training. Now, you swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your mortality about in a bottle. Christianity without tears-that's what soma is."

You can replace 'soma' with 'television', 'bars', 'video games' or any other of the distractions that keep us from real contemplation and the concept that God might be real.

Huxley's only draw back is his underestimation of America to distract itself.  We don't just use one drug - we use thousands of different little drugs to sell our souls.  An excellent book that left me with a profound silence when I finished it.
1020916
Read and do or continue to deny the facts of life
2092647
This is a groundbreaking book, although it is limited by being restricted to the study of observable phenomena. This very limitation renders Radin's book viable and palatable to the legions of skeptics, and it is incredibly valuable that someone of Radin's prominence and scientific veracity has determined that magic as a force in Consciousness that manifest in a way that is sometimes perceivable through the physical senses exists. Hopefully he has opened the doors here to further research.
Karel James Bouse, Ph. D.
3654459
A great book to understand that God puts His dreams for us within us,  but they only can be a reality in His way...  not ours
3642347
I foresee that one of the reasons she named her book "The Magic" was to make the Christians go nuts assuming she is openly revealing she is a witch. I can easily imagine that Satanists, as well, would openly assume it was a book filled with witchcraft spells. However, it must be frustrating for them to find there is not a single thing, I have found, that is evil in this book. I haven't read the whole book yet, but so far I can envision Christians frantically searching the book looking for evil they can condemn and coming up empty-handed. Ha! That is a funny concept to me. They love to condemn others and so far I see nothing in this book any religion would find openly offensive.

Of course, they would all complain that this book does not tell people that they should surrender their lives and all decisions to some particular church. Organized religions are always looking for people they can scare into being their willing slaves. So far all I have found is good in this book with nothing whatsoever to condemn.

I will say that the more I advance in the Spirit the more I learn that real power from Intent comes to those who can silence their Internal dialogue, at will, while envisioning what they are intending as though it has already happened. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well proper envisioning, in states of inner-silence, is worth more than pages and pages worth of words. Those who cannot silence their internal dialogue, at will, are usually all talk.

It takes more than saying all the "right words" to become a master of manifesting with the power of Intent. I'm learning it takes a mind disciplined and determined as though his or her life is hanging in the balance and they either succeed in the manifestation or they die trying. Most seem to want things so very easy. I've found that the easy route can also be the longest route. If you don't mind taking forever to become a master of manifesting then don't bother to discipline your mind to be able to stop your internal dialogue at will. You can say 'nicey nice' words for the rest of your life and stay weak-minded. Good luck with that!
4641400
It is too easy to miss the underlying message that Trump cannot make our lives better by restoring the past. No time before was better than our lives today. Belief in society or in any form of a supernatural creator leads us away from understanding where and how we can progress further or at least understand the why and the meaning of our lives.  If we seek to believe, do so by gaining an understanding of our universe and the science that leads to that end.
3657216
People, and many Christians in particular, need to understand that Satanism has absolutely ZERO to do with the art of Witchcraft, or the Goddess faiths. At no time are we taught to follow Satan (in fact, we don't believe he exists, and there is anthropological evidence that the concept was created in the Dark Ages to help convert people), nor do we care if you follow him or Jesus, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. We don't do 'spells' to entrance or manipulate people, we don't pray to dark forces, and we don't sacrifice ANYTHING but ourselves and our energies to try to make our worlds better for everyone involved. We just want everyone to be happy, and to protect the earth, connect to Her and grow in our knowledge of our connection to the Universe. The fact that Quantum Physics is more and more 'proving' many pagan theories to be at least in the right direction should give us some credit as to the legitimacy of our faiths.

Honestly, rather than taking fear-based lies at face value from unread and ignorant people, try doing your own study before reading tripe like this. You only do yourself a disservice by reading this trash.
1250156
The author's views are compelling, but I don't see how he can be wholely correct.... I mean, why are we "stuck" in our own creation? If this is an illusion that just isn't working for us, then why the heck are we not collectively re-creating it? I agree with some other reviewers that this book can be a painful perception of life, especially when there are no answers at hand to fix this "reality". Depression, feeling distanced and isolated from others who don't "get it", a feeling of powerlessness to effect changes... not exactly constructive feelings. If infinite love is what the author is trying to promote, he hasn't done a very good job. I believe we can change the world to make love the prominant force, but we must feel united and powerful together, rather than lost in an illusion.
714268
This is a good book for those of us who like to think, and it's a book for the more advanced practitioners of magick. It makes you think about the different paths you might want to take, but at the end you mught choose none of them.
There is nothing more to be said about this book that other reviewers haven't said. Also I wouldn't recommend the book "A Charmed Life" by the same author.
937008
Excellent is a must to read and study. The Magic of Believing, the title tells the true story that there is magic in Believing. Belief Power works wonders. I would like it in large print hard cover.
4960122
I don't necessarily share the idea that life is an illusion because physical reality is a dimension that is specifically designed for the soul to experience individuation ... So to call it an illusion is too simplistic....Never the less an easy read and definitely empowering.
4179917
Irrational magical thinking. This seems to be written by a man who had a great, personal epiphany; a life-changing spiritual awakening, who has unfortunately decided to try and cobble that divine experience into a set of rules for everyone. His aesthetics are contradictory and a-priori assumptions that brook no room for exceptions and ignore entire swaths of art history and culture to fit his narrow ideas.
1530814
Ironically, as an ardent and lifelong searcher, practitioner, thinker and student of Eastern Philosophy, Western mystery schools, Comparative Religion and World mythology I arrived quite separately at the same conclusion as Dr. Dawkins, and other au current scientist/atheist/activists as Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett.

It is painfully obvious that humankind has reached its collective tipping point concerning the "god delusion" and other antiquated belief systems, and must now act vigorously to counter their oppressive hold over the human psyche. As Robert Oxton Bolt writes, "A belief is not merely an idea the mind possesses; it is an idea that possesses the mind."

I do feel it necessary to caution us not to throw the proverbial baby of imagination and myth out with the dingy bath water of ignorance, dogma and obduracy. My own personal experience informs me that myth remains one of the great paths to personal evolution and expanded awareness, or, as the great Bard has offered, "We are such stuff that dreams are made on".  However great our powers of ratiocination, it is, also our ability to dream, imagine and mythologize that makes us uniquely human. When we start factualizing, moralizing and legislating on those beliefs is where the trouble begins. Alan Watts put it succinctly in The Wisdom of Insecurity when he wrote "The great tragedy of Christianity is its obsession with what was true once as opposed to what is true always." (paraphrased)
3141367
When guided by prophecy not all seems clear. Having been give the chance is it the time? One never truly knows till standing in that moment. Only them must we decide. For light and darkness have a balance. This scale isn't ours to govern.
2100383
Whenever an author tries to redefine the world so as to be able to incorporate magic into the world, I become an interested reader.  How can a person visualize the non-rational into our world of rational matter?  (I am leaving out quantum mechanics.)  Some authors make new worlds where matter is not rational.  Others create secret societies with arcane knowledge or communication with non-matter beings who are not bound by the rules of physics.  (Gods, demons and the like.).  There are, of course, a great many variations.

Erin Morgenstern gives us a world located in pre-quantum mechanics times, bound by the social structure of Victorian manners, where magic is attained by just giving children demonstrations of matter manipulation which defies the laws of physics.  The kids pick up on it and learn it.  There is also a certain amount of mental magic which could really be interpreted as advanced hypnotism.  (If this were really the case, our world would be ruled by demi-gods.)  The demi-gods of The Night Circus try to remain human, (although why they do is not explained).  However, two of the demi-gods are in competition but it is merely over the style of magic instead of ruling the world.  It is a friendly competition.  Their surrogates learn magic however they can and compete as they are bound to do this by an enchantment.  The key factor here is emotions.  Erin separates magic from emotions.  Magic is a non-rational rationality to magicians but they remain human.  The elder demi-gods are almost immune to the entropic nature of matter so they do not age.  They lose their normal emotions much like older normal people.

So, how far off is all this from real reality?  Could this all really be true?  Can the reader believe this all can happen?

I did.  Sure made me want to finish the book.
3631797
I am a scientific-minded person, but even I found something rather magical and special about this book.  As the author commented in the book, magic is "the art and science of causing reality to confirm to the will".  I think we practice this in our everyday lives, whether it is for our own benefits, or for the benefits of others.  It really rings true to the words "what you see is what you believe, and what you believe is what you see".

I especially enjoyed the words of wisdom that can be found throughout the book, whether it is in the instructions, diagrams or advice given by the author.  Things like his comments about prosperity: "It is a blessing and a gift from the realm of spirit.  Should you use them and see an improvement in your financial affairs, don't forget the poor and needy of society".  Also, the views on love spells: "more energy into the process of receiving than giving", "projection of will and domination... so not real love".

There is a lot one can gain from this book.  If not for the science and art, then it is certainly written well enough to be enjoyable and enlightening.  I would highly recommended this book to anyone who wants to get just a glimpse of the world of magic, but are too afraid to dip their toes in the water.