The Paradigmal Pirate: Liber Lll And Liber Ventum

By Joshua Wetzel

A grimoire of practical magical training with ritual work and exercises. It includes techniques for working magic through lucid dreaming; details the use of altered states of consciousness in magic;... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1905713002
• ISBN13: 9781905713004
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Immanion Press/Megalithica Books
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.5" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Chaos Magick, Well-Ordered

I thoroughly enjoyed Wetzel's approach to learning practical magick. Though maybe not meant for novices, students of any level of magick can learn from his approaches and suggested tools. Wetzel clearly demonstrates not just knowledge of magick, but a deep intuitive connection to it as he encourages readers to use their magickal practice to challenge themselves and grow.

Great primer for Chaos Magick Theory

I own one of the first edition self-published copies of the Paradigmal Pirate and find it to be one of the best books written on Chaos Magick Theory - period. For newbies to magic, I used to recommend wholeheartedly Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter Carroll and Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine, and I still do, but The Paradigmal Pirate trumps them both in terms of accessibility and insightful anecdotes. If I had to choose one book to introduce Chaos Magick Theory, or magic in general, this is it! Not to say that this book is strictly for novices - far from it. Even those who have been on the path for a goodly while will enjoy this book.

New publisher, same awesome book!

I first read this a couple of years ago when I bought one of the author's 500 self-published copies. Now that it's being published by Immanion Press, I decided to take another romp through what has always been one of my favorite books on Chaos magic. THe new edition hasn't changed substantially from the previous--it was excellent writing to begin with, and most of the corrections seem to have been of minor typographical errors. Content-wise, nothing has been taken away. Readers will notice fairly frequent allusions to the Illuminates of Thanateros, a Chaos magic order to which Wetzel belongs. While the book can certainly be a training manual for those going through their IOT novitiate, "The Paradigmal Pirate" is certainly usable by anyone. The first section goes through five types of magic as originally delineated by Peter J. Carroll. However, rather than parroting Carroll's works, Wetzel has built upon the foundation previously laid to add another level to the develpoment of Chaos magic. In addition, I find his interpretations more concise and organized than Carroll;s work, and so I tend to recommend it to anyone just getting into Chaos magic as an introduxtory text. Not that the ideas aren't advanced of course; quite the contrary. However, Wetzel's style is less technical without being watered down, and he clearly explains the rudiments of Chaos magic as well as ways to expand it. The second section is where he not only shows off some of his own successes with magic, but also explains the joys of paradigmal piracy. It's an absolute gem simply because it's a practical guide to how to learn waht you need from a given paradigm. I think what I lik the most about this book is Wetzel's assertion that good magicians always build on the works of previous ones and strive to exceed them. "The Paradigmal Pirate" has inspired me for nearly two years now; it's a big reason as to why my own writings have delved into experimentation with different paradigms and pushing them past their previous limits. I highly recommend this to anyone who's curious about Chaos magic, as well as Chaos magicians who might be in a bit of a rut. In addition, it's just a really good point of view to look at on the subject.