Angels & Archangels: The Western Path to Enlightenment

Echols (High Magick), a Rinzai Zen Buddhist priest, provides foundational practices and meditations for building one’s magical skills in this affable work. Echols explains how aspiring “magicians” can call upon archangels and angels to achieve and maintain “spiritual sustenance.” The author was on death row for 18 years before being exonerated and notes that “working with angelic energies in my time of need had returned my passions to me, and repaired something fundamental.” With nimble instruction, Echols covers basic practices, theories, and advanced rituals that include breath work, the “Simple Blessing Ritual,” talismans, instructions for air-drawing the pentagram, meditations, and energetic vibrations, among other rites and rituals. He also explores the influences of the Zodiac, the “Tree of Life” symbol of immortality, and Tarot on magical traditions, and champions the power of “The Holy Guardian Angel.” Readers unfamiliar with Western alternative magical practices might feel overwhelmed by the many complicated rituals and dense explanations of the history of angels within Western traditions. Echols’s vast knowledge of magic and Western spiritual history makes this perfect reading for experienced spiritualists interested in esoteric traditions. (July)