Book Discussion psychic witch matt auryn overhyped?

[Mage]

Is this book overhyped? Why are youtubers and occult book reviewers singing praise to this book. To me its just a bunch of exercises and a turn off to anyone just wanting quick results.

Why are they saying this is a good book for beginners? A beginner isn't doing all these exercises. A beginner wants to do a spell and get quick results.

 

[Soror Epihania]

It's become a modern classic and a go-to recommendation for people starting out in the craft. It's ubiquity and Matt Auryn's status as micro-celebrity in occulture may warrant calling it 'overhyped'. I think it's a solid piece of work that gives a plethora of exercises and lays out some basic magical philosophy to get newcomers oriented. I found it helpful early on. You could do much worse for books to guide you in the beginning phases of developing mental and imaginative faculties.

I don't know about 'quick results'. Psychic Witch keeps it pretty simple. The quantity of exercises and Auryn's encouragement that they be followed in sequence might seem overwhelming but there's nothing stopping the reader from ignoring him and skipping to the spellwork. The chapters on elemental and planetary energies give you everything you need to start using them for results-oriented workings. Even going in order he very quickly gets to a grounding and centering regimen that'll have an effect on the reader's mood and energy when engaged properly.

I think it's popular because it gives the reader a lot to engage with while not confining them to a certain viewpoint or system of practice the way a work like Initiation into Hermetics by Franz Bardon does, so it appeals to contemporary sensibilities. It's also marketed well, cool cover, promises of power and development of psychic abilities. It's written to appeal to a wide range of practitioners from New Agers, to Wiccans, to Trad-Crafters like me, to Thelemites etc. So there's a lot going for it in the wider marketplace of pop occulture.

 

[PolishPig]

I don't think every beginner wants what you think they want. I've encountered that type, absolutely, but lots of people spend all their time reading and never...practicing. Ive found offering lots of exercises offers more chances for a beginner to find one that interests them enough to give it a go.

Personally, I find the book to be average at best, but I wouldn't describe it as overhyped, considering the market audience. I enjoyed it for what it was. It was generally surface level knowledge, but was easy to read, well organized, and affordable. I found his explanations of more "lofty" topics like auric fields and multidimensional magick to be quite digestible and pragmatic compared to other literature I've encountered recently. Happy to have it in my collection, especially to lend out to friends and family.