Portable Magic

I 'had' to add something to my amazon order for free postage so picked this one. Will report back when I read it. Good thing I got a pocket RWS laying around. Or should I be so daring to use my gummy-bears with it?
Its the right size!

One thing that irks me a little with this book is his premise that the human brain works like a computer, that is - we can only hold one thought at once. There are a few other minor things too that I simply don't agree with, but as a basis for a magical system it works ok. It is quite an easy read.

Is this book at all similar to Janina Renee's Tarot Spells?

I have Janina's book and am wondering how much this one differs.

I really need to circle back to this book! I got sidetracked a while ago, and I was only two chapters from the end. I had also initiated a Study Group for it that's sadly lain dormant for quite some time now.

jema, I get what you mean about the idea that we can't focus on more than one thing at a time...but then again, I have to admit that the toughest thing for me in the entire experience of working with the book has been trying to simultaneously look at the physical cards laid out before me while conjuring the "astral plane imagery" Tyson describes. I know that if I close my eyes to shut out the physical world, I find visualization to be vastly easier, but that's not the method we're supposed to be using, so...I guess it's a skill I need to keep working at so I can strengthen it.

I do think it's a very cool book, and I found it to be very helpful in certain areas that might seem almost incidental (if still related) to the Tarot and magic pillars of its focus -- things like astrological attributions and Tarot history get summarized in very clear and understandable ways, I thought. I really like the book, and like I said, I need to get back to it, finish it, and maybe even take a second pass through to solidify my grasp on what it's teaching.

Ambrosia, I have no experience with the Renee book you mention, so I can't offer comparative thoughts on the two, sorry. Maybe someone else here can help...

I have both books. Tarot Spells is far less complicated to understand than Portable Magic is.

I had Portable Magic first. Not that that is important, but I think if I'd had Tarot Spells first I probably never would have purchased Portable Magic. They're two entirely different approaches in my opinion.

frac_ture said:

I really need to circle back to this book! I got sidetracked a while ago, and I was only two chapters from the end. I had also initiated a Study Group for it that's sadly lain dormant for quite some time now.

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Hey Frac_ture, I've not practised any magic to speak of since we started that study thread, so sorry I haven't contributed either. I would like to get back to it as well.

I have both Tarot Spells and Portable Magic and they are two completely different approaches. Portable Magic is like ceremonial magic using the cards, very formal. Whereas Tarot Spells is more free form, intuitive and informal. One isn't better than the other, they're too different to really compare, I believe. I like having both books in my collection.

Tarot spells is more witchy magic (earth based) - setting up cards on the altar, lighting candles and read a spell, "Portable magic" is ceremonial magic, so quite different schools altogether. I would say you need to at least have an interest in learning Kabbalah for this book, even though the book goes through the minimal basics of it. While this makes it a bit more hard work, that is also why I prefer it over 'Tarot spells' cause it fits in with my system of practices. I did have the Tarot spells book some years back though but has since sold it so I might remember it all wrong, correct me if this is so.

*** edited to add - lol yeah what carla said!
I type too slow...

Carla said:

Hey Frac_ture, I've not practised any magic to speak of since we started that study thread, so sorry I haven't contributed either. I would like to get back to it as well.

I have both Tarot Spells and Portable Magic and they are two completely different approaches. Portable Magic is like ceremonial magic using the cards, very formal. Whereas Tarot Spells is more free form, intuitive and informal. One isn't better than the other, they're too different to really compare, I believe. I like having both books in my collection.

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Oh, no worries, Carla! Any guilt-tripping and recrimination-type energy in my post were entirely self-directed! I definitely took up some of the moderators' time and attention in asking all manner of questions about how to set up a study group, and I even had ideas for posts to follow the initial one I put up...and then I totally fell down on the job. I think it was a trip out of town without the book and the mini-RWS that really knocked me off the beam, and I have yet to climb back on. I was enjoying the book, too, even if I don't think I'd yet gotten too much in the way of clear and positive results. I'll definitely try to circle back around to it -- glad this thread got a bump to help spur me into action again!

I need to look for this "Tarot Spells" book -- I once found a book in my local occult bookshop before it closed its doors that may have been the one some of you are talking about here. The book I leafed through (but didn't buy) as I recall was more like something akin to a book of "recipes," for lack of a better word. It was like a collection of spells, but not really offering a set "method" or framework the way Tyson offers his up in Portable Magic. I tend to like structure a lot, so I opted for the Tyson book first. Maybe I'd also like the other one (if it even was the same as the one referenced in this thread)...

Ah thanks guys. Sounds like I won't bother with the portable magic one. I'm more into informal natural magic. Ceremonial stuff is a bit too much for me.

I've purchased this book as well as the Tarot of Ceremonical Magick to use with it. Have not yet gotten into it, though.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/ceremonial-magick/