Companion to the Apprentice Wizard by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart

Part 2 of 2

Each of the sixteen chapters (or Departments) contains some of the basic background information you need to know as well as practical advice, exercises and experiments designed to further your knowledge and experience. However, and this is a big however, each of the sections is designed to be an expansion of material contained in Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard. Thus it is expected that you will either have read that book first, or that you will have it at hand to read concurrently.

Oberon says he wanted to call this book Practicum for the Apprentice Wizard, but was overruled by the publishers who felt that readers wouldn’t pick up such a book. They were probably right, although the original title has a better “flavor” in my personal opinion.

In the old days wizards were among the best educated members of any society. Especially in Western societies they were among the few literate members. Therefore, following in that tradition, the Gray School and its faculty stress the importance of a well-rounded education. As well as learning wizardry in general the students are also expected to have more than a passing knowledge of Beast Mastery (Animal Husbandry) and Mathemagicks (Mathematics). Do not think that this is all about the esoteric. Even the section on Alchemy has practical (as well as delicious) applications.

There are occasional religious rites in this book. After all, theurgy (“god-work”) is a part of wizardry. The rites are given in “Department XIV: Ceremonial Magick,” right where you would expect them to be. They include some purely Ceremonial Magick rites (The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram; the Qabalistic Cross; and the invocation of the Archangels) and some more Wiccan/Pagan rites (Drawing Down the Moon and a Full Moon Dedication ritual). Still, this forms only a small part of a wizard’s necessary training.

Oberon is well aware of the need for modern-day wizards to receive the best training possible, which is why he has assembled such a diverse staff for the Gray School and as contributors to these very valuable additions to the curriculum of wizard education. And this is why the curriculum covers as many diverse topics as it does – Wizardry, Nature Studies, Practice, Metapsychics, Healing, Wortcunning, Performance Magic, Alchemy, Lifeways, Beast Mastery, Cosmology and Metaphysics, Mathemagicks, Ceremonial Magick, Lore, and Sorcery. Some of these topics have long been neglected (except by specialists) and will definitely enrich the modern wizard’s education.

My only quibble with the set-up is putting it into seven “year levels.” And that is merely a personal disagreement, as I feel that it might make readers feel that it is no more real than Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. This is much too valuable an education to risk it being dismissed out-of-hand.

It looks at this point in time as if there will be at least six more books in this series. I fully intend to pick up copies of each as they become available and add them to my personal library (and if you knew how cheap I am, that statement alone speaks volumes).

By all means, if you are interested in wizardry, add this book to your library. More than that, read it and do the work you need to. You will certainly reap the benefits of it.