Lost in The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown’s books such as The Da Vinci Code and his latest, The Lost Symbol, have had sales and popularity for adults that rivals the success of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books for younger readers. All of the books by both of these popular authors have one thing in common: they’re not based on real magick.
Many of the ideas on Dan Brown’s books are wild assumptions or simply false. The important thing to understand is that this doesn’t matter. The goal of those fictional concepts is to allow the story to progress. As long as it moves the story, the objective reality doesn’t matter. Likewise, waving sticks and mumbling stilted Latin doesn’t qualify as magick. If it did, every kid with a lightning bolt drawn on their forehead would be flying on brooms, casting spells, and playing Quidditch!
Besides being fun and exciting to read, however, both Brown’s and Rowling’s books do something that make them important for magicians everywhere: they make people ask questions and let people work their imaginations. I think these are two important qualities all magicians—or people who want to be magicians—should develop.
Once people read those books (or see those movies), it’s likely that many will want more. Where are the secret occult groups? Is there real magick? My own novel, The Resurrection Murders, moves closer to real magick within an exciting fictional setting. But there’s something even better, even wilder, to share:
The truth is much better than fiction.
And as another TV show used to say, “The truth is out there.” Or more accurately, the truth can be found right here, with books published by Llewellyn.
Do you want to learn real magick? Try my Modern Magick or The Essential Golden Dawn by the Ciceros.
Are you interested in the real secrets of symbols and how they can be used for magick? Look at The New Encyclopedia of the Occult, Signs, Symbols & Omens, Magic Power Language Symbol, The Veritable Key of Solomon, and The Western Mysteries.
Are you interested in the mysteries of the ancient Gnostics? Look at Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ, Living Gnosis, and Gnostic Healing [available in early 2010].
The reality that is only hinted at in fiction is available, and it is far more fascinating, thrilling, and exciting than any novel. And unlike novels, it’s real.
