Occult Author Spotlight: William G. Gray

William G. Gray’s books on magic have been one of the foundations of my own practice since 1998, when I was first given his book Ladder of Lights by a mentor of mine. What I’ve found so fascinating with his work is its concise and thorough focus on the process of magic. Gray doesn’t embellish his writing or tell convoluted stories or leave information out to test his readers. Gray founded a magical order called Sangreal Sodality, which is focused on his interpretation of ceremonial magic and Hermetic Quabalah. In particular Gray developed the Rite of Light, which is a practice focused on accessing the innermost mysteries of esoteric orders without drawing on any particular religious affiliation.

My own familiarity with Gray’s work has primarily occurred through his books which discuss the process of magic and how it works, as well as through the book The Ladder Of Lights, which goes into great detail and depth about the Sephiroth in the Quabalah and the meanings, angels, godforms, and related concepts that are associated with each Sephirah. Gray’s books on the quabalah are very detailed. In Talking Tree he discusses the tarot on the tree of life and what the meaning of each trump is with the different paths on the tree of life.

However, my favorite books of his are Magical Ritual Methods and Inner Traditions of Magic. In Inner Traditions of Magic Gray discusses the basics of ceremonial magic, but also introduces readers to the power concept of Telesmatic images and questions the relevance of magic in the nuclear age, which can also be applied to some degree to the technology age we live in. In Magical Ritual Methods, Gray discusses zero, space/time concepts, invocation and other techniques which can be used to enhance the magic one is doing. Both books are essentials that will get any reader to think carefully about how s/he is approaching magic.

Recently, Weiser books started republishing Gray’s work, which had previously been out of print. I highly recommend picking the re-prints up while they are in stock, as his books can otherwise be hard to find. I was fortunate enough to get most of my copies right before they want out of print and to this day I still refer to them a fair amount, and find his books, along with Bardon’s, to be the most relevant to building a strong foundation for western ceremonial practices of magic.

Books by William G. Gray

• Inner Traditions of Magic
• Magical Ritual Methods
• Talking Tree
• Quabalistic Concepts
• The Ladder Of Lights
• The Sangreal Tarot: A Magical Ritual System of Personal Evolution

There are more books written by him. The ones above are the ones I was able to find and have in my library.

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy: Energy Work and the Magic of the Body, and Pop Culture Magick, among other works. You can visit his blog at http://magicalexperiments.wordpress.com/ and his website at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/.

©2009 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey