Ronald Hutton, Professor of History and author of Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft

This is a remarkably thoughtful and erudite, and extensive, consideration of the nature of magic. The author has a firm grip on modern sociology and anthropology, and can hold his own against any of their professional practitioners. I was impressed by the care with which his arguments are composed, the rigour with which they are presented, and the charm with which they are expressed.

Bill Whitcomb, author of the Magician's Companion and the Magician's Reflection

In Multi-Media Magic, Taylor rightly argues that the format and medium (even the font and punctuation) of words and symbols is an important potential part of their magical use, not to mention the importance of gesture, tone, color, and other less-often discussed portions of the magical palette such as clothing. Multi-Media Magic will help many of those who have been limiting their magical practices to half measures, opening up a much larger tool box for possible use.

Philip H. Farber, author of Meta-Magick: The Book of Atem

If you think that magick is something that takes place only in the ivory tower or candlelit temple, prepare to have your assumptions blown away. Taylor Ellwood pushes magick out of the ancient grimoires and into the full-sensory environment of modern media. Multi-Media Magic offers methods that instantly integrate with daily life in the 21st Century.

Wes Unruh, Editor of alterati.com Multi Media Magic, by way of semiotics, memetics and modalities, brings practical evocation into a discussion accessible to either a practicing magician or an academic theorist. Taylor Ellwood consistently bridges the gaps of logic and practice often ignored in other works, an amazing achievement for an area of study normally obsessed with rehashing quaint metaphysical models.

Shade Ouroboros, Reviewer for Silverstar Magazine A much more developed semi-sequel to Pop Culture Magic, from a frequent contributor to this journal, the prolific Taylor Ellwood. I am feeling rather strange about reviewing this book, because I don’t really think I have come anywhere near absorbing it. In general, and because I love this sort of stuff, I actually do read all the tomes I review here cover-to-cover, with the exception of a few vast encyclopedias; and I have gone through this one as well. The first few chapters are fairly heavy, summarizing a fair amount of hard-core academic thought on issues of linguistics, semiotics, anthropology, psychology, sociology and such. There is some excellent discussion on the evolving definitions of magic, and also their limitations; the academics often do not come off very well. My own degree was in anthropology, and I took a lot of psychology, so in general jargon does not intimidate me, although it may take me awhile longer to process. The later chapters are quite diverse, covering issues of evocation and entity, culture and identity, and the multi-media barrage that forms and reforms the manufactured collective realities we now inhabit. Our future is not like our past, and the images and memes that bombard us are in many ways more myriad and intense than those once experienced by our ancestors. But we can still use them, as the spirits of our times. Taylor is looking in many ways at how we might magically interact with the ‘gods’ and ‘demons’ of the modern world, with its corporate totems, neo-tribal entities, and new modes of experience and media interaction. A lot to think about, including some good points about how clothing defines identity and the concept of banishing by detachment, which I think I was already doing.

As he has hit his stride with books like Space/Time Magic and the encyclopedic Inner Alchemy (see previous issues) I have become ever more impressed with Taylor’s explorations. Mages must form their own realities, on their own terms. A lot of mine has been drawn from books, where some parts resonate for me, while others definitely do not. What I am drawn to, I test through experience. I hope Taylor will take it as a compliment if I say a fair amount of his thought works for my synthesis. Some of this I am still processing. I may even have to read it again.

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