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Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings | 
 enlarge | Author: John Michael Greer
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $1.08
You Save: $18.87 (95%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 183876
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 312
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0738700509
Dewey Decimal Number: 001.944
EAN: 9780738700502
ASIN: 0738700509
Publication Date: September 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Nearly perfect copy, Never Read!
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Product Description
Of course that monster hiding under your bed when you were little didn't really exist. Faeries and dragons, vampires and werewolves, angels and demons, even the boogeyman—all are simply figments of our imagination, right? After all, their existence has not yet been scientifically proven.
But there is one giant problem with such an easy dismissal of these creepy creatures—people keep encountering them!
Combining folklore, Western magical philosophy, and actual field experience, Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings is required reading for both active and armchair monster hunters. Between these covers you'll find a chilling collection of fiendish facts and folklore, including:
• The five different kinds of ghosts
• Magical origins of the werewolf legends
• The hidden connections between faery lore and UFOs
• Where dragons are found today
• How to investigate a monster sighting
• Natural and ritual magic techniques for dealing with hostile monsters
Join ceremonial magician John Michael Greer for a harrowing journey into the reality of the impossible. This book is your guide to the strange, spooky, and sometimes sinister world of the creatures who lurk in the shadowy realms outside the reality we take for granted.
In the following excerpt, author John Michael Greer explains that monsters have something valuable to teach us about ourselves and our world.
A thousand years ago, vampires and shapeshifters, spirits of the ancestors and spirits that were never human at all, intelligent beings with subtle bodies or none, were as much a matter of everyday life then as electricity is now.
But we know better nowadays, of course.
Don't we?
This book is based on the uncomfortable knowledge that we don't know better—that at least some of these entities had, and still have, a reality that goes beyond the limits of human imagination and human psychology. For most people nowadays, such ideas would be terrifying if they weren't so preposterous. Plenty of modern Americans believe that UFOs are spacecraft from other worlds and psychics can bend silverware with their minds—but the existence of vampires and werewolves? To make things worse, this book explores such beings from the standpoint of an equally discredited system of thought: the traditional lore of Western ceremonial magic, which has been denounced and derided by right-thinking folk ever since the end of the Renaissance.
The word "monster" comes from the Latin monstrum, "that which is shown forth or revealed." The same root also appears in the English word "demonstrate," and several less common words (such as "remonstrance") that share the same sense of revealing, disclosing, or displaying. In the original sense of the word, a monster is a revelation, something shown forth.
This may seem worlds away from the usual modern meaning of the word "monster"—a strange, frightening and supposedly mythical creature—but here, as elsewhere in the realm of monsters, appearances deceive. Certainly, monsters are strange, at least to those raised in modern ways of approaching the world. As we'll see, too, monsters have a great deal to do with the realm of myth, although this latter word (like "monster" itself) has older and deeper meanings that evade our modern habits of thought. The association between monsters and terror, too, has practical relevance, even when the creatures we call "monsters" fear us more than we fear them.
The myth, the terror, and the strangeness all have their roots in the nature of the realm of monsters and the monstrous—a world of revelations, where the hidden and the unknown show furtive glimpses of themselves. If we pay attention to them, monsters do have something to reveal. They show us the reality of the impossible, or of those things we label impossible; they point out that the world we think we live in, and the world we actually inhabit, may not be the same place at all.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Excellent reading December 28, 2008
I really loved this book. I have had quite a few experiences with the paranormal myself throughout my life, and I feel this book aligns well with what I know of the truth. Entertaining and full of good, balanced information. I love how he thoroughly examines each phenomenon from many different angles. Excellent read, 5 stars!
Cover Doesn't Do This Book Justice July 18, 2008
I have read a few of John Michael Greer's books and let me tell you: the cover on this book does not do it justice. This book is fascinating. It contains an absolute treasure trove of information. Perfect for anyone with any interest in the Paranormal and/or Magickal/Legendary Creatures. Highly recommended!!!
Educational and Insightful May 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Tales throughout time have spoken of monsters and frightening beings and things that go "bump" in the night, and for most people these tales are as close to the unknown as they are willing to get. But for those few who find their curiosity peaked when they hear of local hauntings or monster sightings, there is finally a handbook just for you!
"Monsters - An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings" by John Michael Greer is truly a handbook for the beginning monster hunter or curious seeker. The book, which I found to be an easy and entertaining read, is divided into four parts and is 282 pages long (that includes the index):
Part I: An Introduction to the Field Guide - On the Reality of the Impossible.
Part II: A Field Guide to Monsters; Vampires, Ghosts, Werewolves, Creatures of Faery, Mermaids, Dragons, Spirits, Angels, Demons.
Part III: A Guide to Monster Investigation - the complete investigator.
Part IV: Magical Self-Defense; natural magic and ritual magic.
Part IV is followed by a glossary and bibliography of monster lore.
Keep in mind that his definition of monster is "that which is shown forth or revealed." So even Angels, Faerie and Mermaids fall into this category, though they certainly don't fit the typical stereotype of what we believe monsters to be.
I enjoyed reading his explanation of the monsters (which includes descriptions and related folklore), especially the werewolves and vampires. Many people believe these particular monsters to be more Hollywood hype than anything else. But Europe is rich in werewolf and vampire folklore; of course the tales don't include Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise.
He also goes into detail for those interested in conducting their own monster investigations; including what to put in your monster hunting kit (did you know dark thread and rubber cement are useful in monster hunting?), interviewing skills and the importance of research, and doing the actual search for the monster.
Greer also goes into magical self-defense, which is very important for anyone delving into the paranormal. He talks about simple protective techniques (such as using holy water or salt and making amulets), and also describes rituals designed to bring protection (such as the Cabalistic Cross and the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram). Where the rituals may seem a bit complicated to the beginner, a bit of practice would make the user feel more comfortable and confident.
Folktales of monsters have existed in every society throughout the ages, and for a good reason. There are forces out there that can cause one to wake in the darkest hours of the night paralyzed and in a cold sweat. Whether you are a serious monster hunter, or have just had your own monster experiences and want to know how to deal with them, "Monsters - An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings" is a must have for your supernatural library.
 Needs a Works Cited Page January 3, 2008
While this book was intriguing, I find its credibility lacking. A lot of what Greer says seems to be made up off the top of his head. While he could be accurate, he really needs to go into more depth about how he found his information instead of assuming we already know his sources. The closest he comes to a works cited page in this book is a further reading page, which really doesn't help his book at all.
An interesting book. Not to be taken too seriously with his lack of proof.
 Wanting yet Strangely Compelling August 16, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was quite a different person at the start of reading this book and after (nearly) completing it. Not because of the book itself but rather due to a different world view I was adopting in that time (I read it on and off for over year). This affected my opinion and interest in the book hence I could not bring myself to read even the last 20 pages. Anyway, this book is about "monsters" or magical beings that are supposedly not uncommon to even modern day magicians. The writer, Greer (who I suppose is something of a "real" magician himself), covers vampires (interesting choice to start with), ghosts, werewolves, fairies, mermaids, dragons, spirits, angels and demons. I read these with interest. He also has chapters on monster investigation and self-defense.
He writes with a firm conviction that these beings actually exist in different "realms" and can enter our realm, often at will. He assumes a seemingly scientific approach but being a scientist myself, I find it a little hard to accept his faith in things like "folklore" as valid reference material to base such extraordinary claims on. I must admit that a lot of what he says coincides with magical traditions and stories from other cultures whose practitioners do not have a tendency to write books and share their "knowledge". Does this lend more credence to magic? I'm afraid not. It just means people in different places have a tendency to believe in some of the same things, truthful or not. Is magic in a domain of its own and not amenable to scientific inquiry? At best, yes. At worst, it's simply not true.
The chapter on monster investigation is well-crafted. It's almost as rigorous as any scientific methodology I've read though I stop to wonder if such investigators have ever actually encountered anything like what they hope to find or even found the spectacular evidence required to substantiate their beliefs. I could not bring myself to finish reading the last chapter on magical self-defense which includes information on natural and ritual magic. It was just too boring and lacking substance for me. Still, I do not regret purchasing this book and will reserve an equal place for it in my personal library that houses many other interesting books. Who knows? It might come in as handy reference material one day or a guilty pleasure during a storm in my favorite chair with a cup of hot chocolate.
Update: So I finished the last 20 pages or so and all I can add is, Greer should have left the part about ritual magic out of this book because it just sounds silly. Drawing imaginary pentagrams with my fingers and repeating strange (and bland) incantations is not something I plan on doing; much less hundreds of times (like the author suggests) if I want them to work "in the field". The annotated bibliography however, has many fascinating titles I wish I could decorate my personal library with, even if just to impress visitors. On second thought, I actually don't like to collect books I have no intention of reading. Maybe a handful might be worth a look, though.
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