Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny

Whether one considers an egregore to be a thoughtform, group mind, or entity, this is the first book I've seen on the topic, and it is well covered and has been expanded to include other groups I've not considered before. Mark not only covers the fascinating history of the egregores but helps us to recognize their influence in today's world. I now find myself reflecting on my relationships with everything including politics & social media groups. It is a small book but has a lot of "meat" to chew on.

I was really excited about someone haven written a book on this subject so I bought it, but I quickly returned this. And I was never so happy to drop something in the return slot.Listen to the author in some interviews about this book and read some online reviews first. Then read the intro. If the author of this intro and its words resonate with you then buy it.But, if like me you were horrified by the not very subtle extremism and bias… well then, enough said.

I can’t commend the author enough for this quite brief, but very informative book regarding the egregores. The time has come for those of us who value our own, personal spiritual freedom to at least consider that unseen forces may be at play in this reality. I am not inclined to make a statement regarding the egregores being living entities as opposed to ill-developed aspects of our own consciousness. I don’t think that matters, honestly. What does matter is, as the author states, that we become fully conscious and aware of these forces and their potential power to control our thoughts and actions, and make informed decisions about what we participate in or play with.

I wasn't sure what to expect and wound up being very pleasantly surprised.From the point of view of someone who really enjoys history, especially Classical Mediterranean history, this sheds a lot of light on functions of the ancient Roman state and others who regarded the people who presided over ceremonies dedicated to the gods of their city as very important functionaries. The discussion and examples provided in this book really connected a lot of dots for me regarding a variety of historical anecdotes. The book provides an intriguing lens through which to view ancient practices and the "why" behind them.From a more esoteric point of view, it is an excellent model to use when analyzing groups/lodges/fraternities, etc. Using this framework, it really helped put group activities, how things can succeed, go downhill, our role in those activities, etc. in a new and very helpful light.Very much worth your time and you'll find a lot of interesting stories and "ah ha!" moments that I think will stay with you every time you interact with a group of people, from a supper club to a nation-state.

Mark Stavish’s Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny is an adequate introduction to a concept important not only to paranormal studies, where it means a thought form or collective group mind, but to general psychology and sociology, where it is equated to community, corporation, or meme, all critical concepts under discussion in just about every forum today.The book is short and largely a compilation of quotes from earlier as well as contemporary thinkers on egregores (H. P. Lovecraft, Julius Evola, Kenneth Grant, Mouni Sadhu, Alexandra David-Neel, Valentin Tomberg, Eliphas Levi, Gary Lachman, Robert Ambelain, Morris Berman, Joscelyn Godwin, and others) with partial attempts to ask and answer key questions related to the phenomena: Other than etymologically, how is the modern egregore related to the “watchers” (egregorii) of the ancient Book of Enoch? At what point and with what mechanism does the thought-form entity acquire an existence of its own, separate from its creators? Once the egregore has lost the majority of its psychic supporters, how does it maintain its existence so that it can be revived at a later date as happened, according to Stavish, to the Roman imperial egregore, which Mussolini resurrected?Credit is due Stavish that I can ask such questions —and probably other readers could add many to my list—about a word few moderns have heard of that names a phenomenon most of us sense daily but with no idea it is a specific entity, perhaps even with physical characteristics, that can be analyzed, understood, and thus at least partially controlled.The book has some downsides, thus only four stars. I too might have been turned off, like one recent reviewer who put it away because of right-biased political insinuations expressed in the Foreword, written not by the author but by Mark Wasserman. I’m glad I got past them and to the meat of the work; Stavish himself did not veer in alt-right direction that I noticed. Wasserman’s comments were irrelevant to the book’s theme, and I hope they did not deter too many other readers.This book is a brave beginning, a valuable compilation of what has been written so far about egregores and their impact on human existence. While it does falls short of a full justification of its subtitle, The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny, I look forward to future titles on the subject that hone in on and develop the many key concepts and applications offered by touched on by Stavish and his sources.

The author of the Preface to this book is obviously operating under the egregore of Trumpism. Shocking to see so much animosity and buying into the fake news drivel of the Far Reich in a book that is supposed to be about esoteric matters. My advice is save your money. Don't buy into the egregore of hate speech in the guise of spirituality. I only gave it one star because I had to. It doesn't deserve it.

While being initially excited by the libertarian leanings of the author of the forward, I was dismayed to read that he has been in the OTO (Hollywood occult cult) since 1976. I can't remember half the book because it is kind of a dry account of various spiritual organizations over the years and using terminology that I am not fully familiar with.What put me off the most is the heavy use of quotations. I think half the book was written by people other than the author. I'd like more original thoughts and less just pasted quotes.In the end, I got what I needed from the book: an explanation of egragores.

People will have to take my word for what I say for I've never seen this printed in any book, there are still some things that Buddhists and Tibetans teachers still don't speak openly about. The information I give is oral commentary. In fact many Western converts are still ignorant of such things in their naivety. As for academic experts, they either will lie about what I'm about to say or just don't know ?When one takes a Vajrayana Empowerment or Initiation (Tb. wang) one also takes on certain commitments called Samaya which are considered foundational to one practice, these are composed in total of hundreds of vows if one includes the Bodhisattvas ones as well as the Vajrayana ones, the first being essential to the second. NOW, this is what people are not usually told ... If ones practices properly and then for whatever reason rejects these vows without concern there can be consequences, serious ones, these practices have Protectors Deities and they can be as mean as any Demon, yes Demon, one may find in any Western Grimoire, in fact they often perform much the same functions as any Spiritual Creature found in the Grimoires. These Protectors will not only come after the person who's broken their vows they will also go after close family members and close friends, they will bring back luck, disease and even death. WHEN ARE PEOPLE EVER TOLD THIS ? NEVER, MOSTLY.Now, look at the experiences of some Western practitioners who get into trouble by practicing Griomoiric material, if they become Obsessed or Possessed are their family members also not usually affected, more than likely yes they are and we all have stories to tell. And then there are more well known and published examples such as the late Dr. Joseph Lisiewski. Exactly the same things can happen in Buddhist Vajrayana though I'm sure many middle class converts would freak if they seen this, well that's just because some things are mostly not taught to them for Tibetans like to strip out anything that does not appeal to our liberal sensibilities ?Obsession & Possession in both cases, most definitely in my honest opinion. How is it different ?So, this is one of the reasons I think Mr. Mark Stavish's book on Egregores is important even to Western Yoga & Buddhist practitioners, it will help shake out some of the wooly new age love dovy dusty cobwed like attitudes out of their heads. The Kosmos is not all daisies and unicorns, not even in Yoga & Buddhism but so many ignore this.

This is an interesting book, but I felt that it needed more content to back up the argument that egregores exist and also more discussion on the nature of egregores. It seemed to lack the focus and depth that would be required to convince a person previously unacquainted with the subject that it's a real phenomenon. And more detailed analysis/evidence of whether it's just group think mentality that comes with cliques of any sort or a genuine interdimensional entity created or given access to this realm by the human mind. My feeling is that it's a starting point of a journey, rather than a full exploration and I think that although the author knows a lot he fails to provide the necessary evidence and thinking to the reader. Probably because he misses elements out that are obvious to him. So it's worth reading but don't expect an epiphany.

I found the information in this book very useful. As a geomancer, I have worked with countless National Egregores, but was less familiar with "Egregores" of the modern world and the "hold" they can have on people . This book was quite an eye opener and I have encouraged my students to read it as well.

Very detailed & informative. Very clearly written. I love Stavish's style. He has given me a clear idea of what egregores are, how they are developed, how we can search ourselves from unwanted influences, & how to create our own. Well worth the read.

informative book on a hitherto very obscure subject. The first half of the book is the more interesting part, the latter being more like a collection of essays on the history of the matter