Hang on to Your Sigillum Mysteriorum!: Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin

With the release of the movie version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix this week and next week's long-awaited publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, wizards and wizardry are going to be cool stuff for a while. For those who want to know more about the magical arts, the Ologies series by Candlewick Press (see my review of Pirateology: The Pirate Hunter's Companion on July 2) has just the volume for the wizard wannabees among us.

Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin purports to be a manuscript of wizard secrets compiled by the legendary Merlin and discovered in 1588. Like the other volumes in this series, it features an impressive embossed cover with a crystal ball embedded in the center and numerous interactive attachments throughout, including booklets on potions, spells, and familiars, a dragon pendant for dousing for mythical beasts, a pack of fortune-telling cards, a phoenix feather and a protective snippet of a fairy flag, and crystal gems embedded in both covers.

Thirteen intricately illustrated double-page chapters cover The Works of a Wizard; A Wizard's Map of the World; A Master Wizard's Workshop (including the proper wardrobe, skull, fireplace, and crystal ball decor); A Wizard's Robes and Tools(including the proper tool (an athame) to whittle a wand); Spellcraft (including Animating, Transforming, Healing, and Affecting Spells); A Wizard's Loyal Familiars; A Wizard's Menagerie of Magical Beasts; Magic Flight and Flying Carpets; Potions, Healing and Magical Transformations; Amulets, Talismans, and Magical Items; Divination and Crystal Gazing; Alchemy, Astrology, and New Science; and Familiar Wizards of History. The Conclusion, Or, The Mysteries of Wizardology, challenges the reader to locate a series of hidden symbols of the Magical Treasures of the Island of Britain concealed within the illustrations on each page which "spell out a secret message for those readers clever enough to find them" using the Sigillum Mysteriorum cypher to decode the message.

If young wizard apprentices aren't certified to start whittling wands with a proper athame, they can get ready-made ones, along with some impressive vials of wizardly crystals, colored sand, and magical feathers in The Wandmaker's Guidebook by Ed Masessa. And--the wand's handle twists off to reveal a secret compartment! Shazam!