Tag Archives: altars

Altars as Art Forms at Catland through Jun 20th, 2014

“Altars as Art Forms” at Catland, in New York, through Jun 20th, 2014 [HT Pam Grossman].

Altars as Art Forms at Catland 2014

“Altar: An elevated place or structure, as a mound or platform, at which religious rites are performed or on which sacrifices are offered to gods, ancestors, etc.

Altars were created as places to offer, interact, and worship with the unseen. Over years they have been adopted to almost every major religion, each paying homage to the beliefs and offering a sacred place to worship. As practices developed individuals took to creating their own hallowed places delving into the worlds of self, ancestry, nature, the muse, and the realm of spiritual creating a memorial to the sacred.

Using wall altars as inspiration ‘Altars as Art Forms’ explores the immersive aspect of creating a sacred space, a ritual room that once you enter becomes a portal into the magical world. This will be an immersive gallery and ritual experience. Audience will be allowed to interact with the altars leaving petitions and small offerings. There will be both indoor and outdoor altars as well as ambient video/music, tea, and spirits.

OPENING RECEPTION June 6th 7-10 p.m.
CLOSING RECEPTION June 20th 7-10 p.m.

TAYLOR MEAD · DARIA HLAZATOVA · GREG JAMIE · PHILLIP ENGLISH · K LENORE SINER · MELISSA DOWELL · GOTHIC HANGMAN · WES FREED · KAT MON DIEU · KAT TORONTO · WALTER SICKERT · MADELEINE LE DESPENCER · DAME DARCY · SAMANTHA LEVIN · ALLISON SOMMERS · SHERENE VISMAYA SCHOSTAK · JULIET ESCORIA · MEESHA GOLDBERG · LONESOME LIZ · STEVEN GLICK · ELLI STEFANIDI · RACHEL RABBIT WHITE

AUDIO VISUALS BY WPC
MUSIC BY JILL TRACY
CURATED BY KATELAN FOISY

SPIRITS WILL BE SERVED · FINE TEAS FROM MADAME ZUZUS & ORIGINAL SIN HARD CIDER”

Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple

Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple: The Alchemy and Crafting of Magickal Implements (Llewellyn’s Golden Dawn Series) by Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, the 1992 paperback from Llewellyn Publications, is part of the collection at the Reading Room.

Sandra Tabatha Cicero Chic Cicero Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple from Llewellyn Publications

  • Read the first book to describe all Golden Dawn implements and tools in complete detail!
  • See photos and drawings of almost 80 different tools
  • Learn the exact symbolism of each implement
  • Conduct new, never-before published rituals

A Must-Have for Every Student of the Western Magickal Tradition

From its inception 100 years ago, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn continues to be the authority on magick. Yet the books written on the Golden Dawn system have fallen far short in explaining how to construct the tools and implements necessary for ritual. Now, with The Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple, you get a unique compilation of the various tools used, all described in full: wands, ritual clothing, elemental tools, Enochian tablets, altars, temple furniture, banners, lamens, admission badges and much more.

This was republished by Llewellyn in two parts as Creating Magical Tools: The Magician’s Craft (1999) and Ritual Use of Magical Tools: Resources for the Ceremonial Magician (2000). The first of these two appear to have been published again by a new publisher, Thoth Publications, in 2004, as far as I can tell without its mate, as Secrets of a Golden Dawn Temple, Book 1: Creating Magical Tools.

Sandra Tabatha Cicero Chic Cicero Ritual Use of Magical Tools from Llewellyn Publications

Back in the day, Half Price Books in Seattle had a veritable metric ton of the two volume edition from Llewellyn, and they hung around for quite a while before the first volume completely disappeared in what seemed to me a sudden surprising rush leaving behind the second volume to linger on for quite a bit longer on its own. For some reason I never pick up the first in time, but did grab the second before it too finally sold out. Of course, the first was the one I should have grabbed instead. Years later, I did pick up the original single volume complete edition so that I’d have the construction plans and instructions.

 

The Hermetic Library Reading Room is an imaginary and speculative future reification of the library in the physical world, a place to experience a cabinet of curiosities offering a confabulation of curation, context and community that engages, archives and encourages a living Western Esoteric Tradition. If you would like to contribute to the Hermetic Library Reading Room, consider supporting the library or contact the librarian.

The Qabalah Workbook for Magicians

Hermetic Library fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Qabalah Workbook for Magicians: A Guide to the Sephiroth by Anita Kraft, from Weiser Books:

Anita Kraft's The Qabalah Workbook for Magicians from Weiser Books

 

“Qabalah” means many things to many people. The title Qabalah Workbook for Magicians might mislead a reader to think that this book contains pen-and-paper exercises in the study of the literal qabalah, that arsenal of isopsephic and anagrammatic techniques involved in mystical Judaism and occultist hermeneutics. Not so! This “workbook” is not arranged so as to be written in. Author Anita Kraft exhorts the user/reader of the workbook to keep a journal of the work, but the work consists of laboratory operations with altars and symbolic objects intended to orient students to the valences of the heuristic qabalah, that kissing-cousin of the literal qabalah that Aleister Crowley famously described as a “filing cabinet” of personal experience.

The introduction by Lon DuQuette (one of Kraft’s own teachers) is predictably funny and wise, even if it is more about Lon himself than the book at hand! DuQuette’s Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot is referenced regularly throughout The Qabalah Workbook for Magicians, and a full undertaking of the course of study set forth by Kraft will require access to that volume as well, not to mention DuQuette’s Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford, which had been used as a textbook in earlier courses on qabalah designed by Kraft.

The workbook is carefully structured so that a student can work through from start to finish, following instructions to experiment and research before proceeding to the next section, and with little or no need to refer back to earlier instructions. For someone reading it straight through without doing the exercises, this design feature (an advantage for the methodical beginning students to whom it is addressed) makes much of the text seem repetitive and even redundant. Still, any aspirant willing to apply the book’s method of study for ten months is likely to gain a better grounding in qabalistic correspondences and intuitive power than would ordinarily be achieved through several years of haphazard reading in the usual sources of occult instruction on this topic. [via]

 

 

The Hermetic Library Reading Room is an imaginary and speculative future reification of the library in the physical world, a place to experience a cabinet of curiosities offering a confabulation of curation, context and community that engages, archives and encourages a living Western Esoteric Tradition. If you would like to contribute to the Hermetic Library Reading Room, consider supporting the library or contact the librarian.

The Witches’ Book of the Dead

The Witches’ Book of the Dead [also] by Christian Day, available from Weiser Books, arrived at the Reading Room courtesy of the publisher. Although I find myself a bit wary of the work, judging a book by my superficial expectation of much self-consciously witchy fare, on looking twice this seems like it has some nice, if moderately basic, primer coverage of useful ceremonial and Goëtic topics and skills. There’s sections about ceremonial tools, rituals, necromancy, sections on history, and so on. This could be a nice gateway title for the budding, if given the right push, Goëtes; or maybe they end up pursuing Voudon or similar; or minimally a practice informed by this actual structure and information … But, either way, the grounding in history and ceremonial ritual seems a decent start for the student.

Christian Day's The Witches' Book of the Dead from Weiser Books

“Witches are creatures of magic. They cast spells, heal, and foretell the future. What you might not know is that Witches can also commune with the spirits of the dead.

In The Witches’ Book of the Dead, modern-day Salem Warlock Christian Day shows how the spirits of our beloved dead can be summoned to perform such tasks as helping you to discover hidden opportunities, influence the minds of others, seduce the object of your affection, and even reach into the dreams of the unwary. According to legend, the Spirits of the dead can confer magical talents, fame, love, and wealth on those brave enough to summon them.

The Witches’ Book of the Dead explores the enduring relationship between witches and the dead and teaches rituals and incantations to help readers open doorways to the spirit world.

Topics include:

· Legendary Witches who have raised the dead, including The Witch of Endor, Circe, and Erichtho
· Creating ancestral altars and building relationships with spirits
· The tools of Necromancy: the bronze dagger, yew wand, iron keys, graveyard dust, the offering cauldron, spirit powders, the human skull, and more.
· Methods of spirit contact, including automatic writing, scrying mirrors, spirit boards, pendulums, and spirit mediumship
· The ancient arts of necromancy as a method of conjuring the dead to assist in magic
· Ridding yourself of unwanted spirits using rituals of cleansing, banishing and exorcism
· Ghost hunting techniques that combine psychic wisdom with modern technology
· Communing with the dead in dreams
· Sacred holidays and powerful celebrations of the dead
· Resources on where to ethically obtain the tools of the trade
· An overview of the feared deities of the Underworld
· Rituals, recipes, exercises, and more!

Dare to walk between the worlds with Christian Day as he guides you across the River Styx into the shadowy realms where the dead long to connect with us once more!” [via]