Tag Archives: ceremonial magic

Ceremonial Magic, as a means to attainment, has in common with all other methods, Western or Eastern, one supreme object in view — identification with the Godhead; and it matters not if the Aspirant be Theist or Atheist, Pantheist or Autotheist, Christian or Jew, or whether he name the goal of his attainment God, Zeus, Christ, Matter, Nature, Spirit, Heaven, Reason, Nirvana, Asgard, No-Thing or No-God, so long as he has a goal in view, and a goal he is striving to attain. Without a goal, he is but a human ship without port or destination; and, without striving, work, WILL to attain, he is but a human derelict, rudderless and mastless, tossed hither and thither by the billows of lunacy, eventually to sink beneath the black waters of madness and death.

Aleister Crowley, The Sorcerer in The Temple of Solomon the King

Liber Sigil-A-IAF

Liber Sigil-A-IAF by Aion 131, the 2010 library edition hardcover from Waning Moon Publications, is part of the collection at the Reading Room.

“A modern grimoire of New Aeon Magick that consists of a series of Major Sigils crafted as ritually manifested automatic drawings along with arcane writings ‘pertaining’ to them. Thelemic at it’s core, this work is empowered by the energies of the current Aeon of HORUS but is also deeply rooted in other Aeonic energies, most specifically the magickal current of MAAT: the aeon to come which is manifesting here and now as well. Together they form The Double Current. The book is organized by the ‘natures of the spirits manifest’ into five sections that fall under the major Thelemic/Aeonic Archetypes NU, HAD, HERU, MAAT and the Shadow which is PAN. They are representations of abstract laws, powers, and conglomerates of symbols with uniting elements that can be activated and used to access deep strata of the inner-being. They are not to be intellectualized. The Grimoire is both a work of art magick as well as a tool that can be used to help accomplish The Great Work by the open minded New Aeon Adept with Love & Will.” [via]

The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G∴B∴G∴

The Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G∴B∴G∴: Being the Entire Study, Curriculum, Magick Rituals, and Initiatory Practices of the G∴B∴G∴ (The Great Brotherhood of God) by Louis T Culling; edited, revised, and expanded by Carl Llewellyn Weschke; from Llewellyn Publications, is part of the collection at the Reading Room.

“Founded upon the revolutionary premise that High Magick can be distilled to a few powerful and efficient steps, Louis T. Culling’s original edition of this classic magick book broke all the rules.

Llewellyn is proud to present an updated and expanded edition of this pioneering work.

The G∴B∴G∴, or “Great Brotherhood of God,” was a magickal order founded by acclaimed magician Frater Genesthai. Louis T. Culling, one of the initial members of the G∴B∴G∴ in California, was instructed by Genesthai to reveal the Order’s magickal curriculum when the time was right.

Carl Llewellyn Weschcke, publisher of Culling’s original edition of this book, offers illuminating commentary, definitions, and discussion points to render these profound magickal philosophies and practices even more accessible and relevant for contemporary magickal practice. This new edition is also an interesting philosophical commentary, answering a number of questions about historical occult orders and figures like Aleister Crowley. The techniques taught in this curriculum include:

Dream Recall and Interpretation · Functioning in the Borderland · Finding One’s True Magickal Identity · The Retirement Ritual · The Invocation of Thoth · Ritual Divination · Imprinting the I Ching on the Body · The Three Degrees of Sex Magick · Thelema and the Magickal Will · Invocation of Human Quality · The Rite of Transubstantiation · Conversations with a God · Magickal Offspring—the Familiar · The Great Lunar Trances” — back cover

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Inside Solar Lodge, Outside the Law

Hermetic Library fellow T Polyphilus reviews Inside Solar Lodge, Outside the Law: True Tales of Initiation and High Adventure by Frater Shiva. There has since 2012 been a new and expanded edition released, available at extortionate prices or a reasonable price.

This book is an invaluable addition to the history of Thelema, providing a previously-unavailable level of detail on the principal group in the US that believed itself to be perpetuating a magical catena from Aleister Crowley during the late 1960s. It is quite readable, and mostly credible. Still, practicing 21st-century Thelemites with no particular interest in history may find it somewhat shallow and uninteresting.

The account is certainly worth the read by students and researchers of the phenomena of New Religious Movements, as it offers an insider’s view of the full developmental arc of a ceremonial magic cult from inception to drug-addled senescence. [via]

The Testament of Cyprian the Mage book launch at The Atlantis Bookshop on Mar 1st at 7pm

The Testament of Cyprian the Mage book launch for the new volume from Jake Stratton-Kent and Scarlet Imprint at The Atlantis Bookshop on March 1st, 2014 at 7pm may be of interest.

“The Testament of Cyprian the Mage is a two-volume work by Jake Stratton-Kent, comprehending The Book of Saint Cyprian and his Magical Elements and an elucidation of The Testament of Solomon. It is approximately 600 pages endowed with charts, tables and seals and is punctuated by specially commissioned pen and ink illustrations by Oliver Liebeskind.

This work draws upon these texts to create a clear understanding of the practice of grimoire magic, not as a discrete or degenerate subset of ceremonial magic, but one which is integrated with folk magic and witchcraft. In particular we discover a shared dramatis personae, the infernal pact, and a common terrain of Wild Hunt and Sabbat.

Within the text we encounter the Chiefs, Kings and Queens of the grimoire tradition; the magical role of the Decans and their stones and plants; lunar magic and magical animals; the gods of Time; the Sibyl and the Hygromanteia; Asmodeus and Oriens; Angelology, Theurgy, Conjunction and the Pact, the Angelic Vice-regent and thwarting Angels; Asclepius, Iamblichus and Neo-Platonism; Paracelsus and the Elemental Spirits; Necromancy, and the principles of spell work.”

“We will be celebrating the launch at The Atlantis Bookshop on Saturday 1st March and you are most welcome to attend. Please RSVP to this email if you are able to join us. If you cannot attend, but would like an Inscribed copy, please drop us a line and we will happily arrange that for you.”

Salomonic Magical Arts

Salomanic Magical Arts translated and introduced by Fredrik Eytzinger, is available from Three Hands Press. The special leather-bound and deluxe hardcover editions are both sold out, but a standard hardcover edition are still available.

“Amid the great genres of European magical books are the Scandinavian Svartkonstböcker or ‘Books of Black Arts’, the privately-kept practical manuals of magic used by rural charmers and practitioners of folk magic. Incorporating charms, prayers, and curses, as well as medicine, alchemy and physical experiments, many of these books survive today in universities and private collections. While bearing some relationship to the corpus of European grimoires which feature angelic and demonic magic, the Svartkonstböcker as texts of magic are in a class all their own.

Salomonic Magical Arts consists of two such volumes, originally handwritten in the early eighteenth century. Named The Red Book and The Black Book by one of their owners, they passed through the hands of priests and cunning men before coming to rest in academic institutions. Invoking a variety of spirtual powers ranging from Christ to Beelzebub, its magical formulae, numbering in excess of 450 individual receipts, serve as a testament to the endurance of sorcery in the early modern era. First published in Swedish in 1918, Salomonic Magic Arts is here published in English for the first time.

Introducing the work is a substantive introduction by the translator, which places the book in its cultural and magico-historical context, including Swedish cunning-folk traditions (trolldom) the European grimoire tradition, traditional magical healing, pagan belief, and the relationship between folk magic and the church.” [via]

The Golden Dawn System of Initiation with M Osiris Snuffin in Seattle on Jan 30th, 2014

You may be interested in “The Golden Dawn System of Initiation” with Hermetic Library fellow Michael Osiris Snuffin, at Edge of the Circle Books, in Seattle, WA, on January 30th, 2014, at 7pm.

“Curious about the Golden Dawn? Interested in the roots of modern ceremonial magick? In this lecture we will examine the seven initiation rituals of the Golden Dawn system of initiation to provide a general overview of this powerful and influential magical tradition.” [via]

The Dark Lord

The Dark Lord: H.P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Grant, and the Typhonian Tradition in Magic by Peter Levenda, from Ibis Press, may be of interest.

“One of the most famous — yet least understood — manifestations of Thelemic thought has been the works of Kenneth Grant, the British occultist and one-time intimate of Aleister Crowley, who discovered a hidden world within the primary source materials of Crowley’s Aeon of Horus. Using complementary texts from such disparate authors as H.P. Lovecraft, Jack Parsons, Austin Osman Spare, and Charles Stansfeld Jones (‘Frater Achad’), Grant formulated a system of magic that expanded upon that delineated in the rituals of the OTO: a system that included elements of Tantra, of Voudon, and in particular that of the Schlangekraft recension of the Necronomicon, all woven together in a dark tapestry of power and illumination.

The Dark Lord follows the themes in the writings of Kenneth Grant, H.P. Lovecraft, and the Necronomicon, uncovering further meanings of the concepts of the famous writers of the Left Hand Path. It is for Thelemites, as well as lovers of the Lovecraft Mythos in all its forms, and for those who find the rituals of classical ceremonial magic inadequate for the New Aeon.

Traveling through the worlds of religion, literature, and the occult, Peter Levenda takes his readers on a deeply fascinating exploration on magic, evil, and The Dark Lord as he investigates of one of the most neglected theses in the history of modern occultism: the nature of the Typhonian Current and its relationship to Aleister Crowley’s Thelema and H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon.” [via]

AMeTh Lodge Journal Vol I No 2

AMeTh Lodge Journal Vol I No 2 was recently issued for June 2013, and is available directly or via Weiser Antiquarian Books.

“This fabulous, high quality, beautifully printed and bound second issue of the Lodge’s Journal should not disappoint!:

Br. Shaun Johnson analyses Crowley’s negative opinion of mediumship, seeking to place this in a socio-historical context and thereby reclaim the field as a legitimate and useful area of research for the practising magician.
Fr. Vaoanu describes what happens when a goetic spirit runs amok, creating havoc in the everyday life of the unsuspecting ritualist.
Fr. Wahdaniah delves into the annals of a working group meeting each week to scry the Tree of Life, describing the ritual approach adopted by the group, the sort of results that were obtained, and the psychological factors involved in scrying.
Br. Gary Dickinson traces the cultural origins and subsequent peregrinations of the mysterious figure of Lam, highlighting a major area of influence on Crowley’s thought and work which has been elided by later commentators.
Sr. I presents an illuminating approach to using astrology as a tool in the quest to discover the True Will.
Sr. Dwale gives a first-hand account of an initiation into a ceremonial magic group, recounting what happened one night somewhere in the depths of Cornwall.
Fr. Sotto Voce, is something of a ‘call to arms’ for those in the Order.
Fr. Lamogue, has written a wonderful fable about the Order of practically Sufic simplicity.
For the first time, in this issue – an article by a guest author who is not a member of O.T.O.: a fascinating study of Aleister Crowley’s trip to Russia with his troupe of Ragged Ragtime Girls, written by Geraldine Beskin.

This edition also offers an eclectic selection of rituals written and performed by Lodge members for the reader’s delectation:

There is the Pyramid of the Sphinx, a ritual written by Fr. Spiritus which utilises some of the key ideas detailed by Crowley in Liber Aleph.
Fr. Dharmakaya draws on his background in Witchcraft to construct a Thelemic Witchcraft Ritual.
Fr. 515 presents The Rite of Hekate, a ritual invoking an ancient goddess using the formulae of ceremonial magick, accompanied by an essay outlining the key considerations and sources which featured in its composition.
Not to mention an interview with the eminently edifying Lon Milo DuQuette, who offers his own unique view on a whole host of magical topics mercilessly hurled at him by his interlocutors.

All is adorned by excellent artwork and photographs created by Lodge members and printed in full colour, including the magnificent image which graces the front cover of this second issue.” [via]

Living Thelema

Living Thelema by David Shoemaker is unexpectedly available already in softcover ahead of the planned Aug 25th, 2013 release date.

Living Thelema: A Practical Guide to Attainment in Aleister Crowley’s System of Magick by Dr David Shoemaker, of the Living Thelema podcast, the International College of Thelema, and a Hermetic Library anthology artist, is due for release in September as hardcover or special edition with leather binding by Ars Obscura, and in August in a variety of formats, is available for pre-order.

“The system of spiritual attainment developed by Aleister Crowley is notoriously challenging in its scope. Adapted from the popular podcast segment of the same name, Living Thelema brings a welcome approachability to Crowley’s material, without diminishing the depth of the system. The author focuses on the practical and experiential aspects of the path of Thelema, allowing the reader to grasp the true transformative power of the system.

Beginners and advanced practitioners alike will find much useful advice here, as Shoemaker brings his characteristic down-to-earth style to bear on topics such as ritual and meditation practices, sex magick, astral projection, psychotherapy for magicians, the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, and that pinnacle of attainment known as the crossing of the Abyss.

The author’s background as a practicing psychotherapist allows an entirely unique fusion of esoteric wisdom and cognitive science. Living Thelema is an invaluable handbook for any modern magician.”

“TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part One: Tools for the Journey

An Introduction to the Qabalah
The Holy Guardian Angel
The True Will
Getting Started with a Basic Magical Regimen
The Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram
The Lesser & Greater Rituals of the Hexagram
Liber Resh vel Helios
Methods of Ritual Construction
Asana & Pranayama
Meditation & Visualization Practices
Astral Projection & Control of the Body of Light
Devotional Practices
Liber Samekh & the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel
Sexual Magick & Sexual Mysticism

Part Two: Perspectives on the Path of Attainment

The Methods & Tools of A∴A∴
Tarot & the Path of Initiation
Initiation & Tetragrammaton
The Chakras
The Role of the Ego in the Great Work
The Formulas of LVX and NOX
The Right Use of Magical Power
21st Century Alchemy
The Practical Use of Alchemical Symbolism

Part Three: Life Outside the Temple

Patterns & Cycles in Magical Practice
Dreamwork
Relationships
Qabalistic Coping Techniques
Psychotherapy
The Anima & Animus
Cognitive Therapy for Magicians”

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Faint gibbering heard from somewhere near the restricted stacks