Tag Archives: Salamander and Sons

Circles of Power

Circles of Power: A Guide to Ceremonial Magic by Hermetic Library fellow John Michael Greer, second edition from Salamander and Sons, available in 2013, supposedly available from Weiser Antiquarian but not appearing in their catalog, may be of interest.

“‘When ritual and the relationships of meaning which underlie it are studied and used deliberately … a whole range of possibilities opens up. These possibilities include most of the methods of magic … symbolism and symbolic action — that is, ritual — form the most important elements of the magician’s toolkit. The mastery of ritual thus offers what is probably the single most important way to begin to make use of the immense hidden potentials of human consciousness, potentials which go far beyond the limits most people nowadays place on what it means to be human.’

One of the most prestigious esoteric groups of the Victorian era, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has been described as ‘a system for perfecting the raw material that is humanity; a system for discovering the Divine Source within, and for seeing it in all things; a system for awakening the consciousness within and uniting with that of the universe itself.’

In Circles of Power: A Guide to Ceremonial Magic, John Michael Greer provides a practical guide to the eloquent and powerful system of Cabalistic ritual magic developed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn — arguably the most complete and fully developed of the living traditions of Western magic.

Greer clearly articulates in plain English the nature of Golden Dawn ritual magic; the magical macrocosm and microcosm, and the tools and practice of ritual magic. In doing so, he concisely summarises the foundations of Golden Dawn ritual (such as Invoking and Banishing, the Middle Pillar exercises, and Opening and Closing), the applications of such ritual (including working tools, talismans, evocation, invisibility and transformation, and spiritual development) and the Formula of the Equinox.

Extensively illustrated throughout, Circles of Power features 38 rituals and ceremonies described in detail, plus guidance for the solitary magician and an appendix of cabalistic symbolism.”

Freemasonry

Freemasonry: Foundation of the Western Esoteric Tradition by Angel Millar, from Salamander and Sons, available in 2013, supposedly available from Weiser Antiquarian but not appearing in their catalog, may be of interest.

“In the early 18th century the Masonic fraternity emerged to change the shape of the Western esoteric tradition forever. Within a few decades the fraternity had spawned numerous esoteric societies that claimed to communicate with spirits, teach the secrets of alchemy, and to perform rituals of healing. During the next century the still-surviving Masonic Rosicrucian society was established, attracting the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn — William Wynn Westcott and S.L. MacGregor Mathers ‐ and Theodor Reuss, co-founder of the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), among others.

Freemasonry: Foundation of the Western Esoteric Tradition explores the history of Western esotericism, beginning with the early Masonic Ritual, and its symbolism of natural law and death, essential to understanding the Craft, high-Degree Freemasonry, and the contemporary Western esoteric tradition. Other subjects explored include:

· Mystical Masonic societies, practicing séances, alchemy, healing, etc.;
· The Masonic influence on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the O.T.O.;
· Masonic Lodges practicing Roman Catholic mysticism;
· The contemporary Masonic-Rosicrucian society;
· Aleister Crowley’s adventures in Freemasonry;
· The Rose Croix Degree;
· Freemasonry and alchemy;
· Wicca and Masonic symbolism.

Freemasonry: Foundation of the Western Esoteric Tradition includes a series of 12 rare etchings by Hejonagogerus Nugir, originally published in Freymäurerische Versammlungsreden der Gold- und Rosenkreutzer des alten Systems (Amsterdam, 1779), presented here as plates.

Fifteen chapters. Illustrated, with two appendices, plus bibliography. Indexed.”

The Magister, Volume 0

The Magister, Volume 0: The Order of Revelation by Marcus Katz, from Salamander and Sons, available in 2012, supposedly available from Weiser Antiquarian but not appearing in their catalog, may be of interest.

“THE MAGISTER — Marcus Katz’s monumental work in 11 volumes — provides a comprehensive contemporary system of spiritual development via the Western esoteric initiatory tradition.

THE MAGISTER surveys the past century of esoteric teachings, drawing upon primary source material including:

· Aleister Crowley’s handwritten diaries and notebooks;
· Letters from Dion Fortune;
· Unpublished material from S.L. MacGregor Mathers and Florence Farr; and
· Little-recognised work buried deep within the archives of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

This rarely seen material has been meticulously collated during the course of Katz’s travels to libraries and private collections throughout Europe and the USA over the past three decades.

THE MAGISTER combines academic rigour with Katz’s extensive practical experience and professional teaching discipline in order to provide profound material — regarding kabbalah, tarot, alchemy, Thelema, and more — in a manner that is accessible and which facilitates practical application to a contemporary spiritual life.

The first book in the series – Volume 0: The Order of Revelation – lays out the entire map of the esoteric spiritual ascent narrative. It provides an explanation of the grade system – its history, power and function as a framework for magical and mystical experience – and of the Aeons, including how they work in your life and their prediction for the future of human evolution.

Volume 0 of THE MAGISTER also presents a complete overview of the study curriculum of the great magical orders of history, enabling you to learn a vast range of approaches – from ceremonial magick and shamanism to Ma’at magick and retro-temporal engineering!

This first book in THE MAGISTER series teaches techniques with the benefit of understanding their final destination, including solar adorations, banishing rituals and significantly more. You will learn to discover and fully experience the invisible knots that bind the universe, in order to achieve magical effects.

THE MAGISTER, Volume 0: The Order of Revelation features:

· Comprehensive reading lists by grade of advancement in the system;
· Full colour plates including Arcana of the innovative Tarot of Everlasting Day;
· Rare plates from European collections showing the sources of the tradition;
· Extensive footnotes, illustrations, bibliography, and index.”

The Dry Path of Alchemy

The Dry Path of Alchemy: Practical Development of the Work by Juan D. Bermejo, Manlio Padovano, José Antonio Puche Riart, and Francisco Clemente Parra, from Salamander and Sons, apparently scheduled to be available in 2012, but still in pre-order, will be available from Weiser Antiquarian, may be of interest.

“While the true identity of that most enigmatic of Hermetic Adepts, Fulcanelli, continues to be debated, what cannot be contested is the indelible legacy of the Master Alchemist. The books attributed to Fulcanelli — Le Mystère des Cathédrales (The Mystery of the Cathedrals, first published 1926) and Les Demeures Philosophales (Dwellings of the Philosophers, first published 1929) — are perhaps the two most important alchemical texts of the past century. Although it is widely acknowledged that Fulcanelli’s texts ‘represent the unquestionable testimony of an illuminated Adept’, few who have entered his alchemical labyrinth of phonetic cabala, secret language (argot and cant), Latin and Greek puns, double entendres, and cryptic symbolism have emerged to enjoy the sunlight of understanding … until now.

For five years between 2007 and 2012, four courageous souls — Juan D. Bermejo, Manlio Padovano, José Antonio Puche Riart, and Francisco Clemente Parra — plunged headlong into the complex branching maze of the Great Work, navigating their course through ‘the baffling and intricate passages, from room to room and from court to court’ with the awesome insights of Fulcanelli as their map and compass.

Documenting their alchemical journey via 180 full colour photographs and more than 50 additional illustrations — from the preparation of Saturnia and the canonical salts, the collection of dew and confection of the Styx; to obtaining the Martial regulus of antimony, treating the caput mortuum and obtaining the golden salt and Adamic earth, and purifying the regulus; to unleashing the Green and Red Lions, animating Mercury, flying the Eagles, and forming the Island of Delos; to the cooking of the Philosophical Egg and the ultimate ‘Crowning’ of the Work — The Dry Path of Alchemy: Practical Development of the Work is a book that no serious student of alchemy can afford to be without. If Fulcanelli’s complex and often abstruse masterpieces are capably described as ‘mind shattering in their revelations’ and ‘texts of incomparable value’, this text — both erudite and magnificently practical — if possibly beyond compare.

Ten chapters plus two appendices, all profusely illustrated and free of incomprehensible jargon, and accompanied by detailed chemical analysis of the products of the Work.”

London’s Mystical Legacy

London’s Mystical Legacy by Toyne Newton and Jonathan Tapsell, from Salamander and Sons, apparently scheduled to be available in Aug 2012, but still in pre-order, will be available from Weiser Antiquarian, may be of interest.

Update 1jan2016: Jon Tapsell wrote to say London’s Mystical Legacy was actually published by Brutus Media. So, I’ve removed the old links in this post in favour of the new on in this update.

Toyne Newton Jonathan Tapsell London's Mystical Legacy from Salamander and Sons

“London’s Mystical Legacy unmasks London’s true founder and spiritual father as Brutus of Troy. Toyne Newton and Jonathan Tapsell trace Brutus’ pagan lineage from its beginnings in Ancient Troy to its emergence in what became the City of London, and the pertinence of this lineage to the Crown. This controversial book looks at London’s lost symbol, the Dragon. Often considered the thirteenth astrological sign, the Dragon is also depicted as the Red Serpent, symbolic of the bloodline of Cain progressing from Near Eastern Lands via the Mediterranean to present day London and the City Banking Cartel.

London’s Mystical Legacy looks beneath the veneer of many London traditions including Gog and Magog, the siting of Parliament, the symbols of the Exchequer, the City Livery companies, the Knights of the Garter, and the mysterious Committee of 300, and demonstrates how all are being controlled by the Crown based in the Square Mile — quite distinct and far more powerful than any monarch, President or government.

London’s Mystical Legacy rediscovers how the City of London was geomantically aligned since Pagan times upon Brutus’ temples, and whose secret knowledge was resurrected by Wren. Newton and Tapsell show how all English law is based upon the Malmutius Code — itself a remnant of Brutus’ edicts — and explain the origin of the Law of Sanctuary and why the London Stone (or Brutus Stone) is so important to the capital’s destiny.

Many famous characters are seen here in a new light: Shakespeare, Bacon, Dee, Wren, Blake, Churchill, Crowley, kings and queens, but perhaps most sensational of all, Louis Lord Mountbatten’s apparent connection to the powerful spell to repel Hitler: a wartime occult ritual enacted by a group of hereditary witches using an ancient rite.

London’s Mystical Legacy brings together much hitherto unknown knowledge and established tradition to present a bold new unorthodox history which explains why London — the City of Brutus — is central to world events.”

Hyleal, Pri-material, Catholic, or Universal Natural Chaos

Hyleal, Pri-material, Catholic, or Universal Natural Chaos: Excerpts from the Companion Volume to Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom by Henricus Khunrath, selected and translated by Russell Yoder, from Salamander and Sons, scheduled to be published already, but coming soon, will be available via Weiser Antiquarian Books.

“Hyleal, Pri-material, Catholic, or Universal Natural Chaos consists of excerpts from the companion volume to Henricus Khunrath’s alchemical classic, Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae (or, Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom).

Englished for the first time by Russell Yoder, Hyleal, Pri-material, Catholic, or Universal Natural Chaos is initially concerned with Magnesia (the “Magnet of the Lord” and “universal raw Stone of the Wise that is to be found in Nature”), the Green Lion of Nature (the “fiery spark or ray of the World’s Soul, or Light of Nature” that is “the naturally, conceivably catholic All”) and Our Chaos or Hyle (“the World’s First Water … [the] Fountain [from which] all material things have their first origin” which is the “Fundament or Foundation, the Basis of the World that God Himself put in place … [which] the edifice of the entire earth is set upon …”).

Embodying a kind of Christianised natural magic influenced as much by kabbalah, natural philosophy and the works of Paracelsus as by Lutheran pietism and devotion, the Divinely inspired and particular revelations of Hyleal, Pri-material, Catholic, or Universal Natural Chaos extend to include heavenly influences and the timing of the work, Azoth or Living Mercury (“not quicksilver, nor something taken out of or from him, but Mercurius – that which the Philosophers speak of!”), Salt of Magnesia (“often called Sal Petra or Sal Peter, Sal Alkali, Sal Gemma or the Noble Rock-salt … from the radical Humidity of the whole World”), and the artful and natural elevation of plants, animals and minerals “to the highest Natural Perfection” towards “true Regeneration and more than perfect Multiplication of Metals [and] an exceedingly powerful Universal Medicine …”

Includes a brief but highly insightful tract in verse ‘from F.R.C.’ on the subject of Our Chaos – Hyle – published as part of The Golden Rose (1704), almost 100 years after the publication of Khunrath’s Amphitheatrum, and exactly 90 years after the appearance of the Rosicrucian manifesto Fama Fraternitatis R.C. (1614).”

Three Treatises of Art

Three Treatises of Art: Alchemy for the Behmenist Adept, The Little Alchemical Farmer, and The Lead of the Wise and Its Dual Species by Two Anonymous Authors and Adam Michael Birkholz, translated by Russell Yoder, from Salamander and Sons, scheduled to be published already, but coming soon, will be available via Weiser Antiquarian Books.

“These Three Treatises of Art – namely Alchemy for the Behmenist Adept, The Little Alchemical Farmer and The Lead of the Wise and Its Dual Species – have been translated by Russell Yoder. Two of the three are presented in English for the first time, while the third is presented anew for the first time since the 18th century.

Alchemy for the Behmenist Adept
Alchemy for the Behmenist Adept (or, Idea Chemiæ Bohmianæ Adeptæ): The Preparation of the Philosopher’s Stone According to Jacob Bohm (Amsterdam, 1690) is a rare and significant attempt to systematise Jacob Boehme’s Hermetic corpus. Drawing upon the High Dutch Philosopher’s works – including Aurora: Die Morgenröte im Aufgang, The Threefold Life of Man, De Signatura Rerum (or, Signature of All Things), Mysterium Pansophicum (or, Earthly and Heavenly Mystery and the Image of the Soul), Mysterium Magnum, Clavis, and Sixty-two Theosophic Epistles – Alchemy for the Behmenist Adept is concerned with “the preparation of the great Wonder-Stone of the Wise, the signs and colour which appear in the Work, their force and effect, and what commonly and especially to take heed of while at work …”

The Little Alchemical Farmer
A sublimely humourous pastorale, The Little Alchemical Farmer (or, Der Kleine Bauer) succinctly illustrates the familiar adage that “when the novice or apprentice is ready the Master appears.” Encountered on the path “between two Mountains,” this “fine old Farmer” is a keeper of high Mystery who generously expounds upon the crude ‘Second Matter’ and the conjunction of the red and white Star-flowers (the ‘red man’ and ‘white woman’) to become “the Prima Materia ‘of all metals’.” Before vanishing into the Mountain itself, this elderly ‘country gentleman’ describes the origin and root of all metals, the ignorance of the senses and the importance of prayer, “the white Mercurial Lily-sap” (‘Azot’ or ‘Gluten Aquilae’), and “[t]he sulphuric, incombustible, fixed, red lily juice” (‘Laton’ or ‘Leo Rubeus’), and emphasises that although “from the nature of these [white and red] flowers, precious stones and pearls grow forth,” the “highest object [of concern] is to further knowledge of God, and long life, and recovery from all diseases.”

The Lead of the Wise and Its Dual Species
A Treatise entitled ‘The Lead of the Wise and Its Dual Species’, with Selected Notes, from Compass of the Wise (Compendium of the Golden and Rosie Cross) by Adam Michael Birkholz (Berlin, 1782) elaborates upon Saturn – that “fiend, foe, and death of all metals” who is also “their resurrection and life” – and the spirit of this “child-eater, father, brother, sister, destroyer of all planets, friend and enemy …” In addition to describing this “right philosophical water of separation, which by its sharpness cuts all metals and minerals,” The Lead of the Wise and Its Dual Species discusses the properties of “our raw philosophical matter,” the principal Key to the work (“our magical fire”), the female Gold or Suns, the prophet Ezekiel, “the Boneless Fish [‘Euhmais’] which swims around in the philosophical seas,” the preparation of the philosophical ferment of leaven, the amalgamation of “the true philosophical gold … with a Mercury of Saturn,” and significantly more.”

The Search for Abraxas

The Search for Abraxas by Nevill Drury and Stephen Skinner, is newly released from Salamander and Sons. This is a second edition of the 1973 The Search for Abraxas, and I understand it will be distributed through Weiser Antiquarian, though as of this writing there is not yet in their catalogue, but it does appear to be available directly from the publisher.

“‘There is an animal in man, and there is a God in man. In order to produce a harmonised microcosm these aspects of our nature have to be firstly acknowledged: it is then that the self may be transformed. Perhaps the God which best symbolises this mystical venture is the one who is both a man and a hawk; He who is of the Sun and whose legs are coiling serpents, symbol of Wisdom reaching down to Earth. He who holds the sacred shield … and whose name is Abraxas.’

Hailed as ‘the manifesto of a new generation’, The Search for Abraxas examines the nature of human potential emblematised by the transcendent Gnostic deity Abraxas – a figure associated not only with Time and Eternity, but also representative of the polarities of good and evil. Navigating the complex terrains of ‘The World of Light’, ‘The World of Shadows’ and ‘The World of Dreams’, renowned esoteric researchers and authors Nevill Drury and Stephen Skinner map the major themes of the Western esoteric tradition and elaborate upon the philosophies and cosmologies underpinning them.

From modern occult revivals and the international counter-culture and psychedelic revolution of the late 1960s to theoretical and practical qabalah and ceremonial magic; from witchcraft, sorcery and ‘transformation phenomena’ to astral and etheric projection and reincarnation, The Search for Abraxas reminds us that ‘magic is essentially about altered states of awareness that can lead alternatively towards cosmic transcendence and spiritual integration or towards dark alienation and even evil.’

Explorations of this duality – the polar opposites within the psyche – are particularly pronounced in the works of various artist-magicians, including the unconventionally brilliant and visionary Austin Osman Spare; the phantastically sinister yet transcendent Late Art-Nouveau, Decadents Aubrey Beardsley, Harry Clarke, Alastair, Edmund Dulac, and Kay Nielsen, and the Surrealists Yves Tanguy, Wolfgang Paalen and Max Ernst. This connection between magical thought and visionary art is a central motif of ‘this far-ranging and highly readable book.'” [via]

“Skinner and Drury met – at university – and Drury was impressed by Skinner’s Qabalistic erudition … Drury’s belief that the artist is a vehicle for, not a creator of, his artistic productions, produced a desire to explore methods of charting the hidden sources of inspiration. ‘The levels of inspiration achieved by different artists seems to me to parallel the stages of consciousness outlined in the Qabalah, and for this reason, one of my main aspirations is to achieve greater rapport with the higher levels of my unconscious.’ And so Skinner’s need for scientific exactitude and Drury’s desire to tap hidden levels of subconscious vitality combine in a common purpose. The first result of their cooperation appears in this far-ranging and highly readable book … What Stephen Skinner and Nevill Drury have done in this book is not to make an anthology of the weird and wonderful, but to state, with a kind of modesty and quiet precision, what they consider the relevant facts to be. It is their manifesto, and the manifesto of a new generation.”—Colin Wilson, from the introduction [via]

The Pass-Keys to Alchemy

The Pass-Keys to Alchemy: The Lost Book of Lapidus by Lapidus (David Curwen), from Salamander and Sons, is due to be available directly and via Weiser Antiquarian. It’s a little confusing because, as I write this, although the publisher has stated that the volume is available now, their own shop has it still listed as pre-order and the volume does not appear at Weiser Antiquarian yet. In theory, at least, the volume can now be ordered, or will soon be. This follows the previous work In Pursuit of Gold: Alchemy Today in Theory and Practice [also] which was re-issued, in a revised and expanded edition, in 2011.

“Lost for more than three decades, the companion volume to In Pursuit of Gold has been found.

For decades students of alchemy have believed that In Pursuit of Gold – hailed upon its 1976 publication as a rare work by one of the few practicing laboratory alchemists writing in English during the mid-to-late 20th century – constituted the sole alchemical text penned by the enigmatic alchemist Lapidus. The truth is that Lapidus – real name David Curwen – wrote a second text which, unknown to most, he secreted away with at least one trusted Brother in the Art. Throughout the intervening years this remarkable book, The Pass-Keys to Alchemy, has passed through just a few select and trusted hands.

Each of the chapters of The Pass-Keys to Alchemy details one pass-key to the successful confection of the Philosophers’ Stone, as identified by Lapidus. Drawing upon the writings of Eirenæus Philalethes and Ali Puli, The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus the Great, Bendictus Figulus’ A Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature’s Marvels, Sir Edward Kelly’s Book of St. Dunstan, and Michael Maier’s Atalanta Fugiens among other canonical texts, this lost alchemical masterpiece includes the kind of profound insights into alchemical theory, laboratory processes and practical methods that only derive from a lifetime of quiet alchemical work.

A rare alchemical gem in print for the first time, The Pass-Keys to Alchemy also includes an introductory essay by Tony Matthews, grandson of Lapidus, and 16 of Theodor de Bry’s masterful engraved emblems from Atalanta Fugiens with accompanying commentary by Lapidus.” [via]

Dark Spirits: The Magical Art of Rosaleen Norton and Austin Osman Spare

You may be interested in this new opportunity to acquire Dark Spirits: The Magical Art of Rosaleen Norton and Austin Osman Spare by Dr. Nevill Drury through Salamander and Sons, due for an additional 95 standard hardcover copies in Dec 2012. I’d previously mentioned this book, but in the interim all the available copies had pre-sold, now there’s another simple cloth bound edition being made available.

“By late April 2012, all pre-order copies of the Deluxe Edition of Dark Spirits – strictly limited to 95 copies numbered by hand, fully bound in black leather with gilt title and device, and silk bookmark ribbon, and accompanied by an exclusive hand numbered print of the terrible Werplon entity encountered by Rosaleen Norton – had sold out.

Due to considerable demand from readers, we are making available for pre-order purchase just 95 copies of a standard hardcover edition of Dark Spirits. Although this standard hardcover edition will, like the Deluxe Edition, feature in excess of 120 colour and black and white images, it will be bound simply in cloth with a dust jacket, unnumbered and without the Werplon print. This standard hardcover edition is available for USD$85.00 plus worldwide airmail shipping USD$24.00.

Both the Deluxe Edition and the standard hardcover edition will be published on 05 December 2012 in order to coincide with the 33rd anniversary of Rosaleen Norton’s death – and with our profound apologies for the necessary revisions of publication dates.” [via]

“Although they never met, the Australian witch Rosaleen Norton (1917-1979) and British visionary artist Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956) shared many points in common. As occult practitioners operating within the Western esoteric tradition, both artists were well versed in the literature of Western magic, Theosophy, kabbalah, Eastern mysticism, and modern psychoanalysis. Fascinated by mediæval magical grimoires, they also explored the ‘seals’ associated with elemental spirit-beings and developed unique forms of sigil magic. Perhaps even more significantly, Norton and Spare utilised their own personal techniques of self-hypnosis and trance in order to produce their distinctive visionary artworks. As this book demonstrates, there is a clear parallel between the trance states associated with the Zos / Kia cosmology of Spare and the trance magic of Norton. Profiling both artists in detail, and with in excess of 120 colour and black and white images, Dark Spirits explores the unique contributions of both Spare and Norton as visionary outsiders and is necessary reading for anyone interested in the nether regions of the magical psyche.” [via]

The Hermetic Library Blog

Faint gibbering heard from somewhere near the restricted stacks