Imagine a place full of light. Blinding light as you see it high up on the mountains. That is where we are. We are sitting on a stone bench right below a mountain peak. The ridge is ragged. So much so that people in the valley down below know the story of angels with golden saws who had come down and once given the mountain head its current form.
Read MoreHaving looked into two classical concepts of Self and Self-Transformation, let's take some time to explore a third and more modern version. Also we will be looking into conclusions we can derive from all three - and how they may be defining essential criteria for magical training today.
When striving for transformation of ourselves we tend to work from one of a few numbers of consciously or subconsciously held models of 'Self'. Such models form the basis of how we make sense of ourselves as part of a larger environment of visible and invisible forces as well as a part of a social community or tradition. Inherently they determine essential assumptions about the triggers, direction and aim of such transformation. The following explorations and ideas were initiated by the wonderful anthology 'Self and Self-Transformation in the History of Religions', edited by David Shulman and Guy G. Stroumsa.
Read MoreLet me start by sharing a short kabbalistic story. I came across it while reading Moshe Idel's wonderful essay 'From Platonic to Hasidic Eros' in this anthology from 2001.
Read More(...) So I thought about it - all human behavior is goal orientated. Upon pondering about it I began to realise its distortion. I found many examples of great human achievements for which it is inaccurate: people in love may act based upon compassion, soldiers in an army act based upon orders, medical doctors in contaminated areas act upon self-abandonment.
Read MoreThe last months have been really intense. They began to change my approach to magic more radically than many years of practice had done before. So much is going on in fact I cannot predict at all where these tides will take me in the long-run. Actually I might not be making any progress at all - instead I might have started to go backwards? I guess thinking of progress in a linear way is another one of the concepts I’ll need to give up in order to move forward.
Read MoreYou might have read the recent articles of RO, Frater Barabas or von Faustus discussing the nature of demons. I learned some interesting points following their discussion. Yet, most of what I learned was less about the nature of daemons and more about how we are still stuck in repeating history rather than exploring reality... - Let me share what I mean with this - and how it relates to my own experiences with the daemonic.
Read MoreHere are some thoughts on freedom in magic. And maybe what life is like without a master? No one to serve to, no one to subdue to, free from all bounds, unbound in time... Following the ghost light of being one's own master has led many great magicians astray.
Read MoreYesterday I finished reading 20th Century Magic and the Old Religion (originally published as 'Dancers to the Gods') by Alan Richardson. Well, to be honest, I didn’t finish the whole book but just its long biographic introduction which is why I bought it in the first place. What follows from there - and what I only read in excerpts - are about 70 pages of the personal magical diaries of Christine Harley and Charles Seymour respectively as well as the rare article The Old Religion by Charles Seymour.
Read MoreNow, this has been on my mind for quite a while. Bringing this finally down to paper feels like giving birth to something that has taken a very long time to come through. I am really grateful for that. I am grateful for the insight that struck me when walking my dog this morning, looking at the snow, the quiet woods, enjoying the silence - and finally realizing how the pieces of the puzzle needed to be arranged.
Read More... this week has been pretty tough for both of us. As we are approaching the end of it let me take a moment to pause, to slow down and reflect. I reckon this will become a letter of apology - for what I did to you and might have done often times before.
Read MoreThere is a fascinating book called ‘Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn’ by Amira El-Zein. I started reading it right after finishing Bill Gray’s biography. At this point I cannot share a full review of it yet - it is soon to come though - but want to take a moment of something important it helped me to see...
Read MoreI am conscious The Aggression Cycle doesn't take the typical approach of introducing a new model to our magical practice. Stealing from Gestalt Psychology - a specific type of psychotherapy many magicians and even psychologists mistrust for various reasons - and applying the insights found to ritual magical practice might just push the boundaries a little too much. Well, I am not sure it does.
Read MoreHere is a book I whole heartedly recommend to every practicing magician out there. Well, I get that I am a little late in saying that - just 10 years after its original publication in the UK. But I hope it's never too late to recommend outstanding books?
Read MoreSo I heard a voice. And the spirit said to me: “A forest rests on many trunks.”
Read MoreI never thought a single book could contain an entire library. I never thought a single book could contain the actual workload, the depth of practical guidance that easily fills an entire lifetime as a magical adept. With the final part of Josephine McCarthy’s Magical Knowledge trilogy, however, this is exactly what you are holding in your hands.
Read MoreMany of us when they were young had imaginary friends. For all of us who are now frowning, thinking ‘Well, not me!’ I honestly wish you've had as well. The question wether imaginary friends are better or worse than real ones is pretty irrelevant here. What is relevant is how either of them enrich our lives. Let me explain why I think this is not only true for the subject of imaginary friends...
Read MoreSome recent ritual work pointed me to look closer at the function of the four elements in magic. To be honest - for quite a while the topic of the four elements had seemed so basic to me that I had lost sight of it over the years. Well, how wrong life would proof me again!
Read MoreIn a previous post I shared an overview on the human constitution according to Gnostic Hermetism. The differentiation of inner organs as Vitals, Elementaries and Elementals is essential for a deeper understanding of how magic and magical Yantras work as we will see.
Read MoreReading and writing about the works of Emil Stejnar opened a fascinating door into a new magical paradigm for me. Yet, at the same time my own magical practice is strongly influenced by the techniques and inner pathways Josephine McCarthy lays out in her seminal works.
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