Let 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 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 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 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 MoreAs the fifth book in the series of the Books of the Master Emil Stejnar published a volume called ‘Magic with Astrology - The Genetic Code of Spirit and Soul’. What follows is my personal review of the first edition of the book in German language.
Read MoreEmil Stejnar (* 1939) is an austrian born gold- and silversmith, a hermetic magician as well as a famous author and astrologer in many German speaking countries. He is known as the spiritual successor to Franz Bardon and has worked with, corrected and expended Bardon’s works for more than fifty years.
Read MoreJosephine McCarthy’s new novel The Last Scabbard is not a novel indeed. It is an exercise in magical vision waiting to be activated. In ancient Tibet sacred text were buried to be found by designated people in the future and unfold their power when the time was ripe for what they had to say. Similarly, there is a secret text in this book, buried in the earth of a fantastic novel, waiting to be released by each one of us as a reader.
Read MoreThis year a truly liminal book release is coming our way. Very little is known about the book so far as it has only recently been rediscovered. Yet the impact of its vast content could easily require us to rewrite some chapters in the history of Western Magic. Reason enough for us to take a brief sneak preview at the little we know about the book today...
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There is a significant difference between ritual and visionary magic. Unfortunately it is so significant, so essential in nature that for people who have practiced ritual magic for years it's quite hard to get their heads around it. It's actually not unlike trying to solve a creative thinking puzzle. It bends your brain until it hurts - or someone shows you the solution (at least in my case that is). To fully understand the impact Josephine McCarthy's Magical Knowledge I can make on traditional ritual magic it is important to better understand this puzzle first.
Read MoreLast week I read Josephine McCarthy’s ‘The Work of the Hierophant’. The book explains in great detail how to set up and run a magical lodge. A lodge that is well connected to the inner realms and balanced by the two currents of divine and chthonic energies emerging from the veil beyond and the depths within the Abyss.
Read MoreConsider a house, maybe a temple. In this house there is a secret door that is locked. It is in a room that is watched by guardians.
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