The weirdness of Populus magic by Nick Farrell - December 1, 2021December 1, 20210 The geomantic symbol of Populus is perplexing for geomancers because of the effects it has on the court. Until Christopher Cattan penned The Geomancie in 1591 there was a body of thought which said that if Populus was the Judge you should ignore the reading (something Cattan acknowledged). Cattan disagreed and included it among not only his charts but also his sample readings. Modern geomancers, at least in Europe have followed this but seem to find it difficult to extract a meaning behind Populus as a Judge. Some say it is an indication that nothing is happening. Others insist it causes delays. When we look at the meanings that Cattan gives to a Populus judge, something clearer emerges. Like the moon, Populus
Real and Toxic magicians magic by Nick Farrell - November 1, 20217 And so another Facebook war has broken out -- this time between Aaron Leitch and Alison Chicosky. For those not in the know, Leitch is a highly trained Golden Dawn magician who has published several books and focuses mainly on the Solomonic tradition. Chicosky appears to be a self-trained witch who makes expensive Solomonic talismans, bills herself as a PGM scholar and claims her magic “always works.” You might see her or her followers on Reddit touting her abilities. Chicosky hit the headlines recently by claiming that Leitch was a “toxic leader” because he blocked her on (his) Facebook, a group in which she had been a member for four years. She claimed it was “because I asked [Leitch] a question
Pat Zalewski signs up to Lord Manticore House magic by Nick Farrell - September 18, 20210 Noted Golden Dawn writer Pat Zalewski has signed up to Lord Manticore House to publish an exclusive second edition of his Secret Inner Order Teachings of the Golden Dawn. Lord Manticore House is a 21st-century author-driven print-on-demand publishing house for occult and esoteric titles. It has a unique vision in that it specialises in advanced magical books, non-commercial titles or books that have been abandoned by commercial publishers and are challenging to find. When it was first released, Secret Inner Order Teachings of the Golden Dawn was a significant addition to the Golden Dawn corpus and made available second-order Golden Dawn magic material which was unavailable to those who at that point considered Israel Regardie as the only source of Golden Dawn magical material. The
Mathers Last Secret gets 10th anniversary edition magic by Nick Farrell - August 27, 2021September 1, 20215 The second edition of Mathers Last Secret is out ten years after the first edition was released. For those not in the know, Mathers Last Secret contained all the rituals and teachings of Sam Mather's AO temple in London which was run by the sex magician Dr Edmund William Berridge. The temple was formed after the schism with the Order of the Golden Dawn and was briefly the spiritual home of Alistair Crowley. The material was collected by a member of the group and kept until his death, where they were mislabeled and end up in a Wiccan museum. The book is important because it contains the actual rituals of the AO which turned out to be surprisingly close to the original
Christopher Cattan Traditional Geomancy reading geomancy magic by Nick Farrell - July 4, 2021July 4, 20211 Should the French King make peace with the Holy Roman Emperor? On 21 July 1536, Cardinal Agostino Trivulzio visited France to broker peace between Francis I "le Roi Chevalier" (think Henry VIII with a big nose) (pictured) and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The Geomancer Christopher Cattan was asked, “should peace be allowed to happen?” The two countries were headed into the Italian Wars, so we know that peace did not happen for several years. The court is negative. While there was some optimism for peace, the Left Witness was Tristitia, and the Judge was Carcer which at the very least pointed towards a delay. Cattan said that with Conjuctio being in the first house and moving to the third talks could begin
Root of the Prayer of the Salamanders magic by Nick Farrell - July 3, 20210 Prayer from Delphi (became the Prayer of the Salamanders) Ineffable father of the immortals, eternal, adept, lord, borne upon the ethereal widths of the ever-changing worlds, where the might of your Power is established, you who beholds all and hears all with your beauteous ears, hear your children, whom you bore when the time was right. For your great, golden, eternal Power lies above the world and the starry heaven. Above this Power you are exalted, raising yourself in light, by ceaseless streams nursing Nous, your equivalent, who then conceives all, elaborating the imperishable matter, which appears to be its creation, for Thou bound all with seals. From Nous flow the generations of the holy lords around you, o you almighty king and sole father of the mortals and of the blessed immortals. Other generations come
Solo Magicians do not say what they mean either magic by Nick Farrell - May 5, 20211 Occultists have a habit of embellishing stories. Thoth-Hermes, the patron god of magic, is also the patron of words, stories, lies and thieves. One of the qualities of Odysseus, who was closely linked to Hermes, was his diplomacy, his ability to tell stories and to lie through his teeth. I have done one list that was mostly about what Golden Dawn people tend to say and mean. Those not in groups used it as an excuse to bash those that were… so here is a list of things solo magicians say alongside what they mean. I don’t need to belong to a group to teach me magic: I can’t find a group that would let me join. Even AMORC would not let
Quantum cats and the death of synchronicity magic by Nick Farrell - April 4, 2021April 4, 20210 Quantum theory might have killed off Jung's theory of divination which was based on the random nature creating a "meaningful coincidence" or synchronicity If you go online you will find lots of sites that will do you a tarot, geomancy, rune, or iChing reading at the touch of a button. There used to be software to do the same thing, but the code was so basic you can fit it into a webpage without too much difficulty. I don't mean sites that do the donkey work out of calculating a geomancy reading, or tell you what each card might mean, I mean sites that generate a reading using its own random code and presents it as a reading for the user. Besides the
Book Review: The Power of Asteria: Applied Astrology for Magic magic by Nick Farrell - January 28, 20210 The Power of Asteria: Applied Astrology for Magic is a much-needed book for practical magicians. I am cheating with this review as I helped edit the book, but my reason for doing so is that this book is important. While astrology and magic went together for centuries, modern magic’s relationship with astrology has been problematic and poorly defined. A magician who is lucky to have a teacher or training might be told that they must work on a waning moon for banishing, or a waxing for something they might want to gain something. If they are very lucky they might be told to do a ritual during one of the planetary days or hours. However, the actual astrological information has been
Storm Constantine is dead magic by Nick Farrell - January 20, 2021January 20, 20210 Storm Constantine a sci-fi writer who was a huge influence on my writing has died, she was 64. Her death is a shock to me as I had no idea she was sick and spoke to her on Facebook a few weeks ago about my book Helios Unbound which she edited and published through her own company, Immanion Press. Constantine was a huge influence on her fans particularly for her Wraeththu series and there has been an outpouring of grief from them, but while I did read her stuff, that was not Storm’s influence over me. I met Storm while trying to find a home for my book Gathering the Magic which was not getting any interest from the main publishers. It was
