We were recently alerted to this new title from Templum Nigri Solis and thought we’d share it with you. Between Spaces: Selected Rituals & Essays from the Archives of TEMPLUM NIGRI SOLIS is available now in a limited first edition. From their official release notes:

“Magic is dangerous or it is nothing.”
This statement, from William S. Burroughs’ introduction to Between Spaces, offers perhaps the best summation of the magickal philosophy of Templum Nigri Solis (TNS) — one of the most influential and notorious temples to work within the Chaos Current. For nearly thirty years it has pioneered new and revolutionary techniques for liberation of the spirit and charting the farthest reaches of Magickal experience.

Available for the first time this long sought-after collection of papers offers the reader the tools to work powerful Magick and effect a radical tranformation of the psyche. In this book you will find the power to open gateways to infinite possibilities.

Visit their website at www.between-spaces.com to see a sample of the text and to learn more about this most interesting publication.

This text originally appeared in Issue 10 of the British Journal of Thelema, under Reviews. It is our intention to make available here on the site all of the book reviews we’ve published. Grimoire Publishing, by Jake Stratton-Kent, was compiled as an essay rather than as individual book reviews.

The above quote neatly encapsulates our thrust in this review: the grimoires are back, if indeed they ever went away. Modern radicals may ask whether these old texts have anything to teach us, given that magic transforms from one era to the next. The simple answer is yes, since constantly reinventing the wheel is not a feature of this evolution. Granted that re-examination and re-evaluation is more effective than blind emulation, the grimoires have much to teach us, as does an understanding of their origins, rather than the fictions bequeathed us by past orthodoxies. Research into these older sources of magic — preceding the Golden Dawn and Saint Ed, let alone Wicca, ‘Chaos Magic’ etc. – is enjoying renewed interest and experiment. Blind modernism aside, this is a very welcome and productive development. Like other ‘adolescents’ of course the Occult Revival goes through phases, and this interest may pass in a few years. However a new high water mark has been reached in the meantime and the occult world is much richer for it. There is an explosion of well researched editions of the grimoires, plus well informed and diverse studies of the genre. Our collective impression of the grimoires will never be the same again.

To illustrate this – following on from the review of Aaron Leitch’s excellent Secrets of the Magical Grimoires in our last issue – other examples of this phenomenon are here surveyed in an integrated mass review:

Howlings. Various contributors. Scarlet Imprint.
Grimoires — A History of Magic Books. Owen Davies. Oxford University Press.
The Veritable Key of Solomon. Stephen Skinner and David Rankine. Trade edition from Llewellyn, deluxe editions from Golden Hoard.
Both Sides of Heaven. Various contributors. Avalonia Press
Guides to the Underworld Series. Various authors. Hadean Press.

The demand for Howlings far outstripped the original limited edition, and braving the disapproval of bibliophiles the Scarlets have re-released the title, and are soon to follow it up with another compilation, entitled Diabolical. Among the many virtues of the former title, it is a useful place to begin this survey of current interest, practice and research of the grimoires; consisting as it does of a collection of essays by various magicians with varied interests and stances, and a diverse collection of magical texts.

THE ORIGINS OF THE GENRE

The barrage opens with a wonderful piece on the Picatrix, very appropriately since this is the earliest of the grimoires in widespread use. This is a beautifully written essay which places the Picatrix in the context of the Hermetic search for Truth. While utterly traditional in source and inspiration, Hafiz Batin accomplishes the remarkable feat of bringing this context into the post-modern world; a feat more genuinely radical than mere dismissal of magic’s former manifestations.

The Hellenic sources of the Picatrix are indicative of the real roots of the entire genre. The form and style of the grimoires were determined millennia in advance by magical texts in Greek. This far predated the influx of Christianised Kabbalah into Western magic in the late 15^th century; erroneously credited with supplying the basis of Western occultism. The 19^th century revival reinforced the latter assumption, which is absurdly endorsed and perpetuated by prominent ‘Scientific Illuminists’ to this day. The overdue rise of academic interest in magic combined with the current wave of interest in the grimoires may yet force a reappraisal of the Greco-Roman inheritance. Of course it is patently ridiculous that the fountainheads of Western civilisation have been consistently overlooked as sources of its occult traditions. The long delay prior to the appearance of a definitive edition of the Magical Papyri (reviewed in the previous issue) is at least partially to blame. The prejudices of earlier academics – unwilling to deconstruct the image of rational Classicism — are just as blameworthy in this respect as the follies of occultists; whether in rejecting the past or misinterpreting it.

The real origins of the grimoire genre are also evident in Skinner and Rankine’s superb Veritable Key of Solomon which cites the Byzantine Nigromantia as a proto-key and illustrates a Roman talisman portraying Hecate and Solomon. This last has been the subject of considerable interest among some aficionados, and is mentioned on Joseph Peterson’s superb website: http://www.esotericarchives.com, the talisman itself can be seen at http://www.ostia-antica.org/vmuseum/small_2.htm.

GLOBAL CONTEXT AND ENDURING RELEVANCE

On another tack, Owen Davies’ Grimoires is a wonderful academic study of the grimoires, and extremely readable. As Ronald Hutton says on the blurb, it must become the classic work on the subject. Note well that it completely explodes the notion that the grimoires are the exclusive preserve of white, straight, male bibliophiles. In glorious accord with the New World section of my own True Grimoire, Davies shows clearly that the grimoire genre is rooted in worldwide popular culture, as relevant today as it has ever been. We encounter mail-order conjure books in the Caribbean, Africa and downtown America. The place of the grimoires in the ‘pulp genre’ is beautifully explored. Their importance and influence more than justifies the inclusion in this review of the excellent line of pamphlets from Hadean Press.

Davies also shows us that grimoires are a vehicle of cultural exchange: ‘what links Chicago to Ancient Egypt, Germany to Jamaica, and Norway to Bolivia? How did a Swede become the greatest wizard in America? What did Rastafarians and Alpine farmers have in common? Who is the ‘Little Albert’ famed from Canada to the Indian Ocean? And how did a poor crossing sweeper from Ohio become a feared mythical spirit in the Carribean? Grimoires provide all the answers. They not only reflected the globalisation of the world but helped shape it’.

In short, with impeccable scholarship Davies shows us how and why the grimoires have been and remain important and central to the cultural role of magic past, present and future. The extent to which they have effected the diffusion of magical thought is truly mind-blowing in its extent. If none of this sounds familiar to you, all the more reason to read this book, it will transform your impression of the grimoires forever.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS, LIMITATIONS AND OBSTACLES

Turning to occult authors now, Skinner and Rankine’s Veritable Key is a prime example of the superbly informed research, by practitioners rather than professional academics, which is transforming modern occultism. There may be some minor instances, as I suspect there are in my own work, where their non-scholastic background falters in its scrutiny. Identifying the characters on the Roman talisman as Celestial Script is perhaps such an instance; they are just as likely ancient ‘characters’ associated with the 36 decans, from which the Celestial alphabet was perhaps subsequently derived. Nevertheless this is a magnificent book which completely transcends the incessant flow of dated reprints with which we are all too familiar. Weighing in at 446 pp it delivers a huge chunk of Solomonic lore, no less than three 18^th century texts of the Key of Solomon, not to mention a very well researched commentary by practitioners at the forefront of grimoire studies. It is also superbly illustrated, including reproductions of curious marginalia which are a strong feature of the manuscript genre. One of the many gems is the use of talismans constructed identically to the ‘rite time specific’ magic circles of the Heptameron. This provokes thought on the evolution and nature of circles and perhaps elucidates the ‘standing on characters’ cited by Iamblichus in his Theurgy.

It is still all too common to see the word ‘goetic’ and its variants misapplied. All too often it is misused as if it represented the spirits of a certain 17^th century English conjure book which has been, to say the least, over emphasised. This misuse has a major role in obscuring goetia as an important and ancient line of magical tradition. It has also obscured or prevented our understanding manifestations of the grimoire tradition outside the contemporary ‘Anglo-Saxon’ sphere.

The redundant and unthinking defence of such misuse, that it represents an ‘evolution’ of language, is utterly fallacious given the emphasis placed by grimoire magicians on literary and historical sources. This obviously requires an understanding of the terminology in its original sense. This misuse simply perpetuates the devaluation and neglect of goetic magic. It also demonstrates the narrowness of many occultists research and their over-dependence on commercial outlets. Properly understood goetia is the only continuous tradition represented in the entire western revival of magic. It is also the oldest, having roots in the late Bronze Age.

RECONSTRUCTION OF AUTHENTIC PRACTICE

A particularly important concept in ancient and modern grimoire practice is described by Stephen Skinner in an essay in Both Sides of Heaven appropriately entitled “The Thwarting Angels”. Similarly “Order and Chaos” (one of two essays by David Rankine in Howlings I) bears the subtitle “The Use of Adversarial Angels to Control Demons in the Grimoires”. This concept is first encountered in the Testament of Solomon, where an angelic name is listed for each of the spirits encountered (interestingly ‘Asteraoth’ is one of the former). Thus, while perhaps these authors often rely a little too heavily on Dr. Rudd, the main thrust of their argument is soundly based on an older tradition. Indeed Aaron Leitch (whose opus was reviewed in our previous issue) follows and advocates a similar approach completely independently. Another aspect of our authors’ researches adds to the picture. This is mentioned in conjunction with the conjuring of spirits in the names of superior demons, particularly – in their source – ‘Lucifer, Beelzebub and Satan’.

In Skinner’s recent talk at Occulture this was mentioned as a distinct alternative rather than an adjunct to the ‘adversarial angels’, while these essays apparently consider it alongside the adversarial angel approach. It is interesting that a similar trinity is found in both Verum and the Grand Grimoire, namely Lucifer Belzebuth and Astaroth. In my True Grimoire I show how this triad and the Four Kings rule the spirits from the later two grimoires as well as Weir, Honorius and the Goetia; Skinner and Rankine come to similar conclusions regarding Rudd’s trinity and the Four Kings. While traditional within the Solomonic genre adversarial angels should not be considered indispensable or compulsory. As is fairly obvious they are out of place in both pagan and Verum related work.

Rankine’s extraordinary erudition is represented twice in Howlings, his other contribution being Agrippa and Magic Squares. This shows how Agrippa’s planetary sigils are less straightforward than appears in conventional wisdom. For example they routinely employ the 11^th square — rather than the 10^th and 1^st as might be expected — to represent the letters Yod and Aleph. The exception appears to be when the A forms part of the AL termination, so perhaps Agrippa considered IA to represent Yah. It is often little understood how this construction of sigils connects to gematria; whose role is thus shown to more practically oriented than is all too often assumed.

PAPERBACKS AND PAMPHLETS

Both Sides of Heaven is another compilation, with a most impressive list of contributors (including ardent grimoirists Aaron Leitch, David Rankine, Stephen Skinner, plus Charlotte Rodgers and yours truly). There is much of value here, and I mention but two personal favourites. Gifted academic and occult practitioner Kim Huggens gives an excellent appraisal of the daemons intermediary role between gods and men in the Hellenistic era. Maestro Nestor shares a personal account of his liberation from a truly demonic pact made in his youth, which marked the beginning of his mature path as a grimoire traditionalist.

The pamphlets from Hadean Press are an ‘Anglo’ example of what Davies refers to as the ‘pulp’ genre; more common in the Botanicas and Yerbarias of the New World tradition. They contain solid material in an easily affordable format, aimed at enhancing the magic of popular tradition. Elelogap – Spirit of the Waters is the first of a series, the goetic equivalent of the excellent Orisha series published by Original Publications. The few lines devoted to individual spirits in the grimoires are paltry, whereas this booklet portrays one of them as a rounded individual with a role in varied magical processes and in myth. Goetic Divination on the other hand begins the task of fleshing out the current limited understanding of goetia, showing its role across the spectrum of magical practice; in this case in divination through spirits.

Also from Hadean comes Liber Pyramidos, this is an affordable publication of an important Thelemic ritual. The rite is rarely seen in print but is more important than many with more exposure. The Grimoire of the Sixfold Star develops from EQ exegesis, involving 22 spirits encoded in the verse translation of the Stele of Revealing, These correspond to the Tarot, and the pamphlet describes their method of conjuration. More pamphlets are in preparation, but this line is already attracting worldwide interest and exemplifies an important strand of the grimoire tradition.

All of these titles – and their publishers – deserve the attention of ‘hands on’ magicians.

We’ve been back for a while, in body at least. Work on our assorted titles continues, and we’ll be sending out updates on both The Book of Paramazda and Kissing the Devil’s Ass very soon.

We are in France, working on our house. Any orders received between now and 7 June will be shipped on 8 June. We apologise for the inconvenience, but we needed to fly.

Hadean Press will be attending the 2010 Grimoire Gathering, to be held in Clun later this year. Speakers include David Cypher, Jake Stratton-Kent, David Rankine and Geraldine Beskin. Thanks to Mercurius Press for hosting what looks to be an excellent event.

The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema VII 11. This latest and last issue brings to a close a Great Work spanning twenty-two years. There will never be another publication quite like this one (except the compilation scheduled for release later this year). Hadean Press has been privileged to manifest these last three issue of Volume VII and we are ever conscious of the fact that it would have been meaningless without those of you who continue to read and support us in what we do.

Thank you.

Hadean Press is pleased to announce the offering of several new titles at the beginning of the solar year. We’ve expanded our Guides to the Underworld to include two new pamphlets, one of which is part of the Spirit Work Series and one that stands on its own. In Goetic Pharmakos, Jake Stratton-Kent and Jamie Alexzander combine their extensive wealth of knowledge in the grimoire and Hoodoo traditions to create a handbook of goetic spell-work. S. Aldernay provides a collection of simple tools and charms attuned to the realm of Lord Hades in Tools of Avernus.

Much like Spring in Northern England this year, The Equinox: British Journal of Thelema Issue 11 is late. We do expect to release the issue for sale within the next several weeks. You are welcome to pre-order your copy now, or wait for the official release. We will announce again when the issue is ready to ship.


We are also very pleased to announce the forthcoming release of The Book of Paramazda: at once a received book, an enciphered magical system and an apocalyptic vision of the Aeons. Hadean is producing this book in a full leather bound edition limited to 28 numbered copies, of which 26 will be available for purchase. We are taking reservations now.

Please be aware that our shipping rates have changed. The new rates are detailed in our policies and apply worldwide.

Hadean Press made another rare appearance at the first annual Occult Conference held in the heart of Glastonbury. Strange sights abounded as the black-clad legions descended upon this otherwise colourful town, bringing with them the scent of sulphur on the air. The event itself was a successful joining of practitioners from paths usually untread in the public eye. Our thanks to Witchcraft Ltd., Scarlet Imprint, Jake Stratton-Kent, Jamie and Jack and everyone else involved for making this an event to remember. We will certainly go again to Glastonbury for more mischief when the conference returns next year.

by Sir Richard Heygate, co-author of The Book of English Magic, published by John Murray in June, 2009.

Jake Stratton-Kent is one of the few Englishmen who can justifiably claim to be a modern “Sorcerer”. He studied Aleister Crowley’s magical practices and became adept in Thelemic magic, and even published a qabalistic analysis of the Thelemic Holy Book known as the Book of the Law — “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law”. However he has never been happy working in organisations, and has spent the last 30 years developing his own system of ceremonial magic, based around his deep knowledge of the Qabalah, medieval Grimoires and other methods. Jake lives and works in Somerset, and also in Bristol with his partner, Misha.

I decided that I wanted to be a Magician in 1972, when someone told me that I had the “soul of a warrior”. Somehow I understood this on a ‘spiritual’ level, so a Magician it had to be. Getting started was surprisingly easy. In those days, there were few organisations set up to teach Magic, so I borrowed a book called “Mastering Witchcraft”, by Paul Huson and simply used it as a DIY manual, as well as following leads in its excellent bibliography. This was a good way to start and set the pattern for a practical approach to making magic work. I have found that so many people are “Paper Magicians”; they all have the certificates, but are afraid to make the real stuff work. Others are obsessed with status. I once met a High Priestess, who possessed an impressive lineage and titles but needed help with doing the simplest ritual. Such instances are not rare, whereas powerful Western magicians are, despite the numerous pagans and so forth on the UK Census. Although I put a lot of time and energy into a couple of English and American groups, nowadays, I simply work alone or with a few close friends to enhance my own techniques. This has led to me being happier and more focused, accelerating the learning process and leaving more time and energy for magic.

Crowley’s order, the OTO (Ordo Templis Orientis), is now over 2,000 strong, mainly in the US, but I was involved in a smaller, lower profile more focused English group. Far from performing Crowleyan magick by rote this was an experimental group, which was using the English Qaballa and what they called “Magical Astrology”, they were also very much involved in practically oriented magic rather than religious or philosophical matters under an occult heading. They believed in creating everything they needed themselves as far as possible. For example, they made their own paper from specially selected herbs; searched the woods for the right woods, cut at the right time, for wands; even made their own swords. They kept a low profile, but were real magicians and got amazing results. I became involved with this Thelemic magical order in the late 1970’s and did a lot of writing for them, which culminated in publishing a Qabalistic version of the “Book of the Law”. The English version of the Qaballa, on which it is based includes a wonderful basis for creating your own version of ritual magic.

The Qabalah means literally “to receive” and is often exclusively understood to relate to Hebrew traditions, which only influenced Western magic directly from the mid 1400s. In fact a lot of Kabbalistic ideas used by Western magicians came from the Neoplatonists, and even earlier traditions, so provides an unbroken link to the archaic roots of Western magic, in which neither Judaism or Christianity are essential elements. Creating your own rituals on a Qabalistic schema is not a new idea. Cornelius Agrippa, the great Renaissance Magician, to whom we all owe so much for synthesising the best practices of Magic right back into Hellenistic Egypt, shows you how to devise “Sigils” — representational images used in ritual or sympathetic magic as a focus for summoning angels, demons, or spirits — from scratch.

Making a ritual work needs natural ability (don’t believe the current vogue that everyone can be a true magician) and a form with which your nature resonates. Once I know the intent of the Magic, I can use the Qaballa to translate words into numbers, then numbers into the graphical and phonetic components of Sigils, including the incantation to be used. You then need a table of “Correspondences”, which show the focusing external factors — the colours; the astrological influences; the forms of dress (for example, jewellery); and for healing, the parts of the body, and so on. These can then be put together into a ritual to communicate with the spirit I want. This is how I believe that magical Qaballa should work, providing the principle behind the form to be used. Finally, you have to figure out whether you will be communicating with the spirits on the Astral or physical planes, but luckily here I am helped by being partly psychic, so can bring the experience to me.

“Grimoires”, conjuring books, which go back to the Middle Age and earlier are also very important, so long as they don’t become ‘working by rote’. They come in many editions, stretching back centuries, but none are complete. They are very workable systems and very straightforward, although they have a dark reputation, which is not entirely deserved, and provide you with incantations, magical descriptions and lists of spirits. It is commonly assumed that you must go back and find an old book which has survived, and use existing rituals or cobble one together solely from surviving materials. Although valuable initially this approach is stifling if adhered to too long, and ignores the fact that these old rites were based on some kind of symbolic language which could be used creatively. My ‘favourite grimoire’ is the Grimorium Verum, I have spent a long time synthesising the various editions into a single practice with which I am happy, and have acquired all the instruments I need. You obviously have to make some concessions to the modern world, like anyone would do when cooking from Mrs. Beeton. For example, if the Grimoire says, “take the head of a dead man”, you don’t go out and try and find one at Tesco’s. Instead, assuming a skull is unavailable you discover from comparative work that the skull of a small animal like a cat, or a clay representation of a head, properly prepared, will be just as powerful. Once you have got everything in place, it is important to do everything right — such as finding exactly the right points of the lunar cycle to work to and the right time of day. It is possible to get results from quite amateurish efforts, which is why the practice is dangerous and should be avoided by the merely curious. The spirits you are summoning have long memories, some say to the time of creation itself, so may recognise elements of even a badly cooked up ritual. One difficulty is that the spirits you summon may not be those you intend and you could then be in for a nasty shock.

There are about 50 possible spirits available in my Grimoire compilation, and I have worked with about half of them. In each case, you work with an “Intermediary” spirit, which is the most powerful in some respects and will summon the others. It is incredibly important to develop the right relationship, especially with the intermediary. Crowley believed in bullying spirits, which was a big mistake. Bullying may work for a time, but the spirit will avenge itself on you in the end. I believe more in joint participation and mutual interest with those I work with. This creates a pact that is mutually binding and a trust based working relationship. When selecting a spirit, you need to think carefully about the arcane language used in Grimoires and their tendency to ham it up. For example, there is a spirit which it is claimed will give men power over women, but the real translation is that it will help men with all that concerns love. I worked with it to get over a bad relationship, rather than start a new one. As soon as the spirit was summoned, the grief and pain I was feeling went away immediately.

I continue to experiment. Currently I am working with a “God of Healing”, who is very popular in Brazil, Haiti or Africa, where Magicians are much more experienced and have a long continuity of tradition with the past. In my view, one good Haitian or African Magician can see off virtually anyone in this country. Some of the spirits they work with are much more scary, depending on how you are dealing with them, and I am glad that I have 30 years of experience under my belt. Others have a real sense of humour. For example, I was summoning an herb spirit when I was doing a lecture tour of the US, and complained that it had not made me an expert over night. Soon after a huge box of books on herb lore got delivered to me free of charge. The spirit was clearly saying that there was no such thing as a free lunch and I should put the effort in. Others look scary, but are useful. One has enormously broad shoulders — about 5 foot wide — black hair and sallow skin. He could scare the life out of you, but I trust him and he would be the first that I would call if I got into any trouble.

You can get on the wrong side of spirits by being too threatening, using terrifying rituals and waving a sword around. Not many people can use a sword. I have been to fencing classes and also learned medieval combat techniques, so know how to use one, but have never threatened a spirit with it, especially a strong one. You don’t need to, just communicate normally. For example, once I saw one quite clearly. The feeling of power and strength coming off it was quite amazing, but he was standing up against a post, leaning against it very casually and looking so confident, that he did not have to make any display of power. That’s much more impressive than all this Hollywood notion of roaring and shouting. I work with powerful spirits quite intensively. If I am in a position in which I am going to get scared, I take one along, which is useful because if you are getting into any problems, the best treatment is to summon up a scarier ally than the one that is threatening you and let him solve the problem. Much better than sprinkling Holy Water about.

How do I see and communicate with the spirits, you may ask. Well, as I mentioned, I am part psychic, so on occasion can perceive them quite easily. Sometimes you get strange sorts of materialization, for example, one kept on bumping and pushing everyone in the room. Sometimes, you get group perception. When I was in America working with a group, I summoned up a spirit, who was all enormous head. Afterwards, everyone came up with exactly the same description. For actual messages, I mostly use a dowsing pendulum, often with a circle of letters. It is best to figure out your questions in advance to save time. You will find that the powerful spirits will be very choosy — even insisting you only use “their” pendulum. I have also had experience with spirits that actually “possess” people. This is a complex area, and need not be restricted to possession of one person at a time, contact with a possessed person, or even an object handled by them can be “contagious”. Although frightening, especially to Western sensibilities, this is not the negative scenario shown in the “Exorcist”. Don’t forget that possession is used effectively by primitive doctors, where the spirit provides the knowledge to carry out the treatment.

Most people, of course, are scared of the spirit world and, if so, my advice is to leave well alone. The church has, of course, classified them all as Demons or Angels, which some of them are, but I work in the middle ground between the two extremes. These spirits have similar wants and needs to us — unlike Angels and Demons — so you can make reciprocal arrangements. Spirits are objective and have long memories. After I am dead, someone else can conjure up the same spirit, using the same ritual so they have to be either a figment of everyone’s imagination or an objective reality: which you believe in is irrelevant, it is the practical experience that matters. Working with spirits is central to many of the older traditions, but became increasingly neglected in Western occultism from the eighteenth century. It has a hard route back to its rightful place at the centre of magical work, for one thing Western culture is frightened of everything concerning them, and for another even folks concerned with magic confuse spirit work with some kind of dogmatic religiosity which they quite understandably wish to avoid.

The intent of your communication is also very important. Be very clear about what you are asking. Again, this is where church dogma focuses on “pacts with the devil”, cursing etc.; all those things that used to get witches burnt. I do ask for practical help sometimes, mainly as my day job is not very well paid — but I am not in the business of using sorcery just to “get paid and laid”. This was another area where Crowley went wrong. I have used curses and still do, but they can backfire. This isn’t a matter of karma, which is a concept foreign to magical practice. In the 1970’s I became increasingly irritated with one of the fashionable Indian “Gurus” who was destroying the lives and dreams of so many young people. I sent him a curse, but he had his own posse of tame magicians and a huge following of adoring worshippers. So his defense was superior to my offense, and I got the curse back with interest. I learned my lesson and have been more strategically minded in use of such approaches ever since. Not that I make a habit of cursing, I restrict it to areas where my ideals are directly involved, so that the ‘combat’ is something I feel strongly about and would pursue by other means if available. Magical power is amoral, but the practitioner should know who they are and what they believe in and care about, using magic in accord with their own nature.

I have had some extraordinary experiences in a long life in magic. Once I was abducted by Jesus freaks and taken to Beacon Hill, where the leader described how he met the Devil coming out of a UFO and had given up magic ever since. I laughed and asked him “why stop when you are getting a result?” In contrast my experiences, even the frightening ones, have been encouraging, but perhaps that is a matter of having found my true vocation. I have helped people with all sorts of problems, even finding a solution for someone who had terminal cancer. Some people ask me to get rid of “bad” influences, which can take a week or two’s work with serious magic if the problem is ingrained. As for myself, I am very rarely frightened but know enough to understand what not to do. Crowley did all sorts of strange and off the wall stuff, like talking dog language, much of which is not for me. Drugs simply confuse the mind and interfere with access to the dream state, which is a disaster from my point of view. Only use them if you have a teacher who comes from a tradition of their use and then be very careful. Sex is also a diversion, both psychologically and politically. I can laugh at the idea that magic based on drugs and sex is great fun, so who cares if it works? However I am more interested in magic that does, and mental confusion and exploitation often attend the hedonistic approach. Also sexually oriented politics can get very hostile — for example in Dianic witchcraft which is practiced mostly by militant lesbians, and is more concerned with hatred of men and an offbeat religiosity than effective magic.

Above everything, let your feelings be your best judge. Being shit scared of the spirit world is disastrous, it puts them off from the word go and you lose control of the situation. Having confidence changes everything. Put me in a haunted house and it is the ghosts that run for cover. There is a good deal of gullibility in the occult world, but also a reality that can be as startling, and surprisingly close to legend. As a hard-headed scholar of history as well as a practicing magician I never cease to be in awe of what some of the well attested ancient magicians could do. The famous philosopher and proto-scientist Empedocles could raise people from the dead. I am not sure if I will ever be that good, but it is worth a try.

Reprinted with kind permission.
©2009 Richard Heygate

Practical Elemental Magick. David Rankine & Sorita d’Este. Published by Avalonia: BM Avalonia, London, WC1N 3XX, England, UK. October 2008. 186pp.
Reviewed by Empedocles

This is a very impressive book from two prolific and respected occult authors. The concept of Elemental Spirits is encountered frequently in occultism, but there has been until now no comprehensive guide to working with them. I say comprehensive advisedly, for one of the great virtues of this book is it traces origins and alternatives very thoroughly, rather than laying down dogmatic rules with no background. At the same time as offering depth information the book also retains considerable clarity. The range of sources consulted is astonishing, and the work thus provides an invaluable resource for further research by the individual reader. The material is usefully synthesised into a thoroughly workable practical system of magic; while offering sufficient alternatives for the reader who is so inclined to evolve distinct methodologies based on their own preferences.