Do not miss the Podcast with the amazing David Rankine on Greg Kaminsky’s site occultofpersonality.com .  Make sure to check out all the other amazing podcasts Greg has done with different magicians while you are there.

Maestro Nestor

Hello all grimoire and magic lovers!

In this the first chance to win a book I have chosen to start of with something special and very dear to me. A copy of the amazing anthology Both Sides of Heaven that is signed by the Amazing David Rankine and the just as amazing and more beautiful Sorita d’Este. As a small bonus I sign it as well. It was the first book I have been a part of and it is filled with amazing authors and ideas. It is a treasure for all grimoire and magic lovers.  I hope the winner will enjoy the book as much as I have!

To be able to win and enter the competition all you need to do is to either make a comment in the blog after this post and just explain in a simple way why you want the book. If you do it this way make sure you enter a valid email address when you register an account to make comments so I can contact you if you win. The other way is to post on the facebook thread that will be made and explain there why you want the book. You will have until April 3:d 2010 to do this. After that I will pick a winner and contact the winner to ask where to send it. Shipping is also free!

I will continue doing this each month for a while to see if this can become a regular thing. The reason why I do this is because I want to increase the interest for high quality books on grimoires and magic. I promise that there will be some very interesting titles coming over the months. I even plan to do a double with both an English and a Swedish title next month so that all of my Swedish friends can benefit from this as well.

I also wish to take the opportunity to thanks Sorita and David for all their support over the years. If you have not done it already I recommend that you take a look at their amazing books as well as the books David has written with the legendary Stephen Skinner.

Avalonia Books

Golden Hoard Press

Good luck to all who enters and have a magical month!

Maestro Nestor

I am wondering if there is an interest in having a reoccurring competition each month where you can win a book of magic? Free postage as well of course. I will try to make each competition different and welcome every idea you can give me. It can be a writer thing where you write a small article about your magical work for example or it could be to write a ritual for a specific purpose. The choices are endless. I am sure I can find interesting books to win each month as well as I have a rather large library:)

Anyway I want to hear comments on this. The more the better. You can comment on the site or on facebook it does not matter to me since I am checking both places.

Best Regards

Maestro Nestor

Just thought I would make all of you aware that there are some really heavy grimoires for sale on ebay at the moment. They are expensive though. Trying to decide if I am gonna buy Das Kloster or not.

Anyway here they are!

Enchiridion of Pope Leo, 1740
Petit Albert, 1890
Les Admirables Secrets Albert, 1705
Das Kloster, 1847
Grand Grimoire, 1702

The source of modern magic
An opinionated conclusion

In this day and age there seems to be a consensus that it is unrealistic of anyone seeking the magical path to bother with any type of research. A lot of the so called teachers don’t even follow the books that they profess to teach; instead they follow what can be best described as an Oriental approach to the texts, dealing with a concept of energy and self power, rather than the Christian and Judaic forms they were written under. This religion bashing approach goes down well in most peoples eyes, as they feel it is correct because science is anti-religion and science is correct. To find a type of magic that they can practice, summoning angels and demons and yet completely ignoring any form of God or moral obligations is a treat in itself. Due to this fact, most modern magicians have gorged themselves on their self worth until they have limited their approaches to other modern magicians, believing weak effects as the best magic can offer.
The furthest most practitioners go back to is a fairly modern view of magic materialising on our shelves by the likes of Crowley and coming from other Golden Dawn members. Yet it seems to me that is an evident failing on their part. For one thing, times were much harder in the days that the majority of the Grimoires were written. People did not stick to the rituals and practices because Friends wasn’t on the T.V. It is because they worked. Things were much more complex, the majority of people following Witchcraft especially were poor people, farmers for the most part and is such reflected in the goals of the spells. We today have almost unlimited recourses that back in the medieval era they simply did not have. It is not an inconceivable notion that a modern magician could surpass those that he studied, the problem is most simply refuse to study.
Another complete failing on this way of thought, is that the very modern magicians people dwell on, the likes of Mathers and Crowley actually studied medieval texts. Mathers in fact translated many works; the Key of Solomon probably being one of the most famous.
So here is a concept of magic that time seems to have forgotten.
I will go back as far as around 1250 when I believe the most influential works of the Solomonic era bagan, although they are not the most known or the earliest. These works were the true start of some of the later works that Mathers studied, and indeed that Crowley corrupted with incompetence (my opinion of course)
Regarding the Liber Juratus
In earlier times, at the real buzz era of the Ceremonial Magician the works were much more Christian in their make up. They consisted more of the power of prayer and your earnest to God more powerful than symbols. One of the more known works is the Liber Juratus otherwise known as The Sworne Booke of Honorious. From early on it gives the idea that it is a compilation of magicians views made from a council of 811 masters from that time (13-14th Century), a pre medieval Golden Dawn if you like. Supposedly they chose Honorius, the son of Euclid, master of the Thebians to give the most or all of the magical work because he was in contact with an Angel.
It is evident from the introduction that the work is because they are being persecuted and to preserve the occult teachings. Joseph H. Peterson goes as far to say it could be referring to pope John XXII’s (1316-34) little cleansing. Though as he also states there is mention that under other names it was around far before that in the 1200’s.
I quote directly from the Liber Juratus to give some insight into this; “We therefore, through God’s sufferance, having a foreknowledge of that judgement,” could suggest it was written before the persecution, after being warned it would come by the angel Hocroell who is mentioned as Honorious’ source of knowledge. Whatever the case it is invaluable as it dates back to a much earlier view on magic. Long before contemplating ones belly button was considered a substitute for hard earned graft.
It is viewed by the author as remarkably dangerous should it be let loose on the public and gives an oath that all who have it should only share it upon their death or imminent death, otherwise it should be buried with them. In a sense the oath has a secret order feel about it, and you cannot help but wonder if any order sprung up from keeping this book or if it was a part of an order that already existed at that time. The Knights Templar springs to mind.
The contents in my opinion are coming out of the words of power phase like the Sword of Moses or the book of Raziel, and starting the sigils phase we are all familiar with, but not by much and some of the text is clearly derived from them. There is a name of God which is mentioned early on, it is seventy-two letters long. However it does give an early look at the names of the angels and how they have been altered throughout time. The study of the names of the angels is the very least a magician who is calling them could do, don’t you think?
It divides the angels first into three types; of Celestial, of the Air, and of the Earth. It then continues to break them up depending on what faith you are. The Liber Juratus is highly Christian and as such the other faiths are less in its view; the Jews and the Pagans being singled out especially. How ironic that its own faith Christianity has suffered the same since. I can’t imagine what the writer’s would have thought of the modern magician. They recited prayers vigilantly for days in order to keep their soul pure, an attribute that the LBRP seems to have vanquished.
As in most works it is attributed to Solomon in places, and there is a seal which mimics the Seal of Solomon from the much later Key of Solomon. It is one of the reasons that the Key of Solomon is said to have been made up from earlier works such as this. The huge name of God is put around its edge, this is copied again in the later lesser key of Solomon also, other than that it is a seven pointed star filled with the names of god and the names of the angels of the days around the central five pointed star (in the order of the planetary hours). Michael appears as ruling Mercury in the Liber Juratus and Raphael as ruling Sunday. In the centre is the holy symbol Tau.
It is more complex but there are a number of places where a free representation of the seal can be found.
The seal is practically the only symbol or set of symbols used, though it does go on to give the seals of the angels that rule the planets. Zamael is properly written as Samael, Cassiel as Casziel, and Sachiel is written as Satquiel. Anael seems to be given multiply as Anael, Amael, Hanahel. It is of note that there is also an angel called Haniel in various works which may or may not be the same as Amael or Anael but very likely is as Hanahel. Regardless they all rule over Venus and as is mentioned the seals are of the angels of the planets and not for any particular angel of that planet. This view is very important as it is Liber Juratus specific. Thus Raphael appears as an angel of Jupiter and of the Sun in the Liber Juratus. The seal thereby would be used for what planets influence you wish to receive rather than specifically for Raphael. Did I just hear Alister Crowley role in his grave? I hope he gets a splinter.
The Liber Juratus is an invaluable source as it preserves the teachings of the magicians of the time and also the early versions of the names of the angels of the planets and days, as well as the angels of the zodiac and also of angels that rule over seasons and planets in seasons. This is a forgotten type of magic that was once considered invaluable.
Regarding the Heptameron
The second most notable work of this era is the Heptameron. It is written in much the same style as the Liber Juratus with a few variations. It is undoubtedly taken largely from earlier works but I would take this book as an opportunity to study the best of those works as a whole. It is attributed to the famous physician Peter De Abano 1250-1316.
The instruments that you will need for this work are few. Even the circle is very simply put together as a few circles inside each other. In each of these circles is to be put the name of the time; which changes by season, and the name of the angel which rules over that particular time etc. As you can tell and as I have said it is largely like the Liber Juratus, and the circle is much like that of the Key of Solomon. Instead of star of david’s around the circle to the cardinal directions we have pentagrams, so the differences are minor.
It then goes on to list all of the angels of various seasons and nights and days much like the Liber Juratus.
The calling of the angels and the tracing of the circle mirrors the Key of Solomon to such a huge degree you cannot ignore it. There is no doubt that if the Key of Solomon is indeed as old as it suggests, then this is based on it, or else the Key of Solomon is a mix match of both the Heptameron, the Liber Juratus and some relative astrology. The lesser Key of Solomon and the Goetia is almost completely a rewrite of this and a second book called the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum. The hexagonal figure which is to be written in Calf’s skin in the Goetia is seen in its original form here, to be written on a Kid’s skin (baby goat- please do not skin children ).
The King Demons of the days contrast just in spelling to the Liber for the most part. However some are completely different as well as angels. For example on Saturday the chief angel is Bohel in the Liber Juratus whereas he is completely left out in the Heptameron. Perhaps the most important after this is that Satquiel of the Liber Juratus is called Sachiel in the Heptameron. Which may come from either Satquiel or the angel of Jupiter sacqiel who appears independently of Zadkiel who Satquiel is more likely associated with. To put it simpler, Satquiel is probably a further translation from Zadkiel, and Sachiel is probably from Sacqiel. Regardless they are angels of Jupiter and could be summoned using the same seal according to the Liber Juratus. The main difference between these works and what I believe puts the Heptameron more influential than the Juratus is that in the Heptameron the seals are for the individual angels; Raphael, Michael etc. and not for the angels of planets as a group.
It is highly disputed which work of these two came forth first, or if both are copies of an older lost work, but the study of these is probably the most important step you will ever take in Solomonic magic.
Let us take in mind that before the Key of Solomon, or the Lesser Key came about, it was obviously these book that the writers were studying.

If anyone has any thoughts on this article, or indeed corrections if I have made any please inform me. I am quite reasonable and happy to admit to any errors as long as they are verifiable.

Is it not funny how everything today is called “inner” something. Like inner magic, inner alchemy, inner process and so on. Crowley saying that the Goetia demons are just a part of your inner mind. Not just Crowley but most modern magicians saying that there is nothing but the self.

Everything is replaced with words like inner, higher self, gnosis, godhead and so on. Another interesting feature of many modern magicians is how they always try to speak as mystical as possible. Something I also think comes from Crowley. Often people judge a modern magicians skill from how little they understand of what the magician is actually talking about. Modern magicians often live in a world where they think everything is a “blind” and everything actually means something other then what the text is actually saying. Not even Kafka was as paranoid as many modern magicians are.

The last day of November I went thru a Gastric Bypass operation that did not go as expected. I ended up going in and out of the hospital for two months and totally forgot to pay the bills on this site. Now that I am doing much better again I have got it up and running again and I hope it will get back to its old standard rather fast.

At the moment I am looking for more people to write the blog with me so if you are interested in that please let me know.

Best Regards to all of you!

The Maestro

Just wanted to give you all a heads up on the interview Karrigan from Witchtalk did with Sorita d’Este a week or two ago. She mentions many interesting things for all sorts of magicians.

You can download it here.

Just scroll down the page a bit and you will find it.

Like a week ago Witchtalk made an excellent interview with David Rankine that you just have to listen to if you have not heard it yet. Even yours truly gets a small mentioning in it:)

Anyway you can find the interview here http://www.blogtalkradio.com/witchtalk just scroll down the page until you see David and you can even download it and listen to it wherever you want to.

The Golden Dawn has been one of the major influences on the modern magician. Whether directly through them as a student or through people who once were members of the order, a large amount of magicians base much of their study and work on the orders’ material and conclusions. It seems also that a good majority of people are looking for the fast track to magical power and control, paying little to no attention to the origins of what they are trying to learn. Much of what today is understood as the “truth” of magic has its origins based on Golden Dawn teachings and its founders, members and other followers. Although, what a good number of these people seem to be missing is where people like Westcott, Mathers, Yeats, Waite and Crowley got their information, and how. Through these Golden Dawn members (and others), and the order itself, magic has been forever changed. From the inception of the Golden Dawn to its rise and success and all the way through the infighting and breakup of the order has taken its toll not only on the modern concept of magic, but also the mystery and grace that resides within it. It is my opinion, and that of many magicians, that the modern understanding of magic was deviated and corrupted during these times and has been making magical knowledge obscured and practice weaker over the years. In this article I will touch briefly on the founding of the Golden Dawn, their source materials, the structure of the order and what went on within it.

Timeline

1867 The SRIA was founded by William James Hughan and Robert Wentworth. A
member in that order by the name of Frederick Hockley was taught by a student of
Francis Barrett.
1872 Another important person, Kenneth MacKenzie joins the SRIA.
1873 Eliphas Levi becomes a member of the SRIA.
1880 William Wynn Westcott joins the SRIA.
1886 Kenneth MacKenzie dies and Westcott takes over his role as Grand Secretary of
the SRIA which gives him access to all of MacKenzie’s material.
1888 The Golden Dawn is created by Westcott, S.L Mathers and W.R Woodman.
1890 Annie Horniman, W.B Yeats and Florence Farr joined the order.
1891 The second order called Order of the Rosae Rubiae et Aurae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.)
was created. This pretty much made Mathers the new leader of the Golden Dawn. A.E
Waite joins the Order.
1896 The fights within the Order begin.
1898 A.Crowley joined the Order.
1900 The Order is falling apart because of the fighting.

After Mackenzie’s death, Westcott took over his position in the SRIA and found the famous cipher manuscript along with a note from Mackenzie. In this note there is an address to a Fraulein Sprengel. According to Westcott, he contacts this Sprengel woman through that address and gets confirmation to start the Golden Dawn order in
England. Fraulein Sprengel was to have already formed a German order called the Golden Dawn as well. Through Fraulein Sprengel the contact with the higher chiefs was established.

This sounds pretty solid at first and seems like a very official indoctrination of Englands new Golden Dawn order. It is believed that the story of this Fraulein Sprengel was a concoction to justify the order’s existence and give them merit in what were becoming the new occult circles. As of the writing of this article no person has been able to verify that Fraulein Sprengel ever existed.

Let us take a look at the source material that the Golden Dawn used. Remember that a lot of their knowledge and access at the time came through Mackenzie at the SRIA and that important members of the organization were heavily influenced by Francis Barrett. Barrett had written The Magus, and the members of the SRIA were basing most of their knowledge upon this book. It is now widely known and accepted that Barrett’s work was plagiarized from Agrippa’s (then not well known) Three Books of Occult Philosophy.

Barrett mixed large parts of Agrippa’s work with his own to create The Magus which is riddled with errors and inconsistencies and is considered one of the main influences in the Golden Dawn system.
It is also known that the regular members of the order did not have access to all material that the main members had access to. It turns out that Westcott sat on important material regarding Angelical Magic that never was known to Mathers. That means that they were left out of the material A. Crowley’s secretary and Regardie made public. One ponders whether this may be true for other material as well.

Westcott, the main founder of the Golden Dawn, had access to a lot of information. The order was created in 1888 and his position was taken by Mathers as early as 1891. Because of Westcott’s work he also had to withdraw from the order since it was not considered good practice to be dealing with the occult in his position and so his role in the order was limited to three years. Mathers was the main figure for the Golden Dawn during its inception. He joined the SRIA in 1882 and, it can be assumed, had no real knowledge of the occult before that. He translated a lot of books during this short time in the occult and it has been a rather sloppy or rushed work at best. We know today that the Abramelin work is missing several parts and including those that existed in the German manuscripts.

Much of the time Mathers had decided on what the reader could or could not handle which makes much of his translations questionable. Mathers and Crowley were, at the same time, in argument about these things with A.E Waite which is expressed in the forewords of their books. They were actually using their books to try and discredit A.E Waite as much as possible.

We now go on to A. Crowley who has influenced most modern magicians in one way or another. His origins were in the Golden Dawn and much of his thoughts and teachings are based on the time he spent in the Order. He joined the Order in November 1898 in the middle of all the fighting within the group. His entrance to the Inner Order was never accepted by the London office and then the organization basically fell apart during 1900, about a year after he joined. In August of 1899 Crowley had retreated to the Boleskin house to perform the incomplete version of the Abramelin rite that Mathers translated. He never finished the rite because Mathers demanded his presence. In April 1900 Mathers sends Crowley to take over the Inner Order’s property in London but he fails. This, in my opinion, marks the end of the original Golden Dawn. How much could he actually have learned during this time?

Considering all of this I find it strange that the Golden Dawn and its members have influenced so many modern magicians. What is it that appeals so much about this order to modern magicians? I have no idea. This information is for the most part even published on most of the modern Golden Dawn replicas who all claim to be coming from the original order. It is not like it is a big secret or anything.

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