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This book on spiritual alchemy presents an initiate’s undertaking of the internal alchemical process. It is a pathway of vision and illumination; and with particular emphasis placed on the induction of the alchemical dream, this movement becomes a visionary transition and passage.

The practitioner’s psyche moves through the paths of the Opus Magnum, and these paths have a goal—the attainment of the Philosopher’s Stone. It is the internal alchemy that acquires access to the ethereal level of the body, and eventually to the enactment of the alchemical Will.

Ron Wyman is an artist and writer living in London. His writing on alchemy stems from his own experience of the alchemical dream process and its related effects. through his background in philosophy he has brought this into a methodical format for the occult practitioner, or for anyone interested in the transcendental effects of internal alchemy.

Bulwer-Lytton

Featured

Posted on May 29, 2018 by mogg mandrake

Occult Personality

John S. Moore

Bulwer-Lytton Occult Personality
John S. Moore
ISBN: 9781906958855, 166pp/bw & full colour illustrations.
£20+p&p / US$26.00+p&p

Click HERE for the UK edition

Click HERE for the USA & Elsewhere
—
Edward Bulwer, Lord Lytton, once the most successful novelist in the English speaking world, now unfairly neglected and even derided, was also the central figure in the underground culture of magic and the occult. With his esoteric studies he built a reputation for deep learning in the history and philosophy of this alternative tradition, as well as passing for an adept in his own right. His creative influence, especially through his occult fiction, was surprisingly far reaching.

The book sets the achievement of this nineteenth century magus into a large historical context, exploring the intellectual and other influences on him as well as movements he inspired. Some chapters discuss aspects of Bulwer’s life, while some explore people and ideas that influenced him and others those he influenced. His seminal role in several cultural movements has been largely forgotten, not least in his home country. This book offers an often unfamiliar perspective on the Victorian era and hopefully succeeds in provoking some questions about our own times.

With Bulwer as its focus, and employing a wealth of illustrations, it manages to provide a whirlwind tour of much occult and esoteric culture, from Iamblichus to Symbolist art and literature, Theosophy and modern psychedelia.

Watch John Moore’s presentation of Bulwer-Lytton Occult Personality
on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iufOV7EmT0Y&feature=youtu.be

Heart Vision: Tarot’s Inner Path

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Posted on February 20, 2018 by mogg mandrake

Michael Orlando Yaccarino
Foreword by Rachel Pollack
Afterword by Normandi Ellis

Format: Softcover
ISBN 9781906958817
£15.00+p&p / US$24.00+p&p

Click Here for USA edition

Click HERE for UK edition

Click here for Kindle USA edition
—————————————————————–

Each of us is travelling upon an ever-evolving path toward greater illumination. The Tarot can provide deep awareness on many levels. Performed effectively, a Tarot reading encourages individual strengths, while proposing options to overcoming unhelpful blocks. Revelation unfolds within the open heart.

The mystical deck has fascinated both nonprofessional and paranormal scholars alike since its early development in the 15th century. Today, a myriad of books on using the cards to read to others is readily available. However, few works focus exclusively on the process of self-reading. Heart Vision: Tarot’s Inner Path is your in-depth, hands-on guide for a balanced path of discovery through the art of solitary reading.

Highlights include card-by-card message interpretations; a special focus on self-contemplation; the step-by-step process of self-reading unique to this work; and a variety of simple yet powerful spreads utilizing no more than six cards original to this book, many illuminated by actual self-readings. World-leading Tarot authority Rachel Pollack provides an insightful foreword. Award-winning author and specialist in Ancient Egyptian spirituality, Normandi Ellis offers an illuminating afterword. In addition to the wisdom of diverse spiritual traditions, the text includes exclusive comments by a variety of contemporary luminaries in the realms of the mystical and magical. And acclaimed artists Scot D. Ryersson, Gary Lund, and David Palladini all contribute to the book’s stunning illustrations. Enriched throughout by the wisdom of diverse spiritual traditions, in these pages, you will find an innovative pathway to inner transformation.

Front-cover art: Gary Lund
Back-cover art: David Palladini
Cover design: Scot D. Ryersson

The author has read, taught, and written about the Tarot for many years. He holds degrees in psychology and film studies from New York University. Previous books co-authored with Scot D. Ryersson include Infinite Variety: The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati, The Marchesa Casati: Portraits of a Muse, and The Princess of Wax: A Cruel Tale. Also with Ryersson, he co-edited Spectral Haunts and Phantom Lovers.

Visit the official Heart Vision website
Heart Vision: Book | Michael Orlando (casatiarchives.wixsite.com)

Author’s other work

Marchesacasati

Book Reviews:

“Probably one of the best books on the Tarot that I have ever read. A must for all Tarotists.” —Anthony Pearson-Moorhouse, The Elvish Taylor and Owner/Partner of Sacred Earth (Suffolk, United Kingdom)

“Yaccarino’s approach to the Tarot is direct and invigorating, with the emphasis on self-reading. As a rule of thumb, I often test the inherent magickal quality of any such tome by opening it at random and letting my eye alight on the first words I see. In this case, the book opened at the King of Cups, which was disturbingly accurate. With the attitude of ‘Okay, but what else can you tell me?’, it then opened to the Nine of Pentacles. Again, exquisitely apt. In essence, with this clear and lucid book, you can know it works.” —Alan Richardson, author of numerous books on magick, magicians, and Earth mysteries, including Priestess: The Life and Magic of Dion Fortune and Earth God Risen

“A beautiful book, flowing and inviting, presented with an openness and clarity in both writing and visuals.” —Gary Lund, award-winning painter, sculptor, and animation film designer

“It is through the imagery of Tarot that Yaccarino explores each of the arcana. As Heart Vision unfolds, Michael skillfully guides us through the deck, deftly bringing our attention to the hidden, background imagery and the ‘veiled aspects’ of each card. But it’s not all about the iconography: a comprehensive range of spreads are given, with some very interesting variations. There are also examples of readings that demonstrate how the interpretative process unfolds. Little gems of wisdom are scattered through the pages, culled from Yaccarino’s clearly extensive reading and conversations with contemporary practitioners. This is an excellent introduction to the Tarot, and an enjoyable and illuminating text for the seasoned reader, too.” —from The Blog of Baphomet by Julian Vayne, author of Deep Magic Begins Here…: Tales and Techniques of Practical Occultism and Magick Works: Stories of Occultism in Theory and Practice

“The introduction to this book is penned by the renowned Tarotmancer Rachel Pollack. She describes this book as one of ‘distilled simplicity,’ designed for the apprentice but which has sufficient maturity and depth for seasoned readers too. It is focused on the solitary reader for self-analysis, offering a unique approach to the visionary dreaming world to nourish heart and soul by awakening the mind. After a brief but concise history of the Tarot, Michael leads the reader into a vivid perspective of mystical imagery as the art of vision within Reality. It serves as a potent tool, drawing the reader to attend the hermetic sciences and its philosophies to fulfil a divine purpose—not as amusement or entertainment. The pursuit of wisdom is ever the key. Emphasising the distinctions of revealed and veiled messages, it explains how these build upon one another to synergise profound insight. Michael provides a break-down of the Arcana into elemental suits, injecting innovative expression into their multi-layered symbolisms. He then introduces several original spreads providing unique formats, including those aptly named ‘The Crossroads’ and ‘The Bridge.’ Ranging from a single spread to six cards, they encompass all needs and situations, guiding the reader always towards decisive understanding and self-awareness as a means of access to their inner dialogue. Intent is captured at source. The reader is made aware of the folly of this tool as a means of prediction, a waste of soul talent that erodes free will and hope. Instead, it instils hope through the engagement of the sacred harmony that can be achieved through self-expression and fulfilment. With lucid equanimity, Michael directs the reader to engage that precious dynamic to manifest the message as translatable instruction. Using multi-disciplinary techniques, the ‘happening’ Michael refers to becomes a transformative engagement of the mysteries proper through the miraculous art!” —by Shani Oates, author of The Devil’s Crown: Key to the Mysteries of Robert Cochrane’s Craft and The Arcane Veil: Ten Discourses on the Craft and the History of Magic

TAROT, DIVINATION & SPIRITUALITY

usa

Out There

Featured

Posted on December 16, 2017 by mogg mandrake

The Transcendent Life and Art of Burt Shonberg
Spencer Kansa

Out There
The Transcendent Life and Art of Burt Shonberg
Spencer Kansa
Format: Softcover / 256 pp / illustrated in colour
ISBN: 978-1-906958-79-4
£30/US$36
Subjects: Art/American Underground/Biography/Film Studies.

Buy US edition

Buy UK edition

From the late-1950s until his premature death in 1977, Burt Shonberg was one of the most highly admired artists in Los Angeles. During this period, his eye-popping murals graced the facades and interiors of popular coffeehouses and hip clubs on the Sunset Strip; his paintings adorned several notable rock album covers, and his haunting portraits featured prominently in Roger Corman’s film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher and The Premature Burial.

Born in 1933, Shonberg grew up in the all-American beach town of Revere, Massachusetts, where, according to his friends, he spent most of his time drawing and indulging in his love of monster movies. After graduating high school, he studied for two years at the Boston Museum of Fine Art, and then, after a brief spell in the army, he ventured to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a commercial artist.

Soon after he settled in L.A., Shonberg became the lover of the legendary occult artist Marjorie Cameron who turned him on to the teachings of the Edwardian magus Aleister Crowley and introduced him to the mind-warping properties of peyote. Shonberg also embraced the Fourth Way system of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, and his canvases began to reflect the mystical illumination inspired by his higher states of consciousness.

In 1960, the artist was chosen by Dr. Oscar Janiger to participate in his groundbreaking study into the effects of LSD-25 on the creative process. Although Shonberg regarded himself as a magical realist, his remarkable renderings of his hallucinogenic visions led many of his acolytes to regard him as the preeminent psychedelic artist of the era, and in the words of his friend and fellow painter Walter Teller, “Burt was the artist of Laurel Canyon.”

Yet despite his popularity and status, Shonberg’s artistry has been criminally overlooked in all historical accounts of the Southern Californian art scene, until now. Out There redresses this injustice and brings some long overdue recognition to L.A.’s greatest lost artist, in a book illustrated with rare examples of his incandescent artwork.

“Spencer Kansa has time traveled. Knowing Burt as well as I did, it really does feel, from his assessments and descriptions, that Spencer actually knew him as well, and Burt for sure would have dug him. They would have had a good time. I can see Burt smiling. I’m serious.”
Hampton Fancher, screenwriter, Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049.

Read Spencer Kansa interview about Burt Shonberg and Bohemian Los Angeles with the LA Review of Books
lareviewofbooks.org/article/burt-shonberg-and-bohemian-los-angeles-an-interview-with-spencer-kansa/

Deeper Into The Underworld

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Posted on December 3, 2017 by mogg mandrake

Death, Ancestors & Magical Rites
Chris Allaun

Deeper into The Underworld
Death, Ancestors & Magical Rites
Chris Allaun
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-82-4
£15.00 /US $24.00
Subjects: Shamanism/Magic/Healing/Afterlife/Death Customs/Spirits Communication/Spirituality.

Deeper into the Underworld we go…

The Underworld is home to our beloved ancestors, those who gave us our flesh and blood and our breath. Their blood flows through our veins and contains great magick and power. They have the ability to help us heal old karmic wounds of the past and aide us in our spiritual development. They can teach us many things about the world of spirit. All we have to do is honor them. All we have to do is call to them.

The cycles of Life are sacred to our pagan and magical cosmology, but what of Death? As we honor life, so, too, must we honor the sacredness of death and dying. As we go further in our Underworld studies, we will learn about the Angel of Death and energetic process of dying. Death is not the end. It is a magical transition into the world of spirit where we are rejoined with our beloved ancestors. The Ancestors are our link to our past. We will learn to honor them and create a sacred shrine so that we may commune with them in a magical and healing way. By honoring the ancestors, we will strengthen our bonds with the spirits and learn to heal our family karma that began long ago and affects us even today.

By learning to work with the ancestors, we will learn to work with the spirits of the dead for magick and healing. We will learn how ancient cultures summoned the beloved dead to heal grief and say final goodbyes. We will also learn magical techniques to summon the shades of the dead and the Hidden Company; those powerful spirits that can teach us ancient wisdom of long ago that can help us tread our spiritual path to find balance and healing.

Click to buy UK edition

Click to buy US edition

Read Alanna Wright’s review of Deeper Into the Underworld: Death, Ancestors and Magical Rites, published in Spiral Nature Magazine
www.spiralnature.com/reviews/deeper-into-underworld-chris-allaun/

Deeper Into the Underworld: Death, Ancestors and Magical Rites
by Chris Allaun
Mandrake of Oxford, 9781906958824, 203 pp., 2018.

”Chris Allaun has released Deeper Into the Underworld: Death, Ancestors and Magical Rites as a follow-up to his first book Underworld: Shamanism, Myth and Magick. In this book, Allaun brings to life, or rather life after death, the powerful practice of ancestral spirit worship and highlights the immense spiritual benefits that come from learning to commune with the deceased. The theme of death runs strong through the book yet Allaun has presented the material in such a way that allows the reader to open to the power of Underworld forces in much the same way as shamans, witches, and magicians have for countless centuries — with the knowledge needed to access this realm, courage to face the reality of death and wisdom to tap into the spiritual power of this domain.

Written in a very straightforward and easy-to-read style, Allaun provides the reader with real-life experiential advice on how to work with ancestors as part of their magical practices. He explains,

“Honoring the dead is one of the most important parts of spirituality. We often honor our gods and goddesses and even nature spirits, but sometimes forget the most important spirits to honor; our beloved dead. Our ancestors are our family. They are our grandmothers and grandfathers and our grandmothers and grandfathers before that. They hold an energetic and magical link to us. We may not realize it, but there is a current of power that goes from us to our ancestors and from them back to us. It is strong. It is powerful. Is it the bond of family.”

In no way does Allaun skimp on ideas for how to establish and strengthen this connection to our ancestors. He offers a variety of methods that can be easily incorporated into one’s magic to help the reader open the channel to commune with their ancestors. Detailed is the way to set up an altar, created sacred space and maintain a daily devotional practice to honour loved ones who have passed on. Allaun highlights the importance of sustaining an ongoing relationship with our ancestors, rather than only honouring them sparsely through the year, as the way to truly bring them into your home and spiritual life. In this way, we can begin to communicate with our ancestors about day-to-day happenings and this in turn provides nourishment for them and us alike.

The reader is reminded this is not a one-way relationship as our ancestors benefit too from our offerings to them in the Underworld. Allaun explains, “On an energetic level, what is happening is that our prayers open our minds, energies and our spirits to our Ancestors and higher beings to establish a strong and powerful connection. Through the connection we make with the spirits, they are able to use this energy and power to help our Ancestors evolve to a higher state of being.” Later in the book, Allaun ties in how we also carry ancestral patterns that we can transmute and heal by working with ancestors in the Underworld directly.

Beyond ancestral knowledge, this book is a rich resource for information on death rites, rituals, and cultural perceptions of death that have been carried through the ages. Allaun provides insightful understanding of the way death is portrayed today in comparison to how cultures of the past understood working with the Underworld, death, and the ancestors. These include pages on Egyptian embalming and also the Eleusinian Mysteries of Ancient Greece. By going back in time, the reader comes to understand how human’s cultural relationship to death has been worshipped, revered, and also feared throughout time.

Throughout the book, Allaun provides many mythological stories that highlight the importance of the Underworld spirits and knowledge of how to navigate this tricky realm. These include the story of Baldur’s dreams in Norse mythology, Those Who Come From The Mountains in Japanese and Shinto mythology and Asclepius and Diana bringing back the dead in Greco-Roman mythology. Allaun does an outstanding job of providing many cross-cultural narratives involving death, so the reader has a widened perspective of a variety of spiritual understandings of the Underworld. This includes a passage of the Ghost Dance of Native Americans from the Plains region of the United States, where they were able to perform this dance to summon their ancestors and gain a personal sense of empowerment through the connection.

In sharing his personal experience, Allaun works to dissolve the fear commonly associated with death and the Underworld. A fantastic aspect of the book is the fascinating meditations provided that can be applied in a ritual setting to gain insight into the energy of death, access the Underworld, and work with ancestors. These meditations include performing a eulogy at your own funeral, graveyard meditations, tracing back family karma through lineage, and connecting with ancestors in dreams, and tapping into the blood. For those who practice traditional witchcraft, Allaun includes a ritual to connect with the Hidden Company to seek their spiritual knowledge and also Ritual of the Rose Castle to connect with the Goddess of Death.

Allaun focuses on sharing with the reader how the misconception of working with the dead became linked to evildoing with rise of Judeo-Christianity. Yet, he is honest about the association that has existed between necromancy and black magickdea intended to harm others. While he does not advocate using ancestors or magical connections made to the deceased in this way, he does acknowledge the existence and possibility of the misuse of spiritual power, which include bringing the dead back to life.

Above all, Allaun maintains that it is of the utmost importance to treat the dead with the kindness the reader would show any guest in their home. This means being welcoming and never making unfair requests. While the ancestors can be strong magical allies, Allaun makes it clear that we should never force our ancestors to do things for us. It is important that honour is always maintained, as the spirits can communicate, and being disrespectful towards an ancestor could hinder future relations.

The information in the book covers what the reader would need to know on all fronts to begin establishing a spiritual connection with their ancestors. Allaun stresses the importance of carefully selecting the spirits with whom you share energy. He acknowledges that certain spiritual entities many want to ask favours or cling on to the reader in order to gain energy. While this does not always happen, Allaun has given the reader techniques that can be used to make sure the reader remains protected and the sacred space clear of unwanted energy. The information provided includes numerous measures of protection that range from simple techniques to create clear energy to elaborate banishing rituals. It is obvious that Allaun has the reader’s interest at heart and wants to provide the most honest and accurate account of the possibilities that can emerge from working with the energies of the Underworld to ensure the reader is prepared.

There are only a few downsides of note in regard to Deeper Into The Underworld. The first being quite a few spelling and grammatical errors scattered through the book that can be distracting. The other is that there is no reference section or bibliography provided, leaving the reader to research and verify the information themselves.

Overall, Deeper Into The Underworld: Death, Ancestors and Magical Rites is a great read for anyone who feels a connection to working with the deceased. There is much to be gained from tapping into the Underworld and bringing the wisdom of our beloved ancestors into the physical realm. Consider this a go-to book from which anyone with an interest in ancestral worship or necromancy would gain something.”

Celestial Arcana

Featured

Posted on July 4, 2017 by mogg mandrake

Precession, Tarot & The Secret Doctrine
Titus Salmon

Celestial Arcana
Precession, Tarot & The Secret Doctrine
Titus Salmon
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-906958-80-0

Subjects: Cosmology/Astrology/Tarot/Divination/Occult/Theosophy

This book is an in-depth study of Tarot symbolism, with a particular emphasis on the various myths encoded within, and how they relate to the phenomenon of precession, and the Secret Doctrine of Aeonic succession. Much of the symbolism is shown to have been derived from ancient Egyptian, Celtic, Hellenistic, and medieval customs, rituals, and myths. One of the main theses developed within the book is that the ultimate source of the symbolism is preeminently Egyptian, and can be traced at least as far back to the Age of Taurus (c. 4200-2100 BCE).

The annual flooding of the Nile River, and its connection to the star Sirius was of paramount importance during this era, and it is demonstrated how much of the mythology and symbolism of later Ages and cultures are actually derivations from this fundamental mythos – in which the Mother Goddess was revered rather than vilified, as the case has subsequently become during the Ages of Aries and Pisces. For example, it is postulated that the Biblical account of the Fall of Humanity can be interpreted as a record in astromythological form of the usurpation of the ancient stellar and matriarchal cosmology – in which the Great Mother was preeminent – by the solar and patriarchal regime in which Jehovah became the central deity. Although it is undeniable that our current Age is characterized by many aspects of a bellicose patriarchy, it is suggested that this is a regime losing its foothold, to be supplanted in the (relatively) near future with a more egalitarian cosmology.

The ancient Egyptians were quite aware of the phenomenon of precession well before it was “discovered” by Greek astronomer Hipparchus during the Hellenistic era. In fact, Plato recounts how the Egyptian priests of the 7th century BCE maintained that they had knowledge of multiple precessional cycles (each one comprising 24-26,000 years; i.e. the Great Year), and the concomitant periodic destruction of humanity through various celestial cataclysms – from which they were invariably saved due to their proximity to the Nile. This cycle is shown to have been recognized by ancient Hindu cosmologists, leading to their development of the concept of Yugas – wherein each Yuga represents a portion of the Great Year, with its own celestial characteristics that determine the relative level of spiritual advancement of humanity as a whole. This in part constitutes the so-called “Secret Doctrine” of Aeonic succession throughout the course of the Great Year.

The structural components of the celestial sphere are shown to be keys to unlocking much of the symbolism behind various esoteric constructs and symbols, such as the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, Yggdrasil, the Enneagram, the Great Seal, and the Porta Alchemica. These keys are then applied to the Major Arcana in a multifaceted approach that considers astromythology, equinoctial precession, and ancient modes of chronometry in the examination of trump attributions.

Previous systems are discussed, drawing from various historical sources, such as Arthur Waite, Aleister Crowley, A. E. Thierens, Eliphas Levi, and Antoine Court de Gebelin. The tradition of ascribing a Hebraic letter to each of the 22 trumps is also addressed, and a new system is proposed. This system interprets the threefold categorization of the Hebraic alphabet into the “3 mothers”, “7 doubles”, and “12 simples”, according to the celestial mechanism of precession.

The work of Gerald Massey is drawn from throughout the book. Massey was considered to be a self-initiate into the “Secret Doctrine” by H. P. Blavatsky, and Crowley listed him as one of the Chiefs of the “Argentium Astrum”. Much that is obscure in Crowley’s Tarot doctrine is clarified via reference to Massey’s extensive writings on the astromythology of the ancient Egyptians.

The book is illustrated with over 270 images consisting of tables, diagrams, and pictures. Also included is a thorough bibliography and index; references include over 680 footnotes. Total word count = 103,623 (402 pages).

Rosicrucian Chess of The Golden Dawn

Featured

Posted on June 9, 2017 by mogg mandrake

Enochian Chess Series Vol. I
Steve Nichols

Khemetic Enochian ChessRosicrucian Chess of The Golden Dawn
Enochian Chess Series Vol.I
Steve Nichols
– over 200 illustrations many in colour.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-78-7
US$39.99 / UK£30.00

Click Here for Rosicrucian Chess of The Golden Dawn / USA & Elsewhere

Click Here for Rosicrucian Chess of The Golden Dawn / UK

Buy the Enochian Chess set (all three books) for only £75.00 free postage / UK

Buy the Enochian Chess set (all three books) for only $100.00 free postage /USA (Elsewhere write for details)

This is the first in a trio of books that together form The Complete Enochian Chess. Enochian Chess in part comes from the Elizabethan system of Enochian Magic originated by the Court Astrologer, Dr John Dee. It was developed into its current form in Victorian times by SL MacGregor Mathers and William Wynn Westcott. This book includes a complete facsimile and commentary of Moina Mathers’s Alpha et Omega Enochian Chess papers together with a brief history of the game, notes on play and strategy, and instructions for Active divinatory methods utilised by this system. Notes and illustrations by Ithell Colquhoun (some previously unpublished) help explain this advanced and complete system of magick in its own right.

Originally it was only taught to Golden Dawn initiates who had risen to the rank of Zelator Adeptus Minor, and required a comprehensive knowledge of Tarot, Geomancy, Kabbalah, various magical formulae, the symbolism of the Candidate, the Ceremony of the Neophyte Grade, working knowledge of the art of Invocation and Banishing, Pentagram and Hexagram rituals, formation of Telesmatic Images, Sigils, and knowledge of the Enochian Tablets. Enochian Chess subsumes other Passive systems of divination such as tarot and astrology, and has powerful prophetic properties.

************************************************************************************************************
Steve Nichols’ fully featured Windows ENOCHIAN CHESS SOFTWARE for one to four players can be downloaded by using the coupon code instructions inside together with evidence of purchase. The PC software makes this advanced and complex game immediately playable.

THE ENOCHIAN CHESS SOFTWARE CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM chaturanga.com

***********************************************************************************************************

Steve Nichols was the first to publish Enochian Chess sets in 1982 with support from Israel Regardie and others. Steve has given many demonstrations, readings and lectures about the game over the decades. This book includes new revelations about the Golden Dawn invention of Enochian Chess, with a particular spotlight on important Eastern occult sources previously hidden.

Devil’s Crown (SCS IV)

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Posted on May 28, 2017 by mogg mandrake

Key to The Mysteries of Robert Cochrane’s Craft
Shani Oates

Free postage on order over £50 / $75

The Devil’s Crown
Key to The Mysteries of Robert Cochrane’s Craft
Shani Oates
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-906958-40-4
£25/US$35
Subjects: Traditional Witchcraft/Cochranian Craft/Witchcraft/Magic.
—

‘The Devil’s Crown’ is the accolade of genius, awarded to poets, and leaders of men who would speak in riddles and puns the wisdom of ages. Whether Scop or Skald, the words inspired by the Muse live on in vibrant tradition under the shining aureole of the Holy Fool. It is the arcane mark of the ‘other.’ This book illuminates some of that light, sharing insights to the precious mysteries of the Robert Cochrane Tradition. His letters and works now collated finally into a single volume – ‘The Star Crossed Serpent III: The Taper that Lights the Way,’ find further expression in this companion volume.’ (Shani Oates)

“If I call upon my ancestors, I call upon forces than are within myself and exterior…, now you know what I mean when I speak of the burden of Time. (Robert Cochrane)

“The tree carried by a man wearing a red cap is a symbol of many things coalescing into two parts of the True and only Faith.” (Robert Cochrane)

“The first part is the masculine mysteries – in which is enshrined the search for the Holy Graal – and is the basis of the Arthurian legends. This is the order of the Sun – the Clan of Tubal Cain. ….In the distant past, the male clan was lead by a woman who was their priestess and chieftain . This is the origin of the legend of Robin Hood ….. and the tradition was followed through into the middle Ages when the Plantagenet Kings were officers of the masculine aspect of the Faith (The name ‘Plantagenet’ means ‘The Devil’s -Clan’). The effect of the masculine mysteries upon the world can hardly be under emphasized ….Law-making….and craftsmen’s guilds……The masculine mysteries were the direct creators of modern civilization as we know it now.” (Robert Cochrane)

Drawing in Real Perspective

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Posted on March 4, 2017 by mogg mandrake

Drawing in Real Perspective
A new approach to space with natural and immediate application
Xavier Bolot
Format: Softcover/244pp
ISBN: 8781906958770
£14.99/$22
Subjects: Art/Art History/Art Theory/Drawing/Painting.

In this book we learn how to draw using a natural technique that is amazingly efficient and simple. Real Perspective is a new approach to space as seen by our eyes.

Perspective is an integral part of drawing and painting. It is however poorly understood today. Our representation of perspective in western countries dates from the 17th century, enforced by an edict made by Louis XIV despot of France. It consisted of drawing receding straight lines starting from a vanishing point.

However, the ancient Greeks used specific curves. This heritage was not taken up during the Renaissance.

In an investigative atmosphere, this book unmasks beliefs we received on the Renaissance and our contemporary culture. We learn to believe what we see, using a natural technique that is amazingly efficient and simple.

We rediscover again the Greek knowledge, and the researches among others of Leonardo da Vinci, Henri Matisse and David Hockney.

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Buy US edition

Underworld

Featured

Posted on October 25, 2016 by mogg mandrake

Shamanism, Myth, Magick
Chris Allaun

Underworld
Shamanism, Myth, Magick
Chris Allaun
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-76-3
£15.00 / US $24.00

USA Edition

UK edition

– Synopsis –
The Underworld has always been thought of as a place of darkness and despair. Even today there are many misconceptions about what the Underworld is and what awaits inside. We will learn how different cultures around the world viewed the Underworld and the afterlife. Some cultures have there own unique perspective, but surprisingly, cultures that had no communications with each other form across the world had similarities. Can this be a coincidence? Most importantly, we will learn how to journey there in the astral and map this incredible world. But be careful! Along with its many wonders and beauty, there are things that lurk in the dark that myths throughout the ages have warned us about. But for the Shaman or witch, are these warnings to keep us away or teach us how to commune with these ancient spirits and creatures?

As we journey deeper into the Underworld, we will discover places where the long-forgotten dead will rekindle our spirit and teach us the ways of magick. They have been waiting for us and have much to say. We only have to sit and listen to the wisdom of ancient times. We will also discover places of healing and rejuvenation. Places where ancient hags guard magick wells and the waters of life and death spring from a source so old, no one remembers where it came from. Along with these wonderful and beautiful places, there are places most dark and dreadful, the Hellworlds. These are the areas of the Underworld that test your spirit and what you thought was reality. You may never be the same, but you will be transformed, renewed, and more powerful.

The Underworld is strange and wondrous and cannot be contained. Sometimes, those spirits of the dead will not be bound in such a place and stay in the world of the living. The poor lost spirits stay with us for a variety of reasons. You will learn why the spirits of the dead are still here and how to help them journey to a place of rest. You never know, a spirit of the dead may be right behind you…

”Chris Allaun’s book, Underworld: Shamanism, Myth, and Magick is truly a masterpiece. Chris has thoughtfully taken a huge subject and separated it into readable and manageable sections and chapters. He clarifies –What is the Underworld? Who resides in the Underworld? Where is the Underworld? and Why does it exist?” — all questions that have fascinated mankind since the beginning of time. And Mr. Allaun gives the reader exercises to deal with the dark side of the underworld, practical ways to cope with exploring one’s own fears and terrors, along with ways to help others. He also includes an extensive bibliography, something very useful. From psychologists to ceremonial magicians to spirit workers, to people just trying to navigate today’s complex world, Underworld creates a clear path full of information and help, to guide us through these often troubling times. I highly recommend this book!”
– Janet Barres

Cover art/design Amanda Manesis

Chris Allaun: Author, Teacher, Medicine Man

The Thornish Path

Featured

Posted on October 24, 2016 by mogg mandrake

A Neo-Tribal Tradition
Jack Wolf
(Non-Fiction) (Neo-Tribal Traditions) (Secret Societies)

The Thornish Path
A Neo-Tribal Tradition
Jack Wolf
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 9781906958756
£15.00 / US$24.00 /Canada $27.00
Subjects: Thornish Tradition/Neo-Tribal Tradition//Odinism/Northern Tradition/Runes/Heathenism/Shamanism/Non-Fiction Account.

The Thornish Path / UK

The Thornish Path / USA and AUS

The Thornish Path / Canada / $27 Canadian dollars

Wisdom from a hidden community …
From words of prophecy made in earlier times to the newsfeeds of the today’s internet, more and more people are becoming aware of the changes taking place in the world. The old and much abused industrial model, driven largely by human ignorance and greed, has placed the future of both humankind and the Earth herself on a path to a questionable future.
But there is hope.

Over the past handful of decades, a great many people have been awakening to the realities of the world but as well, also hearing – and heeding – the call from the wisdom that lies in the heart of all human beings. It is a call to an older way, a better way; a way of returning to the realms of deeper spirit; of magic and of tribe. As individuals and as groups, those who have heard this call of the heart are rising to once again take their place as true human beings: As stewards of the land.

Canadian author Jack Wolf brings us a collection of stories from one such group of Earth-stewards. He does so with the desire that what he shares will kindle the fires of awakening in the hearts and minds of those who are ready for the return of the primal spark-of-hope.

Known as the Thornish tradition, the tribal gathering into which Jack was initiated in the mid 1980s, this group of animist stewards, referred to as knights of the greenwood or even forest mages by some, practices a form of Deepening Tribalism; which is a Paganism deeply tied to the spirits and energies of the land. As well, practitioners of the Thornish way express a commitment to recovering threads of the First Knowledge; a hidden repository of ancient wisdom believed to have been gifted to all people in the forgotten, primordial past.

Told in the narrative form, The Thornish Path, is intended to provide the reader with an intimate glimpse into the workings and relationships found within this formerly secret society. It is also intended as an introduction to this unique tradition for those who may wish to explore further.

Thornish people believe that they are but one tradition of many emerging now, into the modern world in order to be of assistance in the ongoing battle to heal the Earth, and in the words of Jack Wolf: “The time has come for the folk of the green to come into their own – as protectors and managers of the Earth, not the despoilers of it.”

–
Praise for previous book The Way of the Odin Brotherhood

“Jack Wolf’s plunge into the deep past when Christianity drove pagans into hiding, reads like a page-turning novel full of suspense and intrigue. Will Odin and his followers rise again? You’ll definitely root for them as you speed through Wolf’s absorbing, yet entertaining, work.”

”The late P. D. Ouspensky noted that human evolution requires conscious effort. It is only degeneration which can proceed unconsciously in man.”

”Like the Odin Brotherhood, the Thornish tradition strives to recreate homo superbus (the superb man) in our decadent age. In contrast to the Brotherhood, however, the Thornish tradition draws upon the heritage and mysteries of the “First Nations” in the Americas.”

”Mr. Wolf’s book, the first detailed study of the “Thornish Path,” is required reading for all students of esotericism.”- Professor Mark L. Mirabello.

For more information on the Thornish Tradition
www.thornwoodpress.com
thornwoodpress.wordpress.com

Pan’s Daughter

Featured

Posted on August 3, 2016 by mogg mandrake

The Magical World of Rosaleen Norton
Revised and Greatly Expanded Edition
Nevill Drury

Pan’s Daughter
The Magical World of Rosaleen Norton
(Revised & Greatly Expanded Edition)
Nevill Drury
Format: Softcover/326 pp/48 illustrations.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-41-1
£22.99/US$32/AUD$36(+$8p&p)

Click Here for Pan’s Daughter / USA

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Click Here for Pan’s Daughter / AU

During the 1950s and early 1960s the Sydney-based trance-artist and Pan-worshipper, Rosaleen Norton, was well known in Australia as ‘the Witch of Kings Cross’ and was frequently portrayed in the tabloid press as an evil ‘devil-worshipping’ figure from the red-light district. Norton attracted attention from both the public at large and also the local police for engaging in bizarre pagan sex-rituals with her lover, the poet Gavin Greenlees. Details of these activities would surface from time to time in the local courts when Norton was defending her metaphysical beliefs and seeking to defuse claims that her magical paintings and drawings were obscene. Norton was also associated with the scandal that eventually engulfed the professional career of renowned musical conductor, Sir Eugene Goossens who had arrived in Australia in 1947 and became a member of Norton’s magical coven six years later.

Norton dedicated her magical practice to the Great God Pan and to a lesser extent Hecate, Lilith and Lucifer. She was also intrigued by the visionary potential of Kundalini yoga, out-of-the-body trance exploration and Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic sex magick and combined all of these elements in her ritual activities.

Pan’s Daughter is the only biography of Rosaleen Norton and provides the most detailed and authoritative account of her magical beliefs and practices. First published in Britain by Mandrake in 1993, it is now reissued in a revised and expanded edition.

“Brilliantly researched…outrageous and inspiring”
Fiona Horne, author of Witch – A Personal Journey and Witch – A Magickal Year

“A fascinating study. Drury’s understanding of the occult and spiritual realms makes Norton’s art and life comprehensible” Tom Thompson, Sydney Morning Herald

Dr Nevill Drury (1 October 1947 – 15 October 2013) is best known for his publications on modern Western magic, shamanism and visionary art. For many years he worked in the Australian book industry as an editor and art book publisher and in 2008 he received his Ph.D from the University of Newcastle for a dissertation on the art and magical belifes of Rosaleen Norton.

Star Crossed Serpent III

Featured

Posted on August 1, 2016 by mogg mandrake

‘The Taper That Lights The Way’
(Robert Cochrane’s Letters Revealed)
Shani Oates

Free postage on orders over £50/$75

The Star Crossed Serpent
Vol 3
The Taper that lights the way
(Robert Cochrane letters revealed)
Shani Oates
Format: Hardback/476pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-43-5
£25/US$32
Subjects: Cochranian Craft/Traditional Witchcraft/Magic.

“Those that speak of secret and secrecy, and not of discretion or wisdom, are those who have not discovered Truth.”

Subject to continual speculation and study, the enigmatic words of this erstwhile poet have touched the Craft, influencing all called to it, irrespective of their path or journeying. Such was his genius, such was his unique gift, ever the barb of fate, he was beyond his era. His legacy has enriched the tone of all seekers and all pilgrims who would cast aside the veil of illusion in favour of the ‘Real.’

For the first time, his own Clan are able to offer clarification on the mystery of his Faith through his evolving Craft, begun officially at the onset of the decade that witnessed his tragic death. Finally, through the gift of several early letters, now brought together with those already published, their message is consciously revealed. Under a carefully constructed chronology, this is ‘his’ story, unfurled through his words and works.

As the ‘Order of the Sun,’ his People of Goda, of the Clan of Tubal Cain, we continue to hold aloft his brave taper, that for the ‘Hound’ and ‘Pale Guiden,’ in the Great Hall of Caer Ochran, is ‘worth a light!’

Illumination of the ‘Cochrane Tradition,’ is our testament to the valour of mentors past and those yet to be.

Doors of Valhalla

Featured

Posted on April 10, 2016 by mogg mandrake

An Esoteric Interpretation of Norse Myth
Vincent Ongkowidjojo

Click HERE for UK edition

Click HERE for USA edition

Triple Peter Stockinger USA & Elsewhere

Doors of Valhalla
An Esoteric Interpretation of Norse Myth
Vincent Ongkowidjojo
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-72-5
£15.00 / US $24.00
Subjects: Runes/Odinism/Northern Tradition.

In Doors of Valhalla, the author offers a comprehensive interpretation of Norse mythology based on contemporary esoteric ideas.

From the author’s introduction:
“In modern days, the Ageless Wisdom was first given out by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and later by different writers such as Dion Fortune, Annie Besant, and Alice Bailey. It makes sense to relate what they have to say about the world of the soul to the myth and mystery of Ancient Scandinavia.”

From Maria Kvilhaug’s foreword:
“In his Doors of Valhalla, Vincent Ongkowidjojo makes an honest attempt to consider the worlds of Norse mythology as various planes of consciousness on the path towards spiritual enlightenment in the light of Theosophy and Vedic traditions.”

From David Parry’s afterword:
“His excellent book Doors of Valhalla: An Esoteric Interpretation of Norse Mythology demands our attention, while clearly setting fresh standards for this sort of scholarship.”

Freya Aswynn on the book:
“This is a book that will shake up the Heathen Community. … It fills a glaring hole in the Northern Mysteries and this will be most welcomed by those in Heathenry willing to explore the deeper mysteries behind the lore.”

As a long time student of Freya Aswynn, Vincent Ongkowidjojo helps run her School of Runes and Northern Mysteries. Vincent’s vision is rooted in Western and Eastern esoteric philosophies. He earlier published Secrets of Asgard and Runen in de Noordse traditie. Visit Vincent’s website for latest updates on talks, courses and workshops.

Surrealism & The Occult

Featured

Posted on April 10, 2016 by mogg mandrake

Surrealism & The Occult

Nadia Choucha
Format: Softcover/164 pp.
ISBN: 9781906958749
£15.00
Subjects: Art/Art History/Surrealism/Occult.

Click HERE for the UK edition

Many people associate Surrealism with politics, but it was also permeated by occult ideas, a fact often overlooked by art historians. This occult influence goes beyond general themes to the movement’s very heart.

This occult influence goes beyond general themes to the movement’s very heart. The antinomian stance of Surrealism can be traced directly to the influence of radical nineteenth century magi such as Eliphas Lévi, whose Dogma and Ritual of High Magic was widely read by Surrealism’s ideologues. Amongst these we find its progenitor André Breton.

The book shows how many Surrealists and their predecessors were steeped in magical ideas: Kandinsky, with his involvement with Theosophy, the sorcery of Salvador Dali; the alchemy of Pablo Picasso and the shamanism of Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington.

Surrealism did not establish itself in Britain until the 1930s but a select few felt something in the air. Almost ten years before the Surrealist experiments with automatic drawing, an obscure English artist, Austin Osman Spare had perfected the technique.

Nadia Choucha shows, convincingly, that occult and surrealist philosophies were often interchangeable. Surrealism and the Occult is seminal reading for art historians and occultists alike, while artists will find it a vital guide to the unlocking of the imagination.

Praise for Nadia Choucha’s Surrealism & the Occult
”Highly readable…seminal… fascinating” – Francis X. King
”alive, with the heady mixture of occult and pictorial symbolism treated with laudable lucidity.”- Art Book News

Ithell Colquhoun

Featured

Posted on March 29, 2016 by mogg mandrake

pioneer surrealist artist, occultist, writer and poet
(reprinted)
Eric Ratcliffe

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Ithell Colquhoun / UK / £30

——————————————————————-
Ithell Colquhoun / USA / US$40

——————————————————————-
Ithell Colquhoun
pioneer surrealist artist, occultist, writer & poet
Eric Ratcliffe
Format: Softcover/312pp/90 illustrations (25 colour).
ISBN: ISBN 978-1869928-98-8
£30/US$40
Subjects: Art/Art History/Surrealism/Occult/Magick/Biography.
–
The skills of Ithell Colquhoun in her main practice, that of artist and pioneer in this country of surrealistic art, have been long recognised. Additionally, other interests – alchemy, Earth-magic, active occultism, poetry, druidism, the pre-Christian pagan calendar, the history and membership of the Golden Dawn – and writing of and involvement in these interests by book publication and in a widely scattered field of correspondence, have created a miscellany of truly gargantuan proportion.

Eric Ratcliffe considered it was time to get together some of these pieces, to add something of what is known of Colquhoun’s early life and family history and to take the opportunity of listing a comprehensive calendar of her work and exhibitions. The result is neither strictly biographical nor a treatise on any one subject, but it is a first gathering of the roots, passions and multi-directions of this artist. It is a patchwork containing many launch-pads for exploration of the magical and mythical atmosphere which this artist existed in and created. Here therefore is a contribution towards solving a jigsaw and a wind-catch of the minor cyclones of lthell’s dedicatory interests, also serving as a record of her accomplishments in the art field.

REVIEWS

‘The subtitle of this book is: ‘Pioneer Surrealist, Artist, Occultist, Writer and Poet’, this multifaceted description captures the essence of who and what Ithell Colquhoun was about. Her connection to Cornwall is through the book The Living Stones, published in 1957, which was an early contribution to discovering the power of the Cornish landscape, prehistory and tradition and folklore. Even today, it continues to inspire people with its love for the ancient land of Cornwall…Ratcliffe’s biography made me want to go back and re-read The Living Stones, and no better thing could be said of a book such as this.’- Cheryl Straffon, Editor in Meyn Mamvro – Ancient stones and sacred sites in Cornwall – www.meynmamvro.co.uk

‘The author gives an excellent account of Colquhoun’s artistic career, explaining why she has been so overlooked (she stuck to her principles against the authoritarian demands of the British surrealist clique and consequently was expelled). Ratcliffe places proper emphasis upon the artist’s magical activities. She was a member of the OTO, Order of the Pyramid and Sphinx, Order of Holy Wisdom, Ancient Celtic Church and the Druid Order.

Despite having had the good fortune to read many of Colquhoun’s magical papers I learnt a great deal from this very well informed work. There is excellent bibliographical information including listings of unpublished typescripts and also as comprehensive as possible listing of her paintings and drawings.’
Ithell Colquhoun by Eric Ratcliffe, Mandrake of Oxford.
Reviewed by Ben Fernee @ Caduceus Books

‘Ithell Colquhoun was a pioneer surrealist artist, poet, writer, pantheist and occultist. Descended from Devonian ancestry, she was of Anglo-Indian birth and received her education in England at the Cheltenham Ladies College and later at the Slade School of Art in London.

After the war she moved to Cornwall where she spent the rest of her life. While at the Slade she became involved in Theosophical circles and then attempted, without success, to join Moina Mathers’ Alpha and Omega Lodge of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Dion Fortune’s Fraternity of the Inner Light.

However during the 1950s she belonged to various occult groups including Kenneth Grant’s Typhonian OTO and Nu-Isis Temple, Dr WB Crow’s Order of the Holy Wisdom and Order of the Keltic Cross, Tamara Bourkhoun’s Order of the Pyramid and the Sphinx, as well as the Druid Order, the Cornish and Breton Gorsedd, the Ancient Celtic Church, Co-Freemasonry and the Fellowship of Isis.

This biography is profusely illustrated with many of Colquhoun’s paintings and also includes some of her writings and poetry. It is a fascinating study of a unique multi-talented woman who during her creative life contributed a great deal to both the artistic and occult fields. Recommended.’
Ithell Colquhoun, by Eric Ratcliffe.
Reviewed by Mike Howard in The Cauldron, issue 129, August 2008

STARS AND STONES

Featured

Posted on March 19, 2016 by mogg mandrake

An Astro-Magical Lapidary
Peter Stockinger

Stars And Stones
An Astro-Magical Lapidary
Peter Stockinger
Format: Softcover/164 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-73-2
£14.99/US$24

New revised edition

Click HERE for USA & elsewhere

Click HERE for UK

Click HERE for the ebook edition

Triple Peter Stockinger UK

Unlock the hidden powers of crystals and gemstones.

For millennia, magicians and astrologers, familiar with celestial magic, knew that precious stones held an important key for the maintenance of health and wellbeing. During the Age of Reason this knowledge was lost. Now, nearly 400 years later drawing from ancient sources, Peter Stockinger’s astro-magical lapidary invites you to re-discover this long-lost knowledge and to learn how to utilise the magical and therapeutic powers of gems.

· Read the in-depth descriptions of 30 gemstones and crystals revealing their hidden lore, and discover their practical use from antiquity;

· Study real-life cases that demonstrate how to use the beneficial powers of crystals and gemstones;

· Learn how to find your perfect gem, create gemstone talismans and manufacture lucky fixed star rings.

The lapidary also contains a thorough introduction to the subject of traditional astrology, a therapeutic index and a detailed glossary.

Isis

Featured

Posted on February 7, 2016 by mogg mandrake

Isis, Goddess of Egypt & India
Mogg Morgan
ISBN: 978-1-906958-71-8,
£17.00/$26.00

Buy this book UK

Buy this book USA & AUS

– A Temple of Isis in India –
On India’s, south-western or Malabar coast is situated an ancient Hindu temple which is these days devoted to the famous Hindu god Shiva and his consort the fearsome goddess Kali. This is Kurumbha-Bhagavathy Devi outside of the modern city of Cochin or Kochi in Kerala state.

Travel back in time and the temple housed other gods. Once it was the home of the Buddhist/Jaina goddess Pattini whose mortal husband was tried and killed in a series of brutal events still commemorated in the temple’s ritual year. Before this and the story gets even stranger, as there are said to be remains of a secret, underground shrine, the home to a mystery cult dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis.

At the time of Christ, there was indeed a Greco-Roman merchant colony based in this part of India. Greek, Roman & Near Eastern merchants travelled to India after a regular, if epic, sea journey of two thousand miles across the Arabian Ocean, making their first landfall at a port known in the ancient world as Musiris. Clues to the religious practices of these ancient traders is evident not just in the surviving architecture but in very many, sometimes unique features of the later cults, continuing into the modern-day.

Some of the best examples come from the rites of Pattini as once practised at Kurumba-Bhagavathy Devi. Experts have often identified the story of her husband’s death and resurrection, as something of the Near Eastern cult of Attis. But a more recent and credible theory is that the temple once hosted the mysteries of the cult of Isis, whose husband Osiris was also cruelly cut down but then resurrected by her magical prowess.

So without more ado let me tell the whole story from its beginnings on the banks of the Nile. The story of Isis and Osiris is the basis of Egypt’s most popular religion. In what follows I trace the origins of this to Egypt’s pyramid age in the middle of the second millennia BCE. Arguably it is even older. A great deal of this books is devoted to describing what is known about the cult of Isis and Osiris from Egyptian records. This, I shall argue, is the basis for what comes later in the timeline, when the world was dominated by the Greek and Roman Empires. Isis and Osiris became the focus of global religion and the basis of the most popular of all classical mystery cults. This is precisely the time at which a small, Near Eastern shrine was built in South-West India to service the needs of the merchant trading post. Mysteries of Isis were popular among all social classes in the ancient world, especially mariners.

In India, we have a building which could itself be thought of as storing the memory of influences from each new wave of belief. We can follow the progress and transformation of its changing occupants, as each absorbs some of the archaeological memory. Finally, we arrive at its current incarnation and the celebration of the Bharani festival, which marks the beginning of the hot summer before the coming of the Monsoon rains. Many non-orthodox rites will enliven the tale. The mysterious society of Atikals returns to their lost temple every year to conduct secret rites culminating in twelve hours of ‘Misrule’, during which hundreds of thousands of devotees appear from all over Kerala.

There are other devotees who carry sticks, which they swirl in their dancing; others brandish the sickle sword. Most of these pilgrims are non-Brahmin ritual specialists such as the Veliccappadu. Their name means “a channel who sheds light” for they are spirit mediums, men and women, followers of Kali who utter oracles when in trance. They dress in red and wear heavy anklets and bells.

In the final part of my story, I present a complete and ‘lost’ version of the most famous drama of all time, the celebrated myth of passion play of Isis and murdered husband Osiris, clearly recognizable even in its current idiom based as it is in South Asian ritual drama. The drama is reproduced in its entirety as it reveals many previously unknown aspects of one of the world’s oldest myths.

Isis: Goddess of Egypt & India (Extract)

The Polyverse

Featured

Posted on January 14, 2016 by mogg mandrake

The Polyverse
(Beneath The Pleasure Zones II)
Paul Green
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-70-1
£9.99/US$14.00
Subjects: Fiction/Science-Fiction/Cyberpunk

Special Offer:

The Rupture & The Polyverse both for only £12.99 / UK

The Rupture & The Polyverse both for only $22.00 / USA / AUS

Click HERE for USA/AUS

Click HERE for UK

Crowley a beginners guide UK / £15.00

In Beneath the Pleasure Zones 1 – The Rupture Paul Green created a dystopian world disrupted by the Qliphothic forces of chaos. Its sequel The Polyverse takes us deeper into the inscapes of a ravaged Britain, where the pagans of Leynebridge, the digerati of London and battling fundamentalist militias all struggle to control the flux of reality, under the overview of those sinister cyber-demons the Quantum Brothers.

In the midst of these upheavals, Lucas, poet and aspiring scribe of Thoth is still seeking Carla, his capricious sex-goddess, while Lombard the manic virtual reality tycoon undergoes a psycho-sexual metamorphosis that transforms his strategies of control. Ultimately things fall apart, on an apocalyptic scale, taking characters on journeys where everything they most love appears to be destroyed. Magicks work, but not as expected and signs in the sky can be deceptive. But from this maelstrom of horror, wonder and bleak farce, the possibility of Albion’s new beginning emerges.

Paul Green’s other work includes the novel The Qliphoth and the poetry collection The Gestaltbunker. His dramas, which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, CBC Radio, RTE Ireland and Resonance FM, have been collected in Babalon and Other Plays – the title piece being his evocation of occult rocket scientist Jack Parsons. Based in Hastings, he has performed at numerous esoteric and literary events. He is not to be confused with the esteemed psychic biker of the same name, whose fascinating book is also published by Mandrake. insert link here?

‘Good storytelling always leaves you wanting to know what comes next… Plus Green has a talent for some splendidly epigrammatic and surprising phraseology. The bizarre events become satires for our fears and desires and fantasies about where magic and science and social fragmentation might take us…’ (Peter Carroll on Beneath the Pleasure Zones – The Rupture)

Crowley

Featured

Posted on September 11, 2015 by mogg mandrake

A Beginners Guide
John S. Moore & John Patrick Higgins

Crowley a beginners guide USA / US $22.00

Crowley, A Beginners Guide
John S. Moore & John Patrick Higgins
Format: Softcover/b/w Illustrated/154pp
ISBN: 978-1-906958-69-5
£15.00 /US $22.00
Subjects: Aleister Crowley/Thelema/Magick/Occult/Biography.
—–
“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”
Nearly seventy years after his death Aleister Crowley, the notorious Beast 666, is only just beginning to attract serious academic attention. Even so we would not expect to find him on any mainstream university courses; he is still too much associated with occultism. So, Crowley – A Beginners Guide is not your standard beginner’s guide.

“Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.”
Readers may be surprised at the richness and complexity of his thought, as well as the extent of his influence. He needs background to be understood. Giving this opens fresh perspectives on much recent intellectual history.

Crowley – A Beginners Guide presents his main ideas in a straightforward and accessible format, with drawings and diagrams to place them in their historical context. It relates him to contemporary movements in art and scholarship. It describes his relationship to modernism and postmodernism, and his role in the counterculture of the sixties, as well as his continuing influence today. Interspersed are entertaining stories of his life and reputation.

Brilliantly illustrated by John Higgins, Crowley – A Beginners Guide, is a highly accessible guide to this fascinating, complex and controversial figure. It neither promotes nor condemns him, presenting hostile as well as favourable views of his character and achievement.

John S Moore is a freelance writer and independent scholar living in London. He is the author of Aleister Crowley: A Modern Master (Mandrake of Oxford, 2009) and Nietzsche – An Interpretation, (AuthorsOnline Ltd, 2011) and has written on Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein and Edward Bulwer-Lytton among others. More information at www.johnsmoore.co.uk

John Patrick Higgins is a writer and illustrator. He is the author of The Narwhal and Other Stories www.amazon.co.uk/Narwhal-other-stories-Patrick-Higgins ebook/dp/B007N6KJW8
He writes art criticism for various magazines and is Creative Director of Shot Glass Theatre Company www.culturenorthernireland.org/reviews/performing-arts/shot-glass. See also www.facebook.com
He lives in Belfast, which he continues to find extraordinary.

Read a review of Crowley A Beginners Guide from Magonia Review of Books pelicanist.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/crowley-for-beginners.html

Crowley – A Beginners Guide (Look Inside)

P is For Prostitution

Featured

Posted on May 15, 2015 by mogg mandrake

An A-Z of a harsh life survived
Charlotte Rodgers
Illustrated by Ruth Ramsden

P is for Prostitution
An A to Z of a harsh life survived
Charlotte Rodgers
ISBN: 978-1-906958-26-8
£15.00 +P&P /US $24.00 +P&P

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Click HERE for USA & AUS

Click here for Kindle Edition

P is for Prostitution is a primer unlike any you will have read before, the ABC approach far from simplistic. Through various episodes the author charts her own insights into addiction and the kind of existence that inevitably goes with this. Each letter marks a step on a journey into the lowest circles of hell in which the “author’s creativity and intellect is misdirected towards a chaotic, nihilistic and devastating existence” (reader’s foreword). There are moments of black comedy, sexual horror, and final, uneasy redemption in which the author reclaims the trajectory of her life.

“. . . the life you lived . . . represents the era you grew up in and the position of women in society and the rules they were expected to live by and the consequences of breaking these rules. Women are often regarded as objects, possessions and are expected to be submissive.” (Jane Hunt)

P is for Prostitution grew out of the author’s exploration of death and ancestral cults. It led her to acknowledge her own past, re-connecting and rescuing a catalogue of youthful dead or missing loved ones. “This was no surprise given the way we lived our lives at that time, but was no less saddening. Whilst the people concerned were not blood relatives, they were part of who I was and very much my family of choice in our shared inability or refusal to accept the terms of mainstream existence.”

“Daddy was an exclamation mark /
exploding on blank walls /
I was a biblioteque hero /
supporting Atlas’ balls /
Roller skating on Freudian slips /
Pussy footing through the fly leafings/
Of fellow social misfits.”

———————-
“Charlotte Rodgers was born in New Zealand.

Her mother was a war baby, abandoned at the Home of Compassion in Wellington and later adopted by a middle class couple with strong Catholic sensibilities and a desire to do good and moral things; a desire that didn’t encompass compassionate and kind child rearing.

Charlotte’s father was Scottish and from a coal mining family, he escaped this background through self education and by joining the merchant navy, and whilst on leave in New Zealand he met and married Charlotte’s mother.

Charlotte was brought up by two creative, intelligent and unstable individuals whose backgrounds created unhappiness and various manifestations of addictive and compulsive behaviours.

The family constantly moved house, the mother was addicted to a huge amount of pills, the father would regularly ‘run away from home’ and there were many times the only stability in Charlotte’s life was when she was sent to live with her grandmother who was rigidly and violently Catholic.

Charlotte was a shy frightened and introverted child and puberty hit her like the proverbial ton of bricks. At age 15 she made several suicide attempts and was put into psychiatric care to be treated for bulimia, a condition that would stay with her for many years.

She also developed addictions to alcohol and drugs, including heroin, and necessarily worked as a prostitute to fund the habit whilst living a peripheral existence travelling through Australia, Asia and Europe, before settling in England.

After 19 years as an active addict (15 of them as an IV user) she cleaned up with the help of various institutions and agencies, and eventually was able to take the risk to go back to what she always wanted to do; creating art and writing.”

Charlotte is author and editor of The Bloody Sacrifice and
co-editor of The Contemporary Western Book of The Dead, both published by Mandrake.

——————-

Illustrated by Ruth Ramsden

——————–

Daddy was an exclamation mark, exploding on blank walls,
I was a biblioteque hero, supporting Atlas’ balls,
Rolling skating on Freudian slips,
Pussy footing through the fly leafings
Of fellow social misfits.

Well read, intellectually fed neurosis,
Genetically perfected psychosis
Penis Envy
Poison Ivy
Piss and Raving.
Something in the woodshed gave you a fright,
Rumplestiltskin will tell you anytime
Its prick is worse than its bite.

Go-go virgins in discotheque cages
Venus in politically unsound furs
Lectures on the latest psychoanalytical magus
Romulus Remus Oedipus
Sucking dugs like common curs.

Psychoanalyse, disembowel and theorise,
Penis Envy Poison Ivy
Something in the woodshed gave you a fright,
Rumplestiltskin will tell you anytime,
Its prick is worse than its bite.

C.Rodgers 1985

Vowels, Consonants and Other Building Blocks: An Introduction
Several years of exploring and writing about death and cults of the ancestors have led to my putting this, more personal book together. As I looked at how necessary acknowledgement of the past can be to solidify the sense of self, both as an individual and a member of a community; flashes of my own, personal history came back to me. I started to re connect with this and found a catalogue of youthful dead and missing loved ones. This was no surprise to me given the way that we lived our lives at that time, but was no less saddening. Whilst the people concerned were not blood relatives, they were part of who I was at that time. They were very much my family of choice in our shared inability or refusal to accept the terms that mainstream existence at that time offered. I decided to reclaim this time and a lost part of myself, by going back and recording some of my rather erratic recollections.

Initially I was worried that writing this could be self-indulgence or an exercise in personal exploration and poor man’s psychoanalysis that shouldn’t be put out to a wider audience.

However the times and places I lived in, and the way I experienced them, hold things which I believe are core to many who struggle to find their place in this strange world.

Putting such a chaotic mass of events into order could have proved an impossibility until it became apparent to me that my early years were very much about finding a set of rules to live by, thus the subtitle, ‘A Modern Primer’.

Using the alphabet to give order to these memories was a continuation of the primer concept and works well for me. My life was not lived in a straight line and my rather scrappy memory would have rebelled against too linear a form of organisation.

The time span this book encompasses is the 1970s to the 1990s and the backdrop moves between Hong Kong, Australia, London and New Zealand.

This was a time when digital watches were rare and expensive things; China was hard line communist and undeveloped; the Internet was unheard of and there was still a wall dividing Berlin. Graphic novels were on the ascent; only the super-rich had credit cards, and AIDS was just a whisper that could kill in its utterance.

When I was diagnosed with bulimia it was a relatively unknown condition that the medical establishment were unsure how to approach.

I cleaned up as crack was just starting to make its presence known and I was already seeing changes it had made in the junkie community.

Drug using rapidly became even more associated with violence, users burned out much more quickly, if they survived.

When I stopped using drugs I was 30 and considered relatively young in the ‘recovery’ community, but 18 years later I see women burned out by the time they are 15 or 16.

I was one of the first waves of people to go into drug and alcohol rehab, and sad to say the women’s only treatment centre I was in, due to lack of funding, no longer exists.

However the core of the experiences in this book isn’t era specific but is more about one individual’s rather rocky road through her early years.

One thing that I feel I should add.

Readers may find my tone to be detached and even perceive a certain lack of emotion. I was and still am an internalised person, something that may have led to some of my problems over the years.

I look at old photographs of myself and I see a lovely looking girl who seemed locked in her own world. Eventually I couldn’t stay in that private place anymore, despite ever increasing amounts of emotion suppressing drugs. When I left rehab I had a graduation of sorts, a ceremony where I was presented with a butterfly brooch. As I was given my pin, Sister Rosemary who ran the home said that when I arrived at the facility I was like the survivor of a serious car crash; locked in trauma.

Walking away from my car crash life, with its explorations, adventures, and ever increasing horror was when I really started to live.

It was a very different world then, but in many respects, the way we all live and develop has not changed at all.

Reader’s Comment
‘P is for Prostitution’ is a personal memoir, which explores episodes and experiences from Charlotte Rodgers’ difficult chaotic life, through her childhood and into early adulthood. At times this book made me feel incredibly sad and much of it was alien to my own comfortable, relatively trouble-free youth. However, her story captivated me and I found myself wanting to find out more about the girl being described. Also, as a woman who grew up during the same decades, I recognized the underlying misogyny of the era and the rules that women were expected to observe. Both Charlotte and her mother suffered in different ways because they were unable to live within narrow definitions of womanhood.

The Primer structure works particularly well and gives the impression of bringing order to a fragmented and chaotic existence. It comments on the nature of individual memory that is not linear and makes connections between disparate incidents and episodes. This form enables the reader to think for herself and reflect on how Charlotte’s childhood and formative experiences affect her situation as she grows up.

Throughout P is for Prostitution, despite the chaos of a life dominated by addictions and illnesses, Charlotte remains a creative and intellectually curious person. Her attraction to similar damaged anarchic souls both as friends and lovers can be seen at various points in her book. Near the end she refers to ‘the person from Porlock’, a debt collector who interrupted Coleridge whilst he was writing Kubla Khan. Charlotte writes, “I feel as if I too had a debt collector knocking on the door of my life, and breaking and permanently redirecting my concentration.” The book conveys a real sense that Charlotte’s creativity and intellect was somehow misdirected at a young age towards a nihilistic and savage existence. It also traces the constant, durable thread of spirituality in her life. This is fascinating given her early encounters with Catholicism.

The book powerfully communicates the devastating effect of physical and mental abuse on Charlotte’s whole family. The suffering her parents endured as children impacts on Charlotte’s life and leads to a lack of stability and security when she is growing up. Charlotte too is terrorized as a child whilst under the ‘care’ of her Grandmother. The sexual repression, religious fanaticism and cruelty that lie behind this abuse are horrifying. Children’s lack of power and the lasting consequences of adult neglect and brutality are recurrent themes.

The reader is able to observe how Charlotte’s eating disorders are caused by a desire to gain some control and how the perception that thinness equals happiness and acceptance actually appears to have almost the opposite effect. This is something that all women can relate to at some level. The book also gave me an insight into addiction and the kind of existence that inevitably goes with it. Her experiences are distinctive but they do reflect the times she lived in and the alternative lifestyle that seemed to be offered by the world of drugs and music. The attraction of losing control and finding a different reality is explored. However, the destructive power of addiction ultimately makes life unbearable.

Charlotte’s discussion of sex in P is for Prostitution is thought-provoking and brave. Her unconventional attitudes and approach made me think hard about the way women are condemned and vilified for sexual transgressions. Moreover, it made me consider how women and children are so often the victims of abuse and the hypocrisy that existed about this when we were growing up and still does to a large extent. Women who transgressed the sexual norms or accepted codes of behaviour were seen as to blame for the abuse they suffered, rather than as victims.

Fundamentally, this is a fascinating articulate and engrossing book. It describes experiences and feelings with which many people, especially women, will identify. I think people will enjoy Charlotte’s honesty and will want to read on and find out how she manages to get through and eventually change her life permanently. Charlotte takes you into divergent worlds, often frighteningly disordered; but the creative, compassionate and intelligent woman that she is today, is always there despite the destructive forces in her early life.

Jane Hunt
Librarian
Somerset
*************************************************************************

Shape-Shifters & Their Stories

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Posted on April 22, 2015 by mogg mandrake

The Golem; Lilith; Werewolf; The Dybbuk; Silkie; and more
Michael Berman

Shape-Shifters & Their Stories
Michael Berman
Format: Softcover/192 pp, 24 fascinating Illustrations.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-66-4
£15.00 / US$24.00
Subjects: Folklore//Myths & Magic/Fairy Tales/Shamanism/Spirituality.

Click HERE for Shape-Shifters & Their Stories / USA

Click HERE for Shape-Shifters & Their Stories / UK

“Long ago the trees thought they were really people
Long ago the mountains thought they were really people
Long ago the animals thought they were really people
Someday, they will say
Long ago the humans thought they were really people”
Constance O’Day-Flannery, Shifting Love

Shape-shifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. In its broadest sense, shape-shifting occurs when a being (usually human) either (1) can change its shape into that of another person, creature, or other entity or (2) finds its shape involuntarily changed by someone else. If the shape change is voluntary, its cause may be an act of will, a magic word or magic words, a potion, or a magic object. If the change is involuntary, its cause may be a curse or spell, a wizard’s or magician’s or fairy’s help, a deity’s will, a temporal change such as a full Moon or nightfall, love, or death. The transformation may or may not be purposeful.

The desire to be different in some way to match some ideal promoted through advertising has become an obsession, especially for vulnerable younger members of society. Perhaps the pressure to conform to some unrealistic ideal has always been with us, but surely not to the extent that now is the case. And it is this desire that helps to account for the current interest in shape-shifting as it would seem to provide a means of achieving the goal to bring about change. However, as many of the tales in this collection show, it is only by coming to terms with who we are that peace of mind can truly be ours again.

Arcane Veil

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Posted on April 7, 2015 by mogg mandrake

Ten Discourses on The Craft and The History of Magic
Shani Oates

Continue reading →

Mind-Sprung

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Posted on February 19, 2015 by mogg mandrake

AD Harvey
(Crime Fiction)

Mind-Sprung
AD Harvey
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-67-1
£10/US$16
Subjects: Crime Fiction/Entheogens/Counterculture.

UK Buyer

US & Row

An A-Level drop-out graduates from evicting immigrants during the heyday of the inner-city slum landlords during the 1960s to stripping redundant churches during the early 1970s, before moving to northern Sweden equipped only with the proceeds of selling stolen property and some hashish. He finds new sources of hashish even in Sweden but eventually the money runs out, and he returns to London: only to discover it is even worse than when he left.

Eric Naiman, a Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature at Berkeley, in a six-page attack on A.D.Harvey’s multitudinous literary crimes in THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT in 2013, described Harvey’s account of drug-taking and other shenanigans in London and the Swedish Arctic as “unreadable”, but perhaps that was because he hadn’t actually read it. Another of A.D.Harvey’s novels, WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW was described by THE GUARDIAN as “weirdly compelling” and by THE INDEPENDENT as “free-flowing and poetic….unforgettable.”

Secret Gospel of Mark

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Posted on January 23, 2015 by mogg mandrake

Morton Smith, Clement of Alexandria
and four decades of academic burlesque
Robert Conner

The Secret Gospel of Mark
Morton Smith, Clement of Alexandria
and four decades of academic burlesque
Robert Conner
Format: Softcover/160 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-68-8
£15.00+p&p / US $24.00+p&p
Subjects: Religious Studies/Spirituality

Click HERE for USA

Click HERE for the UK Edition

While cataloguing material in the library of the monastery of Mar Saba in 1958, Morton Smith discovered a quotation from a letter of Clement of Alexandria copied in the end pages of a 17th-century collection of the letters of Ignatius. After more than a decade of a collaborative analysis of the find, Smith published his conclusions in 1973, setting off a firestorm of controversy in the New Testament studies guild.

In 1975, a Jesuit scholar, Quentin Quesnell, claimed the letter had been forged and implied that Smith was the forger, moving the focus of debate off the text itself and onto Smith. Since then the pages containing the letter have been removed from the book and possibly destroyed, while Catholic and evangelical writers, none of whom have ever seen the pages in question, continue to claim that Smith forged the letter.

Following his death in 1991, accusations against Smith took on a considerably more personal tone, highlighting his alleged homosexuality and by implication his dishonesty and moral perversity. Although the question of authenticity remains unresolved, the controversy has opened a window on the intellectually corrupt nature of apologetic New Testament studies, a subject of greater importance than the authenticity of early Christian texts.

The Dionysian Spirit

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Posted on January 12, 2015 by mogg mandrake

Sean Fitton

The Dionysian Spirit
Sean Fitton
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-65-7
£15.00 / US$24.00
Subjects: Ancient Greece/
Greek Mysteries/Myths/Magic/Paganism/Spirituality.

Click Here for The Dionysian Spirit / USA

Click here for the Kindle USA edition

Click Here for The Dionysian Spirit / UK

Dionysos is an obscure Greek god of wine and theatre for many people. For others, he is so much more.

The Dionysian Spirit examines the essence of what Dionysos is all about, both as a deity and as a cultural and social force. It looks at the relation of Dionysos with his opposite number Apollo. The twin gifts of Apollo and Dionysos are ekstasis (ecstasy) and entheos (enthusiasm) and have informed and enlivened our lives and cultures from ancient times right to the present day and beyond.

The Dionysian Spirit – like the art of a good party – has always been with us and now, in many ways, we need it more than ever.

Contents: Devotional to Dionysos / The Visualisation / The Myths of Dionysos / Dionysian Heroes / Dionysos Around the World / Dionysos Across The Millenium / Dionysos Goes Forth

William Lilly: Magician, Astrologer & Adept

Link

William Lilly,
Magician, Astrologer & Adept
Peter Stockinger & Sue Ward

Foreword by David Conway

Format: Softcover, 252pp
ISBN: 978-1-906958-62-6

£14.99+p&p / US$26.00+p&p

Click HERE for the UK edition

Click HERE for USA & Elsewhere

Click here foe KINDLE edition

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Born less than a year before the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, William Lilly lived during one of the most turbulent times in English history. Like so many of his generation, he had to deal with the plague, was drawn into the madness of the English Civil War and was forced to take sides, and witnessed the regicide of King Charles I. Lilly lived in a time of enormous religious and social upheaval, but his astrology remained the outer expression of a magical world-view, based on hermetic and neo-Platonic principles and rooted in the 16th century.

This book provides the reader with a thorough introduction to the world of William Lilly, the famous 17th century astrologer and magician. It brings together transcripts of his autobiography and of some of his most important works. It also includes Peter Stockinger and Sue Ward’s Monster of Ingratitude, an investigative journey offering new insights into the notorious contention between Lilly and the astrologer John Gadbury. Amongst other valuable information, the book contains:

* The Life of William Lilly, Student in Astrology

* Monster of Ingratitude
This research contains brief biographies of Lilly and Gadbury. It shows how their enmity began, developed and ended, including details of the rather one-sided pamphlet war. An in-depth study of published material, timelines and bibliographic entries of all primary sources used are also included and provide the grounds for a different explanation from that commonly proposed.

”The Last Magician is a very worthwhile work. Although some parts are hard going for the non-specialist, others are of value to anyone with an interest in Enlightenment esotericism and seventeenth-century English history in general. — Clive Prince.”

The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs

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Posted on August 6, 2014 by mogg mandrake

The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs
Matthew Levi Stevens
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-64-0
£15.00 / US$24.00
Subjects: Counter-Culture/Magic/Occult/Biography/American Underground.

Click HERE for The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs / UK

Click HERE for The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs / USA

Click here for Kindle

“In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen. The dogma of science is that the will cannot possibly affect external forces, and I think that’s just ridiculous. It’s as bad as the church. My viewpoint is the exact contrary of the scientific viewpoint. I believe that if you run into somebody in the street it’s for a reason. Among primitive people they say that if someone was bitten by a snake he was murdered. I believe that.”
– William S. Burroughs

Fully revised and expanded from the limited edition chapbook that first appeared in 2012, The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs is the first ever in-depth consideration of the significance of Magic and the Occult in the Life & Work of the writer and counter-cultural icon.

In Literary Outlaw: The Life and Times of William S. Burroughs, his biographer Ted Morgan wrote:

‘As the single most important thing about Graham Greene was his viewpoint as a lapsed Catholic, the single most important thing about Burroughs was his belief in the magical universe. The same impulse that lead him to put out curses was, as he saw it, the source of his writing…’

‘To Burroughs behind everyday reality there was the reality of the spirit world, of psychic visitations, of curses, of possession and phantom beings…’

From the Introduction to The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs:

In talking about The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs I am really thinking of two things:

Firstly, and probably most obvious, is the material that appears in the output of Burroughs the Writer that can be seen as describing or referring to some magical, mystical or occult idea – Invocations of Elder Gods of Abominations, descriptions of Sex-Magick rituals, references to amulets, charms, ghosts, omens and spells – all the thematic set-dressing that we all know and love, from Hammer Horror Movies to Weird Tales, from H. P. Lovecraft to Dennis Wheatley and The X-Files…

Secondly, there is the personal interest and involvement of Burroughs the Man with belief systems and practices that come from those strange ‘Other’ territories that lay outside the bounds of either conventional mainstream religion or scientific materialism – explorations of L. Ron Hubbard’s Scientology, Konstanin Raudive’s Electronic Voice Phenomena, Wilhelm Reich’s Orgone Accumulator; also partaking of the Vine-of-the-Soul with Amazonian shamans, attending the Rites of Pan in the Rif Mountains outside Morocco, participating in a Sweat-Lodge with Native American Indian medicine men – and, latterly, an engagement with that most Post-Modern of Occultisms, Chaos Magic.

The material considered has been distilled from archival sources, correspondence, interviews, and of course, published works. As well as his own personal contact with Burroughs and his lifelong study of the Man and his Work, the author also draws from a wide range of former associates – collaborators, friends, lovers, and students – including C. J. Bradbury Robinson, Michael Butterworth, David Conway, Phil Hine, Graham Masterton, Malcolm Mc Neill, and others.

As well as his own contact with the likes of Genesis P-Orridge, John Balance & Peter Christopherson of Coil, and writer Terry Wilson, back in 1980s London, he has also had unprecedented access to the papers of Cabell McLean, a young writer who was William’s companion, lover & student, c.1976-1983.

—

Sometime in the nineteen-seventies, following a reprint of my book, Magic: An Occult Primer, a letter was forwarded to me by my then publisher. Poorly typed and in an envelope which, unless my memory deceives me, bore no postage stamp, it came from William S. Burroughs. I still have it somewhere. In it the writer made plain his interest in magic. In real magic that is, not the smoke and mirrors kind.

Given that Burroughs’ tireless ambition was to encounter a reality beyond that accessible to our five senses, with magic perceived as an effective means to that end, it is remarkable that the subject has hitherto received but scant attention.

This work, by Matthew Levi Stevens, who must have encountered Burroughs at around the time he wrote to me, sets out to make up for that deficit. In it he chronicles the man’s interest and examines the part magic and occultism generally played both in his life and in his work.

Stevens sets about the task with gusto, indicative of his respect and, indeed, affection for “Uncle Bill”, as well as his familiarity with the topic itself. He draws on Burroughs’ own writings, and on those of the growing number of people, supporters and critics alike, who have commented on him and his literary output.

It is a job well done. And one that is all the more welcome because long overdue . . .

– David Conway, 2014.

Seidways

Featured

Posted on August 4, 2014 by mogg mandrake

Shaking, Swaying and Serpent Mysteries
(was Techniques of Obsession)
Jan Fries

Shaking, Swaying & Serpent Mysteries
Jan Fries
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 1869928369
£14.99/US$24
Subjects: Northern Tradition/Odinism/Runes/Shamanism.

Buy Seidways UK

Buy Seidways USA & rest

Seidways
From the author of Helrunar – manual of rune magick and Visual Magick, a handbook of freestyle shamanism, come the definative study of magical trance and possession techniques. The author is inspired by the Nordic tradition of Seidr, said to have been taught to the human race by Odin. The book provides an extensive survey of the manifestation of this powerful technique through several related magical traditions – shamanisn, mesmerism, draconian cults and the nightside of European paganism.

Seething is probably the most useful magical technique I have ever learned. I first was taken by the pleasure of it. My body felt warm and sensual, and seething in the hips felt quite sexual. I liked the feeling of my body taking over where the shaking was first voluntary – but I could still have some control, making the shaking stronger or more subtle. After a while I started to see visions – something that very rarely happens to me. I could see (with my physical eyes, not astrally!) the surface of the land in the centre of the circle rippling, like waves of energy. It was a really moving experience in a site that – until then – had not been particularly ‘special’ to me… it ..has had a major impact upon my magical work which used to be largely indoors, as at last I have found a way that I can work outdoors. This gives my magical work a potency that it simply didn’t have before. – Shantidevi quoted in chapter twelve ‘Rhythms and the Mind’

Reviews:

-‘Very highly recommended’ – The Cauldron

‘Jan Fries shows himself to be one of the most innovative and creative of contemporary magical authors. This is the best book on practical magick that I have seen for some time… an extremely useful body of techniques which any practically-minded magician will be able to use. Beautifully illustrated…Mandrake should be applauded for producing yet another fine book of modern magical practice and thought. Buy it, you won’t be disappointed!’
– Phil Hine in Chaos International 22

‘The text is always interesting to read no matter where you start from. With such a broad spectrum of content, Seidways is suited to anyone studying shamanism for the first time, and wants to avoid a pile of new-age crap. It’s also a great all-rounder for anyone with a general interest in European mythology. Seidways will become one of the more thumbed books in my collection, and I am sure the collection of anyone else who buys it.’
– Sant reviewing in White Dragon

Craft of the Untamed

Featured

Posted on June 1, 2014 by mogg mandrake

An inspired vision of Traditional Witchcraft
Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold

Craft of The Untamed
An inspired vision of Traditional Witchcraft
Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-11-4
£14.99/US$24
Hardcover: £25/$35
Subjects: Craft/Traditional Witchcraft.

Buy UK Edition £14.99 (Softcover)

Buy UK Edition Hardcover £25.00

Buy US Edition $24 (Softcover)

Buy US Edition Hardcover $35.00

The Craft of the Untamed sets out to present the main pillars of traditional witchcraft. Its premise is that a proper tradition is defined as a timeless unity. Outwardly the tradition bears a great diversity across different lands and spirit. Traditional witchcraft is found in various sodalities and groups across the world. Even so it is possible to discern several harmonious, shared themes. These themes are the land, the crossroads, death, night and the mountain of Venus. It is witchcraft where a human and angelic blood mingles to form a special pedigree that has shaped the archetypical image of the witch.

Traditional witchcraft is largely a peasant craft. These “black arts” are works of the earth and the black soil with all its mystery of death, growth and change. This book aims to present the craft free for needless obscuration. I have endeavored to reveal the richness of the tradition as it flows down through time and geographical space.

The reader will come to appreciate and understand the wise arts both infernal and celestial; the powers wielded by the denizens of the night will be accessible; and you will come to value them for their beauty and power.

Contents: Foreword by Shani Oates/Introduction//At the Crossroads of the Worlds/Solomonic Magick//The Blood of the Living Bones/Within the Mountain of Dame Venus/The Vinculum of Eros/The Art of Timeless Tradition/Within the Veil of Night/Against the Current.

THE ODIN BROTHERHOOD

Featured

Posted on May 24, 2014 by mogg mandrake

6th Edition
Enlarged with 50 pages of new material
Mark L. Mirabello
(Non-Fiction) (Odinism) (Secret Societies)

The Odin Brotherhood
Mark L. Mirabello
6th Edition enlarged with 50 pages of new material.
Format: Softcover/180 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-63-3 (was 9781869928711)
£15.00 /US $24.00
Subjects: Odinism/Northern Tradition/Secret Societies/Non-Fiction Account

Click HERE for The Odin Brotherhood / UK

Click HERE for The Odin Brotherhood /USA

Triple Peter Stockinger USA & Elsewhere

‘When the world is pregnant with lies, a secret long hidden will be revealed.’- An Odinist Prophecy

Just like the Cannibal Within, a chance encounter, although this time in the famous Atlantis Bookshop, blossomed into a dialogue between the author and the anonymous adept of Odin. Called an “occult religion” for adepts, a “creed of iron” for warriors, and a “secret society” for higher men and women who value “knowledge, freedom and power,” the Odin Brotherhood honors the gods and goddesses of the Norse pantheon.

This non-fiction book details the legends, the rituals, and the Mysteries of an ancient and enigmatic movement.

Contents
Introduction
Introduction to the Mandrake Edition
The Dialogue
Odinism and the Mysteries of the Past
The Odin Brotherhood Today and the Heroic Ideal
On Polytheism and the Nature of the Gods
The Eddaic Verses and the Three Ages of Man
Why Venerate the Odinist Gods?
The Contacts between Men and Gods
The God Odin and His Mysteries
The Goddess Frigg and the Rite of Marriage
The God Thor, the Nemesis of Titans
The Goddess Sif, the Mischief of Loki, and the Skill of the Rock Dwarfs
The God Heimdall and “The-Sojourn-of-the-Brave”
The God Bragi, the Holy Words, and the Seasonal Rites
The Fair Goddess Idun and Her Enchanted Fruit
Brave Tyr, the Warrior God
The God Njord, Magic, and the Vanir Gods
The God Frey and the Elves
The Goddess Freyja, the Lovely Patroness of Birth
The God Balder and the Adventure of Death
The Goddess Nanna and the Odinist Death Rite
The Legend of “The-Mountain-of-Promise”
Destiny, Ragnarok, and the Mysteries of the Future
Epilogue –
Eddaic Sources
Works on Modern Odinism
Reviews of Earlier Editions of
The Odin Brotherhood

Three New Chapters:
Supplement
Odin Lives Interview
Secret Societies: A Brief Essay
War, Odin, and Valhalla

————

Reviewed by Tyler Ferguson
in Dagobert’s Revenge

‘Odinism is an ancient religion that acknowledges the gods by fostering thought, courage, honor, light and beauty. Older than history, Odinism is all that was called wisdom when the world was new and fresh.’

‘So begins The Odin Brotherhood: A Non-Fiction Account of Contact with a Pagan Secret Society by Dr. Mark L. Mirabello. This slender work about the origins and meaning of the Odin Brotherhood and Odinism as a religion was originally published in 1992, and a revised and expanded fifth edition of the book will be published by Mandrake of Oxford in England.

For many, the gods honored by The Odin Brotherhood are the gods of our ancestors. Gods long believed forgotten. But the Brotherhood, a secret society for all “extraordinary mortals who embrace the principles of Odinism” which claims to be 5 centuries old, has preserved the ancient traditions.

The Brotherhood was formed during the height of persecution at the hands of Christianity. “Purified by violence, Odinism became a religion for the highest form of Hero.” From those persecuted heroes, the Odin Brotherhood was born.

To the Odinist, supreme courage is “the one against the all” and no one fits that definition better than those who honored the old gods despite the wrath of the Church.

The Brotherhood’s violent beginnings are remembered in a legend telling of a corrupt Christian priest who arranged the execution of a young widow who was found honoring the old gods. Three children were forced to watch as the priest incited a mob to murder the women for her pagan ways. Later, these three children–two boys and one girl– through ritual made contact with the murdered woman. The children were given three directives in a “necromantic” communication from a woman shrouded in white linen, and these three directives would be the foundation for what would become the Odin Brotherhood. The book states that since that time “The Brotherhood bears the teeth marks of Christianity, but it has survived.”

The book continues by explaining the relationship the Odinist has with the gods. The Brotherhood explains in wonderful detail the characteristics and names of several of the major gods that they honor. In these explanations the reader will find the essence of the Brotherhood, and their ceremonies of initiation, birth, marriage and death, honor system, ideals of morality, systems for daily life and an understanding of the Odinist’s afterlife.

Ragnarok, the Odinist apocalypse, is also graphically explained–again providing crucial insight into the understanding of the Brotherhood’s relationship with the gods. A crucial understanding of the gods of Odinism is the understanding that they are flawed. The reader will come to appreciate this significant detail and the importance of such ironies.

The body of the text ends with the end of Ragnarok. The gods have perished and the world destroyed but all is not over. For the Odinist believes in “The-Law-of-the-Endless-Circle”-that “nothing dies forever”-and that all things will occur again and again. And with this belief come the understanding of the final statement of the book and the first utterance after Ragnarok “Hail to the gods that are dead! They are the future race of Lords!”

The author in a somewhat unorthodox style presents clear details of the Brotherhood that may otherwise be hard to gain in the pages of an elaborate work. From the Brotherhood comes the explanation of Odinism as a religion, the details of ritual and ceremony and even the graphic telling of events believed yet to come. The reader will find this work accessible in its simplicity, yet busting with critical information regarding a society that few realize exists. I highly recommend this book for the student of the Occult.

I wish to end this review with a few quotes from the book:

“Odinism is a creed of Iron”

“When the gods made man, they made a weapon”

“Beware of gods that cannot laugh”

“Before he dies – before he penetrates the mystery of the outer blackness – every Odininst must pass on the wisdom of his secret”

To the astute reader of Dr. Mirabello’s works– at least the two reviewed for Dagobert’s Revenge— one will find additional insight into the mystery of The Cannibal Within in the pages of this earlier work.’

‘. . .will fascinate students of Norse religion and medieval secret societies’
– The Cauldron

The Odin Brotherhood Website
www.odinbrotherhood.com

Magic in Christianity

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Posted on May 16, 2014 by mogg mandrake

From Jesus to Gnosticism
Robert Conner

Magic in Christianity
From Jesus to Gnosticism
Robert Conner
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-61-9
£15.00+p&p / US$25+p&p
Subjects: Religious Studies/Gnosticism/Magic.

Click HERE for the UK edition

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The world of Jesus and the early Christians swarmed with prophets and exorcists, holy men and healers, who invoked angels and demons, gods and ghosts. Magic in Christianity: From Jesus to the Gnostics explores that world through the surviving texts of the first Christians and their pagan and Jewish contemporaries.

Ecstatic spirit possession, handing opponents over to Satan, sending demons into swine, striking others dead on the spot by pronouncing curses, using articles of clothing and parts of corpses to perform magical healing and exorcism, invoking ghosts and angels for protection—these are all ancient Christian practices described in the New Testament, explained in detail by early Christian writers, and preserved by Christian amulets.

Pagans and Jews accused Jesus and his followers of practicing magic and Christians accused one another of sorcery. Both pagan and early orthodox writers describe the rituals of the gnostic sects in detail, including the magical passwords required to cross through the gates of the lower heavens.

Magic in Christianity: From Jesus to the Gnostics examines evidence from the New Testament, the first Christian apologists, early apocryphal works, curse tablets and amulets to reconstruct the apocalyptic magical world of Jesus and the first Christians.

“a compelling and striking exemplar of why independent scholarship is such an important facet of the academic studies…Recommended.”
– Dale Evans, Ph.D., review of Jesus the Sorcerer, Journal for the Academic Study of Magic.

“a fascinating and thought provoking read…one of the most learned works I have had the opportunity to read in this genre.”
– Eric W. Northway, Ph.D., review of Magic in the New Testament, The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies.

A German Stargazer’s Book of Astrology

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Posted on March 8, 2014 by mogg mandrake

Astronomia Teutsch Astronomei 1545
Peter Stockinger
(Translator & Editor)
Sue Ward (Foreword)

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Triple Peter Stockinger UK

A German Stargazer’s Book of Astrology
Peter Stockinger
Foreword by Sue Ward
Format: Softcover/242 pp.
ISBN: 9781906958596
£14.99/US$22
Subjects: Astrology
—

A German Stargazer’s Book on Astrology is the first English translation of Astronomia Teutsch Astronomei, published in 1545 in Frankfurt am Main. The original work was one of the earliest astrological textbooks in the vernacular, predating William Lilly’s famous English primer Christian Astrology by over a decade. With this translation, Peter Stockinger offers the English reader an exciting insight into the working methods of a 16th century astrologer living on the cusp of the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods. The book contains a detailed introduction by the translator, providing valuable background information and historical context, and is comprehensively annotated throughout.

The translation contains, amongst many others, the following chapters:

· Of the Twelve Signs their Stars and Effects
· Of Pictures of the Heavenly Bodies (Constellations)
· Of the Fixed Stars and their Qualities
· Of the Seven Planets
· Of Eclipses and Comets (Mundane astrology)
· Of the Four Seasons (Weather astrology)
· Claudius Ptolemy’s Perpetual Calendar

Elmer Crowley

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Posted on February 21, 2014 by mogg mandrake

A Katabasic Nekyia
Tom Bradley
(illustrated by David Aronson & Nick Patterson)

Elmer Crowley / USA & AUS / $22.00

Elmer Crowley / UK / £15.00

Elmer Crowley
A Katabasic Nekyia
Tom Bradley, David Aronson, Nick Patterson.
Format: Softcover/132 pp – illustrated – many in colour.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-55-8
US $22.00 / UK £15.00
Subjects: Aleister Crowley & Thelema/picaresque graphic novel.

In Elmer Crowley, Tom Bradley dismantles and re-welds biography, novel, creative non-fiction and metaphysical treatise into a bizarre satire. Aleister Crowley, alias ‘The Anti-Christ’, has bungled his karma and ended up the Looney Tune character Elmer Fudd.

The whole outlandish premise plays out as a mockery of occultism’s darkest delusions. The subtitle means a descent into a ritual by which ghosts are invoked to divine the future.

The narrator is the incarnated ghost of Crowley. He and Hitler are sometimes compared for the similarities of their occult-based belief in “Do As Thou Wilt” as justification for turning hapless followers into “stringless marionettes.” Crowley’s opening words refer to Hitler as his “magickal child,” setting the moral tone for what follows. Numerous themes branch out from this initial assertion with key scenes wickedly illustrated, adding ‘graphic novel’ as yet another misleading describer of Bradley’s furcated katabasis.

Crowley, Fudd, Hitler, Buddha, Yeats, Heliopolitan hierophants, the Goddess Baubo, assorted “Nilotic dream despots”, a carrot-eating Madame Blavatsky, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and their Warner Brothers producer, Leon Schlesinger bounce and boing their way across human history. These are the launch points for Bradley’s inquiries into questions of meta-ethics and truth against a background of “Esoteric Hitlerists.”

Crowley’s tragic flaw is his fixed idea that “magick is done to the strains of incantatory monotony, not self-conscious art.” This translates into control of non-questioning followers to serve his ends, noting with admiration that the A-bomb is “the most magickal blackjack to come swinging along since the sage Aurva armed his king with the fire missile in the Vishnu Purana.”

Crowley and Fudd share a speech defect: the inability to pronounce the R sound (“that wascal wabbit”). “Many fine magi,” Crowley claims, “perhaps even a slim majority… are poorly spoken.” That would include (besides Buddha and Hitler’s doctor) Leon Schlesinger, the money behind the Warner Brothers cartoons. Crowley and Schlesinger meet at a Hollywood orgy over a shared pederastic interest in a youth who also has a speech impediment. Whether Elmer Fudd’s “babbling weakness” on screen is a gibe at Crowley’s lisp is something the reader will have to determine. Either way, reincarnation as a lisping Looney is not an inapt destiny for the Anti-Christ who infamously wrote in his Confessions, “direct injury [is] the proper conjuration to call up gratitude.”

Doing as one wills, central to Crowley’s philosophy of Thelema, easily leads to a perverted will to power. Crowley realises after it’s too late that his magick act stinks. “Is ‘wayward sorcery’ a damnation offence as [Madame Blavatsky] proclaimed?” All you need is love, not will. As Bradley has stated elsewhere, “The universe runs on a Theosophical rather than a Thelemic dispensation.”

Elmer Crowley may confound those who want their words to move through books like soldiers in formation and come to a uniform halt at the end. But readers willing to navigate outside the usual throughways will find themselves in the higher vistas of this rich and complex tome, slim enough for the slow and multiple readings it deserves. – John-Ivan Palmer

REVIEWS:

Reading Elmer Crowley is like reading Crowley’s inner dialogue at 3am, after an intensive journey into his own inner abyss. It is, therefore, a magickal working that Crowley himself would be proud of.
– Gwendolyn von Taunton, author of Northern Traditions

Of Aleister Crowley’s many fictionalizations, this novel gets best into his head. Erudite, prideful, lascivious, funniest man of his time, and the mightiest spiritual spelunker–he speaks and shouts from these pages as clearly as he did in his Autohagiography, which is paradoxical, given the irreal setting.
– Barry Katz, HTMLGIANT

This book…captures the feel of Crowley with his bawdy, politically incorrect irreverence, his arrogance and his committed magickal spirituality and awareness.
– Charlotte Rogers, author of P is for Prostitute

The voice is dead perfect…I can’t imagine a hip Thelemite NOT having this book in her library.
– Don Webb, author of Through Dark Angles, former High Priest, Temple of Set

This self-described “picaresque graphic novel” reads like an account of Crowley’s death-bed fever dream or an afterlife bardo journey gone terribly wrong, wherein the fifty-eight Wrathful Deities take on the aspect of warped and sinister versions of Looney Toons archetypes…. the result reads like a trippy, post-mortem, long-lost epilogue to The Confessions.
– Richard Kaczynski, author of Perdurbo: The Life of Aleister Crowley

Beneath the Pleasure Zones

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Posted on February 2, 2014 by mogg mandrake

Beneath The Pleasure Zones
The Rupture
Paul Green
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-58-9 (ebook 978-1-906958-51-0)
£8.99/US$12.99
Subjects: Fiction/Science-Fiction/Cyberpunk.

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– BENEATH THE PLEASURE ZONES –THE POLYVERSE

In The Rupture, an oligarch builds a cybernetic virtual reality complex on an ancient site in the middle of a rural neo-pagan community of warlocks, who are also besieged by fundamentalist militias. As a consequence, in The Polyverse the Lobe (aka the internet) generates its own demonic entities, the prankster Quantum Brothers, who create further ordeals for Lucas and the two women in his life Viv and Carla. There’s apocalyptic destruction but also a glimmer of hope…

When Lucas Beardsley blundered into the Qliphothic Forces of the Polyverse, Britain’s reality-consensus was drastically disrupted. Everyday causality was never quite the same again…

Now Londoners escape into the virtual-reality thrills of Pleasure Centres plc, while Borderland villages embrace an eclectic neo-paganism. Meanwhile Fundamentalist militias – Mo-Boys and Heavy Shepherds – battle for overall control.

In the Borderlands, Lucas works desperate magicks to win back his ex-lover Carla. In London traumatised computer wizard Dr Crowe seeks work with Pleasure Centres. For Lombard, CEO of Pleasure Centres, has a manic plan to restore the status quo by using Crowe’s cyber-skills to manipulate the ancient forces of the Borderlands.

‘A profound knowledge of the byways of pagan and magical thinking is integrated with an awareness both of current political trends and new technologies.’
– Tim Pendry

This first volume of Paul Green’s new fiction sequence ends with a bizarre and terrifying climax that defines the world of the sequel –

He is not to be confused with the esteemed psychic biker of the same name, whose fascinating book is also published by Mandrake.

The Ritual Year in Ancient Egypt

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Posted on January 10, 2014 by mogg mandrake

Lunar & Solar Calendars and Liturgy
Mogg Morgan

The Ritual Year in Ancient Egypt
Lunar and Solar
Calendars and Liturgy
Mogg Morgan
ISBN: 9781906958138 (2011) 272pp
£15.00 / US$24.00
Subjects: Ancient Egypt/Egyptian Magick

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Click Here For / UK

Click here for US edition

The very oldest Egyptian ritual calendar was lunar. The evidence for this is very complex and in the words of Professor Leo Depuydt, “does not exactly jump out at you!” This ancient lunar calendar continued a veiled existence alongside the dominant solar or civil year. Many details are lost so the project of this book is to bring together what has survived. Revealed here is a very ancient pantheon of gods, including Set, Min, & Hathor, one for each month of the lunar year. I have provided for them a unique collection of liturgy, rituals and prayers as may have been offered in the homes, sanctuaries and temples of original Egypt.

Many of these feasts of Ancient Egypt were celebrated on the phases of the moon – principally when it was new or full. So whatever your favorite god or goddess, make offerings on either of these days and you will be reviving an old and authentic form of the Ancient Egyptian magical religion.To complete the picture I present over several chapters all the technical details of the lunar month as well as its more well known civil replacement. Here you will find information on how certain key days were calculated when needed. These later chapters also provide related material on the mysteries of the Northern Constellations.

Finally, there are descriptions of the thirty lunar days of each month and lunar omens. So in total, this is the most complete and authoritative guide to the ritual wheel of the year at all stages of its use in the Ancient Egyptian magical religion.

Making Talismans

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Posted on November 18, 2013 by mogg mandrake

Nick Farrell

—

Making Talismans
Nick Farrell
Format: Softcover/284 pp/illustrated.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-57-2
£19.99 /US$25
Subjects: Magic/Occult.
—

Discover the secret keys and practical techniques to turn mundane objects into “living entities of power,” bringing real change in your life. By pooling magical practices from shamanism, paganism, the Order of the Golden Dawn, and Dion Fortune, Making Talismans offers training and techniques for performing advanced magical talismanic operations.

For many years this occult classic has been “out of print” and now has been reworked by the author to reveal more detailed and advanced magical work.

This book is nearly entirely practical and tells the reader how to create talismans which work and how this specialist form of magical work can be part of a spiritual path.

Nick Farrell is the author is the Chief Adept of the Magical Order of the Aurora Aurea which is a modern Golden Dawn dedicated to magical experimentation and development.

http://nick-farrell.blogspot.com/
Nick Farrell’s Blog – A blog providing training for all interested in the Golden Dawn, the magical writings of Nick Farrell and his Magical Order of the Aurora Aurea

Click here for UK edition including postage

Phi-Neter

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Posted on August 22, 2013 by mogg mandrake

Power of The Egyptian Gods
Mogg Morgan

Phi-Neter
The Power of The Egyptian Gods
Mogg Morgan
Format: Softcover/228 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-56-5
£15.00 / US $24.00
Subjects: Egyptian Magick

Click Here for Phi-Neter / UK

——————————————————————-

Phi-Neter, means ‘Power of the Gods’. In hieroglyphs this is represented by the hind-quarters of a leopard, a “Typhonian” creature, a predator who exemplifies the driving force of magick. In this book the author extends the core working material of Egyptian magick for himself and others to study and use. These techniques are manifest in the cult of Lord Seth – known as Typhon by the Greeks – and by all the other Gods of the Egyptian pantheon.

The Egyptian magician wields a power that was ultimately created by the Gods for the use of anyone who wishes to do their work. It is the same underlying power whether manipulated by Gods, priests, aristocrats, the common people or even the criminal. Same power, different ends.

“Ancient Egypt is an intellectual and spiritual world that is linked to our own by numerous strands of tradition.” – Jan Assmann, The Mind of Egypt

topics include: the false door; temple; Abramelin; magick squares; Aleister Crowley; the heptagram; vowel song; cardinality; twilight language; seven charaktêres for “deliverance”; ring of power; hermeticism; colour symbolism; number; egyptian “kabbalah”; hermeneia; the Star Goddess; the Book of Nuit; ephemeris of Egyptian decans; Books of the Nightworld (duat); Book of Gates; Egyptian liturgy; a Greco-Egyptian dice oracle; Short Invocations, prayers, valedictions, maledictions etc

Deep Magic Begins Here . . .

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Posted on July 19, 2013 by mogg mandrake

tales and techniques of practical occultism
Julian Vayne

Deep Magic Begins Here
tales and techniques of practical occultism
Julian Vayne
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-52-7
£15.00 / US$22.00
Subjects: ChaosMagick/Entheogens/Occult

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One could read this as a collection of tales recounting magical experiments in practical occultism. But it is also a record of a magical crisis of confidence, a literal dark night of the soul. There are various milestones on this journey, from the mysteries of Witchcraft to tales of the Elder Gods. Deep Magic is a journal written during that long dark night of the soul.

As one might expect from such an articulate commentator, it also brings together practical how-to information, academic writing, and far reaching metaphysical exploration. This book touches on many different magical systems. Informed by the experiential approach of Chaos Magick and diving deep into the Mystery as presented through many traditions, this work explores:

Psychogeography and Magick
Transgressive bodywork
Our Vision of the End Times
Gender fluidity as spiritual process
The Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft
Zombies and the New Age movement
Buddhism meets Chaos Magick
Entheogenic magick, the law and social transformation
Mindfulness practice as the still point in the storm of chaos
The esoteric metaphysics of Pooh Bear, Tigger and Eeyore

…and much more!

The Way of The Odin Brotherhood

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Posted on July 10, 2013 by mogg mandrake

Jack Wolf
(Non-Fiction) (Odinism) (Secret Societies)

The Way of The Odin Brotherhood
Jack Wolf
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-53-4
£15.00 / US$24.00
Subjects: Northern Tradition/Odinism/Secret Societies/Non-Fiction Account.

Click HERE for USA & AUS

Click HERE for UK

USA/AUS Edition $40.00+p&p

‘Would you know more?’

It began with a simple question, sent from an unknown e-mail address, and it kindled the fires of a quest that would take him on a journey of discovery spanning several years; a journey that would lead him closer to the enigmatic secret society known as the Odin Brotherhood.

Continuing a quest for understanding which had been started by his mentor years earlier, and following a trail of cryptic clues and mysterious lore, Canadian author Jack Wolf set out on a journey into the workings of this largely undocumented secret society. Accompanied by a mysterious informant known only as Crow, he embarks on a series of adventures that will ultimately draw him closer to penetrating the history, lore and secrets of this elder pagan fraternity – an entity which has existed for nearly six hundred years.

Dr Mark Mirabello’s Foreword to Jack Wolf’s The Way of the Odin Brotherhood

“I have sometimes wondered if it were possible that unrecognized forces of the past or present– or even the future– work through the thoughts and actions of living men.”
– Robert E. Howard, December 14, 1933

Mysteries have always intrigued me.

For example, Vallalar, also known as Ramalinga Adigal, disappeared from his one-room residence in Mettukuppam, India on January 30, 1874. After he had given his last and most famous lecture on the “nature of the powers that lie beyond us and move us,” he locked himself into his home and told his followers never to open the door. He said anyone entering would find nothing.

Vallalar’s seclusion generated rumours, and the British Government finally forced the door in May. They found an empty room and no clues. The facts were reported in the Madras District Gazetteer.

In my own life, I have experienced the enigma of the Odin Brotherhood. This secret society, composed of men and women who use darkness and stealth to preserve the lore of old gods and the purity of old ways, thrives on mystery.

Who are they? Why are they here? Why does legend surround their origin?

No one really knows the answers to such questions, but it is clear that anyone who encounters the Brotherhood is never the same. Life has many moments of transformation–as an elderly Ethiopian woman once said to Leo Viktor Frobenius (1873 – 1938), the fabled scholar, when a woman is deflowered, or when a pubescent boy undergoes the ordeal of circumcision, each is changed forever–but when men and women encounter the Odin Brotherhood, they are transfigured.

Since publishing my little work on the Odin Brotherhood—in 1992—my contacts with the arcane have increased in number. I have been contacted by an alleged time traveller, I have been visited by a woman claiming to be from Odin, I have received cryptic verses (postmarked from Frankfurt, Germany) supposedly written by Odin himself, and I have been offered membership in a French suicide cult, I have been asked to help with an exorcism of an adolescent deaf girl, and I have been visited by a traumatized woman who claimed to be a refugee from a subterranean world where humans are “bred like cattle and hunted like rabbits.” The list is extensive.

My hope was to be invited to join the Academy of Secrets, founded by Giambattista Della Porta (1535? – 1615) and open only to those who had made important discoveries, but that has not yet happened.
Are any or all of these contacts connected to the Odin Brotherhood? As a believer in the process that Professor Karl Jung called “synchronicity,” or “meaningful coincidences,” I think that they are.
I cannot prove the linkage, but I do know that by publishing my slender book I did meet Jack Wolf. A Canadian, an acolyte of E. Max Hyatt, and an associate of Cassie Strong, a magician, Jack Wolf is the man who crafted the volume that you now hold.

And now, as my life has changed, so shall his.

After remaining hidden for so long, why is information on the Odin Brotherhood now emerging? Members still keep their involvement secret, but why is their “ancient lore” now appearing in books, articles, videos, and Internet sites?

Perhaps, as our civilization dies, we are being offered a “beacon of light.”

Many historians date the decline of the West from World War I, and is it a coincidence that weeks before the war, on July 20, 1914, that modern humans rediscovered Trois-Frères?

Used for 20,000 years as a religious site, this huge labyrinth, reached in total darkness via a narrow passage—only one foot high and 120 feet long—was dedicated to the old gods of Europe, when man hunted savage beasts, dressed in rawhide, and huddled around open fires.

Perhaps, in this time of distress, the old gods and goddesses from the era of the “Ice” are stirring once more.

And, they are using Jack Wolf to help us.

Mark Mirabello, PhD.
Year 591 of the Odin Brotherhood

The Peacock’s Egg

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Posted on June 27, 2013 by mogg mandrake

Ron Wyman

The Peacock’s Egg
Ron Wyman
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-34-3
£15.00+p&p / US $23.00+p&p
Subjects: Alchemy/Magic/Occult.

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Special offer

Get The Peacock’s Egg & The Black Toad for only $30.00 / £20.00

The Peacock’s Egg & The Black Toad Click Here for the UK offer

The Peacock’s Egg & The Black Toad Click Here for the USA & Rest offer

The Peacock’s Egg describes a transformation of the psyche. This is based in the alchemy in which an alchemical dream process is set into motion, acquiring highly resolute manifestation through phases of the opus. An intensive and lengthy occult praxis is entered in which dreams and dreaming practices are developed. Advanced levels of occult experience are attained in which ethereal energy becomes mastered, involving a purification. These attainments adhere to beliefs regarding this type of paranormal experience that include the author’s interest in the work of Carlos Castaneda. The intricacies of a crucial alchemical image are described—a Vision of the Peacock’s Egg, an accessible metaphysical anatomy. The spatiality of the rose garden, the alchemical death, and attainment of the lapis are then brought into the practice.

Village Witch

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Posted on May 7, 2013 by mogg mandrake

Life as a village wisewoman in the wilds of West Cornwall
Cassandra Latham-Jones

Village Witch
Life as a village Wisewoman in the wilds of West Cornwall
Cassandra Latham-Jones
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-23-7
£15.00 / US$24.00

Village Witch describes life as a Village Wisewoman in the wilds of West Cornwall. The first part of the book documents the tortuous and sometimes harrowing journey to achieve this unusual occupation. It is a tale that ultimately moves through surviving and into thriving. Cassandra’s past experiences directly inform her present practice and are intrinsic to being a wisewoman – she acquires wisdom from actively experiencing and observing the vagaries of life. As part of her work she travels around the country giving talks about her profession, and without exception is asked each time what brought her to become a village wisewoman. Many people want to hear about that journey and this is one of the reasons for deciding to write the book.

Following on from this, Cassandra tells of the practice of her craft, which includes many stories and observations regarding the day-to-day experiences of a traditional wisewoman including her personal approach to magic.

At present the market is flooded with ‘how-to-do’ books on witchcraft and associated themes. Almost without exception they inform in an authoritative way often including a cookbook of spells. There is far more to the Craft of the Wise than simply following someone else’s recipes for performing magic. It entails old-fashioned qualities such as hard work, discipline, dedication and commitment. This book differs in that it describes the ‘why’ as well as the ‘how’ and in that sense challenges the reader to question and explore their own experiences of the worlds magical.

VILLAGE WISEWOMAN WEBSITE
www.villagewisewoman.co.uk/id6.html

CASSANDRA LATHAM-JONES BLOG
www.cassandralathamjones.wordpress.com

The Return Of The Tetrad

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Posted on February 20, 2013 by mogg mandrake

Christopher McIntosh
(Occult Fiction)

The Return of The Tetrad
Christopher McIntosh
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-18-3
£9.99 / US$15.00
Subjects: Magical/Occult Fiction/Occult Thriller.

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Paul Cairns, the narrator of this story, is a young journalist with a penchant for the occult. Prompted by a mysterious recurring nightmare, he seeks the advice of Gilbert North, scholar, country squire and occultist, who leads him on an extraordinary series of adventures involving a quest for the Tetrad, four primal magical objects corresponding to the elements and the suits of the Tarot. Cairns’ life becomes full of weird and supernatural happenings in a great magical battle between dark and light. But in the world of Gilbert North things are not quite what they seem. Layers of reality and unreality are peeled away until the deeper meaning of the whole quest is revealed.

REVIEW
Herbie Brennan (Ireland) –

This review is from: The Return Of The Tetrad (Kindle Edition).

Christopher McIntosh’s `Return of the Tetrad` is that rarest of commodities, an intelligent, vivid, well-written and, above all, authentic occult thriller that grips like a man-trap and provides an ending at once surprising and ultimately satisfying. The McIntosh style is reminiscent of Colin Wilson’s early novels, presenting thought-provoking ideas and deep-rooted esoteric concepts in an easily-digestible form that never becomes either difficult or patronising. This is occult fiction as it should be, but seldom is.

McIntosh, himself an academic expert in the esoteric, has mastered the art of suspending reader disbelief until the time comes for revelations that are as convincing as they are unexpected. According to the author,the first draft of the work was completed 40 years ago and has undergone various rewrites and revisions ever since. The end result is worth the wait. I read this book with enormous enjoyment and no little admiration.

Highly recommended.

Sacred Mountains

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Posted on December 14, 2012 by mogg mandrake

Stories of The Mystic Mountains
An Anthology
Michael Berman

Sacred Mountains
Stories of The Mystic Mountains
An Anthology
Michael Berman
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 9781906958220
£15.00 / US$24.00
Subjects: Shamanism/Mysticism/Spirituality/Myths & Legends.

Click HERE for Sacred Mountains / USA

Click HERE for Sacred Mountains /UK

On the mountains of truth, you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

What mountains mean to me: in one word, awe-inspiring. Although we can measure them, our minds are incapable of actually grasping the very small or the very large things in nature: neither atomic particles nor astronomical distances. How big is a mountain, how much does it weigh? Our limited minds can only cope with subjective assessments such as how difficult is it to climb, how dangerous would an avalanche be? So the feelings it produces are awe, a little fear, and possibly exhilaration if and when we think that we have conquered the mountain – but in reality we never can.
~ Professor David Hunt

All the stories presented in this collection contain shamanic elements, so the obvious starting point is to explain what is meant by this. The term ‘shaman’ is a controversial one. Initially employed by early anthropologists to refer to a specific category of magical practitioners from Siberia, the term is now widely used to denote similar practitioners from a variety of cultures around the world. This application of an originally culture-specific term to a more general usage has caused problems with regard to definition, with disagreements among scholars over whether certain features, such as soul flight or possession, or certain types of altered states of consciousness, should or should not be listed among the core characteristics of shamanism.
(Wilby, 2011, p.252.)

Introduction
What are Mountains for you?
Soul Captivation on White Bone Mountain
The Magic Brush and the Golden Mountain
The Legend of Amirani
The Story of Jumping Mouse
The Children of Hamelin: A Shamanic Journey into Mount Poppenberg
The Crystal Clear Waters of Mount Elbruz
The Vision Quest, Mount Sinai, and a Dream Fulfilled
Mount Ararat
Mount Koya-san, the Hermit’s Cave, and Fujiyama
Sacred Towers
The Fool on the Hill and the Book of Mysteries
The Tobacco of Harisaboqued
The Princess of the Tower

Appendix:
The Baal Shem Tov –
Rabbi, Religious Formulator or Shaman?

***
cover photograph by Joe Page shows Rennes Le Château seen from castle of Rennes Les Bains.

—
Launch 17th of January 2012 at the Georgian Embassy the author will talk about this book and give a reading. Starting promptly at 7.30 pm. The event is free and Georgian wine will be served at no cost too. The address is 4 Russell Gardens, West Kensington, London W14 8EZ. The hall holds about 60 people and we are hoping for a full house.
—

*************************************************************************************
RESOURCES FOR THE SACRED MOUNTAINS EXPERIENCE
Arts & Culture, Folklore, Myths & Legends, Food & Drink.
*************************************************************************************

Tbilisi Opera & Ballet Theatre
www.opera.ge

Georgia Cradle of Wine
www.georgia.gov.ge/5225

TAMADA,
Authentic Georgian Restaurant,
122 Boundary Road, St John’s Wood,
London NW8 0RH, UK.
www.tamada.co.uk

Images of Set

Featured

Posted on November 16, 2012 by mogg mandrake

Changing Impressions of a multi-faceted God
Joan Ann Lansberry

Images of Set
Changing Impressions of a multi-faceted God
Joan Ann Lansberry
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-21-3
£15.00/US$24.00
Subjects: Ancient Egypt/Egyptology

Click HERE for Images of Set / USA & AUS

Click HERE for Images of Set / UK
–
The god Set (aka Seth) has been much of a puzzle to Egyptologists. If we go with the attitude of later Egyptians, we find Set blamed for every misfortune that can befall humanity. However, if we go with the attitude of earlier times, in particular the Ramesside period, when Egypt was at its peak in prosperity, we find a completely different picture. For we find a god who was very much adored. Most of the surviving imagery is from that period, although even in Ptolemaic and Roman times we occasionally find a piece that was a part of worship and magical rites. Set was always seen as ‘Great of Power’, even when he was feared. Putting all his imagery together, placing it in chronological context, sheds new light on the Dark god.

“Joan Lansberry is a place where three roads meet: solid academic research, strong talent as a working artist and a deep magical intuition for the magical current represented by Set. Her collection provides Keys to some doors long-unopened and will prove invaluable to the modern Left Hand Path. I’ll be thumbing through this book for years to come.”

Don Webb
High Priest of Set (Emeritus)

www.joanannlansberry.com

Nightshades

Featured

Posted on September 21, 2012 by mogg mandrake

A Tourist Guide to the Nightside
Jan Fries

Nightshades
A Tourist Guide to the Nightside
Jan Fries
Format: Hardback – Cased Matt Laminate A4 216 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-45-9
£24/US$40
Subjects: Aleister Crowley & Thelema/Kenneth Grant/Typhonian Magick/Occult Art.

UK Edition £24.00+p&p

“Nightshades is the record of one remarkable magician’s exploration of the inverse regions of the Tree of Life. Aleister Crowley’s Liber 231 provides the map and Kenneth Grant’s Nightside of Eden a travelogue. “Liber 231, apparently started life as a text within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as an exercise to develop astral and trance abilities or perhaps in other more elaborate rites. The nightside aspect requires some care and alertness in case of accident. The correct attitude is said to be one of self or ego-less witness. Or maybe it’s just one needs the use of an all-embracing rather than a limited kind of identity and self-identification” (mmm)

“The Nightside is always with us. It’s so much older than the Dayside. Before the light began to shine, the night was there. Some assume that we are dealing with a simple polarity. On one hand the radiant world of colours and forms, more or less thinkable, reasonable and meaningful. Like the pretty picture of the Tree of Life it has its scenic cites, its hotels, restaurants, shopping opportunities and highways in between.

On the other hand the chaotic world of uncertain and incomprehensible mysteries. Both of them connected by the voidness that makes them possible. It looks symmetrical. But when you reach the Nightside it doesn’t work like that. The Nightside is not simply a reflection of the dayside with a few confusing and spooky bits thrown in.

The Dayside is a tiny island of experience in a huge ocean, the Nightside, full of currents, island chains and continents of the possible and impossible. All and Nothing are present everywhere. Our island is not the opposite of the world-ocean, it is simply a tiny and comprehensible part of it.” (jf)

Jan Fries Nightshades comprises 72 intense drawings prefaced by an explanatory essay detailing the background and genesis of this ultimate magical adventure.

Angelic Magick

Featured

Posted on September 20, 2012 by mogg mandrake

A Guide to Angelic Beings and how to walk with them
Judith Page
(Preface by Aaron Leitch)

Angelic Magick
A Guide to Angelic Beings and how to walk with them
Judith Page
preface by Aaron Leitch
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-47-3
£15.00/US$22.00
Subjects: Angelic Magick

Click HERE for UK edition

Click HERE for USA & AUS editions
–
“The visualizations here draw their imagery from classical grimoires and Qabalistic philosophy. Plus, they have a specific and useful goal. Each visualization takes you on a journey into the symbolic realm of an archangel, where you are introduced to the entity’s sigils and symbols and other sacred imagery before encountering the archangel himself. Each visualization builds upon those before it, until the aspirant has been led through the seven circles of heaven and has established a personal link to the archangel that governs each one. At the end, the aspirant will have learned to recognize the images, seals and symbols they will encounter in the Solomonic and other advanced systems of angel summoning.

Such guided visualizations are certainly absent from the medieval texts about angels. So, why should I urge anyone who wishes to work with angels – even Solomonic practitioners – to follow the instructions in this book? Simply put, this book is based upon the same principle I described above: safely establishing first contact. It accomplishes this without resort to the full-fledged summoning ceremonies intended to call the angel down to the physical plane – an advanced practice the grimoires tend to jump into without preamble.

This book even includes simple rituals by which you can submit petitions to the archangels in times of need – and these rituals are not entirely removed from the methods of the grimoires. Therefore, working through the steps outlined in this book can serve as a wonderful bridge between “square one” and the fully adept practices of angelic summoning.”
: From Aaron Leitch’s Preface

Contents
Preface
Introduction
Authors Notes
Practical matters and preparation

Chapters

1 Legend of Luc’ifer
Path to Luc’ifer
2 Legend of Mikh’ael
Path to Mikh’ael
3 Legend of Gabri’el
Path to Gabri’el
4 Legend of Sama’el
Path to Sama’el
5 Legend of Rapha’el
Path to Rapha’el
6 Legend of Zadki’el
Path to Zadki’el
7 Legend of Ana’el
Path to Ana’el
8 Legend of Cassi’el
Path to Cassi’el
9 Legend of Uri’el
Path to Uri’el
10 Legend of Enoch
Path to Enoch & the Watchers
Magical Alphabets
Table of correspondences (Charts for angels and Hours)
Notes on the Seal of Truth
Bibliography

The Book of Baphomet

Featured

Posted on August 23, 2012 by mogg mandrake

Julian Vayne & Nikki Wyrd

USA & AUS $34.00

UK £25.00

The Book of Baphomet
Julian Vayne & Nikki Wyrd
Format: Hardback/232 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-906958-46-6
£25.00 / US$3400
Subjects: Chaos Magick
–
You hold in your hands the material result of many years’ hard craft.
This Book contains some of the secrets of Life itself; or rather, the
occult deity of Life on Earth, Baphomet. Horned, vital, beautiful, awful, our aeons old Chaos Magick idol finds a name from the Knights Templar, then goes incognito through the Enlightenment (when flourished those great natural philosophers beloved of science historians), before emerging via devil worship and witchcraft into this era of Deep Ecology.

Darwin could have used a picture of Baphomet as his frontispiece, to
demonstrate the one flesh from which all species originate. Contacting
this Great Spirit, the anima mundi, allows access to a new way of
ordering the world, with fresh visions of how and why we could Live.
Here the authors weave strands from their lives into a rich tapestry
of images, which might give you a pointer or two towards your own
self-realisation, whilst amusing, entertaining, and instructing along
the way.

Revolution, evolution, leap beyond the apocalypse to the Now!

—

“An excellent read, consisting as it does of such a wealth of information, research, anecdote, experience and vision” – Peter J. Carroll

“It is a very fine book, in which your two voices form a harmonious whole, and which manages to interweave cosmology, history, science, autobiography and drugs in a very effective way which probably nobody else could have managed.” – Prof. Ronald Hutton

“I have finished the book and found nothing I would object to. It is most excellent. The so-called Occult world is full of really bad books that are a sad waste of trees. Yours shines amongst this dross.” – Ian Read

“Altered state of consciousness just reading it…”- Alistair Livingston

“A fascinating, poetic revisioning of the concept of deity for the 21st century”
– Levannah Morgan

Watch The Book Of Baphomet (Trailer)
vimeo.com/41602409

Check out
The Blog of Baphomet, a magickal dialogue between nature and culture.
theblogofbaphomet.com

Sexual Magick

Featured

Posted on August 22, 2012 by mogg mandrake

Secrets of Sexual Gnosis in Western Magick
Katon Shual

Sexual Magick
Secrets of Sexual Gnosis in Western Magick
Katon Shual
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-48-0
£15.00 / US $24.00 186pp
Subjects: Sexual Magick/Aleister Crowley/Thelema/Tantra

Sexual Magick / UK / £15.00

Sexuality is one of the keys to magick. In this book, first published in 1988, Katon Shual presents some of the secrets of sexual gnosis within western magick – a system that is often misunderstood. The book begins with a look at the revival of sexual magick in the early part of the 20th century, especially within the ranks of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and some of the post Golden Dawn magical groups such as Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic cult. The book goes on the look at the modern fusion of western Hermetic and eastern Tantrik sexual gnosticism. On the way it discusses in a progressive manner gay, straight and solitary sexual magick. The book goes on to introduce the ancient deity Seth as an archetype of the sexual magician. The book includes an unpublished grimoire of sexual magick, as well as several other unusual sources, including an authoritative exploration of the chakra system, a magical approach to Kundalini and an introduction to the relationship between the sacred sexuality and the external landscape.

‘Makes the subject of sexual magick accessible and lucid and above all relevant to contemporary magical practice’
– Phil Hine reviewing in Talking Stick magazine

body magick cover art and insides by Michael R Goss

Taromancy

Featured

Posted on August 12, 2012 by mogg mandrake

Gerald Boak

Taromancy
Gerald Boak
Format: Softcover/210 pp.
ISBN: 9781906958336
£12.99+p&p / US$22.00+p&p

Click HERE for UK edition

Click HERE for USA & Elsewhere

A simple set of 84 oracles, based on the Thoth Tarot, that one does not need a card deck or an experienced reader in order to consult! Simply think of a question, then either toss a coin or dice in the prescribed manner. Then read your answer.

The 84 Taromancy oracles were first published in 1985. They were intended for the experienced hand at divination, and have remained in widespread demand ever since. This fully revised edition, contains the same oracles but in less technical language, will appeal to those only now setting out to explore fortune telling. After a quarter of a century in use, I believe their following justifies this major revision.

Apart from their plainer style, a new Summary and in-depth Conclusion now accompanies each oracle. These replace the earlier and limited Notes, and explain even the smallest areas of interest. Together with extra and helpful background material in the first three chapters, I believe these sizeable additions will provide a more complete and user-friendly tool of divination.

Finally, and on a purely technical note, the astrological aspects behind the oracles agree with the work of Aleister Crowley in his dictionary of correspondences, Liber 777 vel Prolegomena Symbolica ad Systemam (etc.) published privately in 1909 and adopted since as a standard work of reference. Two of those correspondences were amended in his 1944 edition of The Book of Thoth. In that book Crowley made a fundamental error in his Key Scale of the tables, incorrectly assigning Aries to tarot trump XVII and Aquarius to trump IV, whereas, and by his own admission, they should be counterchanged. Fearing more hawk-eyed diviners will question my choice of attributions, I thought it safest to explain in advance.

A Contemporary Western Book Of The Dead

Featured

Posted on May 20, 2012 by mogg mandrake

An Anthology
Edited by Charlotte Rodgers & Lydia Maskell

A Contemporary Western Book of The Dead
An Anthology
Edited by Charlotte Rodgers & Lydia Maskell
Format: Softcover
ISBN: 978-1-906958-04-6
£15.00 +P&P / US$22+P&P

Click HERE for UK edition

Click HERE for USA & Elsewhere