The word “energy” is ambiguous, used as a cover word to describe a set of experiences and sensations, which may not actually be energetic at all. It’s a convenient word used to conceptualize those experiences, but at the same time it’s a fuzzy word because the experiences that fall under the umbrella term “energy” may not have anything to do with energy. Part of where this ambiguity comes from is associating the word energy with Chi. There’s no direct translation of Chi into English and so energy has been used as the word that roughly describes what Chi may or may not be (Bonewits 2007, Yang 2003).

Recently, as I was doing a breathing exercise to help me work through what would be termed an “Energetic Blockage,” I realized that the term wasn’t accurate to what I was experiencing. There was a gap between the concept of the energetic blockage and the reality of the experience I was actively involved in. I realized that the term “Energetic Blockage” could be used to describe the experience, but it wasn’t really accurate to that experience.

The actual experience was an awareness of physical tension in my body that was linked to an emotional issue I’ve been working on for the last couple of months. As I did my breathing exercise, I consciously focused on the physical tension, and specifically on allowing myself to feel it and work through the resultant emotions and thoughts that came up as I felt it¹. Eventually I was able to work through the tension to a point where it was no longer physically bothering me. The emotional tension had also died down. I’m by no means finished working through this issue, but for the moment the sensation was no longer prevalent.

The breathing exercise I used is a Taoist exercise for dissolving physical and psychological tension in a person’s body. Both breath and chi are utilized in the dissolving process, but that doesn’t mean energy is involved. In fact, what I felt was involved was a conscious effort to be present with the emotions and thoughts I felt, and a sense of movement in the tension itself. I feel that same movement anytime I’m doing breathing meditations and as such would characterize it as my experience of Chi. I’m not sure that awareness of movement would automatically mean that Chi equals energy however.

My point in bringing this up isn’t to be overly semantic, though it may seem like I am being just that. Rather, it’s to question carefully the words we use to describe the experiences we have. While energy is a convenient term to use, it’s also become an umbrella term to describe a wide variety of sensations and experiences. And whether we are using energy in the quantum physics sense of the word or using energy as a biological field of electromagnetism, or as the mysterious force of chi, when it becomes an umbrella term for all of those experiences and more, then it might be worth considering being more particular about how we use the word and also comparing that usage against the actual experiences we have.

The word energy is used in so many different settings that it’s not surprising some occultists are skeptical of the word. My own skepticism comes more from the conscious experience I mentioned above, which has prompted me to consider how the energy paradigm may be used as another way of fully being present with the body. If we can take sensations we feel and make them abstract by referring to them as energetic phenomenon, then we can also avoid being present in the body, and also being present with the emotions linked to those sensations, at least initially. And that may actually be beneficial, given that Western cultures, in particular, are body phobic. Having a word such as energy represent the sensations we feel might then make those sensations easier to deal with on a psychological level.

At the same time, when I feel a flush of heat stir in my hands because I’m doing a Taoist exercise that uses Chi, I recognize that a physiological reaction is occurring. The sensations of heat and movement that I’m aware of tell me I’m working with some kind of force or awareness that effects me on the physical as well as metaphysical level. When I do rituals, these same sensations can be felt and indicate that the ritual is occurring. And what I realize is this: Accepting that I feel these sensations in my body allows me to fully integrate my body into magical work. Instead of needing to use an abstract concept to explain what the sensations are, I can simply choose to be present with my awareness of those sensations and accept them as physiological expressions my body is sharing to indicate that all of me is present and focused on this ritual working I’m doing.

I do think the word energy has value in metaphysical discussions. I just question how we use the word, and if the use causes people to neglect or ignore an experience they could otherwise have. Taking a moment to just be in an experience without labeling it with a word or explaining it way or analyzing it can be the key to fully allowing a person to come face to face with the moment s/he is in. and welcome what s/he experiences for what it is.

©2010 by Taylor Ellwood.
Edited by Sheta Kaey.

Bibliography

• Bonewits, Isaac & Phaedra. (2007). Real energy: Systems, spirits. and substances to heal, change and grow. Franklin Lakes: New Page Books.
• Yang, Jwing-Ming (2003). Qigong meditation: Embryonic breathing. Boston: YMAA Publication Center.

Footnotes

1. Quick Note of Clarification: It’s true that people feel tension or stress all the time, but we also get good at ignoring it. Consciously being aware of tension is inviting yourself to feel it and discover what the source of that tension is.

Note: This is my last column for the Occult Author Spotlight. While there are many other authors to discuss and I hope someone will take over and write about those authors, the demands of several of my own ventures as well as some changes in my spiritual life prohibit me from continuing.

I was first introduced to Bill Whitcomb’s work when a friend bought me The Magician’s Companion for my birthday one year. I immediately saw the usefulness of this book as a compendium of information about various magical systems, symbols, archetypes and other information that could prove useful if you needed to quickly get information on a particular subject within occultism. I’ve used it on a few different occasions to improve the efficacy of my works, and it remains a book I consult on a regular basis. The book looks at both western and eastern systems of magic and discusses succinctly the elements of those systems, while also providing reading lists for people who would like to go more in depth with the materials. Another added benefit is that Whitcomb lists the systems by their use of numbers, so you’ll see a few systems with the number seven. Reading through the entire book can be quite novel and useful.

I met Bill shortly after I moved to Portland and became good friends with him. During that process, I learned about his second book The Magician’s Reflection, which had gone out of print some time ago and didn’t look like it would come back into print from the original publisher. With some wheedling on my part, he eventually got the rights back and decided to republish that book with Megalithica books.

The Magician’s Reflection is an instruction book in how to create your symbol system for magic, with an encyclopedia of possible choices you could make for that. Naturally you shouldn’t limit yourself to what is presented in the book, but the various examples that Whitcomb provides can provide useful inspiration as you develop your own system of magic. Whitcomb also includes the alphabet of dreams, a magical language with its own cipher, and an appendix about a system of time magic called Nar, written by a friend of his, which utilizes different patterns and colors to help a person manipulate possibilities in time. Both the alphabet of dreams and Nar provide some intriguing ideas about where a unique system of magic can be created and developed. The Magician’s Reflection provides you your own key for doing that as well.

Bill is currently working on the Dream Manual, which is a book with art and some phrases to be used for meditational purposes. If you go to his website you can learn more about this project. He and I are working on another book together, which is a best practices of magic book. It’s still very much in the rough draft phase, but will be available at some point in the near future.

Recommended Reading

• Whitcomb, Bill. (1993). The Magician’s Companion: A Practical and Encyclopedic Guide to Magical and Religious Symbolism. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications.
• Whitcomb, Bill. (2008). The Magician’s Reflection. Stafford: Megalithica Books.

©2009 by Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

I first met Isaac Bonewits a few years ago at the Fall Gathering of the Tribes in West Virginia. It was quite interesting to talk with him and it was at that time that I was introduced to his work. Bonewits has been involved in the occult since the 1960s. He’s the only person to have graduated from a university with a degree in magic. Bonewits has founded and belonged to various pagan magical organizations, as well as having written a number of books on paganism and magic.

My familiarity with Bonewits’ work has focused on four books by him: Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic, Authentic Thaumaturgy, Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca, and Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, And Substances to Heal, Change, And Grow, which was co-written by his wife Phaedra Bonewits. Bonewits has written other books as well (see below). What I’ve most enjoyed about his work, beyond the sense of humor, is the attention to detail Bonewits provides in his works, as well as his ability to explain different tangents and concepts. Real Magic, in particular, is one of the first attempts I’ve seen to provide a coherent set of laws which explains how magic works.

I recommend Bonewits’ books for the detail and variety, but also because he maintains a rigorous academic approach to his works. Consequently, it is very easy to trace where he got his sources from, which can provide additional places of research and reading for people who are interested.

His website is http://www.neopagan.net.

Bibliography

• Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basic Principles of Yellow Magic. (1972, 1979, 1989) Weiser Books
• Authentic Thaumaturgy. (1978, 1998) Steve Jackson Games
• Rites of Worship: A Neopagan Approach. (2003) Earth Religions Press
• Witchcraft: A Concise Guide or Which Witch Is Which?. (2003) Earth Religions Press
• The Pagan Man: Priests, Warriors, Hunters, and Drummers. (2005) Citadel
• Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca. (2006) Citadel
• Bonewits’s Essential Guide to Druidism. (2006) Citadel
• Real Energy: Systems, Spirits, And Substances to Heal, Change, And Grow. (2007) New Leaf. Co-authored with Phaedra Bonewits.
• Neopagan Rites: A Guide to Creating Public Rituals that Work. (2007) Llewellyn

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy: Energy Work and the Magic of the Body, and Pop Culture Magick, among other works. You can visit his blog at http://magicalexperiments.wordpress.com/ and his website at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/.

©2009 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

I picked up all of Fries works a few years ago at Edge of the Circle, an occult bookstore in Seattle, which happens to stock these otherwise hard to find books. The main reason these books are hard to find is they are published by a U.K. publisher and have to be special ordered. However, it’s well worth your while to special order these books, as there is a wealth of information in them about diverse topics including Norse Runes, Seith shamanic practices, freestyle shamanic practices, in sights on the Tao, and practical magic experiments and exercises.

Fries is from and resides in Germany, and is apparently a musician, as well as a writer. For his books, he draws on Taoism, Celtic magic, Thelema, Maat Magic, and Austin Osman Spare’s techniques for automatic drawing as inspirations and sources which inform his own approaches to magic.

I have only read two of Fries works at this time: Visual Magick, and Living Midnight: Three Movements of the Tao. I found both works to be informative and filled with exercises that could easily be incorporated into a magician’s practice. At the same time, Fries definitely shows that he is able to provide his own perspective to the material. While he draws on Taoist and Buddhist material, he also makes it clear that he has his own approach to using the material, which is informed by a desire to make it as practical as possible. This is a very useful approach for any magician to utilize and Fries models it admirably.

I haven’t read his other three works, though I do have them. However, having spoken to some other magicians who have read his works, I’ve been told that they are of a similar quality as the other two works I mentioned, and I definitely believe it. What also impresses me about this author’s works is the bibliography and level of research that clearly has gone into each work. While I’d like to see more overt in-text citations, Fries does make an active effort to quote the works of others, which adds to the overall efficacy of the writing.

I highly recommend getting copies of Fries work. It’s a worthy investment for any magician’s library and will provide you a unique perspective on magical practices.

Below is a list of Fries’s works. It’s definitely in the interest of any magician to pick up Fries’s writing and incorporate it in your personal practice.

• Visual Magick: A Handbook of Freestyle Shamanism (Mandrake, 1992, 2001)
• Helrunar: Manual of Rune Magick (Mandrake, 1993 & 2002)
• Seidways: Shaking, Swaying and Serpent Mysteries (Mandrake, 1996)
• Living Midnight: Three Movements of the Tao (Mandrake, 1998)
• The Cauldron of the Gods: Manual of Celtic Magick (Mandrake, 2003)

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy: Energy Work and the Magic of the Body, and Pop Culture Magick, among other works. You can visit his blog at http://magicalexperiments.wordpress.com/ and his website at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/.

©2009 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

Call for Writers — Womens Voices in Magic

Email for inquiries and submissions: brandyeditor at gmail.com

Megalithica Books, an imprint of Immanion Press (Stafford, U.K./Portland, OR, U.S.A) is seeking submissions for an anthology on women working in the magical communities, particularly in communities where women have not been extensively published or in which women face stereotyping and misunderstanding within and without the community. These communities include (but are not limited to) groups and individuals working in the Golden Dawn, Thelemic, Aurum Solis, Alchemy, Chaos, and Experimental Fields.

Women have been involved in traditional and ritual magic since the late Victorian era. However women are often viewed as tangential to these communities or as soror mysticae, assistants to the magician. Today women are actively involved in ceremonial magical groups and lodges, alchemy, chaos magic, and Experimental Magic, overcoming stereotypes and creating new visions of magic within the communities.

Here are some suggested topics to give you an idea of the focus of this anthology.

Magical work

What magical work are you doing now? How do you describe it? Do you work alone, in a group, or in several settings? (For example, I do is traditional Ceremonial magic, traditional Witchcraft, experimental Ceremonial in a group setting, and I create experimental Ceremonial work.)

Women’s work

Is your magical work centered in a community where women do not have a strong presence, or in which women face stereotyping? Does it matter to your work that you are a woman? Do you feel that you approach the work in the same way that the men in your field do, or does being a woman affect your magic? Is that affect biological, cultural, magical, or all three? Do you present yourself to the world as a magical worker (”I am an alchemist”) or as a woman in your field (”I am a woman alchemist”)?

Stereotypes and prejudice

Has anyone ever told you “I didn’t know women were involved in that?” (”You’re the first woman I’ve met in the O.T.O.!”) Do outsiders assume that only men do the kind of work you are doing? Do people assume that because you are a woman you are doing the work in a particular way? (For example, do people assume that because you are a woman, you are doing psychological alchemy, not physical chemistry?)

Do you actively encounter prejudice? Do people talk to the man standing next to you rather than you? Are you silenced in person or online when you try to speak about your own work?

How do you counter stereotypes and prejudice when you encounter them? Are they only annoying, do they actively hinder your work, do they prevent you from doing your work? How important is it to you that your work is understood by others?

Women’s history

Women’s history has been difficult to document. This is as true in the magical fields as in any other endeavor. Mary Greer wrote about the lives of some of the early women in ceremonial magic in Women of the Golden Dawn. Are you aware of stories about women in the traditional and ritual magical fields that have not been told? Are you involved in documenting women’s history in the magical communities?

Soror mysticae

Stage magicians sometimes have women assistants. This image holds true in the magical field as well; Renaissance alchemists spoke of “soror mysticae” or women who assisted their work. Do people assume that you are not primarily directing or benefiting from your work?

Do you work on your own, with a partner of your own sex, with a partner of the opposite sex, or with a group? Do the people you work with support your work? Do you yourself have assistants whose work you direct?

Traditional cultures

In your work do you study or interact with people in other cultures and traditional cultures? Do the gender roles in those cultures differ from those of your own culture? Are those roles more or less restrictive, or just different? In what situations does your gender come up, and how do you handle those situations?

Honoring the cycle

Women’s magic has been associated with women’s fertility cycle. Do you find that comforting and supporting, or angering and limiting? How does your menstrual, pregnancy, and menopausal cycle affect the magic you are doing – deeply, tangentially, or not at all? Do you do any specific magic to honor the cycles of the body?

Feminism

If you are a feminist, do you present yourself as a feminist in the magical field in which you work? Are the others you work with in your field receptive to your feminism, or are they resistant or defensive around feminist discussion? Do you feel that feminism is central to your work, or do you see your feminism as social rather than magical?

Women’s communities

Is there a sense of women’s community in the field in which you work? Are you actively involved in building women’s community? Do you encounter resistance to this work? Are women you work with excited by women’s community? Do you and the women you work with see women’s community as a way to socialize, a magical path, a parallel community to the mens’ community? What is your vision for the women’s magical communities of the future?

Rough drafts are due 18 May, 2009. These drafts will be edited in a back-and-forth process with the editor. Essays should be 1500-4000 words, although if your work falls outside those limits, do submit it – we can discuss this during the editing process. Do drop us an email if you are unsure whether your idea fits into the content. The sooner you start the communication process the better, as after the deadline we won’t be considering additional ideas.

Essay requirements

• Citations for all quoted, paraphrased, or otherwise unoriginal material
• Bibliography of works cited
• Prefer APA format

Do write in your voice! If you’re academically inclined or trained, feel free to be as intelligent and technical as you like. If your work entirely talks in the first person about your own experience, please include this also. There is a wide range in women’s voices, and we are interested in being as inclusive of style as possible.

Compensation will be ($25) (paid via twice-yearly royalties from book sales) plus a free copy of the anthology when it is published and additional copies sold at 40% off the cover price to contributers. All contributors will be provided with a contract upon final acceptance of their essays, not when they are accepted for editing. If your essay is not accepted for the anthology, we will tell you after the first round of edits.

The anthology will be edited by Brandy Williams. She is the author of author of several pagan/occult nonfiction books. She may be found online at http://www.brandywilliams.org and her email address for this anthology is brandyeditor at gmail.com.

Immanion Press is a small independent press based in the United Kingdom. Founded by author Storm Constantine in 2003, it expanded into occult nonfiction in 2004 with the publication of Taylor Ellwood’s Pop Culture Magick. Today, Immanion’s nonfiction line, under the Megalithica Books imprint, has a growing reputation for edgy, experimental texts on primarily intermediate and advanced pagan and occult topics. Find out more at http://www.immanion-press.com.

News in Magick appears as often as we receive press releases. If you’d like to send us a press release of potential interest to RTV readers, please email your materials to admin@rendingtheveil.com and be aware of our issue publication dates.

©2009 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

William G. Gray’s books on magic have been one of the foundations of my own practice since 1998, when I was first given his book Ladder of Lights by a mentor of mine. What I’ve found so fascinating with his work is its concise and thorough focus on the process of magic. Gray doesn’t embellish his writing or tell convoluted stories or leave information out to test his readers. Gray founded a magical order called Sangreal Sodality, which is focused on his interpretation of ceremonial magic and Hermetic Quabalah. In particular Gray developed the Rite of Light, which is a practice focused on accessing the innermost mysteries of esoteric orders without drawing on any particular religious affiliation.

My own familiarity with Gray’s work has primarily occurred through his books which discuss the process of magic and how it works, as well as through the book The Ladder Of Lights, which goes into great detail and depth about the Sephiroth in the Quabalah and the meanings, angels, godforms, and related concepts that are associated with each Sephirah. Gray’s books on the quabalah are very detailed. In Talking Tree he discusses the tarot on the tree of life and what the meaning of each trump is with the different paths on the tree of life.

However, my favorite books of his are Magical Ritual Methods and Inner Traditions of Magic. In Inner Traditions of Magic Gray discusses the basics of ceremonial magic, but also introduces readers to the power concept of Telesmatic images and questions the relevance of magic in the nuclear age, which can also be applied to some degree to the technology age we live in. In Magical Ritual Methods, Gray discusses zero, space/time concepts, invocation and other techniques which can be used to enhance the magic one is doing. Both books are essentials that will get any reader to think carefully about how s/he is approaching magic.

Recently, Weiser books started republishing Gray’s work, which had previously been out of print. I highly recommend picking the re-prints up while they are in stock, as his books can otherwise be hard to find. I was fortunate enough to get most of my copies right before they want out of print and to this day I still refer to them a fair amount, and find his books, along with Bardon’s, to be the most relevant to building a strong foundation for western ceremonial practices of magic.

Books by William G. Gray

• Inner Traditions of Magic
• Magical Ritual Methods
• Talking Tree
• Quabalistic Concepts
• The Ladder Of Lights
• The Sangreal Tarot: A Magical Ritual System of Personal Evolution

There are more books written by him. The ones above are the ones I was able to find and have in my library.

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy: Energy Work and the Magic of the Body, and Pop Culture Magick, among other works. You can visit his blog at http://magicalexperiments.wordpress.com/ and his website at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/.

©2009 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

Call for Papers/Writers: Queer Magic Anthology (title to be determined)

E-mail for inquiries and submissions.

Megalithica Books, an imprint of Immanion Press (Stafford, U.K./Portland, OR, U.S.A.) is seeking submissions for an anthology on queer magic and/or ritual.

What We Don’t Want

For the purposes of this publication, “queer” is primarily defined as anything of a non-majority sexual orientation (e.g. gay, lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, etc.), or atypical gender identity (e.g. transsexual, transgendered, intersexed, genderqueer, metagender, etc.). Other things may be part of the widest understanding of “queerness,” including relationship styles (e.g. polyamory, etc.) or sexual practices (e.g. BDSM, fetishes, kink, etc.), and indeed magic, occultism, and paganism themselves (since they are “non-normative,” which is an agreed-upon definition of “queer” within many academic circles), but the focus of this volume will be on queerness particularly as it applies to gender and sexual orientation.

This is not an anthology that is intended to be about personal stories of the intersection of magical, occult, pagan, or spiritual identity and queerness, but instead about queer perspectives on magical, occult, and esoteric topics especially, but also possibly the impact of queerness on pagan or spiritual topics (e.g. theology). Further, where and when these topics of paganism and/or spiritual identity and affiliation might be addressed, this is not an anthology about coming out spirituality (e.g. the idea that it is okay to be LGBTQ and pagan/ Thelemic/ Santero/ Hellenic/ whatever/ &c.; “coming out” as ritual, initiation, etc.), nor should essays primarily be about how queerness of whatever sort gives one a better perspective or understanding on energy polarity or gender wholeness within any of these magical, occult, or pagan paradigms (e.g. the idea that gay men are more naturally gifted, magical, or shamanically-inclined because they are more in touch with their femininity, etc.). The latter has been done to death already; the former is an important first step in these matters, but as with all Megalithica publications, the intention with this anthology is to go beyond introductory matters whenever possible.

Personal stories that are primarily about alienation from mainstream magical, occult, or pagan circles because of one’s queerness are not the focus of this volume; if discussion of such is relevant to the wider aims of one’s essay, that’s fine, but having those wider aims is a necessity. If you want to do a piece on “queer love spells,” it would be better to address theoretical issues of how they’re different or in what ways their methodology is unique and presents challenges or enrichment, rather than giving templates or sample ritual/ magical texts. Essays on how to adapt “non-queer” spells, rituals, or practices to a queer context, or lists of correspondences and deities for particular queer issues, are not very desirable… unless they’re extremely innovative and unique!

What We Do Want

Some particular issues of interest might include:

• How does one’s queerness suggest different viewpoints on particular aspects, methodologies, or theories of magical practice?
• Just as one’s queerness may give one more useful insights on some magical or spiritual matters, are there likewise blind spots that one’s queerness may cause, and how can one address those usefully from a queer perspective?
• Are there historical precedents or particularly interesting figures in relation to queerness within one’s magical or spiritual tradition?
• Are there any useful practices or texts from the past (e.g. the Greek Magical Papyri; mythological tales featuring queer figures; established traditions with queer themes; historical figures who were known to be what we understand as queer; etc.) which can be used today, usefully adapted, or mined for insights for use in the very different contexts of the modern world?
• What are some magical methods or procedures that one might use to creatively deal with what are viewed as queer-specific issues, like homophobia, transphobia, etc., safer sex practices and education, forming and interacting with the LGBTQ communities, legal and political activism, LGBTQ rights and equality struggles, etc.?
• Are there “pop cultural” and “multi-media” magical techniques (see Taylor Ellwood’s various publications for further ideas/information!) or practices that can be employed in interesting ways for queer folks? Ideas may include:
  1. use of personals websites/Craigslist for spell casting or divination
  2. drag performances as aspecting/invocation
  3. uses of cruising and the entire bar/club scene for ritual work (which can be rather edgy, and not always in a good way, but nonetheless it’s a possibility)
  4. using queer-themed literature and films as bibliomancy or interactive ritual texts and/or sacred drama (on the latter, think The Rocky Horror Picture Show as ritual/ liturgy, but with other possibilities for the film that is the subject of the interaction)
  5. use of historical figures (e.g. Harvey Milk, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein), living personalities (e.g. RuPaul, Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John), or characters (e.g. Valerie from V for Vendetta, Sterling [Patrick Stewart] from Jeffrey, Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist from Brokeback Mountain, etc.) as archetypes or spirits, deity-forms, egregores, etc. for queer magical/ spiritual work

  and so forth.

• What are the challenges that can be encountered with the interactions of LGBTQ people and non-queer folks in magical/ spiritual communities, and (most importantly) how can they be overcome creatively? What are the challenges that can be encountered with having interaction with a non-magical/ non-spiritual person in one’s personal life as a lover/ partner/ relationship, and (most importantly) how can they be overcome creatively? (By “overcome creatively,” what is meant is anything non-manipulative, non-triumphalistic, and non-resentful that can be done to address and/or alleviate the issues in a situation — which is to say, specific actions, not adoption of attitudes or viewpoints that run the gamut of “try to be open-minded, understanding, and compassionate; deal with people on an individual and context-specific basis,” etc., as the main resolution offered. These should be things that are tried and tested, not theoretical matters. In this type of essay, of course personal experience and sharing of stories are necessary, but if the one you’re considering does not meet all of the above criteria, it will most likely not be considered for inclusion in this anthology.)
• And anything else you might think of which is innovative, interesting, different, new, unique, fascinating, scintillating, wonderful, and fabulous that involves queerness of whatever type, and its relation to and intersection with the practice and theory of magic, occultism, paganism and spirituality!

Requirements for Submission

• Citations for all quoted, paraphrased, or otherwise unoriginal material
• Bibliography for works cited
• Format should be “Vancouver Style” footnotes — look it up if you are not familiar with it!

Do write in your voice! If you’re academically inclined or trained, feel free to be as intelligent and technical as you like. If your work entirely speaks in the first person about your own experience, that is also permissible, but please use a more formal writing style for as much as possible in your piece that is not quoted speech. Unless you do so sparingly, or define your terms (either in the main text or footnotes), do not use lolcat-speak, text message speak, or anything else that could be considered para-English.

Rough drafts are due August 15, 2009. These drafts will be edited in a back-and-forth process with the editor. Essays should be 1500-4000 words, although if your work falls outside those limits, do submit it — we can discuss this during the editing process. Do drop us an email if you are unsure whether your idea fits into the content. The sooner you start the communication process the better, as after the deadline we won’t be considering additional ideas.

Compensation will be ($25) (paid via twice-yearly royalties from book sales) plus a free copy of the anthology when it is published and additional copies sold at 40% off the cover price to contributors. All contributors will be provided with a contract upon final acceptance of their essays, not when they are accepted for editing. If your essay is not accepted for the anthology, we will tell you after the first round of edits.

The anthology will be edited by Phillip A. Bernhardt-House. Phillip is the author of several articles (academic and non-academic) on religion, spirituality, mythology, theology, Celtic Studies, paganism, queerness, werewolves, and a variety of other topics, as well as a published poet, and is a Celtic Reconstructionist pagan and a founding member of the Ekklesía Antínoou (queer Graeco-Roman-Egyptian syncretist reconstructionist polytheism dedicated to Antinous, the deified lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian). Phillip’s e-mail address for this anthology is aediculaantinoi@hotmail.com.

Immanion Press is a small independent press based in the United Kingdom. Founded by author Storm Constantine in 2003, it expanded into occult nonfiction in 2004 with the publication of Taylor Ellwood’s Pop Culture Magick. Today, Immanion’s nonfiction line, under the Megalithica Books imprint, has a growing reputation for edgy, experimental texts on primarily intermediate and advanced pagan and occult topics. Find out more at immanion-press.com.

News in Magick appears as often as we receive press releases. If you’d like to send us a press release of potential interest to RTV readers, please email your materials to admin@rendingtheveil.com and be aware of our issue publication dates.

©2009 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

I first encountered Franz Bardon’s works approximately five years ago, and was amazed I hadn’t read or explored his concepts earlier. It likely didn’t help that until recently his works were out of print or printed only in German. In 2001, Merkur Publishing translated all of Bardon’s works and re-published them in the U.S.

Franz Bardon lived approximately forty years and was a stage magician as well as a hermeticist. He died in 1958 from pancreatitis, which may have been purposely induced when he was put in prison by communists. Bardon wrote three books on Hermeticism, and was working on a fourth when he died. There is also a biographical book about him called Frabato the Magician. [Ed's note: This book is by Bardon, so if it's a bio, it is an autobiography.] Bardon’s work tends to focus on practical applications of magic. While he discusses theory, the books are clearly written to instruct the reader in how to practice magic. Exercises are provided throughout each of the texts. It’s fair to say that the potential of his books isn’t fully realized unless the magician does the exercises.

The quality of Bardon’s work is high. I wasn’t exposed to his work until recently, and while most of the exercises he proposes in Initiation into Hermetics are ones I’ve done variants of, trying out his exercises has proven to be helpful in honing my skills and focus. In fact, it’s fair to compare the quality of his work to William G. Gray. Both tend toward an exactness of description, as well as a thorough explanation of how a practical technique should work, that is sorely lacking in a lot of the other occult literature of the time. The exercises in his first book are useful challenges to aspiring magicians, and I’d also recommend them to experienced magicians who want a different perspective on ceremonial magic than is found through the more traditional work of Crowley and Regardie. It’s interesting to note that Bardon clearly had some background in Far Eastern breathing techniques, as his concepts of pore breathing and energy accumulation are decidedly not Western practices. The energy work exercises are very helpful in improving one’s health.

Bardon’s second work, The Practice of Magical Evocation, provides an excellent explanation of how evocation works in a manner that is unique to Bardon, but nonetheless could easily have influenced the chaos magic movement in terms of how entities are created. Bardon provides readers an opportunity to summon a large number of entities based on planetary attributes, as well as explaining to readers how to develop relationships with said entities. I’d have to say that this book should be considered one of the cornerstones of evocation, as Bardon’s work provides readers an opportunity to really develop their skills in evocation, while also understanding how it works.

I have to confess I haven’t yet read The Key to the True Kabbalah. From what I understand, this work isn’t considered to be as good as the previous two works, though it should be noted that Bardon intentionally wrote his books to build upon each other. So prior experience with the practices in his two prior works may be necessary to unlock the key of the third book. It is interesting to note that Bardon uses the German alphabet in his kabbalistic workings, similar in fact to the work done with the English language and Kabbalah.

Below is a list of Bardon’s works. It’s definitely in the interest of any magician to pick up Bardon’s writing and run with it in your personal practice.

Recommended Reading

• Bardon, Franz (2001). Initiation into Hermetics. Salt Lake City: Merkur Publishing.
• Bardon, Franz (2001). The Practice of Magical Evocation. Salt Lake City: Merkur Publishing.
• Bardon, Franz (2002). The Key to the True Kabbalah. Salt Lake City: Merkur Publishing.

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy: Energy Work and the Magic of the Body, and Pop Culture Magick, among other works. You can visit his blog at http://magicalexperiments.wordpress.com/ and his website at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/.

©2008 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

In my most recent article for Reality Sandwich, “Magic: It’s More Than Just Finding Parking Spaces,” I discussed the stigmas or problem issues that surround the use of the word “magic” and the subculture of the occult, and I pointed out that until these stigmas are dealt with decisively, magic will never be rehabilitated. One commenter pointed out that it might be easier to say, “willful intentionality,” instead of saying, “magic,” because of all the baggage associated with the word. This leads me to ask, “Is magic another four letter word?”

Within the occult subculture, it could be argued that magic isn’t a four letter word, but I’m reminded of a recent incident where I overheard a description of a social networking meetup for local occultists. “We get together and hang out. We’ll talk about our jobs, or something fun we want to do, or plan when we’re going to go out and dance. We don’t about magic or any of the magical work we’re doing.” The passion that this was exclaimed with and the emphasis placed on not discussing magic at the meet up demonstrated an odd kind of attitude about magic, even from people who practiced it. It was as if people who came to such an event shouldn’t discuss magic, because it has no place in everyday life. Magic had become a four letter word.

While there is a lot of baggage associated with magic, another question I asked in the aforementioned article was about what the benefits of magic are, and in light of that question, I am going to use this article to address what those benefits are and why we shouldn’t treat “magic” as a four letter word.

One of the benefits of magic is that it provides access to alternate ways of knowing, ways of experiencing reality that fall outside the conventional approaches, such as religion, materialism, or science. Alternate ways of knowing incorporate techniques such as chemognosis, meditation, sex magic, ritual magic, energy work, but can also draw on disciplines outside of magic. The recent focus on semiotics and memetics is an example of practices from non-occult disciplines that have influenced magical practice.

Another benefit of magic is that it provides access to a variety of resources that fall outside the traditional spectrum of reality which we’re conditioned to believe in. These resources can include gods, angels, and demons, but also include cultivating our natural gifts, which may fall into disuse if not cultivated. A non-linear awareness of space/time, or the conscious manipulation of the physiology of the body is an example of accessing resources that fall outside the traditional spectrum of reality, but another example can be the intentional use of writing or collages to shape reality in a particular manner. By conventional standards, it would be argued that writing can’t directly shape reality. However, there are plenty of cases where writing has shaped a person’s life or events. William S. Burroughs and Ernest Hemingway are two examples; one knowingly did it and the other didn’t, with tragic consequences for him.

Magic also provides a person the opportunity to find answers to the spiritual questions s/he asks. Praying to a god is one way to find the answer, but the magician can also create the answer by his or her own efforts as well. And magic isn’t applied only to spiritual questions, but also to the practical concerns that can arise in living life. Utilizing magic to help you through a financial rough time or for healing a disease would be an example of a practical concern.

One could argue that everything I’ve mentioned above could be filed under “willful intentionality,” but would most people even understand that or know what “willful intentionality” meant? Certainly magic has its baggage and is sometimes a four letter word, but there are many associations with it that are positive. Many people have benefited from practicing magic and incorporating it into their lives. And many people, including yours truly, are proud to talk about magic with others, as well as practice it daily, instead of attempting to treat it as something you only deal with during special events or holidays.

Willful intentionality doesn’t have the negative associations, but it doesn’t have the positive associations, either. Another comment made to the aforementioned article was that if we were going to rehabilitate magic, it’s not a question of rehabilitating the term; it’s about rehabilitating how that term is used. I think this is an accurate point to make, and yet also a semantic one, because really what it points to is the need to rehabilitate the varied definitions of magic. Certainly, examining the definitions is important. It provides us an idea of how people understand the term as well as their own agenda for defining it in a particular way. But the application and processes also need to be considered carefully. When we do that, we aren’t just looking at magic from an abstract perspective, but also considering it from an experiential understanding of it.

Magic isn’t a four letter word. But how it’s been used and how it is understood has not always portrayed it in the best light. There is a lot of cultural and religious baggage associated with the word and even though it is marginally more acceptable now than it used to be, magic may not ever be free of that baggage. This may not matter to the occult subculture at all, but it does matter if we ever choose to take the concepts and practices of magic and present them to a more mainstream audience. At that point, “willful intentionality” may be the best choice of words to explain how those concepts work (or not, as I don’t think magic is just about an application of will and intent), but in the process we will have to lay out many of the underlying assumptions and beliefs inherent within the word “magic.” It makes for a semantic challenge, but also necessarily may force us to consider anew just what the benefits of magic are, as we share them with a broader audience than just the occult subculture.

Taylor Ellwood is the author of Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy: Energy Work and the Magic of the Body, and Pop Culture Magick, among other works. You can visit his blog at http://magicalexperiments.wordpress.com/ and his website at http://www.thegreenwolf.com/.

©2008 by Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey

This is an excerpt from Taylor’s upcoming book, Space/Time Magick II.

In Space/Time Magic, in my chapter on divination, I argued against using divination in magical practice every time a magician decided to do a ritual, because divination only reveals a few possibilities, while potentially limiting awareness of other possibilities. The other potential danger is that the very act of reading the future will change that actual future through the perception of it. In other words, divination can sometimes bring a very specific possibility into reality through the act of reading and that possibility may not be what the magician wants. The reason this happens is that the divination reading is imprinted into the subconscious of the magician¹. So s/he acts on the reading and manifests it into reality, even if its not a favorable outcome. This is admittedly a pessimistic perception of divination. I do think that conscious awareness of the magician’s emotions and thoughts at the time of the reading can help hir avoid such problems in divination. Nonetheless, I often wonder if divination is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For that reason, my use of tarot and other divinatory tools has gone in several different directions. When I have used Tarot for divination readings, instead of using standard spreads, I use free-form spreads in my readings. One of the reasons I suspect divination readings can be problematic has to do with the actual spread. Different spreads have meanings associated with them. These meanings bias the reader with regard to the overall reading, because they set certain standards into the reading. My way of getting around this issue, both for myself and other people I do readings for, is to do free form spreads, which means the spread can and will change and isn’t regulated to a set number of cards. The placement of the cards in the spread is done intuitively with this approach, as opposed to using a rote formula for the spread. The benefit of the intuitive placement of the cards is that any meaning associated with the placement of the cards is solely derived from the reader. This filters out biases that traditional spreads would otherwise introduce into the reading.

The reason the cards aren’t limited to a specific number is to allow the intuitive possibilities that are present in the reading to gain better exposure than might occur with a limited number of cards. While this approach can be occasionally problematic (such as when I did a reading for someone, and due to the number of cards she pulled, the reading last for over an hour) I find that this approach tends to be more accurate both for myself and the people I do readings for. More detail is allowed into the reading, which opens up the perception of more possibilities. At the same time, the level of detail is also raised because the cards will modify each other and the meanings that are presented to the reader.

My other approach to divination involves using it for ritual and/or pathworking capabilities. To really learn the meaning of the cards, for instance, Knight has suggested that the reader treat each card like a door way and go into the card to interact with the archetypal force that the card represents². So if a person wants to know the meaning of The Fool, the best way to find out is to actually do a meditative journey into the card to meet The Fool. I’ve found this technique to be useful to get to know the cards, but inspired as well by anime and the idea of summoning the spirit of card, I’ve also taken to using tarot for evocation purposes³. By evoking The Fool or another tarot card, I can interact with that force on this plane of reality. The evocation approach has been useful for opening up a number of possibilities for me. I’ve evoked The Chariot to help me travel more and get into events, while I’ve evoked The Wheel of Fortune to steer me toward better financial opportunities. As long as you have a well developed understanding of the cards, you can do fairly successful evocations of the archetypal spirits in the cards.

Yet another practical approach for tarot cards has been derived from Greer’s work. What I like about her approach is that it’s focused more on enchantment then divination. Instead of shuffling the cards and then pulling the top cards off, the practitioner pulls out cards that specifically represent the situation that needs to be addressed. Then cards are pulled that represent potential solutions. The goal is to put together a spread that creates a different conceptual approach to how the practitioner perceives the situation⁴. I’ve used this technique in several manners. I’ve used it as a mind mapping technique, where I map out a particular problem and the associated meanings that go with it. I then map out solutions and associated meanings with those and determine if there is any meshing of associations, which could create vectors of approach to solving a particular problem.

The other method I use with this technique is where I apply evocation magic to the problem. I’ll put the problem card in the center and then put the solution cards in a circle around it. I’ll cast a circle with the solution cards, basically evoking the archetypal entity of each card as a guardian. I’ll then evoke the archetypal spirit of the problem card. When that spirit comes forth I’ll explain that I need it to turn into the solution for me. Instead of binding the spirit of the card, I’ll ask it to confer with the spirits of the solution cards and then provide me a solution to what it represents. I usually get an intuitive explanation and may find myself following courses of action on instinct. Every time I’ve used this approach, it’s worked. The problem situation has turned into a solution. A person might think that the spirit of the problem card would be tempted to mislead me, but that’s why the spirits of the solution cards work with it. They not only confer with it, but also make sure that the intuitions I receive are carefully filtered. In other words the entity of the problem card doesn’t mislead me. And in time it becomes a solution for me. This kind of method involves the concept of taking energy directed toward you and turning that energy into your own advantage.

Most recently, however, I’ve come across a technique that allows me to expand the ritual magic components of tarot and at the same time allows me to further refine the divinatory and enchantment aspects I’ve worked with before. In Portable Magic, Tyson provides a ritual magic technique based off Golden Dawn ceremonial magic, but intended to drastically simplify the ceremonial magic aspects, and overall he succeeds. I’ve taken his approach and modified it further for my own uses. For instance, I simplified the system, taking out the astrological and planetary correspondences, because while they can be useful, I found it overly complicated for what I wanted to do. As is, none of my workings using Tyson’s system suffered because of the alterations. If anything, it proved to me that a personalized system of magic is more effective than adopting someone else’s approach to magic.

I mainly used Tyson’s concept of the ritual of union. In my own writing I’ve discussed the technique of invoking yourself into other people, and his technique seemed like a useful variation of my own technique.⁵ In his case, he used the example of contacting the consciousness of a magician such as Mathers, explaining that, “It is possible to form links with those who have died, or at least with spiritual intelligences who have assumed their identities and personalities and assert themselves to be the souls of those who were once alive⁶.” To my mind, this explanation didn’t work. It was too linear. And this is where the space/time aspects comes in, because if we contact people across distances, we can also interact with them across time. Working with Mathers, for instance, wouldn’t involve working with his ghost, as his consciousness very well could be dispersed at this moment in time. Instead it would involve working with his consciousness when it was alive, even if the magician doing the working didn’t live in the same temporal frame of reference as Mathers did. As long as Mathers existed at some point in time, then he could be connected with across time. I decided to apply some experiments testing my idea. The experiments involved people in the present, a dead relative, and a some attempts to interact with people in the future.

Readers should refer to Tyson’s work to get the basic technique, though I’ll summarize it here. I used the Voyager Tarot deck in my workings, so some of the titles of the cards are different from the ones he uses in his book. I created an altar out of each ace card in the four suits of the minor arcana. I also picked out a card that represented me, from the child, man, woman, or sage cards of the minor arcana. In my case, I used the Woman of Crystals card, because of my work with the Earth for most of 2007 and because I felt that the imagery really resonated with me. In the case of each person I chose to contact, I let my intuition guide me toward the correct card, using what I sensed about each person as a guidance. In most cases, this was helped by knowing the people at least somewhat well in real life, but in two cases, I didn’t really know either person and was still able to pick cards that I felt resonated with them.

To set up the triangle of summoning I used The Fool, The Hanged Man, and The Time-Space trump cards. To set up the ritual circle, I used the cards that Tyson has recommended, with some changes, using the Art trump for Temperance and the Balance trump for Justice. Again I refer readers to his book, not only for the suggested layout, but also a full explanation of the technique and what the magician is supposed to do to make the ritual work. I mostly followed his instructions, though again I personalized what I did to some degree.

My first experiment was focused on just making a connection with each person and determining if the person felt my presence when I did the connection. I asked each person before I did this working, and so I had their permission, but they didn’t know when I’d try to connect with them. In each case, around the time of the ritual, the people I contacted did feel my presence. An intriguing side effect of this experiment was that most of them experienced some form of bleed over, when it came to some current situations occurring in my life and natural abilities I have. In one instance, the person felt moved to write about desire and attachment, something I’d been reading about a lot at the time. In the second case, the person became very empathic while the ritual occurred and for a short time after, before it faded away. My description of his shields were also accurate. In the third case, the person only felt my presence.

My next experiment was to actually connect with each person, do a tarot reading of their present circumstances, and determine if the reading of the problem facing the person was accurate, while at the same time aligning that person with possibilities that were favorable for solving the situation. I used the Voyager deck for the summoning, and then used the Buckland Alchemy deck for the readings. In each case, they felt my presence once again. Also in each case, the readings I did were accurate and related to activities the person was engaged in at the time. In one case, the person was looking through her art portfolio and dealing with feelings of empowerment over it, but also feelings of conflict and fear, as a result of her school experiences. In another case, the reading for the person reflected the fact that he was in a business meeting and had to take charge to solve the situation. In both cases, they also noted that they felt charged up around the time of the reading, which I thought of as imparting those favorable possibilities into their reality. As a final challenge, one of my friends suggested I contact someone I didn’t know at all to see if the experiences and readings were accurate. I was only given the first name of the person. I told him I would do it two days later, but decided to do a double blinder and do the working the day before I told him I would do it. The reading for the person I didn’t know was also accurate. I not only was able to provide a general description of her experience, but I also was able to provide a very accurate of her personality. I knew once I tried these experiments that the connection with other consciousnesses worked in the present. The question that remained was if they would work in the past or future.

For the past, I decided to contact the consciousness of one of my ancestors, my grandfather who had died many years before I was born. I didn’t know a lot about him, so I figured it was a perfect test, because I could then confirm details received with people in my family who did know him. My goal wasn’t to contact his spirit, but to contact him when he was alive. I used a picture of him as part of my focus. The connection I received was more in terms of emotions than actual information, but the emotions were accurate to the time the picture was taken. I confirmed details via my relatives.

For the future, I did a similar reading like I had in the present. The difference was that I would connect with the person, but that the connection would be directed to the future of that person. My first connection was directed to one day later, in that person’s life. On that day she did feel my presence and the reading for her circumstances turned out to be very accurate, dealing with her ongoing attempts to communicate with people and with herself. In the second case, the connection was focused four days later. I wanted to determine if there was a difference in the connection or accuracy of the reading by length of time. The connection didn’t feel as strong, but the reading was still accurate for the person and what he was dealing with at the time.

I have further experiments planned, which will be used in a fuller version of this chapter. However, I did feel that, for all intents and purposes, the technique I adapted to my own standards has worked rather well. Each connection has been made successfully and in each case has been accurate. However, there is easily room for expansion in several different directions, including connecting with past and future versions of the self. The important aspect to note however is that tarot has more uses for it than just divination and that divination can combined with enchantment, as was the case where I not only read the circumstance, but then used the cards to introduce favorable possibilities to solve the problems. Tyson’s core technique has lots of adaptibility to it and will certainly be a tool I continue to use for a long time to come.

Footnotes

1. Renee, Janina. (1990). Tarot Spells. St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications.
2. Ellwood, Taylor. (2005). Space/Time Magic. Stafford: Immanion Press.
3. Knight, Gareth. (1996). The Magical World of the Tarot: Fourfold Mirror of the Universe. York Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc.
4. Ellwood, Taylor. (2004). Pop Culture Magick. Stafford: Immanion Press.
5. Greer, Mary K. (1988). Tarot Mirrors: Reflections of Personal Meaning. North Hollywood: New Castle Publishing Co., Inc.
6. Tyson, Donald (2006). Portable Magic: Tarot Is the Only Tool You Need. Woodbury: Llewellyn Publications. p. 158

©2007 Taylor Ellwood
Edited by Sheta Kaey