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Volume II
Issue 3 |
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Beltane
2008 |
“The idea that there are no advanced texts is something we hear sometimes when we present workshops or sit and chat with people at pagan festivals. We’ve also heard the complaints online, in forums and personal journals – ‘Where are the 300-level books, the advanced texts, the ones that go beyond correspondence charts and basic guided meditations?’ As authors who work with a publisher specializing in intermediate to advanced texts, we’d like to offer some of our own perspectives on this topic. While we don’t have all the answers, and your mileage may vary, here are some thoughts we’ve had on our experiences in the wild world of pagan publishing …” Read more…
“Not long ago, while drawing for my Rending the Veil submission, I finished three images before I realized I had much more than a single issue’s worth of submissions. Now, while it could justifiably be said that I am usually drawing in an altered state of mind, this proved sufficiently unusual that it prompted me to take a step back and examine the art for commonalities… and I found plenty. The series of four pieces featured portraits of imaginary(?) magicians – though I like the term ‘magic-users’ better – and each was apparently portraying a different facet of the magical experience, mind-bending or mind-breaking it may be, in a very particular order. Three of four of the portraits have been presented in chronological order, and only the final image remains …” Read more…
“In his Apology to the Athenians, Socrates tells of coming upon a group of poets who did not understand the meaning of their own poems. In Republic, Plato states that all good poets are inspired, and are possessed when they create. Plato also said, “It is God Himself who addresses us through them,” and that God takes away the minds of poets, using them as his ministers. The Sufi speak of poetry and prose that comes to them in an ecstatic state; they refer to this prose as shathiyat. Joseph Campbell spoke of poetry that comes from a transcendent source and how poets can be unaware of what they are talking about. Some Christian fundamentalists view ‘speaking in tongues’ as the babbling of nonsense syllables. Is it possible that speaking in tongues is another term for …” read more…
A new writer this issue, Kristin Colubra offers an evocative story called “The Garden.” Here’s a taste: “It was not a place of her dreams, nor was it a place of her nightmares. It was, instead, a place she found herself one night when her barriers dropped. Whether the place existed outside her own mind did not matter. What she perceived, simply was. To doubt it would be to doubt everything. But none of this mattered. Whether she doubted or believed would not alter her circumstances, merely how she viewed them. She did not realize any of this. These thoughts didn’t even cross her mind. She opened her senses to the garden, and all else vanished …” Read more…
“Divination can be done with the simplest of readily available household or personal items, or even with “found” objects picked up in whatever place you happen to be. Formal and elaborate systems of divination such as astrology or the Tarot are excellent tools for probing the unknown or the future, but they can be difficult to learn, and for this reason many people find them intimidating. It is fortunate that they are not necessary. Sortilege, or divination by the fall of lots, is a simple technique that requires only a knowledge of a few basic principles, which may be applied to a wide range of objects and conditions. With these principles in mind, you can create your own personal method of divination anywhere, from virtually anything that comes to hand …” read more …
“I first encountered the good Padre on one of those BBS systems that was so instrumental in the tremendous increase of interest in the occult that occurred during the 1980s just as the internet made owner-operated networks obsolete. Nothing he had to say to me made me happy. In fact, I found much of his criticism toward Thelemites to be deliberately insulting. In one of our many online conversations, I accused him of being the most anti-Thelemic person I had ever met, and pointed out that he didn’t appear to like anything about Thelema. He replied that I was being typically Thelemic for shooting the messenger. “My criticism,” he said, “is directed toward Thelemites, not Thelema. There is a huge difference, and this is part of the problem.” A couple of days later he said it again, as if he wanted to make sure that I got the point that appeared to be so important to him: “My problem isn’t with Thelema at all. I think Thelema is beautiful. My problem is with the so-called Thelemites.” …” read more…
In a series of paintings from his Laws and Limitations collection, Jesse Lindsay brings his unique vision to Rending the Veil. We’re featuring four images this issue, and hope to see more. Jesse specializes in interpretations of alchemy he calls “Alchemical Surrealism.” We highly recommend viewing these pieces, but dial-up users beware: These are large files. See more…
“As magicians, we face many internal enemies in our work and our practice of magic. Insufficient discipline can slow our development. Egotism leads us to tread into areas we are not yet prepared for, to overestimate our skills, or just to annoy people. Distraction can interrupt our spells – or worse, cause them to backfire. However, there is one internal enemy, one personal foe, that I feel is among our greatest enemies and is often overlooked. That enemy is worry. Worry is an insidious foe, as just about any of us can attest. Worry can divide our energies, in essence dividing us against ourselves. We become the worrier and the worried-about. We battle ourselves over …” read more…
“The word “Alchemy” is believed to be composed of three different words originating from the three cultures that contributed to its practice and development. Alchemy as an actual science probably started with the Egyptian’s effort to preserve the body after death. Hence, the root of the word is found in the ancient name of Egypt: Khem, alluding to the fertility of Egypt after the Nile floods. The Greeks dominated the development of mathematics and theoretical formulas for the nature of the Universe. Following Alexander the Great, the Egyptian methods were united with Greek principles to develop the form of science then called Khemia, which loosely translates …” read more…
No longer a regular column, “News in Magick” brings us news when news comes to us. This issue, a new book is on the way from Megalithica Books (the occult imprint of Immanion Press), a full-flegded publisher based in the U.K. and bringing new authors to the esoteric field. Get the details…
“Ever since I returned from Arizona a few weeks ago after going through some personal rites of passage in my shamanic path, I’ve been making more effort to get out into the natural world on a regular basis, usually at least once every day or two. I’ve always felt comfortable out in the wilderness, but one of the effects of my shamanic work has been that I’ve been much more open to the world, energetically and otherwise, and more aware of myself and how I feel. Over the years, living in cities, I learned to shut myself off from the environment around me as a form of self-defense, which has had adverse effects on my overall health. Following my shamanic work in Arizona, I became acutely aware of just how uncomfortable and unhealthy I was, and once I returned home I made a concerted effort to spend more time outdoors. I now try to go outside daily, even if only for a brief visit to the park near …” read more…
Gerald del Campo offers a monthly selection of ten words pertinent to magick users everywhere – some serious, some firmly tongue-in-cheek. Check out his newest selection in this issue, including Quintessence and Theodicy. Read the Dictionary…
“This is a really cool book. It’s an in-depth study of the pagan community in Hamilton, Ontario by a member of said community. Neil Jamieson-Williams is an academic as well, holding degrees in both anthropology and sociology, and he approaches this work with that as well as his personal background in a healthy balance. His experience as an academic lends itself to a professional treatment of the topic at hand, but his experience within the community he studies tempers it without showing too much bias. The author starts with a basic overview of modern paganism, and then proceeds into some good advice on how to observe pagans (for we are wily critters!). He’s quite open about the fact that academics may do some pretty covert observations of people who don’t realize they’re being observed, including online in forums and elsewhere. And he stresses the importance of …” read more…
“I’ll admit that when it comes to anything that’s more New Age than Neopagan, I’m a tough sell. Ross Bishop, happily, has presented a book that got through my cynicism and gave a wonderfully balanced approach to healing internal wounds. I am quite pleased to have had the opportunity to read this book. A good bit of Journey to Enlightenment centers on healing the traumas (no matter how seemingly small or supposedly unimportant) from childhood. It’s not just a matter of blatant abuse, but of simply not being understood, or having to deal with the bad conditioning your parents may have had that may have affected how they raised you, even if they never meant to hurt you and loved you dearly. However, Bishop also touches on a number of other issues that people may have unhealthy relationships …” read more…
“I cannot rave enough about this book. I forget exactly where I heard about it, but given the dearth of material on ecological spirituality/magic, especially outside of a shamanic or neopagan perspective, I fairly jumped at a chance to pick this text up. This is not a how-to book, with the exception of one chapter. It is primarily rather dense and inspiring theoretical discussion of the links between hermeticism and alchemy, and the need for a more eco-friendly approach to life, the Universe, and everything. Rather than try to summarize the book as a whole, I’ll go through each chapter independently. Chapter 1 (Wilson) — The Disciples at Sais: A Sacred Theory of Earth — This was originally a paper presented by the author at a 2003 “Sacred Theory of Earth” conference. Wilson traces the influences …” read more…
“I like creative reworkings of old systems (at least as long as they don’t claim to be the original!). Good Fortune is just such a book. Titania Hardie offers her own modernization of the I Ching; she argues that as the original was created in an entirely different culture, including one in which women weren’t even allowed to use it, a form friendly to both men and women was in order. I am pleased by this. The first section of the book describes what the basic concept is, how to throw and read the coins, and the different personality types that affect the outcome of the reading. There’s also some interesting elemental correspondence …” read more…
“Most of the fiction I end up reviewing has a more neopagan slant to it. However, when the author of this particular gem told me that it was a story that wove in Western occultism, I jumped at the chance for something new. And I was duly rewarded, as it was a good read all around. The premise showed a lot of potential. Two perfectly mundane, ordinary people in modern-day London have their lives turned entirely inside out by the intrusion of an occult plot that could have universe-shattering consequences. Their experiences become increasingly disorienting as they’re dragged deeper into intrigue and conspiracy in an elaborate plot to manipulate them into just the right place at the right time. This may sound a bit like a bad Satanic Panic novel; however, it’s of much higher quality …” read more…
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