Today a Tarot deck is a fairly specific deck of cards. It has around 22 Greater Arcana, from The Fool through to the World, and then 56 Minor Arcana including the pips and 16 Court Cards. However, Tarot cards aren’t the only cards out there being used for divination, insight, or other non-game purposes. Let’s look at a few such decks that I use and enjoy.
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Ritual meals are an ancient human tradition, dating back at least 12,000 years. When it comes to Hermetic tradition, such as it is, the Asclepius or Perfect Discourse has vague instructions and a prayer for a ritual meal in its final chapter.
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In this episode of My Alchemical Bromance, Erik explores various interpretations and explanations of the soul in the wake of the death of his 19 year-old cat, Kublai Khan. This episode is personal, but hopefully it provides food for thought.
Links
- The Immortal Body in Hermeticism
- Timaeus by Plato
- The Nine Parts of the Human Soul According to Ancient Egypt
- The Four Worlds in Kabbalah
- Asclepius: The Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus
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source https://myalchemicalbromance.com/podcast/ep-46-an-exploration-of-the-soul/
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I haven’t written about a Tarot card in quite a while, but in honor of Nathan Lee‘s new podcast, Six Of Swords, let’s look at that card!
(more…)It’s the beginning of December, and in the Pacific Northwest, that means it gets dark really early and the Sun rises late. We have a lot of darkness this time of the year, and in Portland we make up for that darkness by celebrating a lot. My family isn’t religious, but we still celebrate Christmas in what I have always assumed is the traditional American way – a tree, a bunch of presents, The Night Before Christmas, big meals, shots of akvavit, and singing carols together. That’s how everybody does it, right?
But unlike my family, I am religious and I’m not Christian. What holidays are available to the modern pagan? I’m curious about how other modern pagans pick their Winter holidays, so I’m going to share some things that my friends and I have done or are planning to do.
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There are a few books coming out that I’m really excited about. If you read this blog regularly, you should be excited about them, too. First, Dan Attrell’s translation of the Picatrix is finally available for pre-order. I interviewed him back on episode 29 of My Alchemical Bromance and have been eagerly awaiting his book.
Second, One Truth and One Spirit: Aleister Crowley’s Spiritual Legacy, Keith Readdy’s book about Aleister Crowley, the OTO, and other cool Thelema stuff is available for pre-order. I interviewed Keith about his book in episode 40 of My Alchemical Bromance. Go check out those two books and add them to your list!
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The featured image for this post is “Old books” by David Flores on Flickr.
This is a list of books on Freemasonry. In case it hasn’t been made abundantly clear by my numerous podcast appearances, public lectures, and short list of published articles, I’m a Freemason. This generates a lot of curiosity in those who aren’t Masons. Occultists and esotericists, the main audience for this website, have lots of misconceptions about Freemasonry, so I get asked frequently for reading suggestions. The problem is, there is a ton of bad Masonic reading material out there.
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Back in March, I had a conversation with Jeremy Crow in episode 28 of My Alchemical Bromance. We discussed the Left Hand Path (LHP), about which I had only a surface understanding before we really dug into it. While there are multiple ways to differentiate between the two paths, we focused on one in particular that divides magical and mystical practices into two rough categories: those that seek to dissolve the self into a greater oneness are on the Right Hand Path, while those who seek to glorify the self and enable it to continue after death are on the Left Hand Path.
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“Ritual magic is a combination of performance art, prayer, and meditation.” – Dan Attrell
When a person gets involved in ritual magic, they probably aren’t prepared for the amount of crafting supplies they’ll need to accrue and artwork they’ll need to produce. Wands, altars, and magical tools and weapons all need to be created, typically by hand. This can mean picking up skills like woodworking, sewing, painting, and drawing. As magical work becomes more complex, even metalworking and jewelry-making skills can be necessary.
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Hi everybody! As I am sure you have noticed by now, I am financing this website and my continued work using Patreon. This unfortunately means that a lot less of my new content is appearing here, but I have one piece in particular that I think many readers will be interested in: an audio lecture series on using the Art of Memory to memorize and work with Tarot cards.
Currently I just have part one up, which covers the Minor Arcana pips. If you’re a Patreon patron, you can listen to it here. If you’re not yet one of my Patreon supporters, this series will be available at the $1/month level. That’s so cheap! Go get it.
Support my work on Patreon for as little as $1 per month!
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