Andrew B. Watt joins me on this podcast episode to discuss various visions of the future and how we as magicians, occultists, and wizards can prepare for the future — any future! In particular, we discuss the competing ideas of John Michael Greer and Gordon White, futures both pessimistic and optimistic. We also take a… Read more »
Through all of my writing on Hermeticism and Hermetic philosophy on this blog, I’ve recommended a number of books. In this post, I’ll pull them all together to create a reading list for those interested in the subject.
Scott Gosnell joins me for an amazing conversation about Giordano Bruno‘s work, in particular On Magic and Thirty Statues, which he just finished translating and publishing. Our conversation dives into Bruno’s art of binding and his suggestions on how to bind entire cities. We also get into the crazy world of the Florentine Renaissance and… Read more »
Classical astrology pays a lot of attention to the houses, which are fixed portions of the ecliptic tied to the horizon. In addition to the signs and planets in each house, houses are interpreted according to the triplicity rulers of the house’s occupying sign. The topics associated with these rulers are known as the house… Read more »
Teacher and independent scholar Ted Hand joins me in this episode for a deep dive into the angelology of Pico della Mirandola, followed by a crazy romp through the gnostic world of Philip K. Dick. It’s a dense episode, and (hold on to your hat!) it’s all connected! We follow Pico’s adventures through the Florentine… Read more »
Working with grimoires and classical magic means needing a deeper understanding of classical and Renaissance astrology. You’ll need to be able to easily access information about the astrological houses, signs, and planets. Inspired by Giordano Bruno, I devised a mnemonic chain that can be used to memorize the twelve houses. The following should be used… Read more »
On Saturday, June 3rd, I gave a lecture at the Sekhet-Maat OTO Lodge titled “The Magical Memory: The Art of Memory as an Occult Practice”. Below, please find a link to the slides and a list of references used while preparing the lecture.
The most well-known saying from Hermeticism is the Hermetic axiom, “As above, so below.” This is a simplified version of a verse from the Emerald Tablet. What does this enigmatic statement mean? It is an expression of an idea which is found across religions and spiritual traditions.
Working with Giordano Bruno’s memory alphabet and wheel system opens up interesting possibilities. I’ve written before about using tarot with the Art of Memory. Now let’s look at using the Taro with Bruno’s memory system. If you have used Tarot for meditation or pathworking, then you already have experience with visualizing the cards and also… Read more »
Learn about Giordano Bruno’s Art of Memory from De Umbris Idearum: On the Shadows of Ideas, recently translated by Scott Gosnell.This book contains both De umbris idearum and Ars memoriae, which are Bruno’s work on the nature of ideas and imagination as well as his complex mnemonic system.
