Freemasonry and the Occult

Freemasons deny that their secret society has anything to do with the occult, but then why do so many famous occultists have Masonic connections? From the founders of the Golden Dawn, to Annie Besant, to Aleister Crowley, to many modern-day magicians and occultists, it seems like Freemasonry and Western esotericism walk hand-in-hand. Join me on January 26th in an exploration of Freemasonry’s occult connections, esoteric teachings, and magical rituals.

This class will be both online and in-person at Dark Star Magick in Portland, Oregon!

Unraveling the Arbatel

The Arbatel stands as a seminal work in the Western esoteric tradition, promising insights into natural magic, spiritual wisdom, and the conjuration of spirits. This class provides a breakdown of the Arbatel’s contents, ensuring that students appreciate both its historical context and application in contemporary occult practice.

> Welcome friends to episode 338. Tonight Erik Arneson (@arnemancy) rejoins the show to listen to voicemails, answer questions, and finally unravel the mystery of breakfast cereal.

Go listen over on The Alexxcast page, or listen here!

The symposium, called the NWTS or more affectionately NeWTS, is packed full of lectures and workshops. Three tracks ran for three straight days, offering 27 different opportunities for education and instruction. On top of those, NWTS was opened by a special keynote from none other than Tarot legend Rachel Pollack, and the event was followed by a business development course focused on divination professionals. I didn’t attend the keynote or supplemental course, but I went to a lot of talks.

Lenormand, Astrology, and Qabalah

Lenormand is a form of cartomancy which uses a special 36-card deck. This method of divination was developed by Marie Anne Lenormand in the late 18th century and is completely different from Tarot. While I had toyed with Lenormand in the past, I’d never really gotten the hang of it. I was really delighted to get to take a class on reading these cards from Emily Rose, a professional Lenormand reader. She explained some key concepts really clearly and by the end of her lecture, I was able to give a pretty clear reading – with a cheat sheet.

There were a number of talks that covered aspects of Tarot correspondences with both astrology and Hermetic Qabalah. Two really stood out. The first was T. Susan Chang‘s excellent lecture, The Four Great Stories of Tarot, which related various astrological correspondences to well-known myths. It was a blast to finally meet Susan in person. Since she appeared on my podcast last year we’ve been discussing lots of various Tarot topics, and meeting in person led to some great conversation.

I also attended a talk by Anastasia Katsikaris on using astrological correspondences in Tarot to predict timing and pacing. This class was also really insightful, and I learned a lot about the relationship between the cards and the calendar. While I’m not a big fan of trying to actually predict the future with Tarot, I did use this technique in a client reading right after the conference and it was surprisingly helpful. You can expect to see me incorporate some of these techniques into future Tarot readings.

A New Technique: Card Counting

Callie L. French, the artist of the Rana George Lenormand, taught a class on a method of card counting in a Tarot reading. In this method, which is too complex to be related here, cards are giving specific values and then related to each other by counting through all the cards of a Tarot spread as if they’re in a mutable finite field. If this sounds complicated, it’s because it is!

I loved this class. The complexity of this technique was like a strange dance back and forth across the spread to extract more and more meaning from each card, sometimes relating to cards in unusual and surprising ways. Callie explained the technique clearly, which was nice, because it was the first session on Sunday and everybody was suffering from the Daylight Savings Time change. I really enjoyed learning this brand new technique, but it was complex, so it will take practice before I’m ready to use it in my own readings.

Embracing Leadership Roles

Perhaps the most unexpected lessons I learned at NWTS came from Tarot for the New Age: Five Pillars for Spiritual Leadership, a presentation by Liz Worth. Liz talked about how important it is for Tarot to remain sacred, and that as cartomancers we understand that not only is Tarot a lifestyle, but we represent that lifestyle and Tarot itself in our everyday life. She pointed out that it’s not easy for customers seeking a Tarot reading to know how knowledgeable a reader is, nor how to evaluate them. It’s our responsibility as Tarot readers to communicate the work that Tarot requires and to accept our role as spiritual leaders. This means we need to focus on ethics, integrity, and responsibility.

Liz spoke with wisdom on many topics, including methods for recognizing bias, understanding our own level of experience, and being comfortable with the level of commitment and discipline that Tarot asks for. Her lecture gave me a lot to think about, and the Tarot reading at the end really helped emphasize areas that I need to work on myself.

And Let’s Not Forget the Skulls

A last minute change in the line-up brought in artist, author, and naturalist Lupa of The Green Wolf to teach a class on skull scrying. This class was a trip. Lupa led us through an understanding of using animal remains as sacred objects, approaching them respectfully, and then gazing through the foramen magnum into the cranial cavity, using the darkness as a scrying surface.

This technique is wild. I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to try it since there weren’t enough animal skulls to go around, but it made me think of so many strange things, such as Frater Ashen Chassan’s work on summoning a familiar spirit into a human skull, to the summoning of a peredros into the skull of an ass in the Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri.

Takeaways from the Northwest Tarot Symposium

This symposium was a really great event, and not just because of the educational opportunities. I had the pleasure of connecting with old friends as well as meeting people in person that I’d only known via the internet. The lessons were amazing. It was a reminder that no matter how much experience you have with Tarot and cartomancy, there is always more to learn. It was really worth it to be more deeply connected to the broader Tarot community. You will certainly find me there next year.

And by the way, I’ve got new reading techniques to try out! If you want to get a Tarot reading with me, schedule a video reading or get a reading by email.

Did you like this article? My patrons received it early. Support my work on Patreon!

Recording and sound was done by my very talented brother, Nick Arneson. Go check out his music!

Links

• Coleman Stevenson’s website
• The Dark Exact Tarot
• The Dark Exact’s Etsy Page
• @darkexact on Instagram
• The Dark Exact on Facebook
• Rose City Book Pub

This was our first live recording and we didn’t always do a great job getting the microphones to some of the questioners! However, overall this was a great event and I look forward to doing another one.

Make sure you check out A Small Collection of Specialized Spreads, edited by Coleman and featuring a Tarot spread by me!

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy
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Here are some things I do know about the events right now.

• I’ll have new Tarot decks that you haven’t seen before!
• Readings will cost $10 and I’ll be accepting Bitcoin.
• There will be lots of wine.
• Costumes are encouraged!
• I think if you bring your Hallowe’en candy in on the 31st, you can get Jeff to pair a wine to it.

Upcoming Events

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Why Hermetic Qabalah?

Even though Pike was greatly interested in Isaac Luria’s traditional Kabbalah,¹ he drew heavily from the works of Eliphas Levi.² This made me think that focusing on Hermetic Qabalah rather than traditional Jewish Kabbalah would be a lot easier. My goal was to introduce the club to Qabalah gently.

To this end, we started by reading through The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford by Lon Milo DuQuette. This ended up being a really good choice. I supplemented this with simple meditations, some of which I adapted from Meditation and Kabbalah by Aryeh Kaplan. I also introduced a meditation technique outlined by Jay Michaelson on his website. We worked through The Chicken Qabalah over a number of months and had some great discussions.

Learning Through Teaching

While I’ve studied Qabalah for nearly 20 years, it has not been my primary focus for quite some time. I really had to brush up on it in order to lead discussions. I discovered that Qabalah is really hard to talk about. Explaining ideas like the Four Worlds and emanation is confusing. This forced me to really put my thoughts in order and I think it led to new understanding on my part.

It’s been an interesting challenge blending Jewish Kabbalah with Hermetic Qabalah for beginners to understand. It really fits into the quote at the beginning of The Chicken Qabalah, which states that this form of study is

[…] for dilettantes […] who pretentiously consider themselves Hermetic Qabalists but who are nonetheless serious about utilizing a tiny portion of the Hebrew Qabalah [sic.] for spiritual enlightenment.

It’s been an interesting journey. It is definitely true that you learn a lot about a subject by teaching it, and I look forward to deepening my understanding as Qabalah Qlub progresses. We have since finished The Chicken Qabalah and are moving on to Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune.

Update from July 2018: Furthering Qabalah Qlub

The Scottish Rite version of Qabalah Qlub didn’t last long, but I have restarted it at a private meeting space. In addition, I have started sharing my Qabalah Qlub notes on my Patreon page.

1. Pike, Albert, and Arturo De Hoyos. Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma of the Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Washington, DC: Supreme Council, 33, S.J., U.S.A., 2011. 38-40. ↩

2. See pp 839-47 of “28°, Knight of the Sun, or Prince Adept, as well as de Hoyos’s bibliography. ↩

After coming to this realization, it was time to make a change in the direction of this website. I will be writing here about Hermeticism and the Tarot. Primarily, I will focus on Hermeticism and the Hermetic arts. I want to introduce you to the ars memorativa,¹ theurgy, thaumaturgy, and their connection to the Tarot. For now, enjoy this video that might give you an idea of the subjects we will be exploring on this website.

1. I usually call this the ars memoriae.  ↩

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Jeff over at Pairings Portland has revealed the wines that will be paired with my Tarot reading! Check them out. They sound delicious.

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We’re teaming up with Pairings Portland again!

Also there’s salami this time.

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Stay tuned for even more! I’m working on plans with Weird Shift and will be helping out with a new record label, too. Expect me in unexpected places.

If you are interested in booking me for an event, let’s talk!

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Mention this post and I’ll give you 50% off your first reading!

Don’t Forget: Wine and Tarot!

Two events in one week might seem like a lot, but don’t forget that I’ll also be at Pairings Portland this Friday, August 15th, to pair Tarot cards with delicious wine. Read more about it!

I’m really looking forward to seeing you soon!

5% of all proceeds will go to Pacific Pug Rescue.

Pairings Portland is located at 455 NE 24th Ave in Portland, Oregon. The shop looks really amazing, and you’re going to love the way Jeff pairs wine with just about anything you can think of, including your astrological Sun sign and favorite cult TV show. You can find your way there using the map below.

My booth will be located at 3611 SE Division Street in Portland, Oregon. The street fair looks like it will be a lot of fun! I hope to see you there.