Johannes Kepler is best known for developing the Laws of Planetary Motion. I have been fascinated by his story for years, and was amazed when I read about his mother’s witchcraft trial in Kitty Ferguson’s book, Tycho & Kepler. This sort of accusation was deadly. Out of 73,000 accusations of witchcraft in Europe, about 50,000 led to executions. There was a strange intersection between medieval superstition and the birth of modern science in the early modern period.

Here is the song I made, based on this bit of history.

Please enjoy!

My music still has a ways to go, but I hope you enjoy the song. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this learning process with you, and hopefully seeing my rough starts will encourage more people to explore arts and crafts in their mystical journeys.

Melissa is a witch, chef, storyteller, botanist, and co-owner at Catland Books. Their work deals with the healing power of myth, divination, and immersion in the natural world. They are a teacher at Catland Books and numerous other metaphysical spaces around the country, and the author of the magical cookbook, The Witch’s Feast: A Kitchen Grimoire.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy

Our conversation covers Denny’s background as an occultist and magician, and then we explore how the concept of werewolf magic came about, and how it was developed. We discuss the history of shapeshifting as well as the nature of its practice, including topics such as spirit vision, the “Double”, and other related concepts. Most importantly, Denny is a lively and engaging speaker, so we talk for a long time and only sometimes get off topic. I think you’ll be proud of us!

Denny, also known as Aion 131 and Hermeticusnath, is a Seattle writer, artist and university instructor whose extensive global travels and esoteric studies informed the backbone to numerous published books. Involved for decades with many esoteric traditions, the author has published works on alternative religions, Hermetic magic, Taoism, animism, Shinto, and Tantra. His published books include Global Ritualism, The Tao of Birth Days, Your Guardian Angel and You, Clean Sweep, The Book of the Horned One, Naga Magick, Dancing With Spirits, and Werewolf Magick.

If you are interested in helping protect wildlife, especially with gray wolf restoration, please consider a donation to Defenders of Wildlife.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy
Listen on Podcrypt

Heather is Professor of Art in Digital Media at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and creator of the Familiar Shapes podcast and short film. She is also an occultist, initiate of Gardnerian Wicca, and author of the forthcoming zine by Theurgical Studies Press, “The Piedmont Path: A Witchcraft Oracle of Contemporary North Carolina”.

Perhaps the element of this episode that delighted me the most is that it has been a continuation of conversations I have been having with other tech-savvy occultists like Tres Henry, Nick Chapel, Lailokens Awen, and others. There is so much to be exploring in this particular field, and we all benefit from having people like Heather blazing a trail.

Our conversation explores gender and sexuality across a variety of esoteric traditions, including Wicca, modern polytheism, ancient religions, Kabbalah, and more. We discuss the art of writing a book, and Misha’s approach to authoring their book. We also discussed how to get started learning about LGBTQ topics and issues, and how to face the fear that keeps us from confronting components of our own identity that might be deeply significant but not of our own making.

This episode wraps up Season One of the Arnemancy Podcast. Season Two will kick off in September, and in the meantime I will be releasing some bonus material for my Patreon supporters, so head over to the Arnemancy Patreon page and check it out.

Links

• Misha’s book: Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice
  • Find it at Amazon here.
• Misha’s website
• Their blog, Outside the Charmed Circle
• @mishamagdalene on Twitter
• @mishamagdalene on Instagram
• Their Facebook page
• Gardnerian Wicca
• Anderson Feri tradition
• Annie Lynsen’s Major Arqueerna

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy
Listen on Podcrypt

Here you see a magician in his robe, doing typical magician things like conjuring demons.

For two decades, I have avoided getting a robe. Yes, two decades. I even read Andrew B. Watt’s excellent blog post “Neglect Not the Robe.” Andrew has a profound understanding of the magical act of sewing,¹ and can talk about it at a spiritual depth that I hope to someday achieve.

What the hands DO, the Mind KNOWS. By the time you are done making a robe, your hands will know how to sew two pieces of cloth together. This is a skill that can be applied to the spirit realm, to sew two pieces of soul back together. You will know how to cut cloth; and this means that you will know how to snip a spirit-thread, and cut away a dark power in your life. You will know how to tie knots, and stitch up a seam, and use a seam-ripper to cut it open when it is wrong; and so you will know how to bind and to loose. The work of making a robe teaches the hands and the mind together to do powerful Work, which cannot be replicated in any other way — and the very act of making the robe will give you somatic actions that can be woven into other spell work.

I read Andrew’s work and I was inspired. I said to myself that maybe someday I’d make a robe. But never today. It was never the time. Then that changed.

Vestment Envy, or the Cultivation of Desire

When the Hermetic Federation decided to charter a lodge here in Portland, they reached out to a few local practitioners, including me. The timing was incredibly auspicious. We dedicated the lodge on the Vernal Equinox, precisely nine Wednesdays before Mercuralia on May 15th. Everything went really well. However, when we prepared for the dedication ceremonies, I discovered that I was the only magician present without a white robe. It was embarrassing, like one of those dreams where you realize you forgot to wear pants to school, only in real life.

Edward Kelley and a man who is not John Dee, in robes, do typical magician things, like summoning the spirits of the dead.

Near the end of the period, with the promise of another group ritual coming up, I knew I needed to make a magical robe of my own.

Invoking Hekate on Walpurgisnacht

I decided to invoke Hekate on Walpurgisnacht, April 30th, using Leonardo’s adaptation of PGM IV. 2708-2784. The ritual went as planned, but something didn’t feel right. Nothing seemed to happen. I couldn’t tell if I’d done something wrong, or if I’d forgotten something important. But what I did know is that I had a Walpurgisnacht bonfire to attend, so I headed to that.

Upon arriving, the host looked at me and said, “Wow, you look messed up!” I explained that I was not messed up, but maybe it was the effects of the ritual I’d performed. We retired to his back yard for the bonfire, which was amazing. Many offerings were thrown into the fire. As with all great bonfires, time and space went on vacation for a while and something spoke to us in dancing letters of flame.

When I awoke the next day, I realized I was covered in soot. Small bits of burned plant matter were stuck in my beard, my hair, and all over my clothes. I left soot all over the bed – it was speckled with black. It was a mess! But I knew that morning how important it was for me to create my robe immediately.

Creating the Magical Robe

When one of my closest friends got engaged last year, they asked me to officiate their ceremony. I was thrilled to say yes! I had the honor of meeting her new future in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Z.² Not only did we get along really well, but they revealed to me that in their basement was a huge mad science sewing laboratory. It was incredible – machines the names of which I still don’t know, a quilting robot that looked like the cockpit of a TIE Fighter, and huge tables for laying out cloth and patterns. As our friendship grew, Mrs. Z invited me to help her out in what I was now calling the Sewing Dungeon. Our plans didn’t come to much until I realized that our inaugural project would be my new magical robe.

Mrs. Z was excited about the project, so we scheduled a day to begin work. The timing was eerily auspicious. We began work on the noumenia, the day of the New Moon, and would finish in time for the novena to Hermes that I would perform leading up to Mercuralia.

In this medieval depiction of Merlin, he does actual real magician things, like talking too much.

After that long day, I collapsed exhausted into my bed. When I awoke in the morning, everything around me was speckled with white lint, spare threads, and unraveled bits from the cloth used in the robe’s construction.

Mrs. Z and I worked a few more hours that next day, finishing up details on my robe. I added cloth-covered buttons and nerve-wrackingly stitched in buttonholes using her computerized sewing machine. Finally, my magical robe was complete.

The Magical Robe in Action

Andrew was right. When he talks about the importance of the magical robe, the process of creation, the toil that goes into it, that’s just part of the experience. When you get to a place where you don your new vestments for the first time, when the robe settles around your shoulders and you feel the weight of the fabric, it changes you. Many magical rituals start with a cleansing, either a bath or a lustration, and when you’re not changing into ritual garb, it’s easy to skip that step or to downplay its importance.

Here you can see me in my robe. Some of the details still aren’t finished, like I haven’t added the buttons and buttonholes.

The morning after I came home with my completed robe, I wore it for the first day of the Hermes novena, and during ritual every day until the Mercuralia rites. It transformed my ritual experience.

The Evolution of Magical Vestments

Magic is a cultural phenomenon, and as much as I love reenacting ancient ritual, I know that for Western esotericism to have meaning in the modern world, it must adopt the rainments of the modern world. I’ve written before about how I use modern materials in my craft. I’ve used polymer clay for talismans and replaced tin foil with aluminum. We can see that adaptation in the past has happened along both economic and cultural lines. Compare the down-and-dirty simplicity in The Secrets of Solomon to the expensive accoutrements of The Key of Solomon the King and you’ll get an idea. Practitioners will always work with what they have, and then later generations will struggle to find the same materials and components, even if those are no longer relevant parts of their culture and locale.

I mentioned earlier that Meredith Graves wears jumpsuits for a lot of her ritual work. I asked her to expound on that – how did the jumpsuit become such a key part of her magical garb?

“The jumpsuits are the end result of a lot of reflection on how your core skills and passions enmesh with your craft,” she explained, “how the right tool for anything is the one that helps empower you in your practice, and how one way to counter cultural appropriation and bogus witchcraft is by researching things that pertain to you and where you’re from.”

But Meredith also spoke about how her magical jumpsuits were a part of who she was, the cuture and place that helped create her. “I’m a creeper from the rust belt and Adirondacks, so work wear is a legitimate tradition or folk costume to me. Coveralls and jumpsuits are the perfect ritual garment for a modern traditional witch of my particular stripe.”

“Jumpsuits can be extended out in a million directions, like different colors in accordance with planetary correspondences,” Meredith explains as she dons her vestments. Just kidding: that’s Batman.

While I was reflecting on Meredith’s words, I was reminded of another tradition that proudly adopted materials and symbols from the culture and economic stratum of its practitioners: Freemasonry. As explained by William Preston, one of the creators of modern Craft ritual:

Tools and implements of architecture (symbols the most expressive!) are selected by the Fraternity, to imprint on the memory serious and solemn truths; and thus the excellent tenets of the institution are transmitted, unimpaired, under circumstances precarious, and even adverse through a succession of ages.³

I agree with Meredith and the Freemasons. As practitioners – whether we are magicians, witches, or Masons – we should be aware of how our work both embodies who we are and influences the world around us. Adopting the materials and practices of time, place, and culture is an ancient element of ritual practice. After all, the truths we seek may be timeless, but the results we invoke are part of the modern world.

This doesn’t mean that we should be taking the easy way out. Magical tools and vestments should be hands-on creations. They should be imbued with the intent, purpose, and toil of the practitioner who uses them. But when you approach the construction of your tools mindfully, one part of that means remembering who you are and the environment and culture in which you work.

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When we talk about somebody completely new to Western esotericism, we could be talking about starting from absolutely zero, or starting from a place where you might know a little bit and are seeking a specific practice. I’ll address a few different levels of newness, but if nothing on this list hits what you’re looking for, then post a question in the comments and I’ll help you find the right resources.

Starting from Absolute Zero

If you’re here because your weird uncle keeps talking about magic like it’s real, or you’re wondering why the Reagans used an astrologer, or why Tarot cards show up in every single supernatural horror film, you are in the right place. The occult, especially Western esotericism, is a really central, pervasive element in most of Western culture. In popular media, it’s frequently misrepresented and unfortunately often maligned.

To learn more about the major traditions in the occult, it’s hard to do better than Hidden Wisdom: A Guide to the Western Inner Traditions by Richard Smoley and Jay Kinney. This book covers a number of ancient and modern traditions and will hopefully give you a good clue how they all tie together. Here are some of the topics you’ll learn about:

• Gnosticism, or the mystical and “occult” side of Christianity
• Kabbalah, or esoteric Judaism
• Magic
• Witchcraft
• Alchemy

This book gives you a great foundation so you can figure out what you want to dig into next. I would recommend next checking out either The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels or Occult America by Mitch Horowitz. Pagels will teach you about the early suppression of unpopular ideas by religious authorities, while Horowitz will teach you that esoteric and occult ideas are more prevalent than you ever suspected.

That’s Cool, but I Want to be a Witch/Wizard/Tarot Reader/Psychic/Jedi Master!

One step at a time! You have to learn to walk before you can run. Once you start learning about the occult and all of the interesting people who have made it a part of their lives, you might want to actually start practicing. In most occult communities, we refer to those who read about the occult without actually using any of the techniques as armchair magicians. When you decide it’s time to get out of the armchair and see this stuff for yourself, the first step is to learn how to meditate.

Meditation is the central technique of Western esotericism. Occult practices usually involve various trance states or receptive mental modes that can only be entered once you know how to meditate. There are a ton of introductory meditation books, so I asked some of my most trusted fellow practitioners what they’d recommend, and here are some of their answers.

“Geeze, that’s a tough one!” says Matt Anthony, my co-host on My Alchemical Bromance. He recommends these two books, saying, “No woo in those. They are very approachable.”

• Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
• 10% Happier by Dan Harris

“Hard to answer!” says Chuck Dunning, the author of Contemplative Masonry. He warns that many introductory books on the subject will be based in specific religions or traditions. His recommendation is The Meditative Mind by Daniel Goleman.

Given the difficulty of finding a good introductory book on meditation, consider finding a local meditation class. Check with a new age shop or local religious groups for help. There are also many local meditation groups listed on Meetup.com.

But I Already Know How to Meditate

Good, you know how to meditate. At this point, you’ve got the most basic skill you’ll need to learn any esoteric or occult techniques. This doesn’t mean that anything is going to get easier after this, but it will get weirder and far more interesting.

The next step is to learn visualization. Many introductory texts will discuss this, but learning how to use the power of the imagination is key to success in any occult practice, from divination to sorcery to the art of memory. Chuck Dunning strongly recommends Seeing With The Mind’s Eye: The History, Techniques and Uses of Visualization by Michael Samuels. Imagery is such a key element to every tradition in Western esotericism that this step cannot be skipped.

Once you have done some introductory reading, learned some meditation skills, and practiced visualization, you are ready for more specialized techniques. By this point, you probably have some ideas about what you want to try next, but in case you’re having trouble deciding, here are some of my favorites.

If you are interested in ceremonial magic, check out Modern Magick: Twelve Lessons in the High Magickal Arts by Donald Michael Kraig. Ignore the tacky cover. This book takes you step by step through ceremonial magic the way it’s been practiced since the late 19th century. It’s a great introduction to occult practice.

Perhaps you’re interested in Kabbalah, a very complex and old form of Jewish mysticism. This topic is huge, but you can get started with Kabbalah: The Way of the Jewish Mystic by Perle Besserman.

If chaos magic interests you, check out the classic Liber Null & Psychonaut: An Introduction to Chaos Magic by Peter J. Carroll. You might also check out Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine, another highly-recommended classic.

Perhaps you’re interested in Wicca. This path isn’t part of my practice anymore, but when I was young I picked up an earlier edition of Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham. I still see it recommended on lists of beginning Wicca books. If you’d like more recommendations, check this list of Wicca beginner books at The Pagan Life.

As with meditation, at this stage it can be a huge help to find like-minded people to practice with. If you can’t find a local group, you might be able to find an online discussion or study group. I was very fortunate early in my exploration to come across an excellent online group that worked through Kraig’s Modern Magick together.

Good luck with your journey. I hope that this list of books and resources is helpful to you, and if you have questions or more suggestions, please leave them in the comments below.

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