There are three pilgrimages a Thelemite can make: Scotland, Egypt, and India. This week I’m heading for India. I’ve made the pilgrimage to Egypt. In 1904 Rose Kelly Crowley visited a Cairo museum and led her newlywed husband Aleister to the funerary stele of the priest Ankh-f-n-khonsu. Their magical workings resulted in the reception of the Book of the Law, the founding revelation of Thelema. Aleister dubbed the funerary plaque the “Stele of Revealing”. The day I visited the Museum... Read more
The Pagan community I dreamed has become a reality at Sacred Harvest Festival. In my Pagan youth my friends and I put on festivals. We rented outdoor conference centers and staged elaborate rituals based on the Eleusinian and Orphic mysteries. We dreamed of a day when we could look back and say, we did it! We built a real community! The gatherings and conferences I’ve attended in my maturity have been held in hotels and haven’t generated as much of... Read more
I sing of the Black Goddess Nuit. I sing of the limitless velvet expanse of space, which is not empty, it is her body, spangled with stars. I sing of the dark and fertile loam of the earth. I sing of the smooth cool depth of the obsidian cave where we reach the most profound mystery. I sing of the Black Goddess Nuit: She creates, She sustains, She destroys, She redeems. Is it surprising to see the word “black” to... Read more
In the era when I converted to Witchcraft my religion could endanger my my place to live, my job, my family relationships, my friendships. Read more
Theurgy always been about both the personal and the communal. It speaks to the individual need for spiritual experience and the community need for every member’s support. Read more
St. John’s wort, feverfew and comfrey: this trio of herbs of the sun blooms at St. John’s Day. The Feast of St. John on June 24 is the Christian version of the midsummer holiday that Pagans and magicians celebrate. As a Pagan magician I know that herbs blooming during the summer solstice carry a lot of solar power. This came up during a theurgy forum podcast last week when our host Hercules Invictus, guest Tony Mierzwicki and I discussed health... Read more
Babalon Rising manifests the freedom of Thelema. This is the second year I’ve attended, and I learned even more than the seven things I learned from Babalon Rising on my first trip. At a time when online rhetoric hardens positions and isolates communities, a four day camping festival in the rural Midwest brings a broad diversity of people together to live the freedom promised in Liber Oz. Dress: This is the most visible sign of freedom. Babalon Rising is a... Read more
What is the benefit to creating a magical womb? This operation renews the body and spirit. When I perform the Star Garnet give birth to myself. While I experience this renewal as a woman, the Star Garnet is a magical operation which can be performed by any gender. Read more
The earth echoes through the religions of the world. Even religions which have explictly rejected the divine female and divine imagery cannot ignore the power of the earth. Read more
Thelemites and Witches generally define ourselves as non-Christian so we wouldn’t normally think about celebrating Easter. But the Gnostic Mass and the Witchcraft circle are both eucharistic rituals which directly relate to the mysteries of Easter and Passover. You can think of them as a stack: the Witchcraft circle rests on the Gnostic Mass, which rests on the Christian Mass, which rests on Passover. These rites all tie the sacramental eating of food and drink to the promise of eternal... Read more
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