ORPHIC HYMNS GRIMOIRE & MYSTAI: DANCING OUT THE MYSTERIES OF DIONYSOS

NEW!

ORPHIC HYMNS GRIMOIRE

and

MYSTAI: DANCING OUT THE MYSTERIES OF DIONYSOS

ORPHIC HYMNS GRIMOIRE

by Sara Leanne Mastros

Mastros Publishing

Hardcover With Color Illustrations $79.95

Black & White Paperback $39.95

Orpheus, the famed oracle-orator hero of Greece, began to teach a new religion at the dawn of the Archaic Age. Deeply rooted in ancient paganism and mystery traditions, Orphism taught a doctrine of peace-seeking, reincarnation, universal brotherhood, and ecstatic liberation. The followers, like their leader, worshiped their gods with poetry and song. Eighty-eight of these ancient hymns have survived to the present day, and are called The Orphic Hymns. They've been translated into English many times, most familiarly by the Neo-Classicist Thomas Taylor in 1792.

Sara Mastros’s stunning new translations render them in modern English in rhymed couplets suitable for both oration and singing. Orphic Hymns Grimoire is a guide to building devotional relationships with the Greek gods. Designed for the working magician and practicing pagan, this book highlights the hymns as part of a living tradition of western mysticism, magic, and art. In addition to the translations, the book includes notes and commentary, as well as illustrations, rituals, and translation notes. The paperback edition has black and white “coloring book” style illustrations, while those in the hardback are in full color.

**

MYSTAI

Dancing Out The Mysteries of Dionysos

by Peter Mark Adams

Publisher: Scarlet Imprint

4vo (210 × 290 mm, Landscape), 192 pp

38 Images Including Full Colour Photographs of The Restored Frescoes

Standard Hardback Edition, with color illustrations

Limited to 900 copies; bound in purple cloth, blind debossed and stamped in gold, textured Pompeiian red endpapers.

List Price: $79.95

Bibliothèque Rouge Edition, Full Colour, Paperback

Premium Paperback, 170gsm Paper

List Price: $39.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

The Dionysian themed frescos of Pompeii’s Villa of the Mysteries constitute the single most important theurgical narrative to have survived in the Western esoteric tradition. No other practitioner account of the ritual process for conducting a mystery rite has survived down to today. The frescoes’ vivid and allusive imagery illuminates both the ritual activity of the participants as well as its esoteric import.

The frescoes, created in the most private rooms of the extensive Roman villa, were never meant to be seen by anyone other than the members of the all-female Bakkhic thiasos who conducted their most secret rites within them. Buried and preserved for posterity by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, these stunning proto-Renaissance images guide the viewer through the consecutive stages of a theurgic rite of initiation into the mysteries of Dionysos.

Arising from within the unique interface between Greek and Roman culture in Southern Italy, the frescoes attest to the survival of an unbroken initiatic tradition of Bakkhic mystery rites on the Italian peninsula stretching back to the fifth century BCE.

The recent restoration of the frescoes has provided a fresh opportunity to elucidate the ritual processes hidden in plain sight. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Peter Mark Adams draws on current scholarship on dithyrambic performance; the ritual dress of Greco-Roman priestesses; classical philology and the comparative ethnography of rites of higher initiation. With the same attention to detail which he demonstrated in The Game of Saturn, Adams reveals the stages of initiation encoded and accomplished in dance, gesture, ordeal and sign.

Adams interprets the frescoes through the distinct performative lens of the ritualist, throwing light, for the first time, on the significance of the ritual vocabulary and the phenomenology of ritual participation. We are pulled into the dance ourselves, and emerge transfigured by the experience.

The Dionysian themed frescos of Pompeii’s Villa of the Mysteries constitute the single most important theurgical narrative to have survived in the Western esoteric tradition. No other practitioner account of the ritual process for conducting a mystery rite has survived down to today. The frescoes’ vivid and allusive imagery illuminates both the ritual activity of the participants as well as its esoteric import.

The frescoes, created in the most private rooms of the extensive Roman villa, were never meant to be seen by anyone other than the members of the all-female Bakkhic thiasos who conducted their most secret rites within them. Buried and preserved for posterity by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE, these stunning proto-Renaissance images guide the viewer through the consecutive stages of a theurgic rite of initiation into the mysteries of Dionysos.

Arising from within the unique interface between Greek and Roman culture in Southern Italy, the frescoes attest to the survival of an unbroken initiatic tradition of Bakkhic mystery rites on the Italian peninsula stretching back to the fifth century BCE.

The recent restoration of the frescoes has provided a fresh opportunity to elucidate the ritual processes hidden in plain sight. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Peter Mark Adams draws on current scholarship on dithyrambic performance; the ritual dress of Greco-Roman priestesses; classical philology and the comparative ethnography of rites of higher initiation. With the same attention to detail which he demonstrated in The Game of Saturn, Adams reveals the stages of initiation encoded and accomplished in dance, gesture, ordeal and sign.

Adams interprets the frescoes through the distinct performative lens of the ritualist, throwing light, for the first time, on the significance of the ritual vocabulary and the phenomenology of ritual participation. We are pulled into the dance ourselves, and emerge transfigured by the experience.

CONTENTS:

Introduction

I · The Performative Nexus of the Mysteries

Dionysos

Orphism

The mysteries i: Myesis

The cultures of dance i: The Korybantic dance

The mysteries ii: Telete

The cultures of dance ii: The circular chorus

The mysteries iii: Epoptai

The cultures of dance iii: The chorus of the stars

The deixis of sacred choral dance

II · The Mysteries in their Campanian Social Milieu

Dionysos in Campania

Dionysian thiasoi and lineage holders

III · Reading the Frescoes’ Implicit Narratives

The Villa of the Mysteries

The rooms and their frescoes

Designing an esoteric narrative

Modes of visuality

Imagistic modes of religion and the theatre of memory

Heterotopias and the interstices of initiatory space

Chronotopic inversion

The frescoes’ exotopic female gaze

IV · The Initiatory Drama of the Mysteries

Reading the frescoes

The north wall

i · Family group of itinerant initiatrix

ii · Ritual of purification

iii · The rural idyll

iv · The ‘alarmed woman’

The east wall

i · The Korybantic scene

ii · The epiphany of the gods

On the epiphanies of gods

Monosandalos

Ariadne as protomystēs

Ariadne’s thread

iii · The initiatory crux

The south wall

i · Of this men shall know nothing

The role of entheogens in Bakkhic ritual

ii · The dance of the bakkhe

iii · The robing of the bride

The West Wall

The Domina

Glossary 

NEW FROM HELLFIRE CLUB BOOKS!!

NEW FROM HELLFIRE CLUB BOOKS!!

CUNNING MAGIC & CELESTIAL ART

by Robert A. Priddle

- Hardcover folio bound in full Bordeaux book cloth, with illustrated title label on front, and gold embossed spine - $82.50

Limited to only 200 folio copies bound in full Bordeaux book cloth.

List Price: $82.50

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

This important new study focuses on the origins of modern occultism in the ‘Cunning Traditions’ during the transitional period of English magic, and the formation of a global view of western esotericism.

There is one book that has had an enormous impact upon occultism and esoteric philosophy in the modern period, it is ‘The Magus’, first printed in 1801 by the English magician Francis Barrett.

The continued popularity of ‘The Magus’ as a textbook grimoire for both the aspiring occultist and learned magician is well known, its place in the transmission of occult knowledge and practise from the ancient world to the present day is beyond question, but how many of us really understand the circumstances behind its actual creation and the private influences and secretive individuals to whom Barrett went for guidance?

England in the late 1700s and early 1800s had a remarkably fertile and closely connected constellation of wizards, herbalists and cunning men whose personal guidance was sought in the context of the magical arts, many produced manuscripts and talismans of their own and a few were operating so publicly that their reputations were a household name: Ebenezer Sibley, Dr. John Parkins, and a host of lesser known regional characters who operated by private consultation.

Whilst copies of the ‘Keys of Solomon’ were known to have circulated very early on in the transition of magic from the middle ages up to the modern period, the actual passage of the broader curriculum of occult studies from the late 1700s and on (such as was largely codified in the creation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in the Outer in 1888) is less clear. What is remarkable is that one book, and the single individual whose brilliance created it, are responsible.

‘The Magus’ of 1801 is a seemingly vast grimoire of medieval magics, divinatory tools, spirit magic techniques and arcane ciphers, it draws upon Agrippa, Pietro d’Abano, the alchemical literature of Georgius von Welling, traditional astrology, geomancy etc etc and seems to be a stand-alone repository of the initiatic tradition. But from what sources did the young Francis Barrett draw?

R.A.Priddle places Barrett not only in the transmission of magical manuscripts in London, through such well known personages as Ebenezer Sibley and John Denley, but also within the context of such lesser known figures as the Lincolnshire astrologer and cunning man Dr. John Parkins, the person of one ‘Griffith’ who actually engraved the plates for what was to become the first textbook of magic in English.

Deeply examining the intellectual, economic and social context in which Barrett worked, and showing conclusively that Barrett used the circumstances surrounding him to the greatest possible advantage in the projection of his new vision of occultism onto the world stage, the author of this study R. A. Priddle brilliantly exposes how Barrett redefined the context of magic in the modern world and thus changed the relationship between man and the cosmos for the next two hundred years.

Barretts life is examined in detail and his association with one particular area of London, the district surrounding Marylebone, is shown to have had a profound influence upon him and his production of ‘The Magus’. Working originally as an apothecary whilst writing the manuscript of his book, Priddle suggests that the most likely tutor to the aspiring young Francis Barrett was the astrologer and publisher Ebenezer Sibley whose own production of esoteric manuscripts is now so well known. Sibley and Barrett lived within a few hundred yards of each other and the young man would almost certainly have sought him out as a teacher, perhaps even attended meetings of the ‘Mesmer Harmonic and Philosophical Society’ of which Sibley was an influential supporter.

After the publication of ‘The Magus’ in 1801 Barrett is supposed to have formed an occult school, this fact is stated in the book itself, but the circumstances surrounding Barretts stay in London, his association with Sibley, Parkins and Griffith suggests that the esoteric school was well under way in the 1790s probably at Sibleys home.

This small school of occult students, through the popularity of ‘The Magus’, later influenced European occultists and then American: the French magician Eliphas Levi visited England in the 1830s, and by 1835 a copy of ‘The Magus’ was lodged in the Philadelphia lending library.

To what extent the Mormon movement of Joseph Smith was influenced by Barrett we cannot say, although certainly a manuscript published as ‘The Edward Hunter Manuscript’ of the ‘Key of Rabbi Solomon’ which originated in Bristol and whose author travelled to America was certainly a Mormon connection.

Such was the influence of Barretts book (and a demonstration of the vivacity of esoteric groups) that a later edition of 1875 added to the success of at least two famous esoteric schools: the person responsible for its republication, Frederick Hockley (1809-1885), used the original engraved plates from the first edition, it is of great interest that these plates were held by the occult bookseller John Denley who bought them in 1818 and kept them privately until the grimoire was ready to rise again.

A detailed analysis of the contents and structure of ‘The Magus’ shows key differences in the contents of Barretts work and those earlier authors (such as Agrippa) to whom it is assumed he owes a debt. The originality of Barretts contribution is defined in well structured discussions, section by section, of the material. Most importantly it can be seen that the often subtle changes Barrett makes to the literary borrowings of the occult tradition (the raw material for his book) are in fact drawn from contemporary practice, such as in the formulation of the doctrine of the subtle medium (the governing mechanics of the magical process) Barret uses an example from folk idiom: the touching of a corpse to see if it bleeds in the presence of a criminal (a practice known as the Bahr Recht or ‘bier right’) which in this instance has a Welsh connection.

Barrett and his magical associate John Parkins both had connections with the cunning practices of Wales and the West Country, indeed the person of ‘Griffith’ who engraved the plates for Barretts published manuscript of ‘The Magus’ was himself connected to a web of country herbalists and almanac printers which spanned the countryside of England from South Yorkshire to London in the south and Herefordshire in the West. Whether there were any direct links to the traditional herbalists and apothecaries of Myddfai in Wales we do not yet know, but evidence is growing to support the thesis that there was a perceived ‘ancient Druidic college’ of magic up to the mid 1800s to which many occultists of the modern period are indebted.

Subsequent to the influence of the Cunning Tradition upon Francis Barrett and his work ‘The Magus’ was the influence that the book had upon other cunning men, such as the famous ‘Cunning Murrell’ or James Murrell of Hadleigh in Essex (1785-1860).

Murrell was reported to be a small quiet man who went about mostly at night, wearing iron goggles and carrying a basket and a whale-bone umbrella. Making his living chiefly as a shoemaker and chemists still-man, Murrell also practiced astrology, veterinary surgery and exorcism.

In ‘The Wizard of Yesterday’ (1900) Arthur Morrison provides a facsimile page of Murrells own spell book, it is in fact a drawing copying one from Book II of ‘The Magus’ proving its importance to the dissemination of magical information to the Cunning Folk themselves.

Essential to an understanding of Barrett’s influence here is the presentation of Cabala tradition in his work to the occult and magical community of the 1800’s. Barrett creates a wholly practical articulation of this often abstract theological system, again it is Barett’s influence upon such people as James Murrell that shows how effective his ‘cabala’ was to become. Barrett condenses the complex system of cabala and does this by showing his readers how to calculate the names of spirits but leaves out the manner in which those names are obtained. It may be that the method of obtaining the names of spirits was reserved for private students of his esoteric school, perhaps this is Barrett deliberately omitting certain secret formulae to restrict hem to the initiated. In any event the processes he keeps secret are necessary to an understanding and accomplishment of the work, Barrett must have had them and whether he passed them on to Denley and thence to Hockley, they undoubtably existed and were later adopted by esoteric schools from the ‘Society of Eight’ in the 1860s and later in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

**

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE QABALAH

Being The Mystical Foundations Of The World Order:

The Mystery Of Sex & The Birth Of Evil

by John Frederick Charles Fuller

Ash grey book cloth hardcover, with silver embossed front and spine.

List Price: $62.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

J.F.C. Fuller met Aleister Crowley after writing his ‘Star in the West’ (1907) an explication and elucidation of the importance of Crowleys poetical and magickal work in the current of Thelema.

Fuller was a very early member and supporter of Aleister Crowleys A:.A:. magickal order and worked tirelessly to assist the ‘Great Beast 666’ in the editing and publication of The Equinox to which he contributed the beautiful and remarkable ‘Treasure House of Images’.

As well as writing numerous important works on military strategy, the design and strategic use of the tank in warfare, for which he was praised by Adolf Hitler, J.F.C. Fuller was also a keen scholar of the occult forces that control world events.

His work on the mystical Qabalah shadows forth a strong belief in the presence and power of evil in the world today, his experiences both with Crowley and with the forces at work in Hitlers’ Third Reich before the outbreak of World War II can be seen described in his book.

J.F.C. Fuller was an expert in his field, with 45 books on strategy ( such as ‘The Organisation of Force’ and the ‘Nine Principles of War’) he was a highly prolific author whose ideas reached senior army officers on all sides, as well as the European public.

He explored the professional business of fighting, in terms of the relationship between warfare and social, political, and economic factors in the civilian sector. Fuller emphasised the potential of new weapons, especially tanks and aircraft, to stun a surprised enemy psychologically, a facet of his strategic thinking that was no doubt adopted quickly by the Fascists.

In fact the German Generals Lutz and Guderian adopted the tactics described by Fuller in the organization of the 1940 ‘Blitzkrieg’ attack on allied forces, an horrific form of military extremism that Fullers own Allied Generals were unwilling to adopt.

As well as his writings on strategy and occultism, Fuller also wrote an excellent introductory work on Yoga which is also of interest to students of the occult and Crowleys work in particular.

In ‘The Secret Wisdom of the Qabalah’ (1937) J.F.C. Fuller expounds a wealth of occult and esoteric knowledge in a clear and intelligent style, each chapter building a compelling picture of the hidden forces at work historically, culturally and within the being of the individual.

What is most remarkable about Fullers qabalistic study is that whilst it does not mention Aleister Crowley by name at all, it is absolutely certain that his finely crafted discourse points the student in the direction of the New Aeon and the person of his teacher, Aleister Crowley himself (The Great Beast 666) as the driving force behind all current manifestations of cosmic power.

Though Crowley and Fuller were later to separate, Fuller is noted as stating many years later that he believed Crowley to be “a genuine Avatar”, a being of supernatural origin manifesting in human form.

Fullers ‘Secret Wisdom of the Qabalah’ reveals the hidden doctrines of mysticism and magick which may be used for good or evil, and reveals the forces at work in the occult sciences and shows how religious and societal movements originate and why they decay.

This book is a veritable Key to both past and future occultism, and consequently is of profound significance in understanding the nature of those hidden forces, particularly the forces of evil which today seek to control the world.

Chapters include:

‘The Mystical Foundations of the World Order’

‘The Evolution of Satan’

‘The Mystery of Sex’

‘The Creation of Hell’

‘Man the Instrument of Redemption’

‘The Laboratory of Satan’

‘The Mystical Ordeal’

‘The Fourth Dimensional State’

‘The Mystic Way’

**

LIBER PYRAMIDOS

Sub figura DCLXXI

~Being a facsimile of the Kenneth Anger typescript, introduced by Frater Orpheus 7◦ = 4▫, together with a critical text, commentary, and full color reproduction of Aleister Crowley’s original illustrated manuscript

Clothbound, wine color, large format hardcover, with gold embossed front and spine.

List Price: $97.50

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Included within this volume~

1) A newly photographed large format facsimile of the original illuminated manuscript produced by Aleister Crowley 666 in 1909 showing the true vibrant colours of the painted pages

2) A full-colour facsimile of the important annotated typescript of Liber Pyramidos kept by the cult film maker Kenneth Anger between 1940 and 1950, this typescript given to Anger by Jack Parsons. The typescript has annotations in the hands of Crowley, Gerald Yorke and lastly Kenneth Anger himself, thus revealing material lost in other copies which have faded over time (ie Warburg).

3) An introduction to the history of the annotated Anger typescript by Frater Orpheus 7◦=4▫. A discussion of the origins and circumstances behind Crowleys attainment follows: “Crowley’s journals from this working were originally published in the work known as John St. John in The Equinox volume 1:1 in 1909. In this journal, Crowley clearly describes the working and re-working of Liber Pyramidos which he refers to as the “perfect ritual of self-initiation” and even further… “if one could only dare to hope it! – to thee 8=3 attainment”. It was during this 13 day Magickal working that Crowley began to contemplate, among other things, the Dweller on threshold and his motto as V.V.V.V.V. etc… In reading John St. John one is able to detect a subtle shift in Crowley’s “thinking”. This can be understood as that shift from John the man to John the Saint. A hint to Crowley’s meaning behind the title John St. John. In other words, it was during this period of time, while working with Pyramidos, in conjunction with certain yoga practices focusing on the Vishuddha Chakra, that Crowley first began to attain to the Grade of 8◦=3▫, (the clues are always there for them whom have eyes to see them).”

4) A structural analysis of the manuscript rituals which compose the textual history and variant practices of Liber Pyramidos and its relationship to the highly secret A⸫A⸫ ‘ThROA’ ritual. The structural analysis of Pyramidos is composed of the following main sources and numerous secondary ones:

i) The manuscript at the North Western Library

ii) The so-called ‘Frank Bennett’ version

iii) Liber ThROA

iv) The Magickal Record John St John (Equinox I:1)

5) A working reflection of the Pyramidos process by a brother of the Astrum Argentum and a presentation of the ritual as a series of initiatic states.

“Within our Order, there are only two official initiations, and both, regardless of the situation in the past, are exclusively given in the form of self-initiation. Their full value is in the Aspirant’s work with himself, as the perfection of the ritual does not lie in the perfection of its performance for it is unattainable. At the end of his Probation, if he satisfied all the elements of his Grade, the Probationer is given to pass the Ritual of the Pyramid, or Liber DCLXXI vel Pyramidos, which confirms him as a Neophyte. In the same way, a Neophyte passes through the Ritual CXX, of Passage through the Duat, or Liber Cadaveris, which establishes him as a Zelator. It would be wrong to assume whether the ritual of the Pyramid is the final act of the Probationer, or it is the introductory chapter of a Neophyte. Perhaps both conclusions are equally correct. These rituals contain the mysteries that an Aspirant’s unconscious will roll and shape further during the Grades, and it cannot be said with certainty what kind of performance would be considered as appropriate.

The ritual of the Pyramid, or Pyramidos hereinafter, is built on the basis of the dramatic ritual, where an Aspirant assumes specific godly forms and passes through a certain process of transformation. This process of change will accompany him all along the region of the Golden Dawn, to the achievement of the Adeptus Minor. This process will, of course, only modify its form, depending on the Grade, but the same essence is present both in the Probationer and in the Philosophus; it is about a subtle, inner experience that initiates a major change, soon to be realized. It should not be confused with Liber ThROA, which is a group ritual of initiation in which, besides the initiate, roles also have officers of the Order. But is there anyone else in the great Pyramid, except an Aspirant? Is he not all alone, is the Pyramid not constructed for him and himself only? Above all, the Aspirant should comprehend the formula and essence of the ritual, and that his contemplation on all this should be part of his work on the Grade.

Many discussions were conducted around the secret word of a Neophyte. What can be found in public records is the first and the last letter of that word, and the numerical value of 93. M….M. Although every careful researcher will find how it was derived, it is more important to outline the principle based on which the whole thing works. The word is never pronounced in the outer, and it is never transmitted in the way as it is done with other words. Above all, one should take into account that M….M is not a word but a formula, which only represents or resembles a subtle inner story, and it is necessary to obtain it through one’s Zelator in its proper form. The secret word is the axis of the whole of this initiation, which is fully nourished by the vibration of that word. It never gets transmitted, except to the Neophyte of the A∴A∴ and there are strong reasons why it is so. First and foremost, the very process of finding this word starts much earlier than in Pyramidos, if nothing else then precisely at this point, now reading these words represents the achievement and valuable process by itself. The very word is the mental arabesque about settling the Aspirant’s soul inside the Pyramid, imprinting his mind into its monumental heart. This word is the formula of conversion of two entirely different currencies; those elemental and those spiritual ones. This word is a translator, which יהוה turns into יהשוה, it is a formula that explains life itself. This word, like magical words of the old times used by a necromancer to raise the dead, will imprint the soul into dead things and make them alive. It is symbolically responsible for our true awakening, our true initiation. And as every Pyramid is a tomb of the body, so it is equally a cradle of the soul. And here, a born man occupies the place of other unborn.

The word is not hiding from the Probationer, but from “his” Binah, and we will have an opportunity to discuss more about this brilliant tale later. It can be openly noticed that phenomenon of the words in the A∴A∴ has a very special place. As a Neophyte, the Aspirant receives from his Zelator the hidden word, then, as an accomplished Adept he receives the name of his Angel, and finally, as Magus, he obtains the word of Æon. All three Grades are pervaded by acceptance of certain words which fulfill the utmost domains of human existence, the words under which the whole Universe shakes, as the ether through which these vibrations are transmitted, from Yesod to Chokmah.” (Frater Aureus)

ALL SAINT'S DAY!

EDGE OF THE CIRCLE BOOKS NEWSLETTER

WELCOME to the Edge of the Circle Newsletter. This newsletter has come about as an effort to reach out to the Pagan/ Occult community (particularly in Seattle where we are based) to inform the community of what events are happening at our store. Without further ado, welcome, and enjoy.

Regards, Erica (Raven) Branch-Butler, Editrix- golanv1@yahoo.com

WHO WE ARE: Edge of the Circle Books is Seattle's resource for Paganism & the Occult. This newsletter seeks to provide the Seattle community with a place to list events, post articles, and do a bit of networking.

Edge of the Circle Books strives to be your ideal Magical Pagan store.

Open 7 days a week, Noon 'till 8pm.A

Call: 206-PAN-1999

**

We are also now on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Edge-of-the-Circle-Books-Events/106285532728383

Become a Fan, post your event on the discussion page!

Also on Facebook: THE SEATTLE PAGAN, OCCULT AND METAPHYSICAL RESOURCE BOARD has been created in order to facilitate networking throughout the Pacific Northwest. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1000179343332589/

If you have a Magical Group, Ritual Group, Pagan Church or organization, Druid Grove, please feel free to post your events and classes here.

Meetups, talks, book signings, public rituals, etc—all are welcome here.

We'd prefer no advertisements for Professional Readers, Reiki practitioners, etc. However, if you are teaching a class, or giving a workshop or talk, feel free to post your event.

This group is specifically for sharing events of interest to the local community, it is not meant for discussing magical paths and traditions, or asking general questions about magick or paganism. Please remain civil, do disparaging posts about groups or individuals. Off topic posts WILL be moderated.

..and check out the Edge’s new TUMBLR Page!

http://edgeofthecirclebooks.tumblr.com/

REMINDER: We buy used Occult Books! Our buyer is in on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays!

CLASSROOM/RITUAL SPACE IS AVAILABLE-- PLEASE CALL FOR DETAILS!

No charge if your class or event is free!

**

Prices subject to change without notice.

**

THE WITCHES' ALMANAC, STANDARD EDITION:

Issue 39, Spring 2020 to Spring 2021:

STONES – THE FOUNDATION OF EARTH

By Andrew Theitic

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: The Witches' Almanac (December 1, 2019)Stones – The Foundation of Earth

List Price: $15.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Founded in 1971 by Elizabeth Pepper, the art director of Gourmet magazine for many years, The Witches’ Almanac is a witty, literate, and a sophisticated publication that appeals to general reads as well as hard-core Wiccans. At one level, it is a pop reference that will fascinate anyone interested in folklore, mythology and culture, but at another, it is the most sophisticated and wide-ranging annual guide available today for the mystic enthusiast.

Modeled after the Old Farmers’ Almanac, it includes information related to the annual Moon Calendar (weather forecasts and horoscopes), as well as legends, rituals, herbal secrets, mystic incantations, interviews and many a curious tale of good and evil. Although it is an annual publication, much of the content is both current and timeless - not specific to the date range of each issue.

The theme of Issue 39 (Spring 2020 – Spring 2021) is Stones – the Foundation of Earth. Also included are articles on: Celestial Powers: Lightning Gods, Bolts from the Blue; Gargoyles; How to work with the Spirits of the Land; The Art of Embodying Godforms in Ritual; Holey Stones; Borges Beasts and much more.

**

THE GLAM WITCH:

A Magical Manifesto of Empowerment with the Great Lilithian Arcane Mysteries

by Michael Herkes (Author), Tonya Brown (Editor), Fiona Horne (Foreword)

Paperback: 342 pages

Publisher: Witch Way Publishing (September 15, 2019)

List Price: $24.99

FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Lilith has been feared, worshiped, analyzed, and dissected by many, yet she remains an enigma cloaked in a riddle of witchcraft. Today, she has found a place of elevation as a quintessential goddess in an array of occult practices, revered for her fierce independence, carnal appetite, and thirst for equality. THE GLAM WITCH plants the practice of modern witchcraft in Lilith's garden of glittery fruit. Laid out over a sparkling assemblage of chapters, a modern mystic will explore the theory, practice, and lifestyle of the Great Lilithian Arcane Mysteries (GLAM).

Learn Lilith's story and how to apply her archetype to a magical path.

• Open your third eye to intuition with signs and synchronicity.
• Discover Lilith's astrological significance to help navigate the shadow self.
• Witch-craft a glamour poppet for attraction and beauty.
• Embrace your sexuality to harness power through orgasm.
• Neutralize negativity with the application of bitchcraft.

Loaded with spells and rituals to cultivate confidence, sizzle with sensuality, and stand up to adversity, THE GLAM WITCH is a guide to spiritual empowerment and establishing unapologetic authenticity through magical means.

**

INITIATION INTO WITCHCRAFT

by Brian Cain (Author), Maxine Sanders (Foreword)

Paperback: 340 pages

Publisher: Warlock Press (July 19, 2019)

List Price: $19.99

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

~Walk the Path of Magic!

This is a book about the religion of Witchcraft. It honors the old Gods, the ancient mysteries, and the secrets of magic. It will immerse you into the magical arts of Witchcraft and will dispel many of the false myths that persist about Witches. It is an enchanted window into what Witches practice and what we believe.

Initiation into Witchcraft is an exploration of the timeless traditions, essential ethics, and the awe-inspiring power of our Craft as well as providing basic practices that will help you to embrace the deeper ways of the Witch. It is a signpost for those seeking the path that begins the journey of initiation into Witchcraft. It is also a primer of occult techniques and rituals to prepare you for that journey.

Witchcraft is a survival of the ancient mysteries. It is a force of significant power--and initiation is the key that unlocks that power. Initiation transcends culture. It transcends religion. It takes a community to manifest to priesthood and it takes initiation to become a priest ... and a Witch.

Witchcraft is personal empowerment magnified through a relationship with the old gods. Through it, you can direct the course of your life and find a path to your most powerful self.

**

Pagan Portals -

FAIRY QUEENS:

Meeting The Queens Of The Otherworld

by Morgan Daimler

Series: Pagan Portals

Paperback: 104 pages

Publisher: Moon Books (October 1, 2019)

List Price: $10.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Mysterious and intriguing, the Queens of Fairy have been intertwined with mortal lives and imaginations for as long as we have had myth and folklore. Goddesses to some, fictional characters to others, these powerful Queens are bound up in the history of witchcraft and still have a role to play today. This book takes a look at who the Fairy Queens are, explores some of their individual stories, and considers how we can still connect to them and honor them in the world today.

About the Author:

Morgan Daimler is a blogger, poet, teacher of esoteric subjects, witch, and priestess of the Daoine Maithe. Morgan is a prolific pagan writer, having published more than a dozen books under Moon Books alone, and she is one of the world's foremost experts on all things Fairy. She lives in Connecticut, U

**

THE MORRIGAN:

Celtic Goddess of Magick and Might

by Courtney Weber, Lora O'Brien (Foreword)

Paperback: 240 pages

Publisher: Weiser Books (November 1, 2019)

List Price: $16.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

~An illuminating exploration of Ireland’s ancient dark goddess—the beloved “phantom queen” of the Celtic world—with practices for modern-day devotees.

The Morrigan is one of Pagan Ireland’s most famous--and notorious--goddesses. Her name translated as “phantom queen” or “great queen,” the Morrigan is famous for being a goddess of war, witchcraft and death, protection and retribution. This book also explores her patronage of motherhood, healing, shapeshifting, and the land. Classified among the Sidhe (fairies), the Morrigan dates back at least to Ireland’s Iron Age, but she is as modern as she is ancient―enjoying a growing contemporary and global following. Author Courtney Weber provides a guide for the modern devotee of this complex, mysterious goddess that encompasses practical veneration with modern devotionals, entwined with traditional lore and Irish-Celtic history.

Who is the Morrigan?

She is the spirit of fury and peace, power and destruction, joy and terror. She is warrior, queen, death omen, mother, murderer, lover, spy, conspirator, faery, shape-shifter, healer, and sometimes the living earth itself. A captivating contradiction: a demonic female who both haunts and heals; benevolent in one moment, ghastly the next, and kind the moment after that.

The Morrigan is many things, but above all she walks between the worlds of tangible and ill-defined. A goddess of the river ford, she is the place where the improbable meets the possible. But just as she stands in the ford connecting the dangerous with the safe, she crosses the gap between an old and new reality. We will not get through these lives of ours without facing the unknown. Perhaps this is why she is the Queen of Nightmares. Just as bad dreams help us process trauma, stress, or confusing information, the Morrigan helps us navigate what is beyond our ability to shape, control, or understand.

**

KEEPING HER KEYS:

An Introduction To Hekate's Modern Witchcraft

by Cyndi Brannen

Paperback: 272 pages

Publisher: Moon Books; Reprint edition (April 26, 2019)

List Price: $21.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Over the past few years Hekate has gained increasing popularity around the world. While there are books written about the historical Hekate, there is a lack of information applying this knowledge for personal development and practicing witchcraft. Keeping Her Keys blends the ‘keys' of personal development, magick and the ancient goddess, Hekate, together. Topics include the power of prayer, how to create sacred space, and guidance on spell crafting. In the final chapter readers can perform an optional self-initiation to become a Keeper of Her Keys.

About the Author:

Dr. Cyndi Brannen is an outlaw witch devoted to Hekate and witchcraft. She teaches The Sacred Seven: A Course in Applied Modern Witchcraft. Cyndi has enjoyed a varied life as a psychologist, spiritual teacher and healer, social justice advocate, policy consultant, relentless outdoor adventurer and incurable optimist. Her blog, Keeping Her Keys, is a mixture of all these things with an emphasis on personal growth through Hekate and witchcraft, and it is this blog that inspired her new book of the same name. Cyndi lives in Nova Scotia, Canada.

**

DIVINATION CONJURE STYLE:

Reading Cards, Throwing Bones, and Other Forms of Household Fortune-Telling

by Starr Casas (Author), Josef Bailey (Illustrator), Judika Illes (Foreword)

Paperback: 256 pages

Publisher: Weiser Books; Illustrated edition (November 1, 2019)

List Price: $18.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

~A delightful in-depth guide to the divination practices of conjure from the beloved author of Old Style Conjure and other books

In Divination Conjure Style Starr Casas shares the secrets of conjure-style divination that she learned at home and that, until very recently, were family secrets that were only transmitted orally. Traditional conjure is the domain of the poor and disenfranchised, living in regions that were (and remain) unfriendly to esotericism and the occult. Thus, conjure divination relies on inexpensive tools that are not exclusively magical: playing cards, rather than tarot cards, or scrying with blue water instead of a crystal ball.

The primary focus of Divination Conjure Style is playing-card divination, but other methods covered include bibliomancy, pyromancy, pendulums, and throwing the bones. Starr discusses the history of these methods and also offers practical information so that the reader can master these techniques for themselves. Josef Bailey, a young New Orleans artist, has created illustrations of conjure-style playing cards to Starr’s specifications.

About the Author:

Starr Casas was born in the mountains of Kentucky and raised in the culture of the deep South. She has been a professional conjure woman for over 40 years and is the co-owner of the shop Conjure New Orleans in the French Quarter. A beloved teacher, she presents workshops across the United States and has written 13 books to date on conjure work. Visit her at oldstyleconjure.com.

**

THE MAGIAN TAROK:

The Origins of the Tarot in the Mithraic and Hermetic Traditions 3rd Edition, Revised and Expanded Edition

by Stephen E. Flowers Ph.D.

Paperback: 192 pages

Publisher: Inner Traditions; 3rd Edition, Revised and Expanded edition (October 15, 2019)

List Price: $16.99

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

Reveals the historical roots of the symbology of the Tarot in the Mithraic tradition of the Persian Magi and the Hermetic tradition

• Explores the Magian teachings on the Stoeicheia and how this magical alphabet was the template for the Tarot

• Explains how the sequencing of the Major Arcana is related to the images used in Mithraic initiation

• Looks at the original meanings of the Major Arcana using Mithraic symbolism, as well as the deep-level connections of the Tarot with Egypt, the Romani people, the Semitic tradition, and runes

The Tarot is a mythic map of the world and of consciousness. It offers a meta-language of signs and symbols that communicate their meaning precisely. Yet the true origins of the Tarot remain shrouded in mystery. These oracular cards have long been thought to have come from Egypt or from the “Gypsies,” but as Stephen E. Flowers reveals, their original roots lie in the Mithraic tradition of the Persian Magi.

In this book, Flowers explores the historical roots and mythology of the symbolic images that became known as the Tarot. Drawing on theories first pioneered by the Swedish scholar Sigurd Agrell (1881-1937), he reveals the genesis of the Tarot’s symbolism in the great Hermetic tradition at the same time the Magical Papyri were being written in Greco-Roman Egypt. He explains how the sequencing of the Major Arcana is related to the images used in Mithraic initiation, elements of which were then integrated into existing Roman and Egyptian traditions. Exploring the Magian teachings on the Stoeicheia, an alphabet that acted as a map for understanding the order of the cosmos, he demonstrates how this alphabet of magical symbols was the template for the Tarot. The author also shows how the 22 Major Arcana cards were related to the 22 letters of the Roman alphabet used for oracular purposes in ancient times. Looking in-depth at the principles of Mithraism, the author explains how the Roman form of Mithraism, a guiding factor in the early shaping of the Tarot, was itself a synthesis of Iranian Magianism, Greek stoicism, Babylonian astrology, and Greco-Egyptian Hermeticism.

Exploring the cards themselves, Flowers then looks at the original meanings of the Major Arcana using Mithraic symbolism and its offshoots. He also explains the truth behind many of the myths surrounding the Tarot, including their deep-level connections with Egypt, the Romani people, the Semitic tradition, and runes. By restoring the original mysteria to the icons of the Tarot and learning their true origins, we can better understand the insight these powerful cards impart in divination.

**

NEW IN DIVINATION

**

THE ALCHEMICAL VISIONS TAROT:

78 Keys to Unlock Your Subconscious Mind (Book & Cards)

by Arthur Taussig

Paperback: 192 pages

Publisher: Weiser Books (November 1, 2019)

List Price: $49.95

FROM THE PUBLISHER:

“A testament to the creative potency within archetypal images, The Alchemical Visions Tarot is a breathtaking tour through universal space both external and internal.” —The Witches’ Almanac

The Alchemical Visions Tarot brings the promise of the Magnum Opus—the Great Work—to travelers on the modern path. Combining Jungian psychology and ancient alchemy, mysticism, and mythology, world-renowned artist Arthur Taussig has created a powerful tool for self-transformation—a Tarot for personal alchemy and psychic health. These complex and beautiful cards are rich with multiple layers of symbolism and are meant to be studied one by one so that each card becomes a key to unlocking the subconscious mind. Each card is an important stop on the Traveler’s journey from an unconscious state to one of integrated conscious wholeness.

Excerpt:

THE EMPRESS

The Empress sits enthroned in the midst of an ancient forest. She is the first figure of the Tarot who faces us directly and makes strong eye contact with the Traveler. Whereas the High Priestess represents the spiritual feminine, the Empress rules closer to our mundane world. While the world of the High Priestess is occupied by monsters, gargoyles, and invisible people, the world of the Empress has no such creatures. She rules a kingdom of human beings, male and female, old and young, happy and sad. She is the fruitful mother of multitudes. Flowers flow from her genitals indicating abundance. She is above all things universal fecundity.

SERVICES AVAILABLE AT EDGE OF THE CIRCLE BOOKS

REMINDER: We buy used Occult Books! Our buyer is in on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays!

We also have classroom/ritual space-- please call for details.

Need Spell advice? Just ask!

We have Seattle best Psychic Readers, in house, 7 days a week, from 2pm—8pm.

*

This concludes our Newsletter for this month.

Look for us again DECEMBER 1^st, 2019

Raven, Editrix, Edge of the Circle Books Newsletter

golanv1@yahoo.com