ADDENDUM,
MID-AUGUST, 2014
Edge
Of The Circle Books Is Pleased
to
Present These New Collectible Titles:
Three
Hands Press Occult Monograph No. 5
WISHT
WATERS:
Aqueous
Magica and the Cult of Holy Wells
By
Gemma Gary
Three
Hands Press, 2014
136
pages, with illustrations by the author.
Standard
Cloth Hardcover with Letterpress Dust Jacket, limited to 1,000
copies: List Price$38.50
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
Curse
tablets, defixiones, were formed from sheets of lead, inscribed with
the ill intent of the curse, and the name of the victim. The tablet
would often be rolled, or folded, before being stuck through with a
nail; a magical act of defigo; ‘pinning down’ or ‘fixing’
one’s will and intent upon the target of one’s work. Such an act
is not isolated to malefic working, and is cognate with the ‘creative
act’ and fertility; giving life unto the magician’s will. In
curse magic however the act embodies the triune powers of torment,
fixing and intent-enlivenment. The completed defixio was then, in
further conjuration of the Underworld virtues and dark intent upon
the victim, buried in the ground, or dropped into the chthonic waters
of a well.
The
sheer diversity of popular magic connected with sacred wells and
springs is remarkable. Inseparable from the ancient cults of saints
and spirits of place, the natural springs and wellheads of the
British Isles have come to be famed loci of healing, divination, and
spiritual revelation. Some, possessing long traditions of votive and
sacrificial offerings, have assumed powers of spirit-guardianship,
or, indeed, divinities of water. Other such wells are the
repositories of eldritch lore connected with the cult of the skull
and the Holy Head. Additionally, bodies of magical practice have
developed around some wells, serving a variety of magical purposes,
including blessings and curses, healings and the dispensation of
prophetic power. In almost every case, there is a specific magical
relation between the waters as a medium of spirit, and the
surrounding features of the land.
Wisht
Waters is the fifth book in the continuing Three Hands Press Occult
Monographs series, and the first book for Three Hands Press by Gemma
Gary. It examines both the lore of holy wells as well as their
associated cultic activities, whether religious or earthed in the
practical magic of folk-sorcery. While examining many a well in
Britain and Ireland, much of the text focuses on the lore in the West
Country and Cornwall.
**
SONGS
FOR THE WITCH WOMAN.
By
Jack & Marjorie Cameron Parsons
London:
Fulgur Limited, 2014. Limited Edition.
A
Fine Volume bound in premium custom blocked cloth, with special
matching end papers, and printed throughout on an exquisite Italian
paper. 176 pages. Colored illustrations and drawings. 4to.
List
Price: $79.95
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
Original
material was inspired by the affair between Jack Parsons and his
artist lover, and magickal confidante, Marjorie Cameron. For Parsons,
Cameron was a muse, a fellow student of Thelema and magick, and a
primal force of nature – a woman he proclaimed as his ‘elemental’
in a letter to Aleister Crowley.
Without
doubt, Marjorie Cameron fascinated, troubled and inspired Parsons.
This volume not only features the original verse written by Parsons
to document his feelings toward his often absent lover, but, for the
first time, the images from the hand of Cameron which illustrated and
echoed the most intimate of themes.
After
Parsons’ death in June 1952, due to misadventure, Cameron continues
the notebook in which this work was recorded. Though bereaved from
the loss, Cameron offers a hand-written diary of the magical working
which took place at Lamb Canyon, California in the period after the
loss of Parsons. In the stark desert, her words become a raw lament
as she attempted to gain contact with her Holy Guardian Angel.
Throughout the Working, the memory of Jack Parsons is never far from
her mind.
Partial
contents:
The
poems, drawings and diary entries published together for the first
time; A facsimile of the original 1950s notebook with text by Jack
Parsons and illustrations in watercolor by Marjorie Cameron; The
texts have also been corrected and typeset alongside a second suite
of pen and ink drawings that Cameron produced for the work after
1952: Contextual commentaries from William Breeze, George Pendle and
Margaret Haines.
**
36
Faces:
The
History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans
By
Austin Coppock
Three
Hands Press, 2014
The
book is 336 pages, available for purchase in two editions:
A
trade edition paperbound, limited to 1296 copies: $25.00 each
A
standard hardcover with dust jacket, limited to 432 copies: $48.50
each
There
is a thread that runs through over four millennia of astrological and
magical history, a cord that binds ancient Egypt with the Hellenistic
world, the Arabian empire, India, the European Renaissance and even
touches the present. That thread is the Decans, a division of the
earth’s sky into 36 sections. These 36 ‘Faces of Heaven’ are
more than just a curious footnote in the history of
archaeo-astronomy. First emerging in ancient Egypt, they have moved
with the corpus of Hermetic material, reincarnating in the starry
wisdom of culture after culture.
Ostensibly
a gear in astrology’s encompassing clockworks, the Decans have also
long been a key to accessing legions of spirits. For several
millennia and in multiple cultures, magicians have looked at these 36
faces and seen gods, choirs of angels, hordes of demons, and a host
of daimones staring back at them, each with its own unique powers.
Far from going undocumented, this gallery of faces has been painted
and drawn by a host of astrologers, sorcerers and artists, and they
can be found on walls of Italian villas as well as in the pages of
grimoires.
Weaving
together astrology and magic, divination and sorcery, time and sky,
this thread of esoteric history deserves more than the footnotes it
has so far received. In this work, Austin Coppock follows the Decans
through history, charting their trajectory through time and culture.
Using the ring of keys which history provides, the 36 doors are flung
open, revealing their mysteries to magician and astrologer alike.
Each decan, its image, and its specific powers are examined in
detail, as well as its permutations in the planetary aspects.
Featuring original images specially created for each Decan by Bob
Eames, 36 Faces is an invaluable resource for magicians, astrologers,
and historians of magical semiotics.
**
EARTH
MAGIC
By
Rik Garrett
London:
Fulgur Limited, 2014. Limited edition of 550 copies only. A FINE
COPY.
Bound
in premium Italian paper, custom end papers, and specially blocked
cloth binding. Limited to 550 copies only. Large quarto, 70 pages.
Hardback
Issue List Price:$69.95
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
The
first work from Fulgur of the Chicago-based photographer, Rik
Garrett, which offers a glimpse into the earthy realms of magic
populated by the mysterious witches of an otherworldly landscape.
First
published as a small artist's edition – now long out of print –
here Garrett's EARTH MAGIC has been expanded to include a range of
haunting new images, and an introduction by Pam Grossman. Produced in
both standard and deluxe issues, EARTH MAGIC evokes another world
through the archaic processes of analogue photography. London: Fulgur
Limited, 2014.
**
THE
BOOK OF ST. CYPRIAN:
The
Sorcerer’s Treasure
A
devotional work by author and Cyprianista José Leitão
(A
translation with extensive commentary of the Livraria Económica
edition of O Grande livro de S.Cypriano ou thesouro do feiticeiro,
present in the Portuguese National Library in Lisbon — a book so
dangerous it needs to be kept in chains.)
522
pages, available in both hardback and paperback editions.
Publisher:
Hadean Press (May 29, 2014)
List
Price: Hardcover Edition: $61.00
List
Price: Paperback Edition: $25.00
FROM
THE PUBLISHER’S WEBSITE:
In
this book you will not find the evocations of glamorous demon princes
or mighty and powerful angels. There is no high or low magic to be
found here. This is a book of the ground, of the dirt, it is not of
the mind, it is not of the spirit, it is not of the heart, it is of
the viscera. It is the book of the empty stomach, of the bare feet of
poverty, the broken heart, the foolish ambition, the maddening envy,
the hard cock, the unwashed hands of labor, the agonizing afflicted
and all the follies of the world of men. –José Leitão
“…522
pages of sheer awesome.” — Jason Miller (Inominandum)
“José
Leitão has taken the famed Book of Saint Cyprian from the shadows
and put it within our grasp, setting ablaze the magical world.” —
ConjureMan Ali
“…a
magnificent compendium of Iberian folk magic containing a wealth of
authentic Cyprianic lore from this important and under-appreciated
part of the Western tradition.” — Jake Stratton-Kent
“The
book is quite simply a masterpiece endowed with St. Cyprian’s
vitality. It is truly a Sorcerer’s treasure.” — Nicholaj de
Mattos Frisvold
An
extensively commented translation of one of the most complete
Portuguese grimoires attributed to St Cyprian of Antioch. A
labyrinthic unveiling and re-veiling throughout the history of
Western Iberian Bruxaria and Feitiçaria, Catholicism, the blood war
of Old and New Christians, the slave trade and the Empire.
In
this work, The Book of Saint Cyprian is revealed as a manifestation
of vaster and pre-existent magical and folkloric traditions and is
inserted into its proper cultural background, providing the reader
with the keys to its unwritten content including the Book’s
connection to the vast mythical corpus of the Mouras Encantadas.
An
essential read for all those interested in folk magic, be it
diabolical or saintly, fey traditions, the largely unknown West
Iberian magical current and its various traces and manifestations in
the modern Ibero-African-American cults of Brazil.
To
read this book is a sin, but who reads it will rise to the clouds
without wings…
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Author
and translator José Leitão has done the English-speaking world a
great favour by not only translating the grimoire, but also by
placing it in its proper context, in this way increasing its
usefulness for the modern practitioner by treating it as a magical
text as well as providing clues for its usage along with an analysis
of its folkloric elements. Writing in a style that will educate,
instruct, and amuse you, he provides a glimpse into the magical
universe of rural Portugal, and follows the continuum of the
Cyprianic current through the various manifestations of The Book,
finally placing it firmly in the hands of the people: the rural folk,
the poor and impoverished, the hungry — people who will do anything
to grasp at power, even if that means making a pact with the Devil
himself.
Publisher’s
Note: Because of the scope of the Introduction to this work, we did
index those references within the Introduction that we felt were of
relevance to the reading of the text, or to the understanding of the
material presented.
American
English is used throughout: American punctuation however is not
strictly adhered to — this because to Erzebet’s international
eye, some US standards are simply wrong. If this offends anyone, we
apologise. As much as was possible, we duplicated the layout of the
Livraria Ecónomica edition of The Book of St. Cyprian: The
Sorcerer’s Treasure, the same edition as is translated here.
We
follow in the footsteps of Bernardo Barreiro, as you will see on page
257 of this book, in releasing the paperback edition as inexpensively
as possible, so as to prevent anyone from “squandering all their
possessions on the purchase of The Book”.
Any
errors remaining in the text are ours.
By
Hadean In Trade Editions
**
SYZYGY:
Reflections
on the Monastery of the Seven Rays
by
Tau Palamas
Full Color Hardback: 200
pages
Publisher: Hadean Press
FROM
THE PUBLISHER'S WEBPAGE:
The
two worlds of Voudon and Gnosis merged together within the unique
expression of a religious community called the Monastery of the Seven
Rays. Having a history that is as colourful and mysterious as the
variety of individuals involved in this esoteric movement of the
spirit, the Monastery stands apart from traditional expressions of
monasticism in the East and in the West by existing on a physical
plane, but more especially—by also being a psycho-spiritual locale,
accessible to all who knock upon her celestial doors. For each
Postulant of this Monastery, there is a particular work to do, a
particular gnostic space to dwell within and a particular sacred
injunction to fulfill for the betterment of the globe. Syzygy by Tau
Palamas is one such legacy. It is simply the reflections of one
student of this delightful and challenging superstructure of
mind-stuff — The Monastery of the Seven Rays.
As
interest in the growing fields of Voudon and Gnosticism increases, it
becomes important to have works that explore these subjects from
distinct angles and from diverse perspectives. From childhood, Tau
Palamas has been steeped in traditional Christianity, and so this
piece is coloured by that experience, exploring the differences and
the deep connections between the Classical Monasticism of the
Orthodox and Catholic Churches and the Gnostic and Magickal work of
the Monastery of the Seven Rays. More than being a product of
research, Syzygy is a result of experience and work within the
Monastery. Lavish, full-colour illustrations by the author are
further demonstration of the unity of both tradition and creativity
within this supernatural cloister.
The
hardback edition includes full colour artwork by the author, Tau
Palamas.
“Syzygy
is a fascinating exploration of the Voudon-Gnostic philosophy of
Michael-Paul Bertiaux and the Monastery of the Seven Rays. The
author, a Gnostic Bishop, takes us through his practice and
experiences, telling us about meditation and prayer, Saints and
spirits, magick and healing and even death and the dead. In the
second half of the book, he offers practical ritual techniques to
experience what he calls ‘the Otherworld’ for oneself. I suspect
students of the Voudon-Gnostic coursework will find this text an
invaluable companion for their studies.”
— Aaron
Leitch, author of Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires and The Essential
Enochian Grimoire.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
Tau
Palamas (Coptic Gnostic Church) is the founding Bishop of the Chapel
of the Gnosis and the contemplative fraternity, the Order of the
Three- fold Path. He is active in the Confraternity of Oblates of the
Monastery of the Seven Rays and an Adept in the OTOA-LCN. A Freemason
and Martinist for over a decade, Tau Palamas enjoys integrating
diverse channels of the Western Esoteric Tradition with his writing,
art and home life in the North Georgia mountains.
By
Hadean In Trade Editions
**
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