WELCOME to the 57th edition of 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. I've got great plans for this newsletter. Hopefully, as time goes by, it will only get bigger and better. 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.
We are located at: 701 E. Pike St, corner of Boylston Ave., just two blocks west of Broadway, on Capitol Hill.
Edge of the Circle Books strives to be your ideal Magical Pagan store.
Open 7 days a week, Noon 'till 9pm.
Call: 206-PAN-1999
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Note: To see a graphics version of this newsletter,please go to :
We are also now on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Edge-of-the-Circle-Books-Events#!/pages/Edge-of-th\\\e-Circle-Books-Events/106285532728383?ref=ts
Become a Fan, post your event on the discussion page!
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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!
CROSSED KEYS:
GOOD CATHOLIC EDITION
By Michael Cecchetelli
A strict edition of 685 copies
List Price: $65.00
Scarlet Imprint announces Crossed Keys, being a chimeric binding of both The Black Dragon and the Enchiridion of Pope Leo III in a fresh translation by grimoire magician Michael Cecchetelli who was compelled to undertake this work in unorthodox circumstances.
They are complementary grimoires, spanning the very earliest example of the genre to the late bibliotheque bleue period.
Together they comprise a wealth of spells, spirits, lore, talismans and psalm magic, with their head in the highest heavens and their feet in the deepest hells.
This is the first time they have been bound into one volume.
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Extensively footnoted, the seals corrected re-drawn and restored, with excerpts and workings from the translator's magical record, this is a well armed and practical text which throws light on the Grimorium Verum, Red Dragon and Grand Grimoire. It is a vigorous text, designed to be put to use.
Crossed Keys is a crown octavo book of 240pp, bound in a black and goldenrod shot cloth, charged with a dragon rampant sable, ensigned by the papal tiara and the keys of St Peter crossed in saltire. The edition is ribboned and finished with heraldic endpapers.
The Good Catholic edition is available in a strictly limited and hand numbered run of 685 exemplars.
The Black Dragon draws heavily on the 1760 (1810) Grimoire of Honorius, which is significantly different to the 1670 edition and the earlier 13th century Sworn Book of Honorius (Liber Juratus) which is an ancestor in title alone. The spirits referenced are therefore those we find in the Grimorium Verum and the seals have been corrected in line with the research of Jake Stratton-Kent as presented in The True Grimoire, (Scarlet Imprint 2009). The original seals are reproduced for comparison.
In common with many of the Bibliotheque bleue texts The Black Dragon is a pastiche, but one which is clearly more than the sum of its parts.
The illuminating preface to the text is not found in any other grimoire sources and evinces that this was the compiled book of a working magician drawing on the available material of the day.
The operating system bears similarities with that of the Red Dragon but the cleft stick is replaced with the stang. Yet this is no simple treasure hunting manual. The magician is promised the power to subjugate all the infernal forces, - quite a formidable boast.
We find many other elements of cunning craft in these pages including the toad bone, black cat bone, horse secrets and traditional spells for good and ill. The black hen and main de gloire are present and there is a notable use of an unusual form of the magic mirror.
It is a fascinating collection of miscellany which though seeming late, cut-up and corrupt has benefited from a fresh translation to be revealed as a text in and of itself.
In contrast The Enchiridion of Pope Leo III is an early grimoire and a work of nominally Christian magic. Legend suggests that it was presented by Pope Leo III to Charlemagne and was responsible for his worldly success. A suitably disputed date of 1523 is given to its production.
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The Enchiridion is referred to repeatedly in The Black Dragon and elsewhere in the grimoire tradition where the penitential psalms are required. It is important for us to understand the mindset of The Enchiridion if we are to understand the grimoires.
This text was much in vogue in the court of Louis XIV and the circle of Madame de Montespan in the affair of the poisons. It continues to circulate in the French speaking world today, which speaks of its enduring virtue.
Through the use of talismans, psalms, orisons and efficacious charms the reader is able to triumph over a multitude of ills. This is the magic of the Old Religion of Europe, that is, Catholicism.
Though the more diabolically inclined of our readers may be righteously appalled at the pious nature of the language, this is an important part of our magical heritage. The methods employed are those of paganism, and the liturgical approach suggests creative uses of our own holy texts rather than being yoked to those of Christianity.
In illicit combination with The Black Dragon, we have delivered up a bastard with papal blood in its veins, which promises to place in your hands the keys to both heaven and hell.
MUSHROOMS, MYTH AND MITHRAS:
THE DRUG CULT THAT CIVILIZED EUROPE
By Carl Ruck (Author), Mark Alwin Hoffman (Contributor),
Jose Alfredo Gonzalez Celdran (Contributor)
Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: City Lights Publishers (July 26, 2011)
List Price: $23.95
BOOK BLURB:
This illustrated book traces the history of an unlikely force in the shaping of Western civilization: the use of psychedelic mushrooms, namely by a secret society called the cult of Mithras. Nero was the first emperor to be initiated by the group’s “magical dinners,” and most of his successors embraced the ritual as a source of spiritual transcendence. The cult was officially banned after the Conversion, but aspects of their rituals were assimilated or co-opted by Christianity, and the brotherhoods persist today as secret societies such as the Freemasons. This is a fascinating exploration of a powerful force kept behind the scenes for thousands of years.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Carl Ruck is best known for his work in mythology and religion on the sacred role of entheogens as used in religious or shamanistic rituals. His focus has been on the use of entheogens in classical western culture, as well as their historical influence on modern western religions. He currently teaches at Boston University. Mark Alwin Hoffman, with degrees in Religious Studies and Philosophy from San Diego State University and based in Taos, New Mexico, is editor of Entheos: The Journal of Psychedelic Spirituality. He has written on shamanism, ancient religions, early Christianity, and the role of visionary sacraments in western mystery tradition. Jose Alfredo González Celdrán is a professor of ancient Greek based in Murcia, Spain, and is the author of Las Puertas de Moeris, an historical novel, and Homres, Dioses, y Hongos (Men, Gods, and Mushrooms) on the role of psychoactive mushrooms in myth and religion, as well as essays in collaboration with an archaeologist on entheogens.
BARBARIAN RITES:
THE SPIRITUAL WORLD
OF THE VIKINGS AND THE GERMANIC TRIBES
By Hans-Peter Hasenfratz Ph.D.
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Inner Traditions; Reprint edition (June 23, 2011)
List Price: $16.95
BOOK BLURB:
Discover the untamed paganism of the Vikings and the Germanic tribes prior to the complete Christianization of Europe
• Explores the different forms of magic practiced by these tribes, including runic magic, necromancy (death magic), soul-travel, and shape-shifting
• Examines their rites of passage and initiation rituals and their most important gods, such as Odin, Loki, and Thor
• Looks at barbarian magic in historical accounts, church and assembly records, and mythology as well as an eyewitness report from a 10th-century Muslim diplomat
• Reveals the use and abuse of this tradition’s myths and magic by the Nazis
Before the conversion of Europe to Christianity in the Middle Ages, Germanic tribes roamed the continent, plundering villages and waging battles to seek the favor of Odin, their god of war, ecstasy, and magic. Centuries later, predatory Viking raiders from Scandinavia carried on similar traditions. These wild “barbarians” had a system of social classes and familial clans with complex spiritual customs, from rites of passage for birth, death, and adulthood to black magic practices and shamanic ecstatic states, such as the infamous “berserker’s rage.”
Chronicling the original pagan tradition of free and wild Europe--and the use and abuse of its myths and magic by the Nazis--Hans-Peter Hasenfratz offers a concise history of the Germanic tribes of Europe and their spiritual, magical, and occult beliefs. Looking at historical accounts, church and assembly records, mythology, and folktales from Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, and Iceland as well as an eyewitness report of Viking customs and rituals from a 10th-century Muslim diplomat, Hasenfratz explores the different forms of magic--including charms, runic magic, necromancy, love magic, soul-travel, and shamanic shape-shifting--practiced by the Teutonic tribes and examines their interactions with and eventual adaptation to Christianity. Providing in-depth information on their social class and clan structure, rites of passage, and their most important gods and goddesses, such as Odin, Loki, Thor, and Freyja, Hasenfratz reveals how it is only through understanding our magical barbarian roots that we can see the remnants of their language, culture, and dynamic spirit that have carried through to modern times.
FROM THE BACK COVER
HISTORY / FOLKLORE
“Barbarian Rites provides a wealth of facts free from ideological or interpretive overlay, yet does so in a prose that can be read for pleasure as well as instruction. One feels the secure weight of lifelong scholarship behind this book.”
--Joscelyn Godwin, author of Atlantis and the Cycles of Time
Before the conversion of Europe to Christianity in the Middle Ages, Germanic tribes roamed the continent, plundering villages and waging battles to seek the favor of Odin, their god of war, ecstasy, and magic. Centuries later, predatory Viking raiders from Scandinavia carried on similar traditions. These wild “barbarians” had a system of social classes and familial clans with complex spiritual customs, from rites of passage for birth, death, and adulthood to black magic practices and shamanic ecstatic states, such as the infamous “berserker’s rage.”
Chronicling the original pagan tradition of free and wild Europe--and the use and abuse of its myths and magic by the Nazis--Hans-Peter Hasenfratz offers a concise history of the Germanic tribes of Europe and their spiritual, magical, and occult beliefs. Looking at historical accounts, church and assembly records, mythology, and folktales from Germany, Russia, Scandinavia, and Iceland as well as an eyewitness report of Viking customs and rituals from a 10th-century Muslim diplomat, Hasenfratz explores the different forms of magic--including charms, runic magic, necromancy, love magic, soul travel, and shamanic shape-shifting--practiced by the Teutonic tribes and examines their interactions with and eventual adaptation to Christianity. Providing in-depth information on their social class and clan structure, rites of passage, and their most important gods and goddesses, such as Odin, Loki, Thor, and Freyja, Hasenfratz reveals how it is only through understanding our magical barbarian roots that we can see the remnants of their language, culture, and dynamic spirit that have carried through to modern times.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
HANS-PETER HASENFRATZ, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of the history of religion at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. The author of numerous works in German on ancient cultures and religions, he lives in Bochum, Germany.
About the Author
Hans-Peter Hasenfratz, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of the history of religion at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. The author of numerous works in German on ancient cultures and religions, he lives in Bochum, Germany.
NEW TAROT DECKS
TAROT OF CEREMONIAL MAGICK:
THE BABALON EDITION
by Lon Milo DuQuette
Publisher: Thelesis Aura LLC
Publication date:Thelesis Aura (2010)
Boxed deck
78 cards & instruction booklet
Price: $45.00
The classic Tarot deck by one of the word's leading masters is back in print!
Years of work, and a lifetime of knowledge, have gone into creating this deck. Printed on the highest quality stock, using the most advanced color correction technology available, the Babalon Edition of Tarot of Ceremonial Magick was produced to the most exacting standards. Comes complete with a detailed booked authored by Lon and Constance DuQuette explaining the symbology of the cards and their meanings.
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This is a limited production run. So don't miss out on this rare opportunity to own one of the most informative, educational, and truly magickal Tarot decks that have ever been created.
BOOKS BY LON MILO DUQUETTE:
The Key to Solomon's Key : Secrets of Magic and Masonry
Book Of Ordinary Oracles
The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford
My Life With the Spirits
Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot
Angels, Demons & Gods of the New Millennium
The Magick of Aleister Crowley
Tarot of Ceremonial Magick
The Magick of Thelema: A Handbook of the Rituals of Aleister Crowley
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AUGUST CALENDAR :
MAGICKAL CLASSES AND EVENTS
ONGOING AT EDGE OF THE CIRCLE BOOKS
MONDAY, AUGUST 1st
(Every 1st Monday of each month)
CELTIC RECONSTRUCTIONIST GROUP 7-9PM
For More Information:
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 25th
(Every 4th Thursday of each month)
WITCH'S MEETUP 7-9PM
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MONDAY, AUGUST 22nd
(Every 4th Monday of each month)
BLACKSUN AND SHADOWHAWK PRESENT:
A NIGHT OF WITCHERY
For the past 30 years, we have been teaching the basics of Wicca, lecturing at
festivals, writing articles and books on Paganism, and acting as priest and
priestess of StarWyrm Coven. We are now starting a new series of meetings for
the those sincerely interested in Wicca, open to all seekers. If you are
seriously considering making Wicca your own brand of spirituality but wonder
what you might be getting into, this is a great starting point. This is NOT a
recruitment or any sort of proselytizing device. The aim of these meetings is to
give information and trade perspectives so you may make up your mind.
Blessed be,
Blacksun and Shadowhawk
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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!
TAROT READINGS / SPIRITUAL ADVICE
UNCOMMONSENSE TAROT
Tarot readings by Erica (Raven) Branch-Butler
" I've been reading Tarot for more than thirty years, and reading professionally
at the Edge for a decade. My belief is that Tarot is best used for
putting you in touch with your own subconscious, allowing you to make healthy
decisions that can change your life for the better. My readings tend to be
rather commonsensical (hence the name) and are geared toward helping the client
circumvent the often self-imposed obstacles in their lives, so that they can
achieve their goals and fully enjoy the fruits that life has to bring."
Please inquire about Tarot Parties, classes and other events.
Available every day except THURSDAYS-- 12:30-8.30PM.
Sundays 12:30-8:30 PM
golanv1@yahoo.com
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KELLY MARJORIE KELLEHER
Daughter of the Ancients
Psychic, Healer, Muse...
Thursdays at Edge of the Circle Books 2-8:30pm
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This concludes our Newsletter for this month.
Look for us again SEPTEMBER 1st , 2011!
HAPPY LAMMAS!!!!!
Raven
Editrix, Edge of the Circle Books Newsletter
golanv1@yahoo.com
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