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So You’re Interested In Necromancy

Hello there. A little raven told me you were interested in necromancy… 

After receiving positive feedback about the helpfulness of my post compiling my ever-expanding list of geomancy resources, I wanted to make one available on my work with the dead. Given that I have a number of courses and class recordings hosted by The Cauldron Black – and all available for purchase on their Class Archives – along with other class-bundles and course series on this site it just made sense to have them all in one place right here.

Radio Free Golgotha & Nights of Folk Necromancy

I would be remiss if I didn’t begin this post with a mention of the pod’ I ‘cast with my dear friend Jesse Hathaway-Diaz. Entitled as it is, folk necromancies of a variety of sorts are regularly discussed on Radio Free Golgotha.

You can also actually see as well as hear us talk a whole Night of Folk Necromancy hosted by Morbid at Hauser & Wirth, exploring a variety of encounters between the living and the dead; from accidental hauntings to deliberate conjuration of ghosts, and everything in between.

Jesse and I also co-mod (with esteemed pal Ben Joffe) the Liber AF group Folk Necromancy, where we drop the hottest new excavated tomb news, chat de-colonialism and ancestral foodways, share upcoming nigromantic events and much more.

All My History Is Necromantic

For those looking for a lively class recording bundled with primary source scans and scholarly resources giving historical rundown of early modern necromancy, look no further than my class-bundle, Raising the Dead: A History of Early Modern British Necromancy, which charts pre-modern contexts of death and dying, the use of corpses as materia and spell components, and various forms and instances of trafficking with shades of the dead.

  Getting Stuck In

For those looking to start their practical necromancings, my five-part course Necromancy for Beginners grounds students in historical understandings and examples of necromancy, presents the fundamentals of ancestor veneration for necromancers, offers techniques for working with the Great Dead who inspire and offer us wisdom from beyond the grave, outlines strategies for successfully working in graveyards and with your local dead, and imparts advice about dealing with restless and hungry shades. 

For those wanting to dig a little deeper, my modular series Advanced Necromancy for Beginners presents four independent but interlocking sets of teachings on various aspects of necromantic cunning:

Seeking To The Dead presents a variety of early modern approaches to ghost-work, from fallen angels to fairy intermediaries, and from alluring vapours to the cunning afterlives of good Genii, Magi ancestors, and the abetting dead.

Seeing in the Dark presents means and methods of focusing and deepening spirit contact, communication, and conjuration: from strange oils, ointments, and eye-washes, to clarifying smokes and asperings, and from dreaming charms to haunted pillows.

Of Smoke & Speech presents in-depth analysis of the airy mysteries of magical breath, voice, song, speech, as well as the cunning means by which nigromancers scent their circles and charge their spirits through smoke: from ‘Hekate’s Commandments��� to ‘Instructions of Cyprian’ and beyond…

On Sable Wings presents various operative means of working various melancholic mysteries of necromancy: hunger and fasting, abstinences and (taking on) taboos, graveyards and their politics, black garments and black magic, and the emotional and spiritual gravity of the grave,

You can either buy these class recordings individually from the above links, or get the whole Advanced Necromancy for Beginners course set for a tidy little discount here.

  Gravedirt Under The Fingernails

For those looking for further particular training in the operative mechanics and techniques of necromancy, I have both class-bundles and courses.  

My class-bundle Instruments of Nigromancy offers analysis of historical exemplars of the tools of necromancers drawn from grimoiric record and the working-books of cunning-craft. Definitely one for the folk necromancers.  

My Cousin of Death class-bundle examines the techniques and operations of dream incubation in pre-modern necromancy – combining planetary magic, sigilwork, conjuration, suffumigations, talismans and much more to traffick with specters and dearly departed.

Necromancy for the Whole Family

One aspect of working with the dead that might not immediately strike the enterprising necromancer as helpful – but which nonetheless absolutely stabilises and further secures success for us – is venerating and working with familial dead; the beloved departed and returning ancestors who guide, strengthen and protect us.  

And so I include my three part modular series Ancestor Veneration for Beginners here for anyone looking to (further) secure beneficial relations with not just friends but family on the other side. The three interlocking but independent class recordings of this series run thusly:

Fundamentals presents the foundations of ancestor veneration, and discusses genealogy and chosen family, reciprocity in our relationships, the whats, hows, and whys of shrines and our sessions at them, as well as touching on some of the effects and issues that can be worked through getting and staying in right relations with our dead.

Troubleshooting helps students through some of the difficulties we may encounter in seeking these right relations with ancestors: from uncertainty, confusion and “dry spells”, to navigating potential familial tensions and living spaces,  as well as offering some advice for dealing with unpleasant, unhelpful, and otherwise restless dead.

Ever-Deepening presents ways to further enrich and engage with ancestral protection and support, emphasising the importance of both short and long forms of divination. The use of materia for and from the dead is also explored, and we consider the importance of both tradition and autonomy in our veneration and well-being, and in seeking to live up to the benefits of our blessings. 

Once again, you can either buy these class recordings individually from the above links, or get the whole Ancestor Veneration for Beginners course set for a lovely little discount here.

  Tutelary Shades of Dead Magicians

For anyone interested in the necromancies of learning magic from dead practitioners, I have a couple of class recordings on just such sorts of work. Because who doesn’t love a dead magician. 

Most infamously, nigromancers of various sorts have sought the patronage and powerful secrets of one so-called sorcerer-saint, Cyprian of Antioch. My class Saint Cyprian: A Patron Saint of Black Magic presents the hagiographic magic and historical grimoiric sorceries of this saint of necromancers; from his Black Books to modern expressions of his veneration and nigromancy.

I also have three class recordings from The Cauldron Black’s Mighty Dead series (which I happened to curate and chair) that should be of particular interest to cunning nigromancers:

Mighty Dead: Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa discusses the history, work and afterlife of one of the early modern period’s most infamous occult philosophers; as well as offering some advice on approaching his shade and soul.

Mighty Dead: Anne Bodenham presents the cunning life and work of the Wise-Woman – and, later, Witch – of Wiltshire; tracing the shifting conceptions of cunning-folk, witchcraft, diabolism, spirit conjuration, and grimoire magic; as well as concluding with some helpful approaches to work with the Cunning Dead.

Mighty Dead: King Solomon – a class co-taught by my friend and colleague, the inestimable Matthew Venus of Spiritus Arcanum – offers insights into the legendary life and magics of that patron of grimoiric sorcery and spirit conjuration King Solomon; as well as tracing a more spirit-centred re-orientation of what is called “Solomonic” magic.

  Devils and the Dead

Finally, while not strictly focused on working with the dead, for those who employ goetic magic in their necromancy – or vice versa – to empower their work with the dead through sympathetic devils, I can heartily recommend my three-part series, A Goetia of the Four Kings Foundation Course, which traces the grimoiric record and potent conjurations for working with the four cardinal Regent spirits of early modern grimoiric nigromancy: Oriens, Paymon, Amaymon, and Egyn.

   Memento Mori To Check Back On This Post Periodically

I have a lot more classes and courses I’ve taught online that I am in the process of putting up on my site to purchase as recordings at the moment. So I will be adding to this here blogpost as a one-stop-shop for people to check up on what’s available as they are added.  

You can also keep abreast of new classes and courses – both live online and on the site as recordings – on my Friends of English Magic mailing list or having a look-see over at my Linktree hub.

I wish you all clear airs, benevolent shades, and ever-resurrecting blessings in all your necromancings. Cheers folks.

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Transatlantic Cunning: English Magic in Early America

A self-contained one-off class on the folk magic, divination, prophecy, spell-craft and magical practitioners of the early British colonies of the Americas (1500-1700), combining a long-form illustrated lecture with access to full scans of over fifty primary sources cited and explored, with a full set of suggested reading to follow up this class.

The material analyses political and eschatological underpinnings of colonialist expansion, as well as tracking magic books and equipment brought over to the New World in these expansions. This class also discusses reports and integrations of “Indian witchcraft” in the contexts of early modern European occult philosophy and magical practices, particularly focusing on astrological magic and necromancy. It also pays homage to the cunning-folk operating in these early colonies - performing divination and offering magical services to their communities - as the forebears and ancestors of modern practitioners.

From astrology to necromancy and back again, the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century British colonies seemed awash with sorcery. This is a lecture module about the ideas of magic which early modern English colonists brought with them to the Americas: from their preconceptions about Native ritual and “heathenry”, to almanacs of star-lore and prognostication, and from common forms of folk magic and divination to high-brow treatises on alchemy and handbooks based on medieval spirit conjuration.

This lecture is presented by the historian and diviner Dr Alexander Cummins, himself an English magician now living in these United States. Dr Cummins will lead us on an exploration of what early American magicians did and how they went about doing it. Along the way, we will learn about how shadowy colonialist fears were projected onto indigenous peoples and their cultures, as well as much of the necessary background and context of “everyday practical magic” and arch occult philosophy alike.

This class-bundle includes:

An illustrated lecture of 1 hour 48 minutes duration Over 50 primary source documents concerning early modern necromancy Bibliography of further reading

The full list of the primary source documents explored in the lecture and included in the class-bundle runs:

Ioseph Acosta, The naturall and morall historie of the East and West Indies (London, 1604) Thomas Ady, A Candle in the Dark (London, 1656) Heinrich Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, trans. J.F. (London, 1651) George Alsop, A character of the province of Mary-land (London, 1666) Nathaniel Ames, An Astronomical Diary: or, An Almanack (Boston, 1728) Samuel Atkins, Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense, or, America’s Messenger (Philadelphia, 1686) Pierre d’Avity, The estates, empires, & principallities of the world, trans. Edward Grimstone (London, 1615) Joseph Blagrave, Astrological Practice of Physick (London, 1671) Thomas Blout, Glossographia (London, 1661) Jean Bodin, De la démonomancie des sorciers (Paris, 1580) John Booker, The Bloody Almanack (London, 1642) Thomas Brightman, Revelation of the Apocalypse (Amsterdam, 1611) Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy (Oxford, 1621) Henry Butts, Diets Dry Diner (London, 1599) Nathaniel Chauncy, Almanack (Cambridg[e], 1662) Samuel Clarke, A true and faithful account of the four chiefest plantations of the English in America (London, 1670) Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician (London, 1652) Robert Fludd, Mosiacall Philosophy (London, 1659) Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy trans. Robert Turner (London, 1655) Fernando Gorges, America painted to the life (London, 1658) Richard Hakluyt, The Principle Nauigations (London, 1600) John Hale, A Modest Enquiry (Boston, 1697) John Heydon, Theomagia, or The Temple of Wisdom (London, 1664)  Israel Hiebner, Mysterium sigillorum, herbarum & lapidum (London, 1698) John Josselyn, An account of two voyages to New-England (London, 1674) John Josselyn, New-Englands Rarities Discovered (London, 1672) Ludwig Lavater, Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght (London, 1572) Daniel Leeds, The Temple of Wisdom for the Little World (Philadelphia, 1688) Daniel Leeds, An Almanack and Ephemerides (Philadelphia, 1693) Daniel Leeds, An Almanack (Philadelphia, 1695) Daniel Leeds, An Almanack and Ephemerides (Philadelphia, 1696) Daniel Leeds, An Almanack (Philadelphia, 1697) Titan Leeds, The American Almanack (New York, 1715) Titan Leeds, The American Almanack (New York, 1738) William Lilly, The World’s Catastrophe (London, 1647) John Locke, Two treatises of government (London, 1690) Cotton Mather, Memorable providences relating to witchcrafts and possessions (Boston, 1689) Cotton Mather, The wonders of the invisible world (Boston, 1693) Paracelsus Of the Supreme Mysteries of Nature, trans. Robert Turner (London, 1655) Dorothy Partridge, The woman's almanack, for the year 1694 (London, 1694) William Perkins, The Arte of Prophecying (London, 1607) Samuel Purchas, His Pilgrimes in fiue bookes (London, 1625) John Seller, An Almanack for the Provinces of Virginia and Maryland (London, 1685) Peter Severinus, Idea Medicinae Philosophiae (Hague, 1660) Thomas Tryon, Friendly advice to the gentlemen-planters of the East and West Indies In three parts (London, 1684) Alexander Whitaker, Good nevves from Virginia (London, 1613) Roger Williams, A key into the language of America (London, 1643) William Williams, Cambridge Ephemeris: An Almanac (Cambridge, 1685) Edward Winslow, Good nevvs from New England (London, 1624)

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An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke

An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke: The Magical Works of Humphrey Gilbert and John Davis, transcribed from British Library Additional manuscript 36674, edited and introduced by Phil Legard, with supplementary essays by Alexander Cummins, and a foreword by Dan Harms.

The first part of the book, Texts, opens with a colour facsimile of ff.47r–62v from Add. ms. 36674, known as the Excellent Booke and Visions, followed by modernised and diplomatic transcriptions. 

The magical experiments conducted by Elizabethan explorer, soldier and courtier Humphrey Gilbert, along with his scryer John Davis, during the spring of 1567 are notable for their forceful methods and stripped down Protestant ritual. The spirits are called into a ‘crystal stone’ by way of a large number of conjurations, charges, constraints, curses and bonds. The work includes the practical conjuration of Bleth, Aosal, Assassel (Azazel) and the four demon kings of the winds, namely Oriens, Amaimon, Paimon and Aegyn. It is evidently based on an older text or texts, adapted to the Protestant outlook of the period, and has also been supplemented with revelations and guidance received first-hand by Gilbert and Davis over the course of its composition. As such, the texts are a rare example of the poiesis, or coming-together, of a ritual magic book. The texts attest to the continuity of medieval ritual magic into the early modern period.

Visions is a record of visions in the crystal, detailing events which took place before, during and after the composition of the Excellent Booke. In the course of this work, the master – Humphrey Gilbert – and scryer – John Davis – converse with a wide-range of spirits as well as religious and occult personalities, including Assasel, Solomon, Roger Bacon, Cornelius Agrippa and four angelic evangelists. The pair experience a series of remarkable sights concealed behind the seven-keyholed door of the house of Solomon. On occasion the visions bled into the waking world in encounters with great demonic dogs and the physical manifestation of the prophet Job.

The Excellent Booke and Visions are, as Legard writes in his Preface, ‘unique documents of sixteenth century magical practice: ones that deserve to be widely read and studied by scholars and practitioners alike since they preserve a detailed account of both the making and the use of a grimoire.’ A book of particular note to those interested in Azazel, the fallen angel and necromantic traditions, students of the grimoires and the practical workings of dirty medieval magic.

Appended to the Excellent Booke are three further, related manuscript transcriptions, the necromantic graveyard ritual in Experiments of Azasel, Ancor, Anycor and Analos, from Illinois Pre-1650 ms. 0102, the scrying procedure of An Experiment of Bleth, from Sloane 3824, and the necromantic and treasure hunting rites of Related Experiments, from Case ms. 5017. 

In the second part of the book, Contexts, Dr Alexander Cummins provides a trilogy of essays. He first surveys early modern necromancy, its tools and techniques in their historical setting. He then discusses scrying techniques in depth, with reference to Artephius, Dee and Kelley, Aubrey, Lilly, Forman et al. He concludes with a discussion of tutelary shades, and the learning of magic from dead magicians, whether Solomon, Adam, Cornelius Agrippa or Roger Bacon. Thus armed, the appropriately black-clad reader can engage with the Excellent Booke as a practical grimoire of the necromantic art.

Phil Legard draws the book to a close with an essay on the phenomenology of the necromantic workings of Gilbert and Davis which provides an open door for both practitioners and academics through which to pursue the performative and affective practice of magic.

Purchase here.

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Stay Home Discount for Downloadable Classes

With so many of us currently self-isolating, and a lot of us feeling a mixture of both worry about a literal pandemic and disappointment at cancellations and rescheduled plans - not to mention the possibility of creeping cabin fever - I wanted make some of my class-bundles more easily available. So here they are with a discount for the next month for everyone feeling stuck at home.

These class-bundles are downloadable one-off classes that give both an overview of a subject, and a number of primary and secondary sources that let students get a more in-depth understanding of it. They feature a recording of a long-form illustrated lecture, full scans of cited documents and literature - from pre-modern books of magic to treatises on occult philosophy and a variety of related sources - as well as bibliographies and recommended further reading lists, and supplementary supporting material - lecture notes, slides, and so on. They are each free-standing independent modules on a variety of topics drawn from my research and practices: from necromancy to cats, and from geomancy and planetary magic to cursing and humoural theory. I've broken them down with some introductions below. Feel free to drop me a line with any questions to consultantsorcerer[at]gmail.com. Enjoy!

Raising the Dead: A History of Early Modern British Necromancy

A self-contained one-off class on necromancy in early modern Britain (1500-1700), combining a long-form illustrated lecture with access to full scans of the thirteen primary sources cited and explored, with a full set of suggested reading to follow up this class.  The material focuses on three main areas of necromancy: death, dying and funerary contexts in the early modern British Isles; the uses of corpses as spell components; and nigromancy, 'Geocie', witchcraft, and ghostlore.

Sorcery for Tattoos

A self-contained one-off class on occult perspectives and magical techniques for tattoo design and ritual, combining a long-form illustrated lecture with access to full scans of the pre-modern magical texts cited and explored, with a bibliography and full set of suggested reading to follow up this class.

Rediscovering Geomancy: An Oracle Of The Elements And Planets

A self-contained one-off class introducing the divinatory art of geomancy, and offering foundational teaching in how to start studying and reading this oracle. Consisting of almost two hours of illustrated lecture; copies of the lecture slides and notes; a range of full scans of geomancy handbooks from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; and a list of further recommended reading.

Planetary Sorcery 101: A Primer Of Seven Astrological Magics

A self-contained one-off class introducing the Seven Classical Planets, combining a two-hour long-form illustrated lecture with access to full scans of early modern primary sources on astrological magic, along with the illustrated slides and further recommended reading. No prior knowledge of astrology or magic is assumed.

Cat Magics: The Feline In Religion, Witchcraft & Sorcery

A self-contained one-off class package exploring the wealth of magic, folklore, mythology, and mysticism focused around cats; combining a 90-minute long-form illustrated lecture with access to full scans of pre-modern primary sources on the magic of cats, along with the illustrated slides and further recommended reading.

The Devil's Bath: Curse-Craft And Humoural Theory

A self-contained one-off class introducing the Four Humours of fiery choler, airy blood, watery phlegm, and earthy melancholy, and exploring how they can be manipulated to both heal and harm. This class-bundle combines a two-hour long-form illustrated lecture with downloads of full scans of twenty-three early modern primary sources on occult medicine, cunning-craft, cursing, witchcraft, astrological magic and physick, (including fully searchable txt files scans of these sources), along with the illustrated slides themselves, and a fairly extensive list further recommended reading. No prior knowledge of humoural theory or the Four Elements is assumed.

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Marching On

Hello folks, happy March. I hope this first sixth of 2020 has been as good to you as it could be. I am mostly delighted about the arrival my new book, An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke, a collaboration with my friend and colleague Phil Legard on a sixteenth-century grimoire and scrying record of conjuring spirits, receiving magical texts, and learning from dead magicians. It was published by Scarlet Imprint and they have done a characteristically amazing job. I've recently been on a couple podcasts talking about it to Gordon White of Rune Soup, Cooper Wilhelm of Witchhassle, and Alexander Eth of Glitch Bottle. I am so pleased for this material to be getting into the hands and practices of magical practitioners.

In brief, March sees me returning to Salem, Massachusetts to discuss sorcerous tattooing and fire magic, as well as popping over to the UK to talk devils and the dead and see pals at a symposium dedicated to a black magic saint, before scuttling over to New Orleans for a whole necromancy conference. Life eh.

So, firstly, I will be speaking on Sorcery for Tattoos on Thursday 5th March at Witch City Ink. This is the re-scheduled class from January - anyone who bought tickets to that should have already been emailed to remind you your tickets are still valid! I'm looking forward to discussing aspects of sorcerous tattooing and other workings and ideas of embodied image magics with this community of magical practitioners, artists, and enthusiasts.

Then, on Saturday 7th March, I begin a very exciting collaboration with The Cauldron Black to deliver the first instalment of my new five-part webinar series, Advanced Elemental Magic for Beginners. This series will be running once a month, webcasting and recorded in front a live witch-shop audience at The Cauldron Black. Folks can come to the live recording or they can purchase tickets to watch online and receive the recording. I'm excited to be combining my love of travelling to deliver talks, with getting this material out to a wider audience who might not be able to get to the Witch City.

I'm very pleased that this month affords the opportunity to return to the chalky shores of Albion, both to see family and get some sorcery cooking. On Thursday 19th March I will be teaming up with my Radio Free Golgotha co-host Jesse Hathway Diaz to deliver some short papers on spiritwork and folk necromancy at Treadwell's Books for A Night With the Spirits. My paper, 'Turbulent Spirits: Devils and the Dead in Early Modern Necromancy', will examine folkloric devils, grimoire demons, and spirits who disguise themselves as the dearly departed dead; while in his talk, 'Hallowed Bones, Restless Dead: Saint Necromancy in Iberia and the New World', Jesse will be looking at the necromancy embedded within saint veneration and sorcery. It's always great to speak at Treadwell's, and I'm especially happy to effectively be bringing an RFG roadshow to London!

Then later that weekend I am attending the Saint Cyprian Symposium, where I am excited to see some good friends, as well as hopefully meet some penpals for the first time, and of course enjoy some fascinating lectures and discussion on the Good Sorcerer Saint of nigromancers and grimoirists.

Then at the end of the month it's back across the seas to glorious New Orleans for the International Necromancy Consortium's first conference, at which I will be speaking on early modern European traditions and practices of necromancy: especially around dream incubation, graveyard etiquette, and ritual tools. I am very pleased to be spoiled for necromantic convocations this month, and INC's inaugural 2020 event promises to be a marvellous collection of practitioners sharing information and perspectives.

As a result of this travel, my schedule for readings and coaching is a little more fraught than usual, but I am taking limited bookings if you would like to reach out. Likewise, I will be out-of-office and unable to take on certain talismanic projects by mid-March, so if you're considering commissioning something, really do reach out now!

I hope the shift from the dancing Fishes of Pisces to the emboldened Ram of Aries does you well, and I hope to see you on the road perhaps. To marching onwards!

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Advanced Elemental Magic for Beginners

This is just a little message to tell you I have a brand new webinar series, Advanced Elemental Magic for Beginners, which starts Saturday 7th March in collaboration with The Cauldron Black of Salem MA. There will be five classes, one a month, covering the classical Four Elements and exploring what they can offer the seasoned magical practitioner as well as the starry-eyed beginner. Each class will be delivered live at The Cauldron Black and streamed live for online ticket holders. If you cannot make these live webcasts, fear not! - all who sign up will be sent the recording of the session, with slides and such included. We'll cover humoural theory (not just the dominant European medical model and psychological typology of the last two thousand years, but also a potent means to navigate and manipulate occult virtues of place, time, and interpersonal relationality), working with elemental spirits, a range of element-based spell-craft modalities, consecrations of various elemental materials, and much more. I'll be emphasising practical things like how to find and work with these spirits in nature, as well as workshopping some simple techniques for writing your own incantations, prayers, and pathworkings. We'll also examine some options for the construction, consecrations, and use of elemental talismanic objects. I'm really looking forward to this deeper investigation into these foundational principles of Western magic, and developing ways in which we can more fully engage with them in our own practices. So please drop by this link right here and at least check out what we're offering in a little more depth.

Please feel free to drop me a line - on consultantsorcerer@gmail.com - if you have any questions! For now, I wish you all much fiery courage, airy discernment, watery understanding, and earthy resilience.

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An Excellent Booke Arrives

Today marks the official release of An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke, a collaboration upon which I have been working for some years with my friend and colleague Phil Legard. Our focus is a sixteenth-century grimoire, known as 'The Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke' and journal documenting its attendant 'Visions', that is, dreams, scrying experiments and other visionary experiences. Our book comes out through Scarlet Imprint, one of my favourite occult publishers and dear friends to boot. I am utterly delighted to see it finally come forth and appear here in a comely fashion!

If you would like to hear me talk about the Excellent Book - both the original text/s and what our book about the Excellent Book contains and explores - with Gordon White of Rune Soup, you can do exactly that by following this link right here. I also have another couple of interviews about the text that will be coming out soon.

I sincerely hope this text will not only illuminate an early modern period of fascinating expansions into the New World and the spirit-world alike, and not only present a legitimate historical tradition of tutelary necromancy in pre-modern English magic, but also offer inspiring material for modern practitioners in their own spirit-work, scrying, conjuration, talisman construction, and spell-craft.

Moreover, in a fashion utterly suitable to the publication of such things, today's formal release date of February 24th marks the anniversary of the very first vision in 1567 that prompted the grimoire to be received and worked in the first place. Four hundred and fifty-three years ago to this very day, the two operators of the Excellent Booke (Humphrey Gilbert and John Davis) received a vision of themselves moving through a landscape of spirits, seeing themselves - arrayed in the stylishly black regalia of nigromancers - subjugating spirits using the classic grimoiric magicians' tools of sword and book. This vision informs their fundamental practices: it shows them how to do what they want to do, with what tools they need to have to do that, and how they should be dressed to achieve it. The book, whose very opening intimidated these spirits, was directed to be written in specific colours of ink. Nothing seems incidental; all is ritually significant. The spirits obey, and the pair of magicians continue exploring this visionary landscape.

Following this scene of spirit subjugation, the vision details a number of spirits who appear and give instruction. This litany of tutelary spirits is a rogue's gallery indeed, including as it does a fallen Enochic angel ('Assasell' aka Azazel); three dead magicians, two "mythic" (Adam and King Solomon) and one certainly historical (Roger Bacon); and a Biblical figure (Job) to boot. These tutelary shades instruct the two operators, confirming their students' status as commanders of spirits, and give them specific advice about the practice of conjuration. Particularly, an explanation right at the end of the vision for why one would even resort to necromancy is recorded which continues to give me pause for thought...

In honour of this text, of the work Phil and Peter and Alkistis and I have put into our book, and of its tutelary shades, I include the first vision in its entirety here:

This vision appeared on the 24 of February at the sun rising towards the east, Anno Domini 1567

'There appeared a long blue cloud, like a streak from the east to the west, on the which H.G. went, having a gilt sword in his hand, & Jo. Davis going after him with a book covered with a skin, the hairy side outward. Himself being apparelled in a black robe, & cape cloak, with a payer of black silk nether­stocks gartered with black, gathered close above the knee; having a velvet cap, & a black feather. And very many, like men, running away before him, kneeling and falling down, holding up their hands to him. And he followed them very cruelly, and struck one of them, that had a crown on his head, with the sword in his hand, most royal to behold. And he struck the king so cruelly that he fell down on his knees to him, holding up his hand. And yet he struck him again with great fury, as though he would have killed him. Then the boy opened his book, holding it abroad. And then they said to the boy’s hearing ‘What lack you that you show such cruelty unto us? Shut your book, and you shall have done what you will desire.’ This book was written with black, white, yellow, blue, green and red. H.G. passed on with great force after him, and at the last there appeared Assasell, Solomon, Bacon, Adam, Job, and they said to the boy’s hearing who they were. Also there appeared a blue cloud, like a man with one leg, holding up the other. And Salomon said that H.G: & Jo. should rule him; and also Job said to Jo.’s hearing: ‘Trust no spirit visible or invisible, but the spirit of dead men. For they love man more then the others do.'

Thus begins a record of the forays of Humphrey Gilbert and John Davis into the House of Solomon - in which a tree of crystal yields texts of conjuration and the spiritual advisors to understand them - as well as encounters with headless birds, the Four Regents, burning skies, angelic Evangelists, notae of spirit torture tactics, rulings on exactly how long you can keep a spirit in a stone, scrying best practices - from what spirit-sign looks like to how to get it more easily and effectively- and of course the importance of wearing black while you do it.

You can purchase An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke here. It is dedicated to dead magicians. I hope it serves you well.

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February

Dear Friends, I hope your January has been good to you. For my part I have already done quite a lot of travel, zooming around the UK for the first week on extended Magian pilgrimage, then stopping back home in Brooklyn before popping over to teach some classes in Salem for a week or so. It's also been a great month for planning a bunch of events and classes I'm excited to share with you!   Along with interviewing my pal Sarah Lyons about activism, divination, and her new book, Revolutionary Witchcraft, I am appearing on a panel she is convening on Friday 31st January to talk politics and power, sorcery and maleficia, and everything in between. It promises to be a great night at Bluestockings, and I hope folks in and around NYC can attend and raise a glass with us afterwards.   Straight after I'll be off to Denver to teach at the magnificent Ritualcravt. I'll be delivering a workshop class on geomancy on Saturday afternoon, and a lecture on the history and practice of love magic in pre-modern Europe on Sunday in the late afternoon. I loved visiting Ritualcravt and Denver more generally in November for the Mile High Conjure Gala and am excited to return and see lovely friends and hopefully make some new ones.   I am exceedingly excited to announce I an teaching not one but two webinar series starting in February. One will be a fresh cycle of my Sourcebook Course exploring the collection of texts called the Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy for their use in early modern cunning-craft, witchcraft, spirit conjuration, necromancy, and demonology. There is a wealth of material here, and I'm very excited to share it with folks. More details and sign-up here.   Secondly, I will beginning a brand new Advanced Geomancy course for all those who have graduated from my Geomancy Foundation training. This new course will be On Remediation, gathering together a range of my personal and professional strategies, tactics, techniques, tips and tricks for not only reading and interpreting a situation accurately, but using geomantic divination and magic to secure blessings predicted, avoid pitfalls cautioned against, and remediate situations through ritual action, observations, and ceremony. I am especially eager for this material to get into the hands of those Geomancy Foundation alums who read for others. Mid-February sees me return to Catland here in Bushwick, Brooklyn to continue my series on planetary magic. So we will be addressing the big blue Greater Benefic of Jupiter on Thursday 13th and I hope you can join us for this expansive Jovial celebration!   Finally, the last two weeks of February are consigned off to work more seriously on some writing projects, but I will be available for readings, coaching, and consults via the usual channels.   I'm continuing working on some new talismans in the form of planetary and geomantic bracelets, so check out my IG feed for more of those, and feel free to reach out and talk commissions.   And with that, I have to press on! I hope Secondmonth is excellent to you!

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Rune Soup Interview - An Excellent Booke

You may well be aware I've been talking about about the Excellent Booke for quite some time now - mostly in terms of how it is a detailed sixteenth-century account of how one can work with dead magicians as tutelary spirits. Because it is! The necromancers among my readership should also be very interested in the material in contained on Azazel as 'ruler of the dead', 'owner of dead men's bodies', and 'keeper of the dry bones'...

So here's myself and Gordon White at Rune Soup going over exactly that. The Booke is available for pre-order from Scarlet Imprint right now. I'm inordinately proud of the work Phil Legard and I put in on this, and I truly hope you'll check it out as I think it really advances discourses and practices of pre-modern spirit conjuration, necromancy, thaumaturgy, scrying, and demonology in ways that absolutely enrich our own works. Cheers!

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Advanced Geomancy: On Remediation

February sees the beginning of a new Advanced Geomancy webinar series that I am particularly excited to share - On Remediation. This course gathers together a range of my personal and professional strategies, tactics, techniques, tips and tricks for not only reading and interpreting a situation accurately, but using geomantic divination and magic to actually affect as well as simply describe or analyse the situation in question: to secure the blessings predicted, avoid the pitfalls cautioned against, and remediate situations through ritual action, observations, and ceremony.

While I have taught many Advanced Geomancy courses on geomantic magic - offering descriptions and analyses of ingredients such as plants, minerals, and animals containing the necessary virtues to work with the spirits of the figures - this is the most detailed examination of where divination actually meets and interacts sorcery. This is the course teaching how to pull detailed regimen of ritual and magical solutions from shield charts.

The types of ritual remediations and therapeutic regimes presented range widely, but are broadly derived from three traditional sources. Firstly, planetary magic - from gathering dirts from locations ruled by the planet that governs a particular geomantic figure, to codes of conduct derived from descriptions of dignified planetary character - provides a basis in the underlying forces and shape of influence powering the Sixteen Figures.

Secondly, many of my remediation strategies are derived from detailed research into humoural theory, the dominant elemental model of not only medicine but magic in Europe for over a millenia and a half. While often considered merely as a personality typology ("oh my god, you're such a choleric, Samantha") humoural understandings of the cosmos are at the root of pre-modern European cosmology, spirit conjuration, and spell-craft as well as psychology, psychiatry, and other healing modalities. As each four-line geomantic figure is a cross-section of different elemental interactions, and as shield chart is itself zoned to emphasise and de-emphasise certainly elemental expressions, detailed humoural treatments - ranging from recommended food and drink to places to frequent and not visit, and from beneficial colours to wear and keep around you, to company kept, to types of exercise, and much more! - can be derived and issued. I have had great success applying these traditional solutions to the modern lives of my clients and students.

Finally, some portion of these treatments come directly from source, in the form of information gained via spirit conjuration and communication, confirmed with divination and experimentation. They may not be the only ways of working geomantic magic for remedying situations identified by geomantic divination, but they are comprehensive, reliable, and allow a nuanced level of individuated treatment for each querent or client. This course really has been a long time coming, and I feel confident that folks will appreciate its wider applications to their own divination and spell-craft practices.

As with all of my webinar courses offered through those fine chaps at Wolf & Goat, recordings of every session are sent out to students weekly, to re-watch at their convenience or catch up on live sessions they could not attend, along with links, resources and further information to dive deeper into the material at your conveniences. While this course requires you to have taken my Geomancy Foundation training, if you have a burning need to take this course and apply its techniques in your own practice, please feel free to reach out and discuss options, as we may be able to come to an arrangement. Payment plans are also available on request and negotiation. I really do want people to have access to this course!

Find out more here, and drop me a line at consultantsorcerer[at]gmail.com if you are interested in signing up.

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Firstmonth

Happy January folks, I hope it's treating you well so far. I posted some thoughts about the New Year and the geomantic figure of Laetitia on the 'gram today, and as we start the climb up the mountain of the coming 2020 I hope you don't feel too daunted.

I have decided to try and hit Firstmonth running. Not only does the latest cycle of my Geomancy Foundation training start today (Thursday 9th January 2020) - with a few spaces left for last-minute folks! - I also wanted to let folks know about my upcoming gigs in one place.

Saturday 11th January Light Up Your 2020 4pm; CLASS & CO; NYC

A night of spoken word, meditation, tea, candles, and birthday celebration. Join poet Lisa Ann Markuson and wizard Devin Person as they co-host a collection of wonderful things for your easy enjoyment of Saturday afternoon. Especially come along as this marks the launch of Lisa Ann's new range of Astrocandles! Also being the last of the three Feasts of the Magi, I will be talking about some legends of the Three Wise-Men: so come along for tales of camels, corpses, paper crowns, violent revolution, and much more besides gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Sunday 12th January Lord of the Seasons: Planetary Magic of the Sun Catland; Bushwick, NYC

Continuing my lecture series on planetary magic and spiritwork, we come to the Sun. Planet of sovereignty, vision, clarity, and elevation, the magic of the Sun is as regal as it is healing, and as illuminating as it is harmonious. While it may seem odd to celebrate the magic of the Sun in the heart of January, there can perhaps be no better time to honour the warming life-giving virtues of the Sun and its shining spirits. So come celebrate the power and lessons that the Sun and its radiant hosts of angels, devils and other spirits have to teach us: concerning pushing back against melancholia and sorrow, standing our ground, shedding light in the darkness, and stepping into our own sovereignty as the benevolent rulers of the kingdoms of our own lives.

Friday 17th January 2020 Vision: The Ritual Year Ahead The Cauldron Black; Salem, MA.

Continuing our theme of pushing back on the January blues, this class invites folks to se the First Month of 2020 as the perfect time to plan our coming adventures, escapades, rituals and spiritual endeavours for the coming year. Along with the eight Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year, there are plenty of other holy days, sacred times, and calendrical mysteries we can celebrate and from whence we can draw power: from the feasts and customs associated with Saints and the pre-Christian sacred sites, times, and myths upon which such cults were often built, to popular modern "secular" American festivals and observances such as Spring Cleaning, Thanksgiving, and many more; not to mention the starry dynamo of shifting astrological conditions and star-weather. So join us on a tour of the coming 12 months - looking for the rites, empowerments and magical timings open to us for living our best ritual year ahead in 2020.

Saturday 18th January Geomancy: An Early Modern Sister of Astrology The Witch House; Salem, MA

I love talking at the Witch House in Salem, a beautifully restored early modern house now kept as a museum offering a historical window into that pre-modern age. So it seemed only right to talk about my favourite early modern divination system here. For those unfamiliar, geomancy examines the roles of the planets in our daily lives, and while it utilizes the language and expression of astrology, is not dependent on astronomical measure. Our questions are answered in this familiar language of the stars, showing how these titanic forces are playing out in our lives. It is not a replacement for astrology (rather, its "Sister" oracle), although many of the terms will be familiar to an astrologer. No previous knowledge of astrology or sorcery is needed to attend or follow this lecture; on the other hand, these explorations and presentation of the art should refresh and enliven those already familiar with these crafts and even geomancy itself.

Tuesday 21st January Sorcery for Tattoos Witch City Ink; Salem, MA.

I'm very excited to be doing this talk on magic for tattoo artists and those working on their own magical tattoos at Witch City Ink! This class focuses on how tattooing - both receiving and producing - can be approached magically. Some historical groundwork and precedent is explored, before considering the practical necessities, possibilities, and implications for (further) ritualising the planning, implementation, and integration of body art and artisanship. I am especially excited to foster and engage in discussion with the magical and tattoo community of the Witch City at this event!

Stay tuned - either on Instagram, Facebook, or my mailing list - for more announcements about upcoming courses and webinars! All my best, pals.

Go Team January.

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Reading Room: Sarah Lyons

Today I’m joined by my friend and fellow regular of our Diviners’ Nights across NYC, the mighty Sarah Lyons. Sarah is a writer, activist, occultist, and witch with one foot in popular politics and direct action, and another cloven heel in the dark wilds and haunted woods. She was the witch in residence for Broadly, where she had a weekly tarot-based web series, and her writing has appeared in Veneficia, Teen Vogue, Vice, Broadly, Slutist, Fusion, Dirge Magazine, and Dear Darkling. Most recently, Sarah has authored Revolutionary Witchcraft: A Guide to Magical Activism through Running Press. She is also one half of the hosts of the PopCvlt Podcast.

Al: Congratulations on your new book my friend! Would you share what motivated you to write it, who you feel it’s for, and what your hopes are for the book now it’s written?

Sarah: Thank you!

So there’s obviously been a huge resurgence in interest around witchcraft and other magical arts recently, and at the same time there’s been a big surge in political engagement, especially in the United States. People usually tie these two together around issues like feminism and women’s empowerment, and while I think there’s a lot to that, I also think it’s more #complicated. Maybe a bit of a tangent, but if The Witch is an archetype, a spirit or force outside of ourselves, then maybe it’s her using us, and not the other way around. 

So when I sat down to write a book about witchcraft and activism, I didn’t want to do a book of spells or activities, although those are in there, I more wanted to give people new to either the tools and ideas that will help guide them on the rest of the journey. 

A: That idea of what the spirit may want is an especially interesting and potentially fruitful one I think! 

So without beating about the burning bush, what do you think divination has to offer activists? 

S: Personally I find divination invaluable to my activism. Before engaging in a campaign or action of some sort, wouldn’t it be useful to know of potential pitfalls and problems beforehand? I think on the Left there’s a distrust of too much woo, which I get to an extent, but I also think it’s where the politically minded magical folks out there have to start making our case a little louder and more clearly. It hurts far less to engage with divination to gain insight and foresight, than it does not to. 

A: I feel like one of the biggest problems for activists is burn-out, and my suspicion is that part of that case to be made by and for spell-slinging activists should probably include the importance of spiritual baths for replenishment and rejuvenation. It’s a noted element of vested interests’ and big capital’s tactics against organised people power - to simply keep repeating the same efforts until finally it’s not contested enough to be shutdown again. In the face of this, divination and magical action for cultivating and encouraging that stamina of body and heart to get back in the streets and cause trouble once again seems especially important. So I feel like even asking just “how can I support myself and my comrades to keep going?” is a particularly worthwhile one.

Do you think some forms of divination are more helpful than others? 

S: I think it depends on the person and the situation. I personally don’t like pendulums or scrying all that much because I can’t always gauge when my ego is interfering and making me see what I want to see, rather than what I need to. 

A: I totally agree on the pendulum front - unless it’s for a very particular spirit or operation, I tend to find those methods sometimes referred to as “computational” (cards, dice, and especially geomancy; anything definitively *there* in front of you) as far more useful. I think scrying has a lot of use in making and deepening spirit contact and communion, but again, it’s very unlikely it would be my go-to for answering concrete client questions. Depends what the question actually involves and how much we’re exploring it as well as “solving” it perhaps...

So, perhaps that leads neatly to my next question: how/when do you think it can be best to approach and engage with divination?

S: I think at first keep it simple with questions that can be concretely answered, and advice that can be easily followed. Don’t start off by asking “will I ever find love?” or “what direction should I take in life?” That’s a lot, even for tarot. If you are just starting out with a new method, try questions like “Is it in the best interest of my health if I do X?” or “If I go to this event, what type of people can I expect to run into?” If your life improves, or the answers are generally correct, then keep at it! If not, some deeper learning might have to be done, or the method switched up a bit. 

A: I have grown to really enjoy the phrase “What to bear in mind about x” really increasingly helpful in the divination I do for myself and clients. It sounds a bit cumbersome, sure, but I’ve found it really opens up things without getting vague or diluting.

S: I agree! I often describe my role to clients as a “google map for life.” You don’t *have* to take my advice, and things might still be ok if you don’t, but you’ll probably get to your destination faster if you get off on this exit. 

A: Ok, so considering divination can span all the way from cards to bird-song and everything in between, what are you favourite forms of divination?

S: For clients and friends I love tarot. The imagery and history of tarot help paint a beautiful picture, and literally illustrate what I’m talking about, even to someone who has never had a reading before. Being able to ground esoteric concepts and complex symbols in narrative is, to me, a lot of what being a good reader entails, and I think tarot has a lot to offer in this department. In my own personal practice I still use tarot, but more for reflection and gaining personal insight into problems. If I’m communicating with a spirit or doing ancestor work, I like to keep it a little more simple and stick to playing cards or coin tosses for “yes/no” questions. 

A: So my emphasis here is often how about diviners can deepen their practice by learning other skills or engaging in aspects away from the reading table or augury hill. Having asked what magic has to offer activism, what do you think activism and radical political engagement have to teach magicians, witches, and diviners?

S: Politics and magic cannot be separated from each other, as both deal with power and how we understand and work with it. Even if you see your magic as “apolitical” you are still engaging with power, and that is a political act. We live in a world where reality has been shaped by the revolutionary actions of the past, where groups of people shifted reality and dreamed new worlds into being, for better or for worse. As a magical practitioner, I think it’s pretty foolish not to draw at least inspiration from that. 

Beyond that, and I talk about this in my book, but it’s my belief that a good deal of our problems come from living in a disenchanted world, a place where all the magic and wonder has been sucked out of it, leaving behind only profit and cold materialism. If you are doing magic, you are fighting against this, even in a small, private way. I think so many people are getting into magic now because the world itself desperately needs people to re-enchant it, and if magic is your calling, I believe you’ve been conscripted into the fight whether you know it or not.

Sarah has a whole tour arranged to talk about her new book, but most immediately she’s going to be in Salem, MA on Saturday 11th January to talk Magical Activism 101 at The Cauldron Black. She is also hosting a night of Revolutionary Witchcraft in the form of a panel discussion on the political dimensions and possibilities of witchcraft as a practice coming up at Bluestockings in NYC on Friday 31st January.

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Readings for the Year Ahead: 2020 Discount

Once more Boxing Day is upon us, and once more the holiday season begins to drift to the old year's end. In this blurring of days counting down the finale of 2019, I am offering discounted readings for the assessment of 2020 ahead.

Blogging last year about the importance of divination on the year ahead, I remarked:

The end of the Gregorian calendar year presents us with an interesting time of reflection and planning for the year ahead. Honestly, even if it doesn't feel like it. The astrological year of course begins with the start of the cardinal fires of Spring, those awakening buds of new life and greening vitality returning to the land to begin again with Aries' vim and vigour. But the calendar year ending in December starts the secular New Year while still in Winter. For many of us, January can be somewhat of a dreary slog to that spring cleaning, stalled between the ending of the dying and the beginning of the reborn. We may even catch ourselves considering the first month a sort of dreadfully banal waiting room. Yet in this liminal antechamber we may find ourselves well-furnished to consider our plots, schemes and goals for the coming year ahead.

Divination is one of the main tools of not merely forecasting or fortune-telling, but of careful planning, deliberation, and prioritising.

As such, I am offering all geomancy readings booked during the rest of December and the first week of January at one-third off for folks wanting to begin planning their New Year. Geomancy, for those unfamiliar, is easily my favourite system of divination - offering both concrete practical answers and nuanced analysis of the interrelation of facets of a situation. I also present my readings with advice and suggestions for ritual actions, talismans, and sundries for securing blessings and avoiding or otherwise remediating warnings and cautions.

As I said last year:

January is an excellent time of year to book a reading: whether about a specific thing you would like to achieve this year, or a general forecast of what is attainable in the next twelve months. When you book a geomantic reading with me, you receive a shield chart and a detailed answer to your question, which includes a rundown of both the useful and potentially unhelpful patterns present in your life circumstances, as well as how to employ, avoid or even redirect these patterns. There is both a characterisation of the aspect/s of your life you ask about, and a verdict on what is likely to happen and how things will progress. If you specify you would like a Year Ahead reading, we will go through all twelve Houses to examine not simply one situation you would like clarification or advice on, but explore the totality of your days and ways ahead of you... Life, Money, Communications, Home, Creativity, Work, Partnerships, Ancestors, Spirituality, Career, Benefactors, and Obstacles.

For those interested in geomancy in more depth, you may also like to investigate my Geomancy Foundation course of webinar-based training offered once more through Wolf & Goat which begins Thursday 9th January 2020.

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Reading Room: Demetrius Lacroix

This week I am delighted to be joined by my dear friend and godbrother-twice-over Demetrius Lacroix, to talk about good divination practices, client care, and combining community-minded charity and spirituality. Demetrius is a Tarot Reader, an Oungan Asogwe in Haitain Vodou and the co-owner of Botanica Macumba, an up-and-coming spiritual supplies store and community space down in the New Orleans.

Al: Laroye! Thanks for having this conversation with me. You are a great reader in many different styles and systems of divination. How do you help a client decide which kind of divination is best for them? When do you recommend, say, tarot over palmistry?

Demetrius: I try to guide all my clients to the information that will help them the most: Tarot and Palmistry are two of the prime examples that people have come to expect and ask for. Many of them are not aware of the ways these two divination systems work. Tarot for me is highly detailed, and lays out a very wide story and can tell the story with depth. Palmistry lays out many details as well, but they pertain more directly to the client themselves, their likes and dislikes, and the general things they can expect throughout their lifetime. The time-line of the information is much broader, much longer, and therefore not always totally helpful. Many of my clients are looking to know what is happening in the right now, this coming week, their relationship today, and I find that for me Tarot answers this more clearly than palmistry.

A: That makes a lot of sense, palmistry being more concerned with the individual’s whole life. If I have a case that needs concrete specificity cartomancy is usually my go-to. I am very much a fan of Professor Porterfield’s cartomancy as taught in his A Deck of Spells book - very historically-grounded Hoodoo style of reading playing cards to answer questions and remediate problems. 

Geomancy is also good at delivering perspective on particular plans and projects, but is still a little less well known unfortunately. So, hey, what’s the weirdest form of divination you’ve ever heard of or seen?

D: My Mambo in Haitian Vodou reads with people’s left shoes, I’m not sure how that works but she can do it!  And while not necessarily being weird, it reading of molten tin or lead, when it is poured into water. The results are determined much like in Ceromancy, divination through candle wax.

I sometimes wish I could sit in a cave with lots of fumes of various burning organic matter and scry into a mirror or darkness, giving messages of fortune, for now I'll stick to my reading room in Botanica Macumba.

A: What do you find to be the the subtlest or trickiest kinds of questions or clients?

 D: I find that questions about love tend to be the most overtly tricky – I always try to divine on relationships from the perspective of both individuals, so I can try to read with balanced perspective. I feel like some people try to use divination as a way to get someone to validate or confirm plots and decisions that may not be given approval by their friends or other associates.  I have found that in readings, the client may not be willing to tell the full truth about a situation, and that they may be reactionary when you tell them news that is contrary to what they want to hear. Even though I have a tendency to be direct and straightforward where someone may feel like my message is an insult to them or what they value, it’s rarely my goal to.offend, it is my goal to interpret the information to you as is being presented. I believe the client wants a genuine reading, not just a cheerleader for bad habits and decisions.

 A: I like this technique of divining on the relationship from both perspectives. That’s really neat. So much helping people navigate their current relationships is about identifying unspoken projections and expectations, and the bridges and gaps and overlaps between two people, not some simple pronouncement on The Relationship as an abstract concept. 

D: It takes two to tango: I can’t place a value of helpful/not helpful good/bad without seeing both dancers moves across the floor.

 Also, I find that some people become obsessed with mysterious life questions like "when will I die?"

 A: That’s a puzzling one isn’t it? I’ve only ever been asked that by troublesome “clients” to be honest; specifically ones not taking the reading seriously. On the other hand, I’ve also heard answering that question described as The Worstest Immoral Thing a diviner can do. Personally, I think there are more unethical practices than that. Historically, it was a common question, and especially the particular variant “Will my spouse or I die first?” It was considered a pragmatic question; a matter of making informed decisions and making life plans. That said, I also accept it’s a pretty morbid and potentially saddening thing to know, of course.

D: It’s not that I don't think it should not be done, or entertained as an idea; just that usually the people asking won't profit from that kind of information, nor do I believe that tarot is going to draw that out clearly.

A: How much ritual do you do around your reading? Do you light a lot of candles, invoke anything particular, or just flip cards straight off?

D: I have very subtle rituals, I read both in stores, private homes and outdoors. I usually have a candle and water, maybe use some incense to clear the air, and to make a space somewhat suitable to the Spirits, and Ancestors. I also use cloth that I have done value spiritual work on top of. Also a lot of the seemingly random items I bring with me generally serve some purpose for me during before or after the reading.

A: What are your go-to sorceries and tricks to keep your divining muscles fit and active?

D: first thing is to make sure you are taking care of your self, and your Ancestors and Spirits. There are a lot of baths and observances you can do. I have a regiment of baths, special cleanings, ways I treat my cards, and the maintenance of amulets and rituals. For people who read like you or I, I also recommend downtime, I like to take long walks, have peacefully silence or music something that allows me to collect myself so I can be in peace and centered with my own spirit so I can continue giving quality readings. 

A: You co-run Botanica Macumba down in New Orleans - a magic shop everyone should go check out! - and have an upcoming event combining charity work for local underprivileged kids and celebrating the Lwa. Could you tell our readers a little more about that?

D: Vodou, along side many of the West African Diaspora Traditions talk a lot about community which is seen in action in their places of origin like Haiti, Cuba, Brazil etc, where people are coming together to make a difference in their own lives and the lives of others. It’s important to me, and my business partners that we do the same. In these traditions, the spiritual work is not always an elaborate ceremony, sometimes it’s the work that lets us connect people with blessings, that helps feed a person who has nothing, or in the case of our next event, the prayer service to the Marassa, it allows us to help children. The Marassa are the Divine twins, and are the spiritual representatives of the potential power of children. Children during the holiday season all over will be given gifts, and it's a sad day when a child doesn’t have a gift to open on a day when all their peers across the country will open presents and be surprised. To give a moment of joy to a child is an act of service to the Marassa and the many other lwa. Mindless religious observation - while not taking into account the living world, and considerations made for humans, or the world around us - is often the norm, but we're proud to not be normal.

Toys for Blessings: A Service for the Marassa, The Divine Twins Botanica Macumba, in conjunction with Crescent City Conjure and Alombrados Oasis O.T.O., will be hosting a charity toy drive, prayer service, celebration, and blessing for the community on Sunday 8 December at 7:00pm. The service will include a ritual blessing from the Marassa and a celebratory feast in their honor after the service. Entrance is free for everyone who brings a new unwrapped toy for donation to help children who would otherwise go without. Alternately a $20 donation for toys is also welcome. This is traditionally known as an Action de Grace ( an action of grace). We offer this act of charity in exchange to receive blessings from the Marassa for ourselves and for the community. The Marassa are the Divine Twins and are the Spiritual force of children. They are seen as givers of blessings, they multiply blessings, and duplicate and continue to replicate the way they are interacted with; just like the way we treat children will reflect in how they will develop. To help children experience joy and happiness is the ultimate service to the Marassa and this joy is multiplied by them. It is our hope to elevate the children of today to a station beyond even what is attainable for us. Please bring a new unwrapped gift, or cash donation. Botanica Macumba is located at 3154 St. Claude across the street from the Family Dollar.

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The Black Art Books of Cyprian, Pt. II: A Svartkonstbok Exhortation

In the first post of this current blog series on the Black Art Books of Cyprian, we discussed the Art and Doctrine of Cyprian, MS 12 NM 40.034: a collection of charms, rites, seals, and sundry operations. Tonight we unlock the shelf-chains to check out the svartkonstbok MS 13 NM 41.652. A singular text, its contents are summarised:

'Exhortations are presented as those made by St. Cyprian, and call upon the powers of all those biblical and ecclesiastical personages to drive out the four primary Princes of Hell and their minions.'

 MS 13 is an exorcism rite for the sick and/or bewitched. Considering this intersection of physical and spiritual dis-eases, the late Dr Johnson notes that, 'as it has the intention of protecting an individual from demonic influence, I have categorized it as a work of healing'; a categorisation and rationale I think concisely sums a necessary mindset for engaging with the exorcisms and healing charms and banishing rites and herbal formularies of these folk magical texts.

The operation itself begins with a brief but extremely illuminating instruction for the administration of the exorcism, which must be accompanied by a bath made in a very particular and thoroughly necromantic fashion.

[Whoever …cousin] then he should go, or another in his stead, to a church yard and ask for permission to take three bones and put them towards the fire, until they become warm, and then throw them into the water and put the bones in the same place, that you took them from, and wash the sick one in the water and recite this […] then with God’s help it will get better.

To reiterate this necromantic methodology: bones are borrowed and taken only with permission, vivified by warming them up to transfer their healing virtue to the water, then are returned; whereupon the prepared bath is used to wash the patient as a prayer is said over them. It should be performed 'early in the new or waning moon'.

 Borrowing Bones

What is I think most immediately striking about this rite is that it highlights that borrowing bones to heal does not necessarily only have to be done to transfer disease from the living onto the dead. There is a bone borrowing rite in the black art books examined in this compendium that has an obvious operative basis in such transference, and is worth briefly comparing at this juncture.

MS 3 Es löv #2 [EM 3329 B; “N° 4 Stora katekis”] contains an excellent example of bone transference healing. For 'help for all people’s deformities', it instructs for a bone to be borrowed from a churchyard in the early morning, and that one should 'dip this bone in the dew, and stroke it upon your injuries'. The short operation's express transference is explicitly stated in the closing spoken component of the operation, declared when returning the bone: 'put earth over it and say as you throw the earth “Let now my weakness which this bone now owns rot with you in the earth.” The bone of the dead effectuates a transference of the disease from the land of the living to the soil beneath, to decay. It is a rite whose entire process is written out again more concisely in a separate later operation in the same manuscript.

We do not seem to find such a direct transference of malady to the earth and/or dead in our Cyprianic exorcism of MS 13 however. Rather occult virtue is imbued into the cleansing bath. In terms of protocol, permissions are sought and blessings received from the dead of the churchyard to perform the healing. In terms of operation, the bones are heated and their virtue is transferred to the water itself. It is a transference from the dead of sacred ground not to them. The bath itself raises a further crucial similarity shared by these workings. The bones in both operations are quickened through water: a summer morning's dew in MS 3 and the water of the necromantic bath in MS 13. The dead affect us and are affected by us through moisture.

Our work of healing in MS 13 is of course effectuated by a combination of materia, proper preparation, and incantation. The incantation in question which stirs these waters of the dead begins by praying for God's mercy before quickly bestowing the operator making the call with the mantle of Cyprian - saint of nigromancy after all - via first person invocation. The opening litany from this assumed mouth of our Good Saint is a veritable anatomy of Christological historiolae:

'I, Cyprian the Eternal worshipper of God, […] Holy birth, by his holy circumcision, by his holy baptism, by his holy miracles and wondrous deeds, by his holy suffering, by his bloody languishing, by those ropes, wherewith Jesus was bound, by the kiss on the cheek that Mattheus gave to Jesus, by the scourging of his back, by those thorns and thongs with which Jesus was scourged, by Jesus’ crown of thorns, by Jesus’ purple robe, by the spear that was stuck up into Christ’s side, by the five wounds, by the 7 (last) words that he spoke on the cross, by the sweat cloth, wherein he was wrapped, by Jesus’ grave, by Jesus’ burial, by Jesus’ resurrection, by Jesus victorious ascension into heaven, by Jesus’ Reign and Lordship at the right hand of the Father, by Jesus’ return to judge the quick and the dead.'

 The Exhortation

The Exorcism that makes up the overwhelming majority of MS 13 is first-person Cyprianic, beginning with this opening appeal to the works of Christ. Following this introduction, we begin an extensive litany of invoked ancestors and spirits. Our call to the angels opens with Gabriel followed by that familiar cardinal quartet of archangels Michael, Raphael and Uriel. Appeal to the First Father and Magician Adam leads petition to a cast of Genesis, expanding into calls to the kings of Scripture (starting with David, then Solomon), Christ once more, the prophets, the saints, holy bishops, holy confessors, holy women, and holy virgins.

Having called by these many many names, one exhorts 'you all in the ten thousand regiments of Hell', and exorcises Lucifer, Belsebub, Belial, and Astaroth and their 'Regements'. These four are referred to as the 'uppermost and principle Princes in Hell', and description of their domains emerge as they are bound 'that you may not any longer either yourself or by means of some of your servants, harm or hurt' the patient. A curious ritual geography is explored. Lucifer and his vast retinue are found 'in the lake of death, the pit of fire and the land of shadows', and 'in mountain and in valley, in forest and the soil, in the air and water'. Belsebub's warband is located 'in the northern part of Tartarus, in the Earth in Oblivion, in the below'. Belial's court 'in the South, in Gehenna, in Barratheo'. Astaroth and their deputy-princes lie 'in the west, in Usisge and Lizeronttes'.

Each of these bindings is further emphasised by a ritual naming-and-shaming of specific senior spirits under these four principle Princes of Hell. Agron, Degel, Brisont, Avetzan, and Frischop are singled out in binding the servants of Lucifer. Ragsepedes, Lucermin, Mempes and Averhan are namechecked under Belsebub. Belial's courtiers include Sersostenes, Slaudiens, Apolexis, and Mesena. Rephorsin, Aequiste, and Parretemene are counted amongst Astaroth's consorts. Further study of these names is certainly warranted.

The exorcism ends by calling - conjuring in fact - natural phenomena: sun and moon, stars, land and even by the beasts of the land. For me, most immediately there's at the very least a sense of an expression of life triumphing over disease and death here, of a natural order restored and thriving, and so on. But I leave it to your good selves to consider the meaningful significances of this exorcism's conclusion yourselves:

'I conjure you by Sun and Moon, by all the shining stars, by the Entire Heavenly Host, by the rainbow, by the snow, by the thunder and lightning, by rain, by darkness […], by the skies, by the Heavens and Stones, by Trees, by mountains, by valleys, by fish in the water, by birds under the heavens, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.'

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Two Upcoming Courses of Nigromancy

Here’s just a brief update on two webinar courses coming up here in the second half of October 2019, offered once more through those fine chaps at Wolf & Goat. The first is my Foundation Course: A Goetia of the Four Kings, my first course specifically dedicated to exploring the early modern nigromantic conjuration of unclean spirits. This course will explore a critically undervalued component of goetia - the principle Four Kings of the cardinal directions. Goetia has been a significant part of my magical work for many years, and I continue to deepen it with divination, experiment, and historical research. I finally feel ready to share some of this work in this course.

The Four Kings are not merely senior spirits of the cardinal directions, although they certainly do orient the practitioner at the crossroads of conjuration. They provide a vital means of organising the rogues' galleries of the mass of devilish spirits of the European grimoire traditions. Crucially, appealing to the authority of Oriens, Paymon, Amaymon, and Egyn when conjuring less senior spirits lends stability, coherence, and efficacy to such workings. The Four Regents become a vital part of navigating the bureaucracies of Hell as envisioned in the nigromantic practices of pre-moderrn goetia. Yet since their deliberate exclusion from the spirit catalogue of Johannes Weyer - a deliberate endeavour on the part of the demonologist to hamstring the very system he was criticising - they are given considerably less attention in modern occult thought or magical practice.

This course seeks to help practitioners of a variety of experiences and abilities find their way back to these Regents of European grimoiric conjuration, restoring a pivotal layer of demonic hierarchy and returning a potent set of ruling spirits to the circles of karcists, demonologists, and nigromancers today. We will examine the Four's appearances in a variety of grimoires - including the Folger Book of Magic, the Book of Dannel, the Excellent Book, and many other manuscript rites and operations. We will discuss their alternative names and assigned cardinal directionality, as well as meeting a few of their most significant messengers, 'sub-kings', and ministers. We will also further explicate early modern connections between the Four Kings and the Sorcerer Saint Cyprian, patron of grimoires and nigromantic magic. Those who study this course will be provided with indispensable working methodologies for directing and dealing with so-called 'unclean spirits' and in performing works of grimoire magic.

The course - which consists of three two-hour webinar sessions packed with analyses of their heraldry, conjurations, and operations - will also include a free hour-long one-to-one consultation to ensure that students can incorporate these teachings of the Four Kings into their own practice. This Foundation course will also be a pre-requisite for future classes and courses on early modern goetia and nigromancy.

For more information, or to signup, follow this here link right here.

My second webinar series, beginning Tuesday 29th October is a new cycle of my Advanced Geomancy course The Earth Shall Hold Them Close. This is a course teaching the ways by which geomancy may investigate matters related to both ancestral spirits and restless dead. Having run it once before, I have a couple of testimonials I’d love to share which offer a little more detail on what previous students have got out of it.

“In this Advanced Geomancy course, the clever Dr. Cummins shines a lanterns’ glow on the necromantic potential buried below the surface of our dearly beloved earthy oracle. Whether you’re knocking on the doors of the Fourth House, Genitor, to check in on the blessed ones who came before or you are investigating the Eighth House, Mors, because you’ve got a bad case of somebody not going gently into that good night, The Earth Shall Hold Them Close provides you the terrestrial foundations to bridge the gap between this world and the next. By elevation or exorcism, geomancy isn’t just limited to a form of divination, but a potent means of spiritual communication and spellcraft for both mediumship and malefica alike. Dr. Cummins acts as a psychopomp, gently guiding you into the liminal space between spiritual investigation and spirit contact, and providing you with workings, advice, and inspiration for whatever conditions you may inherit from the other side.  Geomancy and tending to my ancestors are two essential pillars of my personal spirituality and magical practice, and The Earth Shall Hold Them Close not only allowed one lamp to cast light on the shadow of the other, it subtly rearranged the way I engage with worlds here and beyond. Al acts as guardian cunning man passing on the albus-white wisdom of the past to help re-enchant and reconnect us to the spiritus mundi of our present. Highly recommended.” - Justin Cassatt

“This course on geomancy and the Dead was instrumental in advancing my studies of the art, acquiring a deeper appreciation, and furthering my understanding of its implications for practice. Al’s expertise in history, humoural theory, ritual, and folk magic lent a great deal to weaving together various threads of esoteric knowledge that are only fairly recently beginning to find their homes once again in each other. The importance of the Dead is something that Al and others have striven before now to restore to their proper place of consideration. This course is a prime example of how one might apply that scholarship in a very accessible and practice way. If I can only say one thing, it is that I consider it a privilege to study with Al and am deeply grateful for what he has taught me and shared in these courses. You would do yourself a solid favor in continuing study with Al. There is deep wisdom, knowledge, and medicine in his offering and I can’t recommend it enough without giving away his invaluable teachings.” - Mr B Fox.

This course comes with a free hour-long one-to-one session of private coaching to integrate it into one’s very personal practice of ancestor veneration and wider spiritwork. You are not required to have significant background experience in working with ancestors, and this can be a great place to start attending to one’s dead more fully. As an Advanced Geomancy class, this typically requires students to have taken my Geomancy Foundation course. But if you haven’t taken that already and really want to get on this, please drop me a line and we’ll see what we can do...

Anyone interested in knowing more about these courses, or hoping to set up a payment plan (which I’m happy to do!), should email me at consultantsorcerer [at] gmail.com for a chat about such things. I would dearly love you all to be able to take these courses and engage with the important information and techniques therein.

Merry Hallowstide, every one of us.

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The Magick of Kirani, King of Persia, and of Harpocration containing the magical and medicinal vertues of stones, herbes, fishes, beasts, and birds : a work much sought for by the learned but seen by few : said to have been in the Vatican-Library in Rome but not to be found there nor in all the famous libraries of the empire / now published and translated into English from a copy found in a private hand. , [London : s.n.], Printed in the year 1685 Txt version: https://1drv.ms/t/s!AqUWUXQe5AknhCvDnJTNxwuMQcbL?e=ScvDlU