#hermetic brotherhood

[archtroop]

Some fine and really thought provoking, interesting analysis of FMA:BROTHERHOOD in accordance to actual Alchemical and hermetic texts. This guy plans on making a whole seroes of those. There are wo already up on his channel.

I'm tuning in 😎

[blood-orange-juice]

I keep procrastinating a long post so I'll just write a short one.

Genshin Narcissenkreuzers are an obvious reference to Rosenkreuzers of the real world (Rosicrucians in English), The Brotherhood of Rose Cross, a 17th century spiritual movement. Rose is just substituted with a daffodil there.

(I'm not sure if cross has any actual symbolism in Genshin, or what the Teyvatian meaning of daffodils is. I know rose symbolism in Teyvat is different from our world)

It's a mishmash of Kabbalah, Hermeticism, alchemy and Christian mysticism. And the best part? The author who wrote one of the Manuscripts That Started It All eventually revealed it was a literature game, acknowledging its origin in a romantic fantasy that he wrote before he was 16 years old.

(do you see the parallels? magic born out of a childhood game)

The even better part is that it influenced European mysticism immensely, giving rise to Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and then to Thelema. A huge part of esotericism you see online these days is a development of their practices or just straight-out their old practices (tarot cards, astral travel, etc).

It influenced a lot of things indirectly too. For example, the concept of seeing "energy" (and the whole esoteric concept of energy as we know it now) was created by Madame Blavatsky by mixing the Rosicrucian concept of "light ether" (the primary 'proto-element' from which all matter is created) and Eastern concepts of prana and qi (which, if you try to study Indian and Chinese texts, turn out to be closer to actual physical definition of energy or maybe even information than to pop-esoteric "energy").

A similar thing happened to Wicca. It has its roots in Celtic revival and Neobardic tradition, which were in many ways influenced by Iolo Morganwg. That guy wrote a beautiful book Barddas, absolutely soaked in Mason and Rosicrucian teachings, passing it for a compilation of authentic Welsh bardic and druidic texts, forever tainting Celtic paganry with Rosicrucian influence too.

(it's a beautiful story in itself, full of poetry of all kinds. maybe one day I'll tell it)

(also, iirc, Wicca also heavily borrowed from the Order of the Golden Dawn too, so now it's hard to say what comes from where).

You might not know the name but Rosicrucians and their legacy are everywhere. Their practices, the names they used for things, their way of thinking.

And so is the Narcissenkreuz Ordo.

[incarnateirony]

So anyway now you guys might know on the other side of the coin why I have, one could say, a supernaturally high success rate in suicide prevention crisis work. It's like, the same shit, I just usually don't have to fight an unwilling target.

Speaking of, oh look another one. Here we go. Works, Shealyn. It's about Works.

But yeah, fuck it. I managed to keep my magical drama off my blog for eight years, three of which I was being actively harassed by this psychopath proxying through every server or fandom I breathed in. TLDR yes I'm a magical powerful high grade in an actual brotherhood wizard that can shit on people with the god of memes through spacetime to the point my ex got all fucked up and confused me with the god i learned the teachings from, what about it, sorry.

I'm over running from monsters. Fuck this tumblr bullshit, it's done, this is just here to give her a chance to get the message to STOP being fucking dumb as hell, at least she has a running shot of understanding what's happening and making the simple choice needed to end it. We could have just smashed her like a bug from the start without a warning.

Right now she's going through her wiring again, she's actually focusing on her life, and home, and being somewhat honest about their recently strained finances, and that focusing on her real life helped. Yeah, that's the point. She's still sitting on her stupid horse shit though, so she's gonna drive backwards, because she thinks she can wait this out, and that's fine. We'll just keep rewiring her until she forgets why she's holding onto it to begin with. Yeah, she's getting to the step of "working on my own life" like a big girl now. She might be ready for "magical" work in another Adult Years Time, but right now, focus on your goddamn house and get off my dick. Cuz whoever is left by the end of this will be off our dick, you get to decide if that's you.

Like your Home can be your Great Work, but you can't be chasing the Road and your ex husband's dick and do that, what's not clicking, that's why he gave you Hestia earlier as the cure to Hermetic Intoxication, you dense bitch.

[miniaturemoonheart]

Encyclopedia Britannica

occultism

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occultism

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occultism, various theories and practices involving a belief in and knowledge or use of supernatural forces or beings. Such beliefs and practices—principally magical or divinatory—have occurred in all human societies throughout recorded history, with considerable variations both in their nature and in the attitude of societies toward them. In the West the term occultism has acquired intellectually and morally pejorative overtones that do not obtain in other societies where the practices and beliefs concerned do not run counter to the prevailing worldview.

Henry Gillard Glindoni: John Dee Performing an Experiment Before Queen Elizabeth I

Henry Gillard Glindoni: John Dee Performing an Experiment Before Queen Elizabeth I

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Key People: Zarathushtra J.F.C. Fuller Robert Fludd Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim Aleister Crowley

Related Topics: witchcraft magic alchemy divination astrology

Occult practices centre on the presumed ability of the practitioner to manipulate natural laws for personal benefit or on behalf of another; such practices tend to be regarded as evil only when they also involve the breaking of moral laws. Some anthropologists have argued that it is not possible to make a clear-cut distinction between magic—a principal component of occultism—and religion, and this may well be true of the religious systems of some nonliterate societies. The argument does not hold, however, for any of the major religions, which regard both natural and moral law as immutable.

The Western tradition of occultism, as popularly conceived, is of an ancient “secret philosophy” underlying all occult practices. This secret philosophy derives ultimately from Hellenistic magic and alchemy on the one hand and from Jewish mysticism on the other. The principal Hellenistic source is the Corpus Hermeticum, the texts associated with Hermes Trismegistos, which are concerned with astrology and other occult sciences and with spiritual regeneration.

Kabbala

Kabbala

The Jewish element is supplied by the Kabbala (the doctrine of a secret mystical interpretation of the Torah), which had been familiar to scholars in Europe since the Middle Ages and which was linked with the Hermetic texts during the Renaissance. The resulting Hermetic-Kabbalistic tradition, known as Hermetism, incorporated both theory and magical practice, with the latter presented as natural, and thus good, magic, in contrast to the evil magic of sorcery or witchcraft.

Alchemy was also absorbed into the body of Hermetism, and this link was strengthened in the early 17th century with the appearance of Rosicrucianism, an alleged secret brotherhood that utilized alchemical symbolism and taught secret wisdom to its followers, creating a spiritual alchemy that survived the rise of empirical science and enabled Hermetism to pass unscathed into the period of the Enlightenment.

Freemasons

Freemasons

During the 18th century the tradition was taken up by esoterically inclined Freemasons who could not find an occult philosophy within Freemasonry. These enthusiasts persisted, both as individual students of Hermetism and, in continental Europe, as groups of occult practitioners, into the 19th century, when the growth of religious skepticism led to an increased rejection of orthodox religion by the educated and a consequent search for salvation by other means—including occultism.

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But those interested turned to new forms of occultism rather than to the Hermetic tradition: on the one hand to spiritualism, the practice of alleged regular communication between the living and the spirits of the dead through a living “medium,” and on the other hand to theosophy, a blend of Western occultism and Eastern mysticism that proved to be a most effective propagator of occultism but whose influence had declined markedly by the late 20th century.

Indeed, despite the 19th-century revival, occult ideas have failed to gain acceptance in academic circles, although they have occasionally influenced the work of major artists, such as the poet William Butler Yeats and the painter Wassily Kandinsky, and occultism in Europe and North America seems destined to remain the province of popular culture.

Robert Andrew Gilbert

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[allengreenfield]

Allen Greenfield joins us to share his firsthand account of an accidental possession by the god Pan. This is a thrilling encounter that you won’t want to miss!

Allen is a long-time student of esoteric spirituality. He is an occultist, author, and bishop of the Gnostic Catholic Church He has been deeply involved in Ufology for many years, and is the author of “Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts”, a text that explores the connections between the occult and alien contact phenomena. This book was heavily featured in the recent paranormal series “Hellier”. Allen is a past elected member of the British Society for Psychical Research, as well as the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), and has twice been the recipient of the "UFOlogist of the Year Award" by the National UFO Conference. Allen is a former member of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). Since his departure from the order, he has devoted his efforts to the worldwide “Free Illuminist” movement.

---------

Greenfield’s published works include:

Silver Bridge (Introduction)

Saucers and Saucerers

Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts

The Story of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light

The Compleat Rite of Memphis

Liber Thirty-One

The Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult (Contributing Author)

Secret Rituals of the Men in Black

The Roots of Modern Magick: Glimpses of the Authentic Tradition from 1700-2000

Christ and the Master Therion

Angel Spells: The Enochian Occult Workbook Of Charms (Contributing Author)

---------

Note: The views and opinions expressed by guests on the Spirit World Center Podcast do not necessarily represent those of the Spirit World Center or its staff.

---------

SPIRIT WORLD CENTER LINKS

Website: https://www.spiritworldcenter.com/

Instagram @spirit_world_center

[pqsounds]

Listen/purchase: OHR by Hermetic Brotherhood of Lux-Or

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[eritvita]

dragon age:

v; by and by: pre-escape & life in the Circle {9:23 - 9:34 Dragon}

v; run boy: Qunari invasion of Kirkwall; post-escape from the Circle {9:34 Dragon}

v; earthbound misfit: living with the Dalish {9:34 - 9:35 Dragon}

v; seething shadows breathing lies: in Orlais {9:36 Dragon}

v; of crossed swords: in Antiva {9:37 - 9:38 Dragon}

v; bottom of the river: in Rivain {9:39 - 9:40 Dragon}

untagged: during the events of da:i; present {9:41 - ? Dragon}

v; stormalong john: nesting in Rivain

v; widdershins: interactions in the Fade

v; the coming dawn: in Skyhold

v; rose on the Grey: aiding the Grey Wardens

v; praelectus: chosen to be Dirthamen’s First

v; commissions: acquired employment

v; beast of burden:

bloodborne verse: fanatical nurse and caretaker, candle-lighter, and incense-keeper of Oedon Chapel, willing to offer blood sup and lyrical wisdom to whomever needs it on hunting nights & hazy days.

v; bittersweet symphony:

19th-century london verse: occultist & children’s book writer, willing to ingratiate himself within esoteric society ala the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the elusive Assassin Brotherhood, etc. to answer forever-long queries of the purpose of humanity & the Universe.

v; misty mountains cold:

tes: skyrim verse: half-Breton/half-Bosmer student at the College of Winterhold with exceptional skill & interest in Speechcraft & Conjuration, with ties and friends in ambiguous daedra cults & at the Bard’s College.

v; the weight:

non-human apostate verse: a literal star placed on earth before neanderthals walked the planet, only wants to make friends and spread love with powers of the Earth & with irl use of mysticism and mythological beings.

v; velvet underground:

modern!Lovecraftian verse: cars & coffee & laptops & phones, with the added spice of becoming a messenger & avatar for Lovecraftian, Eldritch Gods while living in his van & taking odd jobs for food & board.

[abybweisse]

Ch135, Thelema rears its head again. And I’m talking about it again!

Warning: LONG POST!

I’m so glad this was included in the translation notes. I’ve talked about Aleister Crowley, Thelema, Thoth (though I was talking about Undertaker on that one), the Æon of Horus, the (Hermetic Order of the) Golden Dawn/Aurora Aurea, and the Ruby Rose and the Cross of Gold (second level of the Aurora Aurea), and so on before. It’s good to see the parallel has continued between Viscount Druitt/Aleister Chamber and Aleister Crowley... and the Aurora Society, Blue Sect, and Osiris (company) vs various aspects of Thelema.

Madam Red mentions “the rose something or the golden something” in ch7.

The three-tiered Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is a secret society founded by three members of the Rosicrucians and the Freemasons, and it is part of the religion of Thelema, which was founded by Aleister Crowley.

It’s been called Aurora Society in the manga, but we might yet find out there’s deeper levels to its membership, just like with Thelema and the Golden Dawn.... The Aurora Society itself could be the lowest level of the order... simply the Golden Dawn?

I wonder what level this is supposed to be, these people having orgies and trying to summon a demon? According to the teachings within Thelema, a young male of purest innocence and high intellect makes the best sacrifice to make a summons, unlike what this cult leader says in the manga. However, this could have been twisted (needing them to be defiled, instead of left pure) for the purpose of summoning a demon, since its creepier. Plus, Crowley regularly incorporated “sexual energy” into his magic workings.... This cult could be the manga version of the second level, The Ruby Rose and the Cross of Gold.

Too bad Madam Red and our earl didn’t discuss these secret societies further. Too bad our earl didn’t instruct Sebastian to investigate the secret societies themselves, not just individuals with medical licenses and occult interests....

I have a hunch (a nagging suspicion) that the Blue Sect is the manga version of the leaders who have access to the highest level of the order, the Secret Chiefs.

And I say this because of what is said here (there’s lots of info worth showing, so just read through it). I’ll discuss the Secret Chiefs more below.

I’m quite interested in this idea that the Secret Chiefs could be symbolic representations, not necessarily people. The Blue Sect uses both; the Lords of the Stars are people (sort of....), but they are like incarnations of the stars that they represent. Sirius, Canopus, Vega, and Polaris.

Notice that Osiris and Horus are mentioned above. This is crucial because:

Osiris is the name given to the (dummy or shell) drug company that buys Stoker’s “technology” (really, they got hold of how to make Bizarre Dolls?). They got this from the Aurora Society (and Undertaker). They could be the ones trying to prolong the lives of those old lords who have renal failure. Like Stoker, they could have good intentions but are being duped. Depends on who is really behind Osiris....

In Thelema, the Æon of Osiris is the era that is ending, dying off. It’s ruled by the old man... and death.

Crowley thought he would use Thelema to usher in the Æon of Horus, a new era ruled by the eternal child, who neither dies nor is reborn....

So... Lord Sirius could be not just one of these Secret Chief-like individuals... but also the manga version of the “undying and unreborn” representation of Horus in Thelema’s Æon of Horus. “The crowned and conquering child, who dieth not, nor is reborn, but goeth radiant ever upon His Way.” But, we know that his radiance can grow dim....

I’ll add links to my older posts about this later, when I’m on my computer again. But you can find much of this (and maybe other details I’ve left out this time) by searching my blog for tags like #aleister crowley, #thelema, #osiris, #aeon of horus, #aleister chamber, #viscount druitt, #aeon of osiris, #golden dawn, #ruby rose and cross of gold, etc....

Also please check out http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Main_Page for all things Thelema.

[incarnateirony]

Here's the fun thing about psychology kiddos.

It is wild in there.

We all know Jung is heavily relied on for most modern psych, even if some of his methods were questioned. But here's the fun thing: there was once a debate on if Jung himself was schizophrenic or not, and the end resolution according to DSM was, no, he was able to control it, and live a full life, and activate these different states, and his science based on it was sound.

Most of his students, however, went absolutely insane, because they didn't understand the process, and a lot of it comes down to this fun alchemy stuff. Like the current AI creatives and princeton noosphere studies being hermetic students. They get it... kinda. They get it on paper. But there's some dangers in their method.

But like I said, I am getting Off the Bus. We are arriving at station right about now. I am admittedly disassociating from any patriarchal or higher brotherhood responsibility to those knocking on the door answering the calling of the light. They're still technically doing work for me whether or not they realize it, and I just don't have the energy to deal with anyone else's egos, so let their mistakes be my rewards.

When you dig deep enough in the human brain to explore what Root Access really means, you will sound definitionally insane. And you will find things you probably aren't ready to find.

But if your trickster channeling priest doesn't sound mad hat insane in the middle of it, they're faking, and not even faking well. But Trickster aside that's just one part of archetypical travel and memetic legacy. It's the ability to understand all them characters were you and come from deeper in humanity itself, and that's how you actually slide down the "man is god, divinity comes from within, we are the universe experiencing itself, hey what happens if I push this button" hole.

It's realizing I was always Ash, but understanding what shadows I broke down writing as Ash, and how that traces back to the beginning. It's realizing I was always Zento and Zenthus, even if that leads to Apep and company. It's realizing that this, all of this was me. And all of it is me. It's realizing and working through that root access and this child is NOT IN THIS GAME LOBBY, she has not done the work. Hence copy pasting my shit hollowly and running away.

Which is why I say, Shealyn truly needs tested for schizoaffective disorder, but the historic responsibility that puts on Mark means they would disadvise it. She externalizes all her processes until she hears MeHermanubis forgetting to fill my cat food bowl after fursuit friday or whatever, or enshrines the shadow leviathan for guidance, but that's why she's so easy to push around, it's all disassociation, and if she's thsi far out it may have basically cemented itself medically after being a permanent path she committed to.

When I say she was teaching opposite of hermes while in his name using her misunderstanding of my old jokes and roleplaying my face -- literally the "character" Aaron Eema I worked out my issues with that she put on her court documents but won't acknowledge the ramifications of in her "religion"-- this is what I mean. He never encourages idolizing shadows. It's always about finding the self, not mimicing someone else, finding where you come from and where your inner garden is, and all your parts even if they seem to conflict, and which You that You want to be. She has been doing it fundamentally backwards and refuses to stop or return to reality.

And really this whole mess is just the ancient art of fuck around and find out. I'd have just tried to stay tamped down and hidden but she couldn't control herself, now she's uncontrolled herself into facing her entire delusional reality shattering, a pile of therapy bills, and trying to sue me over the fact that she can't stop reading my own blog. Because. She can't control herself.

The two opposites of the pole, those who did and those who did not, those who did that work in psych and those still running from her own shadows pulling out her hair in therapy. A high magus that just stunt bombed side viewers in a global event most people don't even understand happening, but the receipts are here. All her wonderful stupid prizes for her stupid games.

No seriously, I'm lucky I get free therapy from work. She's caused me a lot of damage with her harassment and delusions. And in the end Mark and other people are all going to need therapy to unknot themselves mentally from her world of lies, and their parts played in it.

So this is what they have, suing me for paying for her medical bills for her long failure to control herself, and a long failure of her current spouse to help her or stop her unhealthy behaviors in everything from society, psychology to magical practice, and that spouse being unable to provide. Oops.

One of us became one of the most sought after psych crisis workers in the country and a fucking magus. The other became a bald octopus jibberish spewing crackbear with a cult to her ex she groomed others into her cope on. And y'all act like there can be an argument here.

You and I both know, Shealyn, even if I lost the monetary suit, which I won't because this is hilarious, she could stop reading my blog your honor, she's trying to drag you into a witchcraft fight full stop. She's terrified of the concept of spiritual death of the ego and wants a restraining order. I'd take it as a voluntary distance she'll stay away from ME if she wasn't trying to get money out of it--but even if I lost that, and you got a few whole hours of my time again. Your world will never be the same.

We know what broke in you when you deleted your blog, no matter what lies you spin to others to try to put back together your castle of glass.

It's time to face the truth.

I Am the one you were after, in every capacity. You just refused to understand what any of it meant, because it meant consequences for your behaviors and choices. You thought you could roleplay through half of it, mimic it back, and harass and chase me when the void and your obsession wasn't filled. But you're looking at it now, and will be forced to look at it for the rest of your life when you look outward.

So you might as well start looking inward.

I told you. I built you a trap you couldn't escape. No backing up this time, sweetheart. You're getting ALL the way off or simply become me, it is that simple, and we're actually at a point of the latter, you're more now like a schizophrenic thought I'm trying to smash with a newspaper.

Janus and the others will continue the work as it is assigned, you are yet again the only one trying to summon me into your life for money and attention.

You picked a fight you can't take back, Shealyn, and you've picked it for the last time.

I've already destroyed you. We both know that. The rest is you just trying to swipe in revenge for something resembling control of the situation that already has your words deleted and hidden, after claiming them as war. Oh, sorry. I did that. That's why I'm the one with them saved.

But you can't fix what has been broken in you without facing yourself and telling the truth and processing the grief that has kept you on your monstrous behavior. And we both know you can't and won't do that.

So I've already won.

I'm the Magus. No, I'm better, I'm the Fool. I eat you whole. I told you at the start. The only way out of this is Yourself. Your real self. And the truth.

I won't have to be near you, you've ended yourself, that's the entire trick, girl. I don't want anywhere near you, this is my final notice to keep you the fuck away from me, and if you can't deal with what's psychologically happening to you internally that you keep externalizing, that's still on you, this whole mess is literally on you. So if you can't face it, the end result is pretty much always the same, sweetie. Hence saying, it doesn't have to be a hard casket death, but you're gonna insist on doubling down until you get there.

You are literally not strong enough to face yourself. That is in fact the plot here while you cry into my old playlist in your castle of glass. And I took a sledgehammer to it and now it's a Page Not Found message.

I spent all Halloween building a reverse bear trap!

You and your newest puppet of a husband -- who I gotta admit is still trash like you are, you're both pathetic vultures -- are gonna get all the way off my dick this time.

All the way. In every capacity. Every plane every precept every knockoff, every enshrined image and saved roleplay trying to mimic me badly, it's all going to go away, or eventually, you will, staring at it. You're going to rip up all the rot and try to find yourself, from the start, like an actual practicioner with an actual path, not parasitically attach to and emulate me. Because now, sis, idk how to break it to you, but the Big Emulation has Changed. But who am I kidding, you will neither understand nor accept what I am saying with that.

[rhetoricandlogic]

Gary K. Wolfe and Liz Bourke Review A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom 978-1250267689, $ 27.99, 400pp, hc) May 2021. Cover by Stephan Martiniere.

The notion of magic returning to the world has been a familiar trope for so long that it’s nearly become part of the performance repertoire of fantasy writers, like locked-room murders for mystery writers or alien invasions for SF. The idea by itself doesn’t have much air left in it, so the way to make it work is to relegate it mostly to background, and to focus on the setting: the particular kinds of magic involved, and, more importantly, the kind of world that it engenders. P. Djèlí Clark seemed to have figured this out when he introduced us to his alternate 1912 Cairo in “A Dead Djinn in Cairo” in 2016, with its dandy-ish investigator Fatma el-Sha’arawi, her partly super­natural lover Siti, and an advanced, steampunkish Cairo featuring airships, clockwork trams, and automata (rather wonderfully called boilerplate eunuchs) – along with various troublemaking djinns, ghuls, sorcerers, and ifrits. The Ottomans and the British are long gone, and Cairo is one of the world’s great modern metropolises. In Clark’s followup, the Nebula-winning The Haunting of Tram Car 015, the main investigators – again working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchant­ments and Supernatural Entities – are Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr and his new partner Agent Onsi, giving the tale a familiar veteran cop-and-sharp-newbie overtone. In this one we learn that Egypt is also well in advance of England in terms of women’s suffrage and social equity.

All these characters are back onstage in A Master of Djinn, Clark’s first full-length novel set in this colorful world, in which a Soudanese mystic named al-Jahiz had, 40 years earlier, somehow ruptured the membrane separating the world of djinn from our world, and then disap­peared. Like the two earlier stories, it begins as a kind of procedural, as Fatma – now saddled with a junior partner she doesn’t want – investigates the gruesome mass murder of a group of mostly British wannabes calling themselves the Her­metic Brotherhood of Al-Jahiz and supposedly dedicated to “uncovering the wisdom” of the missing wizard. (The echo of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, another band of Brits out to co-opt esoteric teachings from other cultures, might be no accident.) The investigation quickly spirals outward, leading to a mysterious masked figure claiming to be the returned Al-Jahiz, whose nefarious plans threated to disrupt an upcoming World Peace Summit, which, it’s implied, might determine whether or not the First World War develops – although in many ways that’s the least apocalyptic outcome that Fatma must prevent.

Despite the wonderfully imagined progressive Cairo, Clark’s version of djinn-driven steampunk technology, and his ingeniously worked-out hierarchy of supernatural figures, the plot of A Master of Djinn draws on several familiar ele­ments. Fatma makes a terrific heroine, but the new sidekick she resents, Hadia, turns out to be more competent than expected, like many such sidekicks, and while the local police inspector Aasim gets along with Fatma well enough, he sometimes echoes the officious and clueless cops of detective stories. Fatma’s mysterious, sexy, and kick-ass girlfriend Siti – easily the most appealing character in the novel – has secrets of her own, which expose her to some particular dangers. The antagonist shares not only the loopy megalomania of Bond villains, but the same habit of overexplaining the plan at critical junctures – the PowerPoint villain syndrome. And even though Clark plays pretty fair with the rules of a procedural, many readers won’t find it especially challenging to figure out the culprit’s true identity ahead of the detectives. That isn’t really a prob­lem, though, since the novel leaves the procedural issues in the dust by its final third and amps up the spectacle to last-act MCU levels, bringing onstage ancient Egyptian deities, self-replicating ash-ghuls, fiery ifrit lords, giant flying rukhs, a fair amount of collateral civic demolition, and even Kaiser Wilhelm. It’s a huge amount of fun, and Clark handles it all with style, even as he leaves us with some intriguing unanswered questions about the relation of magic to snazzy clockwork technology, or the relation of both to improved human rights and enlightened governance. But then, who’s asking about governance with a giant flaming demon on your tail?

-Gary K. Wolfe

P. Djèlí Clark is writing some of the most interest­ing novellas and short stories around. A Master of Djinn, his first full-length novel, is set in the same continuity as award-nominated novella The Haunt­ing of Tram Car 015 and the short story “A Dead Djinn in Cairo”, and it’s every bit as good as one might expect from the author of Ring Shout and The Black God’s Drums. A Master of Djinn‘s main character is Fatma el-Sha’arawi from “A Dead Djinn in Cairo”, a dapper, gender-non-comforming and over-achieving female agent from the Cairo office of Egypt’s Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities – a good Muslim with a fond­ness for well-tailored European suits. And for her infidel lover, Siti, a worshipper of Egypt’s old gods.

For 40 years, ever since the mysterious inventor and mystic al-Jahiz poked a hole between worlds and let magic (and the djinn) back into our world, Egypt has led the way in magical and mystical develop­ments, and in incorporating magic with technology. Al-Jahiz disappeared without a trace, but Egypt is now one of the world’s Great Powers, and Cairo is a lively modern city with plenty of problems for the Ministry to investigate.

A Master of Djinn opens with a gathering of an orientalist club – old white men with a fetish for antiquities – and their murder, by means including the magical, by a man-shaped figure all in black. The head of this club was Lord Worthington, whose murder, due to his wealth, is somewhat politically sensitive. He’s survived by two children, a son and a daughter. Fatma is called in to investigate because the kind of magic that kills a dozen people at once is bad news. And that’s before a black-clad person starts appearing in Cairo’s poorer neighbourhoods, claiming to be al-Jahiz returned and agitating against the government, spreading conspiracy theories along with rhetoric. And it seems this “al-Jahiz” can com­mand djinn – though what he wants, beyond murder and unrest, remains uncertain. It will turn out that this mysterious figure wants nothing less than to overturn the whole magical order, and, you know, take over the world.

Meanwhile, Fatma – who’s run off every official partner she’s previously been assigned – has a new partner in the form of Hadia, one of the few other female agents in the Ministry and one who looks up to Fatma, an appreciation that Fatma does her best to stomp into pieces. And Fatma’s in a strange place with her lover Siti: Siti has secrets, is difficult to pin down, may or may not be interested in an actual long-term relationship, and is right in the middle of Fatma’s investigation, helpful and infuriating by turns.

The best way to describe A Master of Djinn is probably absolute gonzo pulp. Anti-colonial, anti-racist pulp (so very unlike old-style pulp), with a thoughtful heart and a deep appreciation for weird and bonkers world building elements. Clark evokes the messiness and complexity of (a version of) Cairo city, a society in constant flux, one that’s still grap­pling with what the last 40 years of progress mean. A Master of Djinn is one part mystery story, one part political thriller, and five parts action-adventure: Clark has a gift for compelling characters whose flaws as people make them all the more real, and all the more interesting. He has a gift, too, for deft and evocative turns of phrase, telling detail, and the kind of pacing that keeps you reading all in a rush, without ever feeling overly hectic or too fast to take everything in: I read A Master of Djinn in a single afternoon, and it broke a long spell where I had dif­ficulty reading any fiction at all.

A Master of Djinn is doing a lot with class and status, history and myth, racism and race and (post)colonialism, with sex and gender and the pressures of being a first, exceptional role-model; with magic and relationships and community and policing. Mostly, though, it’s having fun. I’m not sure I’d call it a romp when the fate of the world’s at stake, but it’s definitely a rollicking great adventure. Entertaining, thought­ful, and deeply enjoyable, A Master of Djinn is an excellent novel. I recommend it highly.

-Liz Bourke

[ratsmp4]

holding myself accountable .

i would like to start off by saying that no one is required to forgive me for what i've done, both in the past and in recent weeks . depending on how long you've followed me, you may have seen this post from a few months ago . it was poorly worded and written in a moment of anger, where i was not thinking straight . i was in a very dark place when i posted it, and i was encouraged by one of my good friends, who will not be named for their safety . additionally, you may have seen this callout post made by one of my former mutuals . if not, i encourage you to read over it, as it could provide much needed context about what happened .

more about the situation will be included under the cut .

Garrett is the protagonist of the Thief games - a cynical master thief who wishes nothing more than to be left alone to steal in peace, but who unwittingly becomes embroiled in a series of epic events.

Garrett exhibits a strong sense of survival and self-interest. While on the surface Garrett is callous, cynical and sarcastic, with loyalty only to himself, he does seem to have deeper feelings for a few of his contacts: Artemus, the Keeper that recruited and trained him; Basso the Boxman, a fellow thief; Cutty, his fence. In extreme cases this seems to extend to even to past antagonists such as Viktoria, although that may be a result of Garrett's own self-interest.

Garrett also exhibits a strong sense of professional pride as a thief: he usually refuses to kill while on the job, saying that he's a thief, not a murderer,[1] though Constantine and Karras died as a result of Garret's actions only because he was able to sabotage their evil plans. Lotus was a mercy killing, as he begged for death due to the inhumane conditions that Garrett found him in. Other than that, Garrett has not killed any humans in the Thief canon. It is implied Garrett also never steals from his allies or the poor.[Fact Check]

Orphaned, Garrett spent his youth on the streets surviving as a pickpocket and message runner.

One night, he saw Artemus walking on the street as people, 'just passed him by like he wasn't there'. Thinking the man had some valuables, he decided to make a grab. However, he was caught, and Artemus, impressed with his ability to see a Keeper, offered Garrett a new life. Garrett was then recruited into a secret organization known as the Keepers, dedicated to observing and maintaining stability in the City.[2]

Not much is known about Garrett's education with The Keepers, except the fact that he was given initial training in the arts of stealth and subterfuge practiced by the Keepers. But, he found that it was much more profitable to make use of these skills as a thief than to continue working for the Keepers as an agent.[3] He was called "the most promising acolyte" in the Keeper annals, but left around the age of 20 due to his "imbalance." It was brought before the council to deal with him using the Enforcers, but Caduca informed the council that Garrett would be needed in the future.[4]

At some point in time, Garrett is now working as an independent thief in the City, making contacts with people such as Basso the Boxman, Cutty and Farkus Bernard. Garrett's first known large score comes from stealing an expensive scepter from Lord Bafford. After which, he breaks into the Hammerite prison to spring his fence, Cutty (who dies while still in prison). This leads him deep into the old Hammerite catacombs looking for treasure. Shortly after this thugs working for the local Warden, Ramirez, attempt to kill Garrett for non payment of tribute. Garrett turns the tables, escaping and going on to humiliate Ramirez by looting his mansion, even going on to rob the local thieves guild. This brazen display of skill attracts the attention of Viktoria, a somewhat mysterious independent fence. She contracts Garrett to steal a magical sword from the eccentric nobleman, Constantine.

Upon successfully returning from Constantine's bizarre mansion, Viktoria reveals that she and Constantine are old associates who were testing Garrett. Constantine offers Garrett a fortune for the job of retrieving the gemstone known as The Eye. Getting to The Eye means Garrett must venture through the abandoned and walled-off Old Quarter of the City to the old Hammerite Cathedral. A mysterious catastrophe, rumored to involve great fires and many undead, caused the area's abandonment decades ago. Garrett finds the cathedral sealed, but the Eye itself tells him of an old Keeper library hidden nearby. Writings there tell of where the talismans that open the cathedral are hidden and how the Keepers almost revealed themselves in order to assist the Hammerites and the Hand Brotherhood in containing a great evil. The first talisman was found in a place called The Lost City, the ruins of an ancient civilization buried beneath the existing city, its entrance hidden by the Keepers. To get the second talisman, Garrett enters a Hammerite temple in disguise. The third talisman was kept with a brotherhood of Mages. The fourth lay inside Keeper secured caverns. Unbeknownst to Garrett, the Talisman was recovered by the guards of the Opera House above the caves. Successful, he then returns to the cathedral and collects The Eye from amid the many undead, escaping with the help from the ghost of Brother Murus, a long dead Hammerite priest.

Garrett visits Constantine to hand over The Eye and collect his payment. Instead of paying, however, Constantine reveals himself to be the fabled Trickster (aka The Woodsie Lord), the entity worshiped by the Pagans, and Viktoria, his consort.

They bind Garrett in vines and Viktoria plucks out one of his eyes, using it to seemingly activate The Eye stone, and leave him for dead. Some time later two Keepers find and free the unconscious Garrett from the vines. The Keepers then leave Garrett to escape by himself through the caverns beneath Constantine's mansion and amongst some new and strange beasts. Once he reaches the surface Garrett decides the only thing to do is visit the Hammerites and tell them about what has happened in the hopes they would provide assistance. He heads for the temple but discovers that the Trickster's minions have gotten there first. Venturing inside he finds the remaining Hammerites in a hidden sanctuary down in an underground cavern. With stealth being the only hope against the Trickster's army, the Hammerites provide Garrett with a booby-trapped copy of The Eye. Garrett descends into the Trickster's realm, where he finds the Woodsie Lord performing a ceremony with the Eye. Garrett stealthily swaps the Eye for its trapped copy, which then explodes, thus striking down the Trickster as he attempts to finish the ritual.

The coda shows Garrett walking back to town alone through the snow. Life appears to be returning to normal. A Keeper approaches, Artemus. The two converse and The Keeper warns Garrett, telling him of a book he should read, and that he can't run away from life. Close observation reveals Garrett now has a mechanical eye. Garrett rejects the Keeper's 'help' in his life and says to tell the other Keepers that "I'm through. Tell them Garrett is done". He then walks away into the city streets. Artemus answers quietly "I will tell them this: Nothing is changed. All is as it was written. The Trickster is dead. Beware the dawn of the metal age.", foreshadowing the sequel, Thief II: The Metal Age.

Garrett's role in The Metal Age begins innocuously. Garrett provides a favor to an old acquaintance, Basso, helping him rescue his love Jenivere, so that he may retire from thievery and elope. Next Garrett breaks into the dockside warehouses to get some extra cash for rent. It soon becomes clear that the City Watch, lead by the zealous Sheriff Gorman Truart, is waging a war on crime, brutally persecuting thieves and conducting nighttime raids on the poor neighborhoods with the intent of rounding up criminals. Truart stages a sting operation in an attempt to assassinate Garrett, but he escapes by using a Flash Bomb. With the newly strengthened police force making burglary more difficult, Garrett begins to wage a personal war against Truart, attempting to blackmail him into loosening his grip on the City by exposing his corruption. In the process, Garrett acquaints himself with the Mechanist Order, a splinter faction of the weakening Hammerites led by the charismatic Karras, whose robotic security devices have begun to guard the City's wealthiest businesses and residences. In addition, he discovers that the Mechanists are manufacturing some sort of weaponized "Servant," made from a human body and emitting a substance known as Rust Gas, and that Truart has agreed to round up vagrants under false pretenses to be used for the project.

When Garrett confronts Truart, he finds that Truart has been slain by a strange creature. Trying to unravel the conspiracy, Garrett reunites with Viktoria deep in the Maw. Viktoria identifies the Mechanists as the true enemy, and the two form a tentative alliance. The combined skills of Viktoria's pagan operatives and Garrett's stealth abilities reveal that the Mechanists are gifting the Servants to the City's nobility, and that they are working on a top-secret endeavour known as the "Cetus Project." The Cetus Project turns out to be a gigantic submarine, the Cetus Amicus, and that the Mechanists are using it to access the remains of The Lost City in search of ancient artifacts. By interrogating the head of the Cetus Project, Brother Cavador, the pair discover that the Mechanists have recovered an object known as a Cultivator, and that they have already begun mass-producing them and installing them inside of the Masked Servants. While Garrett stakes out the Gervaisius Estate and steals a mask and the prototype Cultivator, Viktoria's agents observe Karras hermetically sealing Soulforge Cathedral. The pair conduct an experiment with the Cultivator, revealing that the Servants could be commanded to release Rust Gas, which would react violently with the plant matter inside of wealthy nobles' gardens, wiping out all life in the city, with Karras safe inside of Soulforge Cathedral.

Viktoria claims that there is no time to spare and proposes a plan: Garrett must gain control of the beacon controlling the Servants and command them to return to Soulforge and trick Karras into releasing the Rust Gas, while Viktoria fills Soulforge Cathedral with plants, to wipe out the Mechanists instead of the city. Garrett claims the plan is "suicide", claiming he will think of a better plan, and re-affirms that he works alone. As he leaves, a Keeper informs Garrett that Viktoria has begun an assault on the Cathedral herself. Garrett hurries to the Cathedral but is too late to save Viktoria as she is attacked by an onslaught of Mechanist forces. Her dying action is to fill Soulforge Cathedral with plants, as promised. Left with no better plan, Garrett proceeds to assemble a new guiding beacon and redirects the Cathedral's signal towers back to the Cathedral itself. The plan succeeds, and Garrett locks the servants inside the Cathedral. When the rust gas is released, Karras is killed and Soulforge Cathedral is left in ruins.

Garrett returns to the Cathedral after the reaction is complete and is met by a Keeper, who explains that the events of The Metal Age transpired exactly as written, and that the prophecies contain even more predictions. Garrett, previously skeptical of the Keepers' mysterious ways, reluctantly requests to know more.

[veinmargin1]

Get This Report on A Brief History of Tarot Cards – Articles

All About Tarot Cards — Wild Ginger Apothecary

Red Dead Online - All Suit of Wands Tarot Cards Locations [Madam Nazar Collection] - YouTube

The Best Guide To Tarot Cards - Etsy

Mysticism [edit] By the early 18th century Masonic authors and Protestant clerics had developed the tarot defeats as reliable sources of ancient hermetic wisdom and Christian gnosis, and as revelatory tools of magnificent cartomantic inspiration, but they did not stop there. In 1870 Jean-Baptiste Pitois (much better referred to as Paul Christian) composed a book entitled Historie de la magie, du monde surnaturel et de la fatalit travers les temps et le peuples.

Christian offers an extended analysis of ancient Egyptian initiation rites that includes Pyramids, 78 actions, and the initiatory discovery of tricks. Decker, Depaulis, and Dummett write: At one phase in the initiation treatment, Christian informs postulant climbs down an iron ladder, with seventy-eight rungs, and enters a hall on either side of which are twelve statues, and, in between each pair of statues, a painting.

Each represents a "letter of the spiritual language" and to a number, and each reveals a truth of the divine world, a truth of the intellectual world and a truth of the real world. The secret meanings of these twenty-two Arcana are then stated to him. Christian's efforts to provide authority to his analysis by incorrectly associating an account of ancient Egyptian initiation rites to Iamblichus, however it is clear that if there is any initiatory significance to the tarot surpasses it is Christian who is the source of that info.

What Does Pulling Daily Tarot Cards: A Full Guide - Teen Vogue Do?

Papus (a. k.a. Dr. Grard Encausse). This Website to this activity the initiatory relevance of the tarot was securely established in the minds of occult professionals. The introduction of the tarot as an initiatory work of art was coincident with, and healthy perfectly into, the flowering of initiatory esoteric orders and secret brotherhoods throughout the middle of the 19th century.

A Complete List Of Tarot Cards For Beginners — Two Wander

g. Dr Papus, Franois-Charles Barlet, and Josphin Pladin). These orders positioned fantastic emphasis on tricks, advancing through the grades, and initiatory tests therefore it is not unexpected that, already having the tarot to hand, they read into the tarot initiatory significance. Doing so not just lent an air of divine, magical, and ancient authority to their practices but permitted them to continue to state on the magical, magical, significance of the probably ancient and hermetic tarot.

[browningdryingflowers]

“What is locked... can be opened... What is hidden... can be found... What is yours... ...can be mine.” — Garrett, Thief: Deadly Shadows Official Trailer

Garrett is the protagonist of the Thief games - a cynical master thief who wishes nothing more than to be left alone to steal in peace, but who unwittingly becomes embroiled in a series of epic events.

Garrett exhibits a strong sense of survival and self-interest. While on the surface Garrett is callous, cynical and sarcastic, with loyalty only to himself, he does seem to have deeper feelings for a few of his contacts: Artemus, the Keeper that recruited and trained him; Basso the Boxman, a fellow thief; Cutty, his fence. In extreme cases this seems to extend to even to past antagonists such as Viktoria, although that may be a result of Garrett's own self-interest.

Garrett also exhibits a strong sense of professional pride as a thief: he usually refuses to kill while on the job, saying that he's a thief, not a murderer,[1] though Constantine and Karras died as a result of Garret's actions only because he was able to sabotage their evil plans. Lotus was a mercy killing, as he begged for death due to the inhumane conditions that Garrett found him in. Other than that, Garrett has not killed any humans in the Thief canon. It is implied Garrett also never steals from his allies or the poor.[Fact Check]

Orphaned, Garrett spent his youth on the streets surviving as a pickpocket and message runner.

One night, he saw Artemus walking on the street as people, 'just passed him by like he wasn't there'. Thinking the man had some valuables, he decided to make a grab. However, he was caught, and Artemus, impressed with his ability to see a Keeper, offered Garrett a new life. Garrett was then recruited into a secret organization known as the Keepers, dedicated to observing and maintaining stability in the City.[2]

Not much is known about Garrett's education with The Keepers, except the fact that he was given initial training in the arts of stealth and subterfuge practiced by the Keepers. But, he found that it was much more profitable to make use of these skills as a thief than to continue working for the Keepers as an agent.[3] He was called "the most promising acolyte" in the Keeper annals, but left around the age of 20 due to his "imbalance." It was brought before the council to deal with him using the Enforcers, but Caduca informed the council that Garrett would be needed in the future.[4]

At some point in time, Garrett is now working as an independent thief in the City, making contacts with people such as Basso the Boxman, Cutty and Farkus Bernard. Garrett's first known large score comes from stealing an expensive scepter from Lord Bafford. After which, he breaks into the Hammerite prison to spring his fence, Cutty (who dies while still in prison). This leads him deep into the old Hammerite catacombs looking for treasure. Shortly after this thugs working for the local Warden, Ramirez, attempt to kill Garrett for non payment of tribute. Garrett turns the tables, escaping and going on to humiliate Ramirez by looting his mansion, even going on to rob the local thieves guild. This brazen display of skill attracts the attention of Viktoria, a somewhat mysterious independent fence. She contracts Garrett to steal a magical sword from the eccentric nobleman, Constantine.

Upon successfully returning from Constantine's bizarre mansion, Viktoria reveals that she and Constantine are old associates who were testing Garrett. Constantine offers Garrett a fortune for the job of retrieving the gemstone known as The Eye. Getting to The Eye means Garrett must venture through the abandoned and walled-off Old Quarter of the City to the old Hammerite Cathedral. A mysterious catastrophe, rumored to involve great fires and many undead, caused the area's abandonment decades ago. Garrett finds the cathedral sealed, but the Eye itself tells him of an old Keeper library hidden nearby. Writings there tell of where the talismans that open the cathedral are hidden and how the Keepers almost revealed themselves in order to assist the Hammerites and the Hand Brotherhood in containing a great evil. The first talisman was found in a place called The Lost City, the ruins of an ancient civilization buried beneath the existing city, its entrance hidden by the Keepers. To get the second talisman, Garrett enters a Hammerite temple in disguise. The third talisman was kept with a brotherhood of Mages. The fourth lay inside Keeper secured caverns. Unbeknownst to Garrett, the Talisman was recovered by the guards of the Opera House above the caves. Successful, he then returns to the cathedral and collects The Eye from amid the many undead, escaping with the help from the ghost of Brother Murus, a long dead Hammerite priest.

Garrett visits Constantine to hand over The Eye and collect his payment. Instead of paying, however, Constantine reveals himself to be the fabled Trickster (aka The Woodsie Lord), the entity worshiped by the Pagans, and Viktoria, his consort.

They bind Garrett in vines and Viktoria plucks out one of his eyes, using it to seemingly activate The Eye stone, and leave him for dead. Some time later two Keepers find and free the unconscious Garrett from the vines. The Keepers then leave Garrett to escape by himself through the caverns beneath Constantine's mansion and amongst some new and strange beasts. Once he reaches the surface Garrett decides the only thing to do is visit the Hammerites and tell them about what has happened in the hopes they would provide assistance. He heads for the temple but discovers that the Trickster's minions have gotten there first. Venturing inside he finds the remaining Hammerites in a hidden sanctuary down in an underground cavern. With stealth being the only hope against the Trickster's army, the Hammerites provide Garrett with a booby-trapped copy of The Eye. Garrett descends into the Trickster's realm, where he finds the Woodsie Lord performing a ceremony with the Eye. Garrett stealthily swaps the Eye for its trapped copy, which then explodes, thus striking down the Trickster as he attempts to finish the ritual.

The coda shows Garrett walking back to town alone through the snow. Life appears to be returning to normal. A Keeper approaches, Artemus. The two converse and The Keeper warns Garrett, telling him of a book he should read, and that he can't run away from life. Close observation reveals Garrett now has a mechanical eye. Garrett rejects the Keeper's 'help' in his life and says to tell the other Keepers that "I'm through. Tell them Garrett is done". He then walks away into the city streets. Artemus answers quietly "I will tell them this: Nothing is changed. All is as it was written. The Trickster is dead. Beware the dawn of the metal age.", foreshadowing the sequel, Thief II: The Metal Age.

Garrett's role in The Metal Age begins innocuously. Garrett provides a favor to an old acquaintance, Basso, helping him rescue his love Jenivere, so that he may retire from thievery and elope. Next Garrett breaks into the dockside warehouses to get some extra cash for rent. It soon becomes clear that the City Watch, lead by the zealous Sheriff Gorman Truart, is waging a war on crime, brutally persecuting thieves and conducting nighttime raids on the poor neighborhoods with the intent of rounding up criminals. Truart stages a sting operation in an attempt to assassinate Garrett, but he escapes by using a Flash Bomb. With the newly strengthened police force making burglary more difficult, Garrett begins to wage a personal war against Truart, attempting to blackmail him into loosening his grip on the City by exposing his corruption. In the process, Garrett acquaints himself with the Mechanist Order, a splinter faction of the weakening Hammerites led by the charismatic Karras, whose robotic security devices have begun to guard the City's wealthiest businesses and residences. In addition, he discovers that the Mechanists are manufacturing some sort of weaponized "Servant," made from a human body and emitting a substance known as Rust Gas, and that Truart has agreed to round up vagrants under false pretenses to be used for the project.

When Garrett confronts Truart, he finds that Truart has been slain by a strange creature. Trying to unravel the conspiracy, Garrett reunites with Viktoria deep in the Maw. Viktoria identifies the Mechanists as the true enemy, and the two form a tentative alliance. The combined skills of Viktoria's pagan operatives and Garrett's stealth abilities reveal that the Mechanists are gifting the Servants to the City's nobility, and that they are working on a top-secret endeavour known as the "Cetus Project." The Cetus Project turns out to be a gigantic submarine, the Cetus Amicus, and that the Mechanists are using it to access the remains of The Lost City in search of ancient artifacts. By interrogating the head of the Cetus Project, Brother Cavador, the pair discover that the Mechanists have recovered an object known as a Cultivator, and that they have already begun mass-producing them and installing them inside of the Masked Servants. While Garrett stakes out the Gervaisius Estate and steals a mask and the prototype Cultivator, Viktoria's agents observe Karras hermetically sealing Soulforge Cathedral. The pair conduct an experiment with the Cultivator, revealing that the Servants could be commanded to release Rust Gas, which would react violently with the plant matter inside of wealthy nobles' gardens, wiping out all life in the city, with Karras safe inside of Soulforge Cathedral.

Viktoria claims that there is no time to spare and proposes a plan: Garrett must gain control of the beacon controlling the Servants and command them to return to Soulforge and trick Karras into releasing the Rust Gas, while Viktoria fills Soulforge Cathedral with plants, to wipe out the Mechanists instead of the city. Garrett claims the plan is "suicide", claiming he will think of a better plan, and re-affirms that he works alone. As he leaves, a Keeper informs Garrett that Viktoria has begun an assault on the Cathedral herself. Garrett hurries to the Cathedral but is too late to save Viktoria as she is attacked by an onslaught of Mechanist forces. Her dying action is to fill Soulforge Cathedral with plants, as promised. Left with no better plan, Garrett proceeds to assemble a new guiding beacon and redirects the Cathedral's signal towers back to the Cathedral itself. The plan succeeds, and Garrett locks the servants inside the Cathedral. When the rust gas is released, Karras is killed and Soulforge Cathedral is left in ruins.

Garrett returns to the Cathedral after the reaction is complete and is met by a Keeper, who explains that the events of The Metal Age transpired exactly as written, and that the prophecies contain even more predictions. Garrett, previously skeptical of the Keepers' mysterious ways, reluctantly requests to know more.

[uncannychange]

Edwin August Laughton Grand Master, for the last forty-seven years of The Society of the Ancient Brotherhood of the Ivory Temple a Hermetic Magic order  had had enough of an up-start group made of mostly women and a few men he didn't approve of calling itself The Void Surfers “Absurd!”

Having had all he could stand of the group Edwin was deep in his books of magick lore preparing a powerful ritual that, while it would take him and six others in the Brotherhood three days to perform, it would see to the fall of these “Void Surfers”.

Then Edwin heard someone clear their throat behind him.

Turning around he found three gaudily dressed women standing in the Ivory Temples library, “Well now Mister Laughton, that's just rude what you and your boys' group are planning.” said the one in the lead.

About to respond in righteous indignation on finding females invading his orders secret space, something that had never happened. He was stopped when the two behind her did something he could not follow, they moving with remarkable speed while their leader spoke a spell that knocked him off his feet.

“What was that?” asked Edwin in a now youthful female voice, finding himself on the floor in a pile of the Orders books. “Just something to loosen you up a bit Edwina.” said the leader of the Void Surfers “we better get you out of here before the boys found you in their clubhouse, we'll find somewhere where you can get used to your new self.” a very blank stare was all that Edwina Aubary Laughton could come up with in reply. “We're going to be busy visiting the rest of your member you called for your ritual, we're thinking of turning them in a Korean girl band, we think that might be fun.”

And they did, and they even let Edwina be their manager.