About the Study Group

Featured

A Magical Bastard is either fatherless – self-created – or has more fathers than they can decently acknowledge.  In this group we will collaborate to interpret magical texts that have been formative for each member, and to integrate theory with experience.  We will respect one another’s experiences, in a world that still claims (with decreasing plausibility) to reject magic itself.  By these means we will attempt to teach one another the unknowable, and maybe score diamond grills and gold hubcaps along the way.

We welcome anyone who loves magic and the art of conversation, regardless of their tradition or experience level.  There will probably be a lot of Thelemites in the group, but these sorts of hardships must be borne.  Please do read the week’s text, if you are coming!  Our plan is to always provide a free online copy.

We convene weekly on Wednesdays (Mercury’s day) from 7:30-9:30 PM at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave, in Berkeley. Check below for each week’s texts – and may they bring you joy and power!

If you have questions or would like to be added to the mailing list, please write anika.m.g@gmail.com

The bastard in me honors the bastard in you.

April 10th: Frightful Howls

This week, we hear again from contemporary practitioner Sfinga – the one who goaded us into full tilt Egg-Mania last September – and her sapient brethren, Salt and Key. This time it’s an audio adventure: “So You Think You Can Ward.” The three magi discuss ways of judging whether one’s magic is working. They talk a lot about the experience of doing magic, enmeshed as it is in Weird Causation. They show themselves earnest and ambitious, and they describe an interesting spectrum of methods, in your Grangle’s humble opinion.

Jot down a few points of interest and a few questions for the group?

May you be abundantly blessed!