Because there is no easy entry into Kabbalism, we will take an oblique spiral. A preliminary step: In this strange oration, delivered in 1965, the famous Gershom Scholem accuses some early computer scientists of creating a golem.
October 25th: Agrippa
Courtesy of Sorcerix Helios, we read a few carefully chosen selections from the monster tome, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy. The pages to be discussed: 44-57; 318-329; 426-433. These are the page numbers printed in the book, not the PDF program’s numbering.
Further optional reading – appendices by the editor Donald Tyson:
Appendix II: The Soul of the World, 713-718
Appendix III: The Elements, 719-727
Appendix V: Magic Squares, 733-751
A word from Helios:
Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy represents the most complete accounting of European magical thought of his time. A titanic portion of the ancient wisdom which informed western occultism passed its influence to later occult movements through this text. Despite his refusal to cite his sources, errors in some of his tables, and the vagueness of his ramblings, this edition was painstakingly edited and annotated by occult scholar Donald Tyson. In fact, of the above 31 pages, only 8.5 are Agrippa’s, the rest being diagrams, figures, and cited annotations inserted by Tyson. Because the real substance of the text is thin but tough, I challenge readers to attempt the appendices by Tyson which supplement, contextualize, and more clearly explain the chapters I gave above.
I cannot overstate how foundational and helpful this text has been to my occult research and magical practice. Reading and practicing the procedures in this book was the first time I truly felt wizardly. I have never ceased using it as reference.
October 18th: Slavic Witchcraft
At the behest of Soror Hvezda, we will peer into Natasha Helvin’s Slavic Witchcraft. Please read the second chapter, “Slavic Magic, Power, and Sorcery” – pages 21-40. Then browse about in the spell sections and pick out a few that interest you.
Grace and Blessings!
Lord Grang
Reading for 10/11: Three by Borges
On Wednesday, we’ll read three short stories from Jorge Luis Borges: “Three Versions of Judas” (pp. 163-167), “The Lottery in Babylon” (pp. 101-106), and “The Library of Babel” (pp. 112-118). Marvelous!
Reading for October 3rd: egg cetera
On Wednesday, we’ll reflect on our eggsperience by reading Fr. Acher’s discussion of PGM VII. 505 in Holy Daimon (p. 162-174) and part of Elena Pachoumi’s essay “The Religous-Philosophical Concept of Personal Daimon and the Magico-Theurgic Ritual of Systasis” (just pp. 47-52, where that particular spell is discussed). Eggseunt!
Reading for 9/27: The Myth of Er & The Enneads
This week we’ll consider some classical discussions of the daimon and the soul: First, The Myth of Er that concludes Plato’s Republic. We’ll go from pp. 279 about halfway down, where Socrates says “Yes, for the struggle to be good rather than bad is important, Glaucon…”, through to the end on pp. 292. Then we’ll look at Plotinus’ “On Our Allotted Guardian Spirit” from the 3rd book of Enneads (pp. 143-161). Note that the Plotinus features Greek on the verso and English on the recto, so the page count there is actually half of what it appears. Should be fun!
Reading for September 19th: Hermetic Magic
In preparation for our simultaneous workings of a paredros ritual from the Magical Papyri (starting on the 24th), we will take a look at some interesting sections from Stephen Flowers’ contextualizing contribution to the Hermetic traditions of the Papyri: Hermetic Magic. We’ll read “Origins” (pp. 3-17), “Principles of the Hermetic Synthesis” (pp. 37-43), “Daimonology” (pp. 99-100), and “Magical Theories” (pp. 135-141). See you then.
September 13th: Alchemist’s Handbook
This week, at the suggestion of Sorcerix Helios, we will discuss The Alchemist’s Handbook by Frater Albertus. Their selection: pages 24-42.
September 6th: With Cunning and Command
This week, we discuss two more selections by the masterful Sfinga:
Meeting With Your Own Daimon and St. Expedite’s “Cras” Powder
Bonus reading: anything else that strikes your fancy from the With Cunning and Command blog.
August 30th: Oracle of Kronos
Short notice this week, so I’m suggesting a shorter reading. This is a contemporary account – by a practitioner I don’t know personally, but would like to meet – about summoning Kronos by faithfully implementing instructions from the Greek Magical Papyri. This one is eloquent both as a description of methods and as a magical tale worth reading.
Bonus reading: Feel free to browse elsewhere in the With Cunning and Command blog and pick out a second article; fertile ground on all sides, in my humble opinion.
Grace and Blessings to all You Bastards,
Fra. Gnostrigrangel