For the second time and not the last, we’ll be discussing Oscar Wilde’s “The Decay of Lying.” Those who still have comments to offer on the Hermes working will be given a few minutes as well.

Looking forward to conversing with all of you!

This week, a number of us will be working Mark Stavish’s The Liturgy of Hermes, at the suggestion of Frater Ex Nihilo. On Wednesday we will discuss our results, and perhaps take a look at the Additional Prayers and the Appendix.

The text calls for observances to be made 42 days in succession, but our aim is to each try it once before Wednesday. Frater Ex Nihilo called it “one of the most effective rituals I have ever performed.”

Ex Nihilo’s comment:

I have performed this practice hundreds of times and have had all kinds of experiences with it. For completing the ritual singularly, I would create, print, or obtain the ritual implements. At the very least, print a picture of Thoth that resonates with you. If you find resonance with this initiatory practice, I would pursue the 42 day ritual, with full implements when you have the opportunity, it is well worth it. Always remember the best results come without lust for result, and indeed that is when I have had my greatest experiences.
This is an initiatory practice to the chain of Thoth Hermes and Western Hermeticism. May you exceed as a son/daughter/xer of Thoth Hermes and forever be in the chain of magical initiation as you spread your light in the world.

Let every nature of the world receive the utterance of my hymn!

Open, thou Earth! Let every bolt of the Abyss be drawn for me!

Stir not, ye Trees!

I am about to hymn creation’s Lord, both All and One.

This week, a suggestion from Soror Ahaviel:

Please read Martin Heidegger‘s “What is Metaphysics?” (pp.89-110) and “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking.” (pp.427-449)

Also read Chapter 0 of Aleister Crowley’s The Book of Lies (pp.6-7).

OPTIONAL: Ahaviel’s own comment on Heidegger.

Soror Ahaviel’s comment:

This week I would like to consider whether Crowley was right in saying that he wrote the “most complete treatise on existence” (The Book of Lies). It is not exactly clear to me that Crowley breaks free of metaphysics, so I want to look at Heidegger to ask what he and his deconstruction of metaphysics might contribute to magic. More specifically, let us read his 1919 and 1964 essays “What Is Metaphysics?” and “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking,” alongside Chapter 0 of “The Book of Lies.” If Crowley was indeed still completely ensnared by metaphysics, and Heidegger managed to point to something more fundamental (what he called the “Lichtung”), then I don’t see how Crowley marked a fundamentally new aeon, if aeons are about fundamental ways of thinking. But maybe I’m totally confused about everything. I’m probably totally confused. At least thinking is more fun when you’re confused.

I also attach some fragments of what I’ve written on the Lichtung, because I think Heidegger is still pretty entrapped by the metaphysical masculinism of Kampf/polemos. It’s an early attempt, more or less before I encountered magic, to wrestle with themes that are still provoking me, even and especially as I develop magically.

For next week, January 29th:

A number of us will be working Mark Stavish’s The Liturgy of Hermes, at the suggestion of Frater Ex Nihilo. We thought it convenient to provide the text in advance.

May you flourish! May you EXCEED.

We spend another week with Ramsey Dukes’ How to See Fairies. Please read chapter 5, “Devas, Auras – the Great Arcanum,” pages 133-149 (pages 124-140 of the PDF), and attempt some version of the exercise.

We continue with Ramsey Dukes’ How to See Fairies! Please read chapters 3 & 4, pages 79-131 (pages 72-123 of the PDF), and attempt some of the exercises.

For New Year’s Day, a suggestion from Hermafetes con Harrow: Ramsey Dukes’ How to See Fairies. We’ll discuss “Week Two: a Sense of Place” – pages 59-78.

Hermafetes’ comment:

I love this text because, unlike many other magical texts, it teaches techniques so fundamental that most introductory books overlook them entirely.
Before reading this book, I hadn’t realized that some of the things I naturally do (call it neurodivergence if you like) are actually a form of these techniques. Recognizing these actions as deliberate skills and practicing them intentionally has value, whether you’re learning them for the first time or refining innate abilities.
A few years ago, we explored how to tune in to sensory input and observe everything simultaneously without judgment. (What Alan Watts might call “floodlight consciousness.”) This week, we’ll shift focus to “vibes.” Specifically the vibes of a place. Most of us have been to a place with strong “good” or “bad” vibes, and while this is valid, what if we could also perceive subtler vibes like “okay” or “awkward” with the same clarity?
I encourage you to pick one of this week’s exercises and let me know how it goes. I’ll do the same. ❤

This week, at the behest of Eoghan FEW, we discuss Arthur Machen’s The White People.

Here’s a recommended audio version, for those who prefer it.

May the Gods bless us, every one!

Ok, it’s our last week with Aleister Crowley’s Moonchild! Go ahead and finish the book if you have time – Chapters XVI through XXIII. If you don’t get all the way through, come anyway! And we’ll talk about the Babalon Working too.

Love, Grang

Despite a lot of trifling disparagement, we persist with Aleister Crowley’s Moonchild. Please read from Chapter XII, Of Brother Onofrio, his Stoutness and Valiance; and of the Misadventures that came thereby to the Black Lodge, through Chapter XV, Of Dr. Vesquit and his Companions, how they Fared in their Work of Necromancy; and of a Council of War of Cyril Gray and Brother Onofrio; with certain opinions of the Former upon the Art of Magic.