Next time, AVDIERVNT brings us an except from The Psychic Vampire Codex. We’ll be discussing subsections 68 – 78 of Part II, Section III – Basic Energy Work, which comprises pages 667 – 767. A really huge text to page ratio in this text’s digitization makes the page count very high, but the amount of material we’re actually reading quite reasonable. Dysnomia flapped her tailfin for the first time this week, so be sure to congratulate her. See ya Wednesday!

This week, at the suggestion of Our Flower Child Lydia, we’ll be reading from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. We’ll discuss the chapters “Skywoman Falling”, “An Offering”, and “Asters and Goldenrod”. That’s pages 3-10 and 33-47. See you Wednesday!

At the suggestion of Helios and Hermafetes con Harrow, this coming Wednesday we will discuss chapters 1-6 of Illuminatiam – The First Testament of the Illuminati. That’s “The Age of Illuminatiam” through to the end of “The Secrets of Power.”  Looking forward to peering into this new can o’ worms.

This week, we’ll discuss the origins of the Headless Rite and the forms it has taken across traditions and practices. First, take a look at Jake Stratton-Kent’s pamphlet on the ritual, The Headless One. Then look at the translations from the Greek and Demotic magical papyri: from the PGM, “The Stele of Jeu the Hieroglyphist” (pp. 103, PGM V. 96-172) and from the PDM (pp. 232, PDM xiv. 675-694).

The Golden Dawn adapted their own version of the rite, translated as “The Bornless Ritual”, found in The Golden Dawn, pp. 442.

Next we progress to Crowley, who first adapted the ritual as the “Preliminary Invocation of the Goetia”, and later expanded it as Liber Samekh. And finally, a new version many of us have celebrated to great effect, Frater Antichristos’ Satanized and fleshed out Liber Thagirion.

OPTIONAL READING IF YOU ARE A GLUTTON:

Wikipedia article on the PGM.

Israel Regardie’s comparative analysis of the versions of the ritual.

From Hans Dieter’s translations, the introductions to the Greek and Demotic papyri found at the beginning of the volume (pp. xlii and lv).

Many thanks to Princess Dysnomia Strophalos for rounding up these sundry texts and yoking them together!

At Frater Gnostrigrangel’s suggestion, this week we’ll be reading Oscar Wilde’s “The Decay of Lying”  – a foundational text indispensable for any student of Western Ceremonial Magic.

This week, more discussion with Sir Lewis Interruptus as we look at the second half (#30-49) of Liber Astarté, the evocation of the intelligence of Jupiter (part six) from “Yoga for Yellowbellies”, and Liber III vel Jugorum. If you weren’t able to make it last time, consider joining us nonetheless, as we broke our prior discussion off at a good place for new voices to jump in. Hope to see you there!

This Wednesday, Sir Lewis Interruptus of the Knights of the Bad Attitude brings us a pair of texts by Aleister Crowley. We’ll discuss Liber Astarté and an excerpt from “Yoga for Yellowbellies” (part six only, concerning the evocation of Jupiter). Look forward to sharing these texts with all of you!

This week, our acephalic princess Dysnomia Strophalos offers up a set of loosely-connected readings on gnosticism and Georges Bataille. First, a short introduction to the phenomenon called ‘gnosticism’ excerpted from Jane Goodall’s introduction to Artaud and the Gnostic Drama. The excerpt begins with the second paragraph of page 7 (“Orthodox doctrines of ontology…”) and concludes halfway down page 16 (“… arising from the field of shadows and reflections which is the natural world.”) Following that, two pieces from the Bataille collection Visions of Excess: “Base Materialism and Gnosticism” (pp. 45-52) and “The Pineal Eye” (pp. 79-90). Remember, all page numbers refer to those within the original text, not the digital document. See you Wednesday!

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.

When in doubt, consult the numbers printed within the text of the reading, on the book’s original pages.  A PDF file creates its own page numbers, but these should be ignored.