fallen angels

02
Jan
2019

Starry Path: Purpose, Path, and Goals

Since I’ve had a few good questions about the Starry Path, I figured it was worth having another “about” post going into more detail around the Path.

 

What is the purpose of the Starry Path, and my purpose in exploring and sharing it?

I’m not sure it’s fair to assume there is a major teleological element to the Starry Path. That would feel too religious to me. Sure, there is a purpose to the Path, like any magickal path it’s about opening ourselves up, to perceive reality in a deeper, more complex way, and to understand that reality, and our ability to influence it. The Path is about studying, and embracing magick and spirit, but not necessarily with some clear end goal, like a favourable afterlife or reincarnation.

My “purpose” in exploring it is just that, to learn more about magick and spirit, the Cosmos and my place within it. Purpose may not apply here either, because as much as this is a path that I’m exploring, there are definitely times when it feels like I don’t have much of a choice. The spirits have made themselves known, and my options are either ignore them, or go with them. Parts of the Path are intentionally explored, other areas I’m tossed into by the spirits.

As for sharing it, that is a bit harder to explain. The Starry Path is my experience, I’m not sharing it as a religious concept for others, or a path for others to follow whole-cloth, but as a record of my experience, an example of what can happen, and yes, as a system of arcana I hope others can explore too.

 

In fact, the purpose in sharing is something I think I didn’t make clear enough in the past. I mentioned the Path is ecstatic and gnostic, but inseparable from that the Starry Path is at its core a tutelary Path. Something that doesn’t get talked about enough in magick is the fact that most traditions seem like they are meant to be tutelary paths, not something to be slavishly followed. It seems though as trads spread and age, things become codified, and people think of that path as only what is presented to them. I love my encounters with these spirits, what they have shown and done for me, and I love hearing from people who have tried things from the Path…but if I ever meet anyone who is following my instructions/explanations on the Starry Path and that’s it, they haven’t moved beyond that, then they are doing the Path wrong.

The spirits I introduce aren’t meant to be merely summoned for a task and sent off, they are the teachers of the Path. Part of the Starry Path is accepting the spirits as teachers and guides. They know far more about it than I ever will. The Starry Path is meant to establish connection, and give a Path to walk, but it’s to be a guide. To paraphrase Chumbley “Confuse not the Path, with what I have written on it.” If you’re trying out stuff that I post, and not learning directly from the spirits as you go, then you need to slow down and engage them. It’s a tutelary path, learn from the spirits, innovate, and explore, do not just follow what you hear from me or others.

 

Are these new spirits? Why do we need new gods and spirits?

They’re not new at all. It is only my exploration of the Path that is new. They have always been here, they appear across time and spirit in many traditions, only my engagement with them is new. Some of the spirits on the Path are directly in other traditions and mythologies, others are more like resonant figures, perhaps the seed of myth that has been codified. They are not new, but I’m looking at a different facet of their complex being.

As for why do we “need” these “new” spirits, that’s an individual thing. Above I mentioned how a lot of paths start off tutelary, but over time become ossified and strict. Reality bleeds into myth, and legend, experiences become “fact” and ideas become gospel. The spirits of the Path appear across the world in different times and cultures, some of the magick they teach appears in other traditions. The Starry Path was borne out of a need and desire to experience things as they are. That is where the Path being ecstatic, gnostic, and tutelary comes in. It’s an attempt to engage this magick unadulterated by mythology and culture.

Of course, there will always be contamination based on the person, and culture experiencing, but it is hoped that those are less because it’s more direct, not over long stretches of time. I won’t deny that my explanations and explorations of the Starry Path are filtered through me. But like a game of telephone, the less people it passes through, the clearer it will be.

A parallel for this is the terma tradition in Vajrayana Buddhism. In Vajrayana Buddhism it’s very important to have a lineage. For many of my major empowerments, I can track it backwards in time, from me, to Rinpoche, to his teacher, to his teacher’s teacher, and so on back to some famous Buddha or saint. Despite this emphasis on lineage though, it’s understood that overtime teachings shift, get corrupted, misunderstood, and change. A terma is a revealed teaching. It’s believed that great masters (generally Padmasambhava, but termas from other figures exist) have left behind their teachings, hidden, to be discovered later. Padmasambhava for instance taught in the 8th century, that is a long time to assume that no teacher or student has misunderstood his teachings, no one has been confused in passing it on, nothing has been lost. Foreseeing this as a problem it’s believed that Guru Padmasambhava hid teachings, termas, so that centuries later someone would find them, and “refresh” the tradition with more accurate knowledge. A few centuries pass, things shift, and someone finds a terma text, and suddenly we know how things have been misunderstood for a few centuries, and we can correct that. We’re going back to the source, rather than trusting in a centuries long game of broken telephone. Terma exist as both physical scrolls that are found, and also Mind/Space terma, which are more of a vision/revelation of the information.

In that way I think on a basic level you could compare the Starry Path to terma. It’s an attempt to look past the myths, past the ideas and opinions, past ossified concepts, and to see what was at the base of it, and bring that back out. So yes, these spirits are probably in various myths, some directly, others are vague inspirations lost in the mists of time, but with the Starry Path I’m asking them to teach me directly outside of the religion/culture that has codified them over centuries.

 

Is X spirit, really Y spirit?

You’ll have to ask them. In some cases there is a one-for-one link between spirits on the Path and spirit in another tradition. Sometimes one spirit was divided in myth into two or more, and sometimes two or more spirits were combined under the same name. Other times it’s a general echo, X spirit might not be Y, but stories of X may have inspired the myths of Y down the line. The webs of history and myth are subtle and abstract. Because the tradition is gnostic/tutelary, I’m not going to say who is whom in my experiences, at least not yet.

 

Do you have to follow these rituals in order, contact spirits in order?

Yes and no. I certainly didn’t follow the order I’m writing in. Hell I’m still sorting out experiences in the last decade that I didn’t realize where connected to the Starry Path, or experiences I thought were connected but aren’t. A few of the practices have an order they need to follow. That’s why I’m introducing the Star Fire variations first in order. You can’t create Red or Blue Salt of Star Fire, without normal Salt of Star Fire, that’s just how it works out. Put unless I specifically mention that one thing has to precede another, feel free to jump around my writings in whatever order you want. Part of what makes this difficult to write about is my experiences have not been clean and orderly over the last decade, so I was never given a “This is where you start, this is what’s next.” So I’m going back through notes and thinking things over trying to reorder my experiences and information in a way that is easier for people to pick up and follow.

 

Are you just going to blather on this, or actually give us some magick to do?

Don’t worry, the base is more or less laid, so soon we’ll actually be doing stuff with the Path.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
13
Oct
2015

Sorcerer's Plant: Care, Feeding, and Consecration

Before I continue the post proper I wanted to address a question I got and can’t easily work into the post.
“Why do you suggest big blade aloe plants?”
There are two reasons. The first is when the angel(s) gave me the image it was the large bladed type of aloe vera, and I have kept my plants as close as possible to their vision and instruction. The second reason is because you can actually cut off a blade to use in certain rituals, but the plant is an ally, so the destruction of part of its body should be a sacrifice. If it’s dozens of small blades one removed will not contain much power, and will not be noticed, but a larger blade will make you think twice before using it.
Previously I spoke a bit about the uses of the plant, and the type of plant selected and the basic preparation, now let’s shift to the methods of consecration.
There are two elements of the consecration, a regular routine one, and an irregular one.
I mentioned that the plant is a connection to places and spirits you work with, this is part of the irregular consecration.
I’ve talked before about collecting dirt, here and here. This is how you connect the plant to different places. Follow the method I mentioned (or something similar) where you are not just grabbing dirt, but making an offering for it, gather the essence of the place into it, and then collect the dirt.
Gather Nest dirt, which I mentioned but didn’t describe in those posts, but to reiterate a Nest is a power place, often conceptualized in the West as a Nexus point, a crisscrossing of Ley Lines or flows of nature energy. But a Nest doesn’t have to be such a crisscrossing (or rather my tradition claims that some lines are far beneath the Earth and only rear their Head in certain areas), sometimes there is a place of power disconnected for the area around. Gather dirt that is important to your practice. Power places, temples, graves that are relevant to your work, holy places, whatever.

Now if you don't have soil samples from various graves, power points, and dragon's nests, then store bought is fine...actually, no it's not.

Now if you don’t have soil samples from various graves, power points, and dragon’s nests, then store bought is fine…actually, no it’s not.

When you have the dirt I recommend sterilizing it. You don’t have to, but dirt can contain harmful microorganisms which can be damaging to plants, and if you’re using it to detect magickal attacks you want to avoid any confusion if it starts wilting. To sterilize soil you bake it believe it or not. Put the soil in an oven safe container, I find mini-cupcake pans are the perfect size for my soil samples. The soil should be slightly damp. Cover the container with tin foil and pop in the oven at 90C (200F), once the dirt reaches around 82C (180F) keep it at that temperature for half an hour. Don’t let it go much higher than that, because that can actually produce (so the gardening sites claim) toxins in the soil. After half an hour take it out, and let it cool. You now have sterilized dirt that is free of damaging organisms for your plant.
My plant has soil from the various Nests near me. Places along the shore where I communicate with the spirits of Lake Ontario, places on the Bluffs, a crypt that has been a focus of my magickal work for 12 years, places like that. It also has dirt from the Blue Hole in the Pine Barrens, and sand from the Atlantic ocean, Graveyard dirt from the focal points of the various Lords of the Dead in different cemeteries I’ve visited in Canada and the US, and even stuff as far reaching as dirt from the roots of the (supposed) Bodhi Tree, and sand from the shore of Lake Rakshastal in the Himalayas (a lake of special importance to me). Think about the places that are important and powerful to you, and the places you have spirit allies. Take dirt from there.
Adding the dirt to the plant is something that I do non-ceremoniously, though I only do it when I water the plant. Before I start I hold the dirt, and use it as a link to the spirit or place, and reach out and connect it, then I speak to the spirit and place and plant, and explain that I’m giving it the dirt to connect them, so they become linked. So that offerings to the plant are offerings to these spirits, so that the plant becomes a place where I can easily speak to those far away and draw on their forces. You don’t need to add much, and if you’re like me, you don’t want to use too much, because pretty soon your pot will be overflowing. I use maybe a teaspoon each time.
(As a sidenote: I mentioned that my last plant died. I took the soil from that pot, from the edge away from the roots, just in case they started to rot, and I sterilized that dirt and reused it with my new plant. That way it kept some of the energy of the plant, and the connections I had already established. It felt like they broke, but the guidelines are there, so it’s just a matter of charging this plant back up to connect.)
Now for the part of the regular consecration, this is what helps connect the plant to you, and helps it stand in as you during magickal attacks. It also, I believe, it was largely gives it the power to become something more than just a plant, but a more conscious spirit.
It is to be watered every New Moon, and every Full Moon. (Water in between if it needs it, but not a full watering)I use rain water (or melted snow in the winter), I wasn’t told to, but it just seems right. Every Full Moon it’s not just water I feed my sorcerer’s plant, but my blood as well. *insert people suddenly being squeamish for no good reason* It doesn’t have to be much, I usually only include three drops for a symbolic reasoning. I mix the blood in with the water, and give it to the plant. As usual it’s less ceremony and more altered state chatting with the plant, reminding it that I share my blood with its water, so that I may become part of the plant, and that the plant is part of me, to bind us together and to enliven the plant. On the New Moon I offer my plant water and semen. (Those who didn’t know my sex or gender, you at least know I have functioning testicles) I cannot speak for those without the ability to produce semen, either due to medical issues or have different gonads/genitals, though I suppose other sexual secretions would work, or a second serving of blood. When I water the plant this time it is much the same, just explaining and reinforcing our connection.
(Feeding the plant my blood and semen is why my sorcerer’s plant has earned the endearing, but inaccurate, nickname of being a cum-guzzling cannibal cactus.)
This really gives the plant its own presence, and as mentioned helps it become a sort of astral double that works well as a stand in for a lot of malefic magick. There is nothing done to make it stand in, it just seems to be a nature of the plant, a natural occurrence after it builds up enough force.
Now that the plant is active and developing, you can use it essentially as a remote altar. If you need to connect to a distant spirit or place, treat the plant as you would an image or statue on an altar. Reach through it, make the offerings to it, connect to it, and speak through/to it.
I mentioned cutting off the blades. When I find I really need a boost in a ritual, I need access to more force/energy than I can easily tap, or I want to be empowered by distant allies I cut off a blade, split it lengthwise down the centre and use its gel as an anointing oil. My forehead, temples, wrists, and any other appropriate power point is wiped with the gel and I find that really sends me up and out into the ritual. Also I’ve used it as a stand in for my own blood in other rituals when I’ve not been comfortable using my own blood.
The sorcerer’s plant has inspired other such botanical familiars in my work, and I’ve come across similar ideas since then, but this post is long enough as is, so I will leave it here.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
09
Oct
2015

Sorcerer's Plant

For well over a year I cultivated my sorcerer’s plant, and in that time it was a good focus and tool, and in the end it proved to be a great ally. Two weeks a good I began the process of consecrating and ensorcerelling a new one. Since people asked me about it, I asked the spirits who helped guide me to the plant, and I have a green light to talk about it. (I figured since it was part of a tradition of sorts, I needed permission to discuss it exactly, rather than in broad strokes)
So to start, just what is a sorcerer’s plant? It’s a hard question to answer, but most simply it’s a living (literally) talisman. Now a lot of us magickal folks (myself included) see some of our talismans and objects as alive, but this literally is alive on a biological level. A sorcerer’s plant has several purposes. It’s a focal point of power, it’s a very lively plant, and can be used to draw energy from, far more than you could from a regular plant, but it’s more than a battery, because it’s a focal point of different entities, and nests, and sacred places. (Nest in this tradition refers to a Dragon’s Nest, what most people would understand/call a nexus point of Ley Lines, a point of convergence of flows of power across the land) Through the plant you can access, if in a limited way, places and entities that are distant. (The spirits who set me about working on the plant told me that a long-lived and powerful sorcerer’s plant would eventually shift the flows around it to become a nest of its own. I don’t know if I believe that, or if it’s true, they might have been speaking out of their ass-trals.) It also has a more active plant genus attached to it, a more conscious spirit.
The plant also becomes an early warning system. The method of consecration causes a type of mirroring or interference between you and the plant, so a lot of stuff directed at you runs through the plant. In the case of attacks or malefic magick, this means the plant can absorb it, and it will affect the plant instead or first. Also the way it’s powered and connected makes it a great ritual ingredient for heightening trance states and the like. There is more to it, but any competent magickal folk will also start figuring out their own uses to it, and potentially tweaking it.
Regarding the early warning system, that is why I’m consecrating my second plant. I was recently a target of some malefic magick (since dealt with) which involved some pretty impressive signs. A dead mouse beside my offering dish, and the wards I drew on my walls before painting literally bled through the paint, and my healthy and living plant became mush. It didn’t just die or whither, it was suddenly a pile of goo held together by its skin. I don’t know what would have happened without it, but to turn a plant to mush, I’m pretty sure it took the brunt of it. I had found it useful before this, but this really drove it home.

Larger, fewer blades

Larger, fewer blades

So first one must acquire a plant to become the receptacle. I was told to acquire “the plant of immortality,” and my first thought was the Epic of Gilgamesh, but it was accompanied by a mental image of an aloe vera plant. Now supposedly (internet says) the Khemetic people called aloe vera the plant of immortality, but regardless it matches up, and makes sense to use aloe because of its gel (more on that next post). There are a couple of species of aloe vera, I personally recommend one with fewer larger blades, rather than many small ones. If you’ve never grown an aloe before, I recommend googling how to, they can be tricky plants, especially if you’re used to “normal” house plants, not succulents.
Too many small blades. Also avoid the more squat bladed species.

Too many small blades. Also avoid the more squat bladed species.

Then you need a pot, it doesn’t have to be a fancy pot, but large enough for the plant (again google what type of pots and setups are best for aloe), and preferably a touch deeper than needed. The most vague part of the instructions I was given was “make the pot magickal.” So I repeat that to you. I did it by using food colouring to paint the seals of some of my planetary angels on the inside of the pot and a few personal symbols related to the tradition. I used food colouring because it’s a terra cotta pot, so it absorbs well, and I didn’t want to use something like paint that would potentially be harmful to the plant.
Now plant the aloe into the pot, don’t fill it with dirt all the way to the top though. Leave some room. Almost to the top.
In most cases an aloe vera plant can be watered every two weeks, which just happens to sync up pretty excellently with the lunar cycle. I was told to water the plant on the New Moon and the Full Moon. Every once and a while in a really dry period I might need to give it a bit more in between, but save the full watering for the New and Full moons.
Next time I’ll discuss more on how it’s consecrated, nurtured, and worked with.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
27
Mar
2013

Wednesday Webshare: Bad Mages, Divination, and Lack of Angel on Man Action

Mercury Web
Cultural appropriation is rampant in a lot of occult circles, and generally irks me. So have an article on cultural appropriation of Lukumi. What I find interesting is the difference between “innocent” cultural appropriation, and people who blatantly steal and make shit up, I always wonder about the second group.
Non-invisible bank robber caught because his sorcerer for hire didn’t come through. Always investigate people you’re buying your magick from before important service purchases.
Speaking of which, an alleged psychic steals thousands from a client.
I grew up believing that early Christians were a horribly persecuted group, and that their strength of faith sustained them. Hell I was also told how tough it was for modern Christians. Both are bullshit though. The myth of early Christian persecution covers just that.
Polyphanes tackles divination related disorders. Worth considering for those of us who give, or receive divinatory services. Personally I don’t let people get multiple readings from me in a short period unless I know they actually followed through with the advice. If it’s been less than a month, and you haven’t done anything, nothing much has changed, I’m not supporting your need for an illusion of control through knowledge.
Shifting gears on divination. Psyche gives a run down of the top five foundational books on tarot. Those I’ve read I would say are good to work through even if you’re very familiar with the tarot.
Om Mani iPadme Hum. Buddhists and technology. During my chöd training I remember going to a cemetery with my lama and another student. I pull out my pecha, he pulls out an iPad with a stand, with the text as a pdf. The only i is the Pad.
A reader responded to my review of Yoga Body with a small talk countering the text, suggesting there was a posture tradition before the modern error. I didn’t find it as convincing, but that may be just due to the difference in length, but it was worth a read. So give it a once over if your curious about yoga, and the relationship/nonrelationship to posture.
Lastly, because I love me some angels…and I mean love (wink)… Why didn’t female angels have sex with men? Just a short look at that wonderful scene in Genesis, the language, and the physical (so to speak) sex of angels, and their sexuality.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
09
Jan
2012

Review: Watcher Angel Tarot and Guidebook – Michelle Belanger and Jackie Williams


Watcher Angel Tarot Guidebook: Myth, Meaning, and Creation – Michelle Belanger and Jackie Williams
Emerald Tablet Press. 2011. 312pp. 9780983816911.

“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” Genesis 6:1-2

Such a little innocuous line, often overlooked and forgotten, yet containing the seeds of a beautifully deep myth expounded upon in the Book of Enoch. Watcher Angels, the sons of God(s), fell to the Earth and took up human mates, and taught the secrets of heaven. That is the theme of this deck. I’ve talked about this deck before but it is time for a proper review.
In the introduction Michelle says “I didn’t want simply to design another Tarot built on the bones of the Rider-Waite-Smith. I wanted to revision the Tarot entirely, allowing the symbols to speak through me and to find expression in some vital and personal myth.” (12) And that is what you find with this deck. It isn’t a Rider-Waite-Smith clone with angel wings drawn on it, it isn’t a clone with some of the images and settings shifted around, it is a fairly different beast altogether.
The deck was designed from the ground up. Looking at the overarching traits of the Major Arcana a parallel from the Enochic myth was chosen, for the most part one of the Watcher Angels themselves represents the Majors, each assigned according to what they did, and what they taught. For instance you have Kasdeya who taught “all the wicked smitings of spirits and demons, and the smitings of the embryo in the womb” as Death, and Shemyaza the leader of the Angels in the Fall as The Fool.

Seven of Pentacles. RWS: A man leaning on his hoe. Watcher Angel: A man leaning on his...


The Minor Arcana form an entire story of their own; from Ace to Ten, Pentacles, to Cups, to Wands, to Swords, they lay out the entire tale. Pentacles are just after the Fall, the struggle to learn and build a world. In Cups they have established themselves and enjoy the world. With Wands they show their children the mysteries of heaven and magick. Finally with Swords their children turn upon each other. Since each suit contains its own story arch it is a remarkably easy deck to learn, though initially I was wary of the differences, because even if you have a moment of uncertainty when you place the card in the story it becomes clear what it represents. The meanings, the keywords of the cards are standard, but they way they play out in the Enochic myth is quite different.My only complaint with this system is it falls into an earlier interpretation of the Tarot, since the Swords are about the war among the children, the majority of the Swords are negative and challenging cards. Something many decks do but I dislike.
The artwork in this deck is phenomenal. The images are deep and complex, without being cluttered, in a lifelike and detailed painting style you’re not likely to see in a Tarot deck. Colours are rich and vibrant, and thematically carry between the suits. Jackie has a wonderful talent and her skill really brings the images to life. For me it is the settings, wings, and faces that really get me. The backgrounds are evocative, be they a shifting patch of colour or an elegant city vista. The wings just look better than most angel depictions –it’s a personal gripe of mine. Lastly the faces are very engaging, haunting, and real. The entire deck is viewable here on Jackie’s site and will show far better than I can describe.
The companion book was refreshingly honest. “I won’t lie and say that this deck was merely the product of detached academic research. There is a great deal of vision and inspiration, myth, dream, and magick woven into this work.” (19) Or as Jackie says it is “a deck designed by two psychics with input from the universe.” (29) All things considered it’s something I’ve found odd that so many deck creators shy away from discussing. In fact the companion book is remarkably complete, perhaps too much for some cases, but as it says you can skip the sections that don’t interest you. The book contains Jackie and Michelle’s stories for making the Tarot, the years of planning and research for Michelle, the years of painting and living the cards for Jackie. Michelle leads you into the research and struggles, Jackie even gives interesting advice on paper and paint types. Their stories are followed by the myth of the Watchers, how it relates to Campbell’s Monomyth as well as to the Book of Enoch and related texts. It moves into tarot history, where it came from, how it became part of the Western Mystery Tradition, beliefs about the tarot, and then finally the interpretations of the cards. If you’ve never dealt with the tarot before this book covers pretty much all the basics you’ll need, and if you’re familiar with the tarot and don’t care about personal stories you can skip to the back where you can learn about the cards and understand why Michelle and Jackie made the choices they did in illustrating the deck.
I will fully own up to a triple bias with this deck, Michelle and Jackie are friends, and personally I love the Enochic mythology. That being said, I don’t believe it is my bias speaking when I say this has quickly become one of my favourite decks; the beautiful art, the compelling myth, it just makes this a wonderful and unique deck.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
02
Jun
2011

Review: The Dictionary of Demons – Michelle Belanger


The Dictionary of Demons: Names of the Damned – Michelle Belanger
Llewellyn. 2010. 362 pp. with appendices. 9780738723068.
For the sake of transparency before I start this review I will admit to two reasons why I could be biased toward the book.
1. Michelle is a friend of mine.
2. Jackie, the very talented artist who did the alphabet art and several seals and pieces of art within the book, is also a friend or lab partner.
Of course people who know me, know I’m not exactly easy on most of my friends…
From Aariel to Zynextyur (is he next to your what?) this book has a listing of over 1,500 demons from the grimoiric tradition. This book is an amazing wealth of information on the entities within. Michelle worked strictly from an academic perspective; personal experiences and ideas do not enter into the text, only what information Michelle could dig up from the grimoires. Dig up is a great way to put it, Michelle went through an extensive process of several years of cataloguing these demons and searching for more information, other translations, older manuscripts. The common and popular texts like the Lemegaton and the Book of Abramelin were used, as well as more obscure texts like Liber Juratus Honorii, Caelestis Hierarchia, and Liber de Angelis.
“This book is not intended to be a how-to book on grimoiric magick” (10) instead it is as the title says a dictionary of names that have appeared in various texts. Names, ranks, and powers are given, along with much more. The entries on a demon let the reader know what grimoire they appear in and in many cases the several grimoires they have lent their names too, as well as information like what their name may be derived and distorted from as well as showing how some demons are most likely the same figure but over the course of years scribal errors have pushed their names further apart. Michelle pieces together part of the puzzle of grimoires, by analyzing names and lack of names in different texts Michelle attempts to establish a connection and timeline between the various books. Interspersed with the different entries are small articles by Michelle and Jackie about various relevant topics to the text, such as the scribal process involved in medieval grimoires, the history of Jewish appropriation in Christian mysticism, and comparing different lists of what demon rules what directions.
While most of the book is written in a straight forward manner Michelle was not above the occasional humorous observation. “From the profusion of [love] spells in all the magickal texts, it would seem that practitioners of the black arts had a very difficult time find a date in the Middle Ages” (15) or pointing out that Pist, who helps you catch a thief, has a name that sounds like how one would feel when stolen from (247).
While reading it I only noted one thing that seemed off in that Michelle attributed Mather’s translation of The Sacred Mage of Abramelin the Mage to a 15th century manuscript, when I have always seen the French manuscript dated to the 18th century. All in all I was greatly pleased and impressed with the effort, resources, and scholarship Michelle put into this book. While not a practical how-to guide, this book is an invaluable resource of names and histories for those interested in the grimoiric tradition. I felt the plot was a bit dry, but it had a wicked cast of characters.
Also for those wanting a related, but simpler text, I recommend you check out Michelle and Jackie’s D is for Demon. It is a delightful (not for) children’s book of rhymes leading you through 26 demons. I, of course, got a copy for my two-year old niece to make sure she is brought up right.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick
25
Apr
2011

Sex, Angels, Bones, and Books


Easter Monday, time for a Judeo-Christian post I think. This is mainly more links and connecting data, but I have a few relevant articles off on the wings I thought I’d bring together.
Over at Remnant of Giants a post just went live “How Do You Know When You’re Having Sex with a Fallen Angel: Some Handy Hints from a Biblical Scholar“. The site is a mix of funny responses to relevant events and scholarly study related to the Biblical and extra-Biblical giants, and occasionally more generic Biblical/extra-Biblical study. As a fan of the Enochic literature (meaning related to the Book of Enoch, not Enochian in the Dee-Kelly sense) I find it is both an entertaining and informative site.
Of course there are a few mistakes. With number one, the Angels you could sleep with, humanoid ones, didn’t have wings Biblically it was the non-humanoid Angels that had wings. I’m actually writing a personal article on that now which may or may not make it up here in the future. Number two, should have stuck with naming fallen angels, Metatron (either one of them) is an odd choice of name for a fallen angel to assume. Other than that, it is a handy (silly) guide, of course I’d rather use guides not to avoid but to pursue, but to each their own.
The University of Wyoming shared the news that the trial/investigation of the James Ossuary box may finally be wrapping up. It’s only been about a decade. In fact since then the box has dropped off most people’s radar. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it is an ossuary box that is about 2000 years old (that part isn’t questioned) which reads “Ya’akov bar-Yosef akhui diYeshua.” For those without their Aramaic 101, that translates as “Jacob, son of Joseph, brother of Joshua.” Or when rendered out of Aramaic into Biblical English “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” So apparently we have the bone box of James, Jesus’s younger brother. But so far most of the evidence points to it being a fraud. “Ya’akov bar-Yosef” is generally believed to be authentic, but the bit about Jesus looks like it may be a modern addition, the trial is trying to figure out how modern, as some experts say it is more recent than the box, but still from the first millennium.
Speaking of Biblical forgeries it looks like Indiana Jones’s David Elkington’s codices are not standing up will to investigation. Rather than link to any individual story I want to link to this great resource here which is both a collection of relevant links and articles and a pretty solid analysis of the flaws of the codices. Included at the bottom of the article, the very last link is a collection of all the images of the codices that have been released, for those of us who like to take a look for ourselves. Just a sidenote since I brought it up the first time I posted about it, this man actually has degrees, a BA in Near Eastern Studies and a Masters in Jewish studies, and is working on more. Credentials aren’t the end-all be-all, but by Baal they’re useful.
Now in the spirit of Easter Monday, I’m off to buy discount chocolate.

Posted by kalagni in blueflamemagick