Updated December 15, 2025

Here it is!

The complete list of occult literature publications that I had the chance to promote on Timeless Occult Literature this year (so far).

This is a recap, but also a chance to make your Christmas/Yule shopping.

Maybe you missed out on some books, you didn’t hear about them, my posts didn’t reach you… now is the time when you get to see them all; all the 2025-2026 occult literature releases.

Some are sold out, some are still in pre-order. But they are here, in the list.

The Amazon affiliate links will have priority, since it’s how I make a (very) small commission when you buy through those links, at no extra cost to you, but I’ll also send you to the publisher’s page when the book is not available in Amazon.

Enjoy the list!

NOTE:

• As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
• Click on the Dropdown Menu to see the books
• If you find any problems with the links, please send an email at admin@occult-study.com
• Visitors outside the US will be redirected to the Amazon in their country (.fr, .de, .co.uk etc.) and some links might not work for non US visitors
• BONUS: You can check the Facebook page Timeless Occult Literature for the newest titles!

The post The 2025-2026 Occult Literature Publications so far [ Holiday season! ] – UPDATED December 15, 2025 appeared first on Occult-Study.

Yesterday my old 9 year old post on Facebook came up in the memories section and I realized that what I was saying back then still applies today, so I decided to write an article about what I was talking there. Be aware that this article contains foul language and contains many quotes from Facebook posts that might not be interesting at some point. I wanted to say this from the beginning so I wont bore you with old posts and comments if it’s not your thing.

For many years I’ve been an adversary of bad occult literature, especially that sold at high prices, and I tried to educate people into quality reading material. On Facebook, people know me as the mf who doesn’t tolerate huge prices for bad books. In my former private/closed Facebook group “Occult Book Collectors” I used to have a very strict rule regarding this.

I’d like to explain my position and the reasons why I’m so against this new form of occult publishing and occult literature.

I believe it all started with the publisher Ixaxaar, many years ago (I can’t remember when they first appeared), when they started publishing authors like E.A. Koetting, charging lots of money for their books which were limited editions. They were producing limited editions with so-called deluxe bindings for authors which, at that time, were not even known, these were their first books ever, so basically nobody knew who these writers are, how knowledgeable they are, what their background is etc. Some of the books published by Ixaxaar were good, like those of Jeremy Christner for example. However, they were still new authors, the books were small, the binding was actually cheap and badly made and the prices were high. Nevertheless, Ixaxaar managed to become a very important publisher back in the day and it’s still very appreciated by many people today. They had a good marketing technique that attracted a lot of people who were intrigued by this underground writing club, delivering books quite different from what it was on the market at that time, and the way they described the books was also very intelligent, making the buyer very curious about them and their products.

After the success of Ixaxaar, other publishers started using the same technique of limited “deluxe” editions of books at high prices, the market was flooded by titles by peculiar authors.

After many titles were sold out, people started to take advantage of this and started selling their copies of sold-out titles at huge prices. The books of E.A. Koetting were probably the most sought after and the most expensive as well. So the occult book market became something luxurious, but not for the classical masterpieces nor the highly acclaimed academic studies, but for some obscure books with weird titles, sigils and of course, “promises”. And here is the problem.

The titles that were being sold at high prices were actually bad from about all points of view. The content was full of nonsense, the bindings were cheap, the printing was bad. Basically, people were selling dreams to the naive, and became a business that was ripping people off.

While the serious writers were struggling to make a buck out of their titles, which were sold at decent prices for normal hardcopy or paperback available for anyone interested in LEARNING, the false prophets of the Left Hand Path were selling their bullshit A LOT. Ebay and Facebook occult book markets were filled with these offers. However, I always tried to explain to people what they are actually buying and I was even trying to stop this, helping people not to be ripped off. I had a Facebook page called Modern Occult Books which eventually turned into Timeless Occult Literature where I tried to promote the serious and valuable occult literature, but it was useless. People were looking for fancy books with fancy titles, not for serious content.

Here’s a quick review of post-Ixaxaar/post-Koetting/

(random invented titles)

Kult ov Ahriman

Order ov Kaos

Black Flame of the Cursed Snake

Black Book of the Cursed Snake

Black Rite of the Cursed Snake

Black Mascara of the Cursed Snake

+24125- (wtf?!)

The Forbidden Gnosis of..

The Infernal Gnosis of..

The Explicit and Parental Advisory Gnosis of…

aaaaand, the real titles:

The Infernal Path Crown of Flames

Volubilis Ex Chaosium

Sacerdotivm Vmbrae Mortis

The Divine Black Flame of Satan

The Book of Sassstia

Liber Spirituale Rapax – Book of Predatory Spiritualism

The Devil’s Grimoire: A System of Psychic Attack

Sekhem Apep: Typhonian Vampyre Magick

The Unholy Rites of the Black Church

The Magic of the Dark Lord Seth

VIA SINIESTRA: Under The Masks Ov The Red Gods

Book 75 or The Perfect Black Flame

Draconian Consciousness: The Book of Divine Madness

and the list goes on…. One recent title that made me laugh was “Codex Putrefactio Nigra: The Canaanite’s Book of Death” by Zulqarnayn XIII. I also forgot to mention that even the names of the authors were… well, funny.

The books were mostly a blend of systems, like blending the modern Qliphoth with many other traditions, or simply new invented systems with invented sigils and invented rituals of unknown authors claiming to bring your power and whatever else. We are talking about 80-120 page books filled with questionable rituals and sigils, little historical information or deformed historical information, which were sold at high prices.

So to sum it up, the new LHP current was and is led by some very unoriginal people who lack imagination and creativity. Using the same words, same style, same ideas, with almost the same image: Weird invented sigils of weird invented demons, all in black and white. Good thing is, at least they got over the red and black period.

In the post I made 9 years ago (April 2016) I put a simple question: “Are you aware of the bullshit you are reading/writing/believing/following?”

So people ask me, if Koetting, Michael W. Ford, Nestor Avalos, Edgar Kerval, S Ben Qayin and the like are not my cup-of-Jaggermeister, then who is? Well, S. Connolly, Thomas Karlsson, Jeremy Christner, Stephen Flowers, Brother Nero (yep, him!), Order of Nine Angles etc.

Maybe I’m too picky? Why?

First of all, because they haven’t published a 100 page book in leather which is now sold at revolting prices. And because their information is a bit more historically accurate. BUT !!!… but…. of course, they all have flaws. Nobody is perfect, no occult book is perfect. But there are good ones and bad ones. I know people find Connolly very suspicious with her Dukante hierarchy and old grimoires, as well as the invented sigils and the enns. I know Karlsson is accused of inventing modern Qliphoth system or following Kenneth Grant in this matter, I know that Brother Nero is considered limited and too religious, I know ONA is so messed up because of some of the nexions that went too far with the extremist mentality… but! Connolly for example actually made a good research when writing her books, at least where she is talking about demonic hierarchies, and those parts which are not considered to be her inventions are actually real historical information, Karlsson did in fact study qlipphoth from the likes of Gershom Scholem and he has a PhD in Religious Studies, Brother Nero is a religious leader and his mission is to preach, and he is one of the people who actually introduced real Satanism to the world after Church of Satan. As for Christner… I think Christner would be a long debate, and so would Stephen Flowers.

Connolly and Karlsson brought some fresh air, like the Golden Dawn did back in the days. They may not be 100% traditional, but at least they are logical and honest. I myself have worked successfully with Connolly’s Dukante hierarchy and system of magic, but I don’t need to say that it worked, you can say the same about Koetting making you a living god. Unfortunately, after Karlsson’s book “Qabalah, Qliphoth and Goetic Magic” (which we could say it has become a classic now) which was first published in 2004, a whole new movement started regarding the Qliphoth and Sitra Achra, some of them being ok and some being utterly stupid. A new book on Sitra Achra, namely “Sefer-ha Sitra Achra” by A.D. Mercer came to bring some sense and order in the chaos that has become on this subject.

Stephanie Connolly is a writer that I respect to a certain degree (though I have lots of things against her as well)… for various reasons. The first reason would be the fact that she is direct and clear and speaks in a way that even a guy from Kazakhstan would understand. The second, is that she made her way and her name respected by publishing lots of books at reasonable prices without anybody’s help. Third, she actually brought something NEW. Fourth, most of the times she gives her sources (except the mysterious demonolatry grimoires) and the sources are good. Oh, and she’s not affiliated to any black metal band hahah. However, the number of small books she keeps writing shows a desire to make money and not exclusively to educate. We are being bombarded by her titles. She writes a book for every subject: Demonic Pacts, Demonic Possession, Demonic Prayer, Demonic this, Demonic that. These are chapbooks that don’t go beyond 60 pages, but at least she has the decency of asking a good price for these. And I respect that.

She also wrote a rant back in 2014 about the future of esoteric publishing, so in this case I think it’s good to know her thoughts about the subject we’re discussing. However, her post is no longer available for some reason, but you can find it though internet archive here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20230202180307/http://sjreisner.com/2014/01/06/rant-the-future-of-esoteric-publishing/

(it will take some time to load, but it will load eventually and it’s worth waiting)

I was actually discussing with her this whole idea of deluxe limited edition crazy business, and these are her words:

“I ventured into the realm of limited edition hardcovers under extreme duress. I will tell you this – the market is so saturated that those folks who think they’re going to get rich writing occult books, or publishing them, will be sadly disappointed. And yeah – I don’t understand the $150 anthology. For the record, with occult anthologies the ONLY payment authors usually receive is a free copy, bragging rights, and exposure. The people who make money are the publisher and the editor.

Also, a lot of times the author gets screwed over by the publisher of said limited edition hardcovers. That’s why you see so many authors jump publishers. It’s a cut throat business and like all publishing, the author is often the one who is paid the least.

Books have to earn out their production costs before the author sees a single cent and authors are at the mercy of the publisher’s honesty and accounting. Not all publishers are bad, mind you, but since anyone can become a publisher with a few thousand bucks to invest, not everyone is honest or qualified to run a business.

I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call them mafia, but pimps — absolutely. Writers are their whores.

Without us they couldn’t exist, but they try to convince us that we need them more than they need us.”

Here she was referring to a post that I wrote back in July 2014 that I will simply copy-paste here from my Facebook (and please excuse the foul language of the 24 year old that I was):

“What-the-fuck-is-happening?! Can anyone rationally explain to me?!

Who the fuck would pay 150$ or 225$ for a book written by unknown authors?! What the fuck is it with these publishers and people buying these books at such high prices?! 69 editions in Blood Offering Crimson Finish… what the fuck is that?!

Please excuse my vocabulary, but this is getting really really revolting! Do these people even know how to appreciate money and quality?!

I swear… I will write a 100 page book soon and I can bet with you all I’ll have it published in human skin, signed with the blood of a virgin and ritually put it under the protection of the Four Kings of Hell….. in approx. 1 month after the release I expect to have followers swearing it’s authentic shit, powerful enough to bring upon the Destruction of Mankind.

They sell “Three books of Agrippa” at 34$ and “Picatrix” at 30$ on amazon. They sell “Corpus Hermeticum Mead Edition” at 7$ !!!!! And you give me this SHIT at 150$ ?! Are you out of your mind?!

I thought that the kitsch is proliferated only in the music industry and Hollywood. I never expected that the occult community would turn into such a shameless money-robbing mafia! Because theoretically that’s what it is: A mafia. People promising you authentic stuff at high prices and in fact giving you toilet paper bound in horse-cock skin.

Why don’t they republish the classics and make them deluxe editions? Classics that are out of print!

Let the no-namers work for their money! Let them write at least one book of at least 200 pages, publish it on lulu.com and let the public decide it’s authenticity ! When they become classics and have been approved by the majority that they are genuine and actually do have powerful rituals, only then they are worthy of a deluxe edition and such a price.

Also, most of the “Deluxe Editions” and “Leather Editions” are so badly bound that anyone could make such bindings. This was actually the opinion of a real book binder who brought books from such publishers. They don’t even use real leather !

Maybe I’ll start sounding like grandpa, but “back in my days” authors were publishing their work on lulu.com at reasonable prices. Stephanie Connolly is one of those people that actually worked for it. Though her material is debated weather it is authentic or not, at least she didn’t ask for such prices! And she actually wrote more than 300 pages in a book, not 100!”

Additionally in the comments I said that “maybe I’m not up-to-date with today’s writers. I can’t afford buying all the Deluxe Editions that are being published every week. Unfortunately, I’m not a millionaire. I could be wrong, of course. Maybe they wrote other 100 page books and charged hundreds of dollars, but I couldn’t afford to buy such valuable knowledge. For that, I admit my fault… With 150$ an average Romanian can buy food for about 2-3 weeks. With 150$ an average Romanian can party like an animal for at least two days straight!”

Ironically, Eamonn Loughran, the man behind Hell Fire Club Books who has later scammed people, taking their money and not sending the books, wrote in a comment saying  “sadly many of these ‘left hand path’ productions are total crap, badly written, ill-conceived, laughably bad all round. Yes the ‘leathers’ are in fact fake. I myself did a fine binding for one of these ‘publishers’ he then started issuing fake leather books to trade on the good name he had gained from using my studio! I must say i think that the use of the term ‘esoteric’ by many of these people is entirely misunderstood, what is sad is that a generation of newcomers will be entirely misguided by them. We have seen the rise of the sci-fi/wargamer occult obsessed dork, will we see the fall of the magician? It’s a point worth thinking on”.

The good thing about Eamonn and Hell Fire Club Books is that he publishes important and classic works and does a fine job with the bindings, and those who want to be cautious about not being scammed by ordering on his website can get some of his titles from Miskatonic Books.

And no, I don’t have anything against Deluxe Editions. What could I have against a deluxe copy of Agrippa, Trithemius all the way to Gershom Scholem or the like? Publishing a Deluxe Edition of a new, unknown author is like dressing a homeless guy in Armani suit and trying to convince people he’s a politician. At the moment I have 23 deluxe editions and two others on their way, that makes it 25. But at the same time I have lots of academic books that are also high priced, due to the high level of study and exclusive material published. And, speaking of academic books at high prices, this article should be of interest: https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/sep/04/academics-are-being-hoodwinked-into-writing-books-nobody-can-buy

I would personally boycott so that Ixaxaar and the like would stop printing anything, not just reprinting, as this”occult publisher” has nothing to do with either binding or writings, just publishing whatever people’s minds cook over the night.

Lets have an exercise of imagination: “Timmy is a sad young man. He was not too famous among the kids of his age, and now he wants revenge. Thus, he decides to write some fantasy which will later be labeled as occult, so it could sell. He gives it a weird name, wraps that 90 page fantasy in a fancy yet bad binding and puts it on sale for a big price and limited edition to trick people into thinking that what he wrote is THE deal, that his little fantasy is pure spiritual wisdom gathered in his 20 years of life and 5 years of study. Timmy is now happy. He has sold 20 limited editions of his fantasy and his name has become respected among idiots. Timmy is happy. Ixaxaar is happy. Idiots are happy. The end.”

I apologize for that, but this pro-“deluxe” bindings have got too far and it made me lose my patience. And even if the bindings were awful, at least the content should be acceptable in order to charge such big prices. I wouldn’t care if the binding was awful, if they published a great translation of, lets say, a Faustian grimoire that was never translated into english. So… do we buy and give our money for bindings or for books? You know there are also fake books that can make your library look nice, but have nothing on their pages.

In January 2018 I made another controversial post regarding one of Aeon Sophia Press releases, called “The Book of Devotional Service to the Dark King of Flame: Lucifer” and asked “how stupid can someone be, to pay so much for such a piece of shit?”

Jeremy Christner, the only author published by Ixaxaar that I like, wrote to that post saying: “It’s certainly a verbose title, but that’s not uncommon in this milieu, for better or worse. Have you read it, by chance?” to which I replied “I don’t have €45,00 plus transport taxes to spare for such a thing to read, nor the time. We’re talking about some made up prayers which anyone can do for himself (or I’m wrong, and this is actually the standard prayer for evoking Lucifer, of which nobody knew until now).”

We exchanged the following comments:

Christner:

“I generally give fellow Luciferians the benefit of the doubt regarding their sincerity, even if their modes lack the subtlety I find befitting of the path. If indeed their work is derivative and intends only to cash in on the huge financial rewards of writing such niche material (the financial rewards are inversely proportional to the degree of sober sincerity — you may be able to derive my meaning by reading between the lines there), then it’ll ultimately come back to bite them. Then again, they could be as inspired as we, but find themselves articulating that inspiration in a way we may not ourselves do.

One credit the gentleman deserves at the very least: these appear to be wholly religious books, not making charlatan claims of great powers awaiting the buyer or being packed from cover to cover with black curse rituals and the like.”

Me:

“You are right that these are religious books, and that is why I don’t understand the price. Anyone, or almost anyone can write down some prayers (yes, honest and powerful prayers) here and there, some can even write down some rituals… but lets be honest, they were not written by a famous and historical figure, they were written be someone like you and me. If a prayer book costs €45,00, then how much should a 3-4 year research and academic study be worth? I know, the price is also because of the binding (which, again, is quite a rip-off if you ask me. it’s justa simple leather binding, not the masterpiece of a bookbinder)… Imagine this: If everyone started writing 50 page books with “deluxe bindings”, all costing around 40-50 euros, how much money should I earn in order to buy them, read them and give my personal opinion? Just my 2 cents.. I exaggerated calling it “a piece of shit”, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not mad to pay that much for a few pages with prayers.”

Christner:

“Although I may instinctively agree in a knee-jerk sense, I understand that it’s not an informed instinct, for a few reasons. Having not read the gentleman’s work, I can’t make a determination on his value as an author. So to continue thinking that the work wasn’t worth the asking price I’d be relying on my judgment of what seems an excessively grandiose title coupled with the knowledge that his work isn’t widely circulated (argumentum ad populum?). How well his previous title(s) sold isn’t a very good measure. Many great authors sold an unfortunate few copies while they lived, only to gain considerable traction after death. For those authors that do/did become popular, they’re all doing something that anyone else can do: research and regurgitate. The fact that a book of prayers is something that anyone is capable of producing doesn’t mean an extant example of the same isn’t valuable. Most of us can do things, but it’s a question of if we choose to, and how well executed the product is in the end.

It seems the issue you take with him is ascribable to me as well: Lanterns is a book of scriptural verses, prayers, and the like, that was issued in a hardcover of less than 100 pages, and it sold for considerably more than the book we’re talking about. The chief difference? Boomsma’s title has only been made available in a somewhat dearly priced hardcover without an entry level/budget option made available. $55 (45 euro) is fair for a short run of finely bound books constructed of sewn signatures, but something worth saying is worth being made available to more than just the well-to-do, which is why I’ve always produced lower priced softcover editions. And although I’ve only encountered a few, I’m sure I’ve no shortage of detractors out there in occult book land.

In any case, I’m afraid you’ve misinterpreted my attempt at dialog as offense. I don’t know if you have any formal academic training in philosophy, but if a philosopher argues with you, it’s not necessarily a slight; it’s often a compliment. It means you’re well enough respected that somebody thinks that not only can you handle opposing views without becoming offended, but that you can consider them well enough to rationally defend your own in counter.”

I admit that the author didn’t promise great powers as others did with their books, but it was after all a prayer book put on sale for €45,00 plus shipping, which would easily mean a total of €65 at least. It did not contain material from which I could learn something new and that would help me in a way, not more than the free prayers available on the many LHP websites. And, as I expected, this book did not become a classic but it was long forgotten. Maybe if we follow Christner’s logic, we’ll have to wait until the writer dies to see if this book becomes valuable, but I doubt it will. Also, I don’t know why Christner thought I was offended.

The next day I made a new post to better explain myself:

“It seems that my last post offended some people which I didn’t want to offend. First of all, I’m sorry for exaggerating with calling the book “a piece of shit”, especially since I haven’t read it.

What I wanted to say is what I always said about such books: In order for a book to be sold at a high price, it must be worth that price. A 50-80-100 page book with prayers or rituals made up by you will never, ever be as valuable as a book with prayers or rituals written by a historical figure (Agrippa, Paracelsus, Papus, whoever you want… you got the idea). Those people earned their position in our history for the things they have accomplished, for the ways they have contributed to occult literature, history, practice, and so on.

If a book by an unknown writer is bound in leather and sold at 45, 50 or 60 euros, then how much should a classic work such as “Three Books of Occult Philosophy” by Agrippa, “Archidoxes of Magic” by Paracelsus, “The Twelve Keys” by Basil Valentine and the like, bound in leather, should be worth? I mean, look at Ouroboros Press, their titles, their bindings and their prices, and then look at Aeon Sophia Press, their titles/autors, their bindings and their prices. I hope you understand now.

“The Book of Devotional Service to the Dark King of Flame: Lucifer” is by no means a classic, or something that would make history in occultism. The binding is in no way a special binding, it’s just a very very simple leather binding, not the masterpiece of a bookbinder. I’ve went to a bookbinder and he bound me a book with 21 euros/26 dollars, and it looks the same as “The Book of Devotional..”

Using pompous words or old English to give it “some mystery” doesn’t make it any better (I’ve seen in the pictures of this book that the author uses words like “appeareth”), just like Koetting’s “poetry books” didn’t impress serious practitioners.

Anyone, or almost anyone can write down some prayers (yes, honest and powerful prayers) here and there, some can even write down some rituals. If everyone started publishing 50 page books at the price of 45 euros, how much money should I be earning in order to afford reading them all, so that I could give a review? I should be a millionaire! If such a book is being sold at 45 euros, then how much would a 3-4 year academic research/study bound in leather be worth? Or like I said, a classical text bound in leather. See my point?

Btw, it seems that the author of “The Book of Devotional Service to the Dark King of Flame: Lucifer” is also the author of “Psalterium Sathanas”. This was published a few years ago, if I remember correctly…. was that book a masterpiece? Did it change the occult world in any way? Yes? No? well…..

This is, and will always be my position. I will always be honest, even if it hurts some people. Unfortunately, my last post hurt some people I respect, but it’s still my opinion and I haven’t changed it.”

Another old post which I can’t find anymore on Facebook but I found it in an old Word .doc is about the publishing of “Compendium Rarrisium”, also by Aeon Sophia Press. My problem was that it was basically a printing of the original held by Wellcome Library, free for everyone. It was not translated, it was not edited, not commented etc. It was just copy-pasted and put into a cheap binding and sold for no less than €85 + shipping, which would mean €105 at least for me to get it. The book is now sold at €62, so instead of becoming more expensive over time it became cheaper and I don’t see people discussing about it, trying to find a copy or anything. But anyway, here’s what I wrote back then:

“Alright, so people are dumb, I was aware of that. People are thieves, i was aware of that too…. although I’ve been aware of these things for a loooong time, it always seems to amaze me.
Most of you know my opinions on publishers such as Aeon Sophia Press and “deluxe” bindings, but this time I think it has gone too far.
So, basically, these dudes and dudettes took off a free manuscript with no copy right, printed it and bound it in some pathetic way and they are selling it for 85 euros (plus shipping). It isn’t translated, annotated and it isn’t even bound in a special way (a professional bookbinder would look at this with disgust). Even so, they are charging for 85 euros. The saddest part is that people are already excited about this and plan to pay that sum of money.
Basically, anyone can do what Aeon Sophia Press has done and get much cheaper. I have the complete manuscript in high quality, all I need to do is print the pages and take them to a friend who also happens to be a bookbinder. And there! I’d have the same thing, only with 20 euros instead of 85 and with a much better binding.
I’m honestly disgusted by these things and how people in the occult community can be so unscrupulous with their fellow ‘occult friends’.
There has been a long and intense debate over my fb group Occult Book Collectors for that fact that I don’t allow people selling shit copies from unknown authors at over 150$. I have a conscience. For some unknown reason, I care about people that I haven’t even met, but I care probably because i hate seeing people being ripped off for a book that is just ‘out of print’ or ‘deluxe edition binding in horse cock skin’.”

These kind of rants have kept coming over the years, one was about S Ben Qayin, the guy with mascara on who was selling his personal copy of “Volubillis Ex Chaosium” (another title nobody talked ever since) for a huge price, and when I confronted him about this he simply blocked me so I told him that “being a great author and magus” he should be able to come with an argument, not block people, and recommended him to get a real job if he really needs money, or study for 20 years and write a real book. Like I kept saying, in order to charge big money for something it needs to be quality stuff, and quality in books means effort and study. Personally, I am ashamed to declare I’m into LHP or rather that I was into LHP, because of people like him, like Koetting and many others, because they give others the impression that LHP is some kind of black metal musicians doing rituals after drinking 10 beers and burping.

To give an ending and a conclusion to this article, I would say that not much has changed since 2014, at least in the LHP community and publishing. There’s a lot of material or the Qliphoth, on Qayin, on Vampyrism and people who still think that Vlad The Impaler[1] was some kind of dark lord instead of a devout Christian who built churches and monasteries but happened to have a rather “unconventional” way of dealing with enemies (we are talking about the Middle Ages, after all).

As a person interested in the LHP, I no longer feel that I belong there, and I prefer to keep to myself all I know and try to search in more serious places the things that I don’t know, instead of wasting big sums of money on such books.

[1] A good source of information of Vlad Tepes can be found here with English subtitles https://www.youtube.com/@CorpusDraculianum/videos

The post The modern world of LHP occult publishing (a rant) appeared first on Occult-Study.

But, my dear friends, we all die… we will all experience it, no matter what religion or belief we have.

Death does not make exceptions. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, that is your duty to find out, and that is the purpose of this exercise.

As I was saying, it is a ‘process’ which all living beings experience. The problem is not the death act itself but the way we perceive it. There are very, very few people who would actually accept and embrace death as it is, though some would say they don’t fear it, many of them haven’t even been close to it. So instead of fearing all your life for something that is inevitable, I believe it is wise to get to know what exactly do we fear… but how? Well, a real and factual answer would only be death itself, which I don’t recommend to anyone who hasn’t done his role in the physical world. But there are some other methods through which we could get a better (yet not complete) picture of Death. However, before we learn about Death we should learn about Life. Many of us don’t actually live, we survive. We don’t really acknowledge we are alive, we are all too caught up in the mundane stuff or even rituals.

Stage I: Acknowledge Life

So, the first and most important advice I would give is to open up to ourselves and meditate on the things that make us alive.

How conscious are you of your breathing? Of course you know you breathe, but have you ever observed it closely? No, not during panic attacks. I mean, closing your eyes, breathing and trying to observe your breath and get to actually be aware of it. Try to observe it for at least 15 minutes. At the beginning it might be difficult if you don’t have experience in meditation or haven’t meditated in a long time. There will be many thoughts coming through your head… don’t force yourself not to think about anything, just ignore the thoughts when they come and get your attention back to your breathing. Observe, feel and acknowledge how the air comes through your nostrils and goes to your lungs, which expand and deflate. Observe how your living body works and understand how important your breath is. (tip: google “Pranayama”)

How about your heart? Have you paid much attention to it lately? No, not during amorous break-ups. I mean, closing your eyes, breathing normally and trying to observe your heart, how it beats, how it pulses your blood (life-source). Do this with all your organs or anything you want that makes you feel alive, including your sexual organs. Oh, your back hurts because you stayed too much in the same position? Don’t change the position just yet, try to observe… you have an itch? you wanna pee? you wanna sleep? That is your body, your LIVING BODY.

Perfect!

Stage II: Acknowledge Death

Now image yourself not having all these experiences. How would it be? Is it good? Is it bad? How does it make you feel?

Does death hurt? When? How much? WHY?

What happens next? How would you feel after your physical pain or sensations are no longer there? Is it good? Is it bad? WHY? How do you feel about it?

Have you ever seen someone dying? No, not in the movies, but in real life. What did you see? How did it make you feel? How do you feel now?

You haven’t seen someone dying, but you seen someone dead? How was it? What thoughts or feelings did it give you? Why?

A very big impact is when you actually carry a dead body in your arms, or at least touch it. Observe how it is, how it feels. It is a sensation that can’t be described, only felt.

Done!

I won’t tell you what idea you should come up with, because it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good or a bad feeling. What matters is what YOU feel and think about it. But please, give it a little attention. After all, we all die. Even plants! Nature itself dies, right now, in October, on Samhain! The leaves fall, grains die, bugs die. And then… comes spring.

Only after you done these two stages you’ll be able (to some extent) to understand if and why Death is worth celebrating. But at least I’m sure it has to be respected and accepted and no longer feared. Death is also part of existence.

And pay your homage to the Dead! They know more about it than you do. If you have a dead relative that you haven’t visited recently, go there on the night of Samhain and do what ever you feel like doing there. But be one with Death…. you will be revived after that. Just like nature on spring, with the grass as green as ever.

Enjoy your experience! Happy Samhain!

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.

Isaac Asimov

The post Contemplating Death appeared first on Occult-Study.

Romanians are people who stick to their traditions. Even though Christianity is and has always been very important in our country, many of our pagan traditions have remained in rural areas, either unaltered or combined with (as usual) Christian elements.

There are a lot of traditions and beliefs regarding death and dying in Romania, there are even celebrations for them in which the dead are celebrated, remembered and prayed for. Four examples are Moșii de Primăvară (Spring/March 9), Moșii de Vară (Summer, June, before Pentecost), Moșii de Toamnă (Autumn/November 4) and Moșii de Iarnă (Winter/February 18). These are commemorations of the dead, when people make offerings, light candles, clean the graves, and are mentioned by the priests in the Church. The term moșii or moși would translate as “old people”, but is actually a reference to the ancestors, which is are our parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and other ancestors. The dead are first commemorated and prayed for after their death, when people have feasts (called parastas) and eat in honor of the deceased, but there are other feasts held in their honor depending on the time that passed after their death. Besides these, there are even more death celebrations and then there are Moșii. There are literally hundreds of traditions and customs, depending on the areas in which they are held. There are certain foods prepared (like colivă), giving foods and goods to the poor and so on. Moșii are celebrated only on Saturday, and two of them are for a general comemmoration of the dead (Moșii de Vară and Moșii de Iarnă).

Moșii de Primăvară is among the most important celebrations of the death cult in Romanian tradition, and like Samhain and other death cults, it is believed that the dead come back to Earth on the Holy Thursday (or Maundy Thursday) and fly free for 50 days, then go back in the underworld in the Pentecost Saturday. In order for this return to happen without any incidents, people make rituals of calming the spirits of the dead.¹

Moșii de Toamnă and Moșii de Iarnă, which are in Autumn and Winter, are called Moșii cei Mari, in an aproximate translation, Greater Comemmorations of the Ancestors. Moșii de Toamnă is held for all the souls of the deceased, both those in Hell and in Heaven, for they are all waiting for the Final Judgement. This is also done because Saturday is the day when Jesus was in buried and his soul went to Hell to offer salvation to all the people who have died.

On October 27, between Moșii de Toamnă and Moșii de Iarnă, there is the celebration of St. Dimitrie (or Dumitru. Saint Basarabov, born in XIII century or XV century in Bulgaria), the patron saint of shepherds.

On the night between 25 and 26 October, before the celebration of St. Dimitrie (or Dumitru. Saint Basarabov, born in XIII century or XV century in Bulgaria. The patron saint of shepherds), there is the romanian tradition of Fire of Sumedru (also Sâmedru or San-medru), which is thought to be 2000 years old. This marks the beginning of winter, and various customs similar to those of Samhain are practice. The main practice is lighting up nine bonfires made up of brushwood, grains and dung. The children start yelling “Lets go to the fire of Sânmedru!” and young boys and girls start jumping through the fire. It is said that those who pass through it will get married that year. Afterwards, old ladies come to give knot-shaped bread, walnuts and apples. The shepherds who want to know how the winter is going to be, put their woollen mantle in the middle of the sheep. If a black sheep lays on the mantle, it means that the winter will good, but if a white sheep sits on it, the winter will be harsh, with a lot of snow. Also, if in the night of Sumedru there is full moon and a clear sky, it means that the winter will be mild, but if there will be clouds and rain, it’s a sign that the winter will be cold and will have a lot of snow.²

We can obviously see the similarities between Moșii and Sumedru with Samhain and other celebrations of Death. The dead are commemorated, bonfires are lit, offerings are made, and of course, the similar date which falls in October.

Death is important to everyone, and every culture has a death cult. It is the Great Equalizer, which makes us all the same in front of it, thus we have developed entire cults, traditions and beliefs, we have gave it forms and names and attributes. It is a fascination and a fear that can be found everywhere, every time.

¹ https://www.crestinortodox.ro/parastas/mosii-vara-pomenirea-generala-mortilor-74859.html

² Marcel Olinescu, Mitologie Românească (București: Gramar, 2008), 316-317

The post Moșii and the Fire of Sumedru appeared first on Occult-Study.

Originally published on his website at

https://digitalambler.com/2023/07/07/psa-faq-the-kybalion-is-not-a-hermetic-text/

Published here with the author’s approval

Whether you love me or hate me for my routine reminders that The Kybalion isn’t a Hermetic text (as I’ve said abundantly both on my blog, Twitter, Reddit, and elsewhere), I beg your patience for my making yet another post about it.  Hopefully, this will be the post-to-end-all-posts about the subject for me, since not only do I want to supersede my other post I made about it some time ago (which I admit I’m not particularly keen on linking to anymore despite how intentionally inflammatory I made it, even if it makes a strong point), but this is also the result of a much-discussed PSA-type post I made on /r/Hermeticism on the topic which itself draws on my Hermeticism FAQ post about texts.  In the course of me wanting to get more stuff off Reddit and onto my own blog, I figured I may as well replicate the original post here as well as some of the points in the comments.  To that end, here’s a FAQ regarding The Kybalion and Hermeticism that (I sincerely hope) will be the only thing I (or others) ever need to point to going forward.

What’s the deal with The Kybalion?

The Kybalion is not a Hermetic text, despite its frequent claiming to be one. It is rather a text representative of New Thought, a New Age movement that arose in the early 1900s. For more information on the history and development of The Kybalion, as well as its connections (or lack thereof) to Hermeticism, please take a look at these articles and podcasts:

• Nicholas E. Chapel, “The Kybalion’s New Clothes: An Early 20th Century Text’s Dubious Association with Hermeticism” (March 2013) (also available at this link up on his Hermeticulture website and blog)
• What Magic Is This, “The Kybalion with Nicholas Chapel” (August 7, 2021)
• The Modern Hermeticist, “Is The Kybalion Really Hermetic?” (December 26, 2021)
• Light In Extension, “‘Three Initiates’ Unveiled: A Critical Historical Analysis of 12 Candidates for Authorship of the Kybalion (1908)” (March 16, 2024)

Despite how much this book loves to call itself Hermetic, The Kybalion is not a Hermetic text. Rather, it is an invention of William Walker Atkinson, a prolific author and pioneer of New Thought who wrote under the pen name “The Three Initiates” (along with his other pen names like “Theron Q. Dumont” and “Yogi Ramacharaka”). Although The Kybalion claims to be based on an ancient compilation of doctrines also called “The Kybalion” that it attributes to Hermēs Trismegistos, no such compilation as a text has ever been discovered, the doctrines within it do not match with those of either the philosophical/theoretical or practical/technical Hermetica, the terminology used within it is foreign to classical texts of any kind but rather match cleanly with New Age terminology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries CE, and it generally lacks any notion of theology or theosophy present in the actual Hermetic texts. Although many modern occultists love The Kybalion and despite many people becoming interested in Hermeticism because of The Kybalion, The Kybalion is not a Hermetic text, and is only “Hermetic” in the sense that it has been adopted by many modern Hermeticists and esotericists rather than by any virtue of its own. This isn’t to say that The Kybalion is entirely without worth depending on your perspective (New Thought can be profoundly useful for some people!), but the fact remains that it is not Hermetic, and so there’s no need to discuss it in a Hermetic context or as a source of Hermetic doctrine or practice.

If it comes across like people hate or dislike The Kybalion in places or groups that discuss Hermeticism, then it’s almost always for the sole (or principal) reason that The Kybalion, as a text, does not belong in collections of Hermetica because it is fundamentally off-topic.  To be sure, there are plenty of places that can accommodate discussions that touch on The Kybalion, whether specifically or about New Age-related or miscellaneous esoteric stuff more generally, and other people might have specific issues with The Kybalion in terms of its content or doctrines, but really the only major complaint that many people make about it (myself included) is that it is not a Hermetic text despite its purporting to be one.

What should I read instead of The Kybalion?

When it comes to studying Hermeticism, the basics are the fundamentals, and the fundamentals to Hermeticism lie in the classical texts that we can all historically and substantiatively agree are Hermetic. For that reason, it’s encouraged to at least familiarize oneself with the classical texts first. For the cheap-and-quick start TL;DR, I would recommend getting these two books first:

• Clement Salaman et al., Way of Hermes (containing the Corpus Hermeticum and the Definitions)
• Clement Salaman, Asclepius (containing the Asclepius)

If you get these two books (both are well-priced and good-quality modern translations of three separate Hermetic texts between them), you’ll be well-situated to learning about Hermetic doctrine, practices, and the like.

However, if you can, I’d also recommend getting:

• Brian Copenhaver, Hermetica (containing the Corpus Hermeticum and Asclepius)
• M. David Litwa, Hermetica II (containing the Stobaean Hermetic Fragments and many other smaller texts)
• A translation of the Nag Hammadi Codices, either the one edited by Meyer or by Robinson
• Hans D. Betz (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation
• Marvin Meyer (ed.), Ancient Christian Magic

If you get all those, you’ll have high-quality translation(s) of all currently-extant classical Hermetic texts with a good few post-classical/medieval ones, complete with plenty of scholarly references, notes, introductions, and appendices for further research and contemplation.

For scholarly and secondary work, I’d also recommend:

• Garth Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes
• Christian Bull, The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus
• Kevin van Bladel, The Arabic Hermes
• Claudio Moreschini, Hermes Christianus
• Anything by Wouter J. Hanegraaff, but especially Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination

Why should we separate The Kybalion from the rest of the Hermetic texts?

Because The Kybalion has basically nothing in common with them.  It’s true that there’s often a good bit of disagreement and disparity between some of the Hermetic texts and yet which are all still considered part of the same “genre”, but this shouldn’t be overstated or overblown: there’s far more in agreement between the Hermetic texts than there isn’t, and what isn’t always in agreement are often matters of detailed interpretations or conjectures regarding the specific nature of the cosmos and how things fit together in a particular worldview that don’t often impact the more important points they make.  Even if the Hermetic texts differ in the details, they are still a cohesive group with a common underlying worldview and purpose.  In contrast, the worldview and purpose of The Kybalion is itself fundamentally at odds with those of all the rest of the Hermetic texts combined.

Is there any reason why anyone should read The Kybalion?

Sure!  If you’re interested in New Age doctrines and practices or the history of their development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, or if you’re interested in New Thought or the related modern movements of Mesmerism, Christian Science, or Theosophy, then The Kybalion is an important work to read, even if only for its impact on the development of modern esoteric literature and thought generally.  Moreover, although this is fundamentally a matter of personal opinion, some people truly do seem to get useful advice or help out of The Kybalion, especially since it can best be understood as a kind of early attempt at a self-help book (although modern self-help books grounded in actual psychology would probably still be better).  There are plenty of reasons why one might read The Kybalion, but none of those are about Hermeticism.

Is The Kybalion just “Hermetic” in name only?

Basically, but it’s more that The Kybalion just appropriates the label of “Hermeticism” as a sort of window-dressing for the sake of making its doctrines seem older (and therefore more authoritative or universal) than they are, and therefore easier to sell Atkinson’s brand of New Thought. Consider that you could change all of the following about the Kybalion accordingly:

• The title of “Kybalion” to 震盪經 “Classic of Vibration”
• Every instance of “Hermes Trismegistus” to 老子 “Laozi”
• Every instance of “Egypt” to 中國 “China”
• Every instance of “Hermetic/Hermeticism” to 道教 “Daoist/Daoism”

…and nothing about The Kybalion would meaningfully change in either substance or consistency, except that people unfamiliar with actual Daoism, its teachings, and its practices would be asking about it in Daoist groups instead of Hermetic ones.  (As a fun note, a similar thing to the above actually happened with another of Atkinson’s set of books under the name “Yogi Ramacharaka” presenting a blend of New Thought and a broadly-interpreted Western-centric notion of Hinduism as being simply Hinduism, although, to his credit, he seemed to show more fluency with that than he did Hermeticism itself.)

What about the original Kybalion which was only translated into English?

There is no such thing; The Kybalion is not a translation of any text, but an original production in English.  The notion that it is a “translation” of some older text is misleading; even The Kybalion itself claims that it is a “compilation of certain Basic Hermetic Doctrines” passed down from “the early days” of time immemorial, but that such a compilation only existed as an oral tradition and was never written or printed (“so far as we know”).  The hypothesis of some ur-Kybalion is a literary farce intended to create the illusion of antiquity while obviating a need for any extant evidence of existence because it is supposed a hidden oral tradition, even though there is no concrete claim as to who would have maintained such a tradition.

What about the Seven Hermetic Principles/Laws?

The “Seven Hermetic Principles” are basically just from The Kybalion, and are representative more of late 19th/early 20th century New Thought and New Age stuff than anything Hermetic; moreover, you simply won’t find any such set of seven axioms in the Hermetic texts neatly laid out or even discussed as such.  However, the history of the “Seven Hermetic Principles” can be a little more nuanced than this.  Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland, in part of their introduction to their 1884 translation of The Virgin of the World, talk about a set of principles (though not as clearly laid out) that Atkinson seemed to have ripped off for the Kybalion (and that in a way that shows he didn’t understand Hermeticism, but treated it more as a means to an end to propagate New Thought and sell more of his books), and in that light, Kingsford/Maitland’s discussion does reference classical Hermetic justifications for some of this, but even then, it’s used to support a late 19th century approach to magic and esotericism than they have to do with classical Hermeticism as such.  Mary K. Greer once wrote a blog post that tried to establish the origin of The Kybalion in Kingsford/Maitland’s work, although I note that there are still a number of differences between what Kingsford/Maitland were writing about and how they wrote about it, and that Greer’s linking of Kingsford/Maitland’s commentary and what’s in The Kybalion often reads as a stretch and modern interpolation of ancient texts using unspoken assumptions regarding their scope and context.

But the Hermetic Principles in The Kybalion are universal laws, so doesn’t that make The Kybalion true?

Putting aside that this simply isn’t the case and that many of The Kybalion‘s laws are simply spiritual hot (mis)takes based on the popular science of the time (in much the same way people nowadays insist that divination or astrology works because of something to do with quantum physics), or which otherwise perpetuate bad Victorian-era/Edwardian-era Eurocentric notions of esotericism and spirituality (especially that of gender, see more here and here) that are not found in other traditions or worldviews (and so do not bind any aspect of the cosmos except in our own approaches to it), The Kybalion can say whatever it wants about whatever it wants, and that still doesn’t make it Hermetic (or, for that matter, accurate, correct, factual, or true).

Don’t the Hermetic texts talk about the universe being mental, too?

That itself is a nuanced debate!  The issue here is that what we conventionally consider “mind” is not the same thing as the Hermetic notion of nous, the divine faculty and awareness of God, the Truth and the Good itself, which is what God fundamentally “is”. Because Hermeticism is a monist and panentheist mysticism, one can say that there is fundamentally only God and that all things are in God, but whether God is Mind (as in CH I) or whether God is not Mind but the Source of Mind (as in CH II) leads to different interpretations and discussions.  It’s a nuanced and difficult topic to summarize, but at the end of the day, what the classical Hermetic texts might have to say about the mentality of the universe just isn’t what The Kybalion would say about it, even if it might seem superficially similar.

What about the Emerald Tablet’s connection to The Kybalion?

The Kybalion borrowed one thing from one Hermetic text, the Emerald Tablet (about which I’ve written here), and that was the paraphrase of  one of its opening lines: “as above so below”.  This is the only thing The Kybalion actually contains from any Hermetic text—and even then, The Kybalion misinforms its readers about where it comes from, saying that it comes from its own invented ur-Kybalion as opposed to an actual Hermetic text.  Nothing else in The Kybalion can be said to meaningfully come from the Emerald Tablet, or the text the Emerald Tablet itself is found in, the Book of the Secrets of Creation (Kitāb sirr al-ḫalīqa) attributed to Apollonius of Tyana (aka Balīnūs), an encyclopedic treatment of alchemical concoctions and magical talismans.

That said, the Emerald Tablet itself postdates pretty much all the classical Hermetica, and is on the threshold between classical and post-classical stuff. When we talk about “classical Hermetic texts”, we refer to texts like the Corpus Hermeticum, Asclepius, Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, Stobaean Hermetic Fragments, and the like, all of which were composed circa 100 to 400 CE, centuries before the Emerald Tablet is conjectured to have been written at the earliest. And when you look at all that and the contexts that gave rise to the various magical and alchemical texts that are considered to be “technical Hermetica” that gave rise to texts like the Emerald Tablet and Book of the Secrets of Creation, there’s plenty in there that just doesn’t really mesh with the stuff in The Kybalion, which is itself more at home among late 19th/early 20th century New Thought, and otherwise New Age beliefs.

What about The Kybalion‘s teaching of alchemy?

Alchemy is an ancient spiritual discipline that is often associated with Hermeticism, although I should note that it technically started apart from it.  Like Hermeticism, alchemy originates in Egypt, but specifically in the metallurgical, dyemaking, and other trade guilds employed by or associated with Egyptian temple institutions, and was later “spiritualized” by people like Zosimos of Panopolis into a distinct approach to spirituality (much how Chris Brennan of The Astrology Podcast and I once discussed how classical Hermeticism itself might have been a “spiritualization” of astrology into its own way of living).  Although associated with Hermeticism from an early point, not all alchemy is Hermetic, and not all Hermeticism is alchemical, either; at its core, alchemy can be used as an approach to Hermeticism, but it is not a requirement of or cause for Hermeticism.

Moreover, although there has always been an internal aspect to alchemy, it’s not alchemy if you’re not actually doing the necessary external alchemy that works with physical materials and their properties in a process of change and refinement in order to trigger the according internal alchemy.  Many notions regarding the spiritualization of alchemy could be seen to be applied separately from the practical (or “lab”) implementation of it, leading to a generalized notion of “spiritual alchemy” as something that happens apart from lab alchemy, but that doesn’t mean that only doing the former is equivalent to doing the latter; “spiritual alchemy without lab alchemy” is just spiritual stuff generally, and it shouldn’t be called “alchemy” except in that it uses alchemical metaphors, any more than one would call “going on a diet” to be the equivalent of bodily exercise except in some metaphorical way.

In that sense, The Kybalion simply makes use of alchemical metaphor and language (and derives much of it from plenty of other extant works, or at least the popular conception thereof) to describe its own esotericism, but isn’t itself alchemical in any sense beyond metaphorical, which means it’s not even an alchemical text—and, regardless, it still isn’t Hermetic.

What makes something Hermetic?

Now this is surprisingly a difficult topic to discuss!  In addition The Modern Hermeticist’s podcast I pointed out at the start of this post, there’s also Dr. Justin Sledge‘s ESOTERICA excellent podcast from June 23, 2023 about this topic (and he even gives me a gracious shoutout in his show, referencing the Reddit link I shared at the start of this post).  There’s no clean or clear answer to this question given the historical development, use, and evolution of the term “Hermetic” since its original inception as a kind of monist mysticism in a Greco-Egyptian philosophical/religious context during the Roman Empire.  Indeed, it could well be argued that there isn’t even any one single kind of “Hermeticism” out there, and the use of the one and same term as if it were just an overarching -ism might well be doing us all more harm than good at this point.

For me, something is “Hermetic” if it:

• Meaningfully relates to the myths and worldview of Hermēs Trismegistos in a Greco-Egyptian context
• Maintains a core worldview and cosmology that is grounded in the classical Hermetic texts, even if that is not its primary focus
• Maintains a core notion of theosophy and mysticism that is grounded in the classical Hermetic texts, even if that is not its primary focus
• Maintains a core notion of religious spirituality and magic that is ultimately grounded in Greco-Egyptian techniques

In that light, I find myself nodding in agreement with Chapel’s concluding notes from his essay “The Kybalion‘s New Clothes”, and quote it here since he put it better than I could:

Hermeticism has long appropriated ideas and even entire systems which have not originated from within its own milieu. As a heavily syncretic movement both in ancient and modern times, it incorporates an eclectic mix of topics. To the original Graeco-Egyptian pagan gnosticism of the Corpus Hermeticum, Renaissance scholars added Jewish Kabbalism and angelic magic. John Dee contributed an entire scheme of Enochian thought and practice. In the seventeenth century, Rosicrucianism flourished under the banner of Hermes Trismegistus. The Golden Dawn contributed its para-masonic ritual influence and provided a coherent structure the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Agrippa’s De occulta philosophia four and a half centuries earlier. Even these, however, represent the logical evolution of the Graeco-Egyptian magical literature of the so-called “technical Hermetica,” and evince a focus on the divine that is entirely lacking in The Kybalion.

In the end, just because the term “Hermetic” can be fuzzy doesn’t mean that it can mean anything one wants or that it’s all about your vibes.

Are you against nonclassical/medieval/Renaissance/modern Hermetic texts?

Not at all!  For the same reasons as I pointed out Chapel’s concluding remarks above, I fully recognize that “Hermeticism” has indeed evolved in ways that go well beyond what was seen in Hellenistic Egyptian times, and many works of mysticism and magic have been written across the Arabic-speaking and European worlds for the past 1500 years.  Although my own specific wheelhouse and interest is in the classical period of Hermeticism and Hermetic texts, especially given that the focus on the religious and mystic aspects of it largely abated in favor of the more magical and technical ones following the widespread closing of pagan temples during the Roman Empire, I do not deny that Hermeticism has since grown to encompass, adapt (or be adapted by), or adopt (or be adopted by) other traditions and practices that serve to expand the means and methods of Hermetic practice and philosophy.  Although I may not always be keen on Christian Hermeticism, Islamic Hermeticism, the various blends that Solomonic magic or Freemasonr-structured spirituality make with Hermeticism, or the like, I also acknowledge how Hermeticism has served as a nourishing undercurrent for plenty of mystics for the past millennium-and-a-half.

Even so, The Kybalion has nothing to do with these, nor is The Kybalion the text of a “Hermeticism 2.0”.  It has a separate origination that is nearly entirely untethered from the wellspring of Hermetic spirituality and practice.

As long as we’re talking about nonclassical texts, what about Mary Anne Atwood’s A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hermetic Mystery and Alchemy?  Are texts like these “phony Hermetica” as well like The Kybalion?

Atwood’s 1918 book (which is old enough to be in the public domain and digitized on sites like The Internet Archive) is a great example to illustrate some of the above questions!

I wouldn’t say that Atwood’s book is “phony Hermetica”, but this is where we get into issues involving the historical reception and later use of the term “Hermetic”. As the centuries passed and as the attribution of later texts to Hermēs Trismegistos focused less on mysticism (which made use of astrology, alchemy, magic, etc.) and more on various and sundry kinds of astrology, alchemy, magic, etc. apart from a mystic focus, we see a shift in the use of “Hermetic” as a label to refer to things that are generically esoteric and often syncretic with Jewish kabbalah, Solomonic magic, Freemason-esque lodge-based initiatic systems, and the like. This is largely a result of how some texts got preserved or rewritten after the classical/original period of Hermeticism, since we see a drop-off in mystical/philosophical/theoretical texts being written around the widespread closing of pagan temples in the late Roman Imperial period, and a subsequent rise in the more magical and alchemical stuff. As the magical/practical/technical literature spread and “carried on” the name of Hermēs Trismegistos, so to speak. As a result, when we see the recovery of the Corpus Hermeticum in Renaissance Italy, we end up seeing a sort of split between the humanist Hermeticists of the Mediterranean and the alchemical Hermeticists elsewhere in Europe, and the two uses of that term end up both splitting and merging time and again in the subsequent centuries. As a result of all that historical mess, what we end up with is a situation where you can have a number of different people who can all lay claim to the term “Hermetic” to describe their various esoteric practices and beliefs with varying levels of historical validity and accuracy, but none of whom might see anything “Hermetic” about anything else others might be doing.

In that light, Atwood’s book (and many books like it) can indeed be considered “Hermetic” in a broader sense of “Western esotericism” that mingles alchemy (not all of which itself is necessarily Hermetic in a strict sense), kabbalah, and other things together, as a derivative of earlier texts and traditions, some of which do ultimately come from classical technical Hermetica. However, does that mean it’s Hermetic in the sense of how I meant above?  Not really, except as a possible way to implement some of the lessons and teachings of Hermēs Trismegistos from the classical texts.

That said, the difference between Atwood’s book and The Kybalion is that The Kybalion lacks any sort of historical connection to anything Hermetic, as well as basically lacking anything of substance that can be found in the Hermetic texts. While Atwood (and a good number of other esotericists) can indeed inherit the label “Hermetic” to one degree or another, The Kybalion instead only appropriates the label “Hermetic” to describe itself without justification.  Similarly, it’s also worth mentioning that Atwood makes no pretenses about her book being a primary source of Hermeticism, but simply a discussion of it, while The Kybalion invents a primary source from whole cloth.

What about modern Hermetic groups including The Kybalion on their reading lists?

If you’re referring to esoteric orders like the Builders of the Adytum (who claim that one of their founders, Paul Foster Case, participated in the writing of The Kybalion together with Atkinson and Michael Whitty) or some instances of the Golden Dawn (or some approaches to self-initiation into it, like the one written by the Ciceros in their Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition), it should be noted that these groups are often highly eclectic and focus on more than the mere study of Hermeticism.  As mentioned earlier, although they represent natural evolutions of spiritual practice that center on or otherwise incorporate Hermeticism, they also have a lot going on that is as much Christian or otherwise variously pagan in one sense or another without being specifically Hermetic, instead using Hermeticism and Hermetic teachings as a tool in an expansive toolbox.  After all, many such groups also include various texts on Jewish mysticism, Platonism, Gnosticism, Christianity, modern psychology and anthropology, and the like, and that doesn’t make all of those texts all of the same tradition, either.  Additionally, just as the fundamental issue of The Kybalion is that it appropriates the label of “Hermetic” for itself without an actual tie to Hermeticism, there are groups who do likewise, merely calling themselves “Hermetic” without being grounded or influenced by anything actually Hermetic, including those whose principal text is itself The Kybalion.

Isn’t it a good thing that The Kybalion gets people into Hermeticism at all?

Arguably, I suppose.  At the same time, however, people who study The Kybalion and then try to get a glimpse into what Hermeticism actually teaches will run into problems when they begin to study actual Hermetic texts due to the stark differences between the two.  The confusion that results from trying to find New Thought doctrines in the Hermetica (or, conversely, Hermetic doctrines in The Kybalion) requires one to either compartmentalize, unlearn, or simply forget what The Kybalion has to offer and start fresh, or will cause the reader to simply gloss over actual Hermetic texts as being “too difficult” or “too old” as to be relevant, which only cements their misinformed ignorance regarding them.  Even if The Kybalion is a gateway for some to Hermeticism, then we need to remember that we shouldn’t linger at the gate but pass through it and move on.  In the end, the cost really may not be worth the benefit, and it’d be better to start people off with actual Hermetic texts all the same.

Why is there so much pushback against the idea that The Kybalion isn’t a Hermetic text?

There are plenty of people who are so sentimentally attached to The Kybalion, even to the point of a cultish fervor, that any amount of mild criticism or quiet suggestion that there are possibly other books more valid to discuss in the context of Hermeticism than The Kybalion yields plenty of upset responses.  Yes, it’s not from everyone who likes The Kybalion, some of whom can hold delightfully reasoned conversations about it, but it’s really quite a surprisingly large number of people who can’t manage that.  Heck, I made a Kybalion Bingon’t scoresheet once upon a time, with a good number of entries being things said to me on Reddit or elsewhere about it.

Part of this, I think, is that The Kybalion is often someone’s first esoteric book, and to that end, it often opens a window a crack (not even really a whole door) to a fresh breeze of spirituality. When someone is setting out on their spiritual journey, that really can be a lifechanging experience; good for them!  The issue arises when people cling to that as some sort of fundamental revelation when, substantiatively, there’s not a whole lot going on in the book beyond “there are things out there” or “think different” (especially when you consider how much of the book wastes ink and paper on fluffing itself up), and think that The Kybalion is the be-all end-all of esotericism. That sort of fond memory of it can certainly color someone’s perception of the book, even long after they’ve put it down or moved on.  It also doesn’t help that Atkinson literally wrote the book The Psychology of Salesmanship and could well be said to be a spiritual godfather of viral marketing, coupling that with New Thought techniques to get people to buy more of his works. (That’s legitimately one of the reasons why The Kybalion has been among the most published texts for over a century; it was literally written that way to be popular by someone who understood how to make things popular for marketability’s sake.)

When you couple these two facts together, it’s hard to not see The Kybalion as an engineered sort of meme (in the technical sense) that weasels its way into people’s minds, cementing and perpetuating itself as something more meaningful than it is. It basically functions like a hook that catches people, especially when you’re fresh into esotericism and can otherwise be taken advantage of by hucksters and charlatans. When you brush up against that conditioning that the language of The Kybalion puts on people, it can (like any sort of anti-cult confrontation) rile people up.

Why are you policing classical versus nonclassical Hermetic texts?

The only time I would “police” such a distinction is if maintaining such a distinction were meaningful.  Much as how one shouldn’t talk about classical Spartan civic history when discussing current events in Greek politics, there are often good distinctions to be made when raising the interpretations of various Hermetic doctrines between Iamblichus’ 4th century Reply from Abammon to Lodovico Lazzarelli’s 15th century Crater Hermetis—but that’s not what I’m doing here.  Rather, what I’m doing is pointing out a difference between Hermetic texts and non-Hermetic texts, and The Kybalion belongs firmly to the latter category.  Too many people take The Kybalion‘s claims of its own Hermeticness (like its own subtitle of it being “A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece”) at face value without any investigation or consideration of what Hermeticism meaningfully entails as a term or system.  In this light, The Kybalion isn’t a nonclassical Hermetic text to separate from classical ones—it’s just not a Hermetic text at all.

Why are you gatekeeping Hermeticism?

“Gatekeeping” means controlling or restricting who can belong or have access to something, but that’s not what I’m doing; I’m not saying that people cannot be Hermeticists or that they cannot study Hermeticism.  All I’m doing is pointing out the factual and historical reality that, no matter how much some might people want it to be, The Kybalion is not a Hermetic text.  As part of that, I’m pointing out what texts actually are Hermetic so that they can better become Hermeticists (and be better Hermeticsts at that, besides), better equipped to discuss and understand Hermeticism.  As a result, what I’m doing is arguably the exact opposite of gatekeeping, in that I’m trying to bring more people into Hermeticism instead of trying to exclude them.  Just because some people feel or have been mislead to believe that The Kybalion is Hermetic just because it says so doesn’t actually matter in the face of actual textual comprehension and historical review; going on vibes only takes one so far.

Also, just because someone disagrees with you or offers historically-grounded counterevidence to show that a particular perspective (no matter how popular) might be misinformed is not “gatekeeping”.  Gatekeeping is a matter of power dynamics and (mis)use of authority.  Meanwhile, I’m just some person on the Internet with thoughts and opinions (albeit informed ones); if you think my thoughts and opinions (no matter how well-researched) are somehow slighting your dignity and identity as a Hermeticist-who-doesn’t-study-or-practice-Hermeticism when the only thing that makes you think you’re a Hermeticist is that you’ve read The Kybalion, then you’re misunderstanding what I’m saying as well as blowing my personal importance to you way out of proportion.

(This accusation keeps being flung at me in so many cases when I bring up how The Kybalion isn’t a Hermetic text, and it makes me laugh every time.)

Why can’t you be open to other traditions and texts?

For the same reason you wouldn’t go to a Christian Bible study group and start talking about the Qur’ān, to a Talmud study group and start asking about the Daodejing, or to a Buddhist pātimokka recitation and insisting the monks address the anthropology of hairstyling practices, mixing and blending various and sundry texts merely because you like their vibe only results in making an unsavory, distasteful slush of traditions.  Some texts and discussions are just off-topic for particular fields, so if you want to learn more about Hermeticism, it helps to focus on things that are Hermetic as opposed to things that aren’t.  There are appropriate places and times to talk about The Kybalion, but discussions about Hermeticism just aren’t it.  Beyond that, however, if you want to take The Kybalion (or any other number of texts) for your own personal practice and spiritual development, by all means, have at—I do all the time!  However, even in my own practice, no matter how syncretic or eclectic I might get, I still bear in mind the differences in origin, worldview, application, and harmony different texts, influences, or practices I get up to.  As far as The Kybalion is concerned, however, although I don’t think highly of the text, I’m not going to say you can’t like it or find it useful for yourself.  If you were talking about esotericism or spirituality generally, then yes, The Kybalion would absolutely fit in such a discussion—but not in a discussion or context that’s specifically about Hermeticism.

But what about—

No.

The post PSA/FAQ: The Kybalion is Not a Hermetic Text appeared first on Occult-Study.

This page serves as a map to the articles about lunar astrology and the lunar mansions, in order to better follow our presentations.

1. Lunar astrology (Introduction) – by Asterion

2. The First Lunar Mansion: ALNATH – by Asterion

3. The Second Lunar Mansion: ALBOTHAIM – by Asterion

4. The Third Lunar Mansion: ACHAOMAZON – by Asterion

5. The Fourth Lunar Mansion: ALDEBARAM – by Asterion

6. The Fifth Lunar Mansion: ALCHATAY – by Asterion

7. The Sixth Lunar Mansion: ALHANNA – by Asterion

8. The Seventh Lunar Mansion: ALDIRACH – by Asterion

9. The Eighth Lunar Mansion: ALNAZA – by Asterion

10. The Ninth Lunar Mansion: Achaam – by Asterion

11. The Tenth Lunar Mansion: ALGEBAH – by Asterion

12. The Eleventh Mansion: AZOBRA – by Asterion

13. The Twelfth Lunar Mansion: ALSARFA – by Asterion

14. The Thirteenth Lunar Mansion: ALHAYRE – by Asterion

15. The Fourteenth Lunar Mansion: AZIMECH – by Asterion

16. missing

17. The Sixteenth Lunar Mansion: ALZUBAN – by Asterion

18. The Seventeenth Lunar Mansion: ALKIL – by Asterion

19. The Eighteenth Lunar Mansion: ALKALB – by Asterion

20. The Nineteenth Lunar Mansion: EXAULA – by Asterion

21. The Twentieth Lunar Mansion: NAHAYM – by Asterion

22. The Twenty-First Lunar Mansion: ALBELDA – by Asterion

23. The Twenty-Second Lunar Mansion: ACADALDEBA – by Asterion

24. The Twenty-Third Lunar Mansion: CAALDEBOLACH – by Asterion

25. The Twenty-Fourth Lunar Mansion: CAADACHOT – by Asterion

26. The Twenty-Fifth Lunar Mansion – SAADALABIA – by Asterion

27. The Twenty-Sixth Lunar Mansion: ALFARG-ALMUKDIN – by Asterion

28. The Twenty-Seventh Lunar Mansion: ALFARGAMAHAR – by Asterion

29. The Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansion: ANAXHE – by Asterion

Bonus:

Animal Symbolism by Jake Stratton-Kent

The post Lunar Astrology and the 28 Lunar Mansions appeared first on Occult-Study.

Translated by Frater Iustin

(Source – Miniature from Zubdat al-Tawarikh (ca. 1580), an Ottoman survey of world history by Seyyid Loqman Ashuri. It shows, from the centre: the ancient planets (the Moon with a mirror; Mercury as a scribe; Venus with a dulcimer; a haloed Sun; Mars as a warrior; Jupiter as a worthy; Saturn as an ascetic), the signs of the Zodiac in a clockwise order, the Moon’s phases in an anti-clockwise order aligned with the Mansions of the Moon.)

It governs the space between 17º08’37” in Pisces and 0º of Aries. The last Lunar Mansion is named Anaxhe, Arcexe, Albotham, Alchalh, and Bathnealoth in the Medieval and Renaissance tradition, Al-Batn Al-Hut by Arabic authors and Artulosia by Coptic Astrologers. Arab Astrologers say this mansion is favorable for business, marriage, and couple happiness, but is unfavorable for the ill.

In the time of this Mansion, some make talismans for growing crops, maintaining captives, and for the good understanding between spouses, and the magical works done under its auspices aim the destruction of goods that belong to others and the success of travel by sea.

The Sufi Mystic, Ibn Arabi links this mansion to the Hierarchy of Degrees of Existence, the one presented in the 27 attributed categories of the mansions mentioned up until now. Its attribute or divinely associated name is “The one who gradually lifts”’ and in the Arabic Kaballah, its corresponding letter is Waw or the sound W or U.

THE SUN  in the 28th Mansion indicates a successful person but with various problems. Marriage and love are strong domains, however, they will lack friends. They obtain professional success, but success also brings destruction and unhappiness to many. They may have important jobs related to law and money, in any case, a position in which their decisions will affect many people—the classical case of debt-specialized analysts, bankers, money lenders, and recoverers. They do these jobs with a content mind, knowing that its simply a job that someone else will do if not them. Natives are good people deep down but need to project this unscrupulous image, without regrets and with a sense of duty.

THE MOON in the 28th Mansion shows a happy marriage and a good relationship between partners, but tense ones with the people around. Partnerships of any kind will crumble, even though they start off well, only those based on love will be solid. They may have careers in the navy and in any fields related to water and ships but also commerce and agriculture.

MERCURY in the 28th Mansion shows a man with a good mercantile sense. They quickly discover their talent for negotiation and persuasion, a good sign for which they can pursue a lucrative career in commerce, financial transactions, and banking. They learn quickly that they are the only ones who can make it in their ventures and partnerships. Lending money isn’t recommended nor risking their careers for nobody, because this can cause their downfall. They may help others altruistically, however, partnerships, investments, and loans are not for them.

VENUS in the 28th mansion shows a calm, pacifist tranquil, and generally loving person. Love plays a special role in their lives, and are always looking for love which satisfies many even older people. These natives love and want to be loved, however not a few times their goals don’t correspond with their partners being the reason for suffering. They will marry without thinking and in most cases they will benefit from a wonderful marriage.

MARS in the 28th Mansion shows a possessive lover, often jealous even though they might not have a good reason. They have a territorial nature and will manifest even from childhood, and they become more possessive the more the relationship becomes serious. If they are possessive with the first lovers, with a husband or wife they will be even more. Marriage comes naturally for these natives and they consider it necessary, and will certainly find the right match. Even so, there are some good sides to this placement. These natives are devoted and have a sense of honor, are idealistic, and will defend the innocent or in danger.

JUPITER  in the 28th Mansion shows a family-oriented person, a devoted spouse, and a loving parent. They will have many satisfactions professionally, however their careers will also bring discontent and suffering. They may choose to become a prosecutor, lawyer, judge, banker or financial inspector.

SATURN in the 28th Mansion shows a life marked by austerity and poverty. This might be their general social situation, the one they are born into or earned by ending up during the course of their lives. However, they will get to know the extremes of comfort and poverty. Those born into wealthy families will squander their wealth in various financial machinations, while those born poor will have chances to become wealthy numerous times during their lives. These natives may experience alienation or isolation, be it in hospitals, at home, or in the penal system. Also, these natives who have Saturn in this mansion must know that their hardships are part of their karma and debt to themselves from other lives.

URANUS in the 28th Mansion shows a loving, open, sociable, and intelligent native. They think their role is to make people feel good or to bring a smile where it’s needed. They might be passionate about mystical love, eros dreaming or even poetry and can have a good academic, artistic, or ecclesiastical career. Many priests are born under this sign, but also poets and artists that can change the world.

NEPTUNE in the 28th Mansion shows a person who is predisposed to creative and imaginative processes. They have a karma that indebts them to some extent to humanity, especially spiritually. They are prosperous, without worries, and a bit spoiled. When well-aspected this placement gives intelligent and evolved people sometimes geniuses, however when badly aspected it can generate hypocrisy and lies.

PLUTO in the 28th Mansion shows a person with an accentuated collective karma, tightly related to spirituality and science. Their research might lead them to scientific achievements, or intense spiritual experiences. They might benefit from extrasensory abilities, especially if they develop them wisely and honestly.

LILITH in the 28th Mansion shows a lustful, lascivious, and inclined towards pleasure. These natives are very sexually active and will have many partners. They will start their sex life quite early, being precocious here as well as in other domains. Marriage will depend on their capacity to dissimulate and hide their adulteries.

THE NORTH NODE in the 28th Mansion shows that the meaning of this native’s life is to learn to use love and live to its true value. They are old souls, with many previous lives and this incarnation is one of the nodal points in its existence as an incarnated soul.

THE SOUTH NODE in the 28th Mansion shows a soul that in its previous incarnation worked on personal spiritual ascension and evolution and relation with the unseen world. This aspect is very strange and ambivalent because these natives can seem to be outside terrestrial norms and were incarnated strictly to help others unconditionally, be it retrograded due to a serious mistake and having to start anew. Their demeanor and reactions will speak on their own about their status.

The post THE TWENTY-EIGHT LUNAR MANSION: ANAXHE appeared first on Occult-Study.

Translated by Frater Iustin

(Source – Miniature from Zubdat al-Tawarikh (ca. 1580), an Ottoman survey of world history by Seyyid Loqman Ashuri. It shows, from the centre: the ancient planets (the Moon with a mirror; Mercury as a scribe; Venus with a dulcimer; a haloed Sun; Mars as a warrior; Jupiter as a worthy; Saturn as an ascetic), the signs of the Zodiac in a clockwise order, the Moon’s phases in an anti-clockwise order aligned with the Mansions of the Moon.)

The 27th and penultimate Lunar Mansion governs the space between 4º17’11”  and 17º08’36” in the sign of Pisces. Named Ahhalgalmoad, Alcharya, Alfargamahar, Algarfermuth, or Algaafalmuehar in the Medieval and Renaissance tradition, Al-Fargh-Al-Thani by Arab authors and Artulos by Coptic Greek astrologers.

Arab Astrologers say that this mansion is favorable towards nature, harvests, earnings, and marriage but is unfavorable towards travel, real estate, and lending of money in general, showing financial incompetence. We can deduce from modern medieval adapted opinions that this mansion influences agriculture, forestry, gardening, medicine, and the pharmaceutical industry, therapies of any kind, businesses, finances, banks lotteries, marriage, and children.

During the time of this mansion some make talismans for commerce, friendship, harvests, and healing, and the magical works under its auspices concern friendship and enmity, against prisoners and travel by water.
The Sufi mystic, Ibn Arabi links this mansion to the Human Realm. Its attribute or divinely associated name is “The unifier” and in the Arabic Kaballah, its corresponding letter is Mim or the sound M.

THE SUN in the 27th Mansion shows a pleasant, well-mannered, open, and sociable person. These natives have a distinct way of treating people, with honesty, respect, and cherish regardless if it’s a close friend or someone they have just been acquainted with recently. They treat everyone with respect and cordiality, however not distantly and condescendingly but warm and affable, adding a drop of charisma. They have a good sense of humor but without acting the fools, make people laugh but not in a vulgar manner, and draw much pleasure from making others feel at large. Loves nature, the sun, and light and is careful in family and couple, being capable of becoming a great spouse and parent.

THE MOON in the 27th Lunar Mansion shows a very psychically open person. They show great receptivity, are empathic, and have an instinctual and developed intelligence. These natives may be attracted by the unseen worlds, by spirituality, mediumship, and the practice of divination with a rarely encountered dexterity. They are instinctual, self-taught, and sometimes quite erudite, however, their predisposition toward psychism doesn’t spare them some life hardships. Their destinies are fraught with delays and mishaps, an aspect that they will have to accept as a way of learning what is necessary.

MERCURY in the 27th Mansion shows a person whose childhood and youth are under the sign of uncertainty. They can’t make up their mind and are shifty, pass from one passion to another and do the same with their ideals, and have trouble finding their place because they adapt quickly but also get tired just as quickly. They will experience great joy from children and can be loving and dedicated parents or teachers. They lose their money just as fast as they earn it. It would be a good idea to abstain from business or get rich quickly as they are prone to risk and losing everything.

VENUS in the 27th Mansion shows a native who is always in love, always dreaming of someone, and willing to love or be loved. They have serious thoughts with every partner they fancy, after a few days, they will think of the future of the relationship for the next few years, and after a few months will quietly dream of the last details of marriage. They are good-natured, sensible, loving, and dedicated to what they do. They have a curiously poetic nature and suffer a lot even though don’t have a good reason.

MARS in the 27th Mansion shows a friendly and happy native, however they can be annoying in some ways. They are aggressive, quarrelsome, mischievous, often rude, and make jokes at other’s expense that only they see as being funny. These natives have way too little respect for other people’s feelings, and when it is necessary or for the right cause, they will leave all sense of humanity or feelings and will stop at nothing on their way to victory. It is recommended that they live in the countryside or province, where they can have great success in agriculture. Their defects hide a great strength for work and great determination, being especially active and hardworking.

JUPITER in the 27th Mansion shows a good, merciful, and open person. They have big hearts and show this fully when necessary. They are tempered, and balanced, a reason for which they can excel in their careers and gain substantial riches. They are philanthropists par excellence, however do it out of an honest desire to help their neighbors and not to gain the admiration of others. They can be great parents and devoted spouses.

SATURN  in the 27th Mansion shows a native who is predisposed towards melancholy and a meditative state. Saturn’s position here can determine a withdrawn life, however, this can differ depending on the aspect. When badly aspected it will show the life of a refugee (self)exiled, a lonely person who doesn’t appreciate anything and will have trouble making themselves pleasant to eventual company. When well aspected we are dealing with a tempered, lonely person who is content with solitude, this person withdraws from the world to contemplate the subtle realities and depths of spirit.

URANUS in the 27th Mansion shows a person who is interested in the occult sciences, especially those who aim at the worlds beyond, such as spirit communication, necromancy, or the evocation of spirits. They are natural-born diviners and wield some divinatory arts with great ease. When badly aspected, Uranus in this mansion shows a scammer that exploits the gullibility of people in the spiritual domain. Also, an honest seeker and a talented telepath are being manipulated by intelligences that pretend to be something they are not.

NEPTUNE  in the 27th Mansion shows a person with highly developed and receptive psychic powers, and an intellect to match. They are attracted to healing by any possible means. Natural therapy, acupuncture, hypnotherapy, and treatment of energy fields may be their favorite methods, along with a variety of contemporary medicine. They will help the progress of medicine and reconcile science with spirituality.

PLUTO in the 27th Mansion shows a person who will commit what is called “necessary evil” . Not being evil intended people, part of their mission is especially difficult, the causing the suffering of others that they deserve and those who have in their karma learning through suffering and pain. Just like the executioner and doctor, they use an iron blade to cut and remove undesired and unhealthy things(one from the body, another from society), this person will exert the Divine Plan when will cause suffering. He may be a serial killer or a dramatic actor, but their role is to teach others the lesson of pain.

LILITH in the 27th Mansion shows a vengeful and outrageous nature. These natives are capable, cunning, and manipulative, and know very well how they can determine their fellows to do what they want. They often help others, however, they do it to make others owe them and to have an advantage over them. When badly aspected, this position will determine a lot of perversion and evil done consciously They have psyching abilities that can be used for manipulation and for using magical means to coerce their targets.

THE NORTH NODE in the 27th Mansion shows that the meaning of the native’s life is work and the value of work. The more they learn the lesson of work and effort, the more their psychic abilities will begin to manifest as a confirmation of their worth. Their work will be altruistic for the most part, dedicated toward others and this will raise them any occult-related efforts.

THE SOUTH NODE in the 27th Mansion shows a soul that in previous lives worked very hard and knew how to share the fruits of their labor. They were dedicated spouses and leaders of families, sacrificing almost everything for the well-being of their families. In their current life they can detach from their family and pursue the path of self-realization in solitude if they so desire, without being accused of running away from their responsibilities.

The post THE Twenty-Seventh LUNAR MANSION: ALFARGAMAHAR appeared first on Occult-Study.

Translated by Frater Iustin

(Source – Miniature from Zubdat al-Tawarikh (ca. 1580), an Ottoman survey of world history by Seyyid Loqman Ashuri. It shows, from the centre: the ancient planets (the Moon with a mirror; Mercury as a scribe; Venus with a dulcimer; a haloed Sun; Mars as a warrior; Jupiter as a worthy; Saturn as an ascetic), the signs of the Zodiac in a clockwise order, the Moon’s phases in an anti-clockwise order aligned with the Mansions of the Moon.)

It governs the space between 21º25’45”  in Aquarius and 4º17’10” in Pisces. Named Alpharg(Phtagal) Mocaden, Algafarmuth, Algafalbuchor, Algazaldi, Alm, Almisdam, and Fargalmocaden in the Renaissance tradition, Al Farg Al Mukdim by Arab authors and Upeutherian by Coptic Greek Astrologers.

Arab Astrologers say that this mansion is favorable for the construction of buildings that will prove to be resilient and durable, buying of slaves who will be good and faithful, and beginning travels that however will have some delays. It is unfavorable towards partnerships and marriages.

We can deduce from modern adapted medieval opinions that this lunar mansion influences builders, architects, engineers, real estate and insurance agents, those who work in public relations or in human resources, and sailors or all involved in transport by water.

Even though it is a love-related mansion, there is a distinction between marriages, romances, and “the love of men’’, meaning popularity in the social domain and business. In the time of this mansion, some make talismans for good understanding between people, but not for couples, and the magical works done under its auspices aim for privilege, prestige, affability, and personal magnetism.

The Sufi mystic, Ibn Arabi links this mansion with the realms of Djinn, supernatural creatures somewhere between man and angel, made by God from fire without smoke. Its attribute or divinely associated name is “The Subtle One”, and in the Arabic kabbalah, its corresponding letter is Bâ or a simple B.

THE SUN  in the 26th Mansion shows a very pleasant person, well seen in the field they work in. They are seductive, but at the same time innocent and honest. They win everything fast, but above all else, they win the trust and affection of the ones around them. Love truth and are as honest as possible but with tact and diplomacy, to not hurt the ones he addresses. They are clever and gentle bosses, good fathers, and generous.

THE MOON  in the 26th Mansion indicates relationship problems, incompatibilities of a personal nature, and many misunderstandings. These natives won’t marry, but if they do, it will last very little. Even though they have great personal magnetism and can attract people of both sexes, they don’t attract the right partners. They are intelligent, cultured, and diplomatic but way too focused on their bad luck in their love life. They tend towards the dramatic and often don’t find their place, expressing their unhappiness more than they should. When they are outside a relationship, they will crave a partner, and when they are involved in one, they crave being single and freedom. Despite their intelligence, they aren’t the best example of practical wisdom or of the power to make good choices.

MERCURY in the 26th Mansion shows a very interesting person who always manages to earn the sympathy of the ones around. They are sometimes rude, malicious, and stupid, but often have much humor and know how to work on other people’s emotions. They are the perfect emotional blackmailer who can obtain anything with a sad look and a half-baked story if not everything.

They manipulate the feelings and principles of others but often don’t realize they are doing it. Mercury in this malefic domain shows a perfidious and duplicitous person, but who gets along well with everyone on the surface, followed by gossip, and wicked remarks behind other’s backs. They adore bewildering and provoking intrigues while keeping an innocent-looking face.

VENUS in the 26th Mansion shows an extremely kind, giving, sentimental, and sensible person. They are friendly and funny, and have a special appeal in every stage of their lives: in childhood, they are adorable, in youth are seductive and in old age, charming. They rarely find a person who dislikes them, generally envious people. Can have successful careers in theatre, film, or entertainment. They love much and love to be loved.

MARS in the 26th Mansion shows an impetuous, energetic, and strong individual. They are idealistic and often fight for the respect of moral human virtues. They love truth, courage, and honor, feeling proud of those who show the same values among their circles of friends. They can have a military, political, or publishing career. In relationships, they are honest, diplomatic, and detached in their love lives. There will be some sentimental ruptures due to their capricious and volatile nature, and marriages will fail due to their duty towards their work or other things they are engaged in.

JUPITER in the 26th Mansion shows a very pleasant person who loves to have fun at any age. They bring joy with them wherever they go, the kind who gathers people around them always. They can be the colleagues who cheer people up, the cool boss, the favorite teacher, or the father who is their children’s best friend. They love to laugh and make others laugh even at their own expense. These natives are generous and help others as much as they can, trying to make themselves the example of virtuous behavior. They will have success in business and their careers but only on their own, without partners or help that will facilitate their advancement.

SATURN in the 26th Mansion shows a native who is apparently serious but hides a side full of humor that comes to the surface from time to time. They are very preoccupied by plans and what they will leave behind. They live a rather austere life because of certain losses they suffered and because of the irresponsibility of their parents, they wish to avoid such conditions for their followers, gathering as much as possible for them.

URANUS in the 26th Mansion shows a person who is interested in progress, of everything that is new and exciting. They can equally develop artistic and technical skills, and their minds will make them extremely sought after.

NEPTUNE in the 26th Mansion shows a loving, friendly person, but unpredictable action. They are sociable and open, but nobody can say they know them. They always have a note of mystery, even though others know them to some extent.

PLUTO in the 26th Mansion shows a very unpredictable person with the ones around. They are either full of affection or full of painful remarks, sometimes happy, other times sad, and they motivate their reactions in a convoluted manner from which they always lay the blame on others for their tantrums.

LILITH in the 26th Mansion shows a superficial person who craves a lot of attention. These natives love to be spoiled, comforted, and free pleasures. They draw energy from the admiration of others and love being at the center of attention. Relationships will go badly because of their ego, especially the moment they accuse their partners of things they are guilty of. They love to fascinate and manipulate, be it openly or subtly.

THE NORTH NODE in the 26th Mansion shows that the meaning of life of this person is to manifest unconditional love towards people. In previous lives, they loved in an attached manner, emotionally sickening, asking for much in exchange for their love and fidelity. Now they need to learn that love is a colossal force that has no limits, and they should put barriers. They have to learn honestly without expecting reciprocity or happiness in this regard.

THE SOUTH NODE in the 26th Mansion shows a soul that in previous lives was much loved and loved a lot. They must move over this subsidiary feeling of guilt that haunts them, trying to do as much as possible for others. They most likely sacrificed much and finished their lives asking themselves if they did enough. Dying, they felt remorse leaving the ones they tried to protect and help. These were memorable people, loved in every sense, but now they need to channel their forces and use them for a high and detached form of love.

The post The Twenty-Sixth Lunar Mansion: ALFARG-ALMUKDIN appeared first on Occult-Study.

Translated by Frater Iustin

(Source – Miniature from Zubdat al-Tawarikh (ca. 1580), an Ottoman survey of world history by Seyyid Loqman Ashuri. It shows, from the centre: the ancient planets (the Moon with a mirror; Mercury as a scribe; Venus with a dulcimer; a haloed Sun; Mars as a warrior; Jupiter as a worthy; Saturn as an ascetic), the signs of the Zodiac in a clockwise order, the Moon’s phases in an anti-clockwise order aligned with the Mansions of the Moon.)

It governs the space between 08º34’19” and 21º25’44” in the sign of Aquarius. It was named Caadaladbia, Caaldabachia, Sadalabbia, Sadalabra, or Sadalchia in the Renaissance tradition, Al Sa’d al Ahbiyah by Arabic authors and Upeiuneutes by Coptic Greek astrologers. Arab Astrologers say that this mansion is favorable for construction, travel, trees, and harvests, but is unfavorable for marriage and partnerships.

We can deduce from modern adapted medieval opinions that this lunar mansion influences architects, construction workers, masons, real estate agents, tourist agencies, drivers, sailors, and pilots but also lawyers who specialize in commercial solvency, parting, and divorces.

During the time of this mansion or house, some make talismans for victory over enemies, for revenge, and the magical works made under its auspices concern sex and impotence.

The Sufi mystic, Ibn Arabi links this mansion with the Angelic Realm, out of the realms which compose the magickal cosmology. Its attribute or divinely associated name is “The Mighty one” and in the Arabic Kaballah, its corresponding letter is Fâ or the sound F.

THE SUN in the 25th Mansion shows a strong, determined, and tenacious person but also someone who is vain and superficial at the same time. They can’t stand competition and spend a great deal of their time trying to match, overtake, and even eliminate their rivals. They are Amphitrons par excellence, and in their career and family life, they can become tyrannical. They have an extreme need to be right and to be recognized for their merits. Their main health concern is their heart and their general level of vitality.

THE MOON in the 25th Mansion shows an imaginative, creative, and clever person but with a very difficult, capricious, and even possessive demeanor bordering despotism.  Their relationships are short, marriage will be destined for divorce and social relationships will be very tense because of their domineering and scheming nature. They love nature, and forests and have a great interest in what involves agriculture, and gardening, being able to take refuge in these towards the second half of their lives in loneliness. These natives are predisposed to suffering due to hereditary diseases mostly inherited from their mothers. Pregnancies will be mostly affected if infertility isn’t a problem.

MERCURY in the 25th Mansion shows a person who lives fast, is in a rush and acts impulsively. They are hyperactive at work and in their free time, and when comes to communication they are chatty, wasteful, and downright verbose. These natives are very punctual, always in a hurry; are prompt but one can never rely on their honesty; they have fast and good reflexes, but not always constructively oriented. They want to prove themselves to others and are often callous and hypocritical, or at least duplicitous, and their vice is smoking, and will have trouble getting rid of it. This habit will in time lead to serious trouble with their respiratory system.

VENUS in the 25th Mansion shows a vain, superficial, and uncaring person who benefited from a proper upbringing but shows only bad manners. They are possessive in their love life and marriage will last an extremely short time. Diseases will most often affect the sexual glands, especially ovarian afflictions. Balding will be something men will have to contend with. They will generally have love-related problems, excessive sexuality, emotional immaturity, and sterility.

MARS in the 25th Mansion shows a very combative, impulsive, and proud person. They have serious trouble controlling their aggression. These are people who never forget the people who wronged them and are very inclined towards getting revenge. They are tyrannical and consider that everyone should listen to them. They are imprudent and risk becoming the victims of their own scheming. Can suffer due to work-related accidents, but also those related to sports or the army, they can also develop problems with their genitals. This will negatively affect their relationships with the opposite sex.

JUPITER in the 25th Mansion shows a steady, stable, tenacious but vain and greedy person in many ways. They have an old patriarchal mentality and want to play the most important role in family and business life as well as in politics. Problems with their fathers and bosses marked them a lot, modeling their personality greatly. They are authoritarian as bosses, strict, and more of a tyrant than a leader, their employees are always unhappy and often end up quitting. They can inherit diseases from their fathers and the most vulnerable parts are their joints, arteries, and especially the liver.

SATURN in the 25th Mansion shows us a native who is closed within, melancholic, antisocial, and unforgiving. They have very little mercy for those who wrong them even without intention, a reason for which they close themselves off due to much discontent, anguish, and negative feelings. Jealousy, rancor, and hate will push them into very negative states, and in the second part of their life towers claustration, be it jail following some brutal revenge being institutionalized in an asylum or hospital, or even self-imposed exile in their own homes. They can also withdraw in a rural area, having a passion for agriculture and gardening.

URANUS in the 25th Mansion shows a very original and inventive native who has a new vision about the world but also has many moral and affective defects. They are very attached to their own point of view, substituting it to an immutable truth, they will try to impose it on others.  They react rather badly when they are contradicted or thoroughly analyzed, taking any critique towards him and his ideas as a personal attack. They feel betrayed when those close won’t agree with them and this will culminate in pesimism or persecution mania. Cryptic in expression, they love to play the role of the wise and mysterious person, denying their ignorance when are reproached. They can have trouble with their nervous system.

NEPTUNE in the 25th Mansion shows an intuitive, sensitive, fluctuating, and impressionable person. They tend to act weird to be noticed, they love to pretend, and even end up believing their own representation. They have a melancholic nature, often time more tragic and pessimistic than the situation demands. They can draw a pessimistic interpretation even out of the luckiest of situations. They find refuge in vice, partly because of their native tragedy, and also because of their fascination their vices exert over others. They want to become interesting through decadence and sometimes they succeed. Are predisposed towards psychosomatic illnesses and infections.

PLUTO in the 25th Mansion shows a very interesting person, to the ones around, he is someone they will remember. Natives often times behave strangely and have very rude manners in inappropriate situations, usually standing out in the crowd. They want to make a personal legend out of themselves and are horrified of the thought that they won’t be remembered after their deaths. They mix up celebrity with notoriety, rudeness with originality, arrogance with determination. They have radical views and tend to judge. Are duplicitous, fake, and outrageous, liking to break people up. They can have trouble with their nervous system and skin diseases.

LILITH in the 25th Mansion Mansion shows an intrusive, rude, and uncomfortable nature. In their circle of friends, they appear to be the “little devil” on the shoulders of those who are undecided, suggesting the most destructive solution only for the sake of fun. They consider themselves superior and love to amuse themselves with the “weaknesses” and “foolishness” of people such as love, friendship, fidelity, altruism, and mercy. They are extremely competitive and never hesitate to destroy their obstacles or competition.

THE NORTH NODE  in the 25th Mansion shows that the meaning of the native’s life is advancing the goals they make regardless of hardships. These natives need to own up to the path they were given with all its risks, hardships, and sacrifices. Their life lesson is giving up small comforts for a greater struggle and for more important goals.

THE NORTH NODE  in the 25th Mansion shows a soul that in previous lives did everything to fulfil its desires, even with the cost of the suffering of others. These were strong and proud people who were obsessed with their goals and stopped at nothing to fulfill them. In this life, they need to learn modesty, humility and selfless service towards others.

The post The Twenty-Fifth Lunar Mansion – Saadalabia appeared first on Occult-Study.