Astral Magic

This dissertation seeks to define the importance of John Dee’s interpretation of mediaeval and Renaissance esoterica regarding the contacting of daemons and its evolution into a body of astrological and terrestrial correspondences and intelligences that included a Biblical primordial language, or a lingua adamica. The intention and transmission of John Dee’s angel magic is linked to the philosophy outlined in his earlier works, most notably the Monas Hieroglyphica, and so this dissertation also provides a philosophical background to Dee’s angel magic. The aim of this dissertation is to establish Dee’s conversations with angels as a magic system that is a direct descendant of Solomonic and Ficinian magic with unique Kabbalistic elements. It is primarily by the Neoplatonic, Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and alchemical philosophy presented in the Monas Hieroglyphica that interest in Dee’s angel magic was transmitted through the Rosicrucian movement. Through Johann Valentin Andreae’s Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459, the emphasis on a spiritual, inner alchemy became attached to Dee’s philosophy. Figures such as Elias Ashmole, Ebenezer Sibley, Francis Barret, and Frederick Hockley were crucial in the transmission of interest in Dee’s practical angel magic and Hermetic philosophy to the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The rituals of the Golden Dawn utilized Dee’s angel magic, in addition to creative Kabbalistic elements, to form a singular practice that has influenced Western esoterica of the modern age. This study utilizes a careful analysis of primary sources including the original manuscripts of the Sloane archives, the most recent scholarly editions of Dee’s works, authoritative editions of original documents linked to Rosicrucianism, and Israel Regardie’s texts on Golden Dawn practices.

This chapter introduces some of the arts and sciences generally subsumed under the notion of occult thought during the Christian Middle Ages, roughly defined as the period from 500 to 1500 ce. It is divided into sections 1. Astrology in the Middle Ages; 2. Alchemy in the Middle Ages; 3. Magic in the Middle Ages (Natural Magic, Astral Magic; Ritual Magic in the Late Middle Ages), plus a list of references and suggestions for further reading

The Ifrīqiyan cum Cairene Sufi Aḥmad al-Būnī is a key figure in the history of the Islamic occult sciences, particularly with regard to the “science of letters and names” (ʿilm al-ḥurūf wa-l-asmāʾ). This paper examines his lettrist treatise Laṭāʾif al-ishārāt fī al-ḥurūf al-ʿulwīyāt (The Subtleties of the Allusions regarding the Superior Letters) to argue that parts of it amount to an esotericist unveiling of the hidden realities underlying “profane” astrology. In doing so al-Būnī identifies the world-shaping efflux of forces from the celestial spheres with the continuous flow of the letters of God’s creative speech, and implies a central role for Sufi saints and adepts in mediating these astral-lettristic radiations, adding a uniquely occult-scientific twist to views deeply embedded in Sufi tradition of the saints as key executors of God’s word and will on earth. In the conclusion, al-Būnī’s approach to astrology is discussed as part of a transconfessional wave of esotericism in the late-medieval Mediterranean, one that heralded shifting ideas about the order of nature and the relationship between divine and human agency.

Keywords:
Al-Būnī, astrology, esotericism, occultism, science of letters, Ibn al-ʿArabī, Arabic manuscripts, Kabbalah, 13th century, Mediterranean, intellectual history

Why and when did ancient scholars make the enormous effort to understand the principles and master the mathematics of foreign astral sciences? This work provides a detailed analysis of the invention, development and transmission of astronomy, astrology, astral religion, magic and medicine, cosmology and cosmography, astral mapping, geography and calendrics and their related mathematics and instrumentation in and between Mesopotamia, Egypt, the West Semitic areas, Greece and Rome, Iran, India and China. It considers the available textual evidence from the most ancient times to the seventh century CE. The author has worked the contributions of eight internationally renowned scholars into what amounts to a new history of the oldest sciences. The result is a challenging read for the layperson and a resource for the expert and includes an extensive index to the entire volume. It provides a new typology of cultural interactions and, by describing their socio-political backdrop, offers a cultural history of the region. In particular, astral science in the Hellenistic period west of the Tigris is completely re-evaluated and a new model of the interactions of Western and Indian and Iranian astral sciences is provided.

Throughout history, the Druids have always been seen as sorcerers who had a strong bond with nature. Ancestral knowledge holders within Celtic society, directed all religious activity as the highest authority linked to the gods, practiced human sacrifices and festivals organized as Imbolc, Beltaine, Lugnasad or Samain, etc.. all aspects of which are discussed in this article.

This essay considers the relationship between texts and images in magical works produced in the thirteenth-century scriptorium of Alfonso X, El Sabio - The Wise, King of Castile, Léon, and Galicia (1221–1284). With the upsurge of translations from Arabic in the twelfth century, the Christian West discovered a vast amount of new material relating to a broad range of knowledge, ranging from medicine, law, and philosophy to astrology, alchemy, and magic. One of the most important new genres of learned magic introduced into the West during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries is that of “Image Magic”

A detailed commentary and analysis of the Medieval Islamic philosopher Al-Kindi’s magical treatise ‘On Rays’ (also known as ‘On The Stellar Rays’ and ‘The Theory of The Magical Arts’). In this independent research project, I have attempted to describe and explain the content of the treatise in depth, and also explore its connections with other esoteric traditions, from Islamic mysticism and Sufism, to Hermeticism and Western occultism. My aim in producing this work is to revive this fascinating yet generally unknown text, as this has not been done in full since Zoller and Hand’s full English translation of the text in 1993. It has also been an opportunity for me to practice and develop my own research skills and academic writing before I begin my undergraduate degree later this year.

This study examines the planetary icons found in East Asian art, arguing that they should be divided into three sets: Indian, zoomorphic and Iranian-Mesopotamian. It is demonstrated that the Indian icons are earlier representations of the navagraha directly from India. The latter two are identified as coming from an Iranian source. The Iranian-Mesopotamian icons are further discussed in relation to parallels found in the Picatrix, the Latin translation of an Arabic manual of astral magic. The roles of these icons within the magical traditions of Buddhism and Daoism are identified. It is proven that such astral magic was also imported from Near Eastern sources.

For know the controversial history of the Druids in the Celtic world, will investigate the sources of its origin, through stories of classic texts and medieval legends of Gaul, Britain and Ireland. His role in Celtic society surpassed the religious sphere, covering war, politics, medicine and the law. Almost unknown is the participation of women in this institution.

Marsilio Ficino's De Vita libri tres (1489) has been an important influence on the history of magic in the Christian West, both for its transmission of ancient and medieval astral magic and for his reflections on licit and illicit forms of practice and how this magic worked. This article introduces his ideas about "subtle" matter (Spiritus) and considerations concerning suitable material for the fashioning of magical amulets and talismans, attuned to the influences of the planets and stars. It then moves on to discuss the impact of these ideas on subsequent generations of magical practitioners. These include Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, author of the sixteenth century's encyclopedia of magic, De Occulta Philosophia (1533), whose influence can be see in the designs of talismans in the British Museum, and his contemporary, the revolutionary alchemist and idiosyncratic magus, Philippus Theophrastus Paracelsus, who provides instructions for the creation of magic mirrors and talismans in his Archidoxis magicae (1570). The chapter concludes with a brief look at the work of someone extremely familiar with Agrippa and Paracelsus's works, the theosophical alchemist, Christian Cabalist and hyperphysical magus, Heinrich Khunrath, whose magical mirrors, concrete examples of engravings from his Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae (1595), can still be found in the British Library.

In New York City in 1875, a group interested in Spiritualism and occult science founded what would become the Theosophical Society. Primarily the creation of Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, the Theosophical Society went through a number of early incarnations. One original version promised to teach occult powers. After Blavatsky found that she could not honor earlier promises to teach occultism, she shifted the focus of the Society to one that promoted Universal Brotherhood instead, highlighting notions of the body and demanding the control of emotion as a means to rebuff demands for training. With this refocusing, Blavatsky reestablished control of the Society and asserted herself as the central channel of esoteric knowledge. Thus, by shifting the focus from the attainment of occult powers to the more ambiguous “spiritual enlightenment,” Blavatsky erected an elaborate, centralized system of delayed spiritual gratification, a system contingent upon the individual's adoption of specific morals and values, while simultaneously maintaining control of the human body on all its levels: spiritual, social, physical, mental, and especially emotional.

A 57-page, detailed outline of the characteristic, the most unusual, and interesting aspects of Mesopotamian divination, in order to facilitate comparison with other divinatory systems, but also to provide the non-specialist in Mesopotamian divination with a route into the subject.

The Moon, the Sun and the planet Venus are the three main stars in Mesopotamian thought. They have a correspondence in the religious pantheon and they represent a very important divine family: Nanna/Sîn (the father), Utu/Šamaš and Inanna/Ištar (the sons). They beat the time, alternating night with day, and they are usually invoked in daily life or important ritual moments. Those stars take a prominent place in kudurrus reliefs: placed always in the upper part of the decoration, they are one of the rare representation of divine family in the ancient Near East. By analyzing them it is possible to note an iconographical change and some differences in their relative position. The aim of this paper is to identify pattern representations of the astral family on kassite kudurru reliefs, and to understand their meaning. It is possible that these patterns are not only divine symbols representations, but also a time image of the sky.

Ropes and the use of ropes have left clear traces in the myths and fairy tales of people all over the world. Numerous examples let us surmise that many of these ropes are related to the sky and connected with selected astronomical phenomena. This article categorizes these phenomena more closely, focusing on only a few very representative examples, which give us a clear hint or a well-based probability for an astronomical meaning. In the second place, considerations based on the sciences of symbolics, religion, and ethnology suggest that the astronomical meanings of ropes are connected with their magico-religious ones.

Volumen 1, Nº 2, marzo 2014 - Periodicidad semestral - Registro DNDA 5122567 -

"En este newsletter:
-Actividad del CEEO/UNASUR (p.2)-
-XIV Jornadas Interescuelas, Mendoza, Argentina (p. 3)
- Dossier: Esoterismo Occidental en Revista Rey Desnudo (p. 4)
- Libros publicados y capítulos de libros (p. 5)
- Entrevista a Dr. Johann Hasler (p. 7)
- Presentación de libro: "Maleficio: historias de hechicería y brujería en el Chile colonial" (p. 10)
-Concurso para proyecto de investigación (p. 11)
- Próximos eventos (p. 12)"

A ugustine’s Vision from chapter VII in theConfessions is something one can strive
for, however his Vision in chapter IX is of a greater magnitude and most likely the real
vision one would wish to participate in. This paper explores Professor Henry Chadwick’s
question of the Greater Vision being similar enough to Plotinus’ that it could be one and
the same.
  C  hadwick asks this question in his footnote in chapter IX on the shared vision
Augustine and his mother Monika experienced in Ostia Rome. The footnote is as follows:
“The force of this quotation is debated. Does Augustine imply that the ecstasy of Ostia
was an anticipation of the beatific vision? Or does he mean the most divine part of the
soul, most nearly akin to God, which analogy in Plotinus (5. 1. 3. 4-6) might suggest?
Elsewhere Augustine interprets ‘the firstfruits of the spirit’ to mean the spirit of man,
which would favour the latter view. The description of the vision at Ostia has affinities with Plotinus 5. 1. 2. 14 ff., a text also found congenial by St. Basil.1” This footnote is a
curious thing because would not Augustine have listed a neo-Platonic vision as the lesser
vision in chapter 7? Some questions arise between the two Visions as does the Greater
Vision being a shared one.

This essay aims to introduce and promote, through questions and proposals, another look at the work Gāyat al-hakīm, known in its Spanish and Latin versions as Picatrix, in the context of medieval translatio studiorum  and from the perspective of transcultural entanglements (Transkulturelle Verflechtungen). Thus, the questions are comprised of three parts: the theoretical and methodological, the conceptual, and the analytical. The first part proposes a possibility of an attentive theoretical and methodological look at current political and social problems, and the use of the term "temporality" to define the relationship between time, space, and human experience/perception. The second part highlights the intrinsic relationship between philosophy, theology, and astral magic within the moving sources of the translatio studiorum, as articulated by the neoplatonic principle of emanation. The third part raises questions about the objectives of King Alfonso X to translate the astromagical works, inlight of the aforementioned contributions.

Basado en un esquema de prospectiva NORMATIVA, el autor hizo un llamado a todos quienes en 2014 habitan -o estaban por nacer- en el planeta tierra.  Es para que -a la de ya- catapulten un cambio social e individual de 980 años de duración.  Si ello ocurre por decisión unánime, a escala mundial, en el 3000 dC, la humanidad será resurrecta.
Ello ocurre cuando en el mundo ya hay una  transición 2010-2018. Culmina exitosamente 6 años después -el 30 de septiembre de 2024- al concluirse exitosamente la Presidencia de Andrés Manuel López Obrador en México. El pueblo hecho gobierno con AMLO, fue el principal impulsor mundial de la aplicación del contenido del Consenso Universal sobre la Humanidad del Tercer Milenio. Fue en todo sentido la vanguardia en el inicio del caminar milenario hacia la resurreción del ser humano antes de iniciar el año 3000 dC.
Algunas aclaraciones:
i)Lo que aquí se expone a la luz pública es realmente un cuaderno de trabajo.  La prosa y la narrativa se reduce al mínimo indispensable. Además, cuando aún no se han genjerado datos duros, se dejan en blanco algunos de los apartados del índice.
ii)El documento se deslinda de la prospectiva tendencial, generalmente catastrofista. Admite que las principales instituciones nacionales e internacionales, del mundo, se están colapsando. No hay prácticamente nada qué hacer con ellas. Pero  con optimista objetividad hace una propuesta fundamentada: que, como nunca antes en la historia de la humanidad, por primera vez tenemos en nuestras manos la posibilidad de simplemente dejar que como especie sigamos al despeñadero; o, de actuar para impedirlo y revertir esta situación.
iii)Se espera que el material contribuya a generalizar socialmente el deseo de hacer lo posible por promover -hoy y aquí-  el ir directo al escenario deseable del año 3000. De influir para que todos salgamos muy bien librados y fortalecidos de la década 2010-2018 de transición y del sexenio  2018-2024 de arranque. También, para interceder ante los demás a efecto de que se aplique con toda fuerza y POR UNANIMIDAD, la nueva constitución del mundo.

Five books, authentic and unedited, to raise the vibration as one reads, the readers consciousness expands as it takes in the vibration of each of the books purpose.
Book 1, Lives and After-Lives by Janine E Lever.
Book 2, Your Other Realities. by Janine E Lever.
Book 3, Creative Light, by Janine E Lever.
Book 4, The Goddess, by Janine E Lever.
Book 5, The Golden Key, Hidden Code of the Book of the Dead. by Janine E Lever.
Books 1 and 2 series of short stories to provoke awareness and consciousness awareness raising. Book 3 to inform and to give a leap in consciousness. Book 4 to inform and to demonstrate creation and merging with other energies. Book 5 to provoke thought but to give the Translation of Ancient Egyptian Language, HIDDEN CODE OF THE BOOK OF THE DEAD.

This dissertation aims primarily at presenting the critical edition of two works: AlWāridāt wa’l-Taqdīsāt and Sharḥ al-Asmā’ al-Arba‘īn. The first text is for the first time published in its entirety. Some of its disparate fragments (around the third of the entire size in total) have been already printed in original Arabic or in Persian and French translations but were not subjected to serious critical editing based on more than one original manuscript. As far as the second is concerned, which has the character of a free form and multiple variants extant in the numerous manuscripts I cannot exclude the possibility that some of them could 7 have been issued uncritically under another title, however I do not own any substantial knowledge in that matter, except the single prayer (Du‘ā’ Idrīs) that is the base of the commentary and was published at least three times. What I hope is that for the first time various variants of the commentary (Sharḥ) have been presented simultaneously and in the form of critical edition. This dissertation contains also the critical edition of additional seven short texts of Al-Suhrawardī that are found in the manuscripts related to Al-Wāridāt wa’l-Taqdīsāt

The first Volume of a collection of primary and secondary sources, and commentary, which show how various Pagan and Gnostic influences are at the root of Western Occultism, particularly the Merkabah, Kabbalah, and Goetia, but also ceremonial magick more generally. Gershom Scholem argued that Gnosticism had a strong influence on Jewish mysticism, and so this Volume seeks to organize some of the texts on them in an effort to reconstruct their views and rituals, as especially those with references to Paganism. I have also collected some Pagan texts which explain these Gnostic references, and I interpret them in light of later Western Occultism. Still, some scholars like Simo Parpola have argued a Pagan influence on Judaism right from the start, and that this includes Kabbalistic influence, which can be seen in pre-Gnostic Jewish texts and even the Old Testament itself. While collecting texts and explaining the details of Jewish Kabbalah, Merkabah, and Goetia is largely beyond the scope of this, and some knowledge on this by the reader is assumed, I will shed light on Pagan influences on Judaism, as they indirectly influenced Western Occultism. As part of this, I will provide evidence of ritualistic, or even Shamanistic motifs, utilizing psychoactive drugs for religions purposes, ie "entheogens" and "ethnopharmacology." I have come to find we cannot explain the history of Western Occultism without explaining the history of entheogen use, and showing how these provide a universal context for understanding ritual mechanics and philosophical inspiration, even in very distinct religions. While some of this is necessarily speculative, I have collected the relevant primary texts so that you can make up your own mind, as it is not so much a matter of IF entheogens were used, but identifying particular plants correctly. In this I will also focus heavily on the Greek Magical Papyri, and Zoroastrian/Persian traditions of flying Palanquins and Abrahamic like motifs regarding Merkabah "throne mysticism" and how this relates to cosmology and demonology. Simon Magus is credited with founding Gnosticism, and he was undoubtedly heavily influential in creating the archetypal image of the "Magician" or "Magus." As I show, Simon is a bridge between Pagan and Gnostic traditions, who also criticized Jewish and Roman Christian magick

Dan Attrell and David Porreca offer an English translation of the Picatrix. To better appreciate my comments on the translation, it is useful for the reader to know what the Picatrix contains. Divided into four books preceded by a prologue, the Picatrix is one of the most famous texts in the history of learned magic. Commissioned by Alfonso X, king of Castile and Leon, this treatise is a 13th-century Latin rendition of the Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, a theoretical and practical compendium of astral magic written in Arabic by Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī in the 10th century. 1

The entire title of this volume is:
Alessia Belli et Astrid Estuardo Flaction, Les striges en Italie du Nord,Édition critique et commentaire des traités de démonologie et sorcellerie de Girolamo Visconti (Milan, c. 1460) et de Bernard Rategno (Côme, c. 1510), Florence, Sismel Edizioni del Galluzzo 2019 (Micrologus Library, 97).

For further informations on this volume see the publisher's website      www.sismel.it

(En mi novela "Lo más íntimo de la Tierra" un grupo de expedicionarios colombianos, instados por su maestra espiritual, viajan al polo sur para entrar al interior terrestre. La tierra hueca les espera. Pero no logran entrar a lo Julio Verne, sino desdoblados, en un "viaje astral". Allí les da la bienvenida un personaje llamado Jhazel, quien les cuenta la historia oculta de la tierra. Pero esa versión de la historia le resulta sospechosa a varios peronajes de la novela, por lo cual se asesoran de otro maestro, Apis, que les explica todo el asunto desde otro punto de vista)

Could dreams have provided ancient humans with the first inkling of the existence of an afterlife? One of the most compelling features of dreaming is that it allows the living to gambol with the dead. Even today, many people report having psychologically powerful and cathartic dreams, in which they meet their deceased and departed loved oneor enemies. The same can be true for meaningful dream encounters with those we are separated from (geographically or emotionally). Dream experiences such as this can be very transformative and healing. They allow for closure, an experience which might feel impossible or next to impossible in the ordinary realm.