User Profile

@singingmousai That's ambitious!

This is a short ebook in the Hadean Press tradition. It's very useful. The author does just what they promise: the fumigations from Agrippa's "Three Books of Occult Philosophy" are taken apart and analyzed, with alternate ingredients given. One very nice thing about the book is that it also includes a fumigation for all seven planets all mixed together! I particularly appreciated how they were kind enough to point out all of the poisonous ingredients and which ones should not be burned anywhere near human nostrils.

There are two Picatrix translations that get used by practitioners these days: this one, and the Warnock/Greer one. Both are excellent, but I prefer this one, and this is why: Attrell and Porreca have an academic approach to translation that lends itself to copious footnotes and careful, historical consideration of strange terms. They also label portions of the text by section and paragraph number, making it much easier to share citations with others. While the Warnock/Greer translation may be targeted at practitioners, I believe that practitioners can get even more out of this one, just from its ease of reference and excellent indices and appendices.

This book was perfect for my level of musical knowledge. I knew how to read music, and I knew some of the basics. But in these pages, I learned so much that I wanted to know---and much that I didn't even ponder before opening it! I enjoyed playing my way through the lessons, learning tons about music and how it all goes together. It really helped me understand so many music things. For those wanting a crash course on music theory, I highly recommend this one.

@aversatrix @Heatherfreeman We are the Israels Regardie of our time!!

Rural England has a very rich and mostly ignored history of secret societies and folk magic. This book reveals a ton of fascinating lore about both. For historians of secret societies such as Freemasonry, there are many interesting threads in this book that tie the Craft to earlier trade guilds and local initiatory traditions. For those interested in hedge magic and witchcraft, the collection of rites, rituals, and traditions that this book uncovers is AMAZING. The toadmen alone are worth the price of admission!

@Heatherfreeman You bring up some good points. I enjoyed this book, but it felt to me like the "newbie" version of something like Godwin's "Theosophical Enlightenment". Basically, "Occult America" gets your ankles wet, but by the time you are done, you haven't even left the wading pool.

I started this book a year ago and got distracted by other texts -- I'll come back to it for sure. It's framed as aphorisms on witchcraft but is really more an open-hearted manifesto on "what is a witch?" which of course is a beautifully challenging question. I'm enjoying it so far, but just got caught up in other stuff.

@Heatherfreeman I watched some of the TV show!

@Heatherfreeman This book has been on my list for so long. It keeps getting recommended as a great book for beginners. I wish it was available as an ebook.