Magick

If you want a beautiful garden, you can't just toss some seeds onto the dirt and walk away. It's the same with creating a magical life. You must prepare your magical "soil"—body, mind, and spirit—so your magical practices can take root, grow, thrive, and blossom into the sparkling magical life you desire. In this article, Pagan Curiouser author Debra DeAngelo illustrates how to do so.

From card title to uses to spreads, tarot always evolves. And while we may assume that our current practices are better than those that came before us, the wisest among us search the past for treasures to adapt to current needs. Here, The Art of Tarot Spreads author Barbara Moore illustrates the power and wisdom of doing just that.

It's easy to feel untethered to truth right now, but earth magic can provide a powerful antidote to those feelings by reconnecting to our bodies and to nature. Here, Sacred Magic of the North author Tahverlee Anglen shares 20 simple ways that you can build a practice of mastering your connection to the earth and to the magic of the north, especially when you feel untethered.

One of the key figures in the Western Mystery Tradition, R A Gilbert, has died. He was 83.

Robert Andrew Gilbert, born on 6 October 1942, was a British historian, bibliographer and antiquarian bookseller whose name turned up whenever serious occult history was discussed.

He studied philosophy and psychology at the University of Bristol, then built a career around books, archives and the paper trail of western esotericism. He was best known for his work on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Arthur Edward Waite, occult bibliography, Christian mysticism and Masonic history.

Gilbert’s strength was carefully researched occult history that avoided becoming dull. He checked dates, editions, membership lists, letters, manuscripts and institutional rows. That made him valuable in a field where too many writers preferred grand claims, dodgy initiatory lineages and archive work that seemed to involve closing both eyes.

Although Gilbert was better known for his research on the Golden Dawn, his deeper personal interest was A E Waite. His major works included A E Waite: a bibliography from 1983 and A E Waite: magician of many parts from 1987.

His Golden Dawn books included The Golden Dawn: twilight of the magicians and The Golden Dawn companion, both published in 1986. The Golden Dawn companion was a guide to the history, structure and workings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.

Gilbert wrote and edited texts on Golden Dawn members and related figures, including Waite, William Wynn Westcott and Arthur Machen. He was described as a world authority on the historiography of esoteric thought and 19th-century occult currents.

Gilbert’s work on Waite was especially important because Waite was often reduced to “the bloke from the tarot deck.”  Gilbert treated him as a serious, difficult Christian esotericist, rather than just the co-creator of the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot.

That helped drag Waite out from behind Pamela Colman Smith’s illustrations and back into the broader history of mysticism, ritual magic and occult publishing. Gilbert worked on Freemasonry too. His name appeared alongside Masonic historian John Hamill in World Freemasonry: an illustrated history, a book noted for its use of documentary sources.

For occultists, Gilbert was useful because he wrote from inside the subject without drowning in it. He understood why the Golden Dawn, Waite, Rosicrucianism and magical orders mattered, while still treating them as historical bodies made of people, paperwork, ambition, rows and muddle.

That gave him a slightly thankless role. He was the man who told the magical romantic that the date was wrong, the lineage was shaky, and the document said something duller. He knew that the supposed secret tradition might have passed through a committee. Occult history needed that sort of spoilsport. Otherwise, everyone ended up quoting each other’s mistakes by candlelight.

I first met him in the UK in 1989. I was a young stranger from New Zealand with absolutely nothing to offer him, but he opened his library to me and we sat around talking about the Golden Dawn. He took me to the place where the Bristol temple had met, then to his bookshop, where he pointed out some of the rare treasures.

One of them was a signed Yeats first edition, which I still have.

He arranged for me to meet people who became important in my occult career and opened a door to esoteric Freemasonry. We did not agree on everything. One of Bob’s rare gifts was his ability to stay onside with people whose views he did not share. He had strong opinions and was never afraid to make them known.

He was a tolerant Christian mystic and, although he was an expert on the magical Golden Dawn, he was more interested in the mystical version created by Waite. I remember was no fan of the Bornless Ritual or Chaos magic (or its founders).

His knowledge of the people and the buried bodies of the western occult scene made him difficult to push around. It earned him a few enemies among those trying to invent history for their own self-glorification.  Even so, many people in the occult scene owed a great deal to Bob’s work and research.

The ripples of his life will continue for many years to come.

The post R A Gilbert has died appeared first on Nick Farrell's Magical Blog.

In Heathen and Pagan traditions, Frigg and her allied goddesses symbolize a model of justice grounded in care, mutual support, and a long-term perspective. Here, Frigg's Twelvefold Flame author Rev. Máire Durkan illustrates how we can work with this court to foster spiritual growth, sacred activism, and social justice.

Tarot may be read all over the world, but the way readers approach the cards can differ significantly between Europe and the United States. These differences are not about right or wrong; rather, they reflect different historical traditions that shaped how Tarot is practiced today. Here, Kirsten Buchholzer, co-author of Your Tarot Guide, examines how European Tarot traditions differ from American tarot reading.

Many witches, pagans, occultists, and magical practitioners find great meaning and value in celebrating holidays throughout the year, and these holidays are as diverse as the people who observe them. In this article, The Holy Year of Thelema author Maevius Lynn provides a quick overview of the holy days (or holidays) found in the magical tradition of Thelema.

Mermaids and merfolk are the most well-known fairies of the sea, and all around the world, mysterious and alluring stories about mermaids have fascinated people for thousands of years. There are many types of merfolk who inhabit the waters in countless places around the world. Here, author Sandra Kynes details 8 examples of mermaids and merfolk.

An experienced tarot reader can seem able to understand a spread almost instantly. This is rarely the result of memorizing hundreds of meanings, though. Instead, professional readers rely on a few simple principles that make readings both faster and clearer. In this article, Your Tarot Guide co-author S. ROE Buchholzer delves into 5 ways professional tarot readers are able to read faster and more clearly than beginners.

Reading is one of the most accessible magical practices, yet it is rarely recognized as such. When approached with intention, attention, and curiosity, texts—from the simplest to the prohibitively complex—can become sources of inspiration and insight. Here, The Seeker's Guide to Grimoire Magic author Dee Norman details how you can read like a magician and unlock the hidden power of magical texts.