Posts in Visionary Magic
Book Review: Magical Knowledge III - Contacts of the Adepts

I never thought a single book could contain an entire library. I never thought a single book could contain the actual workload, the depth of practical guidance that easily fills an entire lifetime as a magical adept. With the final part of Josephine McCarthy’s Magical Knowledge trilogy, however, this is exactly what you are holding in your hands.

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On Reality - or the state of things as we perceive them

Many of us when they were young had imaginary friends. For all of us who are now frowning, thinking ‘Well, not me!’ I honestly wish you've had as well. The question wether imaginary friends are better or worse than real ones is pretty irrelevant here. What is relevant is how either of them enrich our lives. Let me explain why I think this is not only true for the subject of imaginary friends... 

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Working Magic in Vision - or walking the Path of the Empty Hand

When explaining how to work magic based on inner vision it is helpful to take a look at one of the main differences between traditional Shamanism and Western Ritual Magic. It lies in the different pathways chosen by its practitioners to achieve a clear state of Inner Sight. Wether we aim to develop it in the circle of practice or in the forests at night, wether we use a crystal ball to fix our gaze or wether we keep our eyes closed with our fingers following the lines of our mesa: Inner sight knows no differentiation between paradigms and so don’t the spirits we aim to work with. Inner vision represents a gift we can only give to ourselves.

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The Dynamics of Magical Contact - or Understanding the Invisible Impact

With the recent release of the Magical Knowledge III I thought it's a good time to share a fundamental magical insight I only realised through Josephine McCarthy's liminal books. Actually it's a quite embarrassing to admit that I have spent so many years practicing magic without understanding this very basic principle - as everything you want to achieve in magic really flows from it.  Yet, embarrassing or not - a life led to looking good must be pretty boring? You simply miss out on all the playfulness. So here we go...

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Healing the Land - Part 1

The main outcome of my recent investigations into the magical current of Nazism had been the charge to do my fair bit to help the German land recover from this baneful blow. Whatever it will be worth - as a magician I have a contribution to make to rebuilding the inner landscapes - just as the outer have been rebuilt by my grandparent's generation decades ago. While the latter job has been completed the former has only just begun.

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An adventure in Ancestral Magic - The Glauberg Museum

Here is an account of a recent adventure into Ancestral or Visionary Magic: My wife and I were on a short trip to Würzburg and Worms when I learned that an ancient Celtic burial site had been discovered and rebuilt at Glauberg - which was only a 30min detour from our route. Thus I convinced my wife it was worth spending a few additional hours visiting our ancestors - and the dog would just love to roam over the open fields. The later turned out to be a great selling point...

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Book Review - Josephine McCarthy: Magical Knowledge I, Foundations

 

There is a significant difference between ritual and visionary magic. Unfortunately it is so significant, so essential in nature that for people who have practiced ritual magic for years it's quite hard to get their heads around it. It's actually not unlike trying to solve a creative thinking puzzle. It bends your brain until it hurts - or someone shows you the solution (at least in my case that is). To fully understand the impact Josephine McCarthy's Magical Knowledge I can make on traditional ritual magic it is important to better understand this puzzle first. 

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How to enter your Inner Realm - or 3 exercises on elastic awareness

In evocation magic we strive for conscious contact with specific spirits. Sometimes this happens through visible appearance. Other times we allow the spirit to chose the best way to manifest - may it be in our inner realm, in dreams, in inner sight, etc. However, I guess we'll all agree an unsuccessful rite is a rite without any conscious contact.

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Learning the Magic of my Ancestors - part 3

The third trip to the city of clay started from my actual temple. It was a week of vacation, the sun was shining bright and warm outside, I had finished my standard meditation and left the communion with my angel. At this point my mind and body are charged and radiant with energy yet very quiet and peaceful. It's the perfect mindset to continue an exploration into the unknown, ready to accept anything that might come along...

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Learning the Magic of my Ancestors - part 2

A few weeks after my first ancestral journey I embarked on the second expedition. Since my return from the city of clay I had been curious to learn more about my ancestor's magic. However, it took a few weeks to integrate all the impulses I had received, to make sense of this new experience and relationship before I felt ready to return and re-engage...

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