The Slippery Spirit

The phrase "Io Evohe" is used very commonly in Wicca, on loan from the western mystery schools. For a long time, I thought these were just "barbarous words." A little research showed they are not. I got curious if there was a translation for this phrase. Barbarous words are made up of seed sounds strung together to create nonsensical words. We sometimes say nonsense because the sounds have a transformative nature on the mind of the speaker as a result of the particular vibrations the sounds make. Sound can transform the mind. This can be true particularly with the names of some deities, which can be chanted to modify your inner self. The first word of the phrase is very simple. It is the Latin translation of the Egyptian, Isis, goddess of fertility. The second word is a bit more complex. Collins English Dictionary tells us that "evohe" is a variant of "evoe," which is "an exclamation of Bacchic frenzy." As is common when transc...

As part of the Grimoiric Magical Tradition of the Middle Ages, wisdom from more ancient cultures contributed to the development of a complex magical theory. Alchemy, astrology, and mediumship all helped to shape the traditions that made up a complex ceremonial  magical system, parts of which have survived to today. Within the realm of medieval astrology is a system of determining the most auspicious times for magical workings, which is still used by witches today. In the expanse of the sky above us, float the stars and planets. Their movement has influenced the magical schools that have developed around the globe since humans had the capacity to look up. Planets got their name from the fact that they were a special kind of star that wandered through the fixed stars ( planētai means “wanderers”). There were 5 planets visible with the naked eye to the first civilizations. Highly accomplished astronomers, the Babylonians had a complex theology surrounding these planet...

Magical chants work very much like mantras. They provide for us a device that helps to focus our mind on the single task at hand – raising power. Just as a burning feeling builds in a muscle when it is repeatedly used, so the energy of the witch builds when one uses a chant.  When writing magical chants, there are a few principles to keep in mind to write the kind of chant to which generations after you will gravitate. Rhythm The process of thinking is a taxing one. The mind puts incredible energy into organizing all of the many thoughts that it processes. It is designed to seek out order, even to the point of creating patterns when none exist. This is a by-product of our mind clinging to the principle of cause and effect. “This happened because that happened first, right? Doesn’t everything happen for a reason?” Because the mind loves patterns, rhythm, which is simply a pattern of sounds and silences, activates the storage ability of the mind very easily. Adding rh...

The following topic could possibly illicit some horrible reactions. Given that everyone wants to be focused on issues of racism and cultural misappropriation these days, there may be an assumption that this entry is about race. To address that, I have to first note that this is  my  blog and I can write whatever I want, because until further notice, I do still have the freedom to express myself. You, the reader, also have the freedom to navigate away from my words and not read them. Secondly, let me note that this blog entry is not about race at all, it is about families and their cultures. If you can't separate the two in your head, you need to stop reading now and go away. The honoring of our past relatives is extremely important. Without diving into an extremely long blog entry on why it's important, just follow me down this thought path. Wouldn't you rather your descendants remember and honor you, instead of completely forgetting you? If you aren't going to leave ...

I have had a change of thinking. I would like to reexamine a couple of esoteric symbols thanks to some recent reading. In my post on the Witch's Pyramid , I wrote the following: It has come to my attention that, in recent years, the Witches Pyramid has had ascribed to it a fifth principle: "To Go." I believe this is happening from a misguided attempt to correlate the pyramid with the pentagram. The pentagram is a very different symbol and does not discuss the hermetic principle symbolized by the pyramid. The pentagram is a symbol of the unity of the five elements of the universe, not the principles employed by hermetic students to understand how to evolve the spirit. Though I'm fine with people developing whatever mnemonic device they feel is helpful, I do not agree with inventing something that never was while claiming that it did. The pyramid has older names including the "Hermetic Quaternary" and the "Four Powers of the Magus." Both of these...

This entry is a continuation of my last blog entry on planetary sigils and kamea . It is the entry with all the math and odd speculation that makes a blog entry boring. So if reading about investigation and the process of decoding puzzles isn’t your thing, feel free to skip over this one. But if you are the least bit curious about the Solomonic sigils, you might want to take a peek. First, let’s remember that there are sigils for both the planetary intelligences and the planetary spirits. We saw in the last blog entry how those two groups of sigils are created using numerology and names. But there are also sigils simply called “planetary seals.” Here are images from around the web of how each of the planetary sigils are traditionally drawn. I will note that the seal of Saturn is my own drawing because the web is currently circulating all sorts of non-traditional garbage for what is probably the easiest drawn seal in all of ceremonial magic. (Witches, please check your work!) Si...