Category: grimoire

Western Witchcraft I: The Fundamentals and Doctrinal Basis

On By benebellIn grimoire, Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, promotional16 Comments

WESTERN WITCHCRAFT I:
WITCHCRAFT FUNDAMENTALS
Doctrinal Basis and Theory

COURSE SYLLABUS

Click above link to download pdf

$79 usd

What is the key to happiness?

Eliphas Levi, considered one of the most influential occultists in Western ceremonial magic and witchcraft, asks and then answers that question.

His answer:

The knowledge of great secrets and the consciousness of power.

Those are my two objectives for you in this course: (1) to confer to you the knowledge of great secrets, and (2) to endow you with the consciousness of your personal power, to show you the heights that your power can achieve.

At every single point of my work in putting this course together, I thought, how do I facilitate development of the most powerful, most knowledgeable, most versatile, wisest, and most formidable occultist there ever was? How do I show you how to be that person?

And that was the inspiration and the ambition behind this course.

Western Witchcraft I focuses on the doctrinal basis and theoretical fundamentals of transcendental magic. This course is an immersive study of the first 12 chapters in Eliphas Levi’s Doctrine, Part I, of the greater collected work Transcendental Magic: Doctrine and Ritual, and structured like a one semester 400-level university elective.

Be prepared for an intense amount of reading. The video lectures only supplement the reading assignments and are not a replacement for them. In addition to the reading assignments, the weekly practicum, ritual, and energy training is also demanding on your time and your efforts.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  • Attain familiarity with the doctrinal basis and theoretics of Western ceremonial magic
  • Study the first 12 chapters of Eliphas Levi’s Transcendental Magic, Part I: Doctrine (and to supplement, pick up selected key principles from the first 12 chapters of Part II: Ritual)
  • Gain essential insights from Levi’s Key to the Great Mysteries, the book he wrote after Doctrine and Ritual
  • Craft your first four altar tools and use Levi’s Conjuration of the Four ritual to charge and empower those tools (main focus in this course will be on the wand and the pentacle, per Levi’s assertion that the wand is first and foremost your most important ritual tool and second in importance to the wand is your pentacle)
  • Craft a divine lamp for ritual use and work through a prophetic astral vision
  • Train yourself to harness the Astral Light, then learn techniques to both strengthen and increase your flexibility with the Light to produce the Magic Chain
  • Build a rock solid foundation in the theoretical and magical principles of Western witchcraft and ceremonial magic, which will then be able to support the structure and edifice of any mystery tradition or Path you subsequently pursue

A future course offering, Western Witchcraft II, will advance upon the fundamentals established in this course. Western Witchcraft II will conform to Levi’s Ritual, Part II and delve into spell-crafting, talismans, seals and sigils, spirit conjuring, and the many forms, types, and purposes of ritual in transcendental magic.

By the way, if you’re wondering about my conflation of the terms witchcraft and ceremonial magic, here’s a written newsletter rambling about that: Witchcraft vs. Ceremonial Magic. Read my ramblings on this subject: Click Here

Continue reading “Western Witchcraft I: The Fundamentals and Doctrinal Basis” →

Seal to Defeat All Foes

On By benebellIn free download, grimoire, Magical in the Mundane, traditional witchcraft6 Comments

A “Seal to Defeat All Foes”? Oh, snap. That sounds badass. We definitely need to give this one a try, right?

You’ll find my write-up of this in one of the back-end appendices of Key of Solomon and Collected Studies on Spirit Conjure. It’s a free e-book download here, and if after checking out the pdf version you realize you want it in physical hard copy paperback, that link will give you instructions on how to order one.

In the pdf, check out p. 505.

Continue reading “Seal to Defeat All Foes” →

Witchcraft vs. Ceremonial Magic?

On By benebellIn divination, grimoire, Magical in the Mundane, opinion, personal spirituality, tarot community, traditional witchcraft7 Comments

First posted in a newsletter e-mail 2019 Dec. 5 to talk about my Western Witchcraft I: The Fundamentals and Doctrinal Basis independent study course

What is the difference between witchcraft and ceremonial magic?

I’ve been struggling to understand for myself what the distinction is between witchcraft and ceremonial magic. Because the immediate go-to points of differentiation you often hear people reach for feel kinda superficial.

There are more significant differences between two different traditions under the heading “witchcraft” (or two different traditions under “ceremonial magic”) than there are the alleged differences between the main generic headings “witchcraft” or “ceremonial magic.”

It was all “maleficia“…

Pretty much up until witchcraft or maleficia was no longer outlawed, what we today might associate with ceremonial magic would have been tucked under the heading “witchcraft.”

The law (back when the law cared about public accusations of maleficium…) lumped it all together and while I was doing historic research for my novel, bishops and otherwise powerful men had gotten accused of witchcraft and for being witches (though in those cases, they were probably false accusations; those men were just challenging political power).

Continue reading “Witchcraft vs. Ceremonial Magic?” →

Postel’s Key of Things Kept Secret (1547)

On By benebellIn grimoire, tarot symbolism7 Comments

Published in 1547, Guillaume Postel’s Key of Things Kept Secret from the Foundation of the World (full title Clavis, Absconditorum a constitutione mundi clavis) proposed the notion of a universal wisdom and truth that underlies all religions, languages, and symbolic systems, and that there was a unifying language — a divine script — by way of symbolism and math (sacred geometry) with correspondences into each human language, which unlocks that universal wisdom and truth.

To access that unifying language, one would need a Key to decode from the language you speak now to that language, and French occultist and mystic Eliphas Levi would later revive this concept as the Key to the Great Mysteries, which he said was the tarot, and all this became a key principle in Western esotericism.

Guillaume Postel (1510 – 1581) was a French scholar, diplomat, Christian Kabbalist, and mystic who traveled widely across the Middle East where he learned Hebrew, Arabic, and Syriac. His Key of Things Kept Secret came at the height of the Renaissance’s prisca theologia movement, this intellectual current that believed all religions and philosophies derive from a single, ancient, and divine source. Postel sought to reconcile Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and all human traditions through what he called Orbis Concordia, or a universal harmony of the world. And the Key, the Clavis was the methodology for deciphering that prisca theologia.

Postel believed in the Eastern esoteric concept of soul dualism, though he framed it differently, i.e., instead of saying “yin and yang” aspects of soul, he said “female and male” aspects of the soul, with one being emotion and the other being intellect. Oh. Wow. Anima and animus, anyone? (Yeah, yeah, I know, not the same…) Nonetheless, bear in mind that Postel pre-dates Carl Jung by some odd 365 years.

Concept Postel’s View
The Key The universal code that reveals divine order in all things
Basis Hebrew Kabbalah + Christian theology + Hermetic correspondences
Purpose To restore humanity to its original divine knowledge
Means Study of sacred language, numbers, and symbols
Outcome The reunification of all religions and nations under divine harmony

The more you dig into Postel, the more interesting it gets. At one point he believed himself to be a prophetic interpreter in possession of such a Key, and that as a result, he is here to proclaim that there would be a female messiah, a Mater Mundi, who would usher in a new age of universal harmony. Needless to say, he eventually found himself a target of the 16th century Inquisition and was subsequently imprisoned and forced to recant his propositions. At one point, Clavis was even a banned text.

Postel’s Key endeavored to unlock a universal code for deciphering any mystery or esoteric wisdom, with the “translation” work happening by way of correspondences. In other words, the “Key” isn’t a physical instrument, but a methodology for interpreting Matter and Spirit.

Continue reading “Postel’s Key of Things Kept Secret (1547)” →

Seals of Solomon Magic Cards by Inna Vinitski

On By benebellIn deck review, grimoire, Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, traditional witchcraft7 Comments

Inna Vinitski’s Seals of Solomon Magic Cards are the perfect companion tool to go along with your copy of the Key of Solomon, or Clavicula Salmonis, which I offer a free download of here. So although this deck does not come with a guidebook, everything you need to know about these seals and now to work with them can be found in that free download. I’m going to be making page references to that free download pdf of Key of Solomon.

I think the single most compelling reason to acquire this deck for your toolkit is to use them as easy, go-to charging plates for your charms, talismans, gemstones, crystals, and other metaphysical knick-knacks. Here, Inna Vinitski has already done the work for you. Once you get these cards, consecrate them and voila! Incredible! A set of tools for planetary magic at your fingertips!

This post will both showcase the Seals of Solomon cards, which I urge you to get if you want to deep-dive into working with the Key of Solomon, and also get into what the Key says about these seals, or pentacles.

To start, let’s try a little something, shall we? Below in the photo of the three magic cards, take a moment to gaze at each one, connecting your third eye (that space just between your brows) with the eye depicted on the card back. For one of these three cards, the tug at that space between your brows will feel stronger, more intense than for the others. Note which of the three cards gives you the strongest intuitive sensation.

Remember it, because we’ll be returning to your card selection later.

Continue reading “Seals of Solomon Magic Cards by Inna Vinitski” →

The Keys of Solomonic Magic and Spirit Conjures

On By benebellIn free download, grimoire, personal spirituality, traditional witchcraft58 Comments
Clavicula Salomonis, grimoire in Arabic

Solomonic magic is pretty much the foundation of occultism, modern witchcraft, and ceremonial magic west of India and China, encompassing Europe, the Middle East, and now the Americas.

What you will discover within the pages of this book I’m sharing, you’re going to find to be the keystones of Persian magic and witchcraft, the magical practices of Muslim-influenced Southeast Asian countries, the Golden Dawn (though many of their correspondences differ), hoodoo, Wicca, and maybe even the traditions you’ve inherited and have been wondering where those traditions might have come from.

If you’re serious about your occult studies, then I hope you’ll add this text to your library and read through it cover to cover at least once.

From my vantage point, this book is essential reading, even if for no other reason than to take it apart to realize once and for all this is not for you. That, too, is invaluable. Whether you want to strengthen the connection to these roots or you want to sever ties with the roots altogether and grow anew, either choice calls for an examination of this text.

The images from historically significant grimoires, the essence of the ritual instructions provided, and the methodology behind the crafting of seals, devising the magical scripts, and even how to prepare for ritual can help to inspire your own creativity, offering sparks and revelations for how to do Craft your way.

From the Tractatis de Nigromatia (16th century), A grimoire on necromancy

If you’re a total beginner, then please do not try out any of these rituals or operations on your own. Plus, the instructions are pretty clear that most of these conjurations should never be performed solitary.

At the beginner and intermediate level, a light read of this text is going to be the best introduction to ceremonial magic, witchcraft, and occultism west of the Indies you can get.

This should be your orientation manual into the Craft and the beginner steps for realizing your Great Work. Levi even says as much, which is why in a course I was putting together focused on Levi, I ended up having to back-track and start first with the Key of Solomon.

Continue reading “The Keys of Solomonic Magic and Spirit Conjures” →

SKT Tarot Readings Diary (Free Download)

On By benebellIn cartomancy, free download, grimoire, personal spirituality, Spirit Keeper's Tarot, tarot5 Comments

This is the tarot readings diary keyed specifically to the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot deck that I promised back when I shared the downloads for the tarot journal collab with Scarlet, linked here.

SKT Tarot Readings Diary

This is a Tarot Readings Diary keyed specifically to the SKT. That means the “Classes & Workshops Log of Notes” is a note-taking section for all video courses outlined in the Free Esoteric Tarot Online Course for the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot, linked here.

The short form card meanings compiled from both the First Edition LWB and the Vitruvian Edition LWB are provided in the back of the Tarot Readings Diary for your convenience of reference.

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Tarot Card Meanings with Benebell (Study Journal Free Download)

On By benebellIn free download, grimoire, Learn the Tarot, Spirit Keeper's Tarot, tarot, tarot card meanings, tarot community, tarot symbolism8 Comments

This is the tarot study journal keyed with the SKT that I promised back when I shared the downloads for the tarot journal collab with Scarlet, linked here.

Tarot Study Journal

The Tarot Study Journal is for you to record all your card meanings and correspondences reference material. The structure of this journal is the same as the one previously shared for the tarot journal collab, except this one includes the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot deck. In other words, it’s a study journal for the Tarot de Marseilles, Rider-Waite-Smith, Thoth, and the SKT.

For those who have been following along the Tarot Card Meanings with Benebell video lecture series, this Tarot Study Journal is basically keyed to that video lecture series. So you can print out a copy of this journal and take all your notes from the lecture series in these pages.

Continue reading “Tarot Card Meanings with Benebell (Study Journal Free Download)” →

Your Tarot Journal (Collaborating with Scarlet Ravenswood)

On By benebellIn free download, grimoire, Learn the Tarot, personal spirituality, tarot, tarot card meanings, tarot community21 Comments

Scarlet Ravenswood from Arcane Alchemy and I have teamed up to talk about keeping a tarot journal. Earlier this week I chatted with Scarlet and her co-host Dan on their podcast Cosmic Keys. Be sure to check it out. =)

Subscribe to Scarlet over on YouTube and Follow Her on Instagram.

She and I also teamed up to put together two free downloads for you. The Tarot Study Journal is, in short, where you keep card meanings and your research. The Tarot Readings Diary is where you log readings you’ve been doing for yourself or for others.

I will be creating these two journal versions for those with the Spirit Keeper’s Tarot deck (I’ve got the e-mail addresses for all purchasers) so stay on the look-out for that! I’ll be sending the downloads to your e-mail inbox in the next few weeks.

Scarlet and Benebell’s

Tarot Study Journal

PDF download, 516 interior pages

Psst… If you’re working with the SKT deck, then hold out for a version of these two journals that include sections keyed for the SKT. I’m going to be contacting you all via the SKT Newsletter with a ton of downloads, DOCX and PDF.

Continue reading “Your Tarot Journal (Collaborating with Scarlet Ravenswood)” →

Tarot Correspondences by T. Susan Chang

On By benebellIn book review, cartomancy, grimoire, tarot, tarot community, tarot symbolism9 Comments

This book is such a must-have. Those of you who’ve been following along in my orientation video series for Spirit Keeper’s Tarot will have seen that I recommended Tarot Correspondences as the tarot book to get if you want to work with correspondence systems.

Chang’s Tarot Correspondences is tailored to all levels of tarot proficiency, whether you’ve “been reading for decades” or “you just picked up your first deck,” (as noted in the Introduction). “Correspondences,” she writes, “are patterns and connections inherited from esoteric systems. In tarot, correspondences line up with specific cards.”

Working with tarot correspondences is premised on the doctrine of sympathy, a Hermetic principle that the way one system goes with the other is part and parcel to the magic that happens. Correspondences, notes Chang, are the bridge between worlds. And I couldn’t agree with her more.

Continue reading “Tarot Correspondences by T. Susan Chang” →