Tarot, Occultism, and Modern Witchcraft at Tarot Summer School 2018

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is structured after a graduate-level seminar with a series of lectures plus guided tarot readings ritualized and crafted to show rather than tell you about tarot in witchcraft. We’ll mimic an oral tradition where you listen to me talk about the who, the what, and the why, alongside my perspectives on the how. You may want to take notes throughout the course, for both the lecture and training modules, so that beyond this course, you’ll have a consolidated reference file on occult tarot.

The lecture portion covers a comparative analysis of exoteric, psychology-based tarot reading and esoteric, psychic-based tarot reading, and also tarot as a witch’s tool. We’ll cover the history and legacy of tarot in Western occultism, focusing in on applying Hermetic principles to the tarot, and consider the role of tarot and witchcraft in the modern era.

The practicum portion will be a series of guided tarot readings and training videos to demonstrate the basics and preliminary exploration of using tarot to commune with your Holy Guardian Angel, spell-craft for financial gains, extracting cards for talismans, petitioning forth spirit entities to conduct a divinatory reading, using tarot to commune with land spirits or assess the characteristic properties of a land, and tarot in pathworking, with proprietary training models shared on how to enhance your clairvoyance and clairaudience during a tarot reading.

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Grimoire Inspiration: The Wooden Books Series

By far my favorite source of inspiration for my grimoire comes from the Wooden Books series published by Bloomsbury. I have the four-book set shown above, which I like to keep displayed out on a coffee table in our living room.

I reach for these books often and you’ll see why once you peek inside the page spreads. One of the questions I get asked the most is about my grimoire or personal book of methods/book of shadows.  I’ve given my thoughts into how you might structure and organize your grimoire here (How to Create Your Grimoire: Inspiration From One Approach) and you can check out a three-video series I did for the 2017 YouTube Pagan Challenge where I share the pages of my own private book.

Each one of these four books informs my grimoire work in a different and valuable way. You can click on the photos in this post for the enlarged 1200 pixel-side image file for a closer viewing. I’m hoping these few snapshots already start to generate amazing ideas and inspiration for you.

Designa I use to inspire decorative borders, ornamentation, and just the design elements in my grimoire pages. If you’ve ever seen a flip-through of my book and now see these page spreads from Designa, you’re going to see the influence for sure.

What I most love about using these books for inspiration is not just the design elements, but the explanatory entries as well. That way I’m informed about the design elements I’m using and I can use them with intention and significance. Everything in my grimoire is meaningful to me and symbolic, and much of that capacity comes from consulting these books.

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Relationship Compatibility by Your Tarot Court Significator

Queen of Swords from the Tarot in Wonderland (Barbara Moore); Game of Thrones Tarot (Liz Dean and Craig Coss); Bad Bitches Tarot (Ethony Dawn)

Even though I don’t personally buy in to generalizations about astrological sign compatibility, they sure are fun to read (and write). Instead of zodiac signs, I’m going even broader and exploring elemental compatibility between the tarot courts. Zodiac signs aren’t the only way to determine tarot court correspondences, but it’s the one I’m going to go with for the purposes of this blog post.

Since there are differing elemental correspondences for tarot out there, here’s the one I’m working with:

Those who are Fire signs are part of the Wands court, Water signs are Cups, Air signs are Swords, and Earth signs are the court of Pentacles. Psst… I’m the Queen of Swords by both sun sign and rising.

To determine your elemental court, you can use your sun sign (what is commonly referred to as your horoscope sign), but for some relationships, you may want to go with moon sign. Checking compatibility points for moon signs, rising, and Venus signs in addition to sun signs can bring a more well-rounded insight to a very specific romantic pairing. Closeness of friendships can also be determined through an account of the moon signs in addition to the sun.

The relationship compatibility I want to explore here is not limited to love. These considerations can be applied to friendships, acquaintances, or professional partners, or heck, even which public figures seem to resonate with you and which for some inexplicable reason just don’t.

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Bloodstone for Shielding | Tinkering Bell #8

Craft your own bloodstone talisman for shielding and cloaking, inspired by what we read from Pliny the Elder, the Grand Grimoire (Red Dragon), and The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus.

In Episode 8 of our Tinkering Bell series, we’re talking about bloodstone. Specifically, it’s about looking to a couple of medieval sources for inspiration to craft a bloodstone talisman, done over the course of about 8 days. This talisman is for personal shielding and divine protection, and according to lore, one of the most powerful shields against demons, warding off curses or those trying to curse you, and all mannerisms of bad juju.

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Money Magic Manifestation Cards by Ethony

The Money Magic Manifestation Cards by Ethony is an exquisite deck of 48 affirmations that calibrate your mindset toward attracting abundance, financial security, and professional success into your life. It’s a comforting candy deck that’s also good for your soul. Pocket-size yet powerful, the amazing Ethony personally charges your copy of the deck under the full moon before it gets delivered to you.

If there’s one person I’d trust for money magic and to learn money magic from, it’d be Ethony. Her amazing juju certainly rubs off on each and every one of these decks and to receive one and work with it for your own abundance attraction process is going to be impactful.

The cards come in this beautiful matte keepsake box with a magnetic clasp that opens from the side. I love the prismatic rainbow wash card back. There’s no little white booklet, but the deck does come with a glossy two-page pamphlet that offers some tips for performing your own money magic.

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Integrating the Culture-Specific Craft I Share into Your Path

I’m writing this post mostly for my own benefit because I get the question asked so often and I’m kind of getting to the point of laziness where I dread typing and rehashing out my answer. Now in the future I can link to this post.

Everything I share….everything…is set with the intention, the hope, and aspiration that if you’ve found it, resonate with it even when it’s not your culture or even anywhere close to what ordinarily enters your personal path and craft, that you will nonetheless feel an untainted, anxiety-free freedom to integrate it into your path.

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On Spell Oils (Cf. Anointing Oils)

Introduction to Spell Oils

A spell oil is at its essence a form of alchemy where you combine certain herbs, stones, or other natural ingredients for their metaphysical properties and the specific combination and proportion of ingredients used is all significant for yielding a particular result. The result is one where life force in your environment is modified or amplified in such a way as to render those energies more conducive for achieving the success that you’re seeking.

This primer will cover the basics on spell oils, how to craft your first spell oil, and also notes for consideration if you, as a practitioner, decide to craft spell oils for others at some point and how to go about doing so.

Spell Oils vs. Anointing Oils

I mark a distinction between spell oils and anointing oils, though let’s acknowledge that not every practitioner does. So, since I’m marking a distinction, I should probably explain what I think the difference is.

When I craft a spell oil, it’s only one single bottle at a time, for a specific purpose, intended for a specific beneficiary. It’s custom crafted. I don’t personally craft spell oils in bulk, but I’m also not a commercial proprietor (meaning, it’s perfectly fine and legit to be crafting spell oils in bulk, under specifically defined circumstances, however). When an oil consists of a very specific proprietary recipe and a specifically instructed ritual is used to activate the oil once in the hands of an individual, even when made in bulk, I would still consider that a spell oil.

An anointing oil is not so much a spell per se as it is an energy clearing, energy modifying, or energy amplifying mechanism. Maybe I’m splitting hairs here, I don’t know. There’s something a little more “general purpose” to anointing oils, if you’re asking me. However, it could be specific in terms of working with a particular deity. But to me, that’s still not exactly a “spell.”

An anointing oil assists. It becomes part of the practitioner’s toolkit. It’s folded into the greater ceremonial process of a ritual or working.

A spell oil is the working. It’s not part of a toolkit. It’s a done deal and it’s intended to help the recipient manifest something. A spell oil is a spell. An anointing oil by itself is not a spell.

I guess I also think of spell oils as something for everybody, anybody. Whereas anointing oils I think of as more tailored toward practitioners of craft and for facilitating that craft. Of course, lines do blur between the two.

This post is about spell oils, hence the “(Cf. Anointing Oils)” because we won’t be talking about anointing oils.

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Practica of Esoteric Craft (Tinkering Bell Series)

Some of you are familiar with the Tinkering Bell video series already. This page is a consolidation of all episodes so that you can work through the materials as a free comprehensive practica on esoteric craft. Each video and accompanying text below is one practicum for you to work through. In other words, there’s a “homework assignment” for you to do after each episode.

I’ve designed this series to be a collection of practical applications of craft for you to actually try out. Take notes during your process to document your own methodologies and also your impressions of the craft. When you’ve finalized something that works for you, take the time to add it to your personal grimoire.

In the links provided to each episode’s instructional page, you’ll find one section titled “Homework: Your Practicum.” That is where you’ll find the recommended practicum to try out for yourself, based on the material covered in the episode. All written content and reference files are also provided so that you can write out a comprehensive page or page spread in your own grimoire after each practicum.

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Seal of Changes | Tinkering Bell #7

The Seal of Changes is a template for crafting 64 talismanic sigils that harness the 64 powers encoded into the I Ching: Book of Changes. In this practicum video, I’ll share with you my favorite one: the Seal for Raising an Army based on Hexagram 7.

This work is dedicated to the public domain.

Download the blank template for the Seal of Changes:

Seal of Changes (Blank Template)

Digital Design in JPG (Public Domain)

If you want to fully understand how to operate the Seal of Changes for controlling the 64 powers from the I Ching, then you’ll first need to understand the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching and some of their metaphysical and occult correspondences. A great place to attain a solid foundation to that regard is my “I Ching and Practitioner” course, which you can find and order below.

“I Ching and the Practitioner”

Course Description

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On Demonology

On an unintentionally related note, the way I did my makeup for the video is reminiscent of how Chinese demons get depicted in film. It was totally unintentional. Hence, interesting. Hmm. Anyway.

Figure I’d expand more on the juicier bits of the subject here in writing rather than in the video because guess how many people are going to watch the video but not read this post. Hidden in plain sight, yada yada. Right?

Demonology and the nearly universal cultural tendency to peg all ills of humanity on the work of demons is fascinating to me. Sick with disease? Acting out of the ordinary? Getting a bit too emotional for people’s comfort? Commit a crime? Oh. Demon possession. Of course. What else could it be?

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