Saturn increasingly seems to me like the guardian overseeing each individual’s predetermined developmental processes. It is the sealed athanor, the goal of the alchemist which takes time and yet aims to transcend all cyclical changes through time. It is the concentration on each phase of the work, so that the whole work might succeed. While engaged in this work, Saturn is entirely without mercy, just like the alchemist is without mercy to the ashes, the fire, and the metals. His laws are boundaries, dosages, insulation, conjunction, and patience. And it is a fickle and blind man who crosses Saturn’s path. That’s why the coercion, that’s why all the awful suffering. We are amidst the fire. We simmer, evaporate, burn, blacken, blaze, and fall to ashes.
I read this in the past week and what shone through in this book was the sheer experience of Acher. With complete humility and no lack of self awareness, he writes about an aspect of his work that others
would find difficult to express. The book is divided into three sections, labelled 'History', 'Memory', and 'Practise'. The 'History' section itself, often the driest part of a magical book, I thought was a masterpiece of writing. It was factually accurate. It was well sourced. It was well structured. It was readable. It was concise. It was fun. People often seem to use the fact that they are writing about real things as an excuse for bad writing. It isn't. It taught me in a concise, readable narrative about Chaldean, Zoroastrian, and Greek views on the personal daimon and more besides.
The second part 'Memory' consisted of extracts from Acher's own magical record. It was something that I found almost difficult to read as it really captured vividly the experience of magical practise, both the highs and the lows of a magical operation, having to deal with practical matters, and the emotional side too. As well as describing his almost frighteningly haunting ritual of Saturn.
The third part 'Practise' was lovely and sensible. Personally, I write my own rituals quite a lot, so if I do end up doing this ritual at one point, I think I would take quite a different route. But people work in different ways, and I think if you are going to follow someone's instructions then you could do much much worse than to follow in the footsteps of a learned magician like Frater Acher.
The book itself, printed by Scarlet Imprint, was an experience. I hate ebooks. And pdfs. With a passion. It smelled nice.
