#occult basics

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Some Basic Occult Terms You Should Know

If you're a newbie occultist, you might feel a bit thrown off by all of the arcane terminology and magibabble that your books will start throwing at you. Here's a list of all the most important and/or most misued terms, and what they're supposed to mean. (If you're a fantasy writer and you want some authentic occult terms to use for your magic system, this might be useful for you, too!) I have a list of occult fields and divination methods here, so I'll leave them off this list.

Altar: Your working space for ritual. It's called an altar because magic is (usually) an inherently spiritual endeavor — you are communing with grand cosmic forces, of one kind or another. A basic altar consists of your magical tools, candles (for vibes), and images or statues of whatever spirits you're working with. (Spelled altar with an "a," not alter with an "e." An alter is a headmate or a personality in a DID system.)

Athame: A ritual knife, specifically one used in Wicca. It's mostly used for directing energy, rather than for cutting things. (Sometimes, a knife or sickle that is used for cutting things is called a boline.)

Apotropaic: Referring to protection magic. An apotropaic charm is a spell meant to keep bad stuff away. Amulets are apotropaic talismans.

Astral: The spirit world. The astral plane is the literal or figurative "above" in "As above, so below." "Astral" can refer to ethereal or spiritual beings or "energy." Sometimes magic is called "Astral Light," like the Force in Star Wars. Astral projection is traveling through the astral plane during meditation, by sending one's spirit or astral body away from one's physical body.

Besom: A witch's broom, specifically a traditional broom made of twigs tied around a pole. It's just an old term for a broom. (Witchcraft likes to make use of Old and Middle English words.)

Baneful: Describes any kind of spell designed to harm or inhibit another person. Also called malefic (as opposed to benefic) magic.

Banishing: A spell that is designed to force unwanted vibes out of a space. Usually performed at the beginning and end of a ritual, so you can begin with a "blank slate." It's like hitting the magical reset button. Also good for managing negative emotions. The best-known banishing in Western occultism is the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. A banishing can also be a type of baneful working that forces a person's influence out of your life.

Binding: A spell that is designed to prevent a person or entity from acting. A binding spell can prevent a person from harming themself or others, or prevent a spirit from misbehaving.

Charm: A generic term for a spell, especially one represented by a physical object or phrase. A lot of charms are inscriptions or symbols written on paper and kept on one's person.

Conjuring: A spell or ritual that summons a spirit. Invocation and evocation are both types of conjuration.

Correspondences: Magical properties of things existing in nature, e.g. colors, crystals, plants, animals, elements, planets. They were once called occult virtues, and were a staple of Renaissance magic. They're like the building blocks of a spell or ritual, and they can be used as tools to align natural forces with the magician's intent.

Curse: A baneful enchantment, a spell designed to cause harm to another person. There's lots of different types of curses, and lots of reasons to cast one. Sometimes the word hex is used interchangeably.

Demonolatry: The practice of worshipping demons, as opposed to demonology, which is the study of demons or any magical working involving demons. Some magicians prefer to bind and command demons rather than worshipping them, but demonolators treat demons the way pagan witches typically treat gods.

Divination: Acquiring information by magical means. There's thousands of different methods. Some of the more popular ones are cartomancy, reading cards, cleromancy, casting objects like stones or dice, and scrying, staring into a blank object like a mirror or a crystal ball. Astrology is a kind of divination, too.

Ego Death: A particular type of mystical experience, in which one becomes "submerged" in the infinitely vast presence of God or the Universe, and briefly loses one's sense of self. It can be traumatic the first time one experiences it, which is why it's compared to or symbolized by death. Subsequent times are usually much more peaceful and enlightening. A prerequisite for most mystical traditions.

Egregore: An entity created and sustained by a group of people, a collective thoughtform.

Elements: Much of Western esotericism is based around the four classical elements, Earth (🜃), Air (🜁), Fire (🜂), and Water (🜄). They're better understood as the four states of matter: solids (🜃), liquids (🜄), gasses (🜁), and plasma (🜂). Each one is understood as a spiritual force, with its own correspondences and areas of life that it governs. Much of Western magic involves harnessing their influence.

Enchanting: Imbuing an object or place with magic. The magic of the enchantment will last much longer than the duration of the ritual.

Evocation: Calling a spirit to appear before you within a ritual space, a more correct word for summoning. Ideally, a successful evocation will cause the spirit to manifest before you in some way (though you might need a scrying mirror in order to see it).

Familiar: A personal spirit that aids a witch or other magic practitioner. Distinct from a servitor in that it is an external entity that helps the witch of its own accord, not one that the witch themself has created. Traditionally shaped like an animal, but not always. (Lately, the term has become popular as a word for a witch's pet or animal companion. Lots of people use the word "familiar" to refer to pets that aid with magical workings. Traditionally, though, familiars are spirits, not actual animals.)

Fetch: A witch's astral body (or servitor) sent forth to do their bidding.

Glamour: A type of enchantment or illusion spell that changes the appearance of something. In real life, glamour spells won't literally change the physical appearance of a thing, but they will change people's reactions to a thing, e.g. casting a glamour on yourself can cause other people to perceive you as being more attractive.

Grimoire: A book of magic (as opposed to a book about magic). There are lots of mysterious magic books that circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages and early modern period. These books are full of spells, rituals, and weird symbols meant to conjure spirits, gain secret knowledge, and control other people. Modern grimoires are books of practical spells and rituals for experienced practitioners, as opposed to theory or how-to guides. Most occultists also keep a personal grimoire to record their own spells and rituals and their results. (In Wicca, a personal grimoire is called a "Book of Shadows.")

Incantation: Magic words, especially spoken (as opposed to written) spells.

Invocation: Calling a spirit to give you some of its power, either by lending its attention or influence to your magical working, or by physically possessing your body and mind. The latter type of invocation can be partial, meaning you share your body/mind with the spirit, or total, in which the spirit possesses you completely. Don't attempt total invocation alone! Total invocation needs a group ritual, so that other people can tell you what you do and say while possessed, and keep you safe. (Besides, partial invocation is intense enough as it is.)

Left-Hand Path: In Western occultism, the Left-Hand Path is an umbrella term for traditions that take an iconoclastic or self-interested approach to magic. LHPers tend to resent dogma, question taboos, and place emphasis on one's personal power or divinity over unification with the Divine or service to others.

Magic: It's impossible to properly define "magic," with all of its nuances, in a list like this. So I'll give the short version: One famous definition is Aleister Crowley's, "causing change in accordance with Will." This is a pretty broad definition that includes anything done with intention. A more academic definition of magic is "heterodox ritual behavior." Personally, I prefer "harnessing spiritual or supernatural forces to cause desired change in one's life."

Mysticism: The practice of facilitating direct interaction with the Divine, i.e. meeting God face-to-face, in order to acquire spiritual knowledge. Mysticism is taxing and comes with a real risk of insanity, so, it requires a lot of diligent study and mental discipline for most people.

Necromancy: Originally, necromancy referred to a type of divination, which involved calling the spirit of a dead person to ask it questions. (The "Speak With Dead" spell in D&D is a great example of traditional necromancy.) Lately, though, "necromancy" has come to refer to any kind of magic involving the dead. (Be respectful! Dead people are still people.)

Patron Deity: A god or goddess that takes a personal interest in you and your spiritual development. You can't force a god to take interest in you, so you may or may not have a patron deity. If you don't have one, don't worry, you can still do magical work with gods! See this post for the rundown. (Btw, the feminine of "patron" is patroness, not "matron." "Matron" means something different.)

Pentacle: A type of circular talisman inscribed with a sigil representing a spirit or planet, used to evoke its influence. Typically worn as a pendant. Also refers to a pentagram (five-pointed star) in a circle.

Poppet: A doll made of clay or cloth used to represent a person in a spell. In pop culture, poppets ("voodoo dolls") are best known as cursing tools, by being pricked with pins or otherwise harmed in order to harm the person. But there are lots of potential uses for poppets beyond that! For example, they can also be used as healing tools by being stuffed with herbs, or taken care of like a sick person. A type of sympathetic magic.

Projection: Pushing one's own magical power or intention out of one's body, using one's wand or dominant hand. Astral projection is pushing one's spirit out of one's body. A projection is also a type of illusion that creates the appearance of something that isn't there (as opposed to a glamour, which disguises something that is there).

Right-Hand Path: In Western occultism, the Right-Hand Path is an umbrella term for traditions that adopt a formalized structure, and/or place emphasis on mystical union with God and achieving enlightenment. The RHP tends to be more community-focused, as opposed to the LHP's radical individualism. RHPers also care about order, and working according to established traditions.

Servitor: An entity created by the magician. Usually, servitors are "programmed" to perform specific tasks, like magical robots. A servitor created by a group of people is an egregore. A servitor with its own personality and agency is sometimes called a tulpa, but this word is appropriated from Tibetan Buddhism, so I tend not to use it. (My personal spirit insists that he is not a tulpa. Also "tulpamancy" drives me up the wall — "-mancy" means divination, people!)

Sigil: An abstract symbol or glyph meant to represent the desire or intention of the magician. Can also be a generic term for magic symbols or seals in grimoires. Sigils have ancient roots, but the practice of turning one's desire or intention into an unreadable symbol is a modern one. Sigil magic streamlines the process of casting a spell, making it simple, but more difficult, because you have fewer tools and gimmicks to do the heavy lifting for you. (Technically, a sigil does not have to be a symbol — it can be a mantra or incantation, a song, a series of dance steps, etc. as long as it abstractly represents the desire.)

Sympathetic Magic: Magic that affects a target by acting upon a symbol of the target, like using a poppet to represent a person, or using a rose to represent the influence of the planet Venus. Anything you do to the symbol, you do to the target. The magical connection between the symbol and the target is called a "sympathetic link." Correspondences are often used as material representations of immaterial things, like luck or love or protection. By acting upon the material object, you affect the immaterial thing.

Talisman: A spell in the form of an object. There's lots of different kinds of talismans: magic words or sigils written on paper, enchanted jewelry, pentacles, natural objects with their own magical properties (like crystals or feathers), packets of herbs and other ingredients, etc. An amulet is an apotropaic talisman. A talisman has to be the spell itself, so, magical tools are (mostly) not talismans.

Theurgy: Deity work. Magic or mysticism involving the invocation of deities, or the practice of casting spells with the aid of a god or goddess. Mystical theurgy attempts to acquire knowledge of the universe by contemplating the Divine, eventually reaching unification with it.

Thoughtform: A thought or idea that is projected out into the universe so that it will manifest physically. The more coherent the thoughtform, and the more willpower behind it, the easier it will be for it to manifest. Thoughtforms are based on the idea that thoughts alone have some degree of existence, even agency. Everything man-made began as an idea in someone's head...

Trance: An altered state of consciousness. Most kinds of magic require one to be able to enter a trance state at will. There are lots of methods of entering a trance state, in broadly two categories: inhibitory trance, which creates an altered state of consciousness by physically restricting the body or mind, and excitatory trance, which creates an altered state of consciousness by overstimulating it.

Unverified Personal Gnosis: The divine messages or insights that a mystic receives during ritual or trance. They're unverified because they don't really hold water for anyone but the mystic themself. (It is not a good idea to go around insisting that your revelations are the infallible word of God and everyone should listen to you.) Shared Personal Gnosis is when multiple mystics have similar experiences or revelations. Verified Personal Gnosis is when your experiences or revelations are attested in historical sources.

Ward: A type of apotropaic spell that protects an area, like a kind of spiritual shield.

[book-of-forbidden-knowledge]

How to Become an Occultist:

An easy (?) step-by-step guide.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A WIZARD?

There's no easy step-by-step guide to the occult; someday I'd like to write a course on it for my patreon, or maybe a book. But for now, I'll give the short version:

I’m just going to say upfront, research is the enduring and eternal step. You can’t become an occultist without doing research, and you’re never going to stop doing research. I have a list of pdfs of classic occult texts and grimoires here, and a recommended reading list here.

Step 1: Pick a tradition, practice, or subfield.

The first step is to know what you’re signing up for. Western esotericism is a large field with lots of different subsets. Here’s just a few of them:

Witchcraft: A broad umbrella term that covers everything from historical folk magic, to Wicca and its offshoots, to modern WitchTok folk magic, and beyond. “Witchcraft” has become something of a general term for pop-occultism in recent years, and it’s what people tend to see first. Witchcraft seems more folk-magic-focused than some of the other fields, but that’s not universally true. Modern witchcraft is almost the melting pot of the Western occult tradition, so, if you’re able to find good reading material, it’s a good place to start.

Wicca: Wicca is an neopagan religion founded in 1951 by Gerald Gardner. Wiccans worship a God and a Goddess, practice magic, and call themselves witches. The ritual structure of Wicca is largely inspired by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (see below), but it also takes inspiration from folk magic, witchlore, early anthropology, and a bunch of other things from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Wicca is probably the best-known occult religion, and it’s mostly responsible for the association between witchcraft and paganism in pop culture.

Ceremonial Magic: Ritual magic or “high magic,” mostly codified in the Renaissance era by grimoires like The Lesser Key of Solomon. This kind of magic is characterized by the evocation and binding (summoning) of spirits — angels, demons, “olympic spirits,” and so forth. One can theoretically command these spirits to do one’s bidding. Modern magicians who work with demons typically fall into two camps: traditional Solomonic magicians who believe that the demons need to be bound and controlled, and demonolators who worship and work with the demons the way witches might work with pagan deities. Also in this subfield is planetary magic, rituals that exploit the powers or influences of the planets by using the tools associated with each one and doing rituals at particular times on particular days, etc. Enochian magic, a system of communicating and working with angels developed by John Dee and Edward Kelley, also falls into this category.

Folk magic: Folk magic or “low magic” is a catch-all term for magic practiced by average people to solve everyday problems. This is your healing magic, love magic, apotropaic (protection) magic, luck charms, spells to find lost objects, curses, etc. etc. Almost every culture has their own local form of folk magic, but there are also some ideas and techniques that are consistent across most of them (e.g. “like attracts like”). There’s also considerable overlap between folk and ceremonial magic; sometimes the only real difference is the social class of the practitioner.

Hermeticism: A system of philosophy based on the Corpus Hermeticum, a set of ancient Greco-Egyptian philosophical dialogues about the nature of the universe. It’s a short but dense text, not the simplest introduction to occult philosophy, but still worth reading because of how influential it was. It’s the loose basis of a nineteeth-century occult society, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which is the great-grandfather of most modern occult societies (including Wicca). The HOGD was concerned with a lot more than classic Hermeticism; they also practiced ceremonial magic, astrology, alchemy, and mysticism. Golden Dawn liturgy is so common in modern occultism that you should probably look into it, whether you plan on practicing it or not.

Alchemy: A historical practice that is at once science, philosophy, art, and poetry, alchemy is a thing unto itself. The short version is that alchemy is early chemistry. Alchemists’ attempts at understanding how matter worked was understood to be a philosophical study of the nature of existence, on both a physical and spiritual level. That’s why the goal of alchemy is called the Philosopher’s Stone. The Philosopher’s Stone is allegedly a perfect substance, crystallized divinity, that is able to physically and spiritually perfect anything it comes in contact with. Alchemy is very complicated and hard to understand without diving deep into it, but some alchemical imagery and maxims (“as above, so below”, solve et coagula) have made their way into the general Western esoteric sphere.

Thelema: A religion developed by Aleister Crowley in the early twentieth century. It combines Golden Dawn material with a lot of Crowley’s own personal philosophy and general edginess. Its core tenant is “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,” which means that one should always follow the guidance of what Thelemites call the “True Will,” the divine intention of one’s Higher Self. Its most important foundational text is a short, cryptic… poem, I guess?… written by Crowley, called The Book of the Law.

Chaos Magic: When Thelema meets postmodernism, you get Chaos Magic. Chaos Magic is more of a philosophical approach to the study of magic than a particular practice. It does away with the pomp and trappings of ceremonial magic and cuts right down to the basics, the magician’s relationship with their subconscious mind. That makes it very straightforward, but also difficult, because you can’t rely on any of those more complex tools. Chaos magicians (or “chaotes”) interpret belief as just another tool, so, they aim to pick up and put down different beliefs and traditions at will, based on whatever suits them in the current moment. The only specific practice associated with chaos magic is sigils, a symbol or other abstract representation of one’s desire that one uses to cast a spell. Chaotes tend to be deliberately haphazard — they have a “fuck the rules, do what you want” kind of attitude.

Satanism: The best-known of the spookier, edgier, “left-hand path” occult traditions. There’s two main varieties of Satanism, atheistic and theistic. The Church of Satan or LaVeyan Satanism (after its founder) is atheistic. It uses Satan kind of like a mascot for their beliefs of self-indulgence and free will. Although they don’t believe in any gods, they do practice magic; it’s mainly Golden Dawn material with an edgy “black mass”-style twist (like invoking demons, using a naked woman as the altar, etc.) The Satanic Temple is also atheistic, and it’s not really an occult society. It’s more a political activist group that fights for religious freedom in the United States. Theistic Satanists believe that Satan is an actual entity, and usually believe that he’s a positive being that represents free will and enlightenment. Some are demonolators, meaning they evoke and work with the demons of traditional ceremonial grimoires as though they’re gods (some believe that they literally are gods). The majority of Satanists are pretty chill. Very few believe that they worship literally evil entities.

That’s just scratching the surface, and keep in mind that this is all in the realm of Western esotericism. It’s a huge field. I recommend having an idea of what you want to study going in, because it’s a lot of material, and it’s easier to find good sources if you know what you want to focus on. Speaking from my own experience, I wish I knew what my options were going in.

Step 2: Learn a divination method.

Every occultist needs some kind of divination method. There are potentially thousands, but I’ll give you some of the big ones:

Cartomancy is card reading. There's lots of different kinds of cards: tarot cards, oracle cards, Lenormand cards, you can even use normal playing cards. It's a super common and super popular method. Tarot is definitely the most popular system. This method is easy to learn and very accessible.

Cleromancy is divination by lot, or casting objects onto the ground — dice, sticks, bones, stones, etc. — and reading the random pattern they make. There's lots of different types. This method is very old and very common. One of the more popular methods nowadays is casting runestones, which use Norse letters.

Scrying is gazing into a blank object until you see visions projected onto/into it. The object can be a crystal ball, a black mirror, a bowl of water, even a dark window or a blank wall (though that's not particularly mystical). Scrying is often used to see spirits in ritual magic. I can't scry worth a damn, so I can't tell you more than that. It's worth trying if you're a visual person, though.

A pendulum is a stone or other heavy object on a chain. You can use it to answer yes/no questions. Lots of crystal shops sell fancy pendulums, but you could just use a pendant. You say to the pendulum, "show me my yes" and "show me my no." Usually the "yes" is going around in a circle and "no" is going back and forth, or vice-versa. Pendulums are fun, but not super reliable because you can influence them easily. I wouldn't interpret any answer a pendulum gives you as final.

Oneiromancy is dream interpretation, and it’s another ancient method that’s used all over the world. I don't have significant dreams very often, though, despite my best efforts. With the abundance of other methods, I don't recommend relying solely on this one.

Automatic writing or “free-association writing” is my personal preferred method. It’s writing a question, and then writing whatever comes to mind as the answer, regardless of whether it makes sense. This technique is very, very effective for me, and has triggered full-on mystical experiences more than once.

Astrology is also a type of divination that involves interpreting the position of the stars and planets on the 2D plane of the sky to learn about the future and/or about specific people. It’s a much more complicated system than horoscope apps make it look. Practically a necessity for planetary magic, but in this century, you can be a wizard without being an astrologer. It’s good to have at least a foundational knowledge of it.

Different methods are useful for different things. Automatic writing and scrying are good for talking to spirits. Astrology is pretty useless for talking to gods, but is a good way of determining the outcome of your spells and the various influences upon your life at a given point. Cartomancy and cleromancy can be used for either, with some benefits and drawbacks. I recommend playing around with different methods to find one that works for you.

Step 3: Develop basic magical skills.

In addition to divination, you’re going to need some other basic skills. The most important one is meditation — if you don’t know how to meditate, learn. Meditation doesn’t have to mean sitting still. I definitely can’t sit still; I meditate by pacing back and forth. Anything you can do to lull yourself into a trance state can work, even singing in the shower.

You’ll also have to practice visualization, imagining your magic as though it were something tangible. For example, a lot of ritual formats will begin by asking you to imagine a white circle of light around yourself, or imagining taking each of the four elements into your body. Next is energy work — manipulating these imaginary forces and seeing how they affect your body, your emotions, other people, and the external environment.

You’ll also have to learn the basics of how to conduct a ritual, and gather your basic tools (which don’t have to be fancy or expensive). Rituals can feel awkward and silly at first, but that changes with practice. The basic point of a ritual (“supernatural” stuff aside) is to create the conditions to put yourself in a particular state of mind.

Finally, magic requires a lot of introspection and self-awareness. You have to really know what you want, not just what you think you want. And when your magic is successful, you have to have the humility to not have it go to your head (or else you’ll be afflicted with the dreaded “Magus-itis”). And that’s without going into the fact that ritual can drag up some intense stuff. Work through your shit, do your Shadow work. It’s hard, but it pays off in the long run.

Step 4: Practice a simple ritual.

Once you have some basic skills, it’s time to try your first ritual! You’re not going to want to try anything that’s labor-intensive or life-changing. Save the demon-summoning and stuff until later. The first ritual you do will probably be a banishing — a simple spell that’s intended to clear the space of any spiritual crap. Ideally, it should be used before and after every rite. Even if you don’t believe in evil spirits or “negative energy” or anything like that, a banishing is like the magical equivalent of turning it off and back on again. It’s a systems reboot. It wipes the slate clean. You’re gonna want to know how to do that, so you can 1. know what a space feels like when it’s free of influences, and 2. put down whatever you call up. It’s a good first thing to learn because it’s so essential, and also because it’s almost guaranteed to have no major repercussions.

The standard banishing ritual in the Western esoteric tradition is the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP), which is from the Golden Dawn tradition. It consists of intoning or “vibrating” the names of God and invoking the angels of the four directions. If that’s too Abrahamic for you, there are plenty of other variants that use different divine names. The Wiccan “circle casting” is essentially the same thing, trimmed down a bit. If the LBRP doesn’t appeal to you, there’s plenty of other banishing rites out there.

The first full ritual I did was actually a simple variant of the Wiccan “Drawing Down the Moon” invocation. I remember really feeling something the first time I did it, and that was enough to convince me that I wanted to continue.

And there you have it, a step-by-step guide to becoming an occultist, as simple as I can make it. Keep it simple to start, take your time, do your research. Whether you want anything specific out of occultism, you want to satisfy your curiosity, or you just like the idea of being a wizard, it’s fun to study magic.

[book-of-forbidden-knowledge]

Advanced Book of Shadows Ideas

Wondering what to put in your Book of Shadows (or other occult journal) besides your spell/ritual log? Wondering why the information you're told to include is important? Here's some stuff to put in your Book of Shadows, and why:

Magical Theory and Philosophy: The basics of what magic is and how it works. There are a bunch of different theories of magic from different occult systems, and you may want to research and experiment with them to find the one that works best for you. Lots of older occult texts, like Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic by Eliphas Levi, and Crowley’s Magick in Theory and Practice contain detailed explanations of magical theory. There’s also ancient philosophical texts like the Corpus Hermeticum or Iamblichus’ On the Mysteries that can give your magical or mystical practice a solid foundation. More modern perspectives include philosophies like Chaos Magic or the Kybalion principles.

Correspondences: If you research witchcraft on the internet, the first thing you’re likely to see are long lists of the magical properties of crystals, plants, colors, oils, planets, elements, months, days, hours, moon phases, etc. and their relation to each other. These are called correspondences, and they have their roots in early modern natural magic. They’re super popular nowadays, and crystal shops make a ton of money selling all the appropriate ingredients. I remember feeling a bit nonplussed about how I was actually supposed to use correspondences in spellwork, but I have the obligatory long lists of them in my Books of Shadows. Once you figure out how to use them, they’re convenient to reference. Remember that you can list all of your own correspondences based on your personal associations!

Witchlore: Superstitions about “satanic” witchcraft are a gold mine for ideas about your practice, especially if you decide to take a historically-inspired or trad-witchcraft route. For example: incantations associated with curses or flying ointments, beliefs about familiars and common forms that they take, purification and curse-breaking methods, activities at the Sabbat, etc. (I recently copied over most of Isobel Gowdie’s confession.) Regardless of the historicity of these ideas, it’s easy to adapt them into something workable (and ethical) for your own practice. Also, I think it’s important to understand the original concept of the witch archetype, warts and all, and decide how you personally relate to it.

Witch History: The actual history of witchcraft is fascinating and important to know if you are interested in any of the modern traditions of it, especially because there’s still a lot of misinformation about witchcraft out there. “The Burning Times” still get brought up. If you’re going to refer to history at all, you should at least know the basics. My go-to is Ronald Hutton, a historian who covers the history of witchcraft, and I have a lot of quotes from him in my notes. His book The Witch is about witch trials and the historical conception of the witch, and The Triumph of the Moon is about the history and many influences of modern Wicca.

Local Folklore: What kind of folklore exists in your area? Are there any local haunted houses, or natural formations with legends attached? Any local cryptids? Historical witch trials? Unique superstitions? Do people in your culture and community practice folk magic, now or historically?

High Magic: Ceremonial magic, rituals to summon spirits and harness the energy of planets. Much of the modern Western esoteric tradition is based on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a nineteenth-century occult society. Its ritual structure is the basis of Wicca and many other occult groups. There’s also the grimoire tradition, medieval and early modern books of spells that were used to summon and bind spirits. Ceremonial techniques are less associated with witchcraft than folk techniques, but they’re tried and true, and a lot of witches use them.

Low Magic: Witchcraft in particular is more folk than ceremonial. There are literally thousands of spell techniques — traditional ceremonial rites, spell bags and sachets, witch bottles, poppets, candle magic, knot magic, sigil magic, herbalism, etc. etc. You have many more options than you think you do. It’s good to familiarize yourself with at least some of them so that you can start experimenting with them to figure out which one works best for you. A lot of correspondences have their roots in folklore (like, for example, the idea that amethyst can cure drunkenness). Pay attention to what folk beliefs exist around you.

Divination Methods: There are also thousands of divination methods — cartomancy (tarot cards, oracle cards, Lenormand cards), cleromancy (casting dice, bones, rune stones, sticks, etc.), scrying (with mirrors, candles, crystal balls, and bowls of water), automatic writing, dream interpretation, pendulums, dripping hot wax in a bowl of water, tea leaves, astrology, etc. Again, it’s a good idea to try out different ones to see which one works best for you, and different methods are also better suited to different kinds of situations and questions. You’re gonna need at least one to do any magic effectively.

Deity Fact Sheets: If you’re pagan and you plan to do deity work, you need to know as much as possible about the god you want to work with. What is the god associated with? What do all these different associations have in common? What are some of the other names and epithets (titles) that the god is known by? What context were they used in? What kinds of people worshipped the god, and why? What are its traditional offerings? What are its correspondences? Are there any surviving hymns to the god? You may not find answers to all these questions, depending on how much information about your deity survives, but anything you can learn is good. If we don’t know much about the god, what do we know, and where does that information come from?

Magical Alphabets: In case you want to keep your secrets, or just look cool. Some of the popular ones are the Theban alphabet, the Enochian alphabet, FUTHARK runes, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the celestial alphabet, various symbol fonts, etc. Feel free to make up your own, too!

Symbols, Magic Circles, and Diagrams: I mean, you don’t need magic circles and diagrams, but there is nothing quite like the feeling of opening up a handwritten book and going “oh yeah, this is a book of magic” just from looking at it. Grimoires have a vibe. It’s the equivalent of putting cute doodles in your diary, but so much cooler. It’s also a good idea to keep track of any symbols that might be relevant to your practice or the spirits you work with. Or, you could take the Chaos Magic approach and create an “alphabet of desire,” your own personal language of symbols.

Sabbats or Festivals: Which festivals and holy days are associated with your practice? What are they centered around? Which gods or spirits do they concern? What are their correspondences? How were they celebrated historically? How are they celebrated now?

Magical Recipes: Many witches have their go-to recipes for tinctures, teas, soups, powders, vinegars, essential oils, cakes, and other concoctions that can be used to heal, strengthen, cleanse, or curse. (IMPORTANT: Do not dabble in herbalism unless you know exactly what you’re doing. It’s as much medicine as it is magic, and many stereotypically “witchy” plants are toxic and can kill you.)

Poetry and Hymns: What do you recite when you perform rituals? There’s lots of books that can tell you what to say, but you also can write your own poetry and hymns, which are often more personal and more meaningful. Poetry also doesn’t have to be occult to be used in ritual — if you come across any poems that resonate for you, copy them into your BoS and use them as hymns.

Shadow Work: I personally think that Shadow work is a necessity, even though it can be painful. Shadow work has gotten more popular lately, and you’ll find lots of suggestions and prompts for how to approach it, but it isn’t easy, and is probably best discussed with a therapist. Still, you can use this part of your BoS as a kind of therapy journal for your interactions with yourself, especially the ones that make you uncomfortable. Writing it down will help you work through it. (It’s not called a “Book of Shadows” for nothing.)

Keep in mind, your Book of Shadows should be personal. You don't need to include all of this information, just what's most necessary for you and your practice.

Personally, I have multiple Books of Shadows. I used to just have a paper one for a spell/ritual log and an ever-growing digial one for notes, but I've recently gained an appreciation for handwritten manuscripts with cool diagrams and pictures, so I've started taking more of my notes by hand. In addition to my paper Book of Shadows for witchcraft stuff, I've got a whole separate book (with an armillary sphere on the cover of course) for notes on classic occultism, alchemy, hermeticism etc.. Get creative with it.

[book-of-forbidden-knowledge]

How do I know if a deity is reaching out to me?

Many versions of this question get asked every day, so I thought I'd take the time to answer it. The easy answer is, “You’ll know.” When gods reach out, they tend to be very forward about it. But I realize that isn’t particularly helpful. I can’t speak to exactly what your experience will be, but I can tell you about mine:

Around ten years ago, I became inexplicably obsessed with Dionysus. Hyperfixations are pretty typical for me, so that in and of itself didn’t mean very much. But this one wouldn’t go away! Most of my hyperfixations pass after a few years at most, but my obsession with Dionysus came back on me. It felt like he was poking me to get my attention. Initially, my interest in him didn’t make a lot of sense. I was too young to drink at the time, and I’ve never been much of a party person. Then I started doing research, and it was like everything slid into place. There was more to Dionysus than I could have ever imagined, and I had much more in common with him than I thought. Almost everything I read about him resonated for me. I don’t remember any point in which I properly started working with him, he was just there, like he had always been there. I got signs, but that feeling of resonance and relevance was the real indicator. Signs were just icing on the cake.

So, what are the things you should look for?

Signs: Signs are random events that appear out of the blue and feel spiritually significant. They’re one of the ways that gods get our attention (though they can’t really communicate anything more specific than that). Signs are usually the first thing people look for, but one of the least reliable, because it’s very easy to interpret something as a sign when it’s not. Above all, signs are obvious! If you have to ask if something’s a sign, it probably isn’t. How do you tell if something is a sign?

It’s unusual. If you see a lot of crows in your neighborhood, it’s probably not a sign from Apollo or The Morrigan. If there are no ravens in your area, and a raven lands directly in front of you, hops toward you, and stares at you for a full minute, that may be something to pay attention to. Signs don’t have to be improbable, but they usually are, which is part of what makes them stand out. The best sign I’ve ever gotten was seeing a barred owl on my walk, which is not something you see every day. The more unusual the experience, the better.

It’s synchronistic. What’s the context around the sign? The best signs are synchronicities, a series of improbable coincidences that make you think of the god. Synchronistic signs occur in succession or in accordance with each other, drawing more attention to themselves. Seeing a raven is one thing; reading a book about the Morrigan in a park and looking up to find the raven staring directly at you is another. One time I was cleaning up one of my oracle card decks shortly after speaking with Dionysus, thinking to myself, “lol wouldn’t it be funny if I drew the Satyr card?” I promptly drew it straight from the deck. If you get different kinds of signs with enough frequency, they become hard to ignore. (If you want to help yourself identify a sign correctly, ask to see one within a certain brief time frame.)

Iconography: If you randomly begin to notice a particular god’s iconography (symbols, attributes, sacred plants or animals, other associated things or people, etc.) everywhere, that could be an indicator that the god is interested in you. A few caveats, though: One, you have to already have a god to associate these symbols with for them to mean something. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen people ask questions like, “I’ve been seeing [thing] everywhere, which god is reaching out to me?” There’s not much point in a god using its symbols to catch your attention if you don’t know which god the symbols are referring to. If you’re familiar with the iconography of the gods in your preferred pantheon, then you can begin paying attention to it. A significant amount of this is the “frequency illusion,” the tendency for our brains to notice something everywhere as soon as we become aware of it, so this may be more of a sign that you are drawn to a particular deity, rather than vice-versa.

Dreams: Some lucky people have gods approach them directly in dreams and meditation. I don’t have much skill with dreaming (I’ve only had one or two dreams that felt spiritually significant), but I have had gods randomly present themselves in meditation. Any kind of random, direct encounter with a god is a dead giveaway.

Resonance: If you’re researching a particular god and it feels like it magically clicks for you, that’s a very clear indication that the god would be a good fit for you. These resonances can include relating to a god’s personality or stories, recognizing that your childhood habits or experiences are somehow relevant to the god, or even just feeling inexplicably pulled. Pay attention to how you feel while you’re doing your research, and make note of anything that stands out to you.

An inexplicable hyperfixation with the god lasts an unusually long time, even for you. See above.

You may experience any of these throughout your journey as a pagan, but if you get several or all of them, that means it’s likely that you’re being approached by a god. This is especially likely if you would otherwise have no interest in the god at all — part of what made me so certain that Dionysus was reaching out to me, rather than vice-versa, is that I would never have approached him otherwise.

There’s a lot of misinformation about this topic online, and I’ve seen some beginners come away from TikTok with some pretty unhealthy notions. So allow me to clear a few things up:

You don’t have to wait around for a god to reach out to you in order to worship or work with one! In fact, you really shouldn’t do that. You can’t force a god to reach out to you, and it may not happen at all. That doesn’t mean that there’s anything wrong with you; it either happens or it doesn’t. You can’t put your entire spiritual life on hold waiting for a god to take interest.

If you see a bunch of videos about the same god show up in your feed, that is not a sign, that is the algorithm. I cannot emphasize this enough. Your feed is not random. It is tailored by the algorithm. If you watch one video about Apollo, and then you see twelve more show up in your feed the next day, that’s the algorithm noticing that you took interest in something related to Apollo and then flooding you with similar content. Same thing with Pinterest boards. The only way something in your feed could be taken as a sign is if its synchronistic, i.e. if it lines up with a series of coincidences that put it in a particular context. (For example, I first found the OSP video on Dionysus in my YouTube recommended minutes after I’d finished talking to Dionysus. I’m subscribed to OSP, so the video would have ended up in my recommended anyway; what made me interpret it as a sign was that it directly followed an interaction with him.)

Tarot is not the best way to go about this. I’ve seen many posts in which someone posts a picture of a tarot spread and asks “which god is this.” That question is usually unanswerable. Often, the person doesn’t even specify which pantheon they’re working with, which is impossible to narrow down based on the cards alone. There’s also no one-to-one relationship between the gods of any pantheon and a tarot deck. Cards simply can’t give you a specific answer to this question unless you personally associate particular gods with particular cards. And if an online reader tells you which god is reaching out to you based on tarot cards, you can disregard that entirely. That’s about as reliable as the algorithm.

The main takeaway here is to use your intuition, but also to be discerning. Err on the side of caution, and pay more attention to what you actually feel than to what you think you should feel. Finally, having a god reach out to you is not some kind of shortcut to spiritual connectedness or powerful magic. You’ll still have to put in the work: Research the god (when, how, and why it was worshipped, its iconography, hymns, epithets, etc.), learn a divination method so you can communicate with it, spend years building a relationship with it. In some cases, you may have to do even more work, because intense devotional relationships with gods can be very demanding. You always have the option to say no, and build your own spiritual path for yourself.

[book-of-forbidden-knowledge]

Common Ideas in Western Esotericism

If you ask five different occultists what magic is, you’ll get at least ten different answers. There are so many different ideas about what magic is and how it works, even more if you look at historical ideas of magic. But, at the same time, there is also a current of specific philosophical ideas that underlie the Western esoteric tradition. I’ve also observed, frequently, that mystically-minded people tend to come to similar conclusions even when they come from wildly disparate cultural contexts. Here’s some of the commonly recurring ideas in Western estotericism, some of which are philosophical concepts that date back to Plato and thereabouts, and some of which are mystical motifs that apparently crop up of their own accord:

“One is All and All is One”: Summarized by the one and only Edward Elric: “Everything we see, everyone we meet, is caught up in this great unseen flow. But it’s bigger than that. It’s the entire world. The entire universe, even! And compared to somethin’ as big as that, Al, you and I are tiny, not even the size of ants. Only one small part within the much greater flow. Nothing more than a fraction of the whole. But by putting all those ‘ones’ together, you get one great All, just like Teacher said! The flow of this universe follows laws of such magnitude, that you and I can’t even imagine them.” Not all occultists are necessarily pantheistic, but most do conceive of the universe as a single cohesive system, and it’s a common mystical motif that human beings are not separate from each other or from Nature. As time goes on, I’ve trended more towards hard polytheism, instead of the idea that all gods are just facets of a single God, but I still believe that everything is intrinsically connected.

Emanation: The Platonic idea that the world exists in a series of emanations, beginning with God/The Great Divine/the Demiurge and proceeding downward through a series of realms or spheres, with each one being an expression of the previous one, until it reaches the material plane. Most believe that one can ascend upward through the series of emanations until one reaches God. In modern occultism, this idea isn’t always expressed in exactly these terms, but most Western occultists believe some version of it just because of how influential it is. You’ll see modern occultists talk about a “spiritual plane,” “emotional plane,” and “mental plane” in addition to the physical one, sometimes identifying them with the four elements, and some will talk about ascending divine realms that they can visit in meditation. If they’re influenced by Kabbalah at all (even by knockoffs like Hermetic Qabalah), then they’ll definitely believe in this idea. Oh, and I’ve seen a lot of occultists mention The Matrix as an example of a film with real occult ideas, and The Matrix is just a modernized version of the Allegory of the Cave. (Personally, I don’t think the emanations are a chain so much as a web extending in all directions, but that’s just my UPG.)

“As above, so below”: In keeping with the idea that the whole universe is a cohesive system and that it proceeds on a chain (or something) between the higher and lower realms, it only makes sense that those realms should influence each other. “As above, so below” is usually interpreted to mean that the Macrocosm (the universe at large or the spiritual realms) affects the microcosm (human life), and vice-versa. If you affect one, you affect the other. Understanding how the Macrocosm and microcosm interact, reflect, and relate to one another allows one to exploit or even directly control these influences. Or, if you don’t want to think of it that way, you could improve your life by aligning yourself with the current universal trends or vibes.

Correspondences: A popular idea in Renaissance occultism was that of “natural magic.” Following the “As above, so below” doctrine, it was believed that there are symbolic links between everything that exists in nature: plants, stones, metals, animals, planets, colors, parts of the human body, etc. All of these things were thought to have hidden “occult virtues” that one could make use of. This discipline was a kind of proto-science, examining the connections that exist between different things in nature and trying to utilize them in magic and medicine. (Some of the plant correspondences, for example, were based on the actual medicinal properties of the chemicals in the plants. e.g. Garlic wards off vampires because it’s a natural antibiotic.) Correspondences are hugely popular in modern occultism, so much so that correspondence tables are often the first thing aspiring witches will see on the internet. Whenever you see those little cards in crystal shops that tell you about the crystal’s mystical properties, you can thank the early modern writers for that.

Death/rebirth: Western mystery traditions usually involve confrontation and transcendence of death in some capacity, often as a preliminary step. There’s a bit of an asterisk attached to this one, because it’s very possible that Western occultists’ preoccupation with death and rebirth is heavily informed by Christianity. But it’s also possible that the reverse is true — that Christianity is so preoccupied with death and rebirth because it’s essentially a mystery cult. One of the few things we are fairly certain about regarding the Eleusinian and Orphic Mysteries is that they were concerned with the afterlife in a way that most of Ancient Greek religion was not, and that they seemed to offer the initiates passage to a better afterlife, dispelling fear of death. (Though, again, a lot of scholars project Christianity onto them.) Descent into the underworld and spiritual rebirth shows up in a lot of different myths from around the world, and it also shows up in private revelations like those in Carl Jung’s Red Book. Confronting death and darkness, coming to terms with it, and emerging triumphant is a necessary part of initiation. (However, it is my opinion that death/rebirth is not enough anymore. It was a big revelation two thousand years ago, but now, it’s old news and you need to get through it several times so that the real work can begin.)

Common, but not universal, is the idea that spirits and other subtle forces can be interacted with directly and sometimes controlled. Exactly what these spirits are, how they work, if they should be commanded or worshipped or “worked with,” etc. varies significantly. Sometimes it’s believed that magic comes from them, other times it’s believed that the magician has inherent power. Some occultists do not believe in spirits, but instead interpret them as archetypes in the Jungian sense, purely internal rather than external forces. Some occultists (especially those who identify as witches) are animistic and believe that Nature is alive and responses, but others believe that divine spirits are wholly separated from the material world.

A growing trend in Western occultism is an emphasis on UPG (“Unverified Personal Gnosis”), personal experience of the Divine or other spirits, as a or even the source of mystical knowledge. This flies in the face of historical occultism, which placed much greater emphasis on the supposed greater wisdom and knowledge of the ancients, and only conferred said knowledge through complex initiatory traditions. That doesn’t seem as necessary anymore. I tend to lean towards UPG myself, but I also acknowledge that it’s a double-edged sword — a lot of newbies who do not have direct experiences with spirits feel like they’re doing something wrong, when they might just need guidance or they just don’t have that skill.

Belief in thoughtforms, or the ability of one’s desires, intentions, and perceptions to directly inform tangible reality, is also an increasingly popular idea. A lot of occultists interpret magic as involving a combination of intention and willpower. Some occultists believe that gods are egregores, large entities created by groups of people rather than preexisting supernatural beings that are wholly independent from humans. The subjectivity of perception, and therefore of reality, also has pretty good scientific backing by now.

There are some major points of contention, though:

Duality vs. non-duality. I saw a post on r/occult a while ago in which a person went on a rant about how the world is divided into dark and light, angels and serpents, and how much he wanted the angels and serpents to stop fighting and play frisbee. Seems pretty good on the surface, but a big piece of his rant was a gender essentialist screed about how men’s nature is fundamentally light with a bit of feminine darkness and how women’s is fundamentally dark with a bit of masculine lightness. That reminded me a lot of Jung’s anima/animus concept, which sounded like gender essentialism until I read The Red Book and realized that it was actually based in a revelation Jung had about deconstructing the gender binary. I told this person that the next step forward would be to realize that there are no angels or serpents, just spirits that can take either form, and that men and women are also two forms of the same thing instead of these fundamentally different Mars/Venus opposing forces. The person then blocked me after accusing me of gaslighting and of wanting to “erase God and divine gender.” So… yeah. Personally, I think that synthesizing duality is also a necessary part of mysticism, but so much of Western esotericism is also informed by Christianity, which has an inherently dualist cosmology. Also, the Divine Masculine/Divine Feminine concept is still super popular in Wiccan, Wicca-related, and New Age circles.

Hierarchical vs. non-hierarchical: Much of the older material assumes that there is a cosmic hierarchy, beginning with God at the top and progressing downward through the chain of emanation, with various kinds of spirits at various ranks in between. The divine hierarchy was reinforced by Christianity, but it predates it. I’m not generally a fan of hierarchies, and lately I’ve started perceiving the spiritual world as having a much more complex arrangement. Hierarchies are nice and simple and easy for the human brain to understand. Complex webs of interconnected stuff moving every which way, with nothing apparently “first” or “in charge,” is not easy for us to wrap our heads around. The hierarchical model is still preferred by a lot of occultists, but I think it’s a bit limiting.

Nirvana vs. incarnation: The ultimate goal of most mystical systems is to reunite with God and once assimilate back into the ecstasy of the Divine. Or, to reach apotheosis and become a god while still on earth. Or somehow to reach a state of divinity. Some systems are focused on breaking the cycle of incarnation, and many occultists who have attuned themselves to spiritual realities feel like their flesh is a prison. (I think Plato says as much somewhere.) However, we’re all alive, and there’s a reason why we’re alive. Are you going to reunite with God, or are you going to do spiritual work here on earth?

Asceticism vs. hedonism: Despite the reputation of people like Aleister Crowley, occultism has historically been very ascetic. It’s easier to devote yourself to spiritual pursuits if you don’t have the material world getting in the way. Studying magic is also time-consuming, and both intellectually and spiritually demanding. But hedonism, or really ecstatic trance techniques, are just as valid a path to the Divine, and they can be more effective for some people. I’ve heard a lot of witches say that you should never do spells while under the influence, but use of entheogens as a mystical tool goes back literally as far as humanity itself. And a lot of gods and spirits like sex! Ecstatic dance is downright underrated in modern occultism. Hedonism isn’t for everyone, but I don’t think that sensuality and spirituality should be treated as separate, and the material world definitely shouldn’t be seen as corrupting. Why do I believe that? Because I trend naturally towards asceticism, but I need to learn to live in the world (see above) and that means putting my feet in the dirt, so to speak.

Rationality vs. irrationality: The influence of Platonism and Neoplatonism on Western occultism, and Hermeticism in particular, results in this notion that God is inherently rational. In both Platonism and Hermeticism, the first thing to emanate from God is Nous, or “Mind,” and from there God thinks or speaks the world into existence by means of the Word, Logos. This is all well and good, but perceiving the Divine as wholly rational by nature is, in my opinion, projecting human values onto it. If you expect God to adhere to an internally consistent philosophical framework, you’re inevitably going to miss everything that doesn’t fit into that framework. Mystical experiences frequently feel like madness, and are consistently associated with madness in a lot of the same Hellenistic sources that these ideas come from. Jung thought he was going mad in his Red Book visions, and struggled to reconcile them with his values of rationality and scientific thinking, and his desire to be taken seriously. Lovecraft embraced the madness and showed us a vision of God that is intentionally as irrational as possible, hitting on some major mystical insights in between all the pulp horror. Also, the Enlightenment distaste for anything “irrational” is precisely why magic has been understudied and even outright dismissed in academic circles until very recently. We’re all mad here, and it’s okay.

[arcsigils2]

Have You Cleansed Your Space?

The skill to force unwanted energies and entities out of your personal space is the first thing a student of the occult should Know, Learn, and become Profficient at.

Fuck everything else.

Look up methods to cleanse a space, look up methods to call forth energy, look up methods to set up boundaries and wards.

Have You Cleansed Your Space is the occult equivalent of Have You Turned It Off And On Again.

something feels wrong? CLEANSE

something feels heavy? CLEANSE

keep having nightmares? CLEANSE

the dog keeps barking for no reason? CLEANSE

see shit when you about to sleep? CLEANSE

magic not working? CLEANSE

divinations not accurate? CLEANSE

fuck your divinations, fuck your spells, fuck your potions, fuck your sigils

learn how to cleanse, and get good at it. the better you are, the more accomplished you will be.

WHY?

A good cleansing method has it all. A good cleansing method will teach you:

1. to center and focus your mind and body 2. to fill yourself with power 3. to call forth energy from somewhere/something else 4. to place protections on your own self and space 5. to create/designate boundaries between you and the supernatural

you need these skills to be a good mage, so git good.