Back from Florida

Well, it’s Monday morning and I’m back from Florida and the GreenSong Grove’s Samhain Festival. Unlike some of the massive festivals around the country, this one was relatively small, just a few hundred people. I’d like to thank everyone who brought me out, who treated me so well, and were so helpful, especially Ann Marie and Teresa and Paul and Amber.

I gave two workshops, one on using hypnosis to actually experience past lives, and another on modern magick and talismans, where I covered banishing rituals (traditional ceremonial magick and chaos magick), how to cleanse and design five different types of talismans, and how to charge them with ceremonial magick, natural magick and chaos magick.

Speaking of Modern Magick, I see from this website that second edition is now completely sold out. There may be a few copies around at various stores, but it is now a collector’s item and will not be published in that form again. Replacing it is the new 3rd edition (just released!) of Modern Magick, with a spectacular new cover, 40% new material, new tips, new information, 4 new forewords, and a new chapter. If you have the 2nd edition, you’ll want to get 3rd edition to see everything that’s new. If you don’t have the old edition, you’ll want to get the most popular, step-by-step guide to ceremonial magick ever published. I can honestly say that it’s bigger and better than ever!

I also (finally!) had some time to talk with another presenter, Aaron Leitch, his wife and daughter. They’re wonderful and friendly and the daughter’s smile just lights up a room. It’s a good thing they grabbed her long before she could run into the pond with alligators! Aaron gave a wonderful and relaxed talk on Magickal Invocations and Conjurations. After his lecture we talked for about an hour and a half, discussing magick, mutual friends, and publishing.

Speaking of which, if you haven’t seen Aaron’s Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, you’re really missing out. It literally looks at all of the most famous European grimoires and reveals the real methods for using them. It’s one of the great additions to modern mystical literature on this subject. Aaron is a scholar, and he also presents things to make them understandable.

And for those of you seeking more advanced and specialized magickal information, you have to look at his two-book set, The Angelical Language Volume I and The Angelical Language Volume II. Beautifully and appropriately hard bound with dust jackets, these two books are the most scholarly yet easy to understand and totally practical examination of Dee and Kelley’s Enochian magick with its Angelic language ever published. They’re not only a must for ceremonial magicians (especially those working with Enochian), but their beauty means they’re going to become collector’s items and can only go up in value. This is quality and practical information.

Later we had the main ritual, a beautiful reenactment of the myth of Pandora (of “box” fame, not “Avatar”) presented by the Between Worlds Coven indicating that she doesn’t deserve the bad reputation she has. Besides, she brought one of the most valuable things ever: hope. This was followed by a massive pot luck. It was amazing the number of people who brought small frosting delivery devices, better known as cupcakes.

And then it was partying and drumming until late at night/morning. I was up at 6:00 a.m. (ugh!) and back to the airport for the return flight.

Again, thanks to everyone. It was a great festival. To people reading this post who learn about festivals in your area, I would encourage you to go. Meet new friends, attend workshops, find vendors with difficult to obtain items, and have a great time.

P.S. Good luck to Damian (AKA Squirrel) on his new path of joining the service and becoming an expert in disarming explosives.

P.P.S. If you look on my personal website, modernmagick.com, it appears as if I don’t have any future appearances planned. Nothing could be further from the truth! I’m finalizing dates to give a wide series of workshops at The Green Man Store, one of the newest occult shops in the U.S. Included will be a series of workshops leading to certification in hypnosis and hypnotherapy. Located in North Hollywood, it’s already hosting workshops, rituals, becoming a center for magickal people in the Los Angeles area, and receiving rave reviews.