It was decades ago when I moved into one of the rooms of a two-bedroom apartment with Scott Cunningham (for more about what I learned about Scott over the following years, see my eBook, The Magical Life of Scott Cunningham, available through the Kindle Store [LINK], Kobo [LINK], Nook Bookstore [LINK], Sony [LINK], and iTunes [through the store in iTunes]). One night, Scott was out with some friends. I was at home, reading, when I heard pounding at the door. I went to the door and opened it. It was a friend of mine, a highly intuitive woman I'll call Linda (and no, that's not her real name). It was clear she was in a panic. She threw her arms around me, begging for help. Linda was one of

I love books. My house is more like a library with a bedroom than a home with books. So I read lots of books. And the truth is, some of them are not very good. Okay, some of them are really bad. Some of them have me thinking, "Well, that's several hours I'll never have back again!" But when it comes to non-fiction books, there's an added dimension to this. Even if you think a book is not good, reading it and correcting errors in your mind proves you know more than the author. To my way of thinking that's a great thing. Every book you read either adds to the knowledge you possess or proves you have a great deal of knowledge already. So in reality, when it comes to occult and magick books,

I don't know who originally stated it (maybe one of my readers knows), but there's a statement running around the U.S. political blogosphere that "Republicans look for a leader while Democrats look for a consensus." Whether or not you agree or disagree with this description, it would seem that the organization of occult groups seems to fall into one of two major categories: Those that have a leader whom members follow and those that seek a consensus from all members. Each has benefits and negative aspects. I contend it's important to understand which format your magickal group, order, coven, etc. follows. By stressing the positive aspects and being aware of the potential negative aspects

Hermetic Virtues Hermetic Virtues is one of my favorite journals. The latest issue, Volume VI Number 2, continues their record of excellence. This issue begins with an article by Chic and Tabatha Cicero (You can pre-order the new edition of Israel Regardie's The Philosopher's Stone with the Cicero's incredibly valuable notes and additions now) on "Osiris in the Golden Dawn System."  There is a section, here, that's fascinating: …the Throne of Osiris—the Throne of the Spiritual Realm—is situated upon the Dais in the East of the Neophyte Hall, the place of "Light." Aaron Leitch has pointed out that this was exactly how the Egyptian Gnostics described the Spiritual Realm. In the