Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Aaron Leitch, author of several books, including Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, The Angelical Language Volume I and Volume II, and his new Essential Enochian Grimoire. In my last blog post, "Why Is Satan in the Grimoires?, I addressed the curious presence of Satan in the Solomonic grimoires. I asked why a group of devout Christians would even produce books that teach how to summon (rather than banish) demonic entities. We found that grimoire mages were simply exploring the underworld as shamans before them had done for thousands of years. That the entities who dwelt in that underworld (and in nature) were given names like "Satan" and

Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Aaron Leitch, author of several books, including Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, The Angelical Language Volume I and Volume II, and his new Essential Enochian Grimoire. Recently, a member of my 'Solomonic' Facebook group posed the question (and I paraphrase): Why would anyone want to work with spiritual beings who have, according to their own mythos, fallen out of favor with God? Is this done in protest of the divine judgement against such spirits, or in ignorance of it? That's a fair question, and not far from similar questions I have asked about occultism in general. For instance, why in the world would anyone, knowing the Lovecraft

This spread, called Alive, Dead, and Undead, is from the Vampires Tarot of the Eternal Night book. It was created as a companion to the deck and thus pulls inspiration from the theme. However, most spreads can be used with any deck. With autumn upon us, we often engage in more self-reflective readings, so this spread may be particularly useful for you in the next month or so, although it can be used anytime, of course. For this reading, you will use just your court cards and just your Major Arcana cards. Keep them separate. Shuffle your court cards however you like. Use these cards to draw for positions 1, 2, and 3. Shuffle your Majors. Use these cards to draw for positions 4,

[caption id="attachment_15091" align="aligncenter" width="300"] photo via http://www.bksiyengar.com/[/caption] BKS Iyengar passed away today. In the midst of a frantic morning I heard the news and suddenly paused, realizing the great impact one person can have on your life, society, and world. I first heard of him about 10 years ago when I started learning about yoga beyond the poses I mimicked in classes. I learned even more about him when I started working on yoga titles here at Llewellyn. He goes hand-in-hand with the topic. If you practice yoga he was an influence to you. If you don't know who he is he's worth finding out about. If you've never considered the contribution he's made to