Daniel A. Schulke

The Green Mysteries is the product of twenty-five years of experiential research on the spiritual and occult properties of plants. Presenting a vast array of trees and herbs from many spiritual traditions, this exhaustive compendium examines their folklore, magical uses and spiritual essences. While presenting the material through both magical and mythopoetic narrative, the stance of the book is also grounded firmly in supportive disciplines such as botany, chemistry, and anthropology and also includes up to date phylogenetic and pharmacological findings. Interspersed with the encyclopedic plant entries are short narratives addressing such concepts as the Witches' Flying Oinment, intoxicating incense, the herbal dimsension of Alchemy, and the 'Green Saints' such as Al-Khidir, the medieval Wildman, and the forest-dwelling Nymphs who nourished the Greek gods. More than a mere collation of previously existing works on plants, much of the material is drawn directly from the author's private field notes, diaries, and manuals of magical operation, presented in an angaging narrative style. Illustrated with with over 270 original illustrations by Benjamin Vierling, commissioned for the project.

An Occult Herbarium

The Green Mysteries

The discipline of Occult Herbalism encompasses the knowledge and use of the magical, spiritual, and folkloric dimensions of plants. This perennial wisdom animates many global spiritual traditions, especially those which have maintained their integrity of transmission even in the face of industrial development and cultural destruction. Often concealed within the deepest strata of the Western Esoteric Traditions, this green strand of wisdom, though obscured, is a potent legacy of all magic, sorcery, and occult science. In addition to the hard sciences of botany, ethnology, agriculture and ethnopharmacology, a number of pathways can assist the magical herbalist in furthering the depth of understanding and integrity of personal approach. Thirteen Pathways of Occult Herbalism circumscribes the metaparadigm of herbal magical practice, providing useful examples of its manifestation, as well as demonstrating its time-honored routes of inquiry.

Thirteen Pathways of Occult Herbalism

Erik Davis

DAIMON and PHARMAKON contains thirteen cutting-edge essays on the contribution of psychoactive substances to occult traditions, by contemporary authors on subculture and esotericism. The book will be of interest to students of Entheogens, Occultism, Comparative Religions, Psychedelia, and the Noetic Sciences. The essays included examine the role of chemically-altered consciousness in spirituality, particularly in secret traditions of magic and occultism, and focus especially on Western esoteric traditions such as Thelema, Witchcraft, and lodge-based magical orders. Sections on History, Theory, Practice, and Influence of psychoactives and the occult are also provided.

Essays on the Nexus of Entheogens and the Occult

Daimon and Pharmakon

Martin Duffy

The figure of the Witch has haunted the margins of religion and spirituality for thousands of years, as a figure of transgressive spiritual power, outlaw magic, and alluring sexuality. Equally pervasive is her presence in art, from ancient depictions in the near east, through the European Middle Ages, down to her present representations in occult subculture. WITCH-IKON gathers a selection of images of witches and their diabolical magic, emphasizing the range of artistic depictions that have helped coalesce this most powerful of modern supernatural icons. Numerous full color images are accompanied by several scholarly essays concerning the iconography of witchcraft and the images used to represent witches through time. Also included are numerous photographs from museum and private collections documenting occult artifacts used in witchcraft throughout diverse eras.

Witchcraft in Art and Artifact

Witch-ikon

Dale Pendell

Some Notes on Chance and Divination

The Language of Birds

Although the term 'witch' encompasses diverse meanings across many cultures --most often referring to a practitioner of harmful or antinomian sorcery-- the witch of medieval Europe was in part defined in the context of the Sabbat: the nocturnal ritual gathering of the living and dead. Sometimes conflated with the Christian heresy of the Black Mass (or derided by occult writers as a degenerate form of ancient high magic) the Sabbat is in fact a fully-realized wellspring of ecstasy and ritual power with its roots in prehistory. This sequel to Schulke's 'Veneficium' examines the Witches' Sabbat, its magic and symbolism, from the night flight, to the frenzied round-dance, to sexual intercourse with the devil and the notorious 'Witches' Supper'. The Sabbat's essentially syncretic nature is emphasized, as well as its relation to Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and the polytheistic and animist religions which preceded them. As well as its capacity as a vehicle for individual power and ecstatic experience, the book examines the persistent embodiments of the Sabbat from its ancient origins to its present recensions as a vivified corpus of rites and magical philosophy.

Daniel A. Schulke

Books

Your next favorite book is out there