The eigth title in the Arcanum series is now available as part of our on-going magical tutorial Arcanum books will be titles of under 100-pages of practical and/or instructional text on a specific esoteric subject or theme and written by magical practitioners with proven antecedents. Based on the idea of those children’s ‘Ladybird’ books that often introduced us to an interest that lasted a life time and, taking its name from the Coven of the Scales’ foundation course, the aim is to offer further tuition/guidance on specific elements of witch-lore and practice.
Coming in at around 25,000 words, each title will be packed with information and instruction rather than puffed out with superfluous wordage and regurgitated text borrowed from other publications. The series will be aimed at those who have attained a certain level of magical competence and who don’t need to be spoon-fed basic instructions for Circle-casting with each volume – and are therefore not written with beginners in mind. Published by ignotus press they are available direct from Feedaread at a reduced cost of €6.85/£5.90 plus shipping.
No 1: Sacrifice to the GodsThe act of propitiating or appeasing the gods is as old as humankind. And, it is just as much an integral part of pagan worship today as it was when our Mesolithic ancestors first began leaving their mark on the landscape – both to honour the gods in times of plenty and to appease them in times of trouble. For the tribes that were beginning to track their footsteps across the open plains of the vast continents, they left behind evidence of their ‘holy places’ – where they periodically stopped and gathered together in the act of honouring the Gods, the Ancestors and denizens of Otherworld, according to the light of their times … and as their customs directed. What is the meaning of sacrifice? Sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals or humans to a higher purpose – in particular divine beings – as an act of propitiation or worship. Needless to say, putting others ahead of ourselves requires sacrifice and in more modern parlance it is the act of offering or the giving up of something we would prefer to keep
No 2: Talking to Crows‘Talking to crows’ is said of those who have some presentiment or foresight in Sicilian folk-lore. It is believed that to those who can understand them, these black birds, garrulous creatures they are, communicate the latest news on the doings of human beings, since they have a clear view – a bird’s eye view – of the whole. They have also been around for a lot longer than human beings and, perhaps not surprisingly, long ago developed the reputation of being messengers of the gods in many different cultures across the world. Members of this large, adaptable family live in habitats ranging from treeless tundras where land is flat to mountain forests. They live in deciduous forests, where trees shed their leaves, and coniferous forests, with cone-bearing evergreen trees. Corvids range in deserts, grassland steppes where there are few trees, and on the edge of rainforests, where heavy rain produces much growth. In addition, they live in cities and small villages. They are always our close companions and who more able to communicate news from Otherworld, should we choose to listen?
No 3: Hagstones‘The hag stone tells the more human side of this history perhaps. Of fear, suspicion, disease and its healing, of countering dark magic, of minding the gap between the living and the dead, natural and supernatural. Its very form is a negotiation between the visible and the invisible, a combination of stone and air, presence and absence, at home in this transient place where land and sea meet, a place of limbo and secret, slow transformations …’ Alex Woodcock, In the Eye of the Hagstone Much of the information that has been collected for Hagstones is of a repetitive nature but this is, in itself, an endorsement of the strong beliefs that were still prevalent in the early part of the 20th-century up and down the country. In fact, the oddity of hag-stones has long made them a focus of folk magic – where they’ve been used for everything from wishing spells to hedge-riding and protection – and serious academic study. The names for these perforated rocks vary by region, but hag-stones have been viewed as magical across the world and, are also said to be bringers of high psychic powers and heightened intuition.
No 4: Thrice Great ThothIn its simplest form, the modern function of the ancient Egyptian god, Thoth, can be seen as being the patron of writers and magical practitioners. Thoth is attested from the earliest historical periods onwards: he already played a prominent role in the oldest religious texts of Egypt, the Pyramid Texts, and continues to appear almost everywhere in Egypt up to the end of Egyptian religion some 4000 years later. Throughout this long period the god is overwhelmingly present in a vast body of documentation that yields an extraordinarily colorful picture of his nature and functions within the Egyptian pantheon. We should not forget that the archaic Thoth-cult of the pre-Dynastic era was a long way removed from the sophisticated theology of Ptolemaic times. Neither is my shadowy concept of Thoth enjoying a fine single malt and a cigar any more incongruous that the anthropomorphic images carved in the stone of the ancient temples. In historical terms, the death of Cleopatra was nearer to man’s landing on the moon, than it was to the magnificence of the pyramid-building era of ancient Egypt – but through all these times of change Thoth’s popularity has endured. Still holding the brush and palette of a scribe, since the wisdom of which he is the Master is in particular that contained in the sacred texts.
These are availble at a special discounted price direct from the printer – Feedaread https://www.feedaread.com/…/SACRIFICE-TO-THE-GODS…. The first four titles are avaailble on Kindle as a special offer of UK£0.99 between 3-10th January.
Melusine Draco 