Gifting at the solstice season is an old and honorable
custom, stretching back into Pagan time, along with drinking and feasting. For
those of us in the northern hemisphere, whatever our religious inclinations,
the solstice season is a time for enjoying friends and kin, and sharing the
bounty that the year has brought. Here at the always-annoying initial descent
of winter I am already looking forward to Yule morning, when the light begins
to grow again.
Regular readers will know that I write books and sell them.
I’ve done this a long time, though I have yet to have a main-stream
publication. (The truth is I’m only a little motivated. The advantages of
self-publishing continue to appeal to me. ) As a result I am sometimes asked
how to approach my material in an orderly way, or, “what to read first”. In an
effort to reduce the retyping of the answer to that question I’ll try to put
the important stuff in order here.
If you are looking to read my books, you are hoping to learn
about a practical approach to modern Celtic-style religion and magic. I freely
refer to what I do as Pagan, though my material is radically different from
much of modern Pagan practice. I begin with a reconstructionist’s concern for the
original and reliably authentic lore of the Celts, especially the Gaels. To
that I add a modern mage’s willingness to reframe, reinvent and experiment. In
general I am more concerned with occultism and sorcery than with religion,
mainly just as my personal inclination. However all my magical work is framed
inside the Pagan religious model in which I work. Blog readers will know my
opinion about the intimate connection between religion and magic.
Had I been interested in fame as an occultist, I’d have been
an eclectic. Instead I have hitched my wagon to the specific ritual format and
cosmology devised within ADF’s Druidry. Fortunately that format has come to be
more in tune with trends (and/or contributed to them) in modern magic over the
last decades. The modern interest in real work with spirits based on offering,
divination and blessing fits very nicely (imhhaa opinion) with the work that
I’ve devised. Readers used to working in a post-Wiccan or post-Masonic ritual
style will find plenty in the material that can be adapted for their own work.
Prologue:
1: ADF’s Dedicant Path: The 150 page book that comes with
one’s first year of ADF membership provides a simple introduction to the symbol
system and ritual forms used in the rest of my work. I wrote most of the material,
and edited the most recent edition. Even if one is uncertain about ADF as a
primary Pagan path the material in our training, and the community of support, is
valuable for those interested in non-Wiccan modern Pagan directions.
The Dedicant materials are available only with a one-year ADF membership. Note that all the following are available at my Lulu shop, except for SFHW, which is available at Amazon from ADF Publishing.
Top Tier:
2: Sacred Fire, Holy Well, A Druid’s Grimoire. This was the
first formal writing I did about
our Druidic system. The core material began as a pamphlet for our local Grove in 1991. By the end of the 90s it had grown into the 300 page item it is now. In truth, all the themes of my later work are present here. If there’s a fault in the book it is that the rites were written to be performed for and by medium to large groups. The seasonal rites are based on our local Grove rites, where we readily have a half-dozen voices available, and the magical rites are written for myself and a partner to work for a fairly large group. The rites have been criticized as unworkable by solitaries, and that may be true.
our Druidic system. The core material began as a pamphlet for our local Grove in 1991. By the end of the 90s it had grown into the 300 page item it is now. In truth, all the themes of my later work are present here. If there’s a fault in the book it is that the rites were written to be performed for and by medium to large groups. The seasonal rites are based on our local Grove rites, where we readily have a half-dozen voices available, and the magical rites are written for myself and a partner to work for a fairly large group. The rites have been criticized as unworkable by solitaries, and that may be true.
However I continue to get good reviews from readers who find the book useful
for developing a personal practice. It is a multi-category compendium with an
introduction, at least, to the whole shootin’ - match.
It is, according to students who have attempted it, an
intense and challenging program. I based the model on the kind of work that we
expected of ourselves back when I was running a training coven. It may be that
the pace is too brisk for someone working the system at home alone. I do
(still) plan on expanding it into a slower-paced set of trainings, but that has
been slow to happen. Those who have completed some basic familiarization with
Druidic ritual (say, the Dedicant’s work) will find more of the more advanced
material in one place in this book than anywhere else.
Having run a few students through the Nine Moons work I
realized that much of the material might be of interest to folks not involved
in Our Druidry. I decided that two of the primary teachings of the system ought
to be broken out an offered to more general readers, apart from a rigorous
general training. Those are the spirit-arte material, and the teachings on
trace and vision-work.
This book contains my final-to-date efforts to apply
principles of classic magical spirit work as found in the grimoires to a
polytheist, alliance-based model. The rites have been tested by several
magicians now to good effect, and I’m confident offering the material. I expect
the system to be especially useful for those working to gain primary familiar
allies among the Dead and the Landwights.
The focus of the book’s vision-work is the construction and
use of an Inner Nemeton – a visualized temple and workspace that serves as an
arrival and departure point for further vision. This is presented in some
detail, in a series of scripted trances. Also provided are exercises intended
to allow an approach to the personal Higher Genius, here conceived in a Pagan
way.
Let me say this plainly – I don’t recommend buying both the
Book of Nine Moons and the two “Books
of…”. There is some new material in each of the latter (more in the Book of
Summoning) but they mainly reframe material from the full system. The two later
books are more modular, easier to adapt to a personal a la carte practice. The
Book of Nine Moons is a complete system.
Second Tier
6: The Court of Brigid Grimoire. This is a complete ritual
suite for approaching the
goddess Brigid, meeting her primary ‘ministers’ or
‘angels’ or ‘daemons’ and working with the servant spirits of her ‘court’. It
is based entirely on the methods presented in the Book of Summoning (and to
some degree in Sacred Fire, Holy Well). It could be worked directly from the
text by a new student, but some study of the underlying system will certainly
reduce confusion.
Me Having Fun
11: The Fire and Well Spellbook. This was me having fun with
typesetting. It is all the ritual material from Sacred Fire, Holy Well arranged
in a pretty type-face. Buy the hardback if you want something romantic for your
wizard’s library.
12: Blank Books and Journals. (buggy-whips and sealing-wax
on the left…). Keep an eye out, I put different ones up. Also see lots of them
at my Tabula Rasa shop.
13: Liber Spirituum. The grimoire tradition of magic
includes the idea of a Book of Spirits – a personal book in which one collects
the names, sigils and ‘signatures’ of the spirits with whom one has made pacts.
This is my typeset of one for myself. The decoration is Celtic, but it would
work for any spirit-arte collection.
The Dwale of Afagddu. My small effort at a Cthulhu Mythos
tome begins with a weird tale of ancient Wales, telling the secret story behind
Cerridwen’s brewing. It then provides a grimoires of mythos rites. It walks a
line between actually performable and why bother, but it includes a variety of
fake-evil sorcerous Cthulhu art by me.
1 comment:
I'm definitely interested in the Book of Summoning - I tried to come up with a Pagan-style evocation practice ages ago. I had a lot of difficulty because of context and having come from a Wiccan practice, which felt a bit lacking in the interaction department. Through ADF work I've found better ways of making friends and allies and I'd be happy to add to that practice. I'll have to order it when I have the cash!
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