Exhumation of a Murder -
The Life and Trial of Major Armstrong
by Robin Odell

Trade Paperback Category: Law/Crime isbn 186992892x 12.99 UK pounds

The case of Major Armstrong, the celebrated Hay Poisoner, the only solicitor ever to hang, is one of those classic, old-fashioned English murders which hail from the heyday of courtroom drama when, with the hangman lurking in the pine-and-panel wings and the black cap an object of horrifyingly alarming currency rather than mere symbolism, the loser in 'the black dock's dreadful pen' lost all. It comes straight out of the pages of George Orwell's essayed nostalgia ['Decline of the English Murder' in Tribune] for the era of the Great British Murder, when, after a Sunday lunch of roast beef and Yorkshire, you put your feet up on the sofa and, with a good strong cup of mahogany-brown tea, read all about the latest 'good' murder in the News of the World. And the Armstrong case was unquestionably one of the best; right up there in the grand tradition of Dr Palmer of Rugeley, Neill Cream, Mrs Maybrick, Dr Crippen, Seddon, and George Joseph Smith.'
- Richard Whittington-Egan

The Author
Robin Odell acknowledges his debt to the researches of the late Dr Hubert Trumper a medical practitioner in Hay-on-Wye, and the late Joe Gaute, distinguished crime historian and publisher. Their combined efforts sustained over several years brought many insights to bear on the life and trial of Major Armstrong.

'Occulture' Call for contributors

The date for the successor to Occulture is now set for July 14th 2007 in West Sussex on a farm. Kindof Carryon Camping meets Hammer House of Horror. That's two weeks after the Bath Omphalos Happening so July should be hot

In addition to a Music programme - Cinema Programme and mainstage, there will be a small cuddly venue called the Pleasure Dome. So if you have any suggestions or nominations for this venue please get in touch now. I'm looking for a mix of good occult speakers with performers or workshop facilitators. So email me mogg@... with your suggestions.

Artists so far interested Arthur Brown, Jeff Merriefield, Dave Davies, Ralph Harvey, Colin Wilson, Oryelle, some Polish people which is a new phenomenon but good all the same.

8pm - at the Devereux Public House, 20 Devereux Court, off Essex Street, Strand, London WC2, near Temple Underground)
For programme, contact The Secret Chiefs
Suite B, 2 Tunstall Road, London SW9 8DA
Tel (0207) 733 5400 Fax (0207) 733 4449
The Secret Chiefs, Britain's longest-running pagan/occult talks forum (Check for updates on http://www.pflondon.org) (Talking Stick began at The Plough on 14th February 1990, moving through the years to The Marquis Cornwallis, The Dog Trumpet, the Black Horse to the Princess Louise, there becoming Secret Chiefs on 15th March 2000. Now at the Devereux)

Wednesday 6th September - Meredith MacArdle Christine Rhone "Food And Drink Of The Gods"
Legend and mythology is full of reference to sacred foods and drinks. Nectar, Ambrosia, Soma were some of the sacred names for substances which promised immortality. Meredith and Christine have been eating divine food and imbibing heavenly drinks for many a year. Tonight they will share their secrets with you and may even offer a free sample or two!

Wednesday 20th September - Andy Collins

Wednesday 4th October - Larry Summers "London: Murky, Mysterious, Magnificent!"

Wednesday 18th October - Rachael Bulla "Joseph Smith And The Occult"
Rachael Bulla is researching the Druidic Ogham for a DPhil at Oxford University. She has been a devout member of the LDS ('Mormon') Church since age 10 and has been exploring 'pagan magic' in connection with her LDS spirituality for five years. She will discuss the 'pagan occult' aspects of the prophet Joseph Smith: his interest in astrology, magical sigils and talismans, magical treasure seeking, his use of seer stones and Urim and Thummim to translate the 'golden plates' (the 'Book of Mormon') and his involvement with Freemasonry.

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Treadwells

Here's a selection of talks at Treadwells. Full descriptions of all events are to be found now on website, http:www.treadwells-london.com

Treadwells, 34 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden, London WC2
Places booked on 0207 240 8906
or by email info@...

Lovecraft, Cthulhu Magic
31 August (Thursday) Dr Justin Woodman, Goldsmith’s College, University of London 7.30 pm £5.00

Critical perspectives and analysis of the mythos of the beings inhabiting HP Lovecraft’s fiction, and their second life in the chaos magic movement. More details soon.

Marie Laveau and New Orleans Voodoo

The Alchemical Mercurius

The Moot with No Shame

Alternate Wednesdays, 7.30 for 8pm. Upstairs, Devereux pub near Temple. £2. (Unless otherwise stated.) Directions: Opposite the main entrance to the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand (near Aldwych) is a Tudor-style pub called the George. Go down the alley next to this and the Devereux is at the bottom. There's a map at .

30 Aug Steve Ash The Enochian Magic of Edward Talbot
A look at the "invention" of Enochian Magic by Edward Talbot (aka Edward Kelly) and his relationship with John Dee. The talk will explore some of the methods Talbot may have used to trick Dee into this project, as well as some anecdotes on their relationship. It will also briefly analyse "authentic" Enochian Magic and contrast it with the "distorted" system as developed by the Golden Dawn and their heirs. In addition it will explore the possibilities of a Neo- Enochian magic currently under experimental development. Steve Ash has recently explored this subject in some depth for a two-part article currently published in Oracle occult magazine, copies of which will be available on the night. It is hoped the talk will be suitably controversial.

13 Sept Rat Scabies Chris Dawes Rennes-le-Château the Grail
Yes, THE Rat Scabies, who along Chris Dawes wrote the best book of 2005

BEYOND TANTRA
By David Conway

"It's all sex nowadays" my mother used to grumble after an evening in front of the television. Even her favourite nature programmes, she moaned, were increasingly obsessed with it. Much the same might be said about Tantra. Or, at least, about what currently passes for Tantra, something which to many people today means little more than sex with fancy trimmings. No surprise then that among the first 'tantrik' sites to appear on Google is one that markets books on sexual techniques, as well as performance-enhancing potions like - currently on special offer - tiny pots of nipple sensitising cream. True, there's a token reference to Tantra's origins in India but it's the "get your kit off" message that counts. My mother wouldn't approve. And neither, frankly, do I.

What offends me is not so much the sexual free-for-all - each to his own as far as I'm concerned - but the attempt to glamorise, even sanctify, it by calling it Tantra. After all, Tantra is first and foremost a spiritual practice by which the self aspires to merge with the energies that sustain or, rather, constitute, the universe. It is a means of becoming one with the Whole, of escaping from the illusion of separateness that determines how we experience the phenomenal world around us. Sensitised nipples have precious little to do with it. (And anyway a dab of Vaseline does the job, if you're curious.)

The word Tantra is Sanskrit for 'weave', a term used to indicate that a particular text has been composed according to an orderly pattern (samhita). Others prefer to believe it points to secret teachings 'woven' into the Vedas, the thread visible only when teased out by a scholarly commentator or qualified guru. This interpretation, though appealing, is undermined by evidence that before being taken up by Hinduism, Tantra was already a feature of Buddhist practice, later becoming associated with Mahayana Buddhism in particular. (There the feminine principle, sakti, has long been held in high esteem.) This might also explain its early adoption by the Vajrayana (Sk. "Diamond Vehicle") sect of Tibet, one that borrowed heavily - again significant perhaps - from that country's indigenous religion (Bön). Yet the true origins of Tantra almost certainly pre-date all of these and are rooted in the ancient practice of Yoga, especially in what later became Hatha Yoga, so called because it is the path (Sk. marga) of effort and discipline, both essential if the body and its vital energies are to be brought under control. Appropriately enough, one of the early names given to Tantrik teaching - Agamas or 'What has come from before' - may be an acknowledgement of its great antiquity.

Not all Hindu teaching is sympathetic to Tantra, with many scholars, especially more recent ones, uneasy with its intentionally blunt language (Sandhya-bhasha) and overtly erotic symbolism. At times even its defenders sound apologetic, pleading that, for want of anything better, it is at least a convenient path to mystical experience in the current Dark Age (Kali-yuga) (1), a period when our race is woefully lacking in spiritual refinement. (Held to have started 5000 years ago or, as others maintain, following the death of Krishna in 3120BCE, the Dark Age is scheduled to last for 430,000 years so there's lots more of it ahead.) With the advent of Kali-yuga we are said to have lost our ability to see beyond the illusory appearance of things (maya), something traditionally expressed as the loss of our Third Eye or Eye of Siva. This symbolic organ is depicted in art as a lotus blossom, the sun, a snake or a star and set in the middle of the forehead, though some occultists maintain, none more forcibly than Mme. Blavatsky, that the Third Eye was, literally, just that. Today, the pineal gland is claimed to be its only anatomical remnant.

Hinduism accommodates two kinds of Tantra, that of the right hand (Dakshinacara) and that of the left (Vamacara). The first, regarded as the more respectable, favours a metaphorical interpretation of the erotic language found in the texts, while the second, often dismissed as 'black' magic, adopts a more literal approach, treating what it finds as a practical guide to attaining enlightenment. Only the latter approach need concerns us.

As was said earlier, Tantra is not about sex. Well, not just about sex. Its spiritual element - 'psychical' may be a better epithet - is at least as important as the physical. In any case the two are complementary. More than that, they are inter-dependent for only when acting together - physical act and spiritual intention - will they induce awareness of the unity subsisting between the conditional world and the absolute reality on which it depends. Nowhere is this togetherness more sublimely realised - here comes the sex - than in the act of coition, that synergic conjunction (Paramsiva or the union of Siva and Sakti) of two individuals or, better still, two creative polarities.

As for the erotic techniques described in tantrik literature or even in the teach-yourself manuals peddled on the internet, their purpose is to facilitate this beatific outcome by means of, inter alia, breathing exercises, tactile stimulation and, most famous of all, delayed orgasm or, on occasion, the disciplined retention of semen. Above all, however, recourse is had to the goddess Sakti herself, the initiatory and dynamic expression of divine power. (The name itself means nothing less.) As the "Princess who sleeps at Brahman's gate" the goddess is dormant inside each of us under the guise of Kundalini, the Serpent Power coiled three and a half times around the Muladhara chakra at the base of the spine. Aroused from its slumber, Kundalini can be persuaded to ascend the spinal column - or, more correctly, spiral through the citrini nadi of its subtle equivalent (Sushumna) - like a jet of blue flame, shedding sparks in its wake, red on one side, yellow on the other. (2) Passing rapidly through the next five chakras, it brings each of them into harmonious and tuneful life - the first syllable of Kundalini (the word itself denotes a coil of rope) means 'sound' - until at last its cosmic fire ignites Sahasrara, a supernumerary chakra and the noblest of them all, immediately transforming that glorious, thousand-petalled lotus into the marriage bed of Siva and Sakti. It is their divine coupling, mirrored in our own, that facilitates our release (moksha) into the ineffable bliss of absolute being.

A similar bliss is accessible through magical practices, particularly those with an overtly sexual component. For that reason the latter are often referred to as Tantra, proof again of how the word has become synonymous with sex. And true enough, the methods of sexual arousal available to the magician are often similar to - because copied from - those of the tantrika. (They have, after all, proved their worth over time.) Even so it may be misleading, no matter how convenient, to describe sexual magic as tantrik because there is one important, indeed fundamental, difference between the two.

To grasp it we need to remind ourselves that for Vedic scholars, phenomena and form enjoy no real existence (avastu). Our awareness of them is merely the accidental reaction of our senses to a reality, itself imperceptible, which is nothing less than the creative self-projection of Brahman. (3) Over time this emphasis on the "otherness" of what is truly real (and, as such, a manifestation of God's inviolable Oneness) led to the view that the phenomenal world, product of our faulty perception, could not be other than inferior to what lay beyond it. After all, was it not the imperfect, because conditional, aspect of what is immutable and absolute? And so the notion grew that the world of matter was somehow debased and, as such, unworthy of being cherished or respected on its own terms. Such a notion is not confined to Hinduism. Closer to home we come across it in much Christian thinking, both orthodox and (to a far greater extent) heretical, while the neo-Platonists - to whom Western magic owes much - were, like the Manicheans, particularly infected by it. The celebrated Plotinus summed up their views by dismissing matter as "the primary evil".

We have always to remember, therefore, that while Tantra indulges the body and the senses, it does so with the aim of transcending both. Because of that, all the tantalising foreplay and eventual orgasm, however incidentally enjoyable, are simply means to an end, devoid of any ultimate value themselves. A way of escape from the snares of conditionality, they facilitate a brief triumph of mind over matter.

For the magician by contrast, matter is inherently sacred. Far from being a route to the Absolute it is the route by which the Absolute becomes real and present - even palpable - to us. For that reason the aim of Magic is to exploit the sacramental nature of matter, treating it (in the language of St. Augustine, as modified (in italics) by St. Thomas Aquinas) as the outward and visible sign of an inward, divine and efficacious grace. From this it follows that for the magician the sexual act is no longer the means to an end but correctly understood, the end itself. Through it, with it, in it, a higher, unconditioned reality manifests itself in terms appropriate to our environment. Tantra, by contrast, requires us to "liberate" ourselves from that environment before the same reality is met. At the risk of labouring the point: for Tantra it is through matter that we strive to touch the Absolute; for Magic it is through matter that the Absolute touches us. Matter is the Absolute in posse. (4)

It should be emphasised that sexual activity is not an indispensable constituent of magical practice. (Like Tantra, Magic is not, definitely not, "all sex"!) Readers who feel ill at ease with it or, as must happen to us all, no longer up to it, need on no account despair! But those who have at some time or other been privileged to participate in this type of work will be aware of its tremendous efficacity. My own first experience, following hints so discreet it took months to work them out, occurred when I was fifteen and introduced me - too soon, I sometimes think - to matters which (if my memory serves me well) are deemed in some sections of the O.T.O to belong to the arcana of the VIII° and IX°. Ten years later in a crowded warehouse deep within the meat-packing district of Manhattan (now gentrified beyond recognition) I watched dumbstruck as a veritable phantasmagoria of mighty beings were lent form and substance by the tremendous power inherent in what Verlaine called "ce divin phosphore". (5) Indeed, I have only to recall that occasion to be made giddy by the memory of it and, more importantly, to have again at my disposal (for such was the purpose of the undertaking) the 'phosphoric' energy simultaneously generated in the theurgic fervour of that night. But of course there's no need to cross the Atlantic for such experiences. Members of the gentlest, least pretentious Wiccan group will have experienced something of the kind - and of comparable worth - each time the Goddess deigns to bless them with her presence in the quiet of the night.

On all such occasions the aim is not to gratify the senses - however gratified they are in the process - but to permit the physical to make explicit the spirituality implicit within it. This requires of us an immense act of will, something that again distinguishes Magic from Tantra. There, you may remember, the participant's will, like the rest of his individuality, is dissolved in a supra-mundane reality where all differentiation has ceased. The magician, on the other hand, applies his will - and such should be his highest ambition - to effect changes that help advance the evolution of the world. (5) His is above all an act of love. Of love freely exercised in accordance with his true will, a concomitant of that divine will which sustains the dynamic reality, perceptible and imperceptible, of which we are at once the part and the whole: verum est....quod superius est sicut quod inferius et quod inferius est sicut quod superius, ad perpetrando miracula rei unius. Unlike Tantra, which uses the 'below' to embrace the 'above', Magic, sexual or otherwise, enables the magician, loyal to the Thrice Great Hermes, to embrace the 'above' in the 'below'.

And by so doing, he sanctifies the world.

Notes:
(1) According to the Puranas there are four successive ages within each maha-yuga of 4,320,000 years. Kali-yuga is the fourth and darkest of the current maha-yuga, its predecessors (Krita or Satya, Treta, and Dvapara) each marking a progressive decline in the moral, spiritual and physical condition of mankind. Another Puranic tradition speaks of time divisions known as kalpas, divisible into fourteen manvantaras each consisting of 71 maha-yugas, though the duration does seem to vary. Each manvantara is governed by a different Manu, our present one (the "post-Atlantean" as some occultists call it) being in the custody of Vaivasvata (Sk. "Child of the Sun") whose responsibilities include the ethno-cultural progress of mankind. (Manu - Sk. "Man" - is another term for the Purusha or Paradigmatic Man, comparable to the Hebrew Adam Kadmon.)

(2) Usually the red flames occur on the left side (ida) in men, the right (pingala) in women but variations occur as, for instance, when the sexual activity is other than heterosexual. Solitary activity by either sex may produce a brilliant mix of red and yellow flames on both sides, often suprasensibly 'visible' to observers. Alas, some esotericists condemn masturbation in terms worthy of those stern Victorian moralists who claimed it led to blindness and insanity. There are also lurid warnings from certain Jewish authorities that onanism (and nocturnal emissions) are induced by Lilith, the first Eve, who then uses the spilled seed to manufacture bodies for the demons in her charge. No less devilish are the incubi and succubi - I always forget which of them does what - who feature prominently in accounts of the witch trials.

(3) The creative impulse (Brahman) is other than the "divine Nothingness (ahava), which alone is God. Referred to in the Upanishads as Neti, neti ('not this, not that'), the featureless nature (nirguna) of God was cleverly expressed by Crowley as God=0. None of which should be taken to mean that God is the negation of everything (in itself impossible since it presupposes a positive ground), but, rather, that God is the absence of 'something'. And in this case the 'something' is 'existence' as opposed to 'non-existence'. Yet by denying existence to God, neither Crowley nor Hindu thinkers call in question the fact that God is. For them existence is secondary, the product of God's self-awareness, manifesting itself - the Vedas speak of an effulgence of cosmic light (hiranyagarbha) - in the dualistic world of "becoming" (Crowley's 0=2), of which we are part. (The Cabbala, of course, teaches much the same, as did the Neo-Platonists, albeit in a typically complicated manner.)

(4) In the impending New Age this same principle - that matter is the vehicle of spirit - will be of particular significance to those who encounter the Lord of the Aeon himself, end product of the equation already quoted (note 3): 0=2=1. Outwardly human, inwardly - or in the Thomistic sense, 'substantially' - divine, His person will become a valid object of devotion. For out of this Divine Child, as the liturgy of the A.O.M (II°) proclaims, there gushes forth the solar light that vivifies creation, microcosmic equivalent of that greater light, more incandescent than a million suns, that is His true, unmanifested self. Especialy inimical to the New Aeon are the secret forces currently responsible for the growth in fundamentalist religion and, paradoxically, novel and belligerent forms of scientific dogmatism..

(5) The location in Washington Street, with animal carcasses stacked on the pavement and in surrounding buildings - there was a pervasive odour of fat and stale blood - may not have been accidental. For as Dion Fortune observed in her book, Sane Occultism, " . . .. blood being a vital fluid, contains a large proportion of ectoplasm, or etheric substance. When shed, this ectoplasm rapidly separates from the congealing blood and thus becomes available for materialisations". Several psychic researchers, notably the less-than-reliable Harry Price, have observed that physical phenomena are more prevalent during séances conducted when the (female) medium is menstruating. (It may be for this purpose that the use of blood is recommended in certain magical operations.) Luckily, for those who, like me, are of a squeamish disposition, the power of creative visualisation, known in Yoga as Kriyasakti, works just as well.

Arianrhod A Journey to Spiral Castle

By Levannah Morgan (review)

£3 PO Box 314, Exeter EX4 6YR cheques to J.Higginbottom (inclusive of postage).

This booklet explores the complex evolution of the Welsh goddess Arianrhod, from the earliest references to her in Welsh literature through to modern visions of her as a powerful stellar goddess of inspiration and magick. It traces the author's own experiential journey as a priestess of Arianrhod and suggests some ways of working with this goddess."

I’ve heard Levannah Morgan speak on a number of occasions, and I’ve always enjoyed what she had to say, how she said it and by and large have come away enriched by the experience.

She has also, in my eyes been one of the few woman whom I have heard talk of the Goddess forms in experiential, no holds barred, and dare I say I ‘real’ terms, and I’ve a lot of respect for what she has to say.

Thus I was more than willing to read and review this booklet, at that point sight unseen and subject relatively unknown.

A section of one of my bookcase holds some of my most valued magical literature. Not a hard cover amongst them, they are all magazines or all self-published booklets, oft printed in small numbers but containing more information that many of my glossy and expensive tomes do.

Bearing the above in mind it is really no surprise I find it as easy to write a review for ‘Arianrhod- A Journey to Spiral Castle’ as I would for a more traditionally formatted book.

‘Arianrhod’ is a great booklet; it is nicely written and in a relatively few pages (which includes a bibliography and all online sources used) she explores the roots of the Welsh Goddess Arianrhod in historical terms, as well as looking at the process in which Robert Graves fleshed out a very rudimentary amount of information to animate the Arianrhod who became so well known amongst the contemporary Pagan community.

Then Levannah goes back to source, so to speak, and presents her own research, and historical and experientially realised interpretations and perceptions of Arianrhod.

This results in an easy to read balance of the proverbial art and science that could be seen as being the backbone of true magic.

I think this booklet will be enjoyed and appreciated by practitioners of many diverse paths as well as being appreciated in general by those of both an academic and a creative bent.

‘Arianrhod- The Spiral Castle’ is of interest not just for the process, both academic and creative, of giving life, substance and character to a god/dess form but also for Levannah’s relating of more personal aspects of her journey, which creates an accessibility that endears the reader further.

Her suggested practical work is well done too; written in intensely ocular and evocative language, the visualisation is near automatic as one reads the text.

Call me a shallow, but aesthetics are of great importance to me, and the pleasing presentation only adds to something that at three pounds is more than a bargain.

Julian Vayne (author of Now That's What I Call Chaos Magick) writes:
So we all know Arianrhod right? Goddess of the Silver Wheel and Spiral Castle. Sister (or reflection) of Ariadne, the spider queen; haughty lady of the strange legend of Llew Llaw Gyffes and Blodeuwedd. Well yes and no. These things are part of the story but the tale of Arianrhod is much subtler as Levannah Morgan shows. This slim, well-produced volume traces the evolution (or creation) of this goddess from the earliest Welsh legends into contemporary paganism and directly into Levannah’s own story. As a Welsh speaker Levannah is able to shed light on the first traces of the goddess in both text and the Welsh landscape. She shows how the modern perception of her myth was woven according to the ‘poetic truth’ of Robert Graves and later stitched into the fabric of twentieth century Wicca. But this book is far from a hatchet job on an esteemed member of the modern pagan pantheon. Instead Levannah demonstrates how the goddess herself has been woven, and celebrates the creativity of this process. Levannah provides some evocative glimpses into how she has contributed to this divine fabric herself through her work in 1970s goddess feminism, witchcraft and the Fellowship of Isis. An excellent marriage of well researched cold hard facts and poetic, inspired magick, this book is a essential reading for anyone who wishes to walk the spiral road to the castle of the Otherworld. Highly Recommended.

The Complete Magician's Tables, by Stephen Skinner

Golden Hoard isbn 0954763971, 432pp, hardback £30/$46 (even posher edition available)

'Tarot without number' which is one possible title for this review. Now a revision of 'Crowley's' 777 or as its known in the trade, The Qabalah of Aleister Crowley, might seem a bit nerdy. We've probably all been tempted at some time or another to prepare our own revision of what's seen as the essential text - well actually not me but I know a few who have been so tempted. BTW - the apostrophes around Crowley are meant to indicate that the old bull's authorship of said text is not without its doubters, as Stephen Skinner points out in his introduction.

What's it for - I hear you say? Indeed, it's a while since I looked at my battered old copy but there is a school of magic (I'm not saying how old) that recommends that all magical operations should be beefed up with information from such a book of tables. It all goes back to the old doctrine of signatures and correspondences. The power of magick seems to reside in the ability to assign the many things in our imaginal world to various classifications. The ancient pagan world was full of classificatory systems - perhaps that was then the nature of knowledge - the obsessive making of lists?

As very many of these lists have come down to us from posterity principally via the grimoires and kabbalistic texts such as the Sepher Yetzirah (Book of Formation), The Bahir (Book of Light), The Zohar (Book of Splendour) etc etc. Rescued from obscurity by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, these books and their lists were given a new lease of life and form the basis of much modern magick including the schema underlying the Tarot, perhaps the ultimate 'list'.

If you're not a list maker yourself how might you use them? Well received wisdom says that if for example you want to construct a ritual to Seth, the Egyptian god of Chaos, you might use the traditional 'correspondences' of that god - colour red, constellation Ursa major, planet Mercury or Mars, depending whether you follow the views of the ancient Egyptians or the later traditions. They can also be used to check on details of a vision - this usually done during a practice called Path working. This entails an imaginal journey over the various ascending paths of the Tree of Life. I should point out in one of his many revisions, Skinner recommends a return to the Lurianic Tree i.e. that of Isaac Luria (1533-1572) as opposed to the Golden Dawn version, constructed by Macgregor Mathers, but considered by most experts to be inferior. Even so, Skinner acknowledges these GD attributions have become a discreet if problematic tradition in their own right. So for completeness and easy comparison both sets are listed often side by side for easy comparison, as on page 133 of the Tables. So if our astral traveller received a toothy vision he or she might later conclude that they were either on course on the path between sphere 10 to 9 at the bottom of the tree or had strayed into the 'path direct' and was actually on 3 to 2.

In a sense all classificatory system have an arbitrary quality. It's like astrology, many swear by the use of the tropical Zodiac - despite the fact that it hasn't quite be in synch with the actual constellations for a while now. It's a conventional system, where the relationships between the parts is maybe more important than the underlying reality.

Well that's just to discuss the issues raised in one of the many hundred of seminal tables presented in this crucial book. Although at its strongest when dealing with the material related to High Magick, the Grimoires, Alchemy and the Kabbalah, I was glad the author had ditched that piece of cultural imperialism, that reduced Kabbalah to a mere filing system then 'used' to bury every other system under a semblance of false knowledge. Kabbalah is far from the last refuge of the lazy thinker. I'm glad to see the message is getting through at last - that all belief systems need to be embraced in their own context.

Skinner's revisionism is extended to the Tables, which ditch the clunky and confusing system adopted by Crowley, whereby everything was mapped onto a 33 row table (10 spheres, 22 paths and a couple extra for the awkward ones that don't fit.) Skinner instead returns to the older more user friendly ZEP system whereby everything is classified according to either the Zodiacal, the Elemental or the Planetary attribution..

Stephen Skinner has very kindly allowed me to reproduce a small extract from the introduction that presents many other startling (and to some alarming) new revelations. One of which I've immediately taken to heart - forget about the numbers of the tarot Trumps - that's a relatively modern convention that has generated more problems than it solves. Recommended [Mogg]

The Nature of Correspondences (© Stephen Skinner)

extracted with permission from:
The Complete Magician's Tables, by Stephen Skinner Golden Hoard isbn0954763971, 432pp, hardback £30/$46 (see review)

To understand how the correspondences are built up, it becomes important to see, and to test, the links in the chain. The basic Kabbalistic texts underlying these correspondences are the Sepher Yetzirah, the book Bahir, and the Zohar. It is no coincidence that Wynn Westcott (co-founder of the Golden Dawn with Mathers) published a translation (from the Latin rather than the Hebrew) of the Sepher Yetzirah in 1887, as this is one of the main links of the chain of correspondences that links Western Magic through astrology to the Hebrew Kabbalah.

There is no problem with the Sepher Yetzirah correspondences for the 10 Sephiroth which are clearly documented in many Hebraic and Latin sources, but the 22 Paths connecting the Sephiroth have had scant attention paid to them in much of the literature, and it is these Paths that are the crux of many Western correspondences. At this point I recommend that anyone who is quite happy with the internally consistent Golden Dawn synthesis, or who is new to it, skips the rest of this section. If you proceed to read the rest of this section, prepare to have some of your basic preconceptions shaken a little, but at the end you will be standing on a firmer conceptual ground.

[Diagram simplified here]

1. Tree of Life -
2. Paths -
3. Hebrew Letters -
4. Astrology ZEP -
5. Tarot

The Hebrew letters are central to the chain, and to the Kabbalah. You can also see that the Tarot is actually a long conceptual distance from the Tree of Life , and we will later see why this has caused both Mathers and Crowley to make various tweaks to links 3 and 4 (like swapping the cards Strength and Justice, or the cards Emperor and Star), without perhaps addressing the root of the problem.

Taking each of the links in turn:

1. Tree of Life - Paths Link
The Tree of Life diagram comes in three main 'flavours': the Gra, the Lurianic, and the Kircher/Golden Dawn Tree. The most familiar to modern readers is the Golden Dawn Tree shown in Figure 2 which shows three Paths radiating from Malkuth at the bottom but with only 4 paths crossing the so-called Abyss. The Lurianic Tree (named after its promoter Isaac Luria, the 'Ari') in Figure 3 shows only one Path leading from Malkuth (it also occurs in older sources like the Bahir). All three Trees have 22 Paths, but obviously the numbering of the Paths differs, so this link yields variable results, and is not as firm as most commentators imply. I will be comparing the three Trees later in this introduction. Let us now look at how the chain of correspondence proceeds from there.

2. Paths Numbers - Hebrew Letters Link
All three types of Trees have 22 Paths, and as the Sepher Yetzirah states, one letter of the Hebrew alphabet is allocated to each Path. The problem is that the Sepher Yetzirah does not diagrammatically show what this allocation is. There are however definite allocations of the 3 types of Hebrew letters to the Paths:

a) The 3 Mother letters (Aleph, Mem and Shin) are logically allocated to the 3 Elements (excluding Earth). On the Lurianic Tree, they are the three horizontal Paths on the Tree. The Golden Dawn Tree however applies Aleph to connect Sephiroth 1 and 2, Mem to connect 5 and 8, and Shin to connect 8 and 10: hardly a satisfactory distribution of these three most important letters.

b) The seven Double letters (Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Peh, Resh, Tau) are allocated to the 7 Planets. On the Lurianic Tree, these are the 7 vertical Paths on the Tree. On the Golden Dawn Tree they appear to be just randomly allocated.

c) The twelve Single letters (He, Vau, Zain, Cheth, Teth, Yod, Lamed, Nun, Samekh, Ayin, Tzaddi, Qoph) are allocated to the 12 Zodiacal signs. On the Lurianic Tree these are systematically allocated only to the diagonal Paths on the Tree. On the Golden Dawn Tree they fill the remaining Paths, with no obvious pattern.

Obviously for this link to work we have to establish which allocation is correct. The clue to the positioning of the three different types of Hebrew letters on the Tree (and hence the Paths) occurs in the very clear differentiation of the three different types of letters. It also occurs in the last section of the Sepher Yetzirah (which is in fact dropped from some editions). This section lists out the qualities of each of the 32 'Intelligences.' The symbolism of the first ten Intelligences show clearly that they are meant to be the 10 Sephiroth, and the texts show some interesting secret connections between the Sephiroth. The next 22 Intelligences are from the 22 Paths, and from the hints (particularly in the original Hebrew) you can see which two Sephiroth are connected by each Intelligence or Path. Crowley clearly did not understand the significance of this section when he wrote of it:

"Column XII…These attributions arise from the description of the paths in the Sepher Yetzirah. This is one of the most ancient books of the Qabalah; but it is far from clear how the ideas correspond with the general scheme of symbolism. They seem of no use in practical magical work."

On the contrary, they are the clearest available indicators of the correct order of the Paths. I will not pursue this here, except to say that these indications taken together with the real meaning of the Serpent and Lightning Flash give the correct order for the Path numbers. They also indicate the correct order of meditational practice. Note that I am only talking about the numbering here. 3 - Hebrew Letters - Astrology (Zodiac /Element/Planet) Link This link is perhaps the most important for Western magic, as most of the other non-Kabbalistic correspondences depend upon it. Let us look at the parts:

a) The three Elements Aleph=Air, Mem=Water, Shin=Fire is clearly set out in Chapter 3 of the Sepher Yetzirah.

b) The Zodiac. This correlation of the 12 single letters to the 12 signs of the Zodiac is agreed upon by all commentators and is very clearly laid out in Chapter 5 of the Sepher Yetzirah.

c) The Planets however are a different matter, and occur in more than four variant arrangements in Chapter 4 of the various editions of the Sepher Yetzirah. The main variants are discussed below.

Westcott Kaplan in their translations of the Sepher Yetzirah show:

Beth - Moon
Gimel - Mars
Daleth - Sun
Kaph - Venus
Peh - Mercury
Resh - Saturn
Tau - Jupiter

It is very curious that Mathers did not use this arrangement, especially as he probably had a hand in the translation of the Westcott version.

For some reason, Mathers gave an order which is not included in any of these versions of the Sepher Yetzirah. This is the order that has influenced all of 20th century esoteric thought, but it is not an order with foundations in tradition:

Beth - Mercury
Gimel - Moon
Daleth - Venus
Kaph - Jupiter
Peh - Mars
Resh - Sun
Tau - Saturn

By far the largest number of versions of the Sepher Yetzirah (including both the Long and Short Version of the text) give an order which follows exactly the order of the Planets on the Sephiroth, which is therefore the most Kabbalistically logical. This is also the arrangement favoured by the translation by Gershom Scholem, who could be said to have a broader perspective on the Kabbalah than any other 20th century scholar. More impressively, this order is reflected in the pediments of the Ziggurat of Ur, suggesting it also has the most ancient pedigree:

Beth - Saturn
Gimel - Jupiter
Daleth - Mars
Kaph - Sun
Peh - Venus
Resh - Mercury
Tau - Moon

There are other hints of the rightness of this order, especially when using the Lurianic Tree which puts the Planets on the Paths connecting the Sephiroth vertically. The only conclusion open to us is that the planetary attributions in Mathers' working are in fact incorrect. I think it strange that Mathers preferred to preserve the fairly recent sequencing of the Tarot trumps in preference to retaining the considerably older and more valid instructions of the Sepher Yetzirah. I feel therefore that the time has come to turn back to this older attribution.

This arrangement has also been pointed out by Carlos Suares. I have not however made this change to the Tarot tables from Tables T1 to T28, which follow strict Golden Dawn attributions. Columns T38-T41 show how the Tarot would look if the ancient Sepher Yetzirah attributions had been adopted by Mathers. It is up to you, the reader, to decide for yourself if you wish to implement this material. The effect of correcting this, is to bring the 7 Planets on the Paths into line with the Sepher Yetzirah and to put their 7 corresponding Tarot Trumps on different Paths. If this ancient Planetary order is accepted, then the attribution of 7 of the Tarot Trumps to the Paths changes in a way which is infinitely more logical. The connection between each Tarot trump and its Planet is however not affected (as we will see below).

4 - Astrology (Zodiac /Element/Planet) - Tarot Link

Mathers' alignment of individual Tarot Trumps with the Zodiac, Element and Planets is very cogent. By retaining this, 7 of the Planetary Trumps now fall on different Paths, but remain linked to exactly the same Planets.

Roman Numbering

I also feel it is better to jettison the Roman numbering of the Tarot all together, as it is a very recent addition, and intimately tied up with the basically wrong traditional French numerical attributions.

This is not as inflammatory a statement as it first seems. Remember that as Eliphas Levi put The Magician = Aleph, every one of his attributions is therefore wrong in Golden Dawn terms, or any other terms. Levi's excuse is that it was just a 'blind'. I don't believe in blinds. I think information should be given to the best of one's ability, or withheld, but not provided in an intentionally crippled form. Almost all writers of the French tradition followed this deliberately blinded attribution.

Accordingly the Roman numbering will always be out of step with both the Paths of the Tree and the Hebrew letters of any modern system anyway.

In addition, as the Tarot is itself a distillation of a series of broken emblem sets, something we will see in the commentary on the Tarot Table T, so the idea of assigning them a sequence of ordered numbers is intrinsically nonsense. In fact all the early packs were unnumbered. The current numbering of packs like the Visconti-Sforza was only applied in the last few decades of the 20th century). Finally, as Stuart Kaplan clearly shows, the order of the Tarot cards has changed many times in the 600 years of its existence, so the Roman numbering of the Trumps is at best a convenience, and at worst a very misleading distraction. These numbers have no intrinsic value, being useful only as identifiers, and the name of the Trump adequately fulfils that function.

So let me sum up.
The links in the chain are as follows:
1. Tree of Life - Path Link. There are three main Tree formats, the Gra, the Golden Dawn and the Lurianic versions, therefore this connection is not as fixed as one might think, and tables from Liber 777 would have to be re-arranged accordingly for whichever Tree was used. The variant Tree arrangements have however no effect on the rearrangement of the present Tables, as these are dependent only on ZEP order rather than Path number order anyway.
2. Path - Hebrew Letters Link. These attributions are also not fixed. The Lurianic Tree's use of horizontal Paths for Elements, vertical Paths for Planets and diagonal Paths for Zodiacal signs has much to recommend it, is more ancient, and is more logical than the Golden Dawn arrangement.

3. Hebrew Letters - Astrology. Link

As Mathers did not use any standard edition of the Sepher Yetzirah to associate the Planets with the Hebrew letters (not even Westcott's edition) his seven Planet to Hebrew Letter attributions are suspect. I recommend that you examine the realignment of the 7 Planets and their Tarot trumps with the Hebrew letters as shown in Columns T38-T41.

4. Astrology - Tarot Link.

Mathers' clever attributions of the Tarot Trumps to the astrological Zodiac, Elements, and Planets (as shown in the Golden Dawn Cipher manuscript) still holds good.

With regard to the Tarot, I recommend that you also ignore or remove the Roman numbering of the Tarot to allow the Trumps to be assigned to the Paths correctly and smoothly without the usual sense of numerical dislocation.

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