Practical Planetary Magick

I noticed the appearance of Practical Planetary Magick last week, about a month and a half since Everyday Abundance appeared on the postbox. It seems like a large gap (especially given that there was only an interval of two weeks between the first two books) which makes me worry that I might have missed some, and that someone else has be picking books up!

Practical Planetary Magick is the only book of the three now in my collection that was clearly bought as new. In fact when I picked it up it barely looked read at all. There are no marks to suggest it was bought in a charity shop, no signs of wear and no hand-written notes. My assumption from the title was that it would be a book on astrology, and it in a sense it is, but Practical Planetary Magick is much more serious on the subject of worship of the stars than anything I've ever read on astrology. It doesn't concentrate on casual relationships between events and constellations but amounts to a detailed religious text, a how-to of planetary worship, presented in such earnest language that it resists both reason and mockery.

The book

Practical Planetary Magick opens with very little concession for the uninitiated and assumes from the outset that readers are familiar with magical ceremonies. It takes a moment to establish its terms, the book will be concerned with the seven 'wandering stars', Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Moon and the Sun. Profiles of each of these 'stars' follow and, of course, resist any attempt at logic. The Sun, we learn, is "the centre of our universe" but even as our minds reel from the factual inaccuracy of this statement the authors are quoting that :

"The massive size of the Sun means it comprises more than 99% of the mass of our solar system, giving justification to the heliocentric nature of so many world religions."

Although I appreciate the ability of the authors to paraphrase the second sentence on the Wikipedia page about the Sun I do not believe that size alone justifies religious belief. If it were why aren't we all worshipping Betelgeuse?

Similarly the Moon is described as:

"the fifth largest planetary satellite in our solar system, though it is much larger in comparison to the Earth than any other moons to their planets"

This time the authors paraphrase the first sentence of the Wikipedia page on the Moon. You get the point. The factual snippets on these pages are only seasoning to lend the book an air of factual authority, the real purpose of these profiles is to describe the positive and negative qualities of each of the planets to help the reader to chose which 'planetary influence' to use when performing spells. The spells themselves aren't explained, only named. The authors assume the reader already has knowledge of witchcraft, and thanks to The Grimoire of Lady Sheba, this reader certainly does.

Next the gods associated with each of these planetary bodies are described in turn. Each deity profile comes complete with an image of the god and a hymn to the god. These hymns are the first indication that the book is a religious text rather than a guide or a history book. The hymns are not attributed to anyone and therefore I can only assume they are the work of the authors. The hymns are all poorly written poems on the subject of the god in question. Here is a particularly mind-melting example

"Mercury draw near and to my words incline
Master of magick and psychopomp divine
Celestial messenger of awesome skill
Whose skills and humour does all mortals thrill"

Don't worry, I promise not to quote any more of these.

Next we learn how to meditate on the gods, to visualise them and learn from them. Each meditation is quite similar, beginning with a white mist which recedes and leaves you in the company of the god and ending with the god giving you an ambiguous concept to contemplate on (for example Luna tells you to consider the role of cycles in your life). This is probably my favourite section of the book as it's quite light-hearted and vague, making it very readable. If only I could say the book carried on in this vein.

Next follows a bizarre series of chapters on Olympic and Qabalistic Spirits, entities which the authors seem to have leaned about by reading the works of fifteenth century magicians and alchemists. The spirits are assigned to the planets and also to orders of angels and demons. These lists and tables are at once tedious and troubling. Written in earnest and articulate language (such a world away from the distracted ramblings of Karen Hood-Caddy) these pages show casual disregard for the religious traditions from which the 'facts' are plucked. As a non-religious person I find it hard to understand how the authors are happy to talk about the Archangel Micheal as appearing "in Revelations as the leader of the celestial host that defeats the antichrist" but also as "the prayer-leader in the Heavens in Islam". Should I take from this that the planetary religion espoused by this book accepts truth in all religions? If so how can believers reconcile the enormous differences in such belief systems?

As the book goes on the authors explain how to use the information they provide for rituals, detailing how to create magic circles, consecrate a talisman and how to chant to the gods in a 'pyramid of power'. When chanting to the sun we are told to use the word 'Thelema', Greek for 'will'. When chanting to Mercury we should use the word 'Azoth', a term invented by alchemists. When chanting to Mars we should use the word 'Madim', Hebrew for Mars. It's frankly bewildering to consider the range of religious and cultural material that these rituals are comprised of.

The book ends with yet more facts, figures, diagrams and tables. Plants, animals, fragrances and body parts are all divided up among the planets, each 'planetary intelligence' is listed in both English and Hebrew. I'm still not sure what a Kamea is, but there are lots of them and they all look like doodles.

Best bits

As I mentioned earlier the meditations to the gods are probably the best bit of the book. I suspect that the reason these guided visions of the planetary gods are so specific about measurements is that numbers appear to have ritual significance to the authors, influenced as they are by the Qabala. Nevertheless I find the following section from 'Journey to The God Mercury' hilarious in its specificity.

"About 20m ahead there is a doorway into a vault. Entering the vault, you see it is about 20m square and has roughly hewn walls. The ceiling is 3m above you [...] Approaching the throne you see that there is a golden casket sitting on the floor in front of Mercury. The casket is 30cm by 20cm by 10cm deep."

I for one had no idea that the classical pantheon was so metric. Can anyone explain it to me again, but in feet and inches?

In the section on making your own talismans for the gods is a table of recommended metals. For Saturn lead, for Mars brass and for Mercury aluminium, The footnote on this explains:

"Brass is used for the creation of charms instead of the planetary metal for Mars which is Iron due to the belief that spiritual beings dislike Iron"

As for Aluminium:

"As Mercury is a liquid a[sic] room temperature and extrememly toxic it is for obvious reasons unsuitable for creating charms. Aluminium is a light metal used in the construction of aircraft and hence movement between realms (Air & Earth) makes it a suitable metal for use"

No mention whatsoever of the toxic nature of lead but never mind, we all learned that the gods hate iron, but they love alluminium. Did I mention that I might have gone slightly mad by this point?

The owner

I don't think it's a coincidence that in many ways Practical Planetary Magick assumes a background knowledge of witchcraft and that I had already been provided with one in the form of the Grimoire of Lady Sheba. My concern is that both the Grimoire and Everyday Abundance were light introductory works and that from here on out the books on magic will be weighty, bewildering and mildly unnerving. This one certainly has been.


As a final note, does this look at all familiar?


Because to me it looks a lot like the 'banashing fire pentagram' from the Grimoire:


For all I know this may be a common theme in witchcraft and is just a coincidence, but I thought it was interesting.

Everyday Abundance

We noticed the appearance of The Findhorn Book of Everyday Abundance about two weeks after the appearance of The Grimoire of Lady Sheba as we were walking past the post box to the shops. It's presence gave us our first indication that we could expect books to appear regularly. At first glance Everyday Abundance looks like a standard self-help book, and therefore quite a different kind of book to The Gimoire, but once I started reading it became clear that Everyday Abundance is more than it appears to be, and was almost certainly left by the same person who gifted us the first book.

The book

A small paperback book, only slightly dog-eared. The Gift Aid sticker and pencilled price of £1.99 on the inside cover indicate that it is a charity shop find. The charity shop has classed the book as 'esoteric', which I think is a fair observation.

Everyday Abundance is only 127 pages in length, but given the contents this is far too long. Essentially an extended metaphor on the 'The Garden of Abundance' it's chapters are all entitled along the lines of 'Preparing Your Inner Soil', 'Choosing Your Soul Seeds' and 'Money as Fertiliser'. It's a tenuous metaphor at the best of times, but by the end of the book it becomes an obstacle to meaning and common sense.

Karen Hood-Caddy's premise is that we if we decide what we want in life, prepare for success and wish for it in the right way then we will 'manifest' the abundance we desire. She explains the mechanism of 'manifesting' using a cocktail of new-age and religious language that she seems only to have half understood. From the outset Karen Hood-Caddy seems to place enormous importance on what is essentially an exercise in positive thinking, with some troubling implications:

"Although we haven't yet been able to create perpetual youth or cure schizophrenia, one day we will. It's just that some 'manifestations' are going to take longer than others. [...] We are on our way to becoming Gods in our own right"

KHC doesn't delve any further into the far-reaching applications of manifestation that she hints at here, but leaves it up to the reader to conclude that 'Abundance' is a form of powerful magic that we can tap into. She even throws in a little 'be careful what you wish for' warning into the book with the story of a woman who wanted to create money and so pictured handling coins and notes. The manifestation backfired when the woman was given a job in a bank and had to handle money every day. A dire warning indeed.

To begin with KHC warns against wishing specifically for money, because money is only an enabling factor in achieving our true desires. Instead we should 'tune in' to our deepest desires, open up the 'Sacred Heart' within and wish for what we find inside (or, in other words, decide what we would spend the money on and wish for that instead). Various meditations are described to help the reader decide what they want, and to determine whether achieving such an aim would make them truly happy. Next we should 'prepare the soil' or, in other words get yourself ready for the thing you want. KHC illustrates the importance of this step with an immensely creepy story about a woman called Carol who wanted a life partner. In order to prepare her inner soil Carol pretended she already had a boyfriend:

"She began imagining him everywhere - she pictured him having breakfast with her, she felt his arms around her, she had imaginary conversations with him - she even bought him a special towel for the bathroom"

It's the towel that really clinches it for me, I didn't think she was fully engaged with the program, but then she bought her imaginary boyfriend a special towel. Of course the story has a happy ending "he soon showed up in full physicality and he and Carol are now together".

None of this preparation is ever phrased in such a way as to suggest that you should work towards your goals, instead we are encouraged to act as if we already have what we seek and then wait for it to arrive. "God, the Universe, Spirit, whatever you want to call it, is willing to give us whatever we want all the time", we just have to ask for it in the right way.

The next stage in achieving our goals is to remove the insecurities, phobias or emotional problems that might be standing in our way. In the already tortuously extended metaphor this equates to 'weeding the inner garden'. KHC doesn't offer any of her own solutions to these problems, however, but instead refers to a variety of other self-help techniques and books. These borrowed techniques are called 'Tools' and the worst of these tools is The God Box:

"What you do is find a box or jar and put a slit in the top. Label the container in whatever way you want: God Box, Higher Self Jar - whatever feels right to you. Then, whenever you have a situation that is more than you can handle or know what to do with, write it out on a piece of paper and put it in the container. Allow yourself to let go of all further thoughts or worries about this item. Let God handle it."

In all seriousness this is the worst advice I have ever heard. Bad enough that we should be encouraged not to work towards out goals, just to wish for them, but then to be told we should ignore our serious problems is downright irresponsible. I shudder to think what the consequences would be if everyone just ignored the things that most required our hard work and attention. What about the schizophrenia she suggested we could cure through abundance? Putting the words 'My debilitating schizophrenia' in a box certainly isn't going to cure it. Other 'tools' include tapping acupuncture points, tapping acupuncture points while humming and tapping around your thymus gland in a circle.

A short chapter follows this about 'composting' or learning from past negative experiences, which seems a fairly straightforward point. Then follows a 'Tools and resources' chapter which summarises the basic points so far and gives a list of websites to try for help. Strangely this is not the end of the book, because in stark contrast to the points made less than 100 pages before KHC explains how we can use abundance to make ourselves rich in a chapter called 'Money as Fertiliser'.

Money, KHC teaches us, is like a stored energy and it behaves in much the same way as karma, in other words 'you reap what you sow'. In order to attract money we should therefore spend freely. Spending "gives a huge note of confidence both to yourself and the universe". More than this the reader should consider tithing in order to attract more money, and should also try carrying "a $100 bill in your pocket or purse [because] Seeing a large sum of money in your wallet or purse will help you to feel abundant". Did I say the God Box was the worst advice I'd ever heard? I think we have a strong contender. KHC is carrying her philosophy to it's extreme illogical conclusion. In order to manifest our desires we should behave as if we already have them, and in the case of material wealth this means spending money we don't have. If money is our aim we shouldn't be frugal, logical as that might be, we should expose ourselves to being mugged by carrying around large sums of money.

I can't bring myself to condemn this book 100% because I find little to object to in the first 80 pages or so. In fact I think the 'decide what you want and focus on it' message, clothed as it is in ludicrous metaphor, could be of genuine use to some people in need of direction, My concern remains, however, in the terrible advice that follows. I think it verges on dangerous to suggest people shouldn't try to overcome their problems, that they should wait around feeling entitled to success, or that they should drop everything for their heart's desire without considering the consequences. Behind the success stories KHC tells I wonder how many are still waiting for the lover they desire, special towels in hand, or spending freely and burying themselves in debt.

The best bits

Part of what helps transform this short metaphor on achieving your goals into a book is that the author is constantly padding out her techniques by giving examples from her own life. Some of these are painfully revealing of the sad situation she finds herself in.

"I wished for a movie contract for one of my novels. I've been wishing for this for a few years [...] I felt more hopeful that my dream might come true."

"ask yourself 'What if...' and add something wonderful. Here are some examples that I came up with when I was out walking my dog yesterday. "What if I get home and there's a message that someone wants to buy my screenplay? What if S. calls me up and says he's ready to heal our relationship?"

A quick look at Karen's website reveals she never managed to manifest a desire to sell her screenplay. I don't know if she ever mended her relationship with her ex-husband.

On a slightly unrelated note we found this video while looking into Findhorn, the community that published Everyday Abundance:



I love this guy's voice so much it hurts.

The owner

Unlike the Grimoire of Lady Sheba Everyday Abundance doesn't contain any hand-written notes, but I think the subject matter is reason enough to suspect that it was left on the post-box by the same person. The choice of this book, more than the Grimoire, suggests to me that whoever is leaving the books is hoping to change lives, to inspire others to a more magical way of thinking.

The Grimoire of Lady Sheba

Three months ago my better half took a short walk to the postbox in the street next to our house to post a letter, as he often does. When he returned only a few minutes later he told me that a strange book had been left on top of the postbox called 'The Grimoire of Lady Sheba'. We looked up the title and found out the book was an American guide to witchcraft, so out of curiosity we went back, collected the book and brought it home. At the time we assumed it had been dropped by accident, I even suggested that it might have been posted by mistake and left by the postman for the owner to find. We had no way of knowing that the book would turn out to be the first of many, that some neighbour of ours was seemingly disseminating their book collection to strangers and perhaps in the process sending us a message about the knowledge they considered important.

This is how postboox started, with the Grimoire of Lady Sheba, a hardback book, well worn and smelling sweetly of damp. The wear and tear on the cover reveals that it has been read by candlelight, there are several drops of clear wax on the front, and that it has been used as a hard surface for writing on, indentations left by writing are scored quite deeply on both sides. The surface is also marked by scratches, which suggest to me that the book has been carried around in a bag with sharp objects like keys. In summary it is clearly a much-loved book, actively used, repeatedly read and taken from place to place.

The book

Lady Sheba, whose real name is Jessie Bell, has an interesting writing style which swings wildly between an almost Biblical high-register and the jarringly casual. On page 1 for example:

"Remember always that thou art witches born and the old Gods keep watch over us. They laugh with us and at us (especially when we goof-up a ritual)."

In this half-grandiose half-casual language she instructs the reader on the rights and practices of witchcraft including tools, language, festivals and philosophy. There are numerous specific instructions on performing spells, most of which involve using earth, fire, air and water in sucession. There are also descriptions of songs to sing and dances to perform, dances which are prefaced with the bizzare claim:

"After the time of persecution by the Catholic Church and the Salem burnings, the witches' rounds were called square dancing, square being the exact opposite of round in the mind of the Church."

This section of the book is followed by a 120 page transcription of 'The Book of Shadows', the holy book of the witches which has supposedly been passed down by witches throughout history by word of mouth. The Book of Shadows is suspiciously similar in tone and writing style to the rest of the Grimoire of Lady Sheba, and repeats some of the same information.

Finally there are appendixes which include photographs of Lady Sheba performing the rituals.

The Best Bits

The following image appears on the facing page of chapter 1, seemingly to help establish Sheba's right to the position of 'Witch Queen'.


The text below this image explains that Lady Sheba's 'Witch Queen Necklace' is a legendary item which can only be worn by "the true and legal heir to the title of "Queen of Camelot Coven - since the days of King Arthur."" and that if worn by an unlawful queen it would choke the wearer to death. Fantastic stuff.

In the recipes section is a recipe for 'Witches' Flying Ointment' which includes such ingredients as opium, belladonna, hemlock and cannabis. The comment beneath the recipe is as follows:

"Most of these ingredients are psychedelic and produce hallucinations. They are poisonous and illegal. I have not used these so beware"

So why reproduce a recipe you have never tested?

The Owner

There are various exciting clues in the book that hint at the identity of the owner. Firstly there is a long blond hair caught between the pages in The Book of Shadows section of the book, so the owner is likely to have long blond hair. Secondly there are two pages in the book which contain hand-written notes, one at the front of the book and one at the back.



Invocation to Diana
As the light of the Sun is extinguished in the Ocean, so your light may rise into the sky. So do I extinguish this taper in water so your power may rise and grant me the favour I implore.
Dedication
I cal upon Hecate the threeformed Priestess of the earth goddess to favour this work, and light the thoughts. Let those who have remember and those who are opposed, be made tolerant.



ON NEXT DOOR. MY WALL
I am that I am
Eternal I am
I am an everlasting sourse (sic.)
of strength & power.
Nothing can harm me.
I am supreme over all things.
Dark moan in salt & water.
Banishing Fire Pentagram.

Should I assume that the dedication is in some way directed towards me, the recipient? It seems possible.

We can't know for sure that this was the first book ever left on the postbox, we may only have stumbled upon something which has been going on for months, but if this is the first book in the series then it certainly is a bold opening gambit. A very personal, much loved book on witchcraft with handwritten spells inside. The owner appears to be trying to spread her love of witchcraft with his/her neighbours. I'm sorry to say I think we weren't the ideal recipients of this book, I spent a good deal chuckling to myself while reading it. But at least we are 'tolerant' of witchcraft, as the dedication implores us to be.