This weekend is the annual Occult Conference in Cardiff, run by Dragonoak Coven, this year titled: Earth, Sea, and Sky. I was asked to come and share some stories about fairies to finish the day and it sent me down a research rabbit hole weaving a talk with stories from history and legend on one of my favourite topics: the relationships between cunning folk and those fairy spirits that are our neighbours and allies.
(They also have a bonus online event on 8th November with some excellent speakers! Get your tickets here!)
This weekend is the annual Occult Conference in Cardiff, run by Dragonoak Coven, this year titled: Earth, Sea, and Sky. I was asked to come and share some stories about fairies to finish the day and it sent me down a research rabbit hole weaving a talk with stories from history and legend on one of my favourite topics: the relationships between cunning folk and those fairy spirits that are our neighbours and allies.
While there is no substitute for in person performance, my first draft was much longer than it should have been so I offered the long version as a work-in-progress talk for my lovely Patrons & students!
It also got me thinking that I’ve been writing, speaking and teaching on fairy magic for about half my life, because I have loved them for as long as I can remember. When I was small, I wanted to be a fairy when I grew up, and even then I didn’t mean tiny and sparkling… I meant magical.
Throughout history, the “cunning folk” – a term for those healers, wise-folk, and “service magicians” who have made magic for their communities – have worked closely with spirits in general, including the Fair Folk. There are stories of magical skills taught and granted, of lovers and parents, and of conjuring kings and queens.
This relationship between magicians and our Good Neighbours runs deep, and it has always been a blessing in my life that they encourage me to share.
So here are a few resources for those of you that want to dive in deeper.
FREE TALK
Sign up here to access the “On Fairies” Masterclass from TEA free!
If you haven’t heard of Babalon (the Goddess, not the city “Babylon”) then here’s the short version: Babalon is a modern goddess with ancient roots, and could be best summarised as an earthy goddess of life, death, love, lust, and everything in between.
She embodies total, unconditional, self-acceptance, and is a powerful ally in reclaiming your personal power, pleasure, and freedom. For many she is a symbol of feminine empowerment and liberation, but she goes beyond that, encompassing all genders as she encompasses all of life, and even being the moment of dissolution-creation that is the gateway between potential and manifestation.
Creatrix, seductrix, initiatrix.
Babalon found her birth (or rebirth) as we know her today within the occult religion/philosophy of Thelema, founded by Aleister Crowley in 1904 – in which learning your True (Divine) Will and striving to live it is key – and through ritualists and devotees inspired by her vibrant, challenging appearance within, but, as you can see, she has much to offer people outside of Thelema as well. (To my Thelemite friends, please excuse the simplification!)
Perhaps you’ve met her in her role as goddess of pleasure through my book, Crimson Craft, (or in my magical poetry in Twisted) perhaps you’ve caught glimpses of her in occult spaces as a femme fatale figure, or as a goddess that holds space for feminine rage in modern writings about her.
Perhaps you’ve been put off by the hypersexualised imagery that so often gets associated with her – she was, after all, presented as a stereotypical model of women’s sexual liberation, with titles such as Holy Harlot. Or perhaps you’ve heard her whispers of queer understanding and felt that there is something behind the sensationalism in the “Woman Girt with a Sword”.
Babalon is all of these things, and more.
The hypersexualised, free-loving, femme fatale, and the unconditional love. The Earth of the womb and the tomb. The queer space of the othered, the reclaimed rage, the sweet touch under the tough personae.
And this is why I’m writing about Babalon as a pagan and an occultist, as a queer woman and a sensual witch. I first met her over 15 years ago and about 10 years ago began to work with her in earnest. Most people I meet seem to feel like you must be promiscuous, masochistic, or hedonistic to connect with her, but that isn’t true.
You can be, of course.
Babalon calls you to be those things if they are true to you. And she calls you to not be if they are not.
Babalon asks one thing: that you live your life as your full self.
And I can’t wait to introduce you!
Meet Babalon
In celebration of the new book contract I’m offering a live class, free and online, on 16th June. “Introduction to Babalon” – will be a talk on the basics of Babalon as I understand her, with a magical mini-ritual to connect with her magic, plus a special offer on an upcoming adventure with Babalon…
As always, there will be a replay, but I always make time after the recording for those who do come live to ask questions and share… so pop it in your calendar now and make sure you’re signed up to get the Zoom and replay link here.
Do you know Babalon? Share in the comments what she means to you, I’d love to hear.
Is she new to you? What does the description above make you feel?
If you’re already deep into magical space this might sound like a contradiction, as the world is already Enchanted.
Well, yes, your world is.
And my world is.
But for many, the world is disenchanted.
This is a phrase I use a lot, and for me it is very specifically about “world” as our Web of relationships, it isn’t about the universe, or the earth, or the realms of spirits and magicians, which are of course already and always Enchanted.
Communication always has an audience, right, so for those that feel their world is disenchanted, “reenchant the world” is for you, to encourage you to shift your relationship to the universe, the beings, your self.
It’s an invitation to re-enchant your experiences and understanding of that which is.
If “the world” is “where we live,” then many people do live in a disenchanted world, because they do not remember or accept or relate to the enchantment present beyond *their* current lived world.
“Worldview” is a way of describing it, but it also includes the “worlds” we live in culturally – my world is enchanted, but I move in worlds that are not, on occasion, because I’m interacting with other humans who do not grasp the enchanted nature of life any more, and I try to re-enchant pieces of those worlds for the others there, so they may remember their way home too.
And it’s a “re-enchantment” because Enchanted is our natural state, it is the human state, the state of all beings, and most cultures throughout history and space. The materialist culture I was raised in is the odd one, let’s be honest.
So yeah, I agree with those who critique this phrase becauseAll is enchanted. Yes, it is indeed. And I also suggest that this is for communicating with those of you who feel you have lost that enchanted part of your world, those relationships and meanings and understandings that you live within… And this is also for those know the truth, but who see other people who have lost this knowledge that the All is Enchanted, and want to help re-enchant their world.
It’s good to re-enchant the worlds our worlds nest within.
You know, like the dominant materialist overculture that influences and shapes so much of our lives.
It’s why I use it as a catch phrase, and then, in classes and rituals and all my teaching, remind folk that the process is one of remembering, of realising that, in reality, the disenchantment is the illusion.
In the moment that is grasped, your world, like mine, is enchanted again.
NEW COURSE – STARTING 1ST APRIL 2025
The Cauldron of Awen is a three month adventure in storytelling, creativity, and inspiration with the witch-goddess of initiation: Ceridwen… and Taliesin, the legendary Bard of Wales.
Dive into the Cauldron’s brew and emerge inspired, with a toolkit of magical skills to enchant your audience and never fear the blank page again!
Tomorrow marks Imbolc, which is considered by many to be the festival of Brigid, Goddess and Saint of poetry, healing, and smith-craft (among other things).
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, in Wales, the land is starting to wake up after the long dark nights, and cold storms. There will likely still be hard frosts to come, but the snowdrops are emerging, and with it arises inspiration.
In Wales the Goddess of inspiration, the keeper of the Cauldron of Awen, is the Witch and Mother Ceridwen. Even in Christian bardic traditions it was often claimed that the divine inspiration, the Awen, flowed into the world through her cauldron, that’s how powerful her name is… they may not have called her a goddess then, but in modern paganism we certainly do.
She gathers the wisdom of the land and brews the potion to grant wisdom, creative insight, and magic.
And as the fire in the land begins to brighten, we remember the fire that flickered under the iron vessel, stirred by the child that would one day become a great bard…
This Imbolc I invite you to light a white candle, brew yourself a cup of tea – whether caffeinated or herbal is entirely up to you – and as you stir reflect on where you give yourself space to be inspired. How will you feed your creative springs in the days to come?
When I have felt stuck, or like my creative well has run dry, I turn to magic, the stories, and my gods.
On April Fool’s day we will step into a three month journey with Ceridwen and Taliesin, the Goddess of Initiation and Inspiration, and the Greatest Bard that ever lived, in The Cauldron of Awen.
Together we will explore Bardic Skills, the magic of the voice, the power of breath, and tools for devotion, discipline, and overcoming creative block and the fear of being seen that keeps us from sharing our stories. We will gather tales, explore their magic, and build our skills to share them as enchantments weaving wonder in the world. I offer a focus on words and the voice, but this is open to wonder-weaving in all mediums.
This is your invitation to begin your Bardic Initiation with Ceridwen and Taliesin.
Live Babalon Circle – Visions of Babalon –Our monthly magical working to connect with Babalon – Monday 17th November, 8pm (UK) – online – replay included
Upcoming appearances include: Ancestral Pathways Conference (online, 31st Oct), Earth Sea & Sky Conference (Cardiff, 1st Nov), music at the Festival of the Living Rooms (online, Dec), Glastonbury Occult Conference (Glastonbury, 14th Feb)…
I’m so excited to share my newest book with you all!
I just wanted to share a quick note to invite you to the party tonight – starting in 3 hours! There will be a replay in The Enchanted Academy so join us there even if you can’t make it live.
The Book launch party is entirely free, and there will be magic, time for questions and celebrations, and a special announcement about what’s coming next from me…
*Affiliate link for UK folk. Also available wherever you buy your books!
Storytelling for Magic
Learn the bardic art of storytelling to craft rituals, empower your magic, and enchant your life.
In this book are the keys to bringing the gifts of the ancient magic-weavers, the storytellers, into your life. The Bards of old wove magic with their words. Through myth and legend, history and inspiration, they shaped the world around them. Just like them, you can connect with the magic of storytelling to create powerful change.
Join professional performer, ritualist, bard, and witch Halo Quin, and discover how to use your voice in magic, how to unravel the secrets of stories, how to craft your own rituals to bring the power of myths and folk tales into your life, and how to find, learn, and tell stories to enchant the world inside and outside the circle.
BOOK REVIEW – Claves Intelligentiarum by David Rankine
(Note for Transparency – I received a copy of Claves Intelligentiarum to review, what follows is my honest review.)
It’s no secret that my magic tends towards the unscripted, intuitive, grab-the-threads-of-wyrd-and-weave-the-world-anew style, and I heavily encourage direct contact over relying on book learning when it comes to meeting spirits. I’m a pagan, through and through, and my magical roots are in ecstatic, experiential, embodied Craft.
But I’ve done my share of exploring Grimoires, and continue to do so.
There’s a power in words passed down, in techniques that have been honed and worn into the fabric of the Universe through repetition and time.
And there are definitely spirits who fully expect “the proper protocol”, and most appreciate the care and attention involved.
Following a step-by-step process also means you’re not laying down the circuitry anew every time you do magic (which is why so many Pagan groups have their favourite ritual structures!)…
But so many of the classic Grimoires don’t actually explain what circuitry you’re meant to use! Or where they do there are gaps in the process which you’re expected to know stuff already, and when you match them with other texts you get different instructions.
David Rankine’s Claves Intelligentiarum is different.
Rankine takes the reader step-by-step through the process of Conjuration within his tried and tested methodology, and explains the reasoning as he goes.
He outlines where he’s made changes to the traditional process, and why, and where he hasn’t changed things a reader like myself might be tempted to alter. Like including a consecration script for contact lenses, and adding the modern practice of visualisation during circle casting, but keeping the Abrahamic Holy Names instead of swapping them out for a Pagan audience.
This book is a practical guide to conjuring Planetary Intelligences – a particular class of spirit connected to the planets, who he tells us arose first within the Christian lineage of Grimoires.
By placing these spirits in the context of their earliest named relationship with magicians and presenting a clear framework for meeting and working with them, Rankine takes the guesswork out of calling the right number and setting up your first date, as it were.
This is not a book of theory, this is a book to be used.
And it is a brilliant introduction to conjurations in general, though I’d suggest you’ll get more out of it if you have at least some basic magical experience first.
In Claves Intelligentiarum Rankine is thorough, clear, and comprehensive. If the only book you had was this one you would have everything you needed to conjure the Planetary Intelligences… and having done so, not only would you have a team of spirit connections to cover almost any practical magic, but you’d know how to construct a framework for Conjurations of other spirits within the Grimoire tradition, and fill in the gaps.
I love that Rankine acknowledges that many of us work with other spirits that we might not wish to banish from our home or working space before a ritual which calls for such an opening. He then gives a script I’ve not seen anywhere else, a “License to Remain”. Gems like this show he has not just done the extensive research which is a hallmark of his work, nor “merely” pieced together a framework from a patchwork of sources (a mammoth task in itself!) but that he has actively thought through the implications and impact of the process with care, tested it, and made sure to include everything we might need to know to perform a conjuration with success.
Read this book if you want to work with the Planetary Intelligences, if you want a look behind the curtain at the mechanics of a conjuration, or if you want to learn from an expert who genuinely, wholeheartedly, knows that magic is real because he lives it.
Speaking of which, David Rankine will be teaching Conjuration at a weekend retreat at The Visible College in South West England in April 2025.
It’ll be intensive, hands on, and comprehensive.
Conjuration is, ideally, a team sport so it’s a brilliant opportunity to take the instructions off the page and get deep into the practice.
Star Club – Making Magicians – Occult Training in the UK
Star Club is a syncretic training program and modern magical order co-founded by myself and Sef Salem of The Visible College, rooted in the hermetic tradition and incorporating multiple magical threads into an experiential, hands on, group magical experience. Come and See.
Our next cycle starts in February and there are just a couple of spaces left!
Part of a series of posts inspired by the South Wales Occult Conference in Cardiff on 2nd November 2024 – find the first post and index here.
It wouldn’t be a conference on death in the occult without at least one talk on, well, talking to the dead. Enter Dr Al Cummings. On video.
Poetically titled “Black Arts and Cunning Crafts”, Al’s talk was thick with information about Early Modern cunning folk practices and beliefs on speaking with the dead and enlisting their aid in supernatural endeavours.
Here, nowadays, we tend to be a bit skittish around the dead but that’s actually quite unusual for human beings throughout history and around the world. As Dr Al pointed out, of all the spirits dead humans are most likely to be invested in human life, and our ancestors even more so.
One of the factors which interrupted this relationship, we were told, was the fact that Christian orthodoxy held that the dead couldn’t return from the otherworld until Judgement Day, and as Judgement Day hasn’t happened yet the souls that Necromancers spoke to must be from Purgatory… except the Protestant reformation did away with Purgatory for political reasons. So who were these ghosts?
The devil? Catholic spirits? Demons pretending to care?
Whatever people were supposed to believe, and however the dead were supposed to behave, Necromancers and Ghosts continued to not only communicate with each other but to help each other.
Perhaps, Necromantic practice says, the Dead dwell beside us, “not restless but retired” and if so they likely have a lot of time on their hands. If they’re still interested in the things they were when alive, why wouldn’t they want to keep doing those things?
Dr Al shared stories and magical charms used in these practices, but one particularly interesting ritual included instructions for “Spectral Grimoire Delivery” – acquiring a book of magic with the help of the dead.
Specifically, someone who you make a deal with on their deathbed.
A deal that binds them after death to come when you call.
They are then sent to find a courier spirit to bring you a book of magic from the Elemental Kings, specifically a book of magic that you can use.
I find it fascinating that this ritual included them giving you their “christendom” – why? Because they’d lose it in the process? As a bargaining chip? Or because they can’t do the job if they are Christened? – and then you return it afterward, but retain the agreement that they’ll come when called.
The whole process suggests that you could find someone willing to do this task for you, which reminds me of the dead folk who turn up in a Spiritualist Church to prove that there is life after death to their congregants, and the promises others make to visit their loved ones.
We don’t stop wanting to be involved in community just because we died.
Dr Al mentioned the connection between the dead and the fertility and wellbeing of the community, and it is to our detriment that we’ve forgotten this as a culture.
There is a slow movement to bring more Ancestor Veneration within pagan spaces, though we’re often clumsy with it because it is both so simple, in many ways, and so complex in others.
To reconnect with our helpful dead many of us have to shift a fundamental understanding of the universe and the processes of life and death. To remember that Saturn’s sickle is not the end of existence, but rather the end of a chapter and we remain in community together.
The land of the dead, like the land of the Fair Folk, is not elsewhere but here. Our land, bleeding into planes of existence that we can’t quite see with our earthly eyes, but that are still here.
And if we ask really nicely, perhaps they’ll bring us wonders, and magic books, that are normally just out of reach.
Did you know that if you travel into faeryland you’re as likely to find the dead as you are to find the fae? The two are very closely connected, as you’ll find in Folktales, Faeries, & Spirits…
One powerful way to build relationship with the spirits of your land is through the stories and folklore local to you. Folktales, Faeries,& Spirits is a guidebook to how you can find those tales and unpick the clues within.
Folktales, Faeries, and Spirits – a practical guide to working with faeries and the spirits of nature, by Halo Quin
A few years ago I began dabbling with the title “Enchantress/Enchanter” alongside “witch” because one of my favourite ways to weave magic is through my voice, through words, and through storytelling.
In ancient times, and in many cultures, those who told stories and recited poetry were recognised as powerful magicians, capable of turning the tide of history, bringing good fortune or misery as they chose.
This power of storytelling connects us to our ancestors as in storytelling we use the language they passed us to shape a world, whether for a moment or a lifetime.
It connects us to those that come after us, for in the stories we keep alive we choose what to offer to them, what world and magic we are passing on.
We all tell stories to connect, to entertain, to teach, to inform, to persuade, and for many other reasons besides, even if we don’t think we are storytellers.
Yes, even you.
I love storytelling, and I often do it as a devotional act. I learn stories that connect to my gods and spirits, that remember the Fair Folk, or that carry wisdom from older times, and I share them to keep them alive. I craft new stories, such as the Goblin Circus, to bring that healing which comes from playfulness, so needed in today’s world.
One of my home traditions, Reclaiming Witchcraft, works deeply with stories in ritual and as teaching tools, and this has long inspired me. RJ Stewart’s work taught me how the folk and fairy tales can carry the keys to Faeryland. OBOD begins with the “Bardic Grade”, and encourages creativity as you work through learning the foundations of modern pagan magic. In these and many other modern traditions we have felt the importance of storytelling, and it is common to invite folk to tell tales… but very often there is no guidance on how to do so.
Often people say to me: “I wish I could do that, but I couldn’t remember a whole story!”
But storytelling is a natural human activity, so you already tell stories! And to tell a tale in a way that enchants is a set of skills which you can learn. To craft ritual and magic from stories is, too, another skill you can learn.
In a culture where we receive our stories from media it is easy to forget that storytelling is a natural expression of humanity. And if you have a longing to be part of that ancient lineage, then you can remember that, and recover those skills for storytelling as enchantment, whether you’re performing, bespelling your life, or sharing the tales with the trees.
I wrote this book to show you exactly how you can take each step. Some of the questions answered within are:
How can I connect with the magic of air, words, breath, voice?
How can I find a story? And make it my own?
How can I remember a whole story?
How can I tell a story in a way that is natural for me?
How can I use the magic of myth to empower my spells?
How can I create a ritual from a story, to bring me closer to the magic within?
And, while my focus is on the voice, there are many ways to tell a tale. I’ve included suggestions for how you can use the skills and exercises in this book without sound, and how you might adapt the magic within to your own practice, both solo and for groups.
*Affiliate link for UK folk. Also available wherever you buy your books!
Storytelling for Magic
Learn the bardic art of storytelling to craft rituals, empower your magic, and enchant your life.
In this book are the keys to bringing the gifts of the ancient magic-weavers, the storytellers, into your life. The Bards of old wove magic with their words. Through myth and legend, history and inspiration, they shaped the world around them. Just like them, you can connect with the magic of storytelling to create powerful change.
Join professional performer, ritualist, bard, and witch Halo Quin, and discover how to use your voice in magic, how to unravel the secrets of stories, how to craft your own rituals to bring the power of myths and folk tales into your life, and how to find, learn, and tell stories to enchant the world inside and outside the circle.
Part of a series of posts inspired by the South Wales Occult Conference in Cardiff on 2nd November 2024 – find the first post and index here.
Starting off with the question:
“Who here is immortal?”
Was certainly a fun move for this talk by Sorita D’Este.
A dozen or so people put their hands up, including myself and the entirety of our Star Club contingent (I’m told). If I’m honest, my first thought was:
“Which part of me are you asking?”
Because actually the answer depends, but my intuitive response was completely without doubt.
Some essential part of me, the part of me that wanted to answer the question, is immortal. Don’t ask me to explain any deeper though!
The talk itself was actually exploring some of the ways in which people have historically sought immortality, and what it might mean.
From the possibility of becoming a god, reincarnation, eternal afterlives, and ghosts as astral immortality…
Through to the concept of physical immortality through meditation, or potions and preservatives…
Immortality has been a topic that has fascinated humans for a long time.
A glimpse of my conference notes
One form of immortality that feels the most possible to attain through our actions and choices is that of being remembered, and this feeds into the concept of the Mighty Dead – famous dead humans who seem to like interacting with the living, perhaps to continue being remembered! (Saints, heroes, ancient Kings and Queens…).
This is a form often mentioned in myth and legend, and one powerful curse is “may your name be forgotten”, suggesting that this is a really important piece for many of us. To be remembered is to live on in people’s hearts and minds in some way. In that famous epic Gilgamesh learned this lesson. His quest for immortality led to the realisation that he would live on through his deeds, the things he built, and as long as people spoke his name.
I know this doesn’t sound like the kind of immortality that most of us think of, its far from the eternal unchanging nature of the movie screen vampire, or the ever-living sorceress. But it is a truth that our bodies return to the Earth eventually. And even if reincarnation, or an eternal afterlife, are true, there is still something in the self-that-I-am-now that cannot survive that. The loss of this body, of this set of relationships and experiences, must be an ending of some kind. Being remembered as we are now is a way in which the self that we are lives on, as we are.
This connection between immortality and memory is so enduring, and fascinating to me.
In many pagan traditions, as in some queer spaces like the Trans Day of Remembrance events, we have begun saying the names of our dead so that they are remembered, so that they live on in our communities, and so that they are fed. It is an old practice, and a powerful one.
I do sometimes wonder, who will speak my name when I am gone? Do you know who might speak yours?
Sorita outlined several examples of people becoming gods, or gaining a cult following, or having their names immortalised. But one utterly delightful process of apotheosis (becoming divine) that she shared from inscriptions on gravestones was that which outlined how certain individuals who were aligned with specific deities of the Earth, Underworld, or Land, would be described as physically becoming that deity when their body was buried.
The buried body still has life, and feeds life, and becomes one with the living earth, the body of the goddess that they belong to. The main example given was Hekate. (If you know Sorita’s work that will be no surprise!)
So perhaps the physicists have one key to practical immortality – energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed. If the Platonists were right and Hekate is the Living Soul of the Earth, then when our bodies are buried the life that they are becomes part of the life of the immortal being that is Hekate.
Our memories live on, immortal in the memories of those who come after us.
Our bodies return to the body of the Divine.
Our spirits, well, I’ve dreamed enough and journeyed enough to know that our spirits may well have adventures once this life comes to an end.
So perhaps it doesn’t matter which part of me you ask… or whether you ask the religious, the storytellers, or the physicists… I really am immortal.
But… I do really quite like it here so I’m in no rush to discover what that’s like!
Your Turn: Are you immortal? What does it mean to you? Share your story in the comments below!
Storytelling is a wonderful way to honour those that have come before and support their immortal memory… and it is an act of magic in itself. In January 2025 I have a new book coming on Storytelling for Magic – both how to use storytelling in magic and ritual, and how to learn the bardic skills for storytelling to use in other parts of your magic… And have fun!
*Affiliate link for UK folk. Also available wherever you buy your books!
Storytelling for Magic
Learn the bardic art of storytelling to craft rituals, empower your magic, and enchant your life.
In this book are the keys to bringing the gifts of the ancient magic-weavers, the storytellers, into your life. The Bards of old wove magic with their words. Through myth and legend, history and inspiration, they shaped the world around them. Just like them, you can connect with the magic of storytelling to create powerful change.
Join professional performer, ritualist, bard, and witch Halo Quin, and discover how to use your voice in magic, how to unravel the secrets of stories, how to craft your own rituals to bring the power of myths and folk tales into your life, and how to find, learn, and tell stories to enchant the world inside and outside the circle.
Star Club is a syncretic magical training program rooted in the Western esoteric tradition, blending ceremonial and ecstatic pagan practices to give students the opportunity to develop themselves and their skills as magicians. We teach a bit, discuss a bit, and then apply it in group ritual to get results.
Of course, once we completed the first training cycle something else emerged with a life of its own. A new modern magical order (to quote Dr Bob Plimer), complete with initiation for those that want to be a part of it… and further support and training for our members, because we never stop learning!
At the Conference we talked specifically about initiation and it’s impact on individuals and the order itself. How initiation occurs as part of the process of becoming…
Sef and myself, with a PowerPoint!
Initiation is a funny thing.
It can be a change initiated within you.
It can be a new chapter begun.
It can be an initiation into a tradition or order – which can be like joining a club, being adopted, or getting married.
So what happens in initiation for a modern magical order?
Initiation is by definition a beginning, but when something new begins, the old dies.
Within Star Club we designed the whole training cycle as a process which supports the transformation of self, and the initiations themselves are a part of that.
In the final session of the training cycle our final group working is our version of the ritual known as “The Headless Rite”, developed from the “Greek Magical Papyri”, which acts as an initiation of completion and integration. And then, after the cycle is complete, practitioners are invited to initiate into the order itself and we come back together for a big ritual…
The first is an initiation of internal change, the second is an initiation of becoming part of something larger than yourself.
But what is always worth remembering is that when a new person joins a group, that person is changed in relationship, and the group is also changed. It now has something that it didn’t have before.
Initiation doesn’t just change the individual… It changes the order, the magic of the club.
And as magicians, witches, pagans, and company, we know that “as above, so below” – all parts partake of each other – and thus changing ourselves, and changing the order, also changes the world.
Your Turn:
What are your stories of initiation, whether explicitly magical or spontaneously occurring, that you can share publicly? When have you stepped through a gateway, or finished a chapter, and found that it wasn’t just you that had changed but the world around you changed too?
Our mission at Star Club? To share multidisciplinary magic that gets results and changes the world.
We have in-person training cycles each year in Bristol, and if you have a group who want to learn, we can often travel to you! Or you can join our online membership to access our solo practitioner program and bonus talks and materials.
Halo Quin 