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Kabbalah, Part 1

Also spelled Qabalah or Qabbala. It literally means the act of receiving, acceptance.

This is an esoteric method, discipline, & school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (“receiver”).

Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition. Often using classical Jewish scriptures to explain & demonstrate their mystical teachings.

Kabbalah came out of earlier forms of Jewish mysticism in 12th-13th century Occitania, specifically in Languedoc, among Hakhmei Provence.

Following the movement of Jews from Southern France & Spain, it was found in the Rhineland school of Judah the Pious, al-Andalus, L& was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical Renaissance in the 16th-century Ottoman Palestine.

The Zohar was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de Leon. Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. Lurianic Kabbalah was popularized in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards.

The primary texts of the major lineage in medieval Jewish tradition are the Bahir, Zohar, Pardes Rimonim, & Et Chayim (‘Ein Sof’). The early Hekhalot literature is recognized as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah, & more especially, the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the forerunner from which many of these books draw their formal inspiration.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a brief document of only a few pages, written many centuries before the high & late medieval works (sometime between 200-600 CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology & may be understood as a kind of prelude to the major phase of Kabbalah.

The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric & spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine & the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved greatly over millennia, influencing & being influenced by different historical, cultural, & religious contexts.

Among the most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which developed in the 12th century & has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic & apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical & post-biblical texts.

The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah & Ezekiel experiencing divine visions & encounters. This tradition continued into the apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch & the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology & eschatological themes.

The Hekhalot & Merkabah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes. This focuses on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces & the divine chariot. Hekhalot literature (from the Hebrew word for “Palaces”) relates to visions of entering Heaven alive.

Merkabah (or Merkavah) mysticism is a school of Jewish mysticism, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1, or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces & the Throne of God.

According to the Zohar, Torah study can proceed along 4 levels of interpretation (exegesis). These 4 levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDs, “orchard”):

• Peshat (“simple”): The direct interpretations of meaning.
• Remez (“hints”): The allegoric meanings (through allusion).
• Derash (from the Hebrew darash, “inquire” or “seek): Midrashic (rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
• Sod (“secret” or “mystery”): The inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.

Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of the Torah. The study of the Torah (the Tanakh & rabbinic literature) is an inherent duty of observant Jews.

There are 3 different types of Kabbalah: Lurianic Kabbalah, Meditative-Ecstatic Kabbalah, & Practical Kabbalah. These 3 types can be distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God:

• The Theosohical/Theosophical-Theurgic tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah (the main focus of the Zohar & Luria) seeks to understand & describe the divine realm using the imaginative & mythic symbols of human psychological experience. Its theosophy also implies the innate, centrally important theurgic influence of human conduct on redeeming or damaging the spiritual realms, as man is a divine microcosm. The purpose of traditional theosophical kabbalah was to give the whole of normative Jewish religious practices this mystical metaphysical meaning.
• The Meditative tradition of Ecstatic Kabbalah strives to achieve a mystical union with God, or nullification of the meditator in God’s Active intellect. Abraham Abulafia’s “Prophetic Kabbalah” was the supreme example of this. Though marginal in Kabbalistic development. His alternative to the program of theosophical Kabbalah. Abulafian meditation built upon the philosophy of Maimonides, whose followers remained a rationalist threat to theosophical Kabbalists.
• The Magico-Talismanic tradition of Practical Kabbalah endeavours to alter both the Divine realms & the World using practical methods. While theosophical interpretations of worship see its redemptive role as harmonizing heavenly forces, Practical Kabbalah properly involved Practial Kabbalah properly involved white-magical acts, & was censored by Kabbalists for only those completely pure of intent, as it relates to lower realms where purity & impurity are mixed. Consequently, it formed a separate minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. Practical Kabbalah was prohibited by the Arizal until the Temple is rebuilt & the required state of ritual purity is attainable.

According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was imparted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, & sages. Eventually, to be “interwoven” into Jewish religious writings & culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel.

Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge & make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.

From the Renaissance onward, Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish (Gentile) spaces. Where they studied & translated by Christian Hebraists & Hermetic occultists. Christian Hebraists are scholars of Hebrew texts who approach the works from a Christian perspective.

The syncretic traditions of Christian & Hermetic Kabbalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah. They read Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from Gnostic traditions of “the olden days.” Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding. This made it possible to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions, & magical associations. In the time of the Age of Reason, Christian Kabbalah declined. Hermetic Kabbalah took a much different route, a route that some secretive “societies” went: they went underground.

The technical definition of Kabbalah varies according to sect & the aims of those following it. In its earliest & original usage in ancient Hebrew, it means “reception” or “tradition.” In this context, it tends to refer to any sacred writing written after (or otherwise outside of) the 5 books of the Torah. (This is the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament.)

After the Talmud was written, it refers to the Oral Law. In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (circa 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons & angels by the invocation of their secret names.

The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision 2 aspects to God: 1.) God is essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, & 2.) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which He creates, sustains, & relates to humankind.

Kabbalists speak of the 1st as the Ein Sof (“the infinite/endless,” literally “there is no end”). Of the impersonal Ein Sof, nothing can be grasped.

However, the 2nd aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual & physical existence, reveals the divine immanently, & is bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these 2 aspects aren’t contradictory but complement 1 another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead.

As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It’s not a Holy Name in Judaism. No name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof.

The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) & Partzufim (divine “faces”), Ohr (spiritual light & flow), Names of God & supernal Torah, Olamot (spiritual worlds), a Divine Tree & Archetypal Man, Angelic Chariot & Palaces, male & female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly channels (“limbs” of the King) & the divine Souls of Man.

These symbols are used to describe various levels & aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to the Hitzoni (outer). It’s solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity.

The Sephirot/Sefirot/Sefirah are the 10 emanations & attributes of God with which He continually sustains the existence of the universe. These emanations are viewed as parts of God’s divine nature, which reveal themselves in different ways.

The Zohar & other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as “the Ramak”) describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine Light via the 10 sephirot, or vessels.

According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation. 10 sephirot are in each of the 4 Worlds. 4 Worlds within each of the larger 4 Worlds, each containing 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities.

They emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator’s will (ratzon), & they shouldn’t be understood as 10 different “gods” but through the Emanations. It’s not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.

Divine creation through the 10 Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, & Gevurah is the Moral Justification of justice, & both are mediated by Mercy, which is Rachamim.

However, these pillars of morality become immoral when taken to extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme, it can lead to sexual depravity & a lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture & the Cain-ing of innocents & unfair punishment.

The tzadikim or “righteous” ascend these ethical qualities of the 10 sephirot through righteous action. If there were no tzadikim, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, & Creation would cease to exist.

While real human actions are the “Foundation” (Yesod) of this universe (Malkuth), they must be accompanied by the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning trusting that God seems hidden.

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Kabbalah, Part 1

Also spelled Qabalah or Qabbala. It literally means the act of receiving, acceptance.

This is an esoteric method, discipline, & school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (“receiver”).

Jewish Kabbalists originally developed transmissions of the primary texts of Kabbalah within the realm of Jewish tradition. Often using classical Jewish scriptures to explain & demonstrate their mystical teachings.

Kabbalah came out of earlier forms of Jewish mysticism in 12th-13th century Occitania, specifically in Languedoc, among Hakhmei Provence.

Following the movement of Jews from Southern France & Spain, it was found in the Rhineland school of Judah the Pious, al-Andalus, L& was reinterpreted during the Jewish mystical Renaissance in the 16th-century Ottoman Palestine.

The Zohar was authored in the late 13th century, likely by Moses de Leon. Isaac Luria (16th century) is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. Lurianic Kabbalah was popularized in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards.

The primary texts of the major lineage in medieval Jewish tradition are the Bahir, Zohar, Pardes Rimonim, & Et Chayim (‘Ein Sof’). The early Hekhalot literature is recognized as ancestral to the sensibilities of this later flowering of the Kabbalah, & more especially, the Sefer Yetzirah is acknowledged as the forerunner from which many of these books draw their formal inspiration.

The Sefer Yetzirah is a brief document of only a few pages, written many centuries before the high & late medieval works (sometime between 200-600 CE), detailing an alphanumeric vision of cosmology & may be understood as a kind of prelude to the major phase of Kabbalah.

The history of Jewish mysticism encompasses various forms of esoteric & spiritual practices aimed at understanding the divine & the hidden aspects of existence. This mystical tradition has evolved greatly over millennia, influencing & being influenced by different historical, cultural, & religious contexts.

Among the most prominent forms of Jewish mysticism is Kabbalah, which developed in the 12th century & has since become a central component of Jewish mystical thought. Other notable early forms include prophetic & apocalyptic mysticism, which are evident in biblical & post-biblical texts.

The roots of Jewish mysticism can be traced back to the biblical era, with prophetic figures such as Elijah & Ezekiel experiencing divine visions & encounters. This tradition continued into the apocalyptic period, where texts like 1 Enoch & the Book of Daniel introduced complex angelology & eschatological themes.

The Hekhalot & Merkabah literature, dating from the 2nd century to the early medieval period, further developed these mystical themes. This focuses on visionary ascents to the heavenly palaces & the divine chariot. Hekhalot literature (from the Hebrew word for “Palaces”) relates to visions of entering Heaven alive.

Merkabah (or Merkavah) mysticism is a school of Jewish mysticism, centered on visions such as those found in Ezekiel 1, or in the hekhalot literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces & the Throne of God.

According to the Zohar, Torah study can proceed along 4 levels of interpretation (exegesis). These 4 levels are called pardes from their initial letters (PRDs, “orchard”):

• Peshat (“simple”): The direct interpretations of meaning.
• Remez (“hints”): The allegoric meanings (through allusion).
• Derash (from the Hebrew darash, “inquire” or “seek): Midrashic (rabbinic) meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses.
• Sod (“secret” or “mystery”): The inner, esoteric (metaphysical) meanings, expressed in kabbalah.

Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a necessary part of the study of the Torah. The study of the Torah (the Tanakh & rabbinic literature) is an inherent duty of observant Jews.

There are 3 different types of Kabbalah: Lurianic Kabbalah, Meditative-Ecstatic Kabbalah, & Practical Kabbalah. These 3 types can be distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God:

• The Theosohical/Theosophical-Theurgic tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah (the main focus of the Zohar & Luria) seeks to understand & describe the divine realm using the imaginative & mythic symbols of human psychological experience. Its theosophy also implies the innate, centrally important theurgic influence of human conduct on redeeming or damaging the spiritual realms, as man is a divine microcosm. The purpose of traditional theosophical kabbalah was to give the whole of normative Jewish religious practices this mystical metaphysical meaning.
• The Meditative tradition of Ecstatic Kabbalah strives to achieve a mystical union with God, or nullification of the meditator in God’s Active intellect. Abraham Abulafia’s “Prophetic Kabbalah” was the supreme example of this. Though marginal in Kabbalistic development. His alternative to the program of theosophical Kabbalah. Abulafian meditation built upon the philosophy of Maimonides, whose followers remained a rationalist threat to theosophical Kabbalists.
• The Magico-Talismanic tradition of Practical Kabbalah endeavours to alter both the Divine realms & the World using practical methods. While theosophical interpretations of worship see its redemptive role as harmonizing heavenly forces, Practical Kabbalah properly involved Practial Kabbalah properly involved white-magical acts, & was censored by Kabbalists for only those completely pure of intent, as it relates to lower realms where purity & impurity are mixed. Consequently, it formed a separate minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. Practical Kabbalah was prohibited by the Arizal until the Temple is rebuilt & the required state of ritual purity is attainable.

According to Kabbalistic belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was imparted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, & sages. Eventually, to be “interwoven” into Jewish religious writings & culture. According to this view, early kabbalah was, around the 10th century BCE, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel.

Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time (the Sanhedrin) to hide the knowledge & make it secret, fearing that it might be misused if it fell into the wrong hands.

From the Renaissance onward, Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish (Gentile) spaces. Where they studied & translated by Christian Hebraists & Hermetic occultists. Christian Hebraists are scholars of Hebrew texts who approach the works from a Christian perspective.

The syncretic traditions of Christian & Hermetic Kabbalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah. They read Jewish texts as universalist ancient wisdom preserved from Gnostic traditions of “the olden days.” Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Jewish understanding. This made it possible to merge with multiple other theologies, religious traditions, & magical associations. In the time of the Age of Reason, Christian Kabbalah declined. Hermetic Kabbalah took a much different route, a route that some secretive “societies” went: they went underground.

The technical definition of Kabbalah varies according to sect & the aims of those following it. In its earliest & original usage in ancient Hebrew, it means “reception” or “tradition.” In this context, it tends to refer to any sacred writing written after (or otherwise outside of) the 5 books of the Torah. (This is the 1st 5 books of the Old Testament.)

After the Talmud was written, it refers to the Oral Law. In the much later writings of Eleazar of Worms (circa 1350), it refers to theurgy or the conjuring of demons & angels by the invocation of their secret names.

The nature of the divine prompted kabbalists to envision 2 aspects to God: 1.) God is essence, absolutely transcendent, unknowable, limitless divine simplicity beyond revelation, & 2.) God in manifestation, the revealed persona of God through which He creates, sustains, & relates to humankind.

Kabbalists speak of the 1st as the Ein Sof (“the infinite/endless,” literally “there is no end”). Of the impersonal Ein Sof, nothing can be grasped.

However, the 2nd aspect of divine emanations, accessible to human perception, dynamically interacting throughout spiritual & physical existence, reveals the divine immanently, & is bound up in the life of man. Kabbalists believe that these 2 aspects aren’t contradictory but complement 1 another, emanations mystically revealing the concealed mystery from within the Godhead.

As a term describing the Infinite Godhead beyond Creation, Kabbalists viewed the Ein Sof itself as too sublime to be referred to directly in the Torah. It’s not a Holy Name in Judaism. No name could contain a revelation of the Ein Sof.

The structure of emanations has been described in various ways: Sephirot (divine attributes) & Partzufim (divine “faces”), Ohr (spiritual light & flow), Names of God & supernal Torah, Olamot (spiritual worlds), a Divine Tree & Archetypal Man, Angelic Chariot & Palaces, male & female, enclothed layers of reality, inwardly channels (“limbs” of the King) & the divine Souls of Man.

These symbols are used to describe various levels & aspects of Divine manifestation, from the Pnimi (inner) dimensions to the Hitzoni (outer). It’s solely in relation to the emanations, certainly not the Ein Sof Ground of all Being, that Kabbalah uses anthropomorphic symbolism to relate psychologically to divinity.

The Sephirot/Sefirot/Sefirah are the 10 emanations & attributes of God with which He continually sustains the existence of the universe. These emanations are viewed as parts of God’s divine nature, which reveal themselves in different ways.

The Zohar & other Kabbalistic texts elaborate on the emergence of the sephirot from a state of concealed potential in the Ein Sof until their manifestation in the mundane world. In particular, Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (known as “the Ramak”) describes how God emanated the myriad details of finite reality out of the absolute unity of Divine Light via the 10 sephirot, or vessels.

According to Lurianic cosmology, the sephirot correspond to various levels of creation. 10 sephirot are in each of the 4 Worlds. 4 Worlds within each of the larger 4 Worlds, each containing 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, which themselves contain 10 sephirot, to an infinite number of possibilities.

They emanated from the Creator for the purpose of creating the universe. The sephirot are considered revelations of the Creator’s will (ratzon), & they shouldn’t be understood as 10 different “gods” but through the Emanations. It’s not God who changes but the ability to perceive God that changes.

Divine creation through the 10 Sephirot is an ethical process. They represent the different aspects of Morality. Loving-Kindness is a possible moral justification found in Chessed, & Gevurah is the Moral Justification of justice, & both are mediated by Mercy, which is Rachamim.

However, these pillars of morality become immoral when taken to extremes. When Loving-Kindness becomes extreme, it can lead to sexual depravity & a lack of Justice to the wicked. When Justice becomes extreme, it can lead to torture & the Cain-ing of innocents & unfair punishment.

The tzadikim or “righteous” ascend these ethical qualities of the 10 sephirot through righteous action. If there were no tzadikim, the blessings of God would become completely hidden, & Creation would cease to exist.

While real human actions are the “Foundation” (Yesod) of this universe (Malkuth), they must be accompanied by the conscious intention of compassion. Compassionate actions are often impossible without faith (Emunah), meaning trusting that God seems hidden.

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Your contribution is appreciated.

Make a monthly donation

Your contribution is appreciated.

Make a yearly donation

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Interested in a monthly live online Q&A hang-out with an archaeologist of ancient magic? Here's a #poll for it

I receive a lot of questions and it takes a lot of time to answer them all in writing. I wonder if there would be an interest in a monthly live hang-out. This way you all could benefit from the answers and it would also be a nice opportunity to connect and exchange in person.

Very grateful for boosting 💖🙏🍀

#archaeology #scicomm #outreach #egypt #ritual #pagan #theurgy #community

And here is Shinjuku inspecting my crib sheet for the Asherah-variant LBRP #CatsOfMastodon #caturday #theurgy #magick

And here is Shinjuku inspecting my crib sheet for the Asherah-variant LBRP #CatsOfMastodon #caturday #theurgy #magick

I re-started a regular magical practice a month ago because my former lodge, dispersed right before Covid started, is reforming this summer. They asked if I’d join and help run the rituals. I agreed and decided that I better refresh my memory and magical mojo by going through the practices.

I started where everyone does in this tradition: daily Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

It’s a self-sanctification and space purification. It’s the magical equivalent of brushing your teeth. Takes about 5 minutes, a little bit of portentous speaking, a little bit of dramatic arm gestures, and you have to know your cardinal directions.

#theurgy #magick

I re-started a regular magical practice a month ago because my former lodge, dispersed right before Covid started, is reforming this summer. They asked if I’d join and help run the rituals. I agreed and decided that I better refresh my memory and magical mojo by going through the practices.

I started where everyone does in this tradition: daily Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram.

It’s a self-sanctification and space purification. It’s the magical equivalent of brushing your teeth. Takes about 5 minutes, a little bit of portentous speaking, a little bit of dramatic arm gestures, and you have to know your cardinal directions.

#theurgy #magick

The Charge and the Curriculum: How the Dark Arts Replaced Black Magic

Two phrases arrive from different centuries and now sit on the same shelf: “black magic” and “the Dark Arts.” Modern speakers treat them as synonyms. Older readers would have disagreed, and the disagreement matters, because the collapse of the two terms shows how our language for forbidden knowledge has migrated from the judicial to the aesthetic, from accusation to ambience.

“Black magic” is the older, harder word. In the historical record of Western occultism, it names magic understood as harmful, antisocial, or bound up with evil spirits. Britannica defines it as magic associated with the devil or evil spirits, and treatments of sorcery describe the practice as malevolent magic. Medieval nigromancy, corrupted in the vocabulary from necromancy, fused death magic, blackness, and illicit commerce with spirits into a single accusation. When a cleric in the fourteenth century charged someone with black magic, consequences followed: a trial, a tribunal, a sentence, often a burning. The word carried teeth because the world it belonged to took the accusation literally.

“The Dark Arts,” by contrast, does not appear in the premodern record as a settled technical category. The older learned tradition did use “the black arts” as a near synonym for black magic, and medieval and early modern writers divided forbidden practice by function rather than by atmosphere: sorcery, necromancy, goetia, maleficium, witchcraft, divination, theurgy. Each category carried its own definition and its own theological weight. A demonologist could distinguish between a witch’s pact and a scholar’s curious conjuration, and the distinction mattered, because lives depended on it. The phrase “Dark Arts” gathers all of that into one dramatic heap. It is a late label for a premodern field, and it sounds more like a book spine than a charge sheet.

The Christian demonological tradition narrows the question further. Aquinas treats divination as a species of superstition and condemns recourse to demons as rebellion against Providence. Within this framework, the operative concept is sin rather than glamour. Black magic names the moral-theological rebellion: the pursuit of harm, the reach for illicit power, the traffic with demonic agency. What a modern reader might call the Dark Arts would be, in Aquinas’s world, simply the whole condemned region of forbidden practice. The theologian did not need an atmospheric label. He already had a moral one.

Fantasy literature reversed the polarity. In twentieth and twenty-first century writing, “Dark Arts” became the more precise term while “black magic” became the vague one. J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series offers the clearest example. The Dark Arts there name a corrupting discipline with its own curriculum, defenses, and lineage, practiced by institutions and taught in opposition by other institutions. The phrase implies doctrine. It implies inheritance. The phrase implies that a student could walk into a library and be seduced by it, paragraph by paragraph. Within that literary ecology, “black magic” becomes a cruder label for the same field, used when the writer does not want to spell out the structure.

So the vocabulary flipped. In the older usage, “black magic” was sharp and “Dark Arts” did not really exist in its modern form. In the newer usage, “Dark Arts” reads as architectural while “black magic” reads as generic. A modern reader raised on fantasy often hears “Dark Arts” as the more serious term because it suggests a field of study, while “black magic” sounds like something shouted from a pulpit. Four hundred years ago, the hearing would have reversed. The pulpit word carried consequences. The field-of-study phrase did not yet exist in anything like its present meaning.

This shift matters because the older vocabulary recognized distinctions the new one erases. Cultures that took magic seriously divided forbidden practice into three moral situations that modern fantasy collapses. Dangerous knowledge could corrupt a practitioner through contact alone, regardless of use. Impure ritual violated sacred boundaries such as the one between the living and the dead. Malicious intent directed power toward harm. A curse aimed at an enemy was black magic in the strictest sense. Consulting the dead might be a forbidden art without being malicious. Reading a grimoire out of curiosity could corrupt without producing any spell at all. Three different moral situations, three different theological verdicts.

When the modern imagination treats “Dark Arts” and “black magic” as equivalent, it loses those distinctions. Everything forbidden becomes everything evil, and everything evil becomes everything forbidden. That is intellectually sloppy, and it produces a literature in which dangerous knowledge and murderous intent carry the same weight because the same adjective covers both. A fantasy novel can get away with the shorthand because the reader accepts moral collapse as a genre convention. A serious account of real-world occult history, or of real-world religious ethics, cannot.

There is also a political dimension worth naming. The older vocabulary belonged to a world that punished people for using it. Accusations of black magic produced trials, burnings, confiscations of property, and the destruction of families. The accusation operated as a weapon, and it was often aimed at women, the poor, the learned, the dissenting, or the foreign. When modern fantasy dresses the same vocabulary in robes and calls it a curriculum, it borrows the gravity of that older moral world without paying its cost. The reader feels the frisson of the forbidden without any sense that someone, somewhere, once died because a neighbor used the word in a deposition.

My own view is that the two terms should be kept apart when precision matters and allowed to drift together only when the context is frankly literary. Black magic is the sharper moral word: it names intent, names harm, names the condition of having turned one’s power against the order of things. The Dark Arts, as a phrase, is a later shelf, useful for novelists and game designers and screenwriters who need a single label for an entire shadow tradition. Treating the shelf as if it were the charge, or the charge as if it were only the shelf, flattens a vocabulary that once cut cleanly.

Both terms remain in use in their own domains. The real question is what happens to a culture when its language for forbidden knowledge migrates from the courtroom to the bookshelf. A society that once tried people for black magic now markets the Dark Arts to teenagers. The words look similar, and in casual speech they mean almost the same thing, but the worlds they came from could not be further apart. That drift is itself a small history, and the history is worth knowing before one reaches for either word.

The Charge and the Curriculum: How the Dark Arts Replaced Black Magic

Two phrases arrive from different centuries and now sit on the same shelf: “black magic” and “the Dark Arts.” Modern speakers treat them as synonyms. Older readers would have disagreed, and the disagreement matters, because the collapse of the two terms shows how our language for forbidden knowledge has migrated from the judicial to the aesthetic, from accusation to ambience.

“Black magic” is the older, harder word. In the historical record of Western occultism, it names magic understood as harmful, antisocial, or bound up with evil spirits. Britannica defines it as magic associated with the devil or evil spirits, and treatments of sorcery describe the practice as malevolent magic. Medieval nigromancy, corrupted in the vocabulary from necromancy, fused death magic, blackness, and illicit commerce with spirits into a single accusation. When a cleric in the fourteenth century charged someone with black magic, consequences followed: a trial, a tribunal, a sentence, often a burning. The word carried teeth because the world it belonged to took the accusation literally.

“The Dark Arts,” by contrast, does not appear in the premodern record as a settled technical category. The older learned tradition did use “the black arts” as a near synonym for black magic, and medieval and early modern writers divided forbidden practice by function rather than by atmosphere: sorcery, necromancy, goetia, maleficium, witchcraft, divination, theurgy. Each category carried its own definition and its own theological weight. A demonologist could distinguish between a witch’s pact and a scholar’s curious conjuration, and the distinction mattered, because lives depended on it. The phrase “Dark Arts” gathers all of that into one dramatic heap. It is a late label for a premodern field, and it sounds more like a book spine than a charge sheet.

The Christian demonological tradition narrows the question further. Aquinas treats divination as a species of superstition and condemns recourse to demons as rebellion against Providence. Within this framework, the operative concept is sin rather than glamour. Black magic names the moral-theological rebellion: the pursuit of harm, the reach for illicit power, the traffic with demonic agency. What a modern reader might call the Dark Arts would be, in Aquinas’s world, simply the whole condemned region of forbidden practice. The theologian did not need an atmospheric label. He already had a moral one.

Fantasy literature reversed the polarity. In twentieth and twenty-first century writing, “Dark Arts” became the more precise term while “black magic” became the vague one. J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series offers the clearest example. The Dark Arts there name a corrupting discipline with its own curriculum, defenses, and lineage, practiced by institutions and taught in opposition by other institutions. The phrase implies doctrine. It implies inheritance. The phrase implies that a student could walk into a library and be seduced by it, paragraph by paragraph. Within that literary ecology, “black magic” becomes a cruder label for the same field, used when the writer does not want to spell out the structure.

So the vocabulary flipped. In the older usage, “black magic” was sharp and “Dark Arts” did not really exist in its modern form. In the newer usage, “Dark Arts” reads as architectural while “black magic” reads as generic. A modern reader raised on fantasy often hears “Dark Arts” as the more serious term because it suggests a field of study, while “black magic” sounds like something shouted from a pulpit. Four hundred years ago, the hearing would have reversed. The pulpit word carried consequences. The field-of-study phrase did not yet exist in anything like its present meaning.

This shift matters because the older vocabulary recognized distinctions the new one erases. Cultures that took magic seriously divided forbidden practice into three moral situations that modern fantasy collapses. Dangerous knowledge could corrupt a practitioner through contact alone, regardless of use. Impure ritual violated sacred boundaries such as the one between the living and the dead. Malicious intent directed power toward harm. A curse aimed at an enemy was black magic in the strictest sense. Consulting the dead might be a forbidden art without being malicious. Reading a grimoire out of curiosity could corrupt without producing any spell at all. Three different moral situations, three different theological verdicts.

When the modern imagination treats “Dark Arts” and “black magic” as equivalent, it loses those distinctions. Everything forbidden becomes everything evil, and everything evil becomes everything forbidden. That is intellectually sloppy, and it produces a literature in which dangerous knowledge and murderous intent carry the same weight because the same adjective covers both. A fantasy novel can get away with the shorthand because the reader accepts moral collapse as a genre convention. A serious account of real-world occult history, or of real-world religious ethics, cannot.

There is also a political dimension worth naming. The older vocabulary belonged to a world that punished people for using it. Accusations of black magic produced trials, burnings, confiscations of property, and the destruction of families. The accusation operated as a weapon, and it was often aimed at women, the poor, the learned, the dissenting, or the foreign. When modern fantasy dresses the same vocabulary in robes and calls it a curriculum, it borrows the gravity of that older moral world without paying its cost. The reader feels the frisson of the forbidden without any sense that someone, somewhere, once died because a neighbor used the word in a deposition.

My own view is that the two terms should be kept apart when precision matters and allowed to drift together only when the context is frankly literary. Black magic is the sharper moral word: it names intent, names harm, names the condition of having turned one’s power against the order of things. The Dark Arts, as a phrase, is a later shelf, useful for novelists and game designers and screenwriters who need a single label for an entire shadow tradition. Treating the shelf as if it were the charge, or the charge as if it were only the shelf, flattens a vocabulary that once cut cleanly.

Both terms remain in use in their own domains. The real question is what happens to a culture when its language for forbidden knowledge migrates from the courtroom to the bookshelf. A society that once tried people for black magic now markets the Dark Arts to teenagers. The words look similar, and in casual speech they mean almost the same thing, but the worlds they came from could not be further apart. That drift is itself a small history, and the history is worth knowing before one reaches for either word.

Top ten posts in October 2025

https://library.hrmtc.com/2025/11/01/top-ten-posts-in-october-2025/

#account #achieve #AdamHassan #AdamHulse #AdeptusExemptus #AdeptusMajor #AdeptusMinor #adopted #alchemicalInquiry #aleisterCrowley #AlexanderSaxton #AliMaloney #allBeings #AmandaBlake #amongMany #amusement #AmyBoucher #Anat #ancientGods #ancientIsrael #AngelikaMay #Anglican #anthology #archivalMaterials #artists #Asherah #astarte #astralDeities #AtlanticOcean #AtlantisBookshop #Baal #BarneyMuldoon #bbc #BBCRadio #belief #BernhardBeyer #bestPosts #bestRemembered #bestTen #biblicalMagi #Blondie #BobbyCampbell #BookOfTheLaw #buddhism #CJSubko #California #Canaan #CanaanitePolytheism #CanaaniteReligionAndMythology #CatholicSuperstition #celebrated #charlatan #CharlesMocenigo #ChristianIdiom #ChristianKabbalah #ChristianNonDuality #churchRitual #churches #ChymicalWedding #cleansing #commonMetaphysicalTemplate #comparativeFramework #ConfessioFraternitatis #conspiracies #conspiracy #contemplativePractice #cosmic #counterculturalBookshops #counterculturalIcon #cultOfYahweh #curiosity #dangerousManipulator #DanteBonutto #darkArts #DavidMitchell #deliverance #deliveranceMinistry #demanding #demonology #dismissed #distinctlySeparate #divineFeminine #DivineUnity #DoWhatThouWiltShallBeTheWholeOfTheLaw #Doctrinal #doctrineOfRéintégration #Doinel #drugTaking #dues #DutchSchulz #earlyHistory #EdgarBroughton #EdwardianEccentric #ÉgliseGnostique #El #EleanorGraydon #eliphasLevi #ElizabethRMcClellan #ÉlusCoëns #emanation #encounters #esotericChristianity #esotericCurrent #esotericKnowledge #esotericMysteries #EucharisticVision #evangelicalExcess #evilSpirits #evolved #exile #exorcism #expulsion #FUCKUP_ #faith #FamaFraternitatis #fascination #fear #feast #feminineEros #feminineWisdom #figure #finDeSiècle #fire #FissionChips #flamboyantShowman #FlorenceSusanneReppert #folk #Foreign #France #FrancisYoung #fraudster #freemasonry #FrenchEsotericism #FrenchTradition #fullyDefined #GaryLachman #genius #GeorgeDorn #GeraldineBeskin #GérardEncausse #gnosis #GnosticLiturgy #Gnosticism #god #goddeses #gods #greatGoddesses #greaterFeast #greaterMysteries #HagbardCeline #hardRock #HarryCoin #heavyMetal #HebrewBible #HermeticSymbolism #hermeticism #historicallyGrounded #history #historyOfIdeas #horrors #HowardTheDolphin #IanHGladwin #identity #illuminatedTreeOfLife #Illuminatus #ineffableOne #initiated #initiaticOrders #initiatoryCodification #institutionalDiversity #integralSpirituality #integrate #interiorPath #invoked #JDMYoder #JamesFoster #JannHaworth #JazColemanmKillingJoke #jimmyPage #JohnDay #JohnDillinger #JonathanHart #journals #JulesDoinel #Juniorus #keySource #LauraCathcart #leadingGods #LeeIrwin #lesserMysteries #Levi #LindaBromilow #lineage #lodgeRooms #lodges #Logos #louisClaudeDeSaintMartin #lucidDreamers #lucifer #LydiaWaites #madMan #magickalOrder #Magister #magus #MarkSSmith #MartinèsDePasqually #MaryLouServix #masculinePrinciple #masonic #master #metalMusicians #modernEurope #MoggMorgan #Molech #monotheism #monotheisticFaith #moon #Mot #mountaineer #MrCrowley #Musicians #mysteries #mysteriesOfNature #mysticalInsight #nativeChristianNonDuality #NeoplatonicMetaphysics #neoplatonism #newGeneration #nineGrades #occultChurches #occultReligion #occultist #October2025 #OldTestament #OllyPearson #openInvitation #OrderOfTheGoldenAndRosyCross #otherDeities #outrightRejection #OzzyOsbourne #paganGods #pansentience #Papus #PatrickDMiller #PaulMorley #pedagogiesOfUnity #pervert #Philosophus #pioneeringThinker #plymouthBrethren #poet #popularCulture #Power #practicalWisdom #Practicus #primaryDeity #progressiveEstablishment #prophet #provocation #psychedelia #public #publicForm #RLoftiss #realities #rediscover #Reincarnation #reintegration #religion #religiousHorror #religiousTrauma #remarkableTransformation #remarkablyCoherent #Rephaim #Resheph #return #rigorous #riteOfExorcism #ritual #ritualForms #robertAntonWilson #RobertPearson #RobertShea #rockStars #rosicrucian #RosicrucianManifestos #rosicrucianSociety #rosicrucianism #RyanDay #sacredMarriage #SaintMartin #SaintYvesDAlveydre #SashaRavitch #SaulGoodman #scandal #scandalous #selfMythology #seven #SgtPepper #SimonMoon #soleGod #sophia #spiritualEntities #spiritualOutlook #spiritualSignificance #StephenHoward #summary #summaryOfTheMonth #sun #symbol #symbolicSynthesis #syncreticCuriosity #taoism #thaumaturgicalHeritage #TheAMA #TheBeatles #TheGreatBeast #TheOneirocriticalSociety #theWickedestManInTheWorld #theWorldSOldest #theoreticalFoundations #Theoreticus #theurgy #ToddPurse #topPosts #topTen #underworldDeities #unity #unwaveringDevotion #VanessaSantos #Vedanta #vision #westernEsotericism #wholeness #WieboGrobler #worlds #wreckedLives #yahweh

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Various-MusaeumHermeticum/pages/000-2-title-page-full-page-border-alchemy/

A border from the title page of a compilation of several books on #alchemy #hermeticism #theurgy #occult subjects from 1678 (actually there was an earlier edition too).

I asked Google Gemini to explain the symbology and it did a credible job, if not perfect: the philosopher’s stone is the search gorr personal godhead, not for gold. See the web page for what it said.

#vintageArt #border #occult #hermetic #fobo #GIMP #Gimp_3 #engraving #phoenix #witchcraft

https://www.fromoldbooks.org/Various-MusaeumHermeticum/pages/000-2-title-page-full-page-border-alchemy/

A border from the title page of a compilation of several books on #alchemy #hermeticism #theurgy #occult subjects from 1678 (actually there was an earlier edition too).

I asked Google Gemini to explain the symbology and it did a credible job, if not perfect: the philosopher’s stone is the search gorr personal godhead, not for gold. See the web page for what it said.

#vintageArt #border #occult #hermetic #fobo #GIMP #Gimp_3 #engraving #phoenix #witchcraft

💫 Virtual Adepts: Theurgy of the Virtual Adepts. The Virtual Adept idea of Ascension, the Singularity, is transhumanistic. They want to merge with the information and become far more than humans. http://mage.gearsonline.net/anders/magick/philosophy/theurgy.html#adept #virtualadepts #magetheascension #theurgy #rpg #wod

💫 Virtual Adepts: Theurgy of the Virtual Adepts. The Virtual Adept idea of Ascension, the Singularity, is transhumanistic. They want to merge with the information and become far more than humans. http://mage.gearsonline.net/anders/magick/philosophy/theurgy.html#adept #virtualadepts #magetheascension #theurgy #rpg #wod

Stuck in the Filter: October 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Never fear, the blog’s penchant for deep lateness punctuality persists! It is likely the new year already by the time you see this post, but we’re taking a step back. Way back, into October. I was deep in the shit then, and therefore couldn’t do anything blog-related. And yet, my minions, those very laborers for whom I provide absolutely no compensation whatsoever, toiled dutifully in the metallic dinge that is our Filter. Unforgiving though those environs undoubtedly are, they scraped and scoured until, at long last, small shards of precious ore glimmered to the surface.

These glimmers are the same which you witness before you. Some are big, some are small. Some are short, some are tall. But all are worthy. Behold!

Kenstrosity’s Belated Bombardments

Cosmic Putrefaction // Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains [October 4th, 2024 – Profound Lore Records]

I was originally slated to take over reviewing duties for Cosmic Putrefaction this year, as Thus Spoke had a prior commitment and needed a buddy to step in. Unfortunately, I was rendered useless by a force of nature for a while, so I had to let go of several items of interest. But I couldn’t let 2024 go by without saying something! Entitled Emeral Fires atop the Farewell Mountains, Cosmic Putrefaction’s fourth represents one of the smoothest, most ethereal interpretations of weird, dissonant death metal. The classic Cosmic Putrefaction riffsets under an auroric sky remain, as evidenced by ripping examples “[Entering the Vortex Temporum] – Pre-mortem Phosphenes” and “Swirling Madness, Supernal Ordeal,” but there lurks within a monstrous technical death metal creature who rabidly chases the atmospheric spirits of olde (“I Should Great the Inexorable Darkness,” “Eudaemonist Withdrawal”). While in lesser hands these distinct aesthetics would undoubtedly clash on a dissonant platform such as this, Cosmic Putrefaction’s particular application of sound and style coalesces in devastating beauty and relentless purpose (“Hallways Engraved in Aether,” “Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains”). Were it not for some instances wherein, for the first time ever, Cosmic Putrefaction threatens to self-plagiarize their own material (“Eudaemonist Withdrawal”), I would likely consider Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains for year-end list status.

Feral // To Usurp the Thrones [October 18th, 2024 – Transcending Obscurity Records]

Another one of my charges that I unfortunately had to put down against my will, Swedish death metal fiends Feral’s fourth salvo To Usurp the Thrones deserves a spotlight here. Where Flesh for Funerals Eternal impressed me as my introduction to the band and, arguably, my introduction to modern buzzsaw Swedeath, To Usurp the Thrones impresses me as a singularly vicious record in the style. Faster, meaner, more varied, and longer than its predecessor, Thrones offers the punk-tinged, thrashy death riffs you know and love, with bluesy touches reminiscent of Entombed’s Wolverine Blues adding a bit of drunken swagger to the affair (“Vile Malediction,” “Phantoms of Iniquity,” “Into the Ashes of History”). Absolute rippers like “To Drain the World of Light,” “Deformed Mentality,” “Decimated,” and “Soaked in Blood” live up to the band’s moniker, rabid and relentless in their assault. In many ways, Thrones evokes the same bloodsoaked sense of fun that Helslave’s From the Sulphur Depths conjured, but it’s angrier, more unhinged (“Spirits Without Rest,” “Stripped of Flesh”). Consequently, Thrones stands out as one of the more fun records of its ilk to come out this year. Don’t miss it!

Sun Worship // Upon the Hills of Divination [October 31st, 2024 – Vendetta Records]

Back in 2020, our dear Roquentin offered some damn fine words of praise for Germany’s Sun Worship and their third blackened blade, Emanations of Desolation. It’s been six years since that record dropped, and Upon the Hills of Divination picks up right where Emanations left off. That is to say, absolutely slimy, post-metal-tinged riffs bolstered by dense layers of warm tremolos and mid-frequency roars. Opener “Within the Machine” offers a concrete encapsulation of what to expect: bits and pieces of Hulder, Gaerea, and Vorga melding together into a compelling concoction of hypnotic black metal. Using the long form to their utmost advantage, Sun Worship craft immersive soundscapes liable to scald the flesh just as quickly as they seduce the senses, leaving me as a brainwashed minion doing a twisted mystic’s bidding unconditionally (“Serpent Nebula,” “Covenant”). Yet, there roils a sense of urgency in these songs, despite many of them occupying a mid-paced cadence, which unveils a bleeding heart willingly wrenched from Sun Worship’s body (“Fractal Entity,” the title track, and “Stormbringer”). This is what sets it apart from its contemporaries, and what makes it worthy of mention. Why it’s gotten so little attention escapes me. It is with the intent of rectifying that condition that I pen this woefully insufficient segment.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Duty Free Rifftrocity

Extorted // Cognitive Dissonance [October 16th, 2024 – Self Release]

You don’t need to read this review to know that the Kiwis of Extorted plays pit-whipping death/thrash. Though not adorned with other obvious symbols, like Vietnam War paraphernalia or crushed beer cans, the Ed Repka-penned brain-ripped head figure screams “no thoughts only riff” all the same. With snares set to pow and crashes set to kshhh, Cognitive Dissonance finds low resistance to accelerating early Death-indebted refrains. Vocalist Joel Clark even plays as a dead ringer for pre-Human Schuldiner or Van Drunen (Asphyx, ex-Pestilence) as the torture in many lines grows (on “Infected” and “Ghastly Creatures” in particular). And in a continued tour of Van Drunen-associated sounds, Extorted’s ability to find a push-and-pull cadence that twists the fury of thrash with the cutting drag of death hits that hard-to-nail early Pestilence pocket with studied flair (“Deception,” “Limits of Reality”). Though a considerable amount of the Extorted identity rests in ideas borrowed and reinterpreted, a modern tonal canvas gives Cognitive Dissonance’s rhythms a punchy and balanced low-end weight that doesn’t always present itself in the world of old. Couple that with hooks that reach far beyond the limits of pure homage (“Transformation of Dreams,” “Violence”), and it’s easy to plow through the thirty minutes of tasteful harmonies, bending solos, and spit-stained lamentations that Extorted offers with their powerful debut.

Bríi // Camaradagem Póstuma [October 11th, 2024 – Self Release]

With Camaradagem Póstuma we enter the hazy, folky world of Caio Lemos’ unique vision of what experimental electronic music can be colored by the underpinnings of atmospheric black metal and jazz fusion. Using terraced melodies like baroque music of old and distant breakbeats like the Bong-Ra of recent yesteryears, Brazil’s Bríi represents one man’s highly specific melding that rarely occurs in this space. The guitar lines that do exist play out as textural, slow-developing passages. On tracks “Aparecidos” and “Baile Fantasma” this looping and hypnotic pattern shuffle resembles ambient Pat Metheny or King Crimson colors, the kind where finding the end of nylon pluck into a weaving, high-frequency synth patch feels not impossible but unnecessary. And on the more metallic side of things, Lemos cranks programmed blasts that carry his tortured, panning, and shrouded wails as a guide for the melodic evolution of each track, much in the same way a warping bass line would in a progressive house track. But maintaining the tempo of classic drum and bass, Camaradagem Póstuma wisps away in its atmosphere, coming back to a driving rhythm either via pummeling double kick or glitching break. Despite the hard, danceable pulse that tracks “Enlutados” and “Entre Mundos” boast, Bríi does not feel built for the kvlt klvbs of this world, leaning on a gated, lo-fi aesthetic that makes for an ideal drift away on closed cans, much like the equally idiosyncratic Wist album from earlier this year. And similarly, Camaradagem Póstuma sits in an outsider world of enjoyment. But if any of this sounds like your jam, prepare to get addicted to Bríi.

Thus Spoke’s Rotten Remnants

Livløs // The Crescent King [October 4th, 2024 – Noctum Productions]

Livløs are one of those bands that deserves far more recognition than they receive. With LP three, The Crescent King, they might finally see it. Their punchy intriguing infusion of Swedish and US melodic death metal—though the band themselves hail from Denmark—has a pleasing melancholia and satisfying bite. Here in particular, there’s more than a passing resemblance to Hath, to Cognizance, and to In Mourning. Stomping grooves (“Maelstrom,” “Usurpers”) slide in between blitzes of tripping gallops, and electrifying fretwork (“Orbit Weaver,” “Scourge of the Stars”). Mournful, compelling melodies woven into this technical tapestry—some highlights being the title track, “Harvest,” and “Endless Majesty”—turn already good melodeath into great melodeath; melodeath that’s majestic and powerful, without ever feeling overblown. With its relentless, groovy dynamism, the crisp, spacious production seals the deal for total immersion. If this is your first time hearing about Livløs, you’re in for a treat.

Sordide // Ainsi finit le jour [October 25th, 2024 – Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions]

And So Ends the Day, whilst another begins where I rediscover Sordide. I know not how I forgot their existence despite the impression that 2021’s Les Idées Blanches made upon me, yet all I could recall was the disturbingly simple, melty art.1 Ainsi Finit le Jour arrives with a hefty dose (53 minutes no less) of punky, dissonant black metal that’s even rawer and more pissed-off than their usual fare. “Des feux plus forts,” “La poesie du caniveau,” and the title track stand out as the most vicious, near-first-wave cuts the trio have ever laid down, with manic, group wails, and chaotic, jangling percussion. But as is so often the case with Sordide, perhaps the truest brutality comes in the slower discordant crawls of “Sous Vivre,” “Tout est a la mort,” and the particularly unsettling “La beauté du desastre,” whose creeping, half-tuneful teasing and turns to eerie spaciousness get right under your skin. It is arguably a little too long for its own good, given its intensity, but its impressiveness does mean that, this time, Sordide won’t be forgotten.

Dear Hollow’s Droll Hashals

Annihilist // Reform [October 18th, 2024 – Self Release]

What Melbourne’s Annihilist does with flamboyant flare and reckless abandon is blur the lines of its core stylistic choices. One moment it’s chugging away like a deathcore band, the next it’s dripping away with a groove metal swagger, ope, now it’s on its way to Hot Topic. All we know is that all its members attack with a chameleonic intensity and otherworldly technicality that’s hard to pin down. An insane level of technicality is the thread that courses throughout the entirety of this debut, recalling Within the Ruins or The Human Abstract in its stuttering rhythms and flailing arpeggios. From catchy leads and punishing rhythms (“The Upsend,” “Guillotine”), bouncy breakdowns, clean choruses, and wild gang vocals (“Blood”), djenty guitar seizures (“Virus,” “Better Off”) to full-on groove (“N.M.E.,” “The Host”), the likes of Lamb of God, early Architects, Born of Osiris, and Children of Bodom are conjured. Lyrics of hardcore punk’s signature anarchy and societal distrust collide with an instrumental palette of melodeath and the more technical kin of metalcore and deathcore, groove metal, and hardcore. As such, the album is complicated, episodic, and unpredictable, with only its wild technicality connecting its fragmented bits – keeping Reform from achieving the greatness that the band is so capable of. As it stands, though, Annihilist offers an insanely fun, everchanging, and unhinged roller coaster of -core proportions – a roller -corester, if you will.

Under Alekhines Gun

Theurgy // Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence [October 17th, 2024 – New Standard Elite]

In a year where slam and brutal death have already had an atypically high-quality output, international outfit Theurgy have come with an RKO out of nowhere to shatter whatever remains of your cerebral cortex. Channeling the flamboyancy of old Analepsy with the snare abuse and neanderthalic glee of Epicardiectomy, Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence wastes no time severing vertebrae and reducing eardrums to paste. Don’t mistake this for a brainless, caveman assault, however. Peppered between the hammiest of hammers are tech flourishes pulled straight from Dingir era Rings of Saturn, adding an unexpected technical edge to the blunt force trauma. The production manages to pair these two disparaging elements with lethal efficiency. Is it the techiest slam album, or the wettest, greasiest tech album? Did I mention there’s a super moldy cover of Devourment‘s “Molesting the Decapitated”? It slots right into the albums flow without feeling like a tacked-on bonus track, highlighting Theurgy’s commitment to the homicidal odes of brutality. Throw in a vocal performance that makes Angel Ochoa (Abominable Putridity) sound like Anders Fridén (In Flames), and you’re left with one last lethal assault to round out the year. Dive in and give your luminescence something to cry about.

GardensTale’s Great Glacier

Ghosts of Glaciers // Eternal [October 25th, 2024 – Translation Loss Records]

Ghosts of Glaciers’s last release, The Greatest Burden, was a masterclass of post-metal flow and has become a mainstay in my instrumental metal collection since my review in 2019. Dropping in tandem with several other high-profile releases, though, I could not give its follow-up the kind of attention it deserves. And make no mistake, it absolutely deserves that attention. The opening duo, “The Vast Expanse” and “Sunken Chamber,” measure up fully to The Greatest Burden, though it takes a few spins for that to become clear. Both use repetitive patterns more than before, but closer listens reveal how subtle variations and evolution of each cycle build gradual tension, so the release becomes all the more satisfying. I’m a little more ambivalent on the back half of Eternal, though. “Leviathan” packs a bigger punch than more of the band’s material, it lacks the swirling and sweeping currents that pull me under and demand full and uninterrupted plays every time. Closer “Regeneratio Aeterna” is a pretty but rather demure piece that lasts a bit longer than it should have. But despite these reservations, the great material outstrips the merely good, and Eternal is a worthwhile addition to any instrumental metal collection.

#AbominablePutridity #AinsiFinitLeJour #AmericanMetal #Analepsy #Annihilist #Architects #Asphyx #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AustralianMetal #BlackMetal #BongRa #BornOfOsiris #BrazilianMetal #Bríi #BrutalDeathMetal #CamaradagemPóstuma #ChildrenOfBodom #CognitiveDissonance #Cognizance #CosmicPutrefaction #Death #DeathMetal #DeathThrash #Deathcore #Devourment #DissonantBlackMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Electronic #EmanationsOfUnconsciousLuminescence #EmeralFiresAtopTheFarewellMountains #Entombed #Epicardiectomy #Eternal #ExperimentalMetal #Extorted #Feral #FrenchMetal #Gaerea #GermanMetal #GhostsOfGlaciers #GrooveMetal #Hardcore #HardcorePunk #Hath #Helslave #Hulder #InFlames #InMourning #InternationalMetal #ItalianMetal #KingCrimson #LambOfGod #LesActeursDeLOmbreProductions #Livløs #MelodicDeathMetal #Metalcore #NewStandardElite #NewZealandMetal #NoctumProductions #OSDM #PatMetheny #Pestilence #PostBlackMetal #PostMetal #ProfoundLoreRecords #Reform #RingsOfSaturn #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #Slam #Sordide #SunWorship #SwedishMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheCrescentKing #TheHumanAbstract #Theurgy #ThrashMetal #ToUsurpTheThrones #TranscendingObscurityRecords #TranslationLossRecords #UponTheHillsOfDivination #VendettaRecords #VertebraAtlantis #Vorga #Wist #WithinTheRuins

Stuck in the Filter: October 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Never fear, the blog’s penchant for deep lateness punctuality persists! It is likely the new year already by the time you see this post, but we’re taking a step back. Way back, into October. I was deep in the shit then, and therefore couldn’t do anything blog-related. And yet, my minions, those very laborers for whom I provide absolutely no compensation whatsoever, toiled dutifully in the metallic dinge that is our Filter. Unforgiving though those environs undoubtedly are, they scraped and scoured until, at long last, small shards of precious ore glimmered to the surface.

These glimmers are the same which you witness before you. Some are big, some are small. Some are short, some are tall. But all are worthy. Behold!

Kenstrosity’s Belated Bombardments

Cosmic Putrefaction // Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains [October 4th, 2024 – Profound Lore Records]

I was originally slated to take over reviewing duties for Cosmic Putrefaction this year, as Thus Spoke had a prior commitment and needed a buddy to step in. Unfortunately, I was rendered useless by a force of nature for a while, so I had to let go of several items of interest. But I couldn’t let 2024 go by without saying something! Entitled Emeral Fires atop the Farewell Mountains, Cosmic Putrefaction’s fourth represents one of the smoothest, most ethereal interpretations of weird, dissonant death metal. The classic Cosmic Putrefaction riffsets under an auroric sky remain, as evidenced by ripping examples “[Entering the Vortex Temporum] – Pre-mortem Phosphenes” and “Swirling Madness, Supernal Ordeal,” but there lurks within a monstrous technical death metal creature who rabidly chases the atmospheric spirits of olde (“I Should Great the Inexorable Darkness,” “Eudaemonist Withdrawal”). While in lesser hands these distinct aesthetics would undoubtedly clash on a dissonant platform such as this, Cosmic Putrefaction’s particular application of sound and style coalesces in devastating beauty and relentless purpose (“Hallways Engraved in Aether,” “Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains”). Were it not for some instances wherein, for the first time ever, Cosmic Putrefaction threatens to self-plagiarize their own material (“Eudaemonist Withdrawal”), I would likely consider Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains for year-end list status.

Feral // To Usurp the Thrones [October 18th, 2024 – Transcending Obscurity Records]

Another one of my charges that I unfortunately had to put down against my will, Swedish death metal fiends Feral’s fourth salvo To Usurp the Thrones deserves a spotlight here. Where Flesh for Funerals Eternal impressed me as my introduction to the band and, arguably, my introduction to modern buzzsaw Swedeath, To Usurp the Thrones impresses me as a singularly vicious record in the style. Faster, meaner, more varied, and longer than its predecessor, Thrones offers the punk-tinged, thrashy death riffs you know and love, with bluesy touches reminiscent of Entombed’s Wolverine Blues adding a bit of drunken swagger to the affair (“Vile Malediction,” “Phantoms of Iniquity,” “Into the Ashes of History”). Absolute rippers like “To Drain the World of Light,” “Deformed Mentality,” “Decimated,” and “Soaked in Blood” live up to the band’s moniker, rabid and relentless in their assault. In many ways, Thrones evokes the same bloodsoaked sense of fun that Helslave’s From the Sulphur Depths conjured, but it’s angrier, more unhinged (“Spirits Without Rest,” “Stripped of Flesh”). Consequently, Thrones stands out as one of the more fun records of its ilk to come out this year. Don’t miss it!

Sun Worship // Upon the Hills of Divination [October 31st, 2024 – Vendetta Records]

Back in 2020, our dear Roquentin offered some damn fine words of praise for Germany’s Sun Worship and their third blackened blade, Emanations of Desolation. It’s been six years since that record dropped, and Upon the Hills of Divination picks up right where Emanations left off. That is to say, absolutely slimy, post-metal-tinged riffs bolstered by dense layers of warm tremolos and mid-frequency roars. Opener “Within the Machine” offers a concrete encapsulation of what to expect: bits and pieces of Hulder, Gaerea, and Vorga melding together into a compelling concoction of hypnotic black metal. Using the long form to their utmost advantage, Sun Worship craft immersive soundscapes liable to scald the flesh just as quickly as they seduce the senses, leaving me as a brainwashed minion doing a twisted mystic’s bidding unconditionally (“Serpent Nebula,” “Covenant”). Yet, there roils a sense of urgency in these songs, despite many of them occupying a mid-paced cadence, which unveils a bleeding heart willingly wrenched from Sun Worship’s body (“Fractal Entity,” the title track, and “Stormbringer”). This is what sets it apart from its contemporaries, and what makes it worthy of mention. Why it’s gotten so little attention escapes me. It is with the intent of rectifying that condition that I pen this woefully insufficient segment.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Duty Free Rifftrocity

Extorted // Cognitive Dissonance [October 16th, 2024 – Self Release]

You don’t need to read this review to know that the Kiwis of Extorted plays pit-whipping death/thrash. Though not adorned with other obvious symbols, like Vietnam War paraphernalia or crushed beer cans, the Ed Repka-penned brain-ripped head figure screams “no thoughts only riff” all the same. With snares set to pow and crashes set to kshhh, Cognitive Dissonance finds low resistance to accelerating early Death-indebted refrains. Vocalist Joel Clark even plays as a dead ringer for pre-Human Schuldiner or Van Drunen (Asphyx, ex-Pestilence) as the torture in many lines grows (on “Infected” and “Ghastly Creatures” in particular). And in a continued tour of Van Drunen-associated sounds, Extorted’s ability to find a push-and-pull cadence that twists the fury of thrash with the cutting drag of death hits that hard-to-nail early Pestilence pocket with studied flair (“Deception,” “Limits of Reality”). Though a considerable amount of the Extorted identity rests in ideas borrowed and reinterpreted, a modern tonal canvas gives Cognitive Dissonance’s rhythms a punchy and balanced low-end weight that doesn’t always present itself in the world of old. Couple that with hooks that reach far beyond the limits of pure homage (“Transformation of Dreams,” “Violence”), and it’s easy to plow through the thirty minutes of tasteful harmonies, bending solos, and spit-stained lamentations that Extorted offers with their powerful debut.

Bríi // Camaradagem Póstuma [October 11th, 2024 – Self Release]

With Camaradagem Póstuma we enter the hazy, folky world of Caio Lemos’ unique vision of what experimental electronic music can be colored by the underpinnings of atmospheric black metal and jazz fusion. Using terraced melodies like baroque music of old and distant breakbeats like the Bong-Ra of recent yesteryears, Brazil’s Bríi represents one man’s highly specific melding that rarely occurs in this space. The guitar lines that do exist play out as textural, slow-developing passages. On tracks “Aparecidos” and “Baile Fantasma” this looping and hypnotic pattern shuffle resembles ambient Pat Metheny or King Crimson colors, the kind where finding the end of nylon pluck into a weaving, high-frequency synth patch feels not impossible but unnecessary. And on the more metallic side of things, Lemos cranks programmed blasts that carry his tortured, panning, and shrouded wails as a guide for the melodic evolution of each track, much in the same way a warping bass line would in a progressive house track. But maintaining the tempo of classic drum and bass, Camaradagem Póstuma wisps away in its atmosphere, coming back to a driving rhythm either via pummeling double kick or glitching break. Despite the hard, danceable pulse that tracks “Enlutados” and “Entre Mundos” boast, Bríi does not feel built for the kvlt klvbs of this world, leaning on a gated, lo-fi aesthetic that makes for an ideal drift away on closed cans, much like the equally idiosyncratic Wist album from earlier this year. And similarly, Camaradagem Póstuma sits in an outsider world of enjoyment. But if any of this sounds like your jam, prepare to get addicted to Bríi.

Thus Spoke’s Rotten Remnants

Livløs // The Crescent King [October 4th, 2024 – Noctum Productions]

Livløs are one of those bands that deserves far more recognition than they receive. With LP three, The Crescent King, they might finally see it. Their punchy intriguing infusion of Swedish and US melodic death metal—though the band themselves hail from Denmark—has a pleasing melancholia and satisfying bite. Here in particular, there’s more than a passing resemblance to Hath, to Cognizance, and to In Mourning. Stomping grooves (“Maelstrom,” “Usurpers”) slide in between blitzes of tripping gallops, and electrifying fretwork (“Orbit Weaver,” “Scourge of the Stars”). Mournful, compelling melodies woven into this technical tapestry—some highlights being the title track, “Harvest,” and “Endless Majesty”—turn already good melodeath into great melodeath; melodeath that’s majestic and powerful, without ever feeling overblown. With its relentless, groovy dynamism, the crisp, spacious production seals the deal for total immersion. If this is your first time hearing about Livløs, you’re in for a treat.

Sordide // Ainsi finit le jour [October 25th, 2024 – Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions]

And So Ends the Day, whilst another begins where I rediscover Sordide. I know not how I forgot their existence despite the impression that 2021’s Les Idées Blanches made upon me, yet all I could recall was the disturbingly simple, melty art.1 Ainsi Finit le Jour arrives with a hefty dose (53 minutes no less) of punky, dissonant black metal that’s even rawer and more pissed-off than their usual fare. “Des feux plus forts,” “La poesie du caniveau,” and the title track stand out as the most vicious, near-first-wave cuts the trio have ever laid down, with manic, group wails, and chaotic, jangling percussion. But as is so often the case with Sordide, perhaps the truest brutality comes in the slower discordant crawls of “Sous Vivre,” “Tout est a la mort,” and the particularly unsettling “La beauté du desastre,” whose creeping, half-tuneful teasing and turns to eerie spaciousness get right under your skin. It is arguably a little too long for its own good, given its intensity, but its impressiveness does mean that, this time, Sordide won’t be forgotten.

Dear Hollow’s Droll Hashals

Annihilist // Reform [October 18th, 2024 – Self Release]

What Melbourne’s Annihilist does with flamboyant flare and reckless abandon is blur the lines of its core stylistic choices. One moment it’s chugging away like a deathcore band, the next it’s dripping away with a groove metal swagger, ope, now it’s on its way to Hot Topic. All we know is that all its members attack with a chameleonic intensity and otherworldly technicality that’s hard to pin down. An insane level of technicality is the thread that courses throughout the entirety of this debut, recalling Within the Ruins or The Human Abstract in its stuttering rhythms and flailing arpeggios. From catchy leads and punishing rhythms (“The Upsend,” “Guillotine”), bouncy breakdowns, clean choruses, and wild gang vocals (“Blood”), djenty guitar seizures (“Virus,” “Better Off”) to full-on groove (“N.M.E.,” “The Host”), the likes of Lamb of God, early Architects, Born of Osiris, and Children of Bodom are conjured. Lyrics of hardcore punk’s signature anarchy and societal distrust collide with an instrumental palette of melodeath and the more technical kin of metalcore and deathcore, groove metal, and hardcore. As such, the album is complicated, episodic, and unpredictable, with only its wild technicality connecting its fragmented bits – keeping Reform from achieving the greatness that the band is so capable of. As it stands, though, Annihilist offers an insanely fun, everchanging, and unhinged roller coaster of -core proportions – a roller -corester, if you will.

Under Alekhines Gun

Theurgy // Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence [October 17th, 2024 – New Standard Elite]

In a year where slam and brutal death have already had an atypically high-quality output, international outfit Theurgy have come with an RKO out of nowhere to shatter whatever remains of your cerebral cortex. Channeling the flamboyancy of old Analepsy with the snare abuse and neanderthalic glee of Epicardiectomy, Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence wastes no time severing vertebrae and reducing eardrums to paste. Don’t mistake this for a brainless, caveman assault, however. Peppered between the hammiest of hammers are tech flourishes pulled straight from Dingir era Rings of Saturn, adding an unexpected technical edge to the blunt force trauma. The production manages to pair these two disparaging elements with lethal efficiency. Is it the techiest slam album, or the wettest, greasiest tech album? Did I mention there’s a super moldy cover of Devourment‘s “Molesting the Decapitated”? It slots right into the albums flow without feeling like a tacked-on bonus track, highlighting Theurgy’s commitment to the homicidal odes of brutality. Throw in a vocal performance that makes Angel Ochoa (Abominable Putridity) sound like Anders Fridén (In Flames), and you’re left with one last lethal assault to round out the year. Dive in and give your luminescence something to cry about.

GardensTale’s Great Glacier

Ghosts of Glaciers // Eternal [October 25th, 2024 – Translation Loss Records]

Ghosts of Glaciers’s last release, The Greatest Burden, was a masterclass of post-metal flow and has become a mainstay in my instrumental metal collection since my review in 2019. Dropping in tandem with several other high-profile releases, though, I could not give its follow-up the kind of attention it deserves. And make no mistake, it absolutely deserves that attention. The opening duo, “The Vast Expanse” and “Sunken Chamber,” measure up fully to The Greatest Burden, though it takes a few spins for that to become clear. Both use repetitive patterns more than before, but closer listens reveal how subtle variations and evolution of each cycle build gradual tension, so the release becomes all the more satisfying. I’m a little more ambivalent on the back half of Eternal, though. “Leviathan” packs a bigger punch than more of the band’s material, it lacks the swirling and sweeping currents that pull me under and demand full and uninterrupted plays every time. Closer “Regeneratio Aeterna” is a pretty but rather demure piece that lasts a bit longer than it should have. But despite these reservations, the great material outstrips the merely good, and Eternal is a worthwhile addition to any instrumental metal collection.

#AbominablePutridity #AinsiFinitLeJour #AmericanMetal #Analepsy #Annihilist #Architects #Asphyx #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AustralianMetal #BlackMetal #BongRa #BornOfOsiris #BrazilianMetal #Bríi #BrutalDeathMetal #CamaradagemPóstuma #ChildrenOfBodom #CognitiveDissonance #Cognizance #CosmicPutrefaction #Death #DeathMetal #DeathThrash #Deathcore #Devourment #DissonantBlackMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Electronic #EmanationsOfUnconsciousLuminescence #EmeralFiresAtopTheFarewellMountains #Entombed #Epicardiectomy #Eternal #ExperimentalMetal #Extorted #Feral #FrenchMetal #Gaerea #GermanMetal #GhostsOfGlaciers #GrooveMetal #Hardcore #HardcorePunk #Hath #Helslave #Hulder #InFlames #InMourning #InternationalMetal #ItalianMetal #KingCrimson #LambOfGod #LesActeursDeLOmbreProductions #Livløs #MelodicDeathMetal #Metalcore #NewStandardElite #NewZealandMetal #NoctumProductions #OSDM #PatMetheny #Pestilence #PostBlackMetal #PostMetal #ProfoundLoreRecords #Reform #RingsOfSaturn #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #Slam #Sordide #SunWorship #SwedishMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheCrescentKing #TheHumanAbstract #Theurgy #ThrashMetal #ToUsurpTheThrones #TranscendingObscurityRecords #TranslationLossRecords #UponTheHillsOfDivination #VendettaRecords #VertebraAtlantis #Vorga #Wist #WithinTheRuins

Stuck in the Filter: October 2024’s Angry Misses

By Kenstrosity

Never fear, the blog’s penchant for deep lateness punctuality persists! It is likely the new year already by the time you see this post, but we’re taking a step back. Way back, into October. I was deep in the shit then, and therefore couldn’t do anything blog-related. And yet, my minions, those very laborers for whom I provide absolutely no compensation whatsoever, toiled dutifully in the metallic dinge that is our Filter. Unforgiving though those environs undoubtedly are, they scraped and scoured until, at long last, small shards of precious ore glimmered to the surface.

These glimmers are the same which you witness before you. Some are big, some are small. Some are short, some are tall. But all are worthy. Behold!

Kenstrosity’s Belated Bombardments

Cosmic Putrefaction // Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains [October 4th, 2024 – Profound Lore Records]

I was originally slated to take over reviewing duties for Cosmic Putrefaction this year, as Thus Spoke had a prior commitment and needed a buddy to step in. Unfortunately, I was rendered useless by a force of nature for a while, so I had to let go of several items of interest. But I couldn’t let 2024 go by without saying something! Entitled Emeral Fires atop the Farewell Mountains, Cosmic Putrefaction’s fourth represents one of the smoothest, most ethereal interpretations of weird, dissonant death metal. The classic Cosmic Putrefaction riffsets under an auroric sky remain, as evidenced by ripping examples “[Entering the Vortex Temporum] – Pre-mortem Phosphenes” and “Swirling Madness, Supernal Ordeal,” but there lurks within a monstrous technical death metal creature who rabidly chases the atmospheric spirits of olde (“I Should Great the Inexorable Darkness,” “Eudaemonist Withdrawal”). While in lesser hands these distinct aesthetics would undoubtedly clash on a dissonant platform such as this, Cosmic Putrefaction’s particular application of sound and style coalesces in devastating beauty and relentless purpose (“Hallways Engraved in Aether,” “Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains”). Were it not for some instances wherein, for the first time ever, Cosmic Putrefaction threatens to self-plagiarize their own material (“Eudaemonist Withdrawal”), I would likely consider Emerald Fires atop the Farewell Mountains for year-end list status.

Feral // To Usurp the Thrones [October 18th, 2024 – Transcending Obscurity Records]

Another one of my charges that I unfortunately had to put down against my will, Swedish death metal fiends Feral’s fourth salvo To Usurp the Thrones deserves a spotlight here. Where Flesh for Funerals Eternal impressed me as my introduction to the band and, arguably, my introduction to modern buzzsaw Swedeath, To Usurp the Thrones impresses me as a singularly vicious record in the style. Faster, meaner, more varied, and longer than its predecessor, Thrones offers the punk-tinged, thrashy death riffs you know and love, with bluesy touches reminiscent of Entombed’s Wolverine Blues adding a bit of drunken swagger to the affair (“Vile Malediction,” “Phantoms of Iniquity,” “Into the Ashes of History”). Absolute rippers like “To Drain the World of Light,” “Deformed Mentality,” “Decimated,” and “Soaked in Blood” live up to the band’s moniker, rabid and relentless in their assault. In many ways, Thrones evokes the same bloodsoaked sense of fun that Helslave’s From the Sulphur Depths conjured, but it’s angrier, more unhinged (“Spirits Without Rest,” “Stripped of Flesh”). Consequently, Thrones stands out as one of the more fun records of its ilk to come out this year. Don’t miss it!

Sun Worship // Upon the Hills of Divination [October 31st, 2024 – Vendetta Records]

Back in 2020, our dear Roquentin offered some damn fine words of praise for Germany’s Sun Worship and their third blackened blade, Emanations of Desolation. It’s been six years since that record dropped, and Upon the Hills of Divination picks up right where Emanations left off. That is to say, absolutely slimy, post-metal-tinged riffs bolstered by dense layers of warm tremolos and mid-frequency roars. Opener “Within the Machine” offers a concrete encapsulation of what to expect: bits and pieces of Hulder, Gaerea, and Vorga melding together into a compelling concoction of hypnotic black metal. Using the long form to their utmost advantage, Sun Worship craft immersive soundscapes liable to scald the flesh just as quickly as they seduce the senses, leaving me as a brainwashed minion doing a twisted mystic’s bidding unconditionally (“Serpent Nebula,” “Covenant”). Yet, there roils a sense of urgency in these songs, despite many of them occupying a mid-paced cadence, which unveils a bleeding heart willingly wrenched from Sun Worship’s body (“Fractal Entity,” the title track, and “Stormbringer”). This is what sets it apart from its contemporaries, and what makes it worthy of mention. Why it’s gotten so little attention escapes me. It is with the intent of rectifying that condition that I pen this woefully insufficient segment.

Dolphin Whisperer’s Duty Free Rifftrocity

Extorted // Cognitive Dissonance [October 16th, 2024 – Self Release]

You don’t need to read this review to know that the Kiwis of Extorted plays pit-whipping death/thrash. Though not adorned with other obvious symbols, like Vietnam War paraphernalia or crushed beer cans, the Ed Repka-penned brain-ripped head figure screams “no thoughts only riff” all the same. With snares set to pow and crashes set to kshhh, Cognitive Dissonance finds low resistance to accelerating early Death-indebted refrains. Vocalist Joel Clark even plays as a dead ringer for pre-Human Schuldiner or Van Drunen (Asphyx, ex-Pestilence) as the torture in many lines grows (on “Infected” and “Ghastly Creatures” in particular). And in a continued tour of Van Drunen-associated sounds, Extorted’s ability to find a push-and-pull cadence that twists the fury of thrash with the cutting drag of death hits that hard-to-nail early Pestilence pocket with studied flair (“Deception,” “Limits of Reality”). Though a considerable amount of the Extorted identity rests in ideas borrowed and reinterpreted, a modern tonal canvas gives Cognitive Dissonance’s rhythms a punchy and balanced low-end weight that doesn’t always present itself in the world of old. Couple that with hooks that reach far beyond the limits of pure homage (“Transformation of Dreams,” “Violence”), and it’s easy to plow through the thirty minutes of tasteful harmonies, bending solos, and spit-stained lamentations that Extorted offers with their powerful debut.

Bríi // Camaradagem Póstuma [October 11th, 2024 – Self Release]

With Camaradagem Póstuma we enter the hazy, folky world of Caio Lemos’ unique vision of what experimental electronic music can be colored by the underpinnings of atmospheric black metal and jazz fusion. Using terraced melodies like baroque music of old and distant breakbeats like the Bong-Ra of recent yesteryears, Brazil’s Bríi represents one man’s highly specific melding that rarely occurs in this space. The guitar lines that do exist play out as textural, slow-developing passages. On tracks “Aparecidos” and “Baile Fantasma” this looping and hypnotic pattern shuffle resembles ambient Pat Metheny or King Crimson colors, the kind where finding the end of nylon pluck into a weaving, high-frequency synth patch feels not impossible but unnecessary. And on the more metallic side of things, Lemos cranks programmed blasts that carry his tortured, panning, and shrouded wails as a guide for the melodic evolution of each track, much in the same way a warping bass line would in a progressive house track. But maintaining the tempo of classic drum and bass, Camaradagem Póstuma wisps away in its atmosphere, coming back to a driving rhythm either via pummeling double kick or glitching break. Despite the hard, danceable pulse that tracks “Enlutados” and “Entre Mundos” boast, Bríi does not feel built for the kvlt klvbs of this world, leaning on a gated, lo-fi aesthetic that makes for an ideal drift away on closed cans, much like the equally idiosyncratic Wist album from earlier this year. And similarly, Camaradagem Póstuma sits in an outsider world of enjoyment. But if any of this sounds like your jam, prepare to get addicted to Bríi.

Thus Spoke’s Rotten Remnants

Livløs // The Crescent King [October 4th, 2024 – Noctum Productions]

Livløs are one of those bands that deserves far more recognition than they receive. With LP three, The Crescent King, they might finally see it. Their punchy intriguing infusion of Swedish and US melodic death metal—though the band themselves hail from Denmark—has a pleasing melancholia and satisfying bite. Here in particular, there’s more than a passing resemblance to Hath, to Cognizance, and to In Mourning. Stomping grooves (“Maelstrom,” “Usurpers”) slide in between blitzes of tripping gallops, and electrifying fretwork (“Orbit Weaver,” “Scourge of the Stars”). Mournful, compelling melodies woven into this technical tapestry—some highlights being the title track, “Harvest,” and “Endless Majesty”—turn already good melodeath into great melodeath; melodeath that’s majestic and powerful, without ever feeling overblown. With its relentless, groovy dynamism, the crisp, spacious production seals the deal for total immersion. If this is your first time hearing about Livløs, you’re in for a treat.

Sordide // Ainsi finit le jour [October 25th, 2024 – Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions]

And So Ends the Day, whilst another begins where I rediscover Sordide. I know not how I forgot their existence despite the impression that 2021’s Les Idées Blanches made upon me, yet all I could recall was the disturbingly simple, melty art.1 Ainsi Finit le Jour arrives with a hefty dose (53 minutes no less) of punky, dissonant black metal that’s even rawer and more pissed-off than their usual fare. “Des feux plus forts,” “La poesie du caniveau,” and the title track stand out as the most vicious, near-first-wave cuts the trio have ever laid down, with manic, group wails, and chaotic, jangling percussion. But as is so often the case with Sordide, perhaps the truest brutality comes in the slower discordant crawls of “Sous Vivre,” “Tout est a la mort,” and the particularly unsettling “La beauté du desastre,” whose creeping, half-tuneful teasing and turns to eerie spaciousness get right under your skin. It is arguably a little too long for its own good, given its intensity, but its impressiveness does mean that, this time, Sordide won’t be forgotten.

Dear Hollow’s Droll Hashals

Annihilist // Reform [October 18th, 2024 – Self Release]

What Melbourne’s Annihilist does with flamboyant flare and reckless abandon is blur the lines of its core stylistic choices. One moment it’s chugging away like a deathcore band, the next it’s dripping away with a groove metal swagger, ope, now it’s on its way to Hot Topic. All we know is that all its members attack with a chameleonic intensity and otherworldly technicality that’s hard to pin down. An insane level of technicality is the thread that courses throughout the entirety of this debut, recalling Within the Ruins or The Human Abstract in its stuttering rhythms and flailing arpeggios. From catchy leads and punishing rhythms (“The Upsend,” “Guillotine”), bouncy breakdowns, clean choruses, and wild gang vocals (“Blood”), djenty guitar seizures (“Virus,” “Better Off”) to full-on groove (“N.M.E.,” “The Host”), the likes of Lamb of God, early Architects, Born of Osiris, and Children of Bodom are conjured. Lyrics of hardcore punk’s signature anarchy and societal distrust collide with an instrumental palette of melodeath and the more technical kin of metalcore and deathcore, groove metal, and hardcore. As such, the album is complicated, episodic, and unpredictable, with only its wild technicality connecting its fragmented bits – keeping Reform from achieving the greatness that the band is so capable of. As it stands, though, Annihilist offers an insanely fun, everchanging, and unhinged roller coaster of -core proportions – a roller -corester, if you will.

Under Alekhines Gun

Theurgy // Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence [October 17th, 2024 – New Standard Elite]

In a year where slam and brutal death have already had an atypically high-quality output, international outfit Theurgy have come with an RKO out of nowhere to shatter whatever remains of your cerebral cortex. Channeling the flamboyancy of old Analepsy with the snare abuse and neanderthalic glee of Epicardiectomy, Emanations of Unconscious Luminescence wastes no time severing vertebrae and reducing eardrums to paste. Don’t mistake this for a brainless, caveman assault, however. Peppered between the hammiest of hammers are tech flourishes pulled straight from Dingir era Rings of Saturn, adding an unexpected technical edge to the blunt force trauma. The production manages to pair these two disparaging elements with lethal efficiency. Is it the techiest slam album, or the wettest, greasiest tech album? Did I mention there’s a super moldy cover of Devourment‘s “Molesting the Decapitated”? It slots right into the albums flow without feeling like a tacked-on bonus track, highlighting Theurgy’s commitment to the homicidal odes of brutality. Throw in a vocal performance that makes Angel Ochoa (Abominable Putridity) sound like Anders Fridén (In Flames), and you’re left with one last lethal assault to round out the year. Dive in and give your luminescence something to cry about.

GardensTale’s Great Glacier

Ghosts of Glaciers // Eternal [October 25th, 2024 – Translation Loss Records]

Ghosts of Glaciers’s last release, The Greatest Burden, was a masterclass of post-metal flow and has become a mainstay in my instrumental metal collection since my review in 2019. Dropping in tandem with several other high-profile releases, though, I could not give its follow-up the kind of attention it deserves. And make no mistake, it absolutely deserves that attention. The opening duo, “The Vast Expanse” and “Sunken Chamber,” measure up fully to The Greatest Burden, though it takes a few spins for that to become clear. Both use repetitive patterns more than before, but closer listens reveal how subtle variations and evolution of each cycle build gradual tension, so the release becomes all the more satisfying. I’m a little more ambivalent on the back half of Eternal, though. “Leviathan” packs a bigger punch than more of the band’s material, it lacks the swirling and sweeping currents that pull me under and demand full and uninterrupted plays every time. Closer “Regeneratio Aeterna” is a pretty but rather demure piece that lasts a bit longer than it should have. But despite these reservations, the great material outstrips the merely good, and Eternal is a worthwhile addition to any instrumental metal collection.

#AbominablePutridity #AinsiFinitLeJour #AmericanMetal #Analepsy #Annihilist #Architects #Asphyx #AtmosphericBlackMetal #AustralianMetal #BlackMetal #BongRa #BornOfOsiris #BrazilianMetal #Bríi #BrutalDeathMetal #CamaradagemPóstuma #ChildrenOfBodom #CognitiveDissonance #Cognizance #CosmicPutrefaction #Death #DeathMetal #DeathThrash #Deathcore #Devourment #DissonantBlackMetal #DissonantDeathMetal #Electronic #EmanationsOfUnconsciousLuminescence #EmeralFiresAtopTheFarewellMountains #Entombed #Epicardiectomy #Eternal #ExperimentalMetal #Extorted #Feral #FrenchMetal #Gaerea #GermanMetal #GhostsOfGlaciers #GrooveMetal #Hardcore #HardcorePunk #Hath #Helslave #Hulder #InFlames #InMourning #InternationalMetal #ItalianMetal #KingCrimson #LambOfGod #LesActeursDeLOmbreProductions #Livløs #MelodicDeathMetal #Metalcore #NewStandardElite #NewZealandMetal #NoctumProductions #OSDM #PatMetheny #Pestilence #PostBlackMetal #PostMetal #ProfoundLoreRecords #Reform #RingsOfSaturn #SelfRelease #SelfReleased #Slam #Sordide #SunWorship #SwedishMetal #TechnicalDeathMetal #TheCrescentKing #TheHumanAbstract #Theurgy #ThrashMetal #ToUsurpTheThrones #TranscendingObscurityRecords #TranslationLossRecords #UponTheHillsOfDivination #VendettaRecords #VertebraAtlantis #Vorga #Wist #WithinTheRuins

Hello, I'm Vesper. I'm something of an amateur philosopher looking to explore ideas of how to best benefit mankind and the world at large.

A few things about me and what this account is about:

- #Neoplatonism and #Stoicism
- Practical philosophy as it pertains to living in alignment with the Good
- #Polytheism through the lens of a humble Philhellene and devotional posts dedicated to the Greek Gods
- #Theurgy and light mysticism focused on meditation and contemplation

Be seeing you!

The thing about geometry is that it has postulates. Symbols and their relationships imply rules and formulas. So, when you combine magical symbols with geometry, it implies a relationship, rules, and postulates. It really frustrates me when people circumscribe magical ciphers and words within geometric figures where there are no underlying axioms, postulates, or theorems.

Combining magical symbols with geometry without any type of postulate that you can prove makes the entire thing pointless. What is the relationship between that magical symbol and that angle? That is a 45-degree angle. What relationship does that angle have with that magical symbol that denotes a magical entity? I can’t look at most magicians’ magical seals without cringing. They never provide formulas or explain why they used those formulas. The lack of structure undermines the potential significance or effectiveness of the magical practice if the magical system is predicated on structure.

It irks me even more when the seal has arbitrary or random planetary or zodiac symbols that have nothing to do with the geometry and angles of what those symbols denote. If you are going to use geometry in your magic, then it should have logical rules and principles and a connection to the geometry. The complex magical seals are pretty, but they mean absolutely nothing. I would rather have their fictional narrative, i.e., a mythology.

Mathematics is a symbolic language. While it is a precise language, it is a language nonetheless, so it tells a story. When you are working on an intuitive level where precision is not needed, everyday language like this will suffice, where a visual representation can be basic glyphs. Storytelling is a more intuitive and engaging approach to understanding mystical concepts compared to the opaque and cryptic symbolism of complex magical seals. The effort in appearing to be legitimate without being legitimate irks me when a basic story and illustration will suffice.

#Animism #animistic #Astral #astrology #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagic #chaosMagick #egregore #egregores #Goetia #grimoire #grimoires #hermeticism #magick #pagan #paganism #sigil #sigilMagic #sigilMagick #sigils #Spirituality #theosophy #Theurgy #witch #witchcraft #zodiac

@Grail

The Magic Square of Mercury is a type of kamea and magic square. The context of that conversation was about how mages are always complaining about Mercury in retrograde, though any magician worth their salt would understand that planetary magic squares can be used to block the astral energy.

I am more of a sorcerer than a diviner, so I use magical symbols, systems, and subjunctive conditional (prescriptive fictions) to alter reality instead of trying to predict it. Therefore, the predictive power of astrological systems is irrelevant to me personally because I use them to manipulate, not predict, possible futures.

Mathematically, a magic square is a grid of numbers arranged in such a way that the sum of the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal is the same.

While I am not otherkin, I am a cambion (half-demon). An incubus ‘altered’ my father’s sperm, so I have a human father, a human mother, and a demonic parent. You can think of it as an astral virus. My preternatural insight is knowledge of sorcery and thaumaturgy, which gives me mathematical aptitude. My mathematical abilities and my magical abilities are intrinsically linked and are manifestations of my demonic heritage.

#alchemist #Alchemy #Animism #animistic #Astral #astrological #astrology #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagic #chaosMagick #Hellenism #Hellenistic #HermeticOrderOfTheGoldenDawn #hermeticism #magick #occultism #otherkin #pagan #paganism #paranormal #ritualMagic #ritualMagick #sigil #sigilMagic #sigilMagick #sigils #Spirituality #talisman #talismans #Thaumaturgy #Thelema #theosophy #Theurgy #Twitter #witch #witchcraft

@Grail

The Magic Square of Mercury is a type of kamea and magic square. The context of that conversation was about how mages are always complaining about Mercury in retrograde, though any magician worth their salt would understand that planetary magic squares can be used to block the astral energy.

I am more of a sorcerer than a diviner, so I use magical symbols, systems, and subjunctive conditional (prescriptive fictions) to alter reality instead of trying to predict it. Therefore, the predictive power of astrological systems is irrelevant to me personally because I use them to manipulate, not predict, possible futures.

Mathematically, a magic square is a grid of numbers arranged in such a way that the sum of the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal is the same.

While I am not otherkin, I am a cambion (half-demon). An incubus ‘altered’ my father’s sperm, so I have a human father, a human mother, and a demonic parent. You can think of it as an astral virus. My preternatural insight is knowledge of sorcery and thaumaturgy, which gives me mathematical aptitude. My mathematical abilities and my magical abilities are intrinsically linked and are manifestations of my demonic heritage.

#alchemist #Alchemy #Animism #animistic #Astral #astrological #astrology #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagic #chaosMagick #Hellenism #Hellenistic #HermeticOrderOfTheGoldenDawn #hermeticism #magick #occultism #otherkin #pagan #paganism #paranormal #ritualMagic #ritualMagick #sigil #sigilMagic #sigilMagick #sigils #Spirituality #talisman #talismans #Thaumaturgy #Thelema #theosophy #Theurgy #Twitter #witch #witchcraft

I’m always highly amused when ceremonial magicians or energy workers claim to practice high magic or have some skill, but then when I whip out a very basic magic square of Mercury, they claim they do not do Math magic. It’s quite amusing to me because there’s a slight medieval difference in the connotation between Sorcery and Thaumaturgy, and many of them will call the basic magic sorcery they do, such as sigils, thaumaturgy.

Technology, art, and magic can inspire awe and wonder, so the artist is similar to the technologist, which is similar to the magician in that their disciplines are marvelous. Many occultists incorrectly use thaumaturgy to reference any art, technique, or technology that is marvelous or even extraordinary, so it is frequently conflated with sorcery, albeit there’s a large difference between black and white magic from an esoteric perspective.

Orthodoxly, the adept is not the sorcerer. While both inspire awe and wonder, Johnathan Dee explicitly mentioned Thaumaturgy as a mathematical art in The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara. In that preface, John Dee primarily discusses foundational principles and concepts of geometry as presented by Euclid. Euclid’s “Elements” is a comprehensive compilation of the fundamental principles of geometry, including definitions, postulates, propositions, and proofs.

In addition to that, Enochian Magic is highly algorithmic and uses techniques that John Dee discussed in The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara. The modern understanding of Thaumaturgy is predicated on Math, though. Math and technology elicit the same aesthetic sense of awe and wonder that miracles and magic do. For example, lightning is awesome. It inspires awe and wonder. We can call a lightning strike beautiful and thus grant it an aesthetic value that we seek to capture in art. Since this is willful and deliberate, the art is magic. So, we can call lightning magical; however, that isn’t sufficient to call it thaumaturgy.

High Magic is highly metaphysical and uses formal symbolic languages, such as Geometry and Math. If you are bad at Math or do not like Math, you are quite limited.

Alchemy and Thaumaturgy are branches of Natural Magic which do not necessarily depend on spirits. So I am always highly amused when so-called occultists on Twitter try to discredit me while acknowledging they actually know nothing about the magic I practice.

I hate fraternities. Always have. Always will. I was never tempted to join one in college, though my sister pledged to a sorority. This applies to occult fraternities too. Occult lodges are just occult frat bros. For some reason, though, not subjecting myself to the abuse of occult orders somehow makes me less knowledgeable. It’s so bizarre.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love The Vampire Diaries universe, and I really relate to the members of the Gemini coven, especially the siphoners, like Josie. While they are known for their vampire and witch hybrids, the Gemini coven is especially skilled at hoary and creating mechanical devices based on hoary astrology that serve as astrological machines. They called it an ascendant, and it’s normally presented as a key to a prison world in the show.
Gemini coven

My husband and I are putting together something like those devices from 3D printing parts and gears to create an astrological engine. That is an example of Thaumaturgy. See this link for a copy of The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara.

#alchemist #Alchemy #Animism #animistic #Astral #astrological #astrology #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagic #chaosMagick #Hellenism #Hellenistic #HermeticOrderOfTheGoldenDawn #hermeticism #magick #occultism #pagan #paganism #paranormal #ritualMagic #ritualMagick #sigil #sigilMagic #sigilMagick #sigils #Spirituality #Thaumaturgy #Thelema #theosophy #Theurgy #Twitter #witch #witchcraft

I’m always highly amused when ceremonial magicians or energy workers claim to practice high magic or have some skill, but then when I whip out a very basic magic square of Mercury, they claim they do not do Math magic. It’s quite amusing to me because there’s a slight medieval difference in the connotation between Sorcery and Thaumaturgy, and many of them will call the basic magic sorcery they do, such as sigils, thaumaturgy.

Technology, art, and magic can inspire awe and wonder, so the artist is similar to the technologist, which is similar to the magician in that their disciplines are marvelous. Many occultists incorrectly use thaumaturgy to reference any art, technique, or technology that is marvelous or even extraordinary, so it is frequently conflated with sorcery, albeit there’s a large difference between black and white magic from an esoteric perspective.

Orthodoxly, the adept is not the sorcerer. While both inspire awe and wonder, Johnathan Dee explicitly mentioned Thaumaturgy as a mathematical art in The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara. In that preface, John Dee primarily discusses foundational principles and concepts of geometry as presented by Euclid. Euclid’s “Elements” is a comprehensive compilation of the fundamental principles of geometry, including definitions, postulates, propositions, and proofs.

In addition to that, Enochian Magic is highly algorithmic and uses techniques that John Dee discussed in The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara. The modern understanding of Thaumaturgy is predicated on Math, though. Math and technology elicit the same aesthetic sense of awe and wonder that miracles and magic do. For example, lightning is awesome. It inspires awe and wonder. We can call a lightning strike beautiful and thus grant it an aesthetic value that we seek to capture in art. Since this is willful and deliberate, the art is magic. So, we can call lightning magical; however, that isn’t sufficient to call it thaumaturgy.

High Magic is highly metaphysical and uses formal symbolic languages, such as Geometry and Math. If you are bad at Math or do not like Math, you are quite limited.

Alchemy and Thaumaturgy are branches of Natural Magic which do not necessarily depend on spirits. So I am always highly amused when so-called occultists on Twitter try to discredit me while acknowledging they actually know nothing about the magic I practice.

I hate fraternities. Always have. Always will. I was never tempted to join one in college, though my sister pledged to a sorority. This applies to occult fraternities too. Occult lodges are just occult frat bros. For some reason, though, not subjecting myself to the abuse of occult orders somehow makes me less knowledgeable. It’s so bizarre.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love The Vampire Diaries universe, and I really relate to the members of the Gemini coven, especially the siphoners, like Josie. While they are known for their vampire and witch hybrids, the Gemini coven is especially skilled at hoary and creating mechanical devices based on hoary astrology that serve as astrological machines. They called it an ascendant, and it’s normally presented as a key to a prison world in the show.
Gemini coven

My husband and I are putting together something like those devices from 3D printing parts and gears to create an astrological engine. That is an example of Thaumaturgy. See this link for a copy of The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara.

#alchemist #Alchemy #Animism #animistic #Astral #astrological #astrology #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagic #chaosMagick #Hellenism #Hellenistic #HermeticOrderOfTheGoldenDawn #hermeticism #magick #occultism #pagan #paganism #paranormal #ritualMagic #ritualMagick #sigil #sigilMagic #sigilMagick #sigils #Spirituality #Thaumaturgy #Thelema #theosophy #Theurgy #Twitter #witch #witchcraft

You know… after being involved in occultism since I was 10, weird has gotten… well, boring. All occultists seem to be the same, and many of the ones I knew in high school are still exactly like they were in high school. Weird is so normalized, it’s, well… normal. I’m bored to tears with occultism. Like, so fucking bored with it. If I see another faux magic cipher that feels like a cipher but is really someone who got high during a ritual and just sketched out their trip, magical sigils created through Austin Spare’s substitution technique inside a circle with Theban or the Malachim language around that circle or any other basic ass geometric shape on a page with bones and skeletons, I will fucking scream. My first formal grimoire that I kept in high school had scripts written in the Malachim alphabet. That was high school! The runes of Elder Futhark always felt dissonant and ominous to me, so I never messed with that. I only use systems that are resonant with me, which, at the moment, are systems I’ve created myself.

It’s like, “Oh, another deer skull mask. Oh, another basic ass monoalphabetic cipher that’s not even a polyalphabetic cipher just because it looks spooky.” By the way, any system of sigils that’s a monoalphabetic cipher is basically ASCII. The sigils these people create aren’t even comprehensive ideograms to capture the basic contours of the experience, so they are mystically useless, and they pretty much imitate the grapheme of the English alphabet.

These completely normal, mediocre people honestly believe they are edgy and weird. They’re boring. They are not innovating or transforming anything. They are just churning out things typical of that genre. They are living memes. I’m so fucking bored looking at occultists’ work nowadays.

#anarchism #anarchist #anarchists #anarchy #Animism #animistic #astrological #astrology #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagic #chaosMagick #DKMU #elderFuthark #magick #occult #occultism #occultists #occulture #pagan #paganism #paranormal #polytheism #rune #runes #sigil #sigilMagick #sigils #Spirituality #Thelema #theosophy #Theurgy #witch #witchcraft

You know… after being involved in occultism since I was 10, weird has gotten… well, boring. All occultists seem to be the same, and many of the ones I knew in high school are still exactly like they were in high school. Weird is so normalized, it’s, well… normal. I’m bored to tears with occultism. Like, so fucking bored with it. If I come across yet another pseudo-mystical cipher that’s essentially just a doodle from someone’s psychedelic drug trip, or another set of sigils lazily thrown together using Austin Spare’s substitution method and embellished with Theban or Malachim script within a basic geometric shape, on a page with bones and skeletons, I swear I will fucking scream. My first formal grimoire that I kept in high school had scripts written in the Malachim alphabet. That was high school! The runes of Elder Futhark always felt dissonant and ominous to me, so I never messed with that. I only use systems that are resonant with me, which, at the moment, are systems I’ve created myself.

It’s like, “Oh, another deer skull mask. Oh, another basic ass monoalphabetic cipher that’s not even a polyalphabetic cipher just because it looks spooky.” By the way, any system of sigils that’s a monoalphabetic cipher is basically ASCII. The sigils these people create aren’t even comprehensive ideograms to capture the basic contours of the experience, so they are mystically useless, and they pretty much imitate the grapheme of the English alphabet.

These completely normal, mediocre people honestly believe they are edgy and weird. They’re boring. They are not innovating or transforming anything. They are just churning out things typical of that genre. They are living memes. I’m so fucking bored looking at occultists’ work nowadays.

#anarchism #anarchist #anarchists #anarchy #Animism #animistic #astrological #astrology #ceremonialMagic #ceremonialMagick #chaosMagic #chaosMagick #DKMU #elderFuthark #magick #occult #occultism #occultists #occulture #pagan #paganism #paranormal #polytheism #rune #runes #sigil #sigilMagick #sigils #Spirituality #Thelema #theosophy #Theurgy #witch #witchcraft

Yes, war goes on, but my two havruta partners and I keep studying Talmud each week together on Zoom... just to hold up the sky and open the heavens to peace.

You think I'm joking? I don't know, sometimes I think I'm joking too. But sometimes I really mean it.

#jewish #peace #torah #theurgy #talmud

Yes, war goes on, but my two havruta partners and I keep studying Talmud each week together on Zoom... just to hold up the sky and open the heavens to peace.

You think I'm joking? I don't know, sometimes I think I'm joking too. But sometimes I really mean it.

#jewish #peace #torah #theurgy #talmud

💫 Virtual Adepts: Theurgy of the Virtual Adepts. The Virtual Adept idea of Ascension, the Singularity, is transhumanistic. They want to merge with the information and become far more than humans. http://mage.gearsonline.net/anders/magick/philosophy/theurgy.html#adept #virtualadepts #magetheascension #theurgy #rpg #wod

💫 Virtual Adepts: Theurgy of the Virtual Adepts. The Virtual Adept idea of Ascension, the Singularity, is transhumanistic. They want to merge with the information and become far more than humans. http://mage.gearsonline.net/anders/magick/philosophy/theurgy.html#adept #virtualadepts #magetheascension #theurgy #rpg #wod

What is Theurgy? Ancient Pagan Salvation through Ritual, Philosophy and Unity with the Divine - explained by Dr Justin Sledge
https://youtu.be/ePhCyVJEAxk
#esoterica #esotericism #theurgy #occult #paganism #pagan

What is Theurgy? Ancient Pagan Salvation through Ritual, Philosophy and Unity with the Divine - explained by Dr Justin Sledge
https://youtu.be/ePhCyVJEAxk
#esoterica #esotericism #theurgy #occult #paganism #pagan

Which team are you on? Team Plotinus or team Iamblicus?
https://youtube.com/shorts/5U38QDUiH1U?feature=share
#neoplatonism #Plotinus #Iamblicus #theurgy #magic #paganism #pagan

Which team are you on? Team Plotinus or team Iamblicus?
https://youtube.com/shorts/5U38QDUiH1U?feature=share
#neoplatonism #Plotinus #Iamblicus #theurgy #magic #paganism #pagan

The Mirage of Failure ; Thai Occult Reflections Pt. 2

Are theurgy and thaumaturgy unhelpful relics of a dying colonial logic? Read on and yell at me in the comments when you disagree 😄

https://reverendjanglebones.com/2022/12/05/the-mirage-of-failure-thai-occult-reflections-pt-2/

#thaioccult #buddhism #westernmagic #merit #tamboon #magic #theurgy #thaumaturgy #animism #failure

The Lesser Key of Solomon - Early History of Solomonic Magic and Goetia
#goetia #theurgy #goetic #demons #demonology #demonolatry #angels #angelology #magick #crowley #thelema #magic #witchcraft #occult #esotericism #esoteric
https://youtu.be/M0HyPIwco38

What is the GOETIA? What does THEURGY mean?
Greater and Lesser Key of Salomon explained.

#goetia #theurgy #goetic #demons #demonology #demonolatry #angels #angelology #magick #crowley #thelema #magic #witchcraft #occult #esotericism #esoteric

youtu.be/8WJzCwK6Hus