FPG Beltaine 2011 – Aaron’s Workshops

Greetings dedicated practitioners!

I will be at Florida Pagan Gathering (Beltaine 2011) this spring, hosting three discussion workshops – all focused on the “Old Magick” of the grimoires. (See below for descriptions of each workshop.)

FPG will take place from May 5 through May 8. I will be there all four days. Once my lectures are scheduled, I will update this notice here and on Facebook. So stay tuned!

You can find more information about FPG, including location and admission prices, at:  http://www.flapagan.org/

AARON’S WORKSHOPS:

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Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires
Thursday 1:30P-3:30P Oak Hall

The medieval and renaissance grimoires – or magickal textbooks – were among the first occult texts written in book form. Included in this genre are such titles as The Key of Solomon the King, The Lemegeton or Lesser Key of Solomon, Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Barrett’s The Magus, The Grand Grimoire and many others.

These classic sourcebooks of Western magick became foundational to such traditions as the Golden Dawn, Thelema, Hoodoo, Hexcraft and even Wicca. Then, for a time, they fell out of use as modern practitioners considered them quaint and outdated, or even outright black in nature.

Thankfully, this view has changed drastically over the last couple of decades, and modern students are finally taking a fresh look at these dusty old tomes and the magickal philosophy they describe. This “Old Magick” is considered one of the most powerful and dangerous magickal systems. In this workshop we will discuss the history of the grimoires as well as the modern Solomonic revival. Any questions you have will be answered, and myths will be busted.

This will be an open discussion workshop, so bring your own ideas and opinions and be ready to share them with us!

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Magickal Invocations and Conjurations
Friday 4p-6p Valhalla

Creating your own magickal invocations and conjurations can be as simple as composing a prayer or mantra that addresses the beings you wish to contact and states your intent. Many modern Pagan textbooks teach just that- often suggesting the use of rhyme and metre. Ceremonial textbooks tend to skip the rhyme and metre, and focus upon formulaic lists of hierarchies instead.

However, the grimoires and occult textbooks of the Medieval and Renaissance eras- which preserve what we call the Old Magick- show us something more. The creation of unique invocations or conjurations was both an art and a science, with its own established rules. Agrippa discussed it in his “Three Books of Occult Philosophy”, it was reiterated in the “Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy” and it is hinted at in several popular grimoiric texts.

In this workshop, we will explore this ancient art-form and learn how to create powerful invocations and conjurations for our own magick. We will focus upon the grimoires and, therefore, upon Biblical literature and mythology. However, the principals you learn here can be applied to magick of any tradition.

This will be an open discussion workshop, so bring your own ideas and opinions and be ready to share them with us!

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Evocation and Working with Spirits
Saturday 4p-6p Summerland Pavilion

Modern methods of spiritual evocation tend to follow a “summon-question-banish” formula. That is, a magician decides what he needs and which spirit can grant it to him. He then summons the entity, questions it or makes a request and finally banishes it – quite possibly to never see or hear from the entity again.

Yet, this is not a complete reflection of the ancient art of summoning spirits. The “Old Magick” focused more upon gaining familiars and building working relationships with specific entities – and that practice brings its own special rules and protocols. From constructing altars and spirit pots, to making proper offerings, to the art of evocation and even dealing with ghosts and other unwanted spirits – we will discuss all of this in more in this workshop.

This will be an open discussion workshop, so bring your own ideas and opinions and be ready to share them with us!
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And, YES, I will be selling books when I’m not giving lectures. You can also get some henna done by my wife Carrie Mikell, one of today’s top henna artists. So come on by and say hi! 🙂

“Aaron Leitch has been a scholar and spiritual seeker for over two decades. He is a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Ordo Stella Matutina and the Societas Magica. His writings (both in print and on the web) cover such varied fields as ancient Middle Eastern religion and mythology, Solomonic mysticism, shamanism, Neoplatonism, Hermeticism and Alchemy, Traditional Wicca and Neopaganism, The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Thelema, Angelology, Qabalah, Enochiana, African Diaspora Religions, Hexcraft and Hoodoo folk traditions, Psychology and Consciousness Expansion, Cyberspace and Virtual Reality and modern social commentary. He is the author of Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires, and The Angelical Language: Vols. I and II.

Visit Aaron at kheph777.tripod.com”