Greetings, Festive Heathens! And happy Beltaine to everyone!
In just a few days, we will be heading out for Florida Pagan Gathering in Ocala, where I will be giving three lectures on Solomonic Magick:
I will be selling my books when not lectureing. Also, my wife, Carrie Mikell, will be doing Henna Tattoos – and she is an expert in this field. (She is taken quite seriously by her Indian and Middle Eastern clients.) She will also be selling a few trinkets with Henna designs on them.
With any luck, we will be selling a few cast-wax items as well – such as the Seal of Truth. Keep your fingers crossed on that one!
I will also be drumming my fingers off at the fireside whenever I get a chance – so if you don’t get to attend my lectures, stop by the fire or our table and say hello! 🙂
Here is the write-up of my workshops:
Aaron’s Workshops (May 5th-8th):
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 Then, for a time, they fell out of use as modern practitioners considered them quaint and outdated, or even outright black in nature.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!
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!
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!
Zorge,
Aaron
Ananael (The Secrets of Wisdom) 
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