Black Magic Code

 "It began with a letter to a dead man..."

My article 'The Black Magic Code' on Trithemius, cryptography and nigromancy published in Abraxas Journal. For more details see http://fulgur.co.uk/shop/abraxas/abraxas-journal-issue-6/

CFP: Esotericism and Health

Call for Papers ESSWE 4: Western Esotericism and Health

Datum: June 26, 2013 -to- June 29, 2013
Call for Papers: ESSWE4 - The Fourth International Conference of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism

Western Esotericism and Health

26-29 June 2013, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Issues relating to health (understood in a broad sense) can be seen as an intrinsic part of the field of esotericism, but surprisingly little attention has been given to how health is understood and construed in esoteric discourses. The conference is thus as an attempt to fill an important lacuna in the study of Western esotericism. Suggested topics include (but are not limited to), esoteric notions and discourses on health, sexuality and well-being, "occult" causes for disease, "occult medicine", notions of therapeutic benefits of magic and meditation, alchemical approaches to health, alternative forms of medicine, etc.

Keynote lecturers include:

Catherine L. Albense (University of California)
Peter Forshaw (University of Amsterdam)
James R. Lewis (Tromsø University)
Mark Sedgwick (Aarhus University)
Andrew Weeks (Illinois State University)
Alison Winter (University of Chicago)

Papers are invited in English. Proposals for 20 minutes’ papers (title and short abstract of approximately 250 words) should be sent to Henrik Bogdan (henrik.bogdan@religion.gu.se), with your name and academic affiliation, by January 15, 2013.

Conference Chairman: Henrik Bogdan, University of Gothenburg

Conference Committee: Egil Asprem, Henrik Bogdan, Olav Hammer, Kennet Granholm, Asbjørn Dyrendal and Jesper Aa. Petersen

Hekatean Curse Tablets

Black Magic Revealed in Two Ancient Curses

Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor

Date: 22 May 2012

At a time when black magic was relatively common, two curses involving snakes were cast, one targeting a senator and the other an animal doctor, says a Spanish researcher who has just deciphered the 1,600-year-old curses. Both curses feature a depiction of a deity, possibly the Greek goddess Hekate, with serpents coming out of her hair, possibly meant to strike at the victims. Both curses contain Greek invocations similar to examples known to call upon Hekate.

Read the story at http://www.livescience.com/20483-black-magic-ancient-curses.html

New Article on Magic

I saw him do it. On national TV. Took a voodoo doll out of his pocket and wrapped a thread around it. His victim was watching him, not quite believing. But when he'd finished, could she move her arms? Legs?

In the July 2010 edition of Paranormal Magazine you can read my latest article on the supernatural:

Sympathy from the Devil

Expert on magical practices, Dr Leo Ruickbie, discusses the two main principles of spell-craft - sympathetic and contagious magic. Do they really work?

Click here to read the story in Paranormal magazine

Hexen - Mythos und Wirklichkeit

Interesting new exhibition on witchcraft:

Hexen - Mythos und Wirklichkeit

13. September 2009 bis 2. Mai 2010

Das Historische Museum der Pfalz widmet sich in der Sonderausstellung „Hexen – Mythos und Wirklichkeit“ der Bedeutungsvielfalt des Hexenbegriffs. Dabei stellt die Ausstellung das Stereotyp „Hexe“ auf den Prüfstand.

At the Historisches Museum der Pfalz Speyer until 2 May 2010.

Witches Cast Spell for Haiti

Witches across the world joined forces to cast a global spell to help the people of Haiti.

Rev Terry Power, High Priest of the Correllian Nativist Tradition of Wicca, issued a call to all witches to join him in performing a ritual for Haiti at 17:00 on Saturday, 16 January.

Power said ‘this ritual is designed to cascade around the planet... the energy is directed and released to add itself to the growing wave of love, comfort and healing around the world’.

Read the full story at http://www.witchology.com/news/2010/2010-01-18-Witches-Haiti-Spell.php

Robertson Blames Haiti Quake on Devil Pact

American evangelist Pat Robertson called the earthquake that has devastated Haiti a 'blessing in disguise'. Speaking on the Christian Broadcasting Network on Wednesday 6 January, Robertson told viewers that the Haitians 'got together and swore a pact to the Devil'.

[...]

Robertson explained that the Haitians had allegedly told the Devil that 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the French. And the Devil said, "OK, it’s a deal".' Haiti was a French colony until granted independence in 1804. Despite their freedom, Robertson believes that the Haitians 'have been cursed by one thing after the other' ever since.

Read the full story at http://www.witchology.com/news/2010/2010-01-17-Haiti-Devil-Pact.php

Witchcraft Collection: New Acquisitions

Fourth Quarter 2009

Amulet. Described as a goodluck amulet. Inscribed with unidentified symbols. Metal. 20th century.

Amulet. Christian ‘Schutz-Amulette’. Provenance: Trier, Germany. Metal. 1933.

Carnival Mask. Carved wood in the form of a ‘witch’. Provenance: Tirol. Wood. 20th century.

Poison Bottle. Marked with skull and crossbones. Glass. 20th century.

Ritual Object. Described as a ‘Voodoo Skull’. Decorated animal skull said to have been used by a female shaman. Bone, skin, hair. Acquired from Mannheim, Germany. Of unknown date.

Tarot Cards. Albano-Waite deck. Card. Published by Moewig, no date, circa 1999.

Voodoo Doll and Coffin. Product name ‘Love Never Dies’. Card and fabric. Contemporary.

Renaissance Occult - Conference Update

Prof. Sarah Annes Brown has posted a summary of my talk 'Dealing with the Devil: The Faustian Pact in Magical Culture':

Leo Ruickbie gave a very engaging account of the Faustian pact in magical culture, moving from the responses of Faust’s near contemporaries, to an account of an eighteenth-century man apparently saved at the last moment when on the brink of selling his soul to the devil, and concluding with some unexpectedly up to date examples. We heard of people attempting to sell their souls on eBay, and also of the curious case of S. Jason Black who claims to have reaped substantial benefits after making a pact with princes of Hell. (Afterwards Marina Warner drew a wholly convincing parallel between such magical pacts and Catholic indulgences – both equally the targets of Protestant disapproval.)

Dealing with the Devil

This paper given at Reinventing the Renaissance Occult, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, 14 November 2009, explored the development of the Faustian Pact, looking at how the Renaissance magician Faustus came to be condemned as having made a pact with the Devil, and how this condemnation itself came to be a pattern for magical practice.

Pacts with the Devil have been a mainstay of Christian legend, used to reveal the saintliness of some and revile the Satanism of others – a two-edged weapon in the war of words fought between sanctioned ‘truth’ and outlawed knowledge. And it is a sword that has landed firmly on the neck of one sixteenth century magician in particular.

[...]

Reinventing the Renaissance Occult

The aim of the day was to explore the different ways in which modern culture has returned to Renaissance esotericism. Some have been drawn to the intriguing remoteness of such teachings from our own more scientific and sceptical age. Others, by contrast, have sought to discover unexpected points of contact between the mysteries of the occult and more modern mysteries, such as quantum science. The lure of the occult today may partly be explained by a growing dissatisfaction with Enlightenment rationalism and its perceived failure to address fundamental human concerns.

Reinventing the Renaissance Occult in Modern and Postmodern Culture, Saturday 14 November 2009, Helmore 201, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

Jennifer Mckimm, ‘“Sounding Alchyme:” The Politics and Aesthetics of Milton’s Alchemical Verse in Paradise Lost’ [Cancelled]

Diana Barsham, ‘"That Miracles are Ceased": Reginald Scot and the Rediscovery of Witchcraft’ [Cancelled]

Ewan Fernie, ‘The Possessed’.

Gyorgy E. Szonyi, ‘Three "New Age" Interpretations of the Book of Enoch'.

Urszula Szulakowska, 'Art and the Esoteric Tradition in Australia'.


Sophia Wellbeloved, 'The Conquest of Time in the Writings of GI Gurdjieff'.

Leo Ruickbie, 'Dealing with the Devil: The Faustian Pact in Magical Culture'.

Monika Smialkowska, 'Magicians and Scientists: David Calcutt's Prospero's Island and Elizabeth Nunez' Prospero's Daughter'.

Patricia MacCormack, 'Occultism and Continental Philosophy: From Solomon through Spare to Serres'.

Mark Goodall, 'L'Occhio Selvaggio: Towards an Occult Film Studies'.

Rowlie Wymer, 'Science, Religion and Magic in James Blish's "After Such Knowledge" Sequence'.

Marina Warner, reading from Phantasmagoria.

Listing from http://www.witchology.com/contents/faustus/conference_renaissanceoccult.php

Spells for Halloween

Many people celebrate Halloween by honouring the dead, strengthening family ties, and using scrying mirrors, spells and magic to find future happiness and love.

Some of my Hallowe'en research has turned up at something called Suite101.com in an article entitled 'Spells for Halloween: Celebrate Halloween with White Magic Scrying, Spells and MagicRead'. You can read it here: http://historicalresources.suite101.com/article.cfm/spells_for_halloween

You can also find out the answer to the gripping question 'Do Mormons Celebrate Halloween?' http://mormonism.suite101.com/article.cfm/do_mormons_celebrate_halloween - The answer is 'mostly'.

Or read the original here: http://www.witchology.com/contents/october/halloween/halloweenmagicspells.php

On the Shelf Review – Ruickbie’s Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician

I don’t know what I pay you guys for, because nobody mentioned to me that the most thorough treatment of the Renaissance magus Faust, Leo Ruickbie’s Faustus, had just appeared. Nevertheless, you’re all forgiven, and I’ll review it for you.

Writing a biography of Jorg Faust is an extremely daunting task. [...] This is the task that Leo Ruickbie sets out to do, and his solution is novel.

[...] enjoy the first full biography of Faustus as a window into the life of a fascinating, and likely very misunderstood, individual.

Thanks to Dan Harms for this review. You can read the full review at his webiste.