Monthly Archives: May 2023

Apocalypse and John Dee

Within the early phases of the Protestant Reformation and the first formalizing stirrings of the Witch Craze would emerge, the most important of the Righteous Scholar Magicians for the English-speaking world, Dr. John Dee (1527–1608). Dee would integrate a profound understanding of Mathematics, Astronomy, and Astrology with the magical methods developed from the distribution ofContinue reading “Apocalypse and John Dee”

On the Prince of Darkness: English Sources

The phrase “Prince of Darkness” in English was first attested to in the 17th Century. It appears in A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures (1604 CE) by the Archbishop of Yorke, Samuel Harsnett (1561 – 1631 CE). Harsnett, as an Anglican, was firmly against the exorcism practices conducted by the Roman Catholics. “Darkness” derives from the OldContinue reading “On the Prince of Darkness: English Sources”

On the Prince of Darkness: Etymology

The English phrase “Prince of Darkness” is a translation of a Latin phrase, princeps tenebrarum.  Princeps is a noun meaning “First one” or “Leader.” It would, in time, expand in meaning to include ideas such as “first in time or order; the first, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person.” InContinue reading “On the Prince of Darkness: Etymology”

The Secret Rule of Satan and the Witches

The expanding Church’s experience in the late Middle Ages created encounters with many hold-over features of pre-Christian tradition and many aberrations to the Faith due to isolated developments. This would coalesce at the start of the Early Modern Period into a concern about rural folk who were in league with the Devil, known as Witches.Continue reading “The Secret Rule of Satan and the Witches”

Saturday Quote

“Rather [Remanifest] invokes the dialectic idealism of Hegel, suggesting that the sort of evolution proposed by Xeper will actually occur in a series of syntheses. What differentiates Remanifest from Hegel, of course, is that Hegel offered his dialectic idealism on a universal scale, manifest among humanity as the state. [Remanifest’s Magus] states that, while the principle of dialectic idealism is correct, it isContinue reading “Saturday Quote”

The Early Modern Period and the Secret Rule of Satan

Some background is in order to get a sense of the world we are entering into in discussing John Dee. During the third period of expansion of early Islam, circa 661-750 EV, the entire extent of North Africa came under the control of the Umayyad Caliphate. From here, it became quite easy to stage anContinue reading “The Early Modern Period and the Secret Rule of Satan”

The Spectral Janitor of Academy 23 (i)

Since the fall I have been finding myself looking over the remains of “Academy 23,” the hypothetical school of magic inclusive of figured such as William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Robert Anton Wilson, and Genesis P-Orridge. It’s now roughly 23 months since P-Orridge’s death*, meaning the collapsed remains of the Academy has had some timeContinue reading “The Spectral Janitor of Academy 23 (i)”