Thelema NOW! Crowley, Ritual & Magick

Thelema Now's Harper Feist speaks with Frater U∴D∴! Frater U∴D∴ is the co-founder of both the Bonn Workshop for Experimental Magic and the Magical Pact of the Illuminati of Thanateros (IOT). He is one of Europe's most renowned practical magicians and contemporary occult authors. Frater U∴D∴ has studied with yoga and tantra masters and has been involved with the practical aspects of occultism in general and magic in particular for more than half a century.

Thelema Now host Harper Feist talks with one of Thelema Now's favorite guests, author and psychologist Dr. David Shoemaker. David discusses his new book, The Way of the Will, and how he came to Thelema, what you do after making contact with your HGA, and is it really all in your head?  Hmmmmmm...... Listen now and see what you think!!  

Listen to David's postcast Living Thelema here.  And check out his groovy Spotify playlist! 

Thelema Now host Harper Feist, delves into the esoteric realms of tarot with authors Peter Mark Adams and Christophe Poncet. In this captivating episode, they explore the intriguing narratives behind two distinct tarot decks: the enigmatic Sola-Busca tarocchi and the beloved Tarot de Marseille.

Join us as the authors share their personal journeys of discovery, offering insights into the mystical symbolism and historical significance embedded within these decks. The conversation traverses the rich tapestry of tarot tradition. So, sit back, relax, and prepare to embark on a journey of discovery into the fascinating world of tarot with our esteemed guests. To find out more about their book, click here! 

In this episode of ThelemaNOW, Harper talks with one of the most effective educators in the current occultosphere, Dr. Justin Sledge.

Dr. Sledge earned his undergraduate degree at Millsaps College then went for a DRS in religious studies (Western Esotericism and Related Currents) at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and a MA and PhD in philosophy at the University of Memphis. He is currently a part-time professor of philosophy and religion at several institutions in the Metro-Detroit area and a popular local educator.

One half of Dr. Sledge’s work engages with Religious Studies specifically in the so-called “Western Esoteric Tradition” or Hermetic Tradition in religious and philosophical thought.  In this line of research he seeks to grasps the philosophical commitments which underpin the alleged workings of magic, esoteric influence, spirit possession, alchemy, etc.  This field of inquiry brings him primarily into contact with philosophers and intellectuals regrettably disregarded by the modern philosophic canon. The other half of his work engages in metaphysics, ethics and radial political philosophy.

His popular Youtube channel “Esoterica” is his ongoing project of Dr. Sledge explores topics in Western Esotericism such as magic, mysticism, alchemy, kabbalah, hermetic philosophy, theosophy, and more.

This interview is so full of fireworks, Harper needed a stiff beverage when it was over. She’d do it again in a heartbeat!

Dr. Justin Sledge's website.

ESOTERICA - YouTube

This episode of Thelema, NOW! represents our first foray into the incredible world of Welsh magic. Andrew Phillip Smith gives Harper a lesson in language and history as they relate to magic in and near his home in Wales. The interview ends with a special treat in which Andrew gives license to depart in Welsh! Check out Andrew's books and author page on Amazon. 

In this dramatic follow on to the Peter JENX on ThaiOccult 2 Harper leads a conversation between Frater Acher and Peter JENX on the topic of magical talismans. They not only consider the significance of human remains in talismans, but also a world view that knows how to regard every object as a talismanic manifestation.

Peter Jenx is the guest on this episode of Thelema NOW, and Harper talks to him on the occasion of the release of the long-awaited sequel to his first book “The Thai Occult.” “The Thai Occult Two” explores the wide regional variations in Thai folk magic. This interview explores the place of the “ajarn” or local sorcerer in Thailand, their selection and training. We also talk about the nature of the lineages, and how the tradition – even the magic itself – changes with the needs of the people the ajarns serve. This is a wild ride! 

Besides the amazing things that Peter says in this interview, he tells us that he is nearly done writing the third in the series; be assured that you’ll hear Peter Jenx’s voice again on TN when that book is released!

In this episode of ThelemaNOW, Harper talks with actor, dancer, director and ceremonial magician Robert Allen about his new book Imago: Body. Vision. Magick, recently released by Theion Publishing.

The book leads us to some amazing discussions about the very significant overlap between magick and theater, and the history of the image, and Robert reveals one of the many useful exercises in the book.

To buy the book: https://theionpublishing.com/shop/imago/ To learn about Robert’s workshops: https://performancemovementmagick.com/

In this episode of ThelemaNOW, Harper talks with Brian Cotnoir on the occasion of the release of his new book “On Alchemy.” Brian has been practicing alchemy as the art and science of perfecting a process for many years. The book is your opportunity to participate in his current, along with the classic history of the practice and many illuminating exercises. Hear more about it in this fascinating discussion!

Buy the book here: On Alchemy by Brian Cotnoir: 9781786787705 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

See more of Brian’s work here: www.KhepriPress.com

Peter Mark Adams is an author, poet, esotericist and professional energy worker specializing in the ethnography and visuality of ritual, sacred landscape, esotericism, consciousness and healing. With a background in Philosophy from the University of Liverpool, Peter pursues advanced studies on iconology and iconographic; Renaissance art and material culture with the Warburg Institute’s School of Advanced Studies in London. Peter’s esoteric non-fiction is published through Scarlet Imprint Current offerings include the book discussed in the interview: Hagia Sophia - Sanctum of Kronos: Spiritual Dissent in an Age of Tyranny, Mystai: Dancing out the Mysteries of Dionysos and The Game of Saturn: Decoding the Sola-Busca Tarocchi. To buy Hagia Sophia – Sanctum of Kronos: https://scarletimprint.com/publications/p/hagia-sophia-sanctum-of-kronos 

To hear the remarkable sounds described by Peter in the interview: https://youtu.be/rsLgLNgA-_Q

In this fascinating ThelemaNOW episode, Harper talks to friend and colleague Red K. Elders about art and movement, magic and bodies. Red’s perhaps best known for her stellar pencil drawings inspired by Greek mythological figures. She’s also a bodyworker and movement therapist. Underneath everything, she understands what it means to be nourished by the natural world, something we discuss in detail.

Click to view her principal website and one devoted to sales of her wonderful art. 

Also, we talk a bit about Red’s upcoming class with the Blackthorne School entitled Somatic Sorcery, which starts Monday, May 15!

The class description and registration site are here: https://www.theblackthorneschool.com/courses/somatic-sorcery/

In this wide-ranging interview, Scott Michael Stenwick and Harper talk about everything between John Dee and quantum mechanics, by way of Eugene Wigner and the Falkland Islands.

Scott is an author, blogger, esotericist, software developer, information technology consultant, and speculative fiction enthusiast. He writes fantasy and science fiction, and non-fiction books on the Western Esoteric Tradition. He also contributes to non-fiction anthologies that cover topics related to magical practices and esoteric spirituality.

Read more about Scott on his websites ScottStenwick.com and Blogspot.  And buy the book we discussed here or on Amazon here. 

Thelema Now welcomes Sasha Chaitow! Having written her Ph.D. thesis on Joséphin Péladan, Dr. Sasha Chaitow is uniquely qualified to present a complete picture of the man and his works, both from an artistic and an esoteric standpoint. In particular, she has studied and documented – and is teaching – his initiatory system. In this Thelema Now episode, Dr. Chaitow and Harper Feist discuss the metaphysical and esoteric aspects of Péladan’s life, some of which happened side by side with Aleister Crowley in Paris. Put on your seatbelt, this interview is a good one! Be sure to check out Sasha's book -Son of Prometheus: The Life and Work of Joséphin Péladan. 

Jake Stretton-Kent died after an extended illness and the world will never be quite the same.

Jake was a lot of things to a lot of people, clear from the hundreds of tributes written in Facebook and other social media platforms since the announcement. He was an incredibly influential magician and author, having given us Grimorium Verum, Geosophia, the Testament of Cyprian the Mage, Goetic Liturgy, Thus Spake Magnus Dictus and the Rosicrucifixion, amongst others. He also worked on each issue of Hadean Press’ Conjure Codices.

His laser-focus on relationships with spirits incited an entire generation of practitioners to a more thoughtful approach. He was a serious researcher and adept, a magical experimentalist while retaining both feet in a foundation of history and literature. Amusingly, to discover his sources, we often had to inquire personally about them. The bad part was that we couldn’t just dig through his references, the good part was that when you asked him, he would provide a stunning background and a thorough understanding of anything he’d ever written.

Jake was one of Thelema Now's favorite authors to interview because he was so damnably funny and ridiculously charming. We at Thelema, Now! wish Jake the best of future adventures. May he be granted the accomplishment of his True Will. We also wish peace and relief to Karel and the rest of his family and close colleagues.

Goodbye, Jake. And farewell.

-Harper Feist

Host Harper Feist speaks with Frater Acher about his new book Holy Heretics, the third and final volume of the Holy Daimon cycle. Listen as he and Harper Feist talk about doing magick as a lone practitioner, sacred bells, and what working with your Holy Daimon really means.   Frater Acher is the author of theomagica.com as well as a friend and collaborator of Quareia Magical Training. He holds an MA in Communications Science, Intercultural Communications, and Psychology, as well as certifications in Systemic Coaching and Gestalt Therapy. He has studied Western Ritual Magic in theory and practice at I.M.B.O.L.C. (magieausbildung.de) and has been actively involved in magic as a lone practitioner for more than twenty years. His book Ingenium is released by TaDehent.

Samuel David and Thelema Now host Harper Feist dig deep in a wide-ranging discussion that includes Christianity, Inanna, and all points in between. It's - in Samuel's words - Sexy, sultry, and sorceress!! Listen to find out more! You can buy Samuel's book, Lioness: The Song of Inanna at Miskatonic Books. You can see a video about the book on YouTube.  Enjoy!

Thelema Now host Harper Feist speaks to author and artist Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule. Merging the concepts of sexuality, Magick, and art, Defenestrate-Bascule explores the erotic nature that's within us all! You can view his art at www.esoterotica.art. He also discusses his film Solve et Coagula. View the trailer, reviews, and streaming here! Enjoy! 

The always awesome and entertaining Jason Miller returns to Thelema Now and discusses what it means to be a Sorcerer. TN host Harper Feist gets to the bottom of what it means to do the work, see the results, and get stuff done.  Jason has a new book - Consorting with Spirits: Your Guide to Working with Invisible Allies - check it out! 

TN host Harper Feist speaks to author Carl Abrahamsson! One of the privileged few who spent time with the “Black Pope” in the last decade of his life, Carl Abrahamsson met Anton LaVey in 1989, sparking an “infernally” empowering friendship.

In Carl's new book - Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan: Infernal Wisdom from the Devil's Den - he explores what LaVey was really about, where he came from, and how he shaped the esoteric landscape of the 1960s. 

Find out more here! 

Hey - did you know that Aleister Crowley had a tin ear and didn't like music that much?!  WHO KNEW?!  Listen to this fascinating conversation (no really, it is!) between TN's Harper Feist and musician/author/speaker Rodney Orpheus. He has a new Cassandra Complex release and it's AWESOME!! Check it out on Spotify! 

Thelema Now's Harper Feist talks to Algol from the band Mehenet.  Algol is also an OTO Brother, in addition to his other ritual practices.  Check out Mehenet's Bandcamp page - and check out the full song  Dona Sete at the end of the interview! Listen and enjoy!

Man Has The Right To Dress As He Will! History has been made!  This episode of Thelema Now is the first where both the host, Harper Fiest, and the guest, Trevor Gray, are nude! The perfect setting for author Trevor to discuss his book "A Whisper in the Silence: An Inspiring Naturist Love Story." Enjoy!

Jessica Grote is currently the presiding bishop of the Ecclesia Gnostic Aeterna and an advanced member of the Société Voudon Gnostique.  She is also a teacher and instructor. In her course, she will introduce you to the animistic worldview and magical practice of the Kosmic Modern Hetaera, which can enhance your existing path or form a holistic approach of its own. 

Find out more about Jessica and her upcoming courses which will illustrate how to merge your magical and mundane lives, integrate sexuality and eroticism in your magical work, and much more! 

Verónica Rivas (Melong Yeshe) is an Uruguayan author and researcher based in Brazil. Her cosmological and anthropological studies in magical practices among Eastern cultures led her to become interested in healing techniques. When she became a Reiki Master, she started to research the possibilities of integrating Reiki techniques with other forms of energy work, using her academic training in Philosophy as an epistemological background. 

In Kurukulla: Goddess of Bewitchment – A Devotional Path to the Red Enchantress of Uddiyana, author Verónica Rivas combines academic research with personal experience to offer a theoretical-practical study of Kurukulla, the goddess in Hinduism related to desire, lust, magic, and witchcraft. Listen and find out more! 

Author Jason Augustus Newcomb and TN host Harper Feist discuss aspects of Magick, and especially Tarot!  Do you like Thoth? Rider? Rider-Waite? What does the imagery say to you?  As Jason developed his own Tarot, New Hermetics Standard Tarot Deck, he took many things into account.  Check it out!  And visit Jason's website. 

Peter Grey is a writer, and the co-founder of Scarlet Imprint. He is the author of The Red Goddess (2007), which has become the standard work on the goddess of Revelation. His Apocalyptic Witchcraft (2013) has been called the most important modern book on witchcraft, placing it in the mythopoetic context of the sabbat and in a landscape suffering climate and ecological collapse.

Peter and Thelema Now host Harper Feist discuss those works as well his latest, The Two Antichrists, which discusses Jack Parsons' Babylon working.  Check it out! 

Cath Thompson is an English Qaballist and Stellar Magickian of thirty-seven years experience; in 1980 she was the youngest initiated member of James Lees’ O.’.A.’.A.’.. She is the author of The Magickal Language of the Book of the Law: An English Qaballa Primer, A Handbook of Stellar Magick, and All This and a Book, all published by Hadean Press.  She tells Harper Feist about "Ordeal X," planetary rituals, and more! 

The place that President Abraham Lincoln called home, where Frank Lloyd Wright built a house, and a small town with past and present practitioners of ritual! 

Enter Jack Grayle, Zemaemidjehuty Setepentoth and Sam David, three acclaimed occult authors that live within a mile of one another in Springfield IL. 

Excuse me while I pack my bags!  This place sounds awesome!  The Springfield Chamber of Commerce might not be down with it, but host Harper Feist sure is.  (And so is Thelema Now!) 

To find out more about these gents, visit: 

Zemaemidjehuty (Zemmi) is a poet-priest and theurgist in service to the Great God Djehuty. The founder of the Church of Flesh and Feather, his work and research focuses amongst others on the mysterious Coptic Christ and Sophia, Kemetic Djehuty, and the conflation of the three as divine aspects of the same Supreme Deity.  He speaks to Harper about his book, The Book of Flesh and Feather. Check it out!

Deja Whitehouse completed her doctoral thesis at the University of Bristol: In Search of Frieda Harris in January 2020. During 2017, she was engaged by the Warburg Institute to catalog the Frieda Harris correspondence held in the Yorke Collection.

She speaks with Harper Feist about her research and what she's uncovered! Deja is the author of Mercury is in a Very Like Ape Mood, which examines Lady Harris's complex relationship with the God Mercury.

One of Thelema Now's most popular guests steps in as a host! Richard speaks to Sonia Bible. Sonia is an internationally award-winning documentary writer and director.  "The Witch of Kings Cross" is her first feature. The film is about artist Rosaleen Norton, who faced allegations of satanic rituals, obscene art, and sex orgies in 1950s Sydney. But was she just a victim of harassment? Give a listen! The film will be released worldwide on February 9th!  The iTunes pre-order link is live -  https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/the-witch-of-kings-cross/id1546061846?ls=1.

find out more about the film - visit the website witchofkingscross.com. 

93 and welcome to 2021! Yay! And not a minute too soon. 

To kick off the year right, TN's own Harper Feist spoke to Roger Williamson, who also a Minnesota resident (by way of England). Roger is a visual artist as well as a writer, and in 2020 he re-released his book "The Sun At Night."  Find out more about Roger at his website, RogerWilliamsonArt.com. 

A TN favorite is back! Jake Stratton-Kent has been a goetic magician since 1972, making more than forty years of continuous goetic practice. His practical work integrates the magical papyri, Italo-French grimoires, in particular, the Grimorium Verum and African traditional religions with a focus on Quimbanda and magia negra.

Jake has released The Rosicrucifixion and talks with host Harper Feist! Check it! 

Thelema Now's host Harper Feist talks to Amy Hale talks about her book Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of The Fern Loved Gully.  This book offers the first in-depth biographical study of the British surrealist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, situating her art within the magical contexts that shaped her imaginative life and work. After decades of neglect, Colquhoun's unique vision and hermetic life have become an object of great renewed interest, both for artists and for historians of magic.

Listen and learn!  And buy the book here! 

Harper Feist talks to Scarlet Imprint's founder Alkistis Dimech!  13 is a magick number indeed.  Hear about how it happened, what's happening, and what will happen! And check out Scarlet Imprint!

We're living in a COVID world, and host Harper Feist, Sue Terry and Erzebet Barthold are COVID women! These women won't let anything, even a pandemic, stop them from doing their Will.  The remainder of 2020 will take place online while 2021 plans are being made for London.  Please listen and hear what real determination sounds like!  Also, visit magickalwomenconference.com to sign up for salons and virtual gatherings!

A Thelema Now favorite is back!  Manon Hedenborg White talks to Harper Feist about her book, The Eloquent Blood The Goddess Babalon and the Construction of Femininities in Western Esotericism. 

To find out more about the book, go here!  And here's how to follow Dr. White on Twitter!

Welcome back! We here at Thelema Now are making the most of our time in lockdown!  TN host Harper Feist talked to Trevor Gray about his book From Manhood to Godhead: The Many Lives of Jean Vassar.

This compelling occult novel tells the story of Jean Vassar’s journey through many lives, as he discovers the hidden secret doctrines of reincarnation, sacred sexuality, magick, alchemy, Masonry, Qabalah, mysticism, Egyptian Freemasonry and carefully explained occult symbolism.

Find out more and buy it here! 

Enjoy and 93!

Thelema Now talks to David Hertzberg, the composer of The Wake World opera. Scored for five instruments and nine singers, it premiered in 2017 at the Barnes Foundation under the aegis of Opera Philadelphia. Based on a mystical fairy tale written by Aleister Crowley whilst under the influence of the Golden Dawn, the story describes an ecstatic journey of initiation through Hermetic runes, as Lola is lead by her fairy prince through a magical palace to enlightenment. Winner of the Music Critics Association of North America's Best New Opera Award, The Wake World is an operatic tour-de-force! It's being released on April 24th - GET IT NOW!! 

Thelema Now host Harper talks about Crowley, the peace sign (or V for Victory) and gratitude with Frater Orpheus.  The wide-ranging conversation covers a lot of topics so check it out! And to find out more about "On The Rights Of Man" and Frater Orpheus, visit this website! 

Thelema Now host Harper Feist talks to Thelemic Bishop M. Dionysius Rogers about serving both the Thelemic laity as well as clergy!  Allow - listen to him talk about ass worship.  (He means donkeys.)  Good stuff! 

Follow Dionysius on Facebook!