Pentagram - Five-Pointed Star

The five-pointed star, also commonly called a pentagram, has been in use for thousands of years by a variety of cultures. Most uses of the pentagram in Western society today descend from Western occult traditions.

Occultists have long associated the pentagram with with several beliefs including:

Humanity or the human body, representing two outstretched arms, two legs, and the head
The five physical senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste
The five elements: spirit, fire, air, water, and earth

Orientation of The Pentagram

Nineteenth century occult groups such as the Golden Dawn held that the point-up pentagram represented the rulership of Spirit over the physical elements, while a point-down pentagram represented the descent of Spirit into matter or matter subsuming Spirit. It is largely this interpretation that led the religion of Wicca to adopt the point-up pentagram and Satanism the point-down version as their representative symbols.

It is initiation or profanation; it is Lucifer or Vesper, the star of morning or evening. It is Mary or Lilith, victory or death, day or night. The Pentagram with two points in the ascendant represents Satan as the goat of the Sabbath; when one point is in the ascendant, it is the sign of the Saviour. By placing it in such a manner that two of its points are in the ascendant and one is below, we may see the horns, ears and beard of the hierarchic Goat of Mendes, when it becomes the sign of infernal evocations. (Eliphas Levi, Transcendental Magic)

The Union of Opposites

The pentagram sometimes represents the union of opposites, generally expressed as male and female, in order to generate a greater whole. For example, Wiccans sometimes see the pentagram as representing the Triple Goddess (as three of the points) and the Horned God (with the remaining two points representing either his two horns or his dual light and dark natures). Cornelius Agrippa speaks of the number five generally representing the union of male and female as the sum of two and three, with two representing the Mother and three representing the Father.

Protection and Exorcism

The pentagram is commonly accepted as a symbol of protection and exorcism, driving away evil and other unwanted energies and entities.

Thelema (An Introduction for Beginners)

Thelema is a complicated set of magical, mystical and religious beliefs formed in the 20th century by Aleister Crowley. Thelemites might be anything from atheists to polytheists, viewing the involved beings as actual entities or primal archetypes. Today it is embraced by a variety of occult groups including the Ordo Templis Orientis (O.T.O.) and Argenteum Astrum (A:.A:.), the Order of the Silver Star.

Origins

Thelema is based on the writings of Aleister Crowley, particularly the Book of the Law, which was dictated to Crowley in 1904 by a Holy Guardian Angel called Aiwass. Crowley is considered a prophet, and his works are the only ones considered canonical. Interpretation of those texts is left up to individual believers.

Basic Beliefs

The Great Work
Striving to ascend to higher states of existence, uniting oneself with higher powers, and understanding and embracing one's True Will, their ultimate purpose and place in life.
The Law of Thelema
"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law." "Thou wilt" here means to live by ones own True Will.

"Every man and every woman is a star."
Each person possesses unique talents, abilities and potentials, and none should be impeded in seeking out their True Self.

"Love is the law. Law under will."
Each person is united with his True Will through love. Discovering is a process of understanding and unity, not force and coercion.

The Aeon of Horus

We live in the Age of Horus, child of Isis and Osiris, who represented the previous ages. The age of Isis was a time of matriarchy. The age of Osiris was a time of patriarchy with a religious emphasis on sacrifice. The age of Horus is an age of individualism, of the child Horus striking out on his own to learn and grow.

Thelemic Deities

The three most commonly discussed deities in Thelema are Nuit, Hadit, and Ra Hoor Khuit, commonly equated to the Egyptian deities Isis, Osiris and Horus. These may be considered literal beings, or they may simply be archetypes.

Holidays and Celebrations

Rituals of the Elements and Feasts of the Times, celebrated on the equinoxes and solstices
Feast for the Equinox of the Gods, Spring equinox, celebrating the founding of Thelema
Feast for the First Night of the Prophet and His Bride, August 12, celebrating Crowley's first marriage to Rose Kelly, who assisted in his original revelations.
Feast for the Three Days of the Writing of the Book of the Law, April 8 - 10
Feast for the Supreme Ritual, March 20, the Thelemic New Year.
Thelemites also commonly celebrate significant milestones in one's life
Feast for Life, for the birth of a child
Feast for Fire, for the coming-of-age of a boy
Feast for Water, for the coming-of-age of a girl
Greater Feast for Death, to memorialize one who has died

Tarot Cards And How Tarot Readings Work

Tarot cards are one of many forms of divination. They are commonly used to measure potential outcomes and evaluate influences surrounding a person, event, or both. The technical term for tarot reading is taromancy (divination through the use of tarot cards), which is a subsection of cartomancy (divination through cards in general).

"Predicting the Future"

Readers commonly believe that the future is fluid and thus absolute predictions of future events are impossible. Instead, they focus on possible outcomes as well as examining influences related to the issue at hand, influences the subject might not even be aware of before the reading.
Tarot reading thus arms the subject with additional information so that he or she may make more informed choices. It is another avenue of research, so to speak, and should not be seen as coming with any guarantee of ultimate outcomes.

Spreads

A spread is the arrangement of cards dealt in a reading. Each position in a spread is associated with a different aspect of the question posed. The two most common are probably the Three Fates and the Celtic Cross, but there are many others.
The Three Fates consists of three cards. The first represents the past, the second represents the present, and the third represents the future.

The Celtic Cross consists of ten cards representing a variety of things including past and future influences, personal hopes, and conflicting influences.

Major and Minor Arcana

Standard terot decks have two types of cards: Major and Minor Arcana. The Minor Arcana are similar to a deck of regular playing cards. They are divided into four suits, with each suit having one card for 1 to 10, and then face cards referred to as the page, knight, queen and king.
The Major Arcana are stand-alone cards with their own unique meanings. These include cards like the Devil, Strength, Temperance, the Hanged Man, the Fool, and Death.

Sources of Knowledge

Different readers have different ideas of from where their talent comes. For many psychics and magical practitioners, the power is inherent within the reader to tap into universal understandings, and the cards are simply a medium to help trigger that personal talent. Others may speak of tapping into a "universal mind" or "universal consciousness." Still others credit the influence of gods or other supernatural beings to place the cards in a meaningful order.
Some readers refrain from explanations altogether, acknowledging that they do not understands the specifics of how it works yet recognizing that it does, in fact, work. Such a mindset might be comparable to all of us who use cars on a regular basis even though most of us have very little idea how a car actually works.

Power of The Cards

Few readers would suggest that anyone could just pick up a deck of tarot cards and produce a meaningful reading. Often, the cards are viewed as having no power at all and are simply a helpful visual cue to aid the reader. Others believe there is some power in the cards that accentuates the reader's own talents, which is why they'll only work from their own decks.

What are Runes?

Runes are connected to witchcraft and they are a tool used in divination and magic which have been used throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the British Isles and Iceland from around 100 b.c.e. They are used as an oracle for seeking advice and are said to work best on asking a specific question once having given details of the circumstances, although the outcome is sometimes questionable and unclear.

The runes at best will point you in the right direction but you will have to conclude the answer yourself from the information they give you and figure out exact details yourself, there is never a clear cut and dry answer to your problems.

However, rune casting or runic divination as it is called is not a way of fortune telling but rather a way of analyzing the particular path you are on and what the outcome is likely to be. The word rune means mystery or secret and each rune has a special meaning and properties associated with it, each of them translates into a word or phrase that has a special meaning representing the forces of nature and the mind and each is associated with a Norse god.

The runes were also used as a method of writing and first made their appearance among German tribes in central Europe, it is thought that some of the rune symbols may have come from other languages such as Greek and early roman. Inscriptions on the runic stones have been dated as far back as the 3rd century AD though it is thought that they existed a long time before then.

How to read runes

By far the simplest way of reading runes is to use the one rune method, after you have cleared your mind of all other thoughts ask the question in mind, concentrating on it. When you have concentrated on your question and you feel the time is right take just one rune from your bag and from this stone, you will gather information relating to the question at hand, what you make of this information is entirely up to you.

If you think that more information is needed then you can take three runes instead of just the one from the bag, you will deduct information from the first rune regarding the circumstances of your question.

The second rune will give you an indication of the route you should take and the third is the likely outcome should you choose to go with the action. This of course is only a very brief glimpse of casting runes and there are several books and websites you can read should you wish to delve deeper into the magic of runes.

What is Voodoo?

Voodoo is one of the world's oldest forms of religion which has been associated with witchcraft and has been around in Africa since the beginning of human civilisation. Those who practice voodoo believe that nothing and no event happens on its own but that all things are connected, following this theory what you do to another, you do to yourself.

Rituals involved in voodoo ceremonies include prayers, singing, dancing and the sacrifice of animals, those following the beliefs of voodoo believe that god manifests through the spirits of dead ancestors and so must be honoured in these rituals.

Music and dance play a key role in the rituals and this has often been portrayed as the lead up to sexual frenzy and orgies, this however isn't true. Voodoo dancing is an expression of spirituality, a way of connecting with divinity and the spiritual world.

The ancestors of those who follow the voodoo religion are thought to be part of the world of spirits and these spirits can be called on to help and give protection and guidance. The voodoo priest or priestess can also use herbal remedies or medicines which have been passed down through families to help those who are sick, with faith healing playing a big part also in the religion. Voodoo has always wrongly been categorised as an evil form of witchcraft with the rites and rituals being performed for evil doings however this is untrue.

The misconceptions of voodoo

Despite voodoo being one of the oldest of all religions it has been characterised as being barbaric and primitive based on superstition and fear, the Europeans seem to fear anything that comes out of Africa and especially anything they don't fully understand.

Voodoo has however adopted several elements from Christianity but despite this when the French colonised Haiti they saw the voodoo religion as a threat and prohibited the practice of the religion severely punishing those who took part in rituals. The struggle to banish the religion of voodoo lasted over three centuries but despite every effort it couldn't be stopped and voodoo is still practiced today in a number of countries.

The power of voodoo

Due to the strength the Africans gained from their religion, voodoo survived the persecutions of the French and it is thought that the voodoo priests used their religion to determine how to fight the political battle in order to win it. In 1804, the Haitians finally won the battle and independence and today the practice of voodoo reflects its history.

What is Necromancy?

Necromancy is a form of divination which is used to conjure the spirits of the dead in order to gain knowledge about the future and the outcome of events in the future, the spirits conjured this way are called spirits of divination.

The spread of necromancy

During the middle ages, illiterate members of society were either nobility or Christian clergy and it is thought that either of these groups was responsible for the propagation and practice of necromancy, even though in Christianity it is forbidden and denied.

Some people deny that necromancy has anything to do with witchcraft while others say that it is a form of black magic and witchcraft and necromancers were tried as witches and hanged, the confessions of those accused of necromancy suggest that a wide range of spell casting and magical practices were involved in necromancy.

The practice of necromancy

It is though that to be able to conjure up the dead the practitioner needs the help of powerful spirits for both the practitioners' protection and to make the corpse or ghost of the dead submit to his will. An ancient spell is the used to call upon the powers of powerful spirits to bind the dead with two essential elements that are needed to summon the dead, a burnt sacrifice and a blood-drenched altar. Elaborate preparations are made which includes the careful study of the planets and in particular the moon and the influence of Saturn.

The site for the ritual also has to be chosen with great care with the most favourable sites being crossroads, vaults, ruins or a deserted forest. Once the site has been chosen and the alignment of the planets is in favour a concentric circle of power is drawn on the ground, within the circle are inscribed crosses and other symbols.

For the magic to work, the necromancer and his assistant must stand within the circles centre and the circle must be blessed or consecrated. The summoning of the dead or spirit of the dead can then take place using the names of power, when this is successful the dead will return full of anger at being summoned against his will to return to the land of living.

The necromancer must then struggle to gain control over the dead and when control has been gained, the necromancer can then control them and questions will be asked which the dead must answer.

After the ritual has finished the necromancer must not leave the circle until the dead has been dismissed and all flowers must then be removed from the area and burned and the ashes buried deep into the earth. The ritual is one of the darkest forms of black magic and is the most dangerous of all forms of witchcraft.

Witchcraft explained

Witchcraft is said to be the use of magic through magical or supernatural powers and the person who possesses these powers and uses them is said to be a witch. Witchcraft has many historical and mythological associations with the male witch been known as a sorcerer, wizard or warlock. However, those who practice pagan witchcraft are thought to be classed as witches regardless of sex.

Practices which are classed as witchcraft

Throughout time, any practice which is thought to harm others by intent is said to be a form of witchcraft, some of the more common types of witchcraft are

Wishing harm on another's person or property

This is perhaps the most well known of all witchcraft and usually involves the use of a curse or hex performed with the sole purpose of bringing harm to the intended victim or that persons property. Spells can also be used to change a persons will and make them do something they otherwise wouldn't, an example of this would be to make someone fall in love with you and this type of witchcraft is said to be white magic.

Spell casting

Perhaps one of the most well known aspects of witchcraft is the witches ability to cast spells, we all visualise the witch stirring the bubbling cauldron whispering an incantation over the spell. However concocting spells in cauldrons is not the only way witches cast spells, spells can be cast through a variety of means. Some of the more popular methods involve the use of candles burning, chanting and reciting incantations, physical rituals and the preparation of herbal remedies.

Awakening the dead

Awakening or conjuring the spirits of the dead is a practice of witchcraft known as necromancy, the "witch of endor" is said to have routinely practiced this form of witchcraft for divination and prophecy, and it is also a form that the witch doctors of Jamaica performed in their voodoo ceremonies.

Witchcraft in the past

The practice of witchcraft using the methods described above was widespread in the past and was foremost in ancient Egypt and Babylonia as documentation has shown. During the Vedic, age witches were then called yoginis and the form of witchcraft was abhichara, witchcraft in this era was mainly aimed at Aryan people and took on the form of magical incantations.

The Hebrew bible constantly makes reference to witchcraft and condemns the practices as does also the New Testament in the bible, other popular forms of witchcraft which have been documented is African witchcraft and neopagan witchcraft.

The African form of witchcraft we all know is the witch doctor, the witch doctor traditionally practiced medicine as ways of healing people and also putting a curse or hex on unfortunate victims.

During the 20th century a lot of interest was taken into neopagan witchcraft with the most famous documentation being that of Margaret Murray in 1921 when she documented the theory of a pan European witch cult.

Black magic explained

Black magic or dark magic as it is sometimes called is a form of magic that is intended to draw malevolent spirits or entities and is usually performed for acts of evil. During the inquisition, Christians were frightened of witches and warlocks who practised these black magic rituals but now in modern times witches will use the term black magic to offset the good magic they profess to practise, as black magic is said to be very rarely used.

In olden days, black magic was performed to gain benefit without regard to the harm that it caused others and indeed most performed black magic solely to hurt and inflict damage on others. The difference between black magic and white magic is still debated amongst modern witches with several theories contrasting the two branches. Theories such as the "all as one", "no connection" and "separate but equal" theories all being popular and open for debate. The most popular theories include

The all as one theory

Believers of this theory believe that all magic, black or white is evil with black magic generally being associated with the devil or Satan. Religions such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism all follow the belief that any type of magic is bad.

The dark doctrine theory

As black magic refers to powers of darkness, believers of this theory believe that this type of magic relates directly to Satan.

The formal differences theory

There are thought to be many forms and components to black magic and those casting the black magic have different interests and reasons for doing so, followers of this theory believe that black magic is only harmful when it involves the use of personal items such as clothing, hair or blood of those the spell is directed towards.

The no connection theory

Followers of this theory believe that black and white magic have no connection at all as both practises use totally different forms, followers to this theory see both forms as totally opposing each other.

The separate but equal theory

People who follow this theory believe black and white magic are the same thing with the only difference being the goals they accomplish and the means by which witches get there. All spells are spells and the difference is only determined by the outcome of the particular spell cast.

Black magic is usually said to be performed more by those who worship the devil hence the term black magic, magic spells cast this way will usually involve the use of ones personal belongings such a piece of clothing, a lock of hair or blood. The spells cast are said to usually be for the sole purpose of bringing harm to the one they are directed at.

White magic is usually thought to help people and do no harm to others; popular spells of this type are love spells and potions, with the hope of bringing the love of your life into your arms. However, spells of this type usually involve the use of personal belongings too but for different means.