Wednesday, March 25, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org
alt.magick.moderated
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Texts
Introduction to alt.magick.moderatedA scholarly introduction to alt.magick.moderated, a small moderated Usenet newsgroup (2006–2012) that preserved some of the finest practitioner-written analysis of Western occultism on the early internet — particularly through the prolific writings of nagasiva yronwode and catherine yronwode of Lucky Mojo.Matterless SpellsNagasiva yronwode responds to a correspondent asking whether magic can be practiced without material components — offering a precise taxonomy of matterless, verbal, religious, and astral magic, and explaining why most genuine magical disciplines require physical symbols.Occultism and Anti-Occultist RhetoricNagasiva yronwode responds point by point to a Christian anti-occultist screed, offering a calm and systematic defense of magic and divination as tools of empowerment, reflection, and spiritual self-determination.Papus and ThelemaCatherine yronwode argues that Gérard Encausse (Papus) belongs in any serious history of Thelema — tracing the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica's lineage from Jules Doinel through Encausse, through Theodor Reuss, to Crowley's revised OTO.The Tarot Trumps — A Personal SystemJoseph Littleshoes offers a personal reading of the Tarot's Major Arcana — reinterpreting the Chariot, Strength, the Devil, Temperance, and the cosmic trumps within a humanist framework, and concluding with the untranslatable mystery of the Fool and Judgement.Tradition and Reality — AEons and Cosmic ChangeNagasiva yronwode untangles the concept of the Thelemic AEon from zodiacal precession, Gnostic terminology, and general apocalypticism — arguing that occultist 'aeons' are personal rather than cosmic, and that the Magus's claim to inaugurate a new age is more about ego than astronomy.