Alt.Paranormal.Spells.Hexes.Magic — Frequently Asked Questions — The official FAQ of the Usenet newsgroup alt.paranormal.spells.hexes.magic, covering the nature, ethics, terminology, and practice of magic(k) across folk and ceremonial traditions. Maintained by catherine yronwode and tyagi nagasiva.
Getting Started Doing Magic — Nagasiva yronwode's response to a young newcomer asking how to begin a practice of magic — a survey of motivations, traditions, and the importance of knowing what you actually want before you begin.
Guide to Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot — nagasiva yronwode's annotated reference guide to A.E. Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot — an expanded table of contents, conceptual index, and structural analysis of one of modern occultism's foundational texts.
Introduction to alt.pagan.magick — A scholarly introduction to alt.pagan.magick, a Usenet newsgroup at the intersection of Neopagan spirituality and Western magical practice, active from the early 1990s through the mid-2000s.
Magico-mystical Secrecy — Blinds and Blinkers — nagasiva yronwode on the mechanism of occult 'blinds' — coded or obscured language used by mystics under pressure of persecution — and his commitment to putting arcane knowledge online, openly, as an act of service.
Mysticism and Magic — Theurgy and Thaumaturgy — nagasiva yronwode's essay distinguishing magic from religion, theurgy from thaumaturgy, and mysticism from sorcery — in response to questions about the spiritual status and history of magical practice.
The 93 Current, the Scarlet Woman, and Babalon — A Tutorial — nagasiva yronwode's thorough introduction to Thelema — the 93 Current, Babalon, the Scarlet Woman, the role of prophecy, and the distinction between Crowley and Thelema itself — written in response to a sixteen-year-old student's sincere questions.
The Nafs and the False Self — A Pagan's Inquiry into Sufi Psychology — A scholarly essay by nagasiva on the Islamic concept of nafs (the animal soul), exploring Sufi teachings on mortification, integration, and the gradations of the soul through Nicholson, Burckhardt, and Quranic sources.
What is Ritual — On Theory, Creativity, and the Enacted Myth — Agent 139's essay on the theory of ritual in chaos magic, drawing on Crowley, Kabbalistic symbolism, and the unity of theory and practice — arguing that ritual is fundamentally the creative act of living one's myth.