About the Study Group

Featured

Posted on by

A Magical Bastard is either fatherless – self-created – or has more fathers than they can decently acknowledge.  In this group we will collaborate to interpret magical texts that have been formative for each member, and to integrate theory with experience.  We will respect one another’s experiences, in a world that still claims (with decreasing plausibility) to reject magic itself.  By these means we will attempt to teach one another the unknowable, and maybe score diamond grills and gold hubcaps along the way.

We welcome anyone who loves magic and the art of conversation, regardless of their tradition or experience level.  There will probably be a lot of Thelemites in the group, but these sorts of hardships must be borne.  Please do read the week’s text, if you are coming!  Our plan is to always provide a free online copy.

We convene weekly on Wednesdays (Mercury’s day) from 7:30-9:30 PM at The Long Haul, 3124 Shattuck Ave, in Berkeley. Check the main page for each week’s texts – and may they bring you joy and power!

If you have questions or would like to be added to the mailing list, please write anika.m.g@gmail.com

The bastard in me honors the bastard in you.

Classical Greek for Magicians

Posted on by

To the Brethren-

A friend of ours wants to come and talk Greek to us this Wednesday. Here’s the prospectus:

Join us this Wednesday for a Very Special Halloween Episode of Magical Bastards as Saint Shut-the-Fuck-Up Friday provides just enough grounding in Classical Greek to be able to transliterate material from the Greek Magical Papyri. Much like the last time you learned the alphabet, there will be cookies and juice boxes, and you are strongly encouraged to wear your Halloween costume to class.

(Saint STFUF has also promised that sticking around until the end means you’ll get to learn bizarrely specific swears.)

They say no preparation is required. We will be glad to have you!

September 23rd: The Egg – PGM VII. 505-28

Posted on by

We invite you to join us in our simultaneous working of a week-long spell from the Greek Magical Papyri: the wonderful Egg of the Daimon. We begin at dawn on Sunday, September 27th.

In preparation, please read:

Sfinga’s artice, Meeting With Your Own Daimon, from the “With Cunning and Command” blog.

Some sections from Stephen Flowers’ Hermetic Magic: “Origins” (pp. 3-17), “Principles of the Hermetic Synthesis” (pp. 37-43), “Daimonology” (pp. 99-100), and “Magical Theories” (pp. 135-141).

The ritual in its PGM context: VII. 505-28, pp. 131-132

Also recommended: the Wikipedia article on the PGM.

The script upon the egg: