Phoenicians , Lebanon's Epic Heritage. By Sanford Holst

The Phoenician were known mostly for their trading empire in the meditaerranean basin. From theeir humble beginning on the Lebanese coast they started out as settlers eking a living from fishin in the mediterranean. Later on they would use dugout logs to go lout further into the sea and catch more fish. As their boat making ability improved they would sail out further and explore different locations. THese were trading opportunities. They would trade fish in exchabnge for fancy cloths gold and spices. Later on they would nstart trading their cedar logs off to counties like Egypt. In fat it was Phoenician lumber and know how that built the temple to Horus in Egypt. The Phoenicians would several times over create a massive trading empire. How did they do it and what was their secret?

Their first principal was peaceful resolution of differences. For most of their history the Phoenician had no military whatsoever. If there was a problem they always tried to resolve their problem with negotiation. When that failed they would get their citizens and wealth and abandon the city state.

Their second principal was internationl trade. They did business with everybody. Because of them them goods from all over the world were sent all over the world. In fact it was the Phoenicians who introduced the Egyptians to the Maltese stonesmiths who would later on build the pyramids.

The third principal was relgious tolerance. They allowed Gods from other nations to be housed in their territory. Egyptian Goddess Hathor took up residence in a Phoenician tmeple in byblos. The Phoenicains always did their best to blend in with the locals and appear almiost indistinct

THe fourth principal was creating partnerships. If faces with a problem the Phhoenicians would partner up with other peoples facing a similiar problem. A good example of this is when they were threatended by the Egyptians and the Hittites. The Pheoinicians partnered up with the Kaska from Norhtern Turkey and transferred them ship to atack many parts in the Middle East. Including Egyopt and the Hittites.
The village was also a partnershp of everyone when it came to a business venture . Everyone played their part and everyone got paid.

Respect for women was the fifth. Women played a role in leadership and inpreparing the ships for their shipments.
Last they had equality and privacy. They would never share their secrets.

The Phoebnicians set up colonies al over the Aegfean sea and helped for the Minoan society with the Cretans. That later fell due to Volcanic activity and Mycenean aggression. They would recover after the invasion of the sea peoples. Whom they helped by shipping them from Northern Anatolia to the Aegean Islands, Greece, Hittite Empire and Egypt.

The Phoenicians were a rare society who knew how to get along. The book has a good bibliography and it is easy to read. You will learn a lot from reading this book.

The Pillars of Tubal Cain by Nigel Jackson

Western esoteric mysticism and/or angel magick comes primarily from the Middle East. Most European ideas were brought over via the old testament. But the Hebrews who wrote the old testament were influenced by a variety of systems. The systems came from Sumeria, Babylon, Egypt, Persia and Arabia. Each of these countries had a system of gods numbering seven, one for each off the known planets including the sun and the moon.

According to biblical legend Lucifer was God's lead angel, who lead a rebellion and was ultimately cast down into the earthly realms along with his cohort of angels. These Angels took on human form and were thus called watchers. Eventually these watchers fell in love with human women and mated with them giving rise to a race of people called the nephilim. These were giant people with magical powers. Eventually the Flood would come and wash them all away.

According to the Yezidis of Northern Iraq Satan who is called Melek Taus was redeemed. Supposedly he cried out tears of repentance and he was the angel in charge of all the other angels. He is worshiped as a peacock. Interesting that the throne in Iran was called the peacock throne.

According to Luciferian witch craft Lucifer the light bringer ascended for the reason of bringing mankind, who at the time were savages, into enlightenment. When Lucifer and his angles descended they taught human kind religion, civilization, magick and metal working. Now remember that Tubal Cain was a metal worker and metal workers had magical abilities. Of course Christianity turned Lucifer into a boogey man called Satan.

There was documents of giant races documented through out thee world in places like Shamabalah, Atlantis, Arabia and even Amorites. They were big and supposedly had magical abilities. Later on they would be wiped out by the flood. Many mythologies talk about a race of giants being wiped out by newer gods or being wiped out by some cataclysm. Check out the titans in Greek mythology and the Jotuns in Norse mythology.

Many symbols have been perverted in Judeo Christian Europe. The snake was typically a symbol of wisdom. Recall that it was the snake who told Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge to help open her eyes so she could grow up. In the bible the snake wass turned into something evil. The Tower of Babylon which Nimrod, another giant, tried to ascend was not a tower to challenge god but rather it was representative of the Watcher trying to reach godliness and redemption. The Tree had a similar meaning and in fact old religions worshipped the tree or by a tree.

Lilith in Babylonian mytholgy used to live in a tree until Inanna told Gilgamesh to cut it down. In this tree there dweelt an owl and a snake. The owl was a symbol of certain Goddesses and wisdom. Lilith later became Adams first wife and she in fact later left him because she would not submit to an inferior position. Lilith would copulate with animals and other entities and would give rise to a race of demons. Lilith was a succubus who seduced men in their sleep. It said that from man's liquids came several races of Demon. Some say that Lilith gave birth to the faery people. Women use her as model for liberation.

Queen Sheba is sometimes equated with Lilith in that some legends portray her as having owl feet or cloven feet. Sheba means seven and corresponds to the seven angels. It is surmised that Queen Sheba and Solomon were occultist and that Solomon who controlled demons to build his empire taught Sheba some of her secrets.

Occult wisdom which originated in the Middle East came to Europe via many directions. One direction was Jews bringing it over when they were enslaved by the Romans.Occult knowledge also came over when the Crusaders and Templar knights returned from fighting in Jerusalem. The founder of the rosy cross order learned Cabbalah in Damscus and the horned god came from the Middle East as well.

The Pillars of Tubal Cain is a book roughly 273 pages in length,but it is packed with information. I strongly advise reading. this stuff is definitely not Wicca

Blood of the Fold by Terry Goodkind

After escaping from the Palace of the Prophets and sending his father's spirit back to the realm of the Keeper, Richard Cypher is in semi hiding. Seeking shelter in the Aydindril he is set upon immediately by Mriswith, scaly caped creatures that have the ability to become invisible. Only Richard and his friend Gratch can find them. They make easy work of them. That is not the only threat. The Blood of the Fold has entered and they wish to kill anyone who has the gift of magick. Tobias their general believes he is doing the work of the creator. Lunnetta helps him fish out the sorceresses. Lunetta herself has magic and is Tobias's sister. Originally they came to hunt down the Mother Confessor who everyone believes is dead. It seems that the Kahlan is dead and while Richard is roaming through the city he runs afoul with the Blood of the Fold. Beffore getting too deep into trouble Richard is extricated by some D'haran soldiers. Things progress as Richard proves himself in a battle with Mriswith and thee D'harans accept him as their king. He is the Magic against the magic and the Dharan soldiers are the steel against the Steel. All D'harans are bound spiritually to the Lord Rahl.

It is in Aydindril that Richard Rahl boldly states that a new threat is looming on the horizon. THe Imperial order lead by emperor Jang is on the way to conquer the Midlands. The barrier stopping the emperor was taken down. The Keltion were the first to join up with the imperial order. Richard makes a proclamation that since the Mother Confessor was killed everyone must join with D'Hara to fight the new threat. Many are disagreeable and the most disagreeable is Tobias.

In the Palace of the prophets sister Verna has been promoted to prelate. Her job is to ferret out the sisters of the dark who are hidden among them. Not an easy task.She is buried in mountains of paper work and cannot go about her business. Meanwhile 5 or 6 of thee sisters of the dark are slaves to Jagang in a most brutal fashion.

Hagan plans to rule his empire from the Palace of the prophets which has been spelled so he cannot age. Eventually the sisters of the dark do take over the Palace and Kahlan is captured by Tobias and herself is taken to the Palace of the prophets. Richard does come to rescue her with some heavy consequences.
A very exciting story with many sub plots twist and turns. An enjoyable read for those who like the fantasy genre.

The Infernal Texts of Nox and Liber Koth

Back in the the late 1980's and early 1990's Stephen Sennitt collected articles from his magazine which was based out in San Francisco. Mr. Sennitt practices something called Chaos magick. It is is relatively new but effective. A working definition will very from practitioner to practitioner.

Nox is the first book and it is a compilation of article many of which are written by different authors. The authors write about a variety of subjects: Satanism, Order of the Werewolf, and Lovecraftian magick. Satanism is described as a rebellion against Christianity. A religion which is thought to have robbed humanity of it's basic nature and turned humans into weak willed being. Satanism strives to restore that. The articles cover some basic principle and rituals one of which is cursing an enemy. The premise of this is to make a wax image of your enemy, break off his/her head and bury them in a mini coffin in the ground. The thing about Satanism that I found most detestable was that they called up Hitler and saluted him. This is a man that has murdered many people of certain ethnic groups. To salute him is an insult to those groups who were effected by his outrage.

Order of the Werewolf shrived for a Satanic revolution back in the 80's. They wanted to establish a new world order. Their way of recruitment was not to solicit people but to air radio broadcasts was death metal music and those who were interested would seek them out. If one wanted their own lodge then it was an individual effort with no help from the central office. After lodge could produce results and accomplishments then they would officially accept you. This order did believe that there were classes of people ie. leaders and followers. They strove to be leaders. They believed in helping the environment, they believed in discipline and personal responsibility. They were dead set against the decadence of American culture, homosexuality and drug use. The music which they played according to the author was meant to stimulate certain parts of the brain which could promote violent behavior.
They were proud of this. The group was tied in with Odinist survivalists and Tom Metzger who was involved with Neo Nazis, something which I find deplorable.

On the Lovecraftian Mythology an author said that there were 9 gates of the Old One through which they could re -enter our world. There are groups out there who are dedicated to opening those gates. One such group tried and the psychological effects were not so good. Most of those gates are located on Earth but there power is diminished. Each society had their day and made contributions but there day is over. Some residual power exists in these gates. A good example of the Gates would be Stonehenge in Britain or Oracle of Delphi in Greece. The next gates are in space and they are sending out signals. there is some debate as to whether these gates are located in space or they are located in our subconscious.

A bit of background is needed on Lovecraftian mythology. According to the myths the Old Ones were fleeing from a group of being we call the Elder Gods. The Old Ones were shape shifters and the Elder Gods came from the Sirius star. The Old Gods touched down briefly on our planet and had an influence on our evolution. This may have been intentional or accidental. The Elder Gods wanted nothing to do with us. Eventually the Old Ones fled our planet and were defeated in battle but they are not dead and the day will come when they wake up again and rise. The Deep ones are thought to be descended from the Old Gods Ones and they live in deep sea or our subconscious. They do maintain some contact with different groups of people as suits there interest. At times they will mate with human.

The author devotes two essays on the subject of Pazuzu. He is a winged wind demon who was made famous by way of the movie "The Exorcist". He is a bringer of plague like malaria that are windborn. He has thee skull of a dog and rotting genitalia. Aleister Crowley came into contact with this demon in Northern Africa. He called this demon Choranzon. Contact with this demon almost drove Mr. Crowley insane. Pazuzu has been likened to Set in the Egyptian mythology.

Liber Koth the next book you'll read sound a lot like a meditation to the places off the Old Ones. Loth is the Tower where you will begin and from the tower you will have a psychic journey to meet the Old Ones. The experiences promise to be harrowing and frightening. You will see desolate landscapes where only the strongest can survive. You might be temporarily destabilized from the experience but in the end you will bee liberated.

Austin Osman Spare is the father of Chaos Magick. According to what this book says the object of Chaos magick is to cleanse your psyche or belief system of those things that are holding you back from achieving what you are most capable of and those things which bar your way from completing the great work of self actualization.

Through the Faerie Glass by Kenny Klein

Magickal people like to work with magickal beings. One example of a magickal being would be a fairy. Modern literature often time s portrays these magickal being as childlike, innocent, helpful and playful. The reality, however, is much different. Faeries can be hazardous to your health.

Where do faeries live? Some say they live in an alternate realm or maybe in a natural setting like forests, hills, oceans, ponds and caves. Faeries are not always small sometimes they can be giants or human size. Some faeries will even take on the form of certain animal life and plant life.

The Land of the Fey could be the underworld or maybe a realm between heaven and hell. Some say that the land of the fey is a parallel world to our own. To get their one must cross a body of water or a river of blood. In the land of the fey times runs rather differently. Some of the legends discussed in the book show mortals living in the land of the fey for a about 7 years and when they return home they find out that hundreds of years have passed and all of their family is dead. A most prominent example of this is the story of Rip Van Winkle.

If a mere mortal should visit the land of the fey they should never they should never eat faerie food or drink faerie beverages. To do so would bar you from returning to your world. In some stories it is even forbidden to talk to other faeries in the land off the fey.

Faerie music is very enticing. It is so enticing that when humans hear it they become enchanted. Once enchanted they often forget their everything about their former life. People who have returned from the land of the Fey often are absent minded from still thinking about Faerie Music.

A trip to to Faerie land can produce one of three effects. The first effect is that it kills you. The second is that it can leave you insane. Third you come back normal but you are unable to tell others of your experience.

Related to the three outcomes is the questions why do faeries seek to interact with humans? If humans die in Faerie land there is often a legend that the Faeries have to sacrifice someone to the devil every seven years. So instead of choosing someone from their family they choose a human. Some faeries like Glastigs, vampire faeries, try to kill humans and eat humans. In the songs "Reynardine and Mr Fox a faerie man tries to seduce a mortal woman so he can eat her later on. The merfolk like to seduce sailors and drown them.

Humans and faeries have been coupling for ages. A woman maybe kidnapped by a faerie king and and become enchanted by the music. Niahm took Thomas to the land of the fey for seven years and mated with him. After seven years he was released. He had faerie sight after this and could only speak the truth. Selkies are water faeries who look like seals. Many stories have them taking human form and marrying a mortal. After a certain amount of time they long for their marine environment and so they return leaving their forlorn mortal lover behind.

Christian legend has it that faeries used to bee angels and that when the war broke out between Satan and the God they remained neutral. As a result hell would not take them and they were also rejected by heaven. So they live in limbo and have to give the devil a sacrifice every seven years. Tam Lin was one such human, but fortunately for him he was able to flee.

Faeries are afraid of Iron it makes them weak. If a person wears Iran it will keep the harmful faeries away. Tying a red string around a door knob also keeps faeries away. To keep the faeries happy you can leave them little gifts like shiny marble, rum laced milk and tin foil balls. Faeries like sweets. Kobulds are helpful house faeries.

There is some magick involving the faerie folk.

If you are missing an object. Hold up something small and shiny and offer it to the faery if they return the missing object. Put it in a jar for them to see. Say "If you return my lost object you have this marble"

Dryads are tree spirits and they can be very helpful.

1. Find an oak tree and walk around it three times clockwise. For each revolution you say "weave the enchantment well"

2. stopping say the phrase "Lovely Spirit of the tree grant the wish I ask of thee" think of what you want. hold a coin in your hand if you want money.

3. Leave the faerie a gift like a lock of hair, wet kiss or cloth. Then back away from the tree and leave the circle in tact. Do not look back. Let the Dryad work their magick. Remember that when your wish is granted leave them a gift such as sweets, marbles, hair or cloth.

Contacting the Vila

For this one you will need a horse shoe, hair from a horse's main or tail and some horse dung.

1. Go into the woods
2. Put objects down and dance in a clockwise circle three times.
3. Stand barefoot on the object three times call out Wila

Necronomicon by Ed Simon

This is one of those books that is the subject of much discussion. Go to the book reviews of Amazon.com and you will find people that have performed the rituals described in this book and they will claim that they worked. Other people will tell you the book is hoax, a complete work of fiction.

Necronomicon is actually mentioned in several of HP Lovecraft's books with regards to the mythology of Ctulhu. The book is only mentioned and contents are not really spilled out. According to the mythology before man first walked the earth everything was Chaos and the Ancient ones ruled. The Ancient ones were headed by Tiamat, dragon Goddess of Sumeria. Her assistant was Kingu. An epic battle took place in which Enki blessed his son Marduk to go into battle against Tiamat and Kingu. Marduk was successful and he took the blood of Tiamat along with some clay and created the race of man. Who blew into man his breath which gave man life. Tiamat was driven into slumber and the Ancient ones were driven behind the gate ever waiting their return. The Ancient ones hate the race of man. Yet walking on this planet are cults that worship the Ancient ones.

According to the introduction, Abdul Harazed, nicknamed the mad Arab is the person who collected the information and compiled the book. He advises against even reading it, let alone using it. One must be careful when calling on the Elder gods who are now sleeping and in the event of emergency will have to be reminded of their commitment.

The book was published by two other people besides Ed Simon. Supposedly they suffered strange mishaps and one of them was dead yet somehow able to carry on his business. The book is based on Sumerian mythology and from what I have read it is pretty accurate. The introduction is fact filled with information about the American author Lovecraft who went back to living with two aunts. The intro also talks about occultist Aleister Crowley who was not directly exposed to Lovecrafft's work but was interested in Sumerian mythology. Some believe that the two minds connected on some Astral level and their connecting point was Sumeria.

Contained in this book are invocations of the Elder gods. There are also the fifty names of MArduk and formulas for passing through the gates of each of the gods. The demons also have formulas to help summon them. If one wants to do the ritual I advise at least reading it twice because the rituals seem rather complicated. Severaal rituals call for obtaining metals and engraving sigils on them and wrapping them in expensive silk. Like other forms of magick you do have to cast your cirle. You watcher protects you but if the ritual is not done correctly then your watcher can turn on you. This is a great book if you are into Sumerian mythology,ritual magick and/or Lovecraft.

Triumph of the Moon by Ronald Hutton

If one wishes to practice the craft then it makes sense that one should learn the history of the craft. Wicca was introduced by Gerald Gardener in the mid to late 1950's shortly after Britain repealed their anti-witchcraft laws. Gardener claimed that he became initiated into a coven in North Forrest England. His claims are subject to dispute.

Prior to him introducing Wicca, Gerald Gardner was a member of the Mason and he was a member of Ordo Templis Orientales, Aleister Crowley's organization. Mr. Gardner tried to set up OTO in London but he was not too successful. Many a people familiar with both Crowley's work and Wicca have noticed that Gardner plagiarized Crowley in many an instance and used his words in a construct that Crowley himself would not have used. Doreen Vailente would later on re-write everything.

Despite all this the author Ronald Hutton does make the statement that Wicca, meaning the wiseones, is a viable religion. Hutton is a historian who has written many books on Pagan movement and holidays in Great Britain.

Mr. Hutton goes on to say that "Wicca" is the first all British contribution to religion given to the world. In order to fully get an understanding of Wicca one must get an overall picture of British history and the British mentality. The British fascination with Paganism began with a renewed enthusiasm and admiration for Greco/Roman Culture. These nationalities were thought off as being advanced and were praised for their many contributions to world civilization. The Greeks and the Romans were only thought to be lacking morals and the revelation of Jesus Christ. Later on British literature would foster and cultivate a fascination with nature. The old pagans were thought to have a real closeness with nature.

As history would progress several authors would write paens to Pan and how he would chase wood nymphs in the the forest. The Christian religion was felt to be too rigid at this time. Godfrey Higgins asserted that in ancient History that there was an ancient civilization that extended through out the known world. They were the ones who discovered writing and religion. Helena Blavatsky, s spiritualist, speculated that Atlantis was this society.

In the Ancient world there was a Goddess for every aspect of civilization but not nature, however. The Goddesses had their own identity. Toward the end of the Pagan Period in a work called "Metamorpheisis" by Apuleius it was said that the moon goddess was said to embody all the other Goddesses. In literature and in Archaeology a view was starting to prevail that humanity worshiped a mother goddess. She is represented by the earth and the moon. She ended up embodying all the Goddesses and this is the current view of Pagan Witchcraft.

Like wise with the Greek Gods like Jupiter, Apollo and Neptune all of them fell out of favor. For while Apollo was the favorite but soon he gave way to the horned God Pan. Pan was a favorite of the literary scene up until the 1930's. He represented nature, sexuality and playfulness. He was the exact opposite of Jesus. In the view of Robert Graves the horned God was the consort of of the Goddess and was both the lover and the offspring of the Goddess. Death served as a transition.

Wicca borrowed their ritual structure from the Masons. The first Masonic Lodge was established in the late 1596 in North Scotland. They had initiations, handshakes and passwords. Many of which Wicca would come to borrow. In Medieval times there were guilds who had secret organizations. They too had a lot in common with the Masons but with more of a focus towards their craft or profession.

Masonic craft was oriented towards spiritual perfection. To join a lodge one had to believe in a supreme being. Their ceremonies had 4 cardinal directions and they were connected with mythology. As more archaeological information became available about the Sumerians, Egyptians and Greek that information slowly got added into the Masonic lore.

The Pentagram was one of the Masonic symbols, the masons also ended their ceremonies with "so mote it be" These element should be recognizable to those who practice Wicca. One Masonic type organization was called " The Horseman's Word" This guild of horse whisperers would mock Christ and Christianity and say parts of the Bible backwards.

In a nutshell to cap things off, word has it that Gerald Gardener after returning from India in the 1930 became acquainted with a group of Rosicrucian actors who introduced him to the craft. Dorothy Clutterbuck was the priestess who supposedly initiated Gardner. Later he tried to bring to London with success along with a woman named Dafo. Later on she would leave and Gardner would recruit Doreen Valiente. Valiente upon looking over Gardners book of shadows noticed a lot of phrases taken from Aleister Crowley. Crowley himself was not really interested in Witch Craft which he considered a woman's religion. None the less Crowley did meet with Gardner 3-4 times. Later on Valiente would part with Gardner and join with Robert Cochran. Valiente later left Cochran and wnet on her own. The book discusses the growth of Wicca, Alex Sanders, the impact of American Wicca on the British.

For those who practice Wicca I advise that you read this book. Not only does it tell the history and development of the craft but also what events and trends lead to it's birth. It is very scholarly and thorough.