Practical magicians deal with a lot of unknowns when it comes to getting results in the “real world”. Sometimes a magickal operation will be met with stunning and hard-to-doubt success, sometimes with an ambiguous success (the old “would that have happened anyway?” or “just a coincidence” conundrum), sometimes with a totally unknown degree of success (for example, if it is possible that the operation succeeded in an unobservable way), sometimes with an apparent failure. Navigating through the jungle of mixed results can be a real headache, especially where a magickal operation has apparently failed when it (of course) should have succeeded.

When testing out or trying to perfect a new technique, these kinds of issues can cost a lot of time and effort. If you have Continue reading »

Every solstice and equinox my husband and I host a large dinner party for our friends. Or, as near to the date as we can, usually whichever Saturday is closest.

This year was no exception, and though I failed to get a picture of it on Saturday, I did have a go at making Riz Aleister Crowley, Crowley’s recipe for pilaf.

Crowley’s original recipe doesn’t give quantities for the ingredients he lists, so I’ve made my best guess, and detailed my process here. It was delicious.

For the bakers among you, there’s also an awesome shortbread recipe you should totally try out.

My husband and I also woke up in the middle of the night to watch the eclipse. Continue reading »

A friend recently posed a similar question and various answers were given, but the least magickal colour seems, to me, to be white.

The white of a blank page suggests potential, which is nice, but not magickal.

There has never seemed anything particularly magickal about the “white lighter” side of things either, for that matter. Unattainable mystical aspirations and intangibles don’t strike me as useful. If an objective observer wouldn’t notice anything different, it’s mysticism or spirituality, possibly, but it’s not magick.

Magick is about getting things done, not about what could be. The dirt and splash of every other colour better suggest magickal action than an untainted white.

So, that’s my answer. What do you think is the least magickal colour, and why?