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Navigating Mercury Retrograde
Practical solutions for Mercurial troubles The dread that creeps into people’s hearts concerning the retrograded motion of the planet Mercury runs the gamut between mild annoyance to outright, lifestyle-altering fear in the minds of the occult community. Those who lean heavily on astrology debate endlessly the nature, impact and details of this celestial phenomenon and…
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Strange Dominions Podcast Episode 32. Ancient magic for modern times with Alison Chicosky of Practical Occult
Strange Dominions Podcast Episode 32. Ancient magic for modern times with Alison Chicosky of Practical Occult On this episode of Strange Dominions, Octavian speaks with Alison Chicosky. The two speak about Alison’s beginnings in magic, her experience with the PGM and her work with talismans, pentacles and other occult items at her own shop, Practical Occult.
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Second of Venus: The Morning Star’s Diplomat
Sometimes aggression and burning magnificence are not the ideal qualities for solving a problem. Often, pure charm, diplomacy and a blanketing energy of comfort and pleasantness are what’s truly required. The difference between commanding and coaxing is as wide as a chasm and a truly discerning occultist knows that each has its place in the…
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The Mercurial Mind
In an age of digital road openings and fast-paced shifting of structures of society, the magician’s best friend is often the powers of Mercury. Here at Practical Occult, we aren’t shy about stacking those boons atop eachother for the truly discerning individual. While individually, the Mercury pentacles change lives, sift through the sands of time…
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The Sorcerous Method
For those who would fill their hands with Promethean Fire rather than accepting a normal life Magic should be something that fills the mind with wonder and the heart with yearning. I don’t imagine I’m alone when I say that I began doing this because I wanted to be astonished, to reach the unknown, to…
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Jupiter Honors and Dignities
From the Veritable Key of Solomon: “To obtain the greatest honors and dignities.” In the Veritable Key of Solomon there is a pentacle under Jupiter with the description “to obtain the greatest honors and dignities.” Around this pentacle reads a versicle from Hebrews 2:7, “Thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him…
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Pentacles for Psychic and Divinatory Work
In this newsletter, guest author “Auntie” Eden discusses her use of pentacles in psychic and divinatory work. My use of the Solomonic Pentacles in my psychic and divinatory work began earlier in the year. I had worked as both a psychic and a medium in the past, but I had let most of those skills…
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First Pentacle of the Moon
From the Key of Solomon: “This and the following serve to call forth and invoke the Spirits of the Moon; and it further serveth to open doors, in whatever way they may be fastened.” In this Practical Occult newsletter guest author Sara Mastros, author of “The Big Book of Magical Incense” and the “Orphic Hymns…
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Channeling the Music of the Spheres Using the Diatonic Modes
Guest author Cory C.Childs of The Shining Lyre discusses the music of the spheres. In 1496, the Italian music theorist and composer Franchinus Gaffurius released a monumental musical treatise titled “Practica Musicae,” which includes the following image: Here, we’re presented with a brilliant blend of Ancient Greek and Middle Age music theory with esoteric and…
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Ouroboros Phylactery
In this Practical Occult newsletter, guest author Sfinga of With Cunning and Command discusses the Ouroboros Phylactery of the Greek Magical Papyri. Even when I first began exploring the magic of the PGM, the Ouroboros Phylactery (PGM VII. 579-90) immediately caught my eye. Perhaps it’s because I, as I often joke with my closest friends, am easily…