Arnemancy

Algol, Procyon, Antares! Exaula, Algafra, Caaddebolach! In this episode, I am overjoyed to welcome back astrologer Ryhan Butler, who discusses the use of the fixed stars and lunar mansions in astrological magic. Ryhan is great to talk to about this topic, because he can start off with very practical advice about elections and results based on his own experience, then launch into the history behind astrological concepts. We certainly learned this in his previous podcast appearance when we discussed astrological aspects. When we were planning this episode, Ryhan characterized planetary astrological talismans as "special event" magical operations. Finding a good election for the planets is difficult, time consuming, and relatively rare. The fixed stars and lunar mansions, however, are very quick and easy to elect for, and lend themselves better to more immediate thaumaturgical needs. After listening to this episode, make sure to explore the wealth of instructional material that Ryhan provides on his website, Medieval Astrology Guide, and check out his YouTube channel for regular updates on upcoming elections. Links Medieval Astrology Guide Ryhan's YouTube channel @RyhanButler on Twitter Ryhan's Patreon page Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy Listen on Podcrypt

"What the heck is a Lenormand?" I ask my guest in this podcast episode. Emily Rose joins me to answer that question and many more! Emily teaches Tarot readers and the mystically minded to read Lenormand like they're talking to a friend. She has been reading Lenormand since she was 12 years old and currently reads for clients and teaches divination throughout the Pacific Northwest and online. Emily tells us all about the history of Lenormand, and together we explore key differences and similarities between it and Tarot. This is an excellent opportunity to dive into the rich diversity of the field of cartomancy. Each system has its strengths and uses, giving both the diviner and querent new insights into questions and situations. If you are a Tarot reader, you will be happy to know that Emily specializes in cracking our minds open and pouring in new Lenormand knowledge. In fact, I learned about Emily during her lecture at the Northwest Tarot Symposium 2020, which is what inspired me to invite her on the podcast. Links Emily Rose Divination Emily's Free Lenormand Mini Course Instagram: @emilyrosedivination Facebook Page: Emily Rose Divination Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy Listen on Podcrypt

Today, occultists and practitioners are fortunate to have the aid of modern tools like computers to aid in their studies. In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by one of the creators of such tools, Tres Henry. We discuss not only the role of software in magic, but the balance between rational science and mysticism. We also discuss geomancy, maintaining magical balance, and the responsibilities of a magician. Tres Henry is a magician, software engineer, and tinkerer who has worked in the tech industry for over twenty years. He is now bringing all of that nerd power to bear by creating digital tools for magicians. Two that you may have heard of are the astrology software Urania and online geomantic tool Georatio. Links Hall of Doors (Tres's website) Urania Georatio Taking Magical Notes Tarot and the Art of Memory: The Minor Arcana Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy Listen on Podcrypt

In this episode, I am joined by my friend Joshua Proto (he/they) for a conversation about astrological magic. We discuss a variety of interesting topics, such as spirit-based astrology, how to get started with astrological magic, how to overcome "election paralysis", and more. Later in the podcast, we drill down into the philosophy of astrological magic, discussing topics such as the golden chain of existence and the concept of ensouling matter through magical ritual. Since 2014, Joshua Proto has created over 100 astrological talismans according to traditional sources like the Picatrix, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, and the oral teachings of select Tibetan and Newar Buddhist Tantras. Josh frequently helps clients find talismanic and ritual solutions to a variety of astrological and magical problems through his website and offers training and workshops around practicing astrological magic. Links Stellar Talismans website Follow Josh on Twitter! Follow Josh on Instagram! Send Josh an email! Josh also says, "Send me an email with the subject 'Planetary magic' and you'll get a special gift once what I'm planning at planetarymagic.com goes live!" Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy Listen on Podcrypt

T. Susan Chang discusses her new book '36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey Through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot'. They explore decan walks, specific examples of decans and Tarot cards, and the merging of tarot and astrology with the art of memory. They also discuss the application of Kabbalah to tarot cards and explore image use and image magic in modern tarot.

R.A. Priddle, a magician and expert on Francis Barrett, discusses Barrett's life as a magician and teacher of magic. They explore Barrett's fraudulent balloon experiments, his studies with Ebenezer Sibly, and his influence on Eliphas Levi and Edward Bulwer-Lytton. They also reveal that a talisman from Barrett's book was carried by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter-Day Saints.

What do the grimoires say about ritual purity and the material world? In this episode, Misha Magdalene joins me to discuss the role of the body in grimoire magic. We begin by examining concepts of ritual purity in the Key of Solomon before exploring more concepts from gnosticism to Kabbalah. We discuss ritual purity as a way of connecting the spirit to the gross material world, as well as how to create a spiritual continuity from your ritual space to the divine. We also discuss how these concepts could be embraced by the modern neo-pagan and occult community. Misha Magdalene is a multiclassed, multi-geek, multiqueer witch and sorcerer with a degree in gender studies and a slightly odd sense of humor. Their first book, Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in Magical Practice, was published by Llewellyn in January 2020. They're an initiate of multiple lines of traditional witchcraft, including Anderson Feri and Gardnerian Wicca, and have also been known to dabble recklessly in both modern ceremonial magic and grimoiric goetia. They live on occupied Duwamish territory in the Pacific Northwest with their polymath partner and two adorably destructive black kittens. Links Misha's website Misha's former Patheos blog Their former appearance on the podcast The Key of Solomon

I am joined by Dan Attrell, the massive mind behind the Modern Hermeticist YouTube channel, which includes the vast and ever-growing Encyclopedia Hermetica. He is currently working on his PhD in Renaissance history at the University of Waterloo. He has gone out of his way to share tons of his knowledge and learning with his impressive audience, and is also known for translating some amazing materials from Latin. In this episode, we discuss Marsilio Ficino, and in particular Dan's translation of Ficino's De Christiana Religione, On the Christian Religion. We discuss many topics and themes in Ficino's life, including the highest goal of mankind, the immortality of the soul, the nature of reason, the supercelestial world, and the question of whether or not there even was a Platonic academy in Florence. We also attempt to make some sense of the tangled historical events unfolding around Ficino's life. The Intermission and Beyond We ran into a really bad recording problem in this episode. About 25 minutes in or so, Dan's Canadian internet connection gave out on us! We had to pick up the conversation the next day. I filled in the gap with a reading from De Christiana Religione that Dan was kind enough to provide. The background music during Dan's reading is "But We Shall All Be Changed" by Matt Anthony. Thank you, Matt! In part two, Dan and I begin by talking about Aristotle and Plato and their reception in Medeival and Renaissance Europe, but then we get a few tangents, and then we spend time with our favorite mad monk, Savonarola! Notes and Things to Look Up Maimonedes Averroes (AKA Ibn Rushd) Marsilio Ficino Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (also see my conversation with Ted Hand about Pico) Girolamo Savonarola Pietro's Pizza Links The Modern Hermeticist Dan's YouTube channel Dan on My Alchemical Bromance Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy Listen on Podcrypt

Dr. James Russell joins me for the third episode in my series on the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. Dr. Russell is a book historian in Phoenix, Arizona. He completed his doctorate at the Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies at Durham University in the UK. James is interested in how material texts shape spiritual experiences. Focusing on early modern esoteric and contemplative literature, he studies the traces readers have left behind in books and manuscripts in order to reconstruct the reading experiences of the past. In his dissertation, Dr. Russell wrote, "Instead of merely being viewed as an art object, the HP was a text in which readers engaged extensively with both word and image."1 We discuss the HP as a used text as evidenced by its marginalia, like a "humanist activity book" filled with pen-and-paper intellectual games, whether or not the author intended it to be. James also leads us through an exploration of several of the commentators of early editions of the HP, including two alchemists, a botanist, and Pope Alexander VII. This conversation opens up so many new avenues that make this remarkable book worth exploring and enjoying. When James first approached me, he mentioned The Book that Nobody Read by Owen Gingerich. Gingerich attempts to trace the influence of Copernicus's De Revolutionibus using marginalia. I was also a fan of Gingerich's book, so I knew right away we would have plenty to talk about. Please enjoy this episode and don't be afraid to write in your books! Links Dr. Russell's dissertation, `Many Other Things Worthy of Knowledge and Memory': The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and its Annotators, 1499-1700 Dr. Russell is on Twitter! Thrift Store Book History on YouTube (it's just a placeholder for now!) The rest of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili episodes Citations and Resources Here is a list of sources that Dr. Russell used in preparing his notes for the interview. Primary Sources Le Tableau des riches Inventions…dans le songe de Poliphile (Paris: Guillemot, 1600). This is the openly alchemical 1600 edition of the HP D’Espagnet, Jean, Enchiridion Physicae Restitutae (Paris: Widow N. de Sercy, 1642, 3rd edn). Nazari, Giovan Battista, Della tramutatione metallica sogni tre (Brescia: Pietro Maria Marchetti, 1599). English translation: Three Dreams on the Transmutation of Metals, trans. Doug Skinner (Glasgow: Magnum Opus Hermeticum Sourceworks, 2002). A very HP-like alchemical allegory Quintilian, Institutio oratoria, ed. and trans. H.E.Butler (London: Heinemann, 1963).   On Marginalia: Barney, Stephen A., Annotation and Its Texts (Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).  Jackson, Heather J., Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books (Yale University Press: New Haven and London, 2005) Jardine, Lisa and Anthony Grafton, ‘“Studied for Action”: How Gabriel Harvey Read His Livy’, Past & Present 129 (1990), pp. 30-78.   Sherman, William H., Used Books: Marking Readers in Renaissance England (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007).   Other Secondary Sources Doody, Aude, Pliny’s Encyclopedia: The Reception of the Naturalis historia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010).    Eco, Umberto, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana, trans. Geoffrey Brock (London: Vintage Books, 2005).   Fierz-David, Linda, The Dream of Poliphilo: The Soul in Love (Dallas, TX: Spring Publications, 1987). A Jungian reading of Poliphilus and Polia as Animus/Anima Freud, Sigmund, The Interpretation of Dreams (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999)   Heckscher, William S., ‘Bernini’s Elephant and Obelisk’, Art Bulletin 29 (1947), pp. 155-82 Jung, Carl, Psychology and Alchemy (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1953)  Kenny, N., The Palace of Secrets: Béroalde de Verville and Renaissance Conceptions of Knowledge (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991). On the author of the 1600 alchemical edition of the HP Painter, George D. The Hypnerotomachia Poliphilo of 1499: An introduction on the Dream, the Dreamer, the Artist, and the Printer (London: Eugrammia Press, 1963). An introduction to the HP which highlights the pagan nature of the text Poe, Edgar Allan, ‘Marginalia’ in James A. Harrison, ed., The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe Vol. XVI, (New York: AMS, 1965) pp. 1-178. Priki, Efthymia, ‘Elucidating and Enigmatizing: the Reception of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili in the Early Modern Period and in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries’, eSharp 14 (2009), pp. 62-90 http://www.gla.ac.uk/esharp Accessed 21/08/2011. Rhizopoulou, On the botanical content of Hypnerotomachia Poliphili https://doi.org/10.1080/23818107.2016.1166070 On Aldus Manutius and the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili Barolini, Helen, Aldus and his Dream Book (New York: Italica Press, 1992). Casella, Maria Teresa, and Giovanni Pozzi, Francesco Colonna. Biografia e opere. Vol. I Biografia (M.T. Casella), Vol. II Opere (G. Pozzi) (Padua: Antenore, 1959). Cruz, Esteban Alejandro, Re-Discovering Antiquity through the Dreams of Poliphilus (Oxford: Trafford, 2006).  Fogliati, Silvia and David Dutto, Il Giardino di Polifilo: ricostruzione virtuale dalla Hypnerotomachia Poliphili di Francesco Colonna stampata a Venezia nel 1499 da Aldo Manuzio (Milan: Franco Maria Ricci, 2002). This is the 3D reconstruction of the HP Russell, James Charles (2014) `Many Other Things Worthy of Knowledge and Memory': The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili and its Annotators, 1499-1700, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10757/ ↩

This is the second part of the 2021 Forecast episodes! Once again, I am joined by my two very amazing friends, cartomancer T. Susan Chang and astrologer Andrew B. Watt! In this episode, we cover July through December of 2021. You can find part one here. 2020 was a rotting radioactive carcass, belching toxic fumes out of a larger burning radioactive carcass, and when Andrew and I did our forecast last year, we were far too optimistic, even when the cards and charts showed us some scary stuff. This time, hopefully we are all more realistic. Note that there are two special treats for you accompanying this episode: All of us are offering a 20% discount on readings through January 5th with the code BIGFLUSH-20 and you can find links to all of our divination offerings below. There is a PDF document with charts and cards that goes along with this episode and part 2. You can get access to it by becoming a Patreon supporter of the Arnemancy Podcast, the Fortune's Wheelhouse Podcast, or Andrew B. Watt. T. Susan Chang T. Susan Chang bought her first tarot deck at a Barnes & Noble in New York, where she moonlighted as a reader while working in academic publishing. After leaving the city, she took her practice underground for many years, re-surfacing in 2015 and taking up the systematic study of esoteric correspondences in tarot. Along with deck creator Mel Meleen, Susie hosts the Fortune's Wheelhouse esoteric tarot podcast, which explores imagery and symbolism in the Rider-Waite-Smith and Thoth decks. She is the creator of the Arcana Case® for tarot decks, which can be found on her Etsy page, along with her line of esoteric perfumes. She reads tarot in person at the Inspirit Crystal shop in Northampton, Massachusetts Her online Tarot course, "The Living Tarot," course can be found on her website. Her interest in tarot is wide-ranging and passionate, and has included: Setting up 78 Spotify playlists for those interested in card-appropriate music memorizing astrological correspondences for the minor arcana while swimming laps writing tarot haiku and spells maintaining a sprawling Card-of-the-Day-tracking database (complete with elemental, astrological, and kabbalistical frequency and percentage pie charts). She attempts to learn Hebrew approximately once every 15 months and has been known to spontaneously arrange her pancakes into a Tree of Life formation. When not engaged in tarot-adjacent activity, she teaches writing at Smith College, and writes occasionally about food and cookbooks. She lives in western New England with her husband, two children, and a variable number of chickens. Andrew B. Watt Andrew Watt is an astrologer, poet and artist living in western Massachusetts. He works in textiles, wood and words to produce objects for practical magic and mysterious practicality, and seeks the honest wisdom found in the life of an artisan. Main website An Astrological Almanac for 2021 Patreon account Amazon author page Etsy website Twitter handle Tumblr handle Other Links 2020 Forecast Part 1 2020 Forecast Part 2 A Small Collection of Specialized Spreads, Volume Two Get a Tarot reading by email from Reverend Erik Get a video Tarot reading from Reverend Erik Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/arnemancy Listen on Podcrypt