Spirit Box

For episode 90 we welcome Dr Alexander Cummins. Dr Al is a consultant, diviner, writer, magician, and historian. He approaches ritual, divination, and sorcery both as a long-term practitioner and a historian of early modern magic. Dr Cummins has worked as a professional diviner for over a decade, and published several works on astrological magic, grimoires, and folk necromancy. He also provides training, workshops, and coaching in many aspects of magical theory and practice. Originally from the Midlands of the UK, Al now makes his home in the US. We discuss his new title "The Art of Cyprian's Mirror of Four Kings: An Early Modern Experiment of Cyprianic Conjuration". The Art of Cyprian, found in MS Sloane 3850, contains instructions for the construction and use of a magic mirror attributed to Saint Cyprian of Antioch. Along with the preparation of the mirror itself – which includes making and consecrating a particular ink for drafting certain figures of Solomon – come instructions detailing a conjuration of the ‘four worthy princes of the earth’, including a special appeal to the King of the East as their primus inter pares, and a dismissal of these same ‘four kings of the four parts of the world’. In this Guide to the Underworld, Alexander Cummins illuminates further Cyprianic dimensions of these directional courts of the various cardinal kings and their messenger-king attendants in the grimoiric corpus. We also discuss his journey into magic which including the collaborative storytelling of  Dungeons and Dragons and the influence of Aikido and childhood paranormal experiences at national trust properties and the spectrum of ancestor work and working with the dead. In the Plus show we talk to how the dead can step forward in a practical sense and our ‘family’ is bigger and stranger than we think it is. We also continue Dr Al’s journey into the occult as he started Chaos Magic as a young adult and discuss at point in his life things became ‘real’. Dr Al relays an intriguing story about using divination that returned life changing results for a sick friend whose condition had baffled doctors. We get into responsibility to others when practising spirit work and co-habiting and keeping oneself grounded. We discuss dealing with the restless dead and necromancy courses Dr Al has coming up.  We also go through his approach to dealing with hauntings and dealing with ancestors, especially the tricky, more pushy ones! Show Notes: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/grimoiresontape/ Website http://www.alexandercummins.com Art of Cyprian's Mirror of Four Kings https://www.hadeanpress.com/shop/the-art-of-cyprians-mirror-of-four-kings-an-early-modern-experiment-of-cyprianic-conjuration Courses https://www.morbidanatomy.org/classes/everyday-planetary-magic-a-seven-part-series-on-simple-star-sorcery-and-spellcraft-with-historian-dr-alexander-cummins https://www.thecauldronblack.com/event-details/necromancy-for-beginners-an-online-5-part-modular-class-series-with-dr-alexander-cummins-2022-03-28-19-00 Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

For episode 89 we discuss one of the most infamous books ever penned in the Arabic language—indeed, one of the most infamous books in the history of Islam. Feared, banned, and burned, the Sun of Knowledge or Shams al-Maʿarif has nonetheless survived the vagaries of time to rise to prominence as the most famous Arabic grimoire. Today we are joined by Amina Inloes & J. M. Hamade to discuss their collaboration in translating the book into English (for the first time!) and illustrating The Sun of Knowledge along with a rich commentary for Revelore Press. Little is known about the author, Ahmad ibn ʿAli al-Buni (d. 1225 or 1232). His name suggests he was born in Buna now known as the Algerian city of Annaba. In any case what can be said is that the Sun of Knowledge is an authentic reflection of the Arabic esoteric tradition, which has been passed down throughout the ages under the spiritual aegis of a great master, and which today is the single most influential and comprehensive work in the Arabic occult tradition. In the show we discuss the mysteries of the letters. The secrets of Bismillah and its significance in Islam. The names Jesus Christ used to raise the dead. Talismans, Zar practices and the mysteries around Inspiration and the use of tonal sounds in practice. It’s a wonderful, illuminating show and was a pleasure to record! In the Plus show the rich conversation continues with topics covering the Ring of Solomon, The Queen of Sheba and half Djinn people. How the Sun of Knowledge and the Picatrix sit together, the similarities and distinctions. We discuss in more detail the association between some letters and the lunar mansions. And we explore the Lunar mansions with their associated stars and from an astrological perspective. Show notes: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/Arabic__Magic/ Revelore Press https://revelore.press/product/shams-al-maarif-the-sun-of-knowledge/ Twitter https://twitter.com/Arabic__Magic Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sun-Knowledge-Shams-al-Maarif-Translation/dp/1947544357/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+sun+of+knowledge&qid=1647439199&sprefix=the+sun+of+kn%2Caps%2C69&sr=8-1 Jay's website https://jmhamade.com Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

Nathaniel Gillis is a religious demonologist and author. After living in a haunted house, He spent 20 years researching what it was he encountered. He is the founder of Preternatural Epiphenomenal Philosophy and he has sought to redefine the nature of haunting phenomena, ghosts and high strangeness. Nathaniel poses the question if the abduction phenomenon is in fact a part of the OBE and NDE family…then we need to re-examine many of the ancient funerary texts. He outlines how the Atrahasis epic states... “The soul of a man is made from the flesh of a god.” This speaks to consciousness being more than mere thought or memory…this speaks of consciousness actually possessing texture of some sort. The soul being fleshly is a reference to the tangibility of an apparition and the way it maintains a solid form.  This hidden potentiality is why he has begun to call Greys and other apparitional manifestations as “Inner Dimensional.” In the Plus show Nathaniel takes us through some of the astonishing cases he has investigated and helped with and helped him understand how some of this phenomena works. We also go into the potency of iron as a protective amulet against this phenomena. Show Notes: https://www.amazon.com/Moment-Called-Man-Nathaniel-Gillis/dp/B07Y4NDY92 Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

For episode 87 we welcome back author and healer Peter Mark Adams to discuss his new book 'The Power of the Healing Field'. Sharing remarkable cases of healing and personal transformation from his and his wife’s more than 20 years of intensive professional energy healing work as well as experiences from other gifted healers, psychics, and shamans, Peter illustrates the role of transpersonal fields of consciousness in healing a range of issues--from inherited family and ancestral problems to past lives and womb trauma to near-death experiences, merged identities, and spirit attachment. Drawing on esoteric tradition as well as scientific research, such as Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic field studies, the author maps out the human energy field in all its subtleties, providing diagrams of the human energy body, the spectrum of states of awareness, the multilayered fields of consciousness, and the psychoenergetic dynamics of the transformation process. Through compelling testimonials of powerful healings, Peter shows how the processes of healing and of peak spiritual experience are closely aligned with harmony within the larger energetic field of consciousness. In the Patreon Plus show we talk rebirth, chthonic visions, family timelines, the Spancel of death, spiritual emergencies, the effects of kundalini surges, the difficulties that can arise from managing this high level of  energy and all manner of wonderful Peter Mark Adams goodness! Show Notes: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Healing-Field-Abilities-Ancestral/dp/1644113589 https://www.innertraditions.com/author/peter-mark-adams https://petermarkadams.com/ https://www.mindconnectionhealing.com Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

L. A. Marzulli is an author, lecturer, and filmmaker. He has penned twelve books including The Nephilim Trilogy which made the CBA best sellers list. His book series On the Trail of the Nephilim vols I & II reveal startling evidence of a massive cover-up of what he believes to be the remains of the Nephilim, the giants mentioned in the Bible. L. A. teamed up with film producer Richard Shaw to create The Watchers series which grew to an eleven-episode catalogue. One of those instalments, Watchers 7: UFO Physical Evidence, won both the “UFO Best Film” and “People’s Choice Award” at the UFO Congress in 2014. Marzulli created a “team” that legally extracted material for DNA testing from the enigmatic elongated skulls found in Peru. The results will be released in Episode #6 of the On the Trail series in late 2020. In the show we discuss the 18 year lunar cycle in relation to the great mounds of America. We discuss the mysterious giant skeletons that L.A. theorises are the remains of the Nephilm. Towards the end of the show L.A. talks us through the incredible Paracas skulls from Peru. The YouTube version is here, I recommend watching it for the skull discussion.  Show Notes: Streaming.lamarzulli.net Nephilim  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephilim Cahokia Earth works https://www.worldhistory.org/cahokia/ Catalina Island Skulls https://virginianreview.com/76617/ Largest human skeletons https://largest.org/people/human-skeletons/ Catalina and giants https://www.howandwhys.com/mystery-of-alleged-race-of-giants-found-in-catalina-island/ Paracas Skulls DNA https://www.howandwhys.com/dna-tests-reveal-3000-year-old-paracas-skulls-are-of-unknown-human-race/ LA times on the Catalina bones https://www.latimes.com/local/la-xpm-2013-may-12-la-me-catalina-bones-20130512-story.html The giants that ruled America https://grahamhancock.com/dewhurstr1/

For episode #84 we are joined by Dr Megan Rose to discuss her new book ‘Spirit Marriage'. Megan Rose, Ph.D., has a doctorate in East-West Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a master’s degree in Religion in Society from the Graduate Theological Union. She is an initiated ceremonial magician, a Shakta Tantric practitioner, and a senior seer in the House of Brigh Faery Seership Institute. She serves as an ordained interfaith minister and psycho-spiritual counselor, and is the Executive Director of the Entheosis Institute. Dr Rose proposes this book is for anyone who is experiencing exceptional spiritual phenomena and needs a grounded & expert perspective on how to navigate & translate such experience. It is an in-depth exploration of the practice, relevance, and purpose of spirit marriage around the world, In the Plus show we discuss Entheosis, or waking the divine within and how it relates to spirit marriage The intense  account in the book of being married to Kali. We also get into the effects of spirit connection on one's nervous system, the precognitive properties of the human heart and how being spirit filled is similar to orgasm. Finally we talk to being in relation with the land and how co-creation centred gardening facilitates this. Show notes: http://www.drmeganrose.com https://www.instagram.com/drmeganrose/ Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

For episode number 84 we welcome the fascinating and erudite Sasha Ravitch!   Sasha is an astrologer, practitioner of folkloric witchcraft, and a (psycho)spiritual counselor. In the this episode we talk about Sasha’s work at the intersection of astrology and folklore witchcraft and how she has noted the prevalence of repeating astrological patterns in relation to spirit and non-human issues and relationships. We also discuss the frequently, generational origin of these issues and to that end, Sasha gives us some tremendous insights.    She describes the significant impact of having a mentor to guide her through her spirit experiences as young witch highlighting the importance of having community initiatory practises and practitioners to help those in spiritual crisis. We pose the question was shared trauma of C0v1d a significant factor in the upsurge in interest and practice in the occult.  In the Plus show we discuss Sasha’s pain wife lineage, a specific form of witchcraft related to fertility problems and death and her sojmanka heritage, or fairy seers. We also discuss the fairy swan maiden and the lore of the Cygnus constellation.    The links to Sasha's Patreon and her readings booking portal are below and I highly recommend you click those links, urgently, with gusto and robust impatience! Show notes: https://www.sasharavitch.com https://www.patreon.com/sasharavitch https://linktr.ee/sasha.ravitch Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

For episode #83 we welcome Gabriel McCaughry to the Spirit Box. Gabriel is an author, a magical practitioner and the founder of Anathema Publishing. In the show we get into Gabriel’s background, and the interesting crooked path that led him to found Anathema Publishing. We discuss Pillars periodical and its recently released volume, A Wayfarer’s Hearth, of which I am a proud contributor. This is a collection of stories of holy pilgrimages, transformative journeys and revelatory voyages. "A Wayfarer’s Hearth’ sets out to share the tales of those who have been deeply affected in esoteric ways by our travels to other lands, who have had our perceptions altered through cultural immersion, through being confronted with our own fears and prejudices. For those who have had our eyes pried open, our inner-selves irreversibly changed." In the Plus show we discuss in further depth how the themes of the Pillars projects often become the theme of Gabriel’s year. We also go into the challenges presented by distracting social media; how we are living in ‘a meaning-saturated field’; how recognising this is important and how that recognition informed the Pillars project. Show notes: https://www.anathemapublishing.com/a-wayfarers-hearth https://www.instagram.com/anathemapublishing/ https://www.anathemapublishing.com/haurorae Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

For episode #82 we welcome Dr Mark Fitzpatrick. He is a teacher, writer, and independent scholar, specialising in the Weird and the Wonderful. He has a PhD in Literature from the Université de Paris – Sorbonne Nouvelle, and is currently an invited lecturer in several Paris universities. Originally from Cork, he spent twenty years in Paris, living in garrets and trying to get his novels published. When this proved to no avail, he began publishing his work online on his website thehollowbehindthehearthstone.com, under a variety of aliases, and his first novel, Unreal City, is coming out in early 2022. He has recently moved to Aquitaine, where he lives in a little house on the grounds of a Strange Crumbling Manor, with his wife, his two children, a Wicked Uncle, and two and half cats. In the show we discuss the nature of belief and Mark details a remarkable experience he had with other in land around his home. We also discuss dual observance, being in right relation with place, the festival of Imbolc and bringing pagan festivals into ones circle. In  the Plus show we discuss the relationship between pagan festivals and subsistence farming and dependence on being in good relation to the land and the intelligences therein. We also get into how the others may cultivate human beings for whatever their business may be. Towards the end of show we get into the differences between the Gaelic mind and Anglo mind through their respective languages and stories and the influence in how they see the world. Show notes: https://www.instagram.com/the_hedge_school/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA1F9UJHqKcIzNCIFpT071A https://thehollowbehindthehearthstone.com https://www.facebook.com/malachasivernus/ https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JlaRPA Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka

Today we will be exploring the work of explorer Kira Salak and her experiences in Libya regarding the ‘The Fortress of the Jinn' or Kaf Ajnoun. Kaf Ajnoun is a jagged ridge with several peaks, the largest being The Qala'a (castle), along the Libya/Algeria border near the town of Ghat by the Akakus Massif. As it is in the Sahara, the native peoples are the nomads of the Tuareg and Tibu tribes. Looking like a haunted  citadel crowned with a magical fortress-like summit, the mountain was thus assumed the abode of mythical beings. According to Berber Tuareg mythology the ‘The Fortress of the Jinn' was once a "Hall of Council", where genies met to discuss their affairs. According to the explorer Hugh Clapperton, who visited the area in 1822, some of the inhabitants of the mountain, apparently with red hair, were heard to beat their drums at night and fire their muskets. Adventurer and traveller Kira Salak who followed the trail of Hugh Clapperton climbed to the summit with her photographer friend Bobby Model. She reached the top and back safely without any encounters; but according to her around 18 months later, during an Ayahuasca session in Peru she discovered she had been  possessed by evil spirits that "entered her body when, against the warnings of the local tribesmen, she climbed a supposedly haunted mountain in Libya". The possession and subsequent exorcism will be detailed in the Plus show. Show notes: Libya: Land of cruel deaths by Kira Salak http://www.kirasalak.com/Libya.html Peru: Hell and Back by Kira Salak. http://www.kirasalak.com/Peru.html Bobby Model’s photos of the Libya trip http://www.kirasalak.com/PhotosLibya.html Bobby Model’s website  https://m-11.com National Geographic obituary for Bobby Model https://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/article/adventure-friend-photographer-bobby-model-dies Kaf Ajnoun https://www.temehu.com/Cities_sites/kaf-ajnoun.htm Hugh Clapperton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Clapperton Keep in touch? https://linktr.ee/darraghmason Music by Obliqka https://soundcloud.com/obliqka