Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the magic of Goetia?

Grigori

I read Duquette's "My Life With The Spirits" today and was curious about the appearance of a verse from Coleridge's Kubla Kahn in one of the diagrams. At the start of Ch 16 (Evocation of Orobas) there is a diagram (unreferenced in the list of diagrams) that contains 4 interlinked Tree of Life diagrams, circled with three circles, each containing "Weave the circle round him thrice and close your eyes with holy dread. For he on honeydew hath fed and drunk the milk of Paradise".

Any connection between the contents of the Chapter and the poem seem fairly superficial to me (which likely means they are not that at all

) and the time line would not suggest any link between Coleridge and Mathers or any of the branches of magic that used the text following his translation, including Crowley's. (Not sure when the book was originally written though or who used it previously...).

Can any point me in the right direction? I've tried googling and only gotten websites featuring the poetry of Coleridge as well as Crowley for my efforts.

That poem was a favorite of mine since I was very small, and seeing it (very loosely I admit) connected to my Thoth studies was pretty exciting :thumbsup:

Fulgour

Have you seen this movie yet? The ending scenes
are brilliant ~ absolutely unforgettable...
The air I breathe has a different taste at times.

Pandaemonium is a 2000 film, directed by Julien Temple, screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It is based on the early lives of English poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in particular their collaboration on the "Lyrical Ballads". The film was shot on the Quantock Hills near Bridgwater in Somerset. Although it made several "10 best films of the year" lists in 2000, and was widely acclaimed by critics around the world, it received almost no distribution in the United States due to a bad review in the New York Times. (Wikipedia review)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge - played by Linus Roache
William Wordsworth - played by John Hannah

Aeon418

similia said:
Any connection between the contents of the Chapter and the poem seem fairly superficial to me (which likely means they are not that at all ) and the time line would not suggest any link between Coleridge and Mathers or any of the branches of magic that used the text following his translation, including Crowley's.

I don't think there's a connection either. In fact the key is probably in the sub-title of that particular diagram: "Floor plan of a modern Goetic Temple". Obviously whoever designed it simply felt that that particular verse has some sort of personal protective value in a magical sense. Goetic tradition would have you use a circle like this: http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/lks/img/fig153-4.jpg

What did you make of My Life with the Spirits, similia?

Grigori

Fulgour said:
Have you seen this movie yet?

oooh! I haven't heard of it but will try to get my hands on a copy. I really know virtually nothing about Coleridge, just that I have loved Kubla Kahn for a long time. I guess it was the first poem I ever read, let alone learnt, besides those you learn at kindergarten of course

(SIMILIA! do not sing Incey Wincey Spider today :laugh:

)

Aeon418 said:
I don't think there's a connection either. In fact the key is probably in the sub-title of that particular diagram: "Floor plan of a modern Goetic Temple". Obviously whoever designed it simply felt that that particular verse has some sort of personal protective value in a magical sense. Goetic tradition would have you use a circle like this: http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/lks/img/fig153-4.jpg

What did you make of My Life with the Spirits, similia?

Thanks Aeon. I didn't think there would be a great connection but the possibility was exciting enough to ask. My diagram (seems to be a late edition) has neither title, nor subtitle so I was at a lost to even identify what the picture may be (I assumed something altogether different from the text actually

)

I'm not sure how I feel about the book to tell the truth. I read it and "Angels Gods and Demons of the New Millenium" yesterday. I was looking for something non-technical and experiencial to lend some character to the idea of ritual magick. The books suceeded in that regard and I'm glad I read them, but they left out the things I most wanted to hear about (being ritual more specific to Thelema and HGA and ultimately the BOT) so that was disappointing. Understandable, but still...

I was looking for an insight into the experience of a magician, that didn't require me to wear a robe mostly

I guess its hard to be completely satisified when your trying to stand in two places at once anyway, so my expectations are perhaps unrealistic. I did feel intrigued enough to get a copy of Crowley's autobiography and a couple other texts now, so that is a more than adequate outcome for a few hours of enjoyable reading.

Fulgour

Pandaemonium

similia said:
oooh! I haven't heard of it but will try to get my hands on a copy.

There is a "future vision" sequence that's absolutely mind boggling!
It kind of lights up the interpretation of Coleridge's Kubla Kahn.

*

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.

http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Kubla_Khan.html

Aeon418

similia said:
I was looking for something non-technical and experiencial to lend some character to the idea of ritual magick. The books suceeded in that regard and I'm glad I read them, but they left out the things I most wanted to hear about (being ritual more specific to Thelema and HGA and ultimately the BOT)

Non-technical and experiential? Hmmm......

The Sacred Magician by William Bloom.
The author's diary of his performance of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin in eary 70's Morocco. I'm not sure if it's still in print though.

Aleister Crowley and the practice of the Magical Diary. Edited by James Wasserman.
It contains two diaries of magical workings. One of them is Crowley's (John St.John), the other is Frater Achad's aka Charles Stansfeld Jones (A Master of the Temple). Both diaries can be found online:

John St.John: http://www.the-equinox.org/vol1/no1/eqi01016.html

A Master of the Temple:http://www.the-equinox.org/vol3/eqv3n1/eq0301127.htm

similia said:
I did feel intrigued enough to get a copy of Crowley's autobiography and a couple other texts now, so that is a more than adequate outcome for a few hours of enjoyable reading.

Good luck with Aleister's Confessions.

The other texts ?

Grigori

Thanks Aeon. The Sacred Magician is on a few second hand websites so I'll add that to my next order (I'm only part way though my current lot right now

)

I also want to get a bit of Regardie's stuff blabbing GD secrets. Mostly to fit into the gap in the timeline of what I've read before. Although you've given me the impression that Confessions alone may keep me occupied/exhasperated for quite some time...

Aeon418

similia said:
Thanks Aeon. The Sacred Magician is on a few second hand websites so I'll add that to my next order (I'm only part way though my current lot right now )

You might notice that there are two versions of The Sacred Magician available. One is written by Georges Chevalier and the other by William Bloom. They are both the same book except the Bloom version is an expanded second edition.

similia said:
I also want to get a bit of Regardie's stuff blabbing GD secrets. Mostly to fit into the gap in the timeline of what I've read before.

Secrets ! What secrets?

The Golden Dawn is important in understanding Crowley's work. But you have to bear in mind that Crowley moved further and further away from the very structured Golden Dawn approach and more toward informal, ecstatic rituals as time went on.
I think that's why Crowley was a little annoyed when Regardie published all the Golden Dawn material. Essentially he resurrected a dinosaur of a magical system that's still alive today.

similia said:
Although you've given me the impression that Confessions alone may keep me occupied/exhasperated for quite some time...

The Confessions is a good read. I've read it twice and enjoyed it on both occasions.

ravenest

Maybe.

similia said:
I'm not sure how I feel about the book to tell the truth. I read it and "Angels Gods and Demons of the New Millenium" yesterday. I was looking for something non-technical and experiencial to lend some character to the idea of ritual magick. The books suceeded in that regard and I'm glad I read them, but they left out the things I most wanted to hear about (being ritual more specific to Thelema and HGA and ultimately the BOT) so that was disappointing. Understandable, but still...

I was looking for an insight into the experience of a magician, that didn't require me to wear a robe mostly I guess its hard to be completely satisified when your trying to stand in two places at once anyway, so my expectations are perhaps unrealistic. I did feel intrigued enough to get a copy of Crowley's autobiography and a couple other texts now, so that is a more than adequate outcome for a few hours of enjoyable reading.

Hi Similia, dont know if this is what you are after, but if it is I can perhaps offer some info. I have something non technical and experiential that may interest you. I did a rather gruelling weeks long Goetic working, sourcing various traditions in goetica and adapted it all to an / my Thelemic understandings. The first parts will relate to HGA (as invocation) and the rest to the Goetic spirit in question (evocation). It would deffinatly give insight into the experience of a magician. {And there is a interesting robe correlation, the diary of the working starts with complex and ritual regalia / robes, then lists a heat wave of 36 degreesC. at night! so the ritual became 'robeless'}. Expectations are often unrealistic (especially in Goetic ritual!). if you are prepared to undertake such workings be very prepared to be flexible. some rituals written by "experts" just dont work on the real physical plane, I am talking here about common sense, you might find when you set up, all the stuff will not fit in the circle or on the altar, and other similar things, it then becomes apparent that the person writing the ritual has not actually tried to do it! (of course maybe they are tricking us to see how we can work things out ourselves).
A calssical example of this is the Karmea of the planets reprinted in the G.D. book. There is a big mistake in one (easily detected when you work with it.) yet each person that has reprinted it in a book (or even drawn it up for temple use) has copied the mistake ... evidence that they never used it or understood its workings . (to check the validity of a Planetary karmea or magic cquare, draw a line from 1 to 2 etc, through to the last number on the square and connect that to 1 (like in the 'join the dots" kids game). You will observe a balanced shape or mandala, an expression of the mathmatical harmonies at work in the square, any mistake will instantly jump out of the finished square)

So all the above can make quiet interesting reading of the ritual diary (and quiet often supply a good laugh)
if you want to check out the record of the working (got some photos of it too) let me know, and we can try and work something out.

Grigori

Thanks Ravenest. You sound about a year of study ahead of my ability to even follow what is going on superficially, but give me a little while to get the definitions under my belt, and you can expect to hear more questions from me :thumbsup:

It would be great to discuss the specifics with someone with real experience.

My current reading pile is shrinking, so new texts will need to be ordered shortly

Samuel Taylor Coleridge and the magic of Goetia?

Grigori

Fulgour

Aeon418

Grigori

Fulgour

Aeon418

Grigori

Aeon418

ravenest

Grigori