Modality: Cardinal
Element: fire
Ruler: Mars

Keywords: Initiative, action, adventurous, enthusiastic, dynamic, impatient

As an Aries you are a born leader, eager to take the initiative and be a leader. Be careful, though, as you tend to be impatient; this trait can get the better of you at times. You are energetic, and fiery Mars ensures that you are good at what you try. Sports and exercise for you are relaxing and help you free your mind.

You have a wide social circle, though it is mostly comprised of acquaintances, rather than close friends. Your love life is nurtured by your energy and enthusiasm, which is helpful being that you place a lot of value on relationships and partnerships. You likely have a strong need for children, but be careful that you don’t dote too much on your kids. Be sure to spend your time (not your money) on them.

Your enthusiasm and motivation translates well to your career, and you are mindful to keep moving up the ladder. You excel at analysis with an eye for detail; be sure that your impatience doesn’t hinder your good career prospects. You have excellent earning potential and can do well with long-term investments; make sure that you look before you leap when diving into a large financial risk. You are frugal and understand value.

For the year ahead:

Affirmation: Every challenge is ultimately an opportunity!

• Jupiter exits Aquarius on January 17, ending the year-long focus on friends and socializing.
• Jupiter’s visit to your Twelfth House will bring added protection and good fortune.
• Upheaval in your job or work environment will end when Saturn completes its Virgo transit on July 20 and make its last Virgo/Pisces contact at the end of April
• Pluto in Capricorn, your tenth house, will have a powerful influence on career during its long transit (lasting until 2024). This placement can help you achieve ambitious career goals, but it can also signify trouble at work (think personality clashes or downsizing). With Pluto in your tenth house, be aware of what is going on at your workplace.

Considered by many to be the start of the astrological new year, International Astrology Day is celebrated each year on the Spring Equinox (the day the Sun enters Aries). There are various observances around the world, including lectures and other events.

Anyone have any plans to celebrate this observance?

Yeah, I guess you had to be there…

So what does this have to do with magick? Well, recently I’ve been contacted by a man who wants to study the Tarot a specific and very advanced way. He is interested in exclusively using the Golden Dawn astrological associations with the cards. When you get to the Minor Arcana, relating the given meanings of the cards to their astrological associations isn’t as simple as A+B=C. It’s more like A+µ=∑. For some people this may be obvious. For others, it’s not. You have to understand the Tarot, some astrology, and then meditate on their relationships for it to make sense. And then, after it becomes clear to you, it may not be clear to other people. That doesn’t mean your way of relating the astrology to the Tarot is wrong, it just means it’s uniquely yours.

Anyway, this gentleman liked the way my thoughts led to equating the given meaning with the astrology of the cards. He doesn’t like the way some other people present it. What I want to stress, however, is that merely because this gentleman agrees with my presentation doesn’t make me right and all the other people wrong. It merely means that my personal approach matches his needs. The other people aren’t covering up their lack of knowledge or “yanking his chain.” They’re presenting things the best way they can. The real difference is that they say, “potato” and I say “potahto,” nothing more.

I think it is very important for students of occultism to understand this. If you come to believe that one teacher or book is right and the others are wrong, you run the risk of moving from student to hero worshiper. I think Dion Fortune recognized this when she wrote that there is no room for authority in occultism. No single teacher or book should be free from question, debate, or challenge. When I give workshops I usually begin by saying, “Think for yourself. Question authority.”

Because there is (or should be) no single authority for magick and occultism, I think it’s absolutely great when there are several books that cover the same material. I happen to be very proud of the books I’ve written. I wouldn’t want them out there if I didn’t think they were the best in their field. But I’m also glad that there are other books that deal with the same topics. First, because if they’re good it makes me want to do even better. For example, I think that Modern Magick is the best introduction to magick, especially ceremonial magick, available. But there are other good books out there. When the new third edition comes out later this year, I think it will extend my leadership.

But even though I think my writing is the best, that’s still subjective. Other people may find different books they prefer. Perhaps the approach of the other authors meets their needs more than my writing. And that’s okay with me. In fact, I encourage people to read books by other authors. Perhaps, because of your needs, something will make more sense to you.

Although the competition for me to do better is valuable, I don’t worry about other people’s writings competing in the marketplace with my writings for a simple reason: Nobody buys just one occult book. If they prefer something by another author to start, I hope they’ll end up reading my works. And if people start with my books, I hope they’ll find other people to read, too.

So I don’t mind seeing lots of books for beginners. If one book doesn’t appeal, perhaps another will. And I don’t mind seeing books on the same topics I cover. Read one of those and maybe you’ll eventually read one of mine.

After all the brain contortions of bending gender and thinking about numbers and animas and animuses (animi?), let’s take a day to reset back to a more traditional image. Besides, the art of this deck is so very lovely, I’m always willing to look at it. (If you like this, you can see more here and here).

Like all the major arcana cards in this deck, this one has a Latin motto, which means: “Wisdom is not easily improvised; virtue cannot be invented.”

I’ve noticed that many Hierophant variations include the idea of time, which goes with tradition. Is wisdom gained over time exclusively? Is virtue measured by a single action or by cumulative actions over time?

At first I thought the animal at his feet was a fox, but the booklet says that it is a dog and that it is the synthesis of The Hierophant’s values, “a noble spirit, understanding, and respect for family traditions.”

While I do like this card, I confess that I’m a bit bothered by that sack he is holding. It bothers me to think that there might be money in there.

Field Guide to the Little People

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, I thought I would share the exact definition of a leprechaun according to the Field Guide to the Little People by Nancy Arrowsmith.

The leprechaun is the Faeries’ shoemaker and goes by various names, depending on what part of Ireland you are in, and they only reside in Ireland. They are called the cluricane in Cork, the lurican in Kerry, lurikeen in Kildare, and lurigadaun in Tipperary. The leprechaun loves tobacco and whiskey; can be smiling and happy one minute, and drunk and depressed the next; and is the ultimate con man. Not even the most clever person has been able to cheat him of his pot of gold. Leprechauns are between 6 and 24 inches high and have light grey skin, wrinkled faces, and bright red noses. They wear three-cornered hats, green jerkins and waistcoats with shiny buttons, leather aprons, long blue stockings, and high-heeled shoes with large silver buckles. They are often seen smoking a pipe while busily hammering on a shoe.

If you happen to find yourself in Ireland, pay special attention around the roots of trees and near castle ruins in quiet, secluded places. You may spot a leprechaun, but just know that he can disappear from sight in the twinkling of an eye.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Spirits Out of Time

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This week, to help prepare for Ostara festivities on the weekend, we have a guest blogger stepping in! Bronwynn Forrest Torgerson, author of One Witch’s Way: A Magical Year of Stories, Spells & Such, writes about the beautiful magic of nature on the spring equinox. Enjoy!

When did our blessed Ostara get to be such a juvenile holiday?  I recall being new to the Craft but long attuned to the seasons and cycles of the earth, and smelling the first breath of Spring in the air.  There was a subtle shifting of energies, an inward stirring of freshness, possibility and new hope in the air.  As a wilderness child, I avidly searched for the first hint that the cold earth had thawed, for the first glimpse of wild dutchmans’ breeches, sweet violets and bloodroot flowers to come pushing up out of the ground.  Ostara brought silver minnows swimming in the creek, gusty breezes to coax kites aloft and wish bubbles to be blown out on the wind with a jar and plastic wand.

Somewhere along the way in the Pagan community, Ostara became only a children’s sabbat with grown-ups hovering awkwardly while kids scouted colored eggs.  There might be a picnic afterwards, with another avalanche of eggs.  What once was heralded as a light-hearted observance of greenings and hatchings and sighings of robins, wrens and hares, has been diminished to Cadbury eggs, jellybeans and egg coloring kits.

For all of us earthlings who are childless, or those whose children have grown, I propose returning Ostara to its roots…and stems and leaves and flowers.  If your young ones or grandkids have lost sight of their connection to the earth, and have no idea why there are chocolate rabbits hopping down from every grocery store shelf, this will be an educational outing for them.  There is magic and meaning in this observance, whether you are a covener of solitairy.  Make of Ostara a day of discovery, of newness in the wild.

If means permit, arrange a weekend camping or cabining trip to a place in nature.  Get away from the city’s concrete and steel. Along with other supplies, take your camera, notebook and pen.  Once settled in, find a picnic bench or break out your camp chair.  Seat yourself comfortably and invoke Ostara, Goddess of Spring:

“Lady of flowers returning, Lady of the earth’s green mantle,

Sweet your presence, blessed your spirit.

Awaken my senses to you, that I might be renewed.”

 Now embark upon your great discovery.  Beginning with your sense of hearing, listen to the sounds of spring.  Is there a gurgling brook or a sunlit creek skipping over small stones?  Are there birds in the trees, industriously setting up housekeeping for the year?  Listen for as long as you like, then record what impressions came to you.

Next consider the smell of spring.  What is the scent of the earth, watered by spring rains?  How does the waterfall smell, rushing by?  Press your face to a leaf or bend to sniff a wildflower.  Tilt your face up towards the sun and drink in the fragrance of the day.  Jot down your thoughts or write a poem about this experience.

You may have to take the taste of spring camping with you.  Put together a salad of spring greens and herbs.  Set a dish of plump strawberries or blackberries for dessert.  I dare you to play at face painting by tracing some of the juice across your nose or cheeks!  Pour yourself a glass of spring water with a sprig of mint.  Dice up an apple and scatter it nearby, that the creatures of the earth might dine too.  If you are led to say a pagan grace, it might be something like this:

“Blessed is the earth on which I stand.  One Mother, giver of all life, renewed and renewing for time without end.  Blessed is the goodness you provide to nurture my body and soul.  May I walk gently, ever mindful of your grace.  So mote it be.”

Savor your little feast and thank Ostara for feeding you once again.  Take time to be grateful.  After your meal, see what gift you can give back to the earth.  Pick up some aluminum cans or trash.  Pour the last of your water at the base of a tree, or bury a few silver coins for the unseen spirits of the land.

Next look around you, visually noticing the colors of spring.  Ostara has painted the land with her palette, hoping you have the eyes to see.  Notice the changes in light and in shadow this time of year.  How many wildflowers have stars outlined in their pastel centers?  Like every good artist, the Goddess signs Her work.  Choose a single flower or a leaf, and press it in your journal.  Stand by a stream and note the patterns on wet stones. Have your camera ready to catch the budding trees’ reflection in the water.

Finally, reach out with both your body and your spirit.  Skip a few of those smooth flat stones!  Roll up your pant legs and go wading and splashing like the earth child you are!  Take your hiking stick in hand and see what’s around the bend.  Rake aside a bit of old brush and reveal the seedlings popping through the ground, tiny mushrooms and insects busy at work.  Tuck leaves into your hair.  Revel in the joy of spring!

When you have returned to your camp, write down anything of special significance to you.  Then thank Ostara with words like these:

Here in the heart of nature, my spirit is renewed

And all my senses quickened.

Let me never lose the sight of beauty,

The scent of the breeze,

The taste of all the earth provides.

Let me hear the living earth hum around me

And feel your love in the weaving of nature’s web.

Blessed Be.”

 Kiss your hand, then blow a kiss to Ostara on the balmy air.  She is all around you, and Her arms encircle the world.  List the treasures your day of exploration has revealed, by saying something like:

“For the little chipmunks who came for food, Ostara, I thank you!

 For the first butterfly in the meadow, Ostara, I thank you!

 For the shiny stone in my pocket, Ostara, I thank you!

Hail to the Mother of Beginnings!  I’m betting that Ostara soon becomes one of your favorite sabbats.  Here’s to the sweetness of welcoming Spring!

 - contributed by Bronwynn Forrest Torgerson

I included this deck just to try and make your brains explode. This is another compelling deck designed by my friend Riccardo Minetti. In this deck he plays with the idea of gender and how it influences our understanding of the cards.

In the Manga Tarot, all the cards that are traditionally male are depicted as female and vice versa. Arcana V becomes The Priestess, and looks very much like a traditional High Priestess card. Arcana II becomes The Priest. For ease of discussion, I’ve pictured them together here.

Many of us blend associations of the card’s number in with the name, image, symbolism, and other associations together to create a card’s meaning.

When a deck renames or renumbers cars, do you incorporate the alterations into your interpretations or stick with what you usually use?

How does renumbering The Hierophant from V to II affect its meaning? With traditional decks we speak of I, The Magician as being the active masculine principal or the anima and II, The High Priestess as the receptive feminine principal or the anima. Can Arcana II be portrayed by a male figure? Conversely, can tradition or teaching (Arcana V) ever be receptive and passive?

The source of the name, however, is from a book entitled The Magician by Somerset Maugham, author of such books as Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence, and my personal favorite, The Razor’s Edge.

Maugham had met Crowley in Paris, and supposedly didn’t like him. Yet, he modeled the antagonist of his 1908 book The Magician, Oliver Haddo, after Crowley. According Richard Kaczynski, Crowley read the book and recognized himself as Haddo. He recognized things he, himself, had said…and a lot more. Crowley wrote a review of the book using the pen name Oliver Haddo. Published in the famed magazine “Vanity Fair,” it accused Maugham of extensive plagiarism, copying from books by Eliphas Levi, McGregor Mathers, and even from “The Island of Dr. Moreau” as well as from others. I guess that was another reason for Maugham to dislike Crowley.

Movie poster for The Magician (1926)

In 1926, Rex Ingram (a famous film director who made “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” that made Rudolph Valentino a star) made a film version of “The Magician.” Starring in the role of Oliver Haddo was the German actor and director Paul Wegener (his only Hollywood role), now famous for his earlier movie, “The Golem.”

Last night, the Turner Classic Movie (TCM) channel, for the first time ever, showed Ingram’s film. Wegener was a large, barrel-chested man with odd, almond-shaped eyes. He was both repelling and alluring, qualities some people have attributed to Crowley. The plot has Crowley Haddo as a combination wizard, alchemist, and mad (literally) scientist attempting (for no stated reason) to create life. Unfortunately, this required the blood from the heart of a “maiden.” With this background, the plot becomes obvious. Happy woman is seduced away from her fiance by Haddo. Fiance searches for her, finds her during the final magickal rite, kills Haddo and saves his love.

According to Kaczynski, when the film was about to premier, Crowley tried to get an injunction to stop it. He claimed he should receive compensation as the model for Haddo. “Crowley’s plan was to block the film’s showing in order to get a contract to make a series of educational films about magick. When the studio’s representatives contacted him and offered a financial settlement, Crowley refused the offer.” Unfortunately, there was no movie deal, the premier was held on schedule, and Crowley got nothing.

Well, that’s the story of Crowley, Maugham, and Oliver Haddo. Currently, TCM shows a silent film each Sunday evening, so you might want to watch their schedule to see when it’s showing again. Although the movie was filmed in black an white, as was actually common of films in that period, the film was tinted in various places (blue, red, sepia) to help add to the emotions of the film. If you’re used to seeing old films in just black and white, this will give you an idea of what people seeing the original would have seen. Of course, it’s a silent film, but they’ve added a music score. The original music is fine, but at times they use rather obvious, overly well-known classical melodies and music to amplify a scene. I found this rather clichéd.

Kaczynski adds that James Whale, director of the original Frankenstein and Dracula films, viewed The Magician repeatedly, and there are several similarities in those films. Certain views of Haddo match the filming of certain shots of Bela Lugosi as Dracula. The tower where Haddo has his headquarters is almost the same as that in Frankenstein. Haddo’s assistant, like Dr. Frankenstein’s, is a hunchback. And finally, the destruction of the tower at the end of Whale’s Bride of Frankenstein looks almost identical to the destruction of Haddo’s tower headquarters.

I looked at the TCM website and didn’t see that this film was for sale, but since it had a new copyright added to it, I’m going to assume that it will become available to film buffs and Crowley fans.

Did you see it? What did you think of it?

Theft, according to my dictionary, is “the action or crime of stealing.”

And by posting that, I just committed a theft. What?

Somewhere, an individual or group of individuals spent their time to come up with that definition. Somewhere, an editor made sure grammar and appearance were accurate. Somewhere, a typesetter entered that information. Somewhere, another editor looked over everything and gave a final “ok.” Somewhere, a manager oversaw the entire project. Somewhere, a printing company took ink and paper and turned all of that information into a book. Somewhere, a shipping company had people involved in sending those books to bookstores. Somewhere, bookstores sold that book to individuals. Literally dozens of people were involved with this process, and many of them have families to support. And because I copied the hard work they went through and posted those words above, some of you reading this might not buy the dictionary I used. That takes money away from all of these people who did all of this work.

And that is stealing, isn’t it?

Okay. I have to admit that I’m grossly exaggerating. I doubt if anyone is going to lose any money because I posted six words.

But many much larger thefts like this go on. There is almost an “unwritten rule” that if something appears on the internet—even if there are all sorts of notices saying “don’t copy this without permission”—it’s free to copy and post everywhere. I’m a moderator for an on-line forum dedicated to hypnosis, and one of the things I’ve had to do is delete posts from people who simply repost other material that’s under copyright.

And yet, this type of posting goes on all over the internet. Most of the time it’s from people who simply don’t know any better. “Someone else posted it so why can’t I?” But sometimes, the theft is far more clear.

Ideas Can’t Get a Copyright. Words Can.

You can’t get a copyright on an idea, but according to law, as soon as you express those ideas in words, the words are under copyright. Nobody has the right to steal your words and publish them somewhere without your permission. That’s theft. For example, I can’t copyright The Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram. However, the words I used to describe the ritual are under copyright. Several years ago a magickal order copied the words I wrote and sold them to their members. I asked them to either stop or credit me. The head of the order wrote to me saying it was a mistake and not meant to be put out that way, and that they have reworded the entire piece.

But that’s just a small section of my Modern Magick. What about the entire book?

Today I received the notice that someone had gone to the trouble of digitizing some of my books (as well as those of other authors on occultism) and were making them available for download. I know there are a couple of organizations that give space for people to make books available (while denying any responsibility for theft). I also know that my publisher will make sure that my books (and others that they publish) are removed from that illegal distribution.

Email Help

Even since Modern Magick was published, I’ve received thousands of requests for information and assistance. Sometimes it takes awhile for me to respond, but I do respond. I know the same is true for many other authors. Often, I receive letters and email from people who haven’t bought any of my books, but who have seen something I wrote for a magazine, or online, or thumbing through pages of one of m books in a bookstore, and have a question for me. I try to help.

Recently, though, I received an email from a person who had downloaded my book and had a question about it. I thought about how to reply to this person who had essentially stolen my work and not paid money that helped support me and the editors, artists, printers, bookstores, etc., who worked together to create the book. I finally explained to him that I willingly help people who have purchased my works and who have not purchased my works, but I’m going to draw the line and not help people who have stolen my work. His response was snarky, essentially saying that he was going to cancel his plans to buy a copy. Frankly, I doubt if he would buy a copy at all so his attempt to say that I was being stupid over this and was losing out was a failure.

This Doesn’t Make Sense

Curiously, the publishers of some authors have given away digital copies of an author’s books. More than one author has discovered to his or her surprise that giving away books in this way resulted in increased sales of actual copies of their books. Logically, that doesn’t make sense. If I give you a book, why would you go out and buy a copy? I can think of two reasons. First, the announcement of the give away advertises the books and it may be that the advertising results in increased sales. Second, people may find that they like the book but don’t like the digital format, so they get a traditional version of the book.

So are the thieves who are stealing the hard work of authors actually increasing sales?

Of course, the big difference is that in one instance someone not associated with the author or a book’s publisher have chosen to steal the book without permission and give it out in a digital form while in the other instance the publisher and author decide to do so.

I have to admit I’m worried that if my works are available for free, nobody will want to buy them. This shows, however, that in a secretive way they have been available for free, yet thankfully, they are still selling.

I don’t know what the future of copyright and theft of books and writing will be in the era of the internet, an era where people think that if something is posted to the internet, it should be theirs, free, to make available wherever they want.

What do you think?