#Daniel a. Schulke

[erase-rebuild]

After a five year wait, an unwanted cancellation of my pre-order and a subsequent, and much more costly, re-order it finally arrived today. Daniel A. Schulke's massive tome The Green Mysteries. This beast is much bigger than I expected, and a thing of beauty.

Have not had time to read more than a few snippets so far, but it seems promising.

[lailoken]

What reading or background knowledge would you consider to be a pre-requisite for starting Viridarium Umbris?

I'm honestly not sure what I would suggest, other than maybe trying to learn what you can about Eruopean Wort Cunning and the Cultus Sabbati first. Others are welcome to give their own suggestions to this, though!

[friend-crow]

on today’s episode of People Let Me Touch Their Fancy Books:

[musingmelsuinesmelancholy]

Hey there! I’ve followed you for a bit but haven’t asked you much yet! So I’ve got one for you—what are your general thoughts on Chumbley’s work? Any books you recommend regarding Cultus Sabbati?

Hello! hope all is well 😁

Admittedly I’ve read more Schulke than Chumbley, though I do enjoy his works. I enjoy his writing style more than Schulke’s, tho like most sabbatic literature it can be hard to grasp but that’s the point! I enjoy the emphasis on ecstatic and oneiric experiences, the draconic motifs, the stellar motifs. It’s kinda what I was looking for when I got interested in witchcraft as a pre-teen. Sabbatic lit provided me structure as I was leaving behind the New Age stuff, which I desperately needed as I no longer had the structure of Wicca.

I’d recommend Azoetia, Lux Haeresis, Opsulca Magica and Qutub to somebody newer to sabbatic craft. I also really really enjoy Viridarium Umbris, Ars Philtron!

Pretty sure all of these are easy to find as PDFs. VK who? 👀

Just for transparency’s sake I am very much a novice, I have been practicing trad craft for like 6 ish years? Gotta long way to go!

[themotherofrevelation]

Thorns are chiefly weapons of Warding. As such, there is often to be found some sweet treasure the Herb or Tree is obliged to defend against those who would steal it: the odorous blossom of the Rose, the moist oasis at the heart of the caftus, the succulent dates of the Crucifixion Thom. The Thorn, therefore, is naturally endowed with the potencies of brisk defense, and further to this virtue, hatred of its enemies and valour in warfare. In this latter manifestation the Thorn is both punitive and binding, the Holy Nail of the Greenwood executing the grim sentence of Crucifixion at once harnessing the forces of binding and torment.

Daniel Schulke, Viridarium Umbris: The Pleasure Garden of Shadow

[banecraft]

Why I won’t buy, read, or review “The Green Mysteries” by Daniel Schulke

Three Hands Press has become an untrustworthy print on demand grift and Daniel Schulke, its sole proprietor, is as equally terrible at indie publishing as he is at writing intelligible books. A lot of people don’t know Daniel Schulke is the only person behind Xoanon and Three Hands Press. There’s no companies, no offices, no warehouses, no employees, and no cultus sabbati group, it’s literally just a dude. Despite claiming it was founded in 1992, Xoanon didn’t exist until post 2000 and it was just Chumbley self-publishing. After his death Schulke used it for self-publishing. Despite claiming it was founded in 2003, Three Hands Press was founded after Chumbley’s death in 2004 with its first book not published until 2009. I doubt Chumbley was ever involved. The press ran smoothly for a few years until Michael Howard (the anonymous unnamed partner who was the money and the publishing expert) died in 2015 and then it started to fall apart. Chumbley and Schulke are windy trash bags and always were. Stop listening to traditional witch influencers who make you think you have to have certain authors on your shelf to be legit. Neither has given anything back to the community. They never created community. Exclusion was their marketing ploy and it worked. Everyone wants into the exclusive club. It was always about book sales and the email list. Just an occult bro mlm. And y’all fell for it. Eight years to publish just one book and y’all still kissing Schulke’s ass after he spent all the preorder money, wouldn’t answer emails or give refunds, and then the book sucks? Insane.

Sources:

“Navigating the Crooked Path: Andrew D. Chumbley and the Sabbatic Craft “by Ethan Doyle White, 2019.

Video: “Why I won’t buy books from Three Hands Press anymore”

https://youtu.be/-abIFwGxWuQ?si=x3vK7Rrv0ayNYDfy

Three Hands Press’ Better Business Bureau complaints:

https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-pablo/profile/online-shopping/three-hands-press-1116-925897/complaints

[magic-study]

I pre-ordered The Green Mysteries years ago, as we all did. Finally, it was coming out April 11th. For real this time! So I waited and waited and checked my orders on April 18th to see when it should be arriving, concerned that it wasn't here yet.

My concern was warranted, as it showed up nowhere in my orders, not even under "cancelled." Where was it? Was Amazon gaslighting me? I called customer service to see what happened.

It turns out I had an old payment method that didn't work. Amazon tried charging it over several days and sent me several emails, none of which I saw, to warn me of my impending loss. After getting no reply from me, they did the sensible thing and cancelled my order.

Dear ones, make sure to check your email regularly so you don't fall to the same fate as your humble magic student. Stay safe and keep your payment methods updated.

[madmonksandmaenads]

This is a spell.

I got so stoned last night i visualized myself enjoying a huge bowl of mac and cheese so vividly that i forgot to eat dinner bc i thought i already ate

[sagescented]

Be ever mindful of the Genii of the Flask: That which is written by mortal hands reveals only the lesser portion of our Sacred Wine. The path betwixt […] illumine yet greater and ever more subtil arcana […]

Know then, that the perfection of the Arte is consummated within the Viridarium Umbriis, the Pleasure-Garden of Shadow; that Hidden Cubiculum of Plant Mysteries enclos'd by the coils of the Serpent of the Wise. And within the blood-bound troth of this Emerald Convivium shall the Tree of Wisdom […] stretch its limbs and bear the most precious of fruit.

Our Garden has no portals, and is Watched and Warded […] Despite this, some may gain admittand: Those Green [Sorcerers] call'd truly by [ the Woodwose of the Sorcerers], and the Children of the Royal Bloodline of Arte. Yet only the Ordeals of the Path and eternal wandering of the haunted Wilderness […] shall this Oasis be attain'd.

And many are the unworth, they who would confront the Sentinels standing at the Garden's quarters; those who would deign scale the Pleasure-Garden's walls to attain this Tree's hidden fruit. Yea, they shall be impaled on the thorns of the great […] infernal Tree of the Profane […]

Let the Wise Sorcerers, they who possess the Hidden Virtue, shun the folly of these! [P] Let the Wise stand unique, each as a Tree: Silent; strong; industrious; rooted firm within the Blood-Plot of its own domain, yet grasping the Heavens for what lies beyond; visible only when need be, and bearing good fruit. For there is another operation known to the Dwellers of the Grove, which will attain the miraculous Arbour of Desire.

From Ars Philtron: Concerning the Aqueous Cunning of the Potion and Its Praxis in the Green Arte Magical, published 2001; Daniel Schulke (My Ko-Fi Here)

[thanatoseyes]

So I think I just bought The Green Mysteries

by Daniel A. Schulke.

[tarotandnonsense]

There’s something about Schulke’s work that makes me wanna go outside and touch grass.

[ghoulnextdoor]

Rosa canina by Benjamin Vierling The Rose Labyrinth Pen & ink on paper ᛭ Illustration from The Green Mysteries By Daniel A. Schulke

[lailoken]

"'Praxis Sylva: The Patron Tree'

Of essence to Devotion upon the path is the binding magical seal of Oath, wherein the soul of the Faithful Seeker is bound in word, deed, and blood unto the Spirits of the Pleasure Garden and their work. Such is the gift of the Wayfarer unto the Father of Arboreal Wisdom, sealed in the Pact of the Patron Tree. By this act are the first steps of the Wayfarer solemnized.

With such knowledge as has been received by Counsel of the Copse, and in the good company of such wholesome spirits as have been sown by the Rite of Fallowing, go forth in purity unto a wild tree of thy heart's calling. Such may be an arbor well-known and venerated over many years, or yet it may be such a tree as has appeared in the Twilit Wood of Dream, only recently found in waking. Yet still, it may be a tree whose voice has called out to thee in thy wanderings or drawn thee beneath its branches by the strict power of fascination; or yet may have appeared as an Holy Waymark by divine arrangement of sign or omen.

In all ways shall it be hallowed unto thee, set apart from its brethren by virtue of character, portent, resonance, and magical idiolectic; and yet all such immediate knowledge may be, in its proper course, usurped by Intuition, for by way of epiphanic gnosis, conviction of the Souls of the Pure may be attained without mundane explanation.

By means of Sacred Quietus approach the tree and remain still. Within this moment of abiding, let the multitude of veils and armours raised against the mundane world be revealed in all nakedness, and with deliberation, both reckon them fairly, and tear them away. For while such thorns as thou hast put forth may serve as a bulwark against the Dominions of Man, they are an unseemly bewitchment of thyself within the Circle of Art, and a violation of the Laws of the Greenwood. Thus, by truthful attainment of the present moment, and witnessed by the Tree of thy true worship, proceed with the work of unbewitching, and know thyself revealed in the Light of the Wold.

As each veil falls, marshal thy innermost spiritual virtues—as well as all weaknesses and burdens—to the visionary form of a radiant Tree, in every way corresponding to thine essential principles, fair and foul. Witness this royal arbour standing in thy mind's eye strong and thriving, even as a greatspreading Oak in the midst of a meadow. See and know the breadth of its crown, above and below, and behold in entirety the work of its leaves and branches, greened in ecstasy. When it is accomplished, and the vision manifests of its own power, fix this image strong in thy mind's eye and stand unadorned as the Arboreal Self before the Tree of thy choosing.

Ever beholding the splendour of the Arboreal Self, let the Patron Tree in majesty be greeted in accordance with the counsel of the Heart, and then circumambulate its trunk, beholding the entirety of its form. In this, heed the teaching of the tree's outward mask: the warp and weave of its bark, the ground of its dwelling, the beasts which congregate amidst its branches. As this compass is drawn, know too the Arboreal Self as the Green Iconoclasm of the Wildwood, that spiritual intercessor betwixt thyself and thy Patron Tree whose outward form may change with the seasons, yet ever conceals mysteries, and reveals them anew. With both hands touch the trunk, lingering in the twin radiance of the trees of vision and flesh. If such is the decree of the spirits, a sign or omen may come, which, fair or foul, the Wise shall heed.

In successive pilgrimages to the Patron Tree, let sacrifices be given in addition to the original praxis: the perfumed smokes of incense, water, song, and knotted cord all shall suffice. At such a time as indicated by dream, omen, sign, and the Counsel of the Heart, let the Oath unto the Patron Tree be taken in all love, honour and severity, pledging devotion and protection unto the tree for life. In this magical compact is a gift given and received: the Wayfarer offers a single ring of his devotion, placed on a small branch high in the tree, or buried at its base. From the tree, a a single branch of wood is taken the cut on the tree sealed with the sorcerer's own lifeblood—to serve as wood for a magical fetish which the Patron Tree may indwell, and serve as a marriage-bond. The nature of the fetish is ordained by the Patron itself: such wood may become a ring for the finger, beads for a rosary, a wand, walking-staff, rune-stave, or idol.

In time, and with the good favour of the spirit, a power-compact betwixt Patron Tree and Herbarius may grow from the seeds of this union. For the fortunate, the Patron Tree and its attendant spirits may appear in Dream, or within the Waking Dream of the Magic Circle, to receive and convey blessings. The Patron stands within the Grove of Art not only as Totem, but also as Sacred Counsel; therefore let appropriate matters of inquiry be brought before the Tree and its Host for guidance. Throughout the life of the Wayfarer, a bridge of power, nurtured by devotion and spirit-communion, will link the Herbalist with the Patron Tree.

Let Devotion circumscribe intimacy betwixt Seeker and the Spirits them-lselves, written in the secret books of the Heart, for it is of concern to no other: by this is the Passion doubly kindled, the warmth of its flames appropriately directed, and one's place in the Grove of the Wise sealed.

OATH UNTO THE PATRON TREE

O Thou Shining Lamp of the First Tree of Knowledge,

Blessed art Thou and thy Attendant Host,

Blessed be thy Place of Dwelling.

By Ring of Blood and Kenning I pledge thee in Holy troth

All stewardship and adoration.

Come forth into the Grove of mine own dwelling

As I come forth into thine.

Thy roots all fallen idols embrace,

Thy form and mine entwined

As Serpent and Trunk,

All branches uplifted in power.

Sap to Blood I bind,

Leaf to Flesh I bind,

Wood to Bone I bind,

O Spirit Fair and Strong,

'Scribe thou this day within thy Rings.

All spirits here residing bear witness Unto these words and deeds of Union."

—

Viridarium Umbris: The Pleasure Garden of Shadow

by Daniel A. Schulke

[friend-crow]

The star of today’s gathering.

Had to capture this little plantain.

[musingmelsuinesmelancholy]

“Deeds of the Art Magical may forge, intensify, differentiate, or disrupt the bonds o f phantasmal emanation, thereby re- presenting their sentient qualities. Where Will, Desire and Belief perfectly frame the emanant trajectory, enchantment achieves realisation in the form o f hypostasised Eternity. This is accomplished by the congressive formulae of Light oo Void, the particulars of the Grand Triangulum, and the manifest strength of the Phantasmal Body.”

“Implicit within these maxims is the principle that every successful enchantment of the Art Magical produces a distinct emanation of Light, Shadow, and Void interweaving Totality. Knowledge of this maxim assists the Wise in determining how the Magical Fire is to be kindled, what serves as its best fuel, its immolative nuances, and its ultimate duration. This principle also embodies the mindful considerations o f magical trajectory and perpetuity. Accordingly, Operations of the Art are formulated not merely by need, inspiration and ingenium, but also in consideration of their radiative proclivities and points o f reception. This encompasses the knowledge that the light so produced exists not only as a presently-manifest form, but also as a distant artifact in futurity.”

Daniel Schulke, Lux Haeresis

[talonabraxas]

Gus Von Krampus! Krampus Imagery by Daniel A. Schulke