#heremetics

[vintagerpg]

Abyss of Hallucinations (2021) is, like most of Max Moon’s work, a fusion of occult themes and solid RPG design. In this case, a heremetic setting for MÖRK BORG that draws heavily on the work of Aleister Crowley, particularly The Book of Lies (which Max reprinted as a zine in the same trade dress, as an accompaniment).

The mixture is a little less than 50/50 here, I think, with RPG elements (60ish percent?) necessarily overwhelming the magickal elements (while Max does get it to more of a 50/50 mix in other projects, this volume at least perhaps illustrates how the precision of RPG writing is at odds with the obscurity of the occult).

There is a sort of phantasmagorical wilderness, populated by features derived from The Book of Lies, but only tersely described. This gives way to three character classes that each reflect some core aspect of Crowley’s personality (Seeker of the Left Hand Path, Offspring of Pan and, humorously, Mountaineer). Following that are several entities one might encounter, including Baphomet, Babalon and mystical Dinosaurs.

The centerpiece is a dungeon called the Unicursal Heptagram that functions as a sort of cursed puzzle as well as an initiation into the greater mysteries of the Abyss. It adheres to the difficult Thelemic logic of The Book of Lies (which, mapped to a dungeon, reminds me a little of the tortured thinking behind many point-and-click adventure games of the ’90s). The effect is disorienting and serves to erode a lot of player assumptions about just what everyone is doing here. Playing MÖRK BORG? Or something more?

[hobbiagysebesz]

az van, hogy beleneztem az x faktorba a heten. egeszen elkepeszto elmeny volt. nagyon durvan kepessegtelen emberek jottek el a valogatora, ahol majka es gaspar laci egy szerencsetlen primitiv part juttatott tovabb viccbol. mindenki lathatta es hallhatta, hogy nem tudnak enekelni, ok meg annyira vakon vannak (meg gondolom a kornyezetuk se sokat segit ebben), hogy ezt nem veszik eszre. majka es gaspar laci a gatlastalan szorakoztatas neveben elszorakozott veluk, mint macska az egerrel, vegtelenul undorito, minosithetetlen es erkolcstelen volt az egesz. miutan a csavo elmekegett egy zambo jimmy szamot ugy, hogy a szoveggel is gondjai voltak, mondtak neki, hogy ha az asszony tovabbjut, akkor o is. toth andi probalt a realitas talajan maradni, de tul sokat nem tudott elerni ezzel, valkusz milan pedig nyilvanvaloan azt se tudta, hol van, kb mintha valami tripben lett volna es flesselgetett volna a lelki szemei elott elhalado szines lepkekre, gecire nem ertem, mi a bal heremet keresett ott. de meg mindig sokkal kevesbe volt ellenszenves, mint a nyilvanvaloan pszichopata majka es a kegyetlen szorakozasban melto partnere, laci. elmennek ezek a szaros picsaba megbaszni a kurva anyjukat salakos fasszal. csak ennyit szerettem volna elmondani

[crashhole]

People be like “I’m looking for a book about magic” and you’ll recommend a hyper sigil based on heremetic philosophy only for them to turn it down cuz it doesn’t have any wands or fantasy elements 💀

[kaddyssammlung]

Eden

I just watched a video and someone described Eden as something that we have lost and forgotten that it existed. He described it as a state of no lack and total abundance and harmony.

Harmony can not be created it is a result that we create by finding peace within us. I love this. When everyone is at peace with themselves then we find peace on the outside. This hints on the heremetic principals “as within so without, as above so below”.

In doing so we find Eden again.

Just wanted to share that. I'm not even done with that video. I just got so exited.

Oh well...no one take you back to Eden btw. You have to find your way and figure out yourself what it is that keeps you from being at peace with yourself.

[daydreaming-bi]

I've been reading about Hermetic principles and Philosophy and it is so fancinating. I've been a witch for several years but about half a year ago I started really contemplating my own ideas about how the universe works and personal gnosis and it's so amazing reading about topics like this.

[krows-nest]

Struck down and cast out

Molded by all the things it has burned

A spark became a star

To forget that is was turned away

Hidden in a mountain

Deep below the depths

Where the deathless ones roam

Burning brightly

While struggling against the waves

Choking back magma

Spewing black flames

Raging beneath the calm waters

Wishing upon itself

To be free

[versace-coffins]

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[doubletap666]

The essence of the teachings of Hermès Trismegistus

Inside in the daytime

[chiquicreates]

I know you like Hyth/Hades/Hermes so maybe I2 or J2 for that poly ship meme?

I do indeed, i love them! I always put Hades in the middle so i changed it up a bit, hehe.

Ty for the request!

[circularfire]

O Egypt, Egypt, of thy religion nothing will remain but an empty tale, which thine own children in time to come will not believe; nothing will be left but graven words, and only the stones will tell of thy piety. And in that day men will be weary of life, and they will cease to think the universe worthy of reverent wonder and of worship. And so religion, the greatest of all blessings, for there is nothing, nor has been, nor ever shall be, that can be deemed a greater boon, will be threatened with destruction; men will think it a burden, and will come to scorn it. They will no longer love this world around us, this incomparable work of God, this glorious structure which he has built, this sum of good made up of things of many diverse forms, this instrument whereby the will of God operates in that which be has made, ungrudgingly favouring man’s welfare, this combination and accumulation of all the manifold things that can call forth the veneration, praise, and love of the beholder. Darkness will be preferred to light, and death will be thought more profitable than life; no one will raise his eyes to heaven ; the pious will be deemed insane, and the impious wise; the madman will be thought a brave man, and the wicked will be esteemed as good. As to the soul, and the belief that it is immortal by nature, or may hope to attain to immortality, as I have taught you, all this they will mock at, and will even persuade themselves that it is false. No word of reverence or piety, no utterance worthy of heaven and of the gods of heaven, will be heard or believed.

Exerpt from Thoth's Prophecy in the Heremetic Texts

[vintagerpg]

Witches (1990) more fully embodies the new look and feel of the Role Aids line’s second wave. That AD&D disclaimer is way small now (and that size would be one reason TSR eventually sued Mayfair in 1993). The corner logo is still there, but the title treatment for the book isn’t standardized and the cover art, by Chill mainstay Joe De Velasco, is original for the first time since the early ‘80s. Inside, the illustrations are by Roger Raup, which gives this book a consistent level of quality that is a real treat. This is also the last book to use the single accent color, which is a shame, but it does it well.

The book tackles a nice variety of witchcraft modes, from Dianic traditions to more modern systems like the Heremetic, to the fictional witchcraft of Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni novels. It is the first Role Aids book that, which still technically a D&D book, seems entirely unconcerned with being D&D, if that makes sense. Very little of Raup’s illustrations conform to fantasy tropes. The White Wolf World of Darkness games weren’t out yet, but this feels similarly inspired (by Vertigo comics and growing pre-millennial tensions, probably). There is a glimmer here of a whole different way to play D&D that perhaps informs D20 Modern down the line.

And, taken on the merits, it’s a mighty fine resource for translating the flavor of real world magical systems into RPG terms!

[triste-le-roy]

Engravings depicting the final six keys from Basil Valentine’s The Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine—from Musaeum hermeticum (Matthaeus Merian, mid 17th century).

(via Wikipedia)

[calder]

remember when bethedsa tried to make up some new lore that the 3000 series of pip-boys were almost heremetically sealed to a persons arm once they put it on in the anchorage dlc?

yea its fucking incredibly dumb but it props up the dead garys joke which is my favorite thing about that dlc and that vault

[will-o-the-witch]

May I ask if alchemy is ok for goy witches? May I also ask if the Heremetic principles are ok as well?

I don’t know much about alchemy, but unless you’re appropriating Jewish mysticism when you do it I imagine it should be fine.  Hermeticism is pretty notorious for having a lot of appropriation, especially Hermetic “”””Qabala”””” is pretty egregious. I’m not sure if there’s a way to separate all of what it takes while still keeping it identifiable and intact, but I have also never tried that hard to find one because I usually just steer clear of Hermeticism and ceremonial magic in general. TLDR is just check your sources and check your source’s sources, just do your research about where people are getting their practices and philosophies from! If it gets into Kabbalah, it’s been appropriated.

[kromskrotch-blog]

I like my witchcraft being post-Christian*. 

The magic of psalms, rosaries, and saints speak to my sensibilities. It is the magic of my blood and my ancestors. However, I do not like the term ‘dual faith observance.’ What am I observing and why is it dual? 

Want a bit of domestic control? Ask St Barbara for a little help. Need some pointers on spirit flight, make an offering to Freya and you might get some. Having trouble at home? Maybe speak to the ancestors and the local spirits. Curse when you need, bless when you need. Barter with demons, train with angels. Hear the spirit that hides behind the face of another god; know the difference. Know thyself, in all your parts. 

There is no Christianity and the Other, there is just the multitudinous. To me these actions are just magic, nothing dual about them. I am not an eighteenth-century protestant magician or a witchhunter from the seventeenth century desperately trying to arrange every instance of the magical into a rigid model of demon, delusion, or divine. 

And so I return to the ‘dual.’ Does any of the above make me a Christian in mode or belief? That would be a hard no. Yet, I’m reminded of Hedwig and the Angry Inch: 

Tommy: Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior? Hedwig: No, but I love his work.

I am not static, but ever-changing. I am still transforming, growing, and processing things. I find the Western Heremetic Kabbalah to be a wonderful frame; still, I’m no monist. I’m an animist, but not a pantheist. I like the idea of ritual cycles, but abhor the notion of pretending anything is more ancient than it actually is. Most witchcraft traditions are fine with all of that, but they are still monist at the end of the day, and they do not like you rocking the boat or asking too many questions; still, others are worse and try to occlude their origins. 

I keep hoping I will come across a tradition that I actually like in the end. In reality, I should just move on be like the legendary peacock; consume the blessed and the blighted, transforming it all into my own iridescent plumage. 

*I also like my witchcraft with a heavy dash of neo-paganism. New gods, Old gods, new modes, old modes, and all that. Old gods (Titans or otherwise) are fun as well, but for heaven’s sake I do not care for polmetics about the Gods before the Gods. Similarly, if you tell me your god is All, I can still experience its expansive nature. I also know that other gods and spirits are equally good at being transcendent and immanent. Does that make them the same? No, but they are similar.