#the conjuring occultist

[cupcakeshakesnake]

Some memes

[thecitywitchuk]

The Red Mother

I have just finished reviewing this book. And wow what an amazing book it was. This is Marshall’s second book in his cunning words collection & it focuses on ‘The Red Mother’, a spirit he created in his first book that we meet. This book is captivated, cleverly written & full of amazing stories with powerful messages. We follow the Red mother through her journey to become a witch. We bear witness as she makes a pact with the man at the crossroads. We see her struggles & mistakes as she learns all about her new powers & begins her transformation into a witch. She teaches us her spells, charms & potions. She helps us along our path & she provides us with cunning knowledge that arms us for what’s to come. If this sounds interesting to you, I encourage you to support Marshall by purchasing his books:

Cunning words

The Red Morher

Where you will meet & interact with various spirits, learn spells for your practise & perform rituals. These books were inspired by folk magick & utilise many every day items found around the home or items you can buy locally. The magick is easy & beginner friendly but not for a complete novice. You do need to understand the basics of witchcraft & know how to cast a spell before delving into spirit work which both of these books contain.

I 100% recommend both these books & found them highly enjoyable. To watch my full book review for cunning words, use the link. And my book review for the Red mother comes out in a few weeks.

Happy reading

[dylansansarette]

Dylan Sarette

I love you Dylan.

[upennmanuscripts]

On October 31, Curator @leoba will bring out Ms. Codex 1677, a collection of occult texts copied and compiled by Charles Rainsford and mainly comprising prayers, lists of divine names for invocations (p. 180-189), and instructions for conjurations taken from works attributed to well-known occultists such as John Dee and Richard Napier.

Coffee With A Codex is an informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Register 🔗 :

[ledesaid]

A family wish ⚡⚡

A Halloween wish is something that only certain magical beings know how to harness and conjure… Here we have Billy Batson, for example, standing in the middle of the Salem woods with a cloak that hides him from the curious eye of other beings. He's excited because today is the day, and he doesn't want to waste his time while stitching with spider silk everything that's in his Superman lunchbox. It's his fourth Halloween party, but it's the first one he truly feels he's enjoying. It's like Christmas! But Billy thinks it's a hundred times better because of what he's going to get. That's why he has been diligently collecting everything necessary… and he's had an audience on several occasions:

—Excuse me, sir, I'm just going to take a bit of your hair… or your cape?—

Immediately, Captain Marvel seems to debate whether to use his blunt scissors on the hair or cape. He gets a piece of cape from one of his current villains. Don't let his slender appearance or clever words fool you because he's determined. The toad heads and Gorgon eyes in his magical bag confirm it. And let's not talk about his recently added occultist cape, it's the most normal thing he has so far and really shouldn't be the case.

Can someone please tell Billy that he shouldn't collect DNA or cut clothes from every magical entity he encounters?!

Oh, and no one in the League dares to get involved in the Captain's magical mysteries. Flash is still confused by his last explanation of Groundhog Day and his collection of hair from… better not know, Flash didn't want to know. But now he does. The League is worried because they heard the captain politely asking for a piece of hair from Zatanna and playing poker with Constantine until he won. The Englishman argued with the captain to find out what he was up to, but…

—I already have the flesh, I just need something cursed to finish… Your blood would be very useful!—

Constantine feels highly offended, yes he does, but the term flattered doesn't quite fit in his head, and let's not talk about "the flesh". He just wants to go home and it doesn't seem like Captain Marvel is going to give in.

—It's cursed, but it's not mine, have fun!—

He gives Billy a bottle of wine and ends the discussion. Captain Marvel jumps and celebrates like a child when he smells the bottle's contents, undoubtedly very cursed. This last event brings us back to Billy in the middle of the Salem graves, pouring the blood wine onto the tangled hair and fabric that has taken a feline shape.

—Come to me!— he yells energetically. —I order you!— His fingers sparkle with tiny lightning bolts.

His little altar sparkled among the flames of the candles.

—Live!— The lightning bolts increase and Billy takes the tangle of hair in his hands.

The small ball of fur quickly writhes in his grip and begins to transform into something more than it originally was.

—Wake up, Tawny!—

And that's it, a baby tiger gives its first roar, more of a meow, but Billy hugs it with joy.

—Yes! It's alive! It's alive!— exclaims Billy, recalling Dr. Frankenstein's words.

With all the joy in the world, an eleven-year-old boy celebrates having created his first familiar. On November first, the Captain takes his little friend to the Watchtower.

—Guys, look what I did last night! Isn't it cute? Look, Zatanna, its little black stripes are as beautiful as your hair!—

[cryptotheism]

Imagine, if you will, that you were on your way to a time traveler’s convention with every historical occultist you have ever read about, but in your way there something fucked up and you ended up stranded on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There are no plants on this rock, but there is a book that contains a ritual that will allow you to conjure everything necessary to create one gigantic meal. However, the ritual requires a human sacrifice, who will become the meat of the main course. You have an inexplicable knowledge that if you do not complete the ritual you will all starve on the island before help will arrive.

Which occultist are you killing and eating?

You gotta remember that a small percentage of occultists were literally Nazis. Like card-carrying members of the German Nazi party. And they would be very outnumbered by all the Jewish occultists throughout history.

I think you would have to physically stop most of the 20th century occultists from killing the Thule Society with their bare hands.

This is also a bit of a cop-out answer. Of course you kill the Nazis.

I'm gonna vote we kill Erich von Daniken. We don't need the ancient aliens people. This is also assuming that Battaille doesn't volunteer to be sacrificed as a sex thing.

[apoloadonisandnarcissus]

Seeing folks who actively declare “death of author” on Robert Eggers talking about what they think his “intentions” are with this story (while their whole interpretation is based on one word from one interview and the studio online script) is no longer funny at this point, it’s down right disrespectful. Just stop. Enough is enough.

Now I’m seeing some people finally acknowledging Ellen does have some sort of supernatural powers, but the narrative it’s that Orlok takes advantage of that to abuse her and somehow his obsession with her is because he wants her power or whatever. And this is must be among the weirdest cases of mental gymnastics I’ve seen in a while, instead of admitting they got this story all wrong. Lily-Rose Depp already told us Ellen calls out to Orlok and there’s a mutual yearning there, the “hysteric fits” are all on her, she’s conjuring him for them to communicate telepathically (it’s sexual energy that summons Orlok, which is confirmed by Herr Knock ritual). But I have to ask: WTF are you talking about? This Count Orlok (like Dracula) is a Solomonar, he’s a trained sorcerer, he studied at the Solomonărie (or Scholomance) for at least 7 or 10 years of his life, he’s an accomplished occultist. Why would he care about Ellen’s untrained power?? This isn’t Star Wars.

Robert Eggers already told us in, at least, five different interviews and on his own essay in “The Guardian”, the lore for his Count Orlok is Balkan folklore, and he’s an early Folk vampire. He’s not your literary nor pop culture vampire; he’s a strigoi from Romanian folklore, with roots in Dacian mythology. A strigoi-morti to be more specific. And Eggers has said he has done tons of research to get him right, and he did. And if you are familiar with strigoi myths and legends, you already know why Orlok is so obsessed with Ellen: she’s the reincarnation of his wife. Strigoi haunt their living relatives. “I cannot be sated without you”. Orlok speaks 16th century English: “sated” is connected to “rest” or “lie”; “I cannot rest without you. Remember how once we were? A moment. Remember?”

And if you don’t know these legends, you have no business trying to interpret Orlok and Ellen’s connection, especially if you are going to say ignorant and idiotic stuff like this.

[kemetic-dreams]

During the era of slavery, occultist Paschal Beverly Randolph began studying the occult and traveled and learned spiritual practices in Africa and Europe. Randolph was a mixed race free African man who wrote several books on the occult. In addition, Randolph was an abolitionist and spoke out against the practice of slavery in the South.

After the American Civil War, Randolph educated freedmen in schools for former slaves called Freedmen's Bureau Schools in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he studied Louisiana Voodoo and hoodoo in African American communities, documenting his findings in his book, Seership, The Magnetic Mirror. In 1874, Randolph organized a spiritual organization called Brotherhood of Eulis in Tennessee.

Through his travels, Randolph documented the continued African traditions in Hoodoo practiced by African Americans in the South. Randolph documented two African American men of Kongo origin that used Kongo conjure practices against each other. The two conjure men came from a slave ship that docked in Mobile Bay in 1860 or 1861.

[apilgrimpassingby]

Magic School Follow-Up

Answering @roses-red-and-pink's questions about this post. Also tagging @arcenciel-par-une-larme, @cryptidsaints and @merthwyn, the people who've been following this school, because I'm dropping new lore.

How Magic Works

Alchemists: These work by distilling things into the four primal elements (earth, air, fire and water), and adding and rearranging this - hence, they can transmute any physical thing into any other physical thing.

Conjurers: They work by binding the forms of words and numbers (written as hieroglyphs) onto objects by writing them onto things in ritualised manners, giving or removing certain properties to those objects.

Cunning Folk: This is an inherent gift, which is brought out by using various rituals to find hidden knowledge - where things are, the future, the culprits of crimes, the presence of invisible spirits and o on.

Illusionists: They tap into the various potential futures - specifically, the friction between them that, if linked to by ritual, can allow you to do various otherwise-impossible things.

Mystics: They focus on aligning themselves with the primal universal mind through asceticism and good deeds, granting them psychic powers as their mind grows more powerful due to detachment from the body.

Necromancers: They invoke the dead through ritual, either making zombies to do various tasks, raising shades to acquire information or talking with angry ghosts to allow them to pass on.

Observers: They channel the planetary powers through a combination of astronomy and ritual in order to transport things - thoughts, people, souls, objects - over long distances instantaneously

Occultists: They're similar to observers, but invoke the planetary powers of other solar systems, and hence focus on summoning weird creatures from there.

Shamans: They focus on using drumming, dance, drugs, fasting and other means to access humanity's collective unconsciousness, the Dreamland, in order to achieve things by visiting other people's minds and talking with the things that live in the Dreamland (night hags, machine elves, wendigos, etc.)

Sorcerers: They use rituals (surprise!) to invoke the powers of the Abyss, the force of degeneration and destruction within the universe, either in disembodied or embodied form (for an example of the latter, look at Black Shuck) to destroy various things, either for good or evil.

Witches: They channel the universal life force by, you guessed it, rituals, allowing them to do things such as talk to animals, perform healings and create new life forms.

Wizards: They summon the angels, each associated with some facet of human culture and experience (for example, there's an angel of democracy, and an angel of revenge), with rituals, most involving copious amounts of incense and chanting.

[dailycharacteroption]

Planar Harmonizer (Occultist Archetype)

(art by granfaloon on DeviantArt)

The vast cosmology of most rpg settings, with the various afterlifes and other planes that serve as the foundation for many mystical aspects is full of strange resonances and energies, which is why the plane shift spell uses focuses in the form of tuning forks to attune to these resonant energies and allow for such transport.

It should come as no surprise, then, that occultists, who also deal in a form of resonance of their own, sometimes choose to focus on these tuning forks to get the most out of them.

They might be scholars of the planes, or travellers that learn the art out of practicality. Either way, their skill set delves into the full depths of what conjuration is capable of as a result, though to the exclusion of other types of magic.

If you’re interested in a character that can travel to any plane they wish and be better equipped to handle them than most, this archetype might be for you, so let’s take a look!

These mystics only have access to the conjuration school, using tuning forks as their implements. However, they get several benefits for this, gaining access to conjuration spells that occultists do not have access to, the magic for plane shifting, and even improving the potency of their spells and focus powers to make them harder to resist.

Naturally, their knowledge of planar science is unparalleled, making them something of an authority on such things.

Travelling to other planes is dangerous, so these occultists learn to bring a bit of their home plane’s essence with them. At the base level this keeps their mind sharp on planes where an opposing morality would press on their minds. However, with a bit of energy, they can improve this to protect themselves from the physical hazards of the plane. At first this only lasts a few minutes, enough time to reach a safe area or retreat to a less hostile plane, but later it improves to be actually useful for exploration.

These mystics also learn to draw magic circles much sooner, though if they use them to call a small outsider, they gain limited informational benefits until they grow in mastery to the same point that other occultists would learn to do so.

If you’re interested in playing up the conjuration side of the occultist, summoning little minions to give answers and trap outsiders in circles to hinder or bargain with them, and so on, this archetype may be for you. Spell selection is key here, because if you want to be the party’s gateway to the planes you’re definitely going to need the mass version of planar adaptation. Luckily the conjuration school is rivaled only by transmutation in terms of versatility, with attack spells, battlefield and utility support from summons, utility in general by just creating what you need, and so on.

If any of you are familiar with Planescape, you can imagine the sort of character that might take this archetype. Either they’re old hat at using portals to travel around the vastness of the cosmos but want the power to be free of such limitations, or perhaps they are newcomers to the cosmos eager to explore the great beyond for themselves, though obviously they might find areas of disappointment or surprise deviating from their texts, which can be fun too.

Eager to explore the cosmos, Vilbra the scholar has packed all their things, including their collection of tuning forks as they ready to join the party on a planar expedition. However, they do not realize that they have a stowaway, a wayward soul possessing one of their trinkets which has attracted the attention of a shoki psychopomp who isn’t particularly concerned with explaining themselves.

Eager to test her theory that aquatic elves first became amphibious through a connection to the Plane of Water, Tsilene has been studying the resonance of planar energies for some time, not just to prove the connection, but also to travel their herself and study any elf civilizations to be found within.

In need of a planar guide to multiple locations, the party sets out for the Nexus Point in search of someone up to the task. Their most promising candidate, however, is a dubious character who seems more in it for themselves than anything else.

[web-witch]

Occultist implements: Pop culture Cybermancy Magic

In pathfinder the concept of an occultist is the use of implements or tools to invoke the powers of other magic types. Similar to a warlock in my opinion or a wizard. In this post I wanted to list the tools that I see as comparable to the pathfinder occultist class. This falls into my Otherworld channeling class as a form of glamour but also as a form of shapeshifting. Not all implements are going to be technological, but they will work well in cybermancy when applied correctly.

Here is the page I used to draw up this list: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/occult-adventures/occult-classes/occultist/occultist-implements/

Abjuration

For abjuration, I could see myself using an amulet in the game or a holy symbol. Cybermancy versions of this would be as follows: A usb drive as a necklace with images in it as a form of statuary images, an actual amulet with a holy symbol (a pentagram or a triquetra).

Conjuration

For conjuration I feel that a figurine would be a good match for me. Examples of this would be images of trading cards from a game or my pokemon go+. Alternatively, a compact mirror would be a good physical tool as well.

Divination

Given that divination is my specialty in magic, I find that I have a lot of divination tools. My main ones that I have from this list are books, tarot decks (harrow decks) and crystal balls. I have the physical and the digital. Cybermancy versions of books and decks are my favorite go to for on the go.

Enchantment

This one should be pretty easy to guess. Enchantment being about the mind and emotions, anything to do with auditory senses is gonna be a tool for enchantment. In terms of software I use Audible, various music apps and YouTube. In terms of tech, a good set of noise canceling headphones or Dj headphones is ideal (preferably Bluetooth and foldable). Alternatively, you could use any retro tech like a cassette player, a cd player, or an mp3 player. Bonus points if the cd or cassette player has mp3, am/fm radio, and the ability to play cds or cassettes respectively.

Evocation

Ok while not necessarily tech based, metal of any kind is a good conduit for cybermancy. The implement that I would choose in this category would be a wand. A collapsible metal pointer or an old collapsible radio antenna is a great aesthetic and works well for commanding cybermantic energies. Alternatively an app like the Dr. who sonic screwdriver app is a good one for those that want their implements to be virtual.

Illusion

I’m gonna go with a crystal from this list because images of crystals are just as strong as their real counterparts. Also crystals resonate well with electrical energies.

Necromancy

While necromancy isn’t a specialty or even something I’ve extensively studied, I would have to go with the coins. Let’s be honest, we all have loose pennies that we have no real use for. So turn them into necromancy conduits. Copper may be a metal not associated with earth but it is useful for calling the dead because copper is a conduit through which the two worlds can be bridged.

Transmutation

I’m gonna have to go with belt for this one because a belt can also hold a bag on which your tools go. Thus it’s like Batman’s utility belt.

Update:

After thinking about it a bit, here is a condensed list of tools:

Abjuration: usb and divine images

Conjuration: Pokémon go +, digital trading card collection

Divination: tarot apps, astrology apps, e-book apps, zen water apps, dice apps, video apps

Enchantment: Bluetooth speaker or headphones for crowd control respectively and music playlists

Evocation: stylus as wand

Illusion: Crystal of choice or images that create glamours

Necromancy: keyboard as spirit board, automatic writing, camera app for seeing the spirits, audio recorder for spirit box

Transmutation: computer games for in game energy transmutation and digital charm bags. Music playlists as potions for transmutation.

[thecitywitchuk]

Cut the crap, speak the truth!!!

This was a custom casting for a client with many aspects to it. I first worked on the tongue, cutting the bindings that are keeping their mouth shut & compelling them to speak the truth. I next burned the sigils that were for truth & domination. Turning my attention to the mind, I worked on the brain candle to pull the memories to the surface & have them play in their mind over & over again until they are forced to speak up.

This casting was part of a package deal that I was working on in order to get to the truth & work through the lies. Truth spells are not always recommended, an often you think you might want the truth but are unprepared for what might come out. It’s important to be prepared for what you might hear before choosing this type of casting.

If you would like spell work done by me or would like advice on one of your own spells. Please contact me. Blessings

[bugbearsandbookends]

Robert Eggers, Nosferatu, and the Devil’s Secret School

F. W. Murnau’s 1922 film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror was widely lauded by critics and audiences alike, and its acclaim brought the little-known German director to the attention of a wider international audience. Unfortunately for Murnau, that included Florence Stoker, the widow of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula.

Florence felt that Murnau’s film, the story of an ancient Transylvanian vampire’s reign of terror in a contemporary Western European city, was a thinly disguised, unauthorized adaptation of her late husband’s novel. German courts agreed with her when she took Murnau to court, and in 1925 a judgment was ordered that all copies of the film were to be destroyed.

Fortunately, fate intervened, and a few copies of the film were overlooked here and there. None of those were complete, though, which left restorationists with the unenviable task of piecing the full film together from these surviving reels. Like its undead villain, the film rose from its grave and has since haunted the imaginations of film lovers for over a century.

As befitting the film’s complicated lineage, Eggers’ Graf Orlock has a lot in common with Count Dracula. There’s the mustache, of course, but perhaps more importantly (depending on who you ask—there’s a lot of mustache discourse online right now), both were sorcerers in their breathing days.

In Stoker’s novel, Abraham Van Helsing tells his fellow vampire hunters that the Count had dealings with Satan and was a student at his secret magic school: the Scholomance.

According to Scottish folklorist Emily Gerard’s 1888 book The Land Beyond the Forest, the Scholomance is a secret school of magic whose headmaster is the devil himself. Ten students are admitted, but only nine are allowed to return to their homes when the lessons end. The tenth is given a special assignment: he is placed upon the back of a dragon, where he assists the devil in making lightning and thunder.

The word Scholomance, also known as Solomance, is derived from Solomon, the Biblical King of Israel whose wisdom was legendary. Thus, the students of the secretive school were known as Solomonari and were masters of what a modern occultist would refer to as Solomonic magic.

The Scholomance and Solomonic magic are not mentioned by name in Eggers’ film, but Orlock’s diabolical dealings are. Thomas Hutter, the husband of the doomed Ellen, is warned during his journey across Eastern Europe that Orlock made a deal with the devil for his immortality. Further, Orlock’s sarcophagus is protected by magical symbols, which, according to production designer Craig Lathrop, are “based on ones from Solomonic magic, with a few twists.”

The story of the Scholomance is not dissimilar to that of Murnau’s film. The film hasn’t always been easy to find, especially in the many decades after the copyright case and before its release on home video. No small number of dedicated students of cinema who made their way to Nosferatu returned to the world forever changed. Some of them made their own films, while some small number of them—Werner Herzog, David Lee Fisher, and now Robert Eggers—stayed to learn its deepest secrets, to conjure its shadow once more. They became the tenth student, bound to Nosferatu’s legacy—not just as admirers, but as its architects, shaping and reshaping the film like a spell that can never be fully broken.

[realspooks]

Paranormal order Eggs character sheet remake

Occultists

Richarlyson

Origin: Artist CLASS: Occultist TRAIL: Conduit

He masters the fundamental aspects of ritual conjuration and is capable of increasing the range and speed of his conjurations. As the connection with paranormal entities increases, he becomes capable of interfering with the rituals of other occultists. ELEMENT: Death

Inventory: -Slime Coat (Lodo) - Ritual Components of Death - knife - Cursed brush and slime jar (Lodo)

Ritual: Spirals of Doom

AGI: 2 INT: 2 VIG: 2 PRE: 3 STR: 1

-----

Lullah

Origin: Victim CLASS: Occultist TRAIL: Graduate

She focuses her studies on becoming a versatile and powerful conjurer, knowing more rituals than other Occultists and being able to make them more difficult to resist. Their goal is to unveil and master the secrets of the Other Side in depth, whatever it takes. ELEMENT: Knowledge

Inventory: -Mindlink Ring - cross-bow - Ritual Components of Knowledge - Taser

Ritual: Third Eye

AGI: 1 INT: 3 VIG: 1 PRE: 3 STR: 1

-----

Dapper

Origin: Repentant Cultist CLASS: Occultist TRAIL: Paranormal Blade

His occultist friends stay locked in their libraries studying books and rituals. Others prefer to investigate paranormal phenomena at their source. He, on the other hand, prefers to use the paranormal as a weapon. He learned and mastered fighting techniques by merging his spellcasting skills with his combat capabilities. Despite the name, members of this trail use all types of simple weapons, whether melee or shooting. ELEMENT: Death

Inventory: -Death Binds - Death Ritual Components - Scythe - Submachine gun

Ritual: Decadence

AGI: 2 INT: 2 VIG: 1 PRE: 3 STR: 1

-----

Leo

Origin: Journalist CLASS: Occultist TRAIL: Paranormal Blade

While fighters train their bodies to resist physical trauma, they developed her mind to resist the effects on the other side. Her focus and willpower allow her to expand the limits of her paranormal capabilities. ELEMENT: Energy

Inventory: - Paranormal Aura Camera - Energy Ritual Components - Machete - Pistol

Ritual: Curse Technology / Shuffle

AGI: 1 INT: 2 VIG: 2 PRE: 3 STR: 1

♥The Combatants

♦The Specialist

♠The Occultists

[safelynte]

Sometimes I write homebrew. It's a very easy activity to get lost in and pass the time... Too easy. Here's one of the thingies I like.

🧙‍♂️

Wall of Paper

Source I made it up

School conjuration (creation) [wood]; Level adept 2, arcanist 2, cleric 2, druid 2, hunter 2, magus 2, occultist 2, oracle 2, shaman 2, sorcerer 2, summoner 2, summoner (unchained) 2, warpriest 2, wizard 2

Casting

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, M/DF (a rectancular piece of uncrumpled paper)

Effect

Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)

Effect paper wall 50 square feet of surface per level (S)

Duration 1 round per level

Saving Throw see text; Spell Resistance no

Description

You conjure and attach a wall of paper to a chosen surface, stiffly held up by regular corrugations, wooden frames, or magic. If vertical, it only needs a floor. If slanted or horizontal, it must be supported on opposing sides. A side of the wall can be up to 50 square feet of surface area per caster level (two 5 ft. square surfaces per caster level), and it is shapeable. You can convert any 5 ft. square face or 10 ft. square face into a sliding door and any 2 ft. square surface into a window. The portals are closed upon the initial conjuration.

The paper normally provides total concealment. But special cases such as a strong light that casts crisp shadows reduce this to concealment. Small holes the size of a weapon's end can also be punched into the wall by attacking it (no failure).

Special: The wall can be made permanent by spending 10 minutes during casting instead of a standard action.

Statistics: A 10-ft. square face of the fence has 5 AC, 0 Hardness, and 10 hit points, increased by 2 hit points per caster level. It has DR 5/Slashing. It is flammable and takes full damage from energy effects except cold, against which it takes half.

A creature can crash through the paper wall with a Strength check equal to the spell's DC. Such an action costs an extra 10 ft. of movement and, if successful, leaves an opening the size and form of the creature.

[clipartghosts]

SBRAI.BMF: An illustration of a human brain and brain stem, viewed from the left side. One might wonder, whose brain? Thanks to the label on the glass jar that holds the brain, that question is easily answered. The brain belonged to Joseph Alexandre Saint-Yves, Marquis d’Alveydre, who departed this earthly realm on February 5, 1909. A well known occultist in the 19th century, Saint-Yves telepathically communicated with the lost subterranean city of Agarttha in 1885. Saint-Yves’s later writings described the utopian city in marvelous detail, thanks to his continuing astral visitations to Agarttha. Among his stunning revelations is that deep in the hollow earth, this city preserves the original language whence all human languages evolved. Alaric cradles the glass jar in his hands, stroking it, as if to conjure up vestigial traces of the Marquis’s numinous knowledge.