The stars have influenced mankind with their magic from time immemorial, as evidenced by Archeoastronomy; instructing astrologers and priests, guiding sailors and inspiring poets. For millennia, cultures all around the world have told their myths and legends through the canvas of the night sky. Yet despite the immense significance of the constellations and stars in the ancient world, stellar magic has been largely ignored in recent centuries.
In this inspirational and practical Liber Astrum, the author draws together material from ancient, classical and medieval sources; spanning East and West, fusing modern poetry with ancient magic, mysticism with myth and ritual with recital to lift our gazes back to the heavens.
The author's breadth of scholarship is seen in the spectrum of material he weaves together, from sources as diverse as the Hymns of Orpheus and Plato's Timaeus to the Zoroastrian Yasht hymns and Persian Pahlavi Texts, the Sufi works of the Ibn Arabi and Rumi; from the Chaldean Oracles and the Greek Magical Papyri to the Books of Ezekiel and Enoch, from the Picatrix and the Sefer Yetzirah to the works of John Dee, Rudolf Steiner, Gerald Gardner and Aleister Crowley. The poetic inspiration of the stars is also expressed through material and ideas by such luminaries as John Milton, Gerald Manly Hopkins, Sylvia Plath, Robert Graves and W.B. Yeats.
Through the enchanting words and ceremonies provided to lead the way, timeless journeys to the stars are woven around the participants. Included amongst the rites are ceremonies with the constellations of Perseus & Andromeda, Cygnus, Orion, the Pleiades, the Great Bear, Draco, the twelve signs of the Zodiac, the star Sirius, the Moon, the seven classical Planets, and the Stellar World Cave: the Mithraeum.
This is a highly accessible, succinct and practical book on a complex subject, which will benefit anyone interested in the magic of the stars, from the casual observer of the night skies to the dedicated magician or mystic.
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