A Close Reading of an Excerpt of “The Cry of the 2nd Æthyr,” The Vision and The Voice
I am the harlot that shaketh Death. This shaking giveth the Peace of Satiate Lust. Immortality jetteth from my skull, And music from my vulva. Immortality jetteth from my vulva also, For my Whoredom is a sweet scent like a seven-stringed instrument, Played unto God the Invisible, the all-ruler, That goeth along giving the shrill […]
Confessions of a Lusty Mage, Pt. 3: Swinging with My Shadow Conclusion
Last week, we started exploring some of the ways that participating in swinging, aka The Lifestyle (LS) has contributed to the acceleration of my magickal practice as a hermetic witch. (You can find the first half here, and the beginning of this series here.) This week’s entry completes the list… I Must Not Fear. Ah, […]
Confessions of a Lusty Mage, Pt. 2: Swinging with My Shadow
Today’s blog is a continuation of last week’s introductory entry on my real-life adventures in sex magick and swinging! If you missed it, you can check it out here. After joining the ethical non-monogamy (ENM) community, I quickly realized that the practice of swinging (a.k.a. “The Lifestyle”) is an excellent, albeit quite advanced, container for […]
Confessions of a Lusty Mage: All Acts of Love and Pleasure
“For mine is the ecstasy of the spirit and mine is also joy on earth; for my Law is Love unto all Beings…. Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth, for behold: all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honour […]
The Babalon Difference
Babalon is different than most other goddesses in that She is exclusively a representation of the active divine feminine principle. As the Jungian analyst Nancy Qualls-Corbett notes in her book, The Sacred Prostitute: Eternal Aspect of the Feminine, there is both a static and an active part of the divine feminine. The static archetype is […]
Five Foolproof Steps to Getting the Most Out of Your Tarot Reading
So, you’ve taken the plunge and booked your first reading with me—Yayyyyyy! Now what?? Honestly, the hardest part is over (and really, my one-stop online booking system makes “hard” a relative term), so now it’s time for the fun part: getting ready! Here are my five foolproof steps to getting the most out of your […]
The Shady Seven: Avoid These Unethical Intuitive Readers
In twenty years of working in metaphysics and the occult, I’ve seen all manner of shady ploys from so-called “spiritual” workers. It’s an unfortunate fact that not every intuitive reader has your best interests at heart. And after being the target of several of these in just the past month(!), I’m reminded that some things […]
10 Easy Ways to Re-Explore Sex (That Won’t Get You Arrested or Fired)
Did you ever stop questioning your sexual practices…and forget to start again? I sure did. For years, the mantra I had around sexuality (and lots of other things, for that matter) was I don’t do that. I never thought to ask myself why. I just knew I wanted to be A Good Person™, and that’s […]
The Lusty Mage’s Crash Course in Sex Magick
Perhaps you’ve noticed my frequent references to sexuality, sensuality, and sexiness recently, and it’s got you wondering, what’s up with THAT? Well, I’ve been amping up the sexy talk because a large part of my own transformational journey over the past several years is a result of exploring my own sexuality again for the first […]
Naked Athena? Call Her by Her Real Name
Stunning photos and film clips of a female protester in Portland, Oregon are circulating on Twitter and in mainstream media the last few days. Clad in nothing but a mask and a hat, a mysterious woman single-handedly faced off a large group of armed federal law enforcement officers during a dangerous and escalating protest by […]
My Lover, My Love, My Reflection
The desire for love is a universal one; it shows up in nearly every reading I have ever done, a fact that emphasizes the centrality of human relationships in health and well-being. Everyone wants to see The Lovers card come up in their readings. People commonly ask, “Will I meet someone soon?” “Is this person […]
The Hierophant and the Illusion of Struggle
For the first third of my life, I strongly identified with the number 5. The association existed for a variety of reasons, including my affinity for the symbolism of the pentacle, with its five points representing the four elements and Spirit. I also appreciated the human form as a five-pointed star: arms, legs, and head, […]
Calling In (and Calling Out) The Emperor
Card IV of the tarot’s major arcana, The Emperor is the very picture of stability. Like the four legs of a table, the four walls of a fortress, or the four cardinal directions, The Emperor has his bases covered. His boundaries are clearly defined and enforced. His tools are the four of each suit—the 4 […]
The Empress, the Trinity, and the Motherhood Question
The Empress card is Venus, signifying beauty, mercy, abundance, and love. She is associated with deeply experienced emotion—often seemingly without rationale or reason—as well as sexuality and creativity generously and joyously inhabited. The Empress is also the number 3 in the major arcana of the tarot, which recalls the Trinity, a concept present in spiritual, […]
The High Priestess and the Angel of Rainbows
I have been to many readers and intuitives over the years, and I have learned from and found value in nearly every intuitive reading I have ever received. But I have only met one true psychic (and by psychic, I personally mean someone who gives intuitive readings without using any outside tool such as cards, […]
Tarot Becoming The Magician
Sometimes an archetype’s impact on our lives only become clear in retrospect. My own journey to launching my first business, The Hermit Priestess, is one example that I look back on and clearly see moments when I both embraced and admittedly ran from the lessons The Magician was bringing me. In the two decades since […]
The Fool and the Cards
I have been reading the tarot for over 20 years. Cards, in one form or another, have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, however. Some of my earliest memories are of playing Memory, Go Fish, and Old Maid with my mother. My father’s family has a longstanding tradition […]