Stellar Magic
A Practical Guide to the Rites
of the Moon, Planets, Stars and Constellations
By Payam Nabarz
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.
|
PB, RRP £12.99,
208 pages, ISBN 978-1905297252
First published by Avalonia, 7 JULY 2009
|
