Sorcerers and Magi showcases the fantasy fiction series by the same name and also thought-provoking ideas on magic and mysticism. The content is for adult readers drawn to fantasy fiction, magic, mysticism, Eastern spirituality and the Western Mystery Tradition. Excerpts, updates, and wisdom and insight from author, Dionesia Rapposelli aka Soror ZSD23.
Azoth of the Philosophers copyright Dee Rapposelli http://www.deerapposelli.com
So, instead of getting into political arguments on Facebook as the US Presidential election nears,
I have begun designing bomos. It’s been a long-held artistic intention of mine
to do so. Bomos is the Greek term for an altar platform. About a year ago, I
made 2 low-table prototypes, the tops of which were canvas prints of original
photography. The tabletops held up pretty well (Thank you Glicee Factory ) ,
considering they were used as plant stands and kept in direct sun for about a
year now.
I recently posted an image of what will be the top of myAlmadel bomos. That piece of art is an adaptation of tables described in a magical
text called the Ars Almadel. Each table, which is a different color, is used as
a platform for scrying different angelic spirits that rule over specific
seasonal periods. A scrying device, such as a crystal ball, shewstone, or
mirror is placed on the table as the focal point for evocation work.
This latest piece—a digital collage—is an adaption of an
alchemical mandala that has long fascinated me and many others. That mandala is
the 12th plate of an alchemical picture book called The Azoth of the
Philosophers. It depicts the process of alchemy--both as a laboratory exercise and
as spiritual pathwork via ascension through the planetary spheres (the Western
equivalent of "chakras").
As I have explained in the book The Seal of Secrets of theWorld Adventures in Planetary Magic, which addresses my work with the Arbatel,
Western magical mandala and seals are similar to Eastern mandalas and yantras
in that they are mnemonic instruments made of symbols that are understood by and/or
provide revelatory contemplative experiences for the initiated.
The term Azoth is thought to be derived from the Arabic al za’uq : “the mercury.” It may also be
meant to suggest “A-to-Z” –the totality of name and form, as is meant in the
terms Alpha-Omega and A-U-Mg (popularly written as Om). It is said to be the
life principle.
The sun, moon, and cube of salt in the image represent sulfur,
mercury, and salt and also soul, spirit, and body. I refer the reader to thispost by art curator Johnes Ruta for more insight on the meaning of the sulfur,
mercury, salt triad.
On the left of the image stands the red king (sulfur) who
dies to be reborn as the Philosopher's Stone (Enlightened). On the right is the
melusine white queen (mercury), who is the source of life and also revelation
of spiritual identity. As in Eastern Tantric lore, in which spiritual
integration and enlightenment in a path of return is symbolized by the union (and
dissolution) of male and female polarities, so too does the union of the
alchemical king and queen result in transfiguration into the Divine Self.
“There is a saying in the alchemical texts
that goes like this,” Michael murmured. “The dragon only dies when he is killed
by his brother and sister at once; not by one alone, but by both at once. That
is, by the sun and moon.’ You and me,” he said.
. . .
“In creation mythology, we talk about the
world forming from chaos and void by the will of a conscious entity—God. But
the chaos—the so-called prima materia—is
not matter, nature, or the world; it is the human psyche full of convoluted
impressions, habituations, and the conditioning of nature and nurture. This is
the seven-headed dragon that must be slain by the hero who is none other than
the divine spirit within asserting itself. It rescues the damsel-in-distress,
which is the soul.”The path of inner alchemy and of mysticism in
all the great traditions founded in gnosis, Michael said, was to transform the
human creature, who was nothing more than a helpless gear of the world machine,
into a real person with real will, intention, and creative abilities.
“Some persons call this enlightenment; some
call it ‘being like unto God’; some call it the Great Work, which is magic,” he
said.
To everything there is a time and season for every purpose under heaven. –Ecclestiastes 3.1
By way of reading up on a 17th century magical book called the Grimoire Armadel, I stumbled upon images related to another text called the Ars Almadel (or Almandel), which is Part 4 of the Lesser Key of Solomon (also known as the Legemeton, compiled in the 17th century). The Almadel, which may be related to a medieval text called the Alrnandel,[1] describes the construction of 4 wax tablets, measuring 6 x 6 inches. They are used to evoke solar angels in their appointed times and seasons. See these blog posts on the Almadel Experiment by Frater Ashen Chassan for a more true-to-form information and imagery related to reconstruction of the Almadel:
The Almadel that appears in the Legemeton is a modified version of an earlier German text, which may be a version of an earlier Latin text that, in turn, may reflect earlier Judaic and Persian influences.[1] Although the earlier versions were meant to be tools to contact angels of the 12 “heights of Heaven” (that is angels corresponding with the zodiac or celestial houses associated with the solar year), the 17th century text mainly focuses on angels associated with the 4 quarters of space.[1]
In any case, in my life as an artist, mystic monger, and person fascinated with the history of magic in European culture, I woke up one morning feeling compelled to make an adaption of the Almadel. I had been making low, 24 x 24 inch tables, the tops of which are giclee canvas prints of my digital art. I decided to fit all of the Almadel tablets into 1 digital 24 x 24 inch image. In doing so, I also had to make some decisions about how I wanted to adapt and modify the material I was working with.
Angel for Every Time and Season
Ancient Romans and other polytheistic cultures believed that all things were governed by spiritual principles, which they generally referred to as deities. This pantheistic idea of governance was somewhat maintained in the early Christian era, but the deific governors were reframed as angels and demons. This seemingly was a way to maintain a familiar paradigm but side-step forbidden concepts about polytheism and pantheism. Instead of a deity-driven world; the world was driven by angels and infested with demons all under God’s heaven and subject to God’s will, which the magician could invoke.
One of the higher aims of medieval high magic was to be in perfect alignment with the energies of the universe, and so we find magical books, such as the Picatrix, that are loaded with tables, mnemonic wheels, and instructions about what spirts are in charge of every aspect of time and space. Thus, at any given moment in any moon phase in any season, a mage may know the most auspicious actions to take, what actions to avoid, and which spirits to align with and which are most active and reachable at that very moment.
The Almadel tablets are one example of magic tables that are used to contact these spirits. These and other types of medieval magical and alchemical mandalas may be the Western equivalent of Eastern mandalas and yantras. In both traditions, the product is an assemblage of shapes, patterns, symbols, and magical words that have mystical or magical significance to the initiated, and the construction and use of the product is ritualistic.
My Image – My Process
I completed my version of an Almadel table early on a Sunday morning on this October’s new moon. That is, I added the god names to the image, created in PhotoShop Elements, on a Sunday before dawn, as instructed by the text of the Ars Almadel.
Earlier in the week, I layered images of the angels of the compass points and the zodiacal ecliptic with a tawny green-blue background. The inclusion of the zodiac is an acknowledgement that the table is meant to evoke the associated angels.
I also decided to add the Pythagoric anacrostic of the 72 names of God to the vertices of the 4 corners of the table top. This flourish was inspired by a passage I read in an article by Prof. Julien Véronèse in the scholarly journal Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft[2] in which Véronèse describes a table mentioned in the 4th book of the 13th century Kabbalist text the Liber Razielis Archangeli. It describes a rectangular table on which “76” names of God are to be written and the table “brandish[ed] toward the sky and the cardinal points for seven nights while reciting a prayer to the Lord.” Yes, I intend to try this as a consecration/”charging” of the table once the actual table itself is made.
Another element of my image consists of 3 concentric circles of words. The innermost rung consists of the names of the 12 angels assigned to the solar mansions (the zodiac). The middle rung contains the names of the 28 angels associated with the lunar mansions (as given by Agrippa), as the revolutions of the sun and moon are inextricably linked The outer circle is a passage from a canto called Omnia Sol Temperat from a medieval book of poetry called the Carmina Burana. The poem is about human love and the foibles of romantic devotion, but these lines here become a statement of spiritual devotion. I was inspired to include the poetic passage in the image after reading that earlier versions of the Amadel say that the evoked angels will become devoted to the mage and vice versa, securing the spiritual redemption of the mage.[1]
Omnia sol temperat purus et subtilis
Ama me fideliter
Fidem meam nota;
De corde totaliter et ex mente tota
The sun warms all, pure and gentle
Love me faithfully!
Mark my loyalty;
Completely, in my heart and in my whole mind
The squares themselves all measure 6 x 6 inch, in accordance with instructions within the Ars Almadel. They appear in their appropriate colors; white for spring/east, rose for summer/south, green for autumn/west, and black for winter/north. The god names and designs of the Almadel differ somewhat in different historical copies of the text. Those within my image are mostly aligned with copies of the Almadel housed in the library of the University of Freiburg and the National Library of France.[1]
The stars in that version are supposed to be hexagrams, per instructions about placing the “pentacle of Solomon” in the 4 corners of the square. (The word “pentacle” could refer to a seal, not necessarily a 5-sided shape, in magical texts). Other versions of the Almadel show pentagrams instead of hexagrams. I decided to add pentagrams instead of hexagrams to remind of the 5 angels associated with each square that are named in the Ars Almadel.
As for the god names and terms written on the squares in my table top, the words on each square are identical but some words have been modified from what appears in the original template used. Namely, I chose to use corrected spellings (eg, Primeumaton [Prime mover] instead of Primeuiuaton and Henotheon [One God] instead of Henoytheon) and used more standard spellings of names or switched out some names for others found in other versions of the Almadel. I also replaced the term Selem with “Salem” (Peace) and the term Jatha with Yasha (Deliverance). Why? 1. It is important for the ritual tool to make sense to me as I basically self-initiate myself into its use and 2. Numerous scholars who conduct research on god names and voces magicae note that magical terms can sometimes be garble of what was once an intelligible word or phrase. The garbled term can then becomes standardized with repeated use--and so we find grimoire with the same seemingly unintelligible terms, meant to have magical efficacy, used again and again.
When I complete the Table, I intend to do evocation work with it as I had done with the Arbatel some years ago. In building decorative tables, I have plans to also build tables for ritual and magical use, like this Almadel table. The next to be featured will be an adaptation of the famous 12th plate of the Azoth the Philosophers (and yes, I take commissions and sell them). I’ll keep you posted.
References
1. Jan R.Veenstra. The Holy Almandal. Angels and the Intellectual Aims of Magic. In Jan M. Bremmer, Jan R. Veenstra, eds. The Metamorphosis of Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period. Louvain: Peeters. 2002:189-229
2. Julien Véronèse. God's Names and Their Uses in the Books of Magic Attributed to King Solomon Magic. Ritual, and Witchcraft. 2010;5(1):30-50
Modern witchcraft and Neopaganism are new forms of spiritual
expression that are nevertheless inspired by ancient forms and long-standing
legends. In the context of 21st century culture, they constitute a newand
still evolving paradigm for spiritual expression
and the search for meaning.
“Pass and photo ID. You can’t
get into the class without an admission pass and photo ID: student ID, license
to practice magic, magical association card. Did you not receive the notice?”
the hall guard croaked. And she was
frog-like—bloated with a thick, jowly face and bloody, popping eyes.
“No one ever gave me
a hard time about being a walk-in,” the man protested. “I
promised my son that I’d take the class with him.”
“This is a closed class,” the hall guard snapped, firmly affirming
in her gravelly voice: “You cannot be admitted without an admission pass and a
photo ID!”
“Where do I get a pass?” the man asked.
“You don’t! The class is filled,” the froggy character said.
The man stormed away. The hall guard continued barking at students
and adults about the entrance requirements as they congregated at the threshold
of a small lecture hall. There, a controversial celebrity lady mage would be presenting a class called Lost and Found:
Mystical Codes and Keys.
Leonard and his buddies, Anil and Bertrand, presented the
appropriate documents and were admitted. Leonard’s father, Lord Consul Leo de Lux, followed them.He was one of the top rulers of the
North Atlantic Sovereignty.
“Pass and ID. No one is admitted without an admission pass and
photo ID,” the hall guard rattled. Upon realizing who she was now talking to,
though, she froze. “You can go in,” she rasped.
Leonard de Lux Junior made
quick work of setting up a prank for the new teacher while his father chatted with some people from the Royal Conservationist
Party. He figured he’d get away with it and that his dad, who had been on the
rag about this particular teacher, would get a mean laugh from the escapade.
With sleight of hand, Leonard dropped a stink-bomb , disguised as a
lace sachet, on the professor’s
chair. When she sat at the desk to study the seating chart and call the roll,
she would, you know, make a smell.
Leonard twitched his eyebrows and sneered at his buddies. They all sniggered
and sputtered so that their pimply, adolescent faces turned reddish and even
gawkier.
Dear Readers--Don't forget that I am offering FREE, illustrated pdf booklets on topics related to magic and mysticism. Visit the Web site for links to the downloads. So far booklets include: All About the Magic Wand The Arbatel, Olympic Spirits, and the Seal of Secrets of the World What I Know About Witches Planned Next: The Stele of Jeu and the Divine Light (on the Headless Ritual) Let me know what is on your wish list . . .
Halloween/Samhain 2016 will soon be upon us as I write this. That means that we will be flooded with Internet content about witches, witchcraft, Neopaganism, and diabolism. I dusted off an article that I wrote years ago, updated and illustrated it and added it to my growing collection of FREE PDF booklets.
In this booklet, I draw from the work of leading scholars to debunk myths about witch history and explain why I think that modern witchcraft and Neopaganism are new forms of spiritual expression inspired by legends about antiquity.
In contrast to witch history presented by high-profile Wiccan and Neopagan writers of the 20th century, we now know that most of the people who were tortured and killed during the medieval witch-craze were Christian-folk who ran afoul of a disgruntled or paranoid husband or neighbor or whose reputation as a healer/curse-lifter cast suspicion on them.
And most people who actually did practice magic in medieval and Renaissance Europe also considered themselves to be Christians—not witches.
Practitioners were called “wise” or “cunning” folk, magos or magas, healers, fixers, unbewitchers, and other names. They engaged in healing through folk medicine. practiced divination, cast love and binding spells as well as treasure-finding/money spells, and they lifted curses and “unbewitched” clients, which involved identifying and neutralizing a witch. (That is, people who practiced folk magic were in the habit of ratting-out innocent people as well as other people who, like themselves, practiced folk magic.)
And how much was the Church really involved in the witch craze? You might be surprised . . .
Witches generally were thought to be malignant creatures that caused disease and ruin. They were supernatural, bogeymen, but they could be real people as well. Calling or identifying someone as a witch was referred to as “scolding.” Scolding could lead to accusations and then legal action and violence against the accused.
Witch confessions were obtained through intense torture in which the accused were fed statements and repeatedly abused until they agreed to the accusation. For a taste of what an accused person could be expected to endure, play Professor Pavlac’s interactive narrative of witch persecution in early 17th century Germany at http://departments.kings.edu/womens_history/witch/hunt/index.html
Despite the reasons that some modern-day witches and Neopagans give for why their kind have been persecuted and demonized throughout the Christian era . .
There wasn't "their kind"; there were people, most of whom self-identified as Christians, who practiced folkways and didn't think twice about witch-scolding others.
People feared witches, which were bogeymen, and were suspicious of folks who professionally practiced magic not only in the Christian era but the pre-Christian era as well. Why? Because, as the Italian saying goes . . .
All about the Magical Wand: the quintessential tool of magicians, fairies, witches, and all manner of other magical folk. Here is a quick video on the history and lore of the magical wand. A more in depth free pdf booklet is available through my website www.sorcerersandmagi.com where you can sign up for other free pdf downloadson magic, mysticism, and spirituality and check out my fiction inspired by authentic magic and mysticism. Upcoming free pdf downloads:
The Arbatel, Olympic Spirits and the Seal of Secrets of the World
Meditation and Its Effects
The Stele of Jeu (Bornless Ritual) and the Divine Light
The
wand is the quintessential mythical tool of magic. No magical fantasy character
is without one. Wands make things happen and make nifty weapons, don’t they?
Perhaps because, in real magic, the wand is a symbol of the magician’s will and
acts as a symbolic tool of concentration and direction of energy.
The wand is associated with
space, mind, healing, communication, and the element of fire. In its fiery
aspect, it represents the male and solar regenerative power—a phallic, fertile
symbol.
The celebrated early 20th
century mage Aleister Crowley referred to the wand as a symbol of the magician’s
oath. What was the oath but commitment to attaining “True Will.” True Will was Crowley’s
term for spiritual liberation and enlightenment. Crowley says in his book Liber IV:
“The
Magick Wand is thus the principal weapon of the Magus; and the ‘name’ of that
wand is the Magical Oath.”
The
wand is a symbol of the magical worker’s power to act. It is a symbol of the
magician himself. As the 16th century mage Giordano Bruno said in De
Magia:
“[In
the highest sense] a magician is a wise man who knows how to act.”
In other words, a magician,
ideally, is a person who has gained self-mastery.
Well, that sounds kind of
egg-heady and a far cry from the swish-and-flick romance we love about the
magical wand. But maybe the explanation takes the strangeness—the scary foreignness—out
of the picture about what a “magical wand” really is. And maybe it makes it
okay for you to have one not only as a kitschy novelty item or children’s toy
but as a powerful symbol of spiritual goals and intentions.
Sirens were creatures that were half-bird,
half-woman, in origin, perhaps like the Egyptian ba. To the ancient Egyptians, the ba was the surviving part of a person that flew to the Underworld
when a person died, but sirens were renegade creatures. According to classical
myth, they lived on treacherously rocky isles off the coast of Sicily. They
wanted nothing more than to entice passing sailors. Being lured, these sailors,
thinking they’d get good head, instead found themselves in listless,
dumbfounded stupors from which they languished and died.
It was portended that if a ship passed in
which the occupants were resistant to the sirens’ song, the sirens, in frenzied
dismay, would kill themselves. Thus, it is told in the Odyssey that these creatures leaped off cliffs when the epic’s
hero, Odysseus, and his crew sailed by.
The sirens descended to the Underworld where
they continued to sing, this time in mourning for the dead. Their imagery became
mixed up with that of mermaids who themselves, in lore, were the mystical
remnants of disposed-of women. Taking vengeance on the violence done to them, mermaids,
thus, lured men to their deaths with the promise of sex through the sweetness
of their song.
It all meant something metaphorical about
men, women, ecstasy, sense control, and, of course, sex and death. One had to
ponder it and trace the meme across cultures and time. To say that Aisa Morae
was a siren—or a fairy—a banshee or strix—was mere convention. No one knew what
she really was except that she was something of a Pandora’s box that had a thin
layer of jewels at the top under which scorpions rustled.
But it could be argued that, since Aisa Morae
was more a magical entity than a person, she
was actually a“thought-form.” That
is, she was really something that someone had magically thought up in such a
way that the thought took on form and came to life.
Thought-form‒like beings could linger
indefinitely, although they might become increasingly unstable over time. Aisa conceivably could go on for lifetimes,
becoming increasingly fouler and more erratic. It all depended on the prowess
of whoever had set her in motion in the first place. . .
The burning question for Michael was whether
Aisa Morae was ensouled or whether she was more of a phantasm. If she were
ensouled, disposing of her would be a criminal act. If she were a
thought-form—that is, a mirage of the imagination—especially if she were a
troublesome one—then making her go away might be a good deed.
When a fairy is discovered to have haplessly incarnated as
the quirky girl-next-door, sorcerers from another dimension come out of the
woodwork to vie for her affections in the interests of love and occult power.
But is she an unwitting fairy or a more dynamically charged and even dangerous
creature? A savior, a redeemer, and a siren, she puts her men in their place.
The story opens with a gal named Bellaluna Drago, who
is having a hard day, having been jilted by a boyfriend via email. She is
observed by two men, Michael Solaris and his mentor Anderson Albright, who are
denizens of the Inner Plane. Michael Solaris, we learn, is a co-conspirator in an
underground populist movement called the Lions of Light. He is working in the
Outer Plane as a neuroscientist and being stalked by a deranged “fatal
attraction” who is actually a magical creature. When Michael chivalrously
assists Bellaluna in the simple act of holding open a door, he realizes that
she is not an ordinary “Commons” woman but the hapless incarnation of a magical
being: a “fairy,” like his stalker. Against Anderson Albright’s protests, Michael
begins to pursue Bellaluna as a romantic interest-with-benefits but also
harbors sincere aims of protecting her against more opportunistic magical
persons of his kind.
Meanwhile, a sorcerer of a darker bent, Tristan Lundragon,
a cryptologist/steganographer who secretly acts as a Lions of Light conspirator,
has independently identified Bellaluna and is convinced that he, in a past life as the 16th century occultist Lunaris Dracon, was responsible for
her manifestation. A heated confrontation between Tristan, Anderson Albright, and Michael Solaris ensues.
Lundragon and Albright, however, ultimately form a secret pact about how the
men will train and work the “fallen fairy” Bellaluna Drago.
As Bellaluna begins piecing together her odd
circumstance, and after tragedy strikes, she and Tristan Lundragon ultimately
acquiesce to polyamorous love triangle that includes Tristan’s research partner and sometime male lover Jason Paleologos.
Tensions mount, however, as the powers-that-be target Tristan and Jason because
of their connection to Michael Solaris through Bellaluna Drago and dangerous
empowerments they have attained through their liaison with her.
References to alchemy, medieval occultism, the "language of the birds," steganography, and sex magic permeate the text. Each of the 22 chapters is named for and thematically reflects a card of the Tarot’s Upper Arcana.
“Harry Potter” for grown-ups. When a lady mage returns to
her hometown in her magical world from long years of exile in the Himalayas and
thereabouts, her epiphany radically transforms the lives of an imposing,
elitist, and bacchanalian dignitary and his troubled teenaged son. The binding quality of love and conspiratorial
influences propel the dignitary and his son to avatar-like roles in the
up-ending of the political power structure of the land.
The story opens with the return from
political exile of the lady mage Sofia La Maga. She has spent about a dozen
years traveling and studying in the mystical East and so the story is peppered
with imagery and insights associated with Eastern mysticism. Upon her return
from exile, Sofia takes a teaching position at her alma mater, the H. Trismegistus
Mystical Arts Academy. Although the consul of the sovereignty, an imposing,
elitist, and somewhat bacchanalian sorcerer named Leo de Lux, is adverse to Sofia’s
return, Sofia takes a liking to the sorcerer’s troubled teenaged son, Leonard
junior.
Leonard de Lux character study
In an opening scene, reminiscent of the Harry Potter
series, Leonard Jr. and Sofia La Maga have their initial exchange during a
first day of class during which the youth tries to perpetrate a prank on the
new teacher. In time, Sofia and Leonard junior enter into a sympathetic
relationship through which the youth undergoes a profound transformation and secretly
becomes an apprentice to the lady mage. Meanwhile, sexual tension is building
between Sofia and her seeming polar opposite, the consul of the sovereignty Leo
de Lux.
Leo de Lux instigates a threatening confrontation with
Sofia when his suspicions that his son has apprenticed with her come to light. The
confrontation, h owever, leads to an unlikely love affair.
Lord Consul Leo de Lux Sortiar character study
Public displays of magical prowess again put the lady
mage in a bad light with a certain notorious power-broker, the sorcerer Hipparchus
Gorgon, who holds great influence in a corrupt and corporatist political
structure in which Leo de Lux is integrally embroiled. Meanwhile, de Lux’s
estranged and disinherited elder brother Emmanuel, a provocateur in an
underground populist movement called the Lions of Light, reemerges to coax his
younger sibling to assume what he believes is a portended, avatar-like role in
a political coup. The conspiratorial influences of Sofia La Maga and Emmanuel
de Lux put Leo de Lux at a self-defining cross-road.
"Sometimes it may seem like we need magic to find happiness. "La Maga: A Story about Sorcerers and Magi" is a sensual fantasy novel following lady mage Sofia la Maga as she returns home to help a troubled teen, who happens to be the son of a renowned sorcerer. A tale marked by sorcerers' exotic charisma as well as social unrest against injustice, and the repercussions of an unruly system of magic, "La Maga" is tempestuous soiree into mystic mysteries."
--The Midwest Book Review midwestbookreview.com “La Maga captures the otherworldliness of Harry Potter but tackles larger political, spiritual, and emotional issues. Soror’s writing style drew me in from Sofia’s awkward walk down the school hallway through her complicated relationship with Leo De Lux and a life-or-death magical battle and all the way to hope for what today might be called Occupy the Inner and Outer Planes! . . . La Maga is an engaging read for anyone who refuses to think that what we see is all that exists, a trip into a parallel universe that gives unique, playful form to the concepts of Shaktipat, Buddhism, folk magic, mysticism, the occult and adolescent rebellion all mixed together into a brilliant, poignant and ultimately timely story.”
“This is a novel of magic by a true expert in both Western and Eastern systems of magic and mysticism. The author’s knowledge shines throughout the narrative, exciting the reader with tastes of this-world esoterica amplified in to the scale of an amazing universe of multiple plains of reality. Within all the magical and metaphysical goings-on are stories of young love, generational conflict, and spiritual transformation. A source of enjoyment and enlightenment for young and old!”“ . . . I am also incredibly impressed with the depth of knowledge that the author appears to have for various mystical and spiritual arts from the mainstream to the more obscure. It’s a smooth read, peppered with layers of deep spiritual teachings and references should the reader’s interest be piqued. The mystical and spiritual details read like poetry, not preaching. It’s a skillfully rendered sensual work about magical beings that inhabit their world, and more surprisingly, our own.”
Other books in the series 75% Discount at smashwords.com
What motivated you to begin writing the sorcerers and magi series?
I started to write the series in 2003 which was the time that the Harry potter movies and the books were gaining a lot of momentum. I knew very many 30-60 year-olds who were very enthusiastic about the book series. Honestly I never read the books but I’ve really enjoyed watching the movies and started to make up episodes in my head so I could be entertained in between movies. In any case, I realized that I had built up a completely unique story, with adult themes and complex characters, such as the antihero Leo de Lux. He starts out as a caustic and villainous but an becomes an ambiguous hero and maintains that role throughout the series.
My aim was to reach adults who otherwise have an interest in classic children’s magical fantasy literature but want more than mere escape. The series offers thought-provoking ideas about self and finding oneself and one’s true purpose and is geared to adult fiction readers drawn to magic, mysticism, and spirituality.
How did you come up with the geography of the magical world?
My story takes place in a parallel universe called the Inner Plane that has a look and feel like our own. The structure of government is loosely based on the classical roman paradigm. The same sort of power-mongering and dog-eat-dog kind of stuff that goes on in our world also happens in this Inner Plane world, with the idea that Inner Plane strongly influences how things roll in the Outer plane.
I picked up the term “Inner Plane” from the writings of an occultist in the Dion Fortune tradition named Gareth Knight. The Inner Plane is basically the world within the mind—a place of archetypal forms, dreams, and ideas in general. In a sense, it is in incubation place where thoughts become Reality.
Specific ideas spirituality, magic and mysticism permeate your work. How much research do you do in relation to this?
I’m using fiction as a creative and playful way to express my long-time interests in spirituality, magic, and mysticism. The work is a product of a lifetime of research, practice, and hands on experience in Eastern spirituality and the Western Mystery Tradition. The first book in the series, La Maga, is probably most influenced by my background in Buddhism and especially Vedanta, which is the philosophy about the “Oneness” of all things. It underlies Vedic Hinduism. By the time I got to writing the second book, The Fallen Fairy, I had become interested in philosophical alchemy and medieval magic and so you will find underlying themes about alchemy, spiritual transformation as well as reincarnation, fairy lore, and sex magic in that book. When I wrote the third book, The Savior at the End of Time, I had become an enthusiast of a current in postmodern occultism called Chaos Magick and a related counterculture scene called Discordianism. Those interests became interjected into that novel.
Given the subject matter, who exactly is your audience in relation to subcategory of fantasy fiction? You say it is for adults. Does this mean that content is inappropriate for children?
It is occult fantasy fiction but it is not dark. It has elements of paranormal romance in it but there are no vampires in the Gothic sense although the books have a running theme about psychic vampirism. That is, some of my characters have the ability to absorb life energy out of people—and this basically what the magic of the evil eye is. It philosophical and a little literary, so it is not always light reading although humor is definitely interjected into it. If you have an interest in spiritual philosophy, world religion, and alternative spirituality and spiritual development, including magical spiritual systems and –like fantasy fiction you’ll probably appreciate the books. They do have sexual content —especially in the second, which addresses polyamory and bisexuality, but it is not erotica. It is not graphic or voyeuristic. I am addressing sexuality on a more substantive level when I write about it. There’s political metaphor that brushes on themes related to anarchy, especially in the third novel—so all these things are probably not appropriate for younger people. That said, I was reading The Exorcist, The Stepford Wives, and the Biography of Lenny Bruce when I was 16 years old, so could a precocious kid with a high reading level get into it if it was OK with mom and dad. Yeah sure.
How long do you spend writing a book? What is your process regarding plot progression and character development?
I often “see” the whole story at once in a condensed form in my head. I role it around in my head for a while until a substantive narrative forms and characters emerge. Then I write it down. Once I dream up the main characters, they take on lives their own and then they sort of tell me their story or I feel like I’m watching a movie about them in my mind. If a lapse in the project occurs and too many days go by w/o writing, I run the risk of losing the momentum. So, when I am writing a story, I am fully immersed it in, always seeing it unfold in my mind’s eye. and always with a notepad of laptop to capture the action.
Why did you decide to go the self-publishing route? Any advice for others following this trend?
When the story La Maga came to me, I, frankly, hesitated about writing it because I knew I would be dedicating every free moment to writing a story and then beat my head against a brick wall trying to get noticed by an agent or small book publisher. Finding an agent is a Catch 22, you have to be published to get published and if someone comes forward to represent you or small book publisher shows interest, you have to be very careful about who and what you are getting involved with because you could end up with a bad deal. Self publishing has become respectable and perhaps is proving ground where an author that sells well will be noticed by agents and topline publishers. That is not to say it is at all easy. To do it successfully, you need a very large circle of contacts that are willing to promote you by buying and reviewing your books. You need to have mastered social media, and you have to have PR savvy.
Have you published nonfiction on magical or mystical themes?
I published a nonfiction book on my experiences working with a 16th century magical book called the Arbatel. My book is called The Seal of Secrets of the World Adventures in Astral Magic, and I self-published it under the magical pen name Soror ZSD23. The Seal of Secrets of the World is actually a diagram described the Arbatel. The Arbatel is a treatise on how to live in harmony, ease, and intimacy with the energies of the Multiverse. Behind the Christian piety is a more ancient spiritual paradigm that views the world as a multilayered place full of spiritual beings. In the spring and summer of 2010, I explored the content of the Arbatel and, in the context of solitary and group workings, evoked the “Olympic Spirits” described in the text. These are spiritual intelligences associated with the planets and named after Roman deities. The book expresses my experiences and insights in working with the Arbatel, provides guidance on practicing and simplifying evocation magic, and links to important related texts. It also includes auxiliary essays related to my studies in magic and mysticism.
What are you working on next?
I am an artist as well, and so I have been working on an illustrated version of La Maga. Some characters studies can be viewed on my sorcerersandmagi.com web site and my artist web site, deerapposelli.com. I am now also busy working on an illustrated nonfiction booklet called All about the Magic Wand, which I am going to offer for free along with a limited promo of original art. I am hoping to use it as a “thank you” for folks interested in my Sorcerers and Magi series. I have two more books in the series that are both in early stages. One is a prequel that tells the story of a Led-Zeppelin-like sorcerous rock band called Homunculus Tongue that gets mentioned throughout the currently published books in the series. The other book in progress picks up where the third book in the series leaves off—in a post-apocalyptic world where the Outer and Inner Plane are thrown together and a brother and sister realize their true magical selves. --reprinted from Smashwords.com
