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Friends of Hecate (FoH) and Clapham Wood

October 18, 2009 by Andrew 17 Comments

Friends of Hecate is a British occult order that was brought to public attention in 1987 in the book The Demonic Connection.

The book was written by Toyne Newton, Charles Walker and Alan Brown and linked the Friends of Hecate to Clapham Wood. Charles Walker described an incident in the woods in which he had been approached by an initiate of the FoH who claimed responsibility for the slaughter and sacrifice of dogs and other animals. The Friends of Hecate, it is claimed, had earmarked the woods for a decade of occult activity and had contacts in high places in society.

It is said that a number of dogs have gone missing in the woods or have become surprisingly aggressive after visiting.

Clapham Wood, unfortunately, is directly linked to four human deaths.

In June 1972 police officer Peter Goldsmith vanished and his body was discovered 6 months later.

In August 1975 Leon Foster’s body was discovered after a three weeks search.

Clapham vicar Reverend Harry Neil Snelling vanished in 1978. Three years later his body was found in the wood.

Finally, in September 1981 the homeless schizophrenic Jillian Matthews vanished and her body was found 6 weeks later in Clapham Wood.

Hecate is an old Greek goddess of the household and the newly born. She is often portrayed as a hag or a crone these days but was once a powerful and beautiful goddess. When Zeus overthrew the Titans and took control of Olympus he allowed Hecate to retain her position. In fact, Hecate is the only one of the ancient Titans who retained her position.

The connection between the Greek goddess and a quasi-pagan British occult order is not entirely clear. However, Hecate is also the goddess of witchcraft and this alone may be a strong enough focus for the Friends of Hecate order.

Five female deities with some masculine traits

January 20, 2009 by Andrew 1 Comment

The goddess Ma'at, showing her feather in her ...
Image via Wikipedia

Channelling deities, asking for their guidance, support or blessing is common. Whenever you attempt to involve a deity in a blessing or ritual it is important to know exactly with whom you are dealing with. Deities have their own personalities, preferences and traits. Further more, these aspects of the deity can begin to have an effect on you as well as your rituals. Sometimes rituals and blessings should be done in conjunction with a female deity but would also benefit from not being overwhelmingly feminine.

We’re certainly not suggesting that any of these deities are butch, far from it. Instead the following five deities each have an aspect or two which is also commonly found in male deities.

Artemis (Greek)

Artemis shows her masculine aspects through her hunting and use of bow and arrows. She is twinned with Apollo. If you do channel Artemis with her masculine side in mind then it also equally important to remember she is a virgin and does also represent fertility.

Ma’at (Egyptian)

Ma’at, also sometimes known as Mayet, is a deity of balance, justice and truth. She is a very magical deity and a powerful one. Some Egyptian traditions equated Ma’at with the male deity Thoth.

Frejya (Norse)

Frejya is one of the two main female deities from the Norse tradition. While she is a deity of love, beauty and fertility who would assist in childbirths she is also associated with war, battle, death and wealth.

Ninsar (Babylonian)

There are few significant female Babylonian deities to choose from other than Tiamat and channelling any aspect of Tiamat is not recommended. Ninsar is the daughter of Ninhursag the mother-goddess. Whereas Ninhursag is one of the seven greater deities from Sumer Ninsar is a much smaller entity. She is the Green Lady and a goddess of plants.

Oya (Voodoo)

Oya is a deity of the winds, of the marketplace and cemeteries. Oya is channelled when a change is needed; particularly a business change. In the Yoruba tradition Oya is also a warrior-goddess responsible for hurricanes and tornadoes.

In Pure Spirit

Who would you recommend a female deity appropriate for channelling and who might bring some suggestion of masculinity diversity?

Manticore: The man-eater

January 15, 2009 by Andrew 1 Comment

Stone relief showing a manticore while killing...
Image via Wikipedia

The manticore is a fierce monster and its name was once a literal translation of “man-eater”. The Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder, described the manticore in his book Naturalis Historia. The original tales of manticores come from Persia and the sub-continent.

The manticore was feared by the Indians and was believed to kill more humans than animals. The Greek historian Aelian writing in the 2nd century described how the manticore would wait in ambush for a group of two or three men before attacking. In return the Indians would hunt the beast from the back of elephants and with the aid of great spears. Young manticores would be found and crushed with rocks.

The prophet Jeremiah, from the Hebrew Bible, was represented through the manticore emblem. The beast was thought to live in caves deep in the earth and Jeremiah had once been through in a deep dung pit.

Appearance

Ctesias describes the manticore has having three rows of teeth and a spiked tail. The tail was used as a whip and as a sling from which to launch poison tipped barbs. It was said to have eyes and ears like that of a man.

The manticore is often drawn as having a feline body and a human-like face.

In Pure Spirit

Perhaps there are lessons we can take from the manticore today. As it was feared it was hunted and its young was killed… could this not represent a vicious circle of revenge?

Pythagorean numerology

January 8, 2009 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Pythagoras, the man in the center with the boo...

Image via Wikipedia

Pythagorean numerology is the system evolved from the original developed by Greek mathematician and philosopher Pythagoras (580/572 BC – 500/490 BC).

The evolution of this western form of numerology now includes elements from Arabian sources, Druid, Phoenician and Egyptian studies.  Pythagorean numerology uses the numbers 1 to 9 (unlike Chaldean numerology which often stops at 8 ) and frequently reduces numbers down to a single digit (for example, the number 23 becomes 5 as 2+3=5).

Pythagorean numerology states that the universe and life is ordered. People may influence their fate (therefore pythagorean numerology can both predict the future and not predict the future at the same time) but there is a sustainable structure to the future.

Two common numerological studies involve translating a name to numbers (changing your name is therefore significant in numerology) and understanding the date of birth.

In Pythagorean numerology numbers are assigned in the following way:

  • 1 = A, J and S
  • 2 = B, K and T
  • 3 = C, L and U
  • 4 = D, M and V
  • 5 = E, N and W
  • 6 = F, O and X
  • 7 = G, P and Y
  • 8 = H, Q and Z
  • 9 = I and R

In Pure Spirit

How do you use numerology? Do always reduce to a single number?

Gorgon

November 20, 2008 by Andrew Leave a Comment

Gorgon on the volute handle of the

Image via Wikipedia

The most well known Gorgons are Medusa, Stheno and Euryale from Greek mythology. Medusa was mortal, transformed into a female form with venomous snakes for her hair by the goddess Athene. Stheno and Euryale were immortal.

In the Iliad there is only one Gorgon who’s head was fixed to the centre of Aegis, the god’s magic shield.

The image of a Gorgon’s head is used in Apotropaic magic to ward off evil and as such often appears on doors, shields, armour, tombstones and walls.  Greek mythology also noted that the blood from the right side of a Gorgon could bring the dead back to life whereas blood from the left side of the monster is a deadly poison.

Anyone looking at a Gorgon would be turned to stone.

Appearance

The Gorgons were sometimes drawn with boar tusks and golden wings although the image of a fanged and snake snaked woman was more common.  Sphinxes (or sometimes lionesses) are also often depicted alongside Gorgons in Greek art.

In Pure Spirit

Which is your favourite Gorgon story? Have you been to Greece and seen any of the Gorgon architecture?

Demonic names

November 19, 2008 by Andrew 3 Comments

Beelzebub as depicted in Collin de Plancy's Di...

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Abaddon

Abaddon is the name of the demonic entity which the Bible (Revelation 9:11) describes as the angle of the bottomless pit.

Abigor

Abigor is a demon conjured for military assistance, advice and fortune telling powers.

Afrit

Afrit, in Islamic lore, are giant and malevolent devil-djins. They are the second most powerful type of devil and may be related to ancient Egyptian spirits of the desert sandstorm.

Ahriman

According to Zoroastrain lore, Ahriman is the demon of lies and is trapped in never-ending conflict with Ahura Mazda. He is associated with the serpent form of Satan.

Alastor

In ancient Greek the word Alastor was used to mean avenging god. Roman demonologists used the name to refer to the evil Genius of a house.

Apollyon

Apollyon is the Greek name for the demon Abaddon.

Arioch

In Milton’s Paradise Lost Arioch is one of the fallen angels. The name is dervived from the Hebrew for ‘fierce lion’.

Asmodeus

In the Aprocryphal Book of Tobit the demon Asmodeus is the personal tormentor of Tobias’ wife-to-be. In the Testament of Solomon the demon is one that conspires to plot against the newly married. Don Cleofas is taken on a night flight by Asmodeus in the literatury work Le Diable Boiteux (1707, Le Sage) which gives rise to the term ‘flight of Asmodeus’. In the book Asmodeus uses magic to allow Don Cleofas to see into the houses he flies over so that the inhabitants private lives were revealed to him.

Azazel

In Paradise Lost Azazel is described as the standard bearer for the rebelling angels. In Islamic demonology Azazel is one of the Djin who was expelled from heaven for refusing to worship Adam.

Baphomet

Although the name Baphomet is sometimes used in conjunction with a demon it is more likely to be a variation of the word ‘Mohammed’ when the Knights Templar were acused of blasphemous worship.

Barbason

William Shakespeare writes of Barbason  in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Some scholars suggest the name may have been taken from the Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584, Reginald Scot).

Beelzebub (Baalzebub)

The name Baalzebub may stem from the Sryian ‘Baal’ and infer ‘Lord of the High House’ whereas Beelzebub translates as ‘Lord of Flies’. Beelzebub has come to be regarded as the leader of the fallen angels and the Prince of Devils.

Belphegor

Belphegor stems from the name ‘Baal-Poer’ a Moabitish god of orgies. Medieval demonologies later mapped the name to a devil sent from hell to investigate whether there really was such as thing as married happiness on earth. Belphegor concluded there was no such thing.

Caliban

In Shakespeare’s The Tempest Caliban is the half-human deformed offspring of the devil and the witch Sycorax.

Cambion

The name Cambion was given in the post-medieval period to anyone  believed to the semi-human offspring either an incubus or succubus.

Demogorgon

Lactantius wrote that Demogorgon was the chief power in Hell. The name was once kept a secret as to speak it was to invite disaster.

Eblis

The name Eblis means despair. Eblis is the same as the demon Azazel.

Gog and Magog

The Book of Revelation describes Gog and Magog as the future enemies of the Kingdom of God.

Lamia

Lamia is the name of a legendary queen of Libya who turned into a monstrous serpentine monster. The name became used as a synonym for a witch who could transform from demonic form to beautiful woman.

Lucifer

Lucifer means “Morning Star” or “Daily Star”. The name Lucifer has become synonymous with Satan – probably due to reads of Isaiah 14:12.

Mammon

Mammon is the Syrian term for “riches” or “wealth”. The name was linked to demonic names in Matthew 6:24 and Mammon has now come to be seen as a demon of money.

Mephistopheles

In Faust, Mephistopheles is the devil. The name is Greek and means “the one who hates the light”.

In Pure Spirit

Missing any? Please feel free to comment (and cite a reference) and we’ll grow the list.

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