Hermetic Audio Glossary

Whenever I hear people pronounce jargon words from the occult lexicon, half the time they use some sort of idiosyncratic pronunciation or another. Given the relatively solitary nature of most practitioners, our encounters with these words are often almost exclusively through writing rather than speech. Combine this problem with the fact that many of the names and jargon words are drawn from Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and a number of other languages, those who haven't had formal exposure to these languages are often impaired in their ability to wrap their heads around how the words should sound and are left to muddle their way through as best they can.

In the early 2000s, I had a website with a section called the Hermetic Audio Glossary. My goal with this project was to present audio pronunciations of various names and jargon terms, in order to give others an idea of how the words should sound. Language has always been a living thing, and there is no "One True Pronunciation" for any given word throughout history, but I can say that I offer one true pronunciation for a given word, in that my pronunciation corresponds to those of academic researchers within the language's field.

As grimoiric magic has become more popular, and Latin passages are used more frequently in people's magic (e.g. the invocations from the Heptameron) and magicians are making greater use of the Orphic Hymns and other ancient resources, I have felt that the community may be well-served by resurrecting the project.

I am currently in the process of migrating my blog to a WordPress platform, in order to better host a combination of blog posts and static content.  Once this migration is done, you can continue to access my blog at http://hermeticulture.org -- and I'll be able to pursue a resurrection of the Hermetic Audio Glossary in earnest.

I have always loved the sounds of other languages, and especially of ancient languages.  Apart from English (or at least Anglicized) jargon terms, you can expect a mix of content in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, and Middle Egyptian.  In addition to specific vocabulary terms, I will also be recording recitations of the Orphic Hymns in Greek, the Latin prayers from the Heptameron, and some foundational rituals such as the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram and the Star Sapphire.  I look forward to serving the occult community with this resource again!

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