Hermeticulture

We look hard We look through We look hard to see for real Sisters of Mercy, "Lucretia My Reflection" Inspired by my recent conversation with the delightful Erik Arneson , I decided to take some time and write up a more cohesive set of my thoughts on the interrelationship of magic and computer hacking. Prefatory note:  "Hacking" is a very broad term, which covers not only intrusion into computer systems, but also their defense, engineering, and an entirely vast array of non-computer-related tinkering, making, and puzzling.  Here, however, I'm talking specifically about the offensive side of hacking:  the approach to breaking into computers and networks. In my day job, I'm a professional computer hacker.  I work on an internal red team, which means that I'm paid by my employer to break into our own systems before criminal threat actors can do so, and serve as a sparring partner for our network defenders.  In recent years I've seen a great many parallel...

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Erik Arneson , host of the outstanding Arnemancy podcast .  We had a delightful conversation on the relationship of magic and computer hacking, the esoteric uses of cryptography, and a great deal about the philosophical underpinnings of magic--including some of the big questions that arise when you begin to explore the nature of magic itself. Mercifully, we did not talk about the Kybalion. Big thanks to Erik for having me on the podcast! Listen now:  Anything but the Kybalion

 My friend Taylor Bell recently interviewed me for the Green Lion Podcast , in a two-part episode.  I always have great conversations with Taylor, and it was a lot of fun to record this one together.  We dig into the weeds of magic, Forteana, and all things weird and wonderful. Interview Part One Interview Part Two

  Recently I had my first podcast interview, on Projeto Mayhem .  Watch as I get tag-teamed by Marcelo del Debbio and Andre Descrovi about the Kybalion, one of the most controversial texts in modern western occultism.  Thanks to both of them for having me on the show and for the thought-provoking questions!

After two full years of deliberation, I recently resigned from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.  I had been a member for more than a decade, almost half of it as an Adept.  I had been struggling with this decision for two years, after I had a falling out with my mother temple in early 2019.  At the time, I exercised my right as an Adept to unaffiliate with that temple and continue on my Path as a solitary practitioner.  But in doing so, I felt adrift.  I had effectively lost not only my chosen family of 10 years, but all of the people in my life I held dear who spoke my own native spiritual language.  I had already experienced the Golden Dawn tradition elsewhere, first initiating into a different Order back in 2005, and anyone can walk that Path alone if they so choose--so my resignation didn't mean that I couldn't pursue my own spiritual journey anymore.  But my chosen family was irreplaceable, as was the experience of doing lodge-style magic wi...

In my last post on this blog, I had reflected on the perspective voiced by the character of Henry Fogg in Lev Grossman's The Magicians  that the magician's inner pain is what makes them stronger: that they "burn it as fuel, for light and warmth," and in so doing have "learned to break the world that has tried to break [them]." I said at the time that I would leave an analysis of that question to my next post on the subject. It turns out there's no way to answer that question except through experience.  And if we hadn't already had enough inner pain as it was, the novel coronavirus has affected us all in our own disparate ways, giving us plenty more of it to deal with.  It's certainly left me with my own share of scars to bear. So, what deep truths have I learned about the nature of magic and pain?  Was Fogg right after all? Well, the jury's still out.  Do those of us who are called to the magical path experience pain more deeply than ...

I recently read Lev Grossman's novel "The Magicians," a book that's been on my reading list for quite some time.  It's an engaging story overall, but the most compelling aspect of it to me is that Grossman pulls back the fantasy curtain and creates a world in which magic does not solve the greatest problem:  that of the human condition.  Unlike the world of Harry Potter, there is no central villain to fight, no epic struggle to galvanize the protagonists and give them purpose.  In "The Magicians," the struggle is with oneself, to find meaning.  The students who come to Brakebills to study magic are brilliant, alienated, and often socially challenged.  And magic doesn't fix that.  If anything, it drives home the point all the more sharply:  no matter how much you may try to look for a change in circumstances in order to escape your ennui and give your life meaning, you cannot fix the brokenness within yourself by looking for a change in the out...