A rare piece of Occultist ephemera, printed in an edition of 777 copies to commemorate Magic for the coming year of 1896. Each double page spread mimics the Christian Calendar in some respect (name days, iconography). The document is at once a spoof and an attempt to chart the year of Magic. Its surviving interest resides in the extravagant and compelling illustrations, especially the full-page right hand plates.
Plate 1 – Book Cover Plate 2 – Chart or various good end evil Spirits; chart of Planetary influences upon hours of the days of the week; lions; owl; snake; bird food / chart of the good and bad Spirits/influences that can be Magically used on the different days of the week Plate 3a – Naked hag with book open in lap, sitting on stool, within circle set with candles; gold flames; pentagram, star of David Plate 3b – Owl carrying keys; bat carrying seal Plate 4a – January: Diagram of Solar System; listing of dates for days of the week; chant / naked women at Sabbat; Satan as winged anthropomorphous goat Plate 4b – February: Sun with cloud interior indicating cardinal directions; charts; spells / bearded man holding up open book; Death gazing down; naked woman in foreground Plate 5a – March: Chart of days of week; Pentagram with broken circle; le maudit blaspheme / dark angel, naked; moon and skyline Plate 5b – April: Star of David; medieval frieze: procession of priests and nobility; tarot card The World / skeleton of king in coffin; single candle; crowns, sword, staffs, orb Plate 6a – May: Tree; chalises; frog; bird; love potion / exhibitionist bat-winged woman; necromancer gazing, gesturing into glowing cauldron, with familiar strutting on his head Plate 6b – June: Poem; frog / naked woman in arms of dark man; feminine Demons coming from smoke of extinguished candle; creatures of the night Plate 7a – July: Laboratory instruments; poem / Alchimist lying on floor of his laboratory, black cat at his feet Plate 7b – August: Chalice on table with legs, ears / woman lying prone on table with chalice on back; men in dark robes around her; Satan as goat Plate 8a – September: Charts; poem / Demon rolling past moon; procession of dark-robed people into cemetary; Abracadabra Plate 8b – October: Charts, bound Demon / entranced naked woman crouched down looking upon embers of crosses burning within a circle, a Demon is just visible in the smoke Plate 9a – November: Calendar chart; spell / naked old man sitting, creating voodoo doll; bird-like Demon silhouetted by Moon; hand gripping sword; row of dolls; heart pierced by nails, knife Plate 9b – December: Poem ‘le Héraut’; calendar chart; Star diagram with Suns at points, labeled: l’être est, réalité, justice, raison, vérité / man in ecclesiastical garb, bearing flag with crosses, holds forth an opened message with broken seal; figures tied to stakes and village rooftops in background
Women who can shift into the Wind (Rain, Storms, Lightening) – Polish shamanic women’s traditions. Uncle – the newer word, post-Christianity, in Old Polish means “Favorable Winds”,
Uncle also means old ( strujus – old man). In prehistory (before religion and even pagan religions) there were no words, just experience. Stryk – means a person changing place, so Stryja is a Goddess shifting, changing place (between woman and wind or storm). Her nickname has many meanings: a stylish and tuning (jokes), ztrojona – triple, trojąca, trying too hard, busy, hardworking, thrifty and ‘ster’- meaning tired. Storm , hurricane at sea, storm, chord resounding, causing the sound to flow like a stream – flowing (not just water but also wind) all belong to the prehistory of women’s shamanism.
There is a superstition saying that a strong, sudden wind blowing for no apparent reason at all, is the announcement of ‘changes’ coming. Stryja Wind, or gust of wind, blowing, blowing, blast , and at the same time relates to the inner breath, breathing, and for that derived from the same root of soul-breath, meaning that Stryja, a goddess and in prehistory ‘woman shaman’ gives breath and breathe life into something or takes life away (smykająca) – destruction.
For the course of the six months that you will be Working through Liber MMM you should keep a dream journal. In it you should write down whatever it is you remember about your dream experiences first thing in the morning, including if you do not remember anything at all. As your dream entries will increase with time it is usually best to keep your dream journal seperate from your magical journal to prevent overcrowding.This is less of an issue for people using electronic journal tools, but still consider keeping separate files.
To help improve your ability to recall your dreams consider giving the following practice a try. As you lay down to sleep begin to recall the events of the day as fully as possible, starting with the most recent events and working your way backwards to when you first woke up. Once you have completed this say some kind of positive loading formula, such as “As I make my way to the Realms of Dream I drink from the Waters of Rememberance,” or something that you find stimulating.
If you think a deity is calling you, ask why. What is he or she calling you for? There is an idea floating around that every Pagan should have his or her own patron deity. This is a nice thought, but it doesn’t align with what our ancient ancestors believed nor with the experience of many contemporary polytheists. The gods have their own areas of interest and responsibility – being your guardian and guide may not be at the top of their priority lists.
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Don’t assume that any contact is an offer to be your patron, or even that you should have a patron. People and gods are all unique – no two relationships are identical.
If a goddess or god is calling you, odds are good she or he wants you to do something: make an offering, tell a story, do something to help his or her work, or do something to make yourself ready to do something bigger at some point in the future. Be prepared to respond with action.
That something may or may not include priestly work. Priesthood is a special calling and is not to be taken lightly. Priests and priestesses are people who have taken special obligations to perform special services for an extended period of time. For all I have done for and with Morrigan, she has not called me to be her priest. But that hasn’t stopped her from asking me to do things for her. As with the question of patronage, don’t assume you should be a priest or priestess.
Just to be clear: modern Paganism generally takes a very Protestant approach to priesthood. All Pagans are priests in that you don’t need a specialist or other intermediary to approach the gods. Those who are called to priesthood – those who I would call priest or priestess – are servants of a particular deity or deities with an obligation to do their work in this world. Or they are servants and leaders of a particular group – they are clergy.
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Ask yourself if what you’re hearing is challenging you to do something different – to change the way you worship, the way you live, the way you think, the way you relate to the rest of the Universe. The gods are busy and they don’t need idle followers. They need people who will be their hands in this world.
Finally, ask yourself if you’re ready to hear the call of the gods. While you can and should retain your sovereignty even when dealing with the gods, what is heard cannot be unheard and what is promised cannot be undone.
