Happy Crowleymas! A short episode detailing what's going to be happening over the Next month on What Magic is This? Grab your robes and Books of Law, we're going over the one Magician that everyone knows- Aleister Crowley! IAO, 93 and all of that!

If Western Magic is to have one document that many consider to be foundational and essential- that would be the Three Books of Occult Philosophy by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. The Three Books are Agrippa's attempt to synthesize magic with religion, going from the natural world to the celestial world and beyond. Joining the discussion on this extremely important text is someone who has understood the importance of Three Books well- Wren Collier, and the man who single-handedly produced the first English translation of Three Books in nearly 400 years- Eric Purdue!

Say the word Goetia and what comes to mind for many a magician is the summoning of Demons from the pits of hell. Yet many magicians are unaware from where the word Goetia came from but also what Goetia actually was. In this Episode of WMiT?, we go through the origins of Goetia as an ancient Greek tributary funeral practice, how the meaning of Goetia changed in the Renaissance and to the document that most people know the word from- The Ars Goetia, a very unique Grimoire. You've been summoned.

Hoodoo is a name given (somewhat unwillingly) to a culture, tradition and inheritance that arose due to a very special circumstance. This was the intersection of Indigenous, African and European culture and beliefs that occurred in South Eastern America. There are many things which arose out of this circumstance such as a Botanical knowledge of the areas in which these peoples found themselves, a special kind of spirituality, and much much more. There are many concepts of Hoodoo which require closer investigation, and joining WMiT? to help in this regard is Author, Rootworker and creator of The Hoodoo Tarot- Tayannah Lee McQuillar!

One of the most popular and purchased Occult Books of the last 100 years, perhaps the most purchased Occult book ever- is The Kybalion. Purported to be the work of the Three Initiates and the transcendent knowledge of the sage of Hermeticism Hermes Trismegistus, the Kybalion is a text that for many has been their introduction into the world of the unknown and Occult. But is the Kybalion all that is says it is? Are there things about this text that need to be considered before and after one reads it? On this Episode of WMiT? we are joined by Nicholas Chapel, someone who has looked much much deeper at the Kybalion than most dare to.

What does it take to call oneself a "Witch" these days? Are there certain things one must do, things that need to be believed, practices that need to be practiced? Or has Witchcraft really become so egalitarian that pretty much anything goes? Most people's conceptions of witchcraft are fairly modern conceptions, and many of the stories about the History of the Witch are myths. Is this a good thing, a bad thing, or just the way things go inevitably? To help out and give some guidance and direction for where one's witchcraft should situate itself these days, WMiT? is joined by Author, blogger and Witch Emma Kathryn.

One of the most controversial and downright confounding figures of 20th Century Science and Psychotherapy, was Wilhelm Reich. It was Reich's conjecture that he had discovered a powerful force that pervades not only all life here on earth, but also the cosmos as well. Reich called it Orgone, and it was the primary, sexual force of life. His views and research however has been met with obloquy and derision at every turn. In this episode, I am joined by Dan Lowe to go through the life and ideas of this oft maligned, yet fascinating figure.

Without a doubt, one moment that pretty much everyone is in agreement is absolutely seminal to the Occult, is when in 1471 Marcilio Ficino published the Corpus Hermeticum which he had recently translated. This triggered an explosion within Esoteric thought at the time, but also still right up to today. Finally, Hermeticism was something we could point a finger at and say that it was important. Since the publication, Hermeticism has had its ups and downs, but one thing is for sure- it is not going away any time soon. In this concluding episode, Erik Arneson and Sam Block go through Hermeticism over the last 600 years.

One word which gets used everywhere and almost as a substitute for Esoteric Thought and Philosophy- is Hermeticism. But what exactly is it and how did it come about? Is it a religion? A Philosophy? What was it all about? Our understanding of Hermeticism through time has changed vastly, much of the obscurity has been cleared up only within the last 100 years. In this, the first of a Two-Part series, I am joined by Erik Arneson and Sam Block to get to the bottom of the birth of Hermeticism and what it meant as it was originally conceived.

Two words that are never far away in the english-speaking word are both "Satan" and "Satanism." While many have ideas as to what both represent, much of the obscurity has been lifted from the philosophical beliefs that make up Satanism. Although there were a few groups and people that we could say were Satanic before the 20th century, Satanism as we all know it now is less than 60 years old. Based around the ideas of one man in particular, since its inception Satanism and ideas of what Satanists get up to has never been out of the public imagination for too long.