The Starry Cave

A Review of Frater Acher: Holy Daimon (Scarlet Imprint: 2018) As I read through the first pages of Frater Acher it became evident that this book was written by a kind soul, the kind of person that had his soul’s mirror to reflect kindness through the constant polishing and beating by Lord Saturn. As he writes on page 6: “Flawlessness is for tyrants and the mythical dead. As living humans, our hands are always stained. We mess up, we clean up, and mostly are blissfully ignorant of the damage or good we have done… This Platonic idea of who we are meant to be is at one with, and yet entirely separate from, our mortal personalities. It is waiting for us within our holy daimon.” And it is exactly this imperfection I found interesting in his work. The daimon, no matter if we analyse it from the philosophy of Zoroaster, Plato, Plotinus or the Chaldeans it appears that this daimoinic element is something of breath, something of fire, something good that enters us at birth is e...

This collection of the main Works of Jerónimo Cortez of Valencia who composed his treatises in the 17 th Century serves as an extension of Leitãos study in the Iberian Cyprians. Leitão comments in the presentation of his amazing translation work that the book might end up serve as a reference work, and indeed, the sheer volume of more than 600 pages might cause this treasure trove to be a work that is consulted more than worked, which is a pity, because this is a very complete collection of pragmatic and practical folk magic consisting of very much the same content as we find in the Iberian and Nordic Cyprians, albeit less diabolic. This means that we find here recipes for curing toothache and other afflictions as much as finding lost animals, the use of precious stones and herbs for whatever use, magical and mundane, for exploring its virtues or for curing something or someone. We find extensive explorations on astrology, all for practical use and we also fine a most wonderful...