Book of the week: High Magic’s Aid by Scire

 

Book of the week 

High Magic’s Aid

By Scire

Written by Scire aka Dr. Gerald B. Gardner 

First published: 1949 by Michael Houghton

Edition shown: First Edition of paperback version, 1993 via Pentacle Enterprises.

This week we will look at a highly recommended and important book in the subject of witchcraft and Wicca. It’s important because it was written by Dr Gerald Gardner who was a 4•=7= O.T.O. Member and father of Wicca himself. This short but essential book serves as a guide to the beliefs, structure, history and practices of the modern British witch. 

His and other works were used in the formation of Wicca and Gardnerian Witchcraft in the UK. He based the book on existing knowledge and his experiences whilst in the company of the legendary New Forest Coven of England.

At the Occult Society we are lucky to have one of the First Editions of the paperback publication from 1993 complete with Gerald’s original artwork.The book also is important to us as two of our members including Carrie Grove knew a granddaughter of one of the Nee Forest witches who remembered the Coven’ s connection to Dr Gardner.

At 76 pages and 20 chapters this crams a lot in due to the very small text but of course modern, larger text versions are now available. At times the book can be a little confusing but that’s because he was trying to compile many different beliefs and concepts into a cohesive narrative.

You can read the original hardback version on The Internet Archive 

Link to used copies of the book

https://www.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/products/high-magic-s-aid-book-gerald-b-gardner-9780956618207

Deck of the week: Palmistry Poker

 A Novel deck of playing cards that also teaches the basics of palmistry 

This is cool idea . If you like playing card games like poker these small cards are easy to slip into a pocket. These cards have a unique idea as well : they can teach you the basics of palmistry.

The deck functions exactly like a normal deck of cards with the usual markings but each card also has, instead of the usual designs, a picture of.a palm displaying a key line with a short description.

Now, this deck ain’t gonna make you a palm reader overnight but it’s a fun way to learn the basics with your friends and can make a fun talking point at parties. 

They’re really cheap too and available from TEMU or other online sites for a couple of pounds. !

 What is a wand

Let’s start with what it isn’t?!

It is not like the Harry Potter movies. It is not a plaything nor is it evil. 

The wand is one of the most enduring and evocative tools associated with witches. Slender, hand-held, and often fashioned from living wood, the wand functions as an extension of the witch’s will—an instrument through which intention, energy, and spirit are directed. Unlike tools of force or domination, the wand embodies subtlety: it points, channels, invokes, and blesses. Across centuries and cultures, its form and meaning have evolved, yet its symbolic core remains strikingly consistent.

Do you HAVE to use a wand?

That’s open to debate. Many witches insist that a wand is crucial to the Craft while others are more flexible on the wands purpose and requirements. Think of it like this: the wand is an extension of you, your arm and hand. It is like pointing with a longer finger. If you feel your ability is limited just yet then a wand can help you focus and direct. More experienced witches and occult practitioners will rarely use a wand if at all as they have mastered the ability to direct and draw energy easily.

Origins and Historical Roots

The use of wands long predates modern witchcraft. In the ancient world, staffs and rods were associated with authority, sacred office, and divine mediation. Egyptian priests carried ritual rods; Greek heralds bore the kerykeion (later the caduceus), and Roman augurs used curved staffs to mark sacred space in the sky. In the Hebrew tradition, Moses’ staff performs miracles, blurring the line between prophetic authority and magical action.

Medieval and early modern folklore preserves echoes of these traditions. Fairy tales depict enchanters and witches wielding wands to transform reality—turning pumpkins into carriages or humans into beasts. While such stories are fanciful, they reflect a deeper cultural memory of the wand as a conduit between worlds: human and divine, natural and supernatural.

Symbolism of the Wand

At its heart, the wand symbolizes directed intention. In many magical systems, it corresponds to the element of Air (thought, word, inspiration) or Fire (will, creativity, transformation), depending on tradition. Its upright, linear form has often been interpreted as phallic, representing generative power and focused projection, though this symbolism is neither exclusive nor universal.

More broadly, the wand represents:

• Will: the focused desire to bring about change

• Word: speech, spellcraft, and the power of naming

• Axis: a bridge or channel through which energy flows

When a witch raises or points a wand, the gesture itself becomes meaningful—an act of alignment between inner intent and outer action.

Materials and Magical Correspondences

Traditional wands are most often made of wood, chosen for its living essence and symbolic associations. Different trees carry different virtues:

• Elder: linked to death, rebirth, and ancestral spirits

• Hazel: wisdom, divination, and poetic inspiration

• Oak: strength, protection, and sacred authority

• Willow: lunar magic, intuition, and emotional flow

Different woods hold different energies and this is something you should keep in mind when you select the wood to use in your wand. In saying this, however, I’ve found that going out and finding a branch or stick that draws me to it forms a stronger bond than simply going on wood type. 

If you love the beach, next time you’re there, pick up a few pieces of driftwood and see if any of them feel like they belong in your hand. If so, then you’ve found the wood for your wand! The same goes for the forest, the bush or wherever you might find your wand.

When you are trying to find wood for your wand, make sure that you always remember to do as little damage as you possibly can when harvesting. If you want to take a particular branch, don’t just rip it off the tree, as that will imbue your new wand with negative energy instantly (violence is never the way). Consider only looking for fallen branches, or branches that are already damaged in some way. If you have a garden and prune your fruit trees, you can use one of the pruned branches as a lovely wand. 

Whenever you prune, cut or find wood or branches for a wand, make sure that you thank the tree for giving you the wood. It’s a really nice way to acknowledge that nature has once again provided for you and also to give thanks for the tree’s sacrifice or gift. 

Some wands are adorned with crystals, metal bands, runes, or carvings. A crystal tip may amplify or refine energy, while inscriptions personalize the wand to its maker or owner. In many traditions, it is believed that the wand should be made or at least consecrated by the witch who uses it, creating a bond between tool and practitioner.

The Wand in Ritual Practice

In ritual, the wand is primarily a tool of direction rather than manipulation. It may be used to:

• Cast or reinforce the circle

• Invoke deities, spirits, or elemental forces

• Bless objects, people, or spaces

• Trace symbols or sigils in the air

Unlike the athame, which often marks boundaries, the wand tends to invite and call forth. Its motion is fluid rather than cutting, emphasizing attraction and flow over separation.

In some forms of witchcraft, particularly folk or solitary practices, the wand is optional. The hand, finger, or gaze may substitute, reinforcing the idea that the true source of magic lies within the witch, not the tool. The wand simply refines and clarifies that power.

Modern Witchcraft and Personal Expression

Contemporary witches approach wands with notable flexibility. Some craft elaborate, ceremonial pieces; others favor simple branches gathered respectfully from nature. There is also a growing tradition of non-wooden wands made from bone, metal, or glass, reflecting personal aesthetics and magical philosophies.

In modern practice, the wand often becomes a deeply personal object—less a symbol of inherited authority and more a reflection of individual identity and spiritual path. It may evolve over time, gaining marks, additions, or patina as the witch’s practice deepens.

How to get your wand to connect with you:

If you’ve made the wand for something specific, consider it ready to use. By making the wand you have already imbued it with a lot of your energy and it will be charged with your intentions for it i.e. if you made a healing wand, you will have been thinking about how and why you are making the wand the whole time you are making it. 

If you choose to use a piece of wood that you’ve found, consider trying to figure out what kind of energy that wood contains before you start using it. To do this, simply find a quiet minute to yourself and sit down with your new wand in both hands. Take a few deep breaths and then ASK the wand what energy it contains. Close your eyes and take note of what feelings come to you, as this will be the wand telling you what to use it for. Be open-minded and prepared to do a bit of interpreting here, as it may not be 100% clear straight away. You might think about food, which might mean that the wand in your hands is destined for being in a kitchen.

Cleanse the wand before you use it. The simplest way to do this is to light a smoke cleansing bundle and pass the wand through the smoke a few times. 

If your wand is completely new and you don’t know where it’s been before it arrived to you, consider purifying it before you start. You can do this by bathing it in salt water and then passing it through a flame (obviously don’t pass it through flame if it has flammable parts on it). After you have done this, hold your wand in both hands and imagine your own energy as a bright white light flowing into the wand from your hands. Try and keep this stream of energy flowing for as long as you can. When you’ve charged your wand, say “With my energy, I charge you. I will use you only for good. So mote it be”. 

Click here for a detailed guide to the different woods you could use:

https://www.groveandgrotto.com/blogs/articles/all-about-wand-woods-magick-and-meaning-from-alder-to-zebrawood

You can adorn your wands too with crystals, shells, other twigs, cord or ribbons. Use your instinct and work with your wands to get a feel for the right adornment based on the wand wood, its corresponding energy and what purposes you intend using it for. 

This is your wand. Make it you own. Treasure it. Keep it safe and it will be your partner in your magickal work.

Never let anyone else use your wand!

When you no longer want it then you should thoroughly cleanse it and burn it, burying the aches whilst thanking it for the work it has done for you.

The wand endures not because of superstition, but because it speaks to a fundamental human impulse: the desire to shape reality through intention, gesture, and meaning. For witches, the wand is neither a prop nor a crutch, but a partner in practice—silent, responsive, and alive with symbolism. In raising the wand, the witch affirms a timeless truth: that focused will, aligned with nature and spirit, has the power to transform the world. The wand has endured in many places of society even if its origin purpose has now been lost to time such as a baton used by a conductor of an orchestra . Have a look around to see what may have represented a wand once !

What are Ley Lines?

Ley Lines: Ancient Alignments or Modern Myth?

Ley lines are hypothetical straight alignments connecting ancient monuments, sacred sites, and natural landmarks across landscapes, particularly in Britain. The concept has evolved from a rational theory of prehistoric trackways into a cornerstone of New Age spirituality, often associated with invisible Earth energies, mystical power, and even extraterrestrial phenomena. While captivating, the idea remains controversial, with mainstream archaeology and science dismissing it as coincidental patterns in a densely populated historical landscape.

Origins: Alfred Watkins and the Old Straight Track

The modern concept of ley lines originated in the 1920s with Alfred Watkins, an English amateur archaeologist, photographer, and businessman from Hereford. In June 1921, while riding across the hills near Blackwardine, Watkins experienced a sudden insight: ancient sites, mounds, moats, beacons, and churches appeared to align in straight lines on maps. He proposed these as prehistoric “old straight tracks”—practical navigation routes or trade paths used by early Britons, marked by sighting points on hilltops for cross-country travel in a forested landscape.

Watkins detailed his ideas in books like Early British Trackways (1922) and The Old Straight Track (1925), arguing that the term “ley” derived from Anglo-Saxon words meaning cleared strips or tracks (often appearing in place names). He emphasized rationality, viewing leys as engineering feats predating Roman roads, without any supernatural elements.

Watkins’ theory gained brief popularity in the interwar years, inspiring “ley hunting” clubs, but was largely dismissed by professional archaeologists for ignoring terrain difficulties and mixing sites from vastly different eras.

Revival and Mystical Interpretations

Interest faded until the 1960s counterculture revived it in esoteric form. John Michell’s The View Over Atlantis (1969) rebranded leys as channels of “Earth energies” or “dragon veins,” drawing parallels to Chinese feng shui’s qi lines. Michell linked them to ancient wisdom, Atlantis, and geomancy, transforming Watkins’ practical tracks into a global grid of mystical power.

New Age proponents expanded this, claiming ley lines carry electromagnetic or spiritual energy, with intersections (vortexes) amplifying healing, psychic abilities, or consciousness. Famous examples include the St. Michael’s Line aligning sites like St. Michael’s Mount, Glastonbury Tor, and Avebury, often tied to solar alignments.

Some theories incorporate UFOs (leys as alien landing guides) or planetary chakras, with sites like Stonehenge as energy portals.

Famous Sites and Examples

Stonehenge is frequently cited as a ley line hub, with multiple alignments converging there, including connections to Old Sarum, Grovely Castle, and Salisbury Cathedral. Proponents claim up to 14 major leys intersect at the site, enhancing its astronomical and ceremonial significance.

Other notable alignments include Avebury, Glastonbury, and global extensions to the Pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu, and Uluru.

Scientific and Skeptical Perspectives

Mainstream scholars reject ley lines. Statistical analyses show that Britain’s high density of prehistoric and historic sites makes random straight alignments inevitable—draw a line anywhere, and it will likely hit several points. Sites span millennia (Neolithic to medieval), undermining claims of deliberate ancient planning. No physical evidence of “energies” has been detected by instruments, and projects like the 1970s-1980s Dragon Project found no consistent anomalies beyond natural variations.

Critics note selective mapping ignores Earth’s curvature and inconvenient sites, while dowsing for energies remains unverified. Watkins himself would likely disapprove of the mystical overlay, as he stressed empirica

Ley lines endure not for empirical proof but for their romantic appeal—evoking a hidden order in the landscape, connecting humanity to ancient wisdom and the Earth’s subtle forces. Whether viewed as forgotten trackways, energy grids, or statistical illusions, they inspire pilgrimage, meditation, and wonder. In an increasingly rational world, ley lines remind us of the allure of mystery, inviting us to walk ancient paths and ponder unseen connections.

Invoking the Baphomet

 

Invoking Baphomet in the strict Éliphas Lévi sense is not a “Satanic” ritual, a Black Mass, or a petition to an external demon. It is a high ceremonial operation whose real purpose is to awaken and equilibrate the Astral Light within and around the operator, using Baphomet as the perfect archetypal mirror of the solved macrocosm-microcosm. Lévi himself never published a complete ritual, but he scattered enough precise instructions (especially in Dogme et Rituel, the chapter “The Magical Sabbath” and the section on the “Conjuration of the Four”) that the historically accurate method can be reconstructed with very high fidelity.

Below is the closest thing to an authentic 19th-century Lévi-style “Invocation of Baphomet” that remains faithful to his own symbolism and theory. It is intended for advanced practitioners only who already possess ceremonial training, banishing skills, and a clear understanding that they are working with their own interior forces projected into the Astral Light.

Lévy-Accurate Invocation of Baphomet (“The Rite of the Living Pantacle”)

Preliminaries (indispensable)

1.  Perform a thorough Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (Lesser or Greater).

2.  The operation must be done on a Tuesday (Mars) or Saturday (Saturn) at the hour of Mars or Saturn, when the forces are most condensed in the Astral Light.

3.  Circle of black and white cloth or tape on the floor, 9 feet in diameter.

4.  Altar in the centre bearing:

•  The image or statue of Lévi’s Baphomet (or a large, correctly drawn plate of it)

•  Two black candles and two white candles at the quarters

•  Incense: storax + frankincense + a pinch of sulfur (traditional “Sabbatic” mixture)

•  A mirror placed upright behind the Baphomet image (the Astral Light is reflective)

The Gesture of Baphomet (the true “sign” of the Arcanum)

Stand facing East. Assume the exact posture of Lévi’s figure:

•  Feet together forming a single point (the inverted pentagram resolved into unity)

•  Right arm raised high, palm forward, fingers together (pointing to the white moon)

•  Left arm lowered, palm forward (pointing to the black moon)

•  Gaze fixed on the Baphomet image This posture must be held perfectly during the entire invocation. It is the living key.

The Invocation Proper

(Spoken slowly, with absolute authority, vibrating each divine name)

1.  Opening Proclamation
“By the name of the Eternal Living God who created heaven and earth, I, N…, magician and priest of the Most High, stand here as the living image of the Great Arcanum: As above, so below!”

2.  Conjuration of the Four (Lévi’s own formula, slightly adapted)
Facing East:
“Caput Mortuum, imperet tibi Dominus per vivum et devotum Serpentem!
Kerub, imperet tibi Dominus per Adam Iot-Chavah!”
(Turn South, West, North, repeating the corresponding names: Cherub, Seraph, etc.)

3.  The Invocation of the Goat of Mendes
(Still in the Baphomet posture, voice rising in intensity)
“O Thou, synthetic image of the Astral Light,
Thou who art called Baphomet, Pantheomorphic Azoth,
Goat of Mendes, living mirror of the equilibrated forces,
Thou who bearest the torch of Intelligence between the horns of Matter,
Thou whose arms proclaim SOLVE and COAGULA,
Thou whose caduceus riseth from the root of the world,
By the name YHVH Tzabaoth and by the name of the Tetragrammaton that is written in the triangle of the Pentagram,
I invoke and conjure Thee!
Descend into this temple and into this body!
Unite the Above with the Below through me!
Make me the living Pantacle, the solved Rebis, the magical Androgyne!
That the powers of the height may descend into the depth,
And the powers of the depth may ascend into the height,
And the miracle of the One Thing be accomplished here and now!”

4.  The Vibratory Formula (repeat 7 times, each time more powerfully)
While maintaining the posture, vibrate the name
BAFOMÉT (spelled in Hebrew בףאומית or simply intoned as seven syllables:
BA – FO – MET – RA – HU – TH – YA)
Feel the name descend from the torch between the horns, down the spine, to the base, then rise again in a perfect circuit.

5.  The Mirror Vision
At the climax, fix your gaze on the reflection of your own eyes in the mirror behind the image. You will see the Baphomet face superimposed upon your own. Do not flinch. Hold the identification for as long as possible. This is the true “possession” in Lévi’s system: the ego momentarily dissolved into the equilibrated archetype.

6.  License to Depart & Closing
When the force begins to ebb:
“O Baphomet, Thou who hast manifested in glory,
Return now unto Thy sphere, harming none,
Until I call Thee again by the great and powerful names.
As above, so below. It is finished.”
Perform the Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram again, then the Kabbalistic Cross.

Warnings from Lévi Himself

•  If the posture is broken or the will wavers, the Astral Light rebounds and can produce obsession or terror.

•  This rite is not for curiosity, domination, or material gain. Its only legitimate purpose is the achievement of magical equilibrium and the Knowledge and Conversation of the Higher Self.

•  Anyone who approaches it with hatred, fear, or Christian demonological ideas will meet exactly the “devil” they believe in.

Lévi’s Baphomet is invoked by becoming it, not by grovelling before it. The rite is the deliberate, willed identification of the microcosm with the solved macrocosm. When performed correctly, the operator experiences a momentary but overwhelming state of lucid unity in which “as above, so below” ceases to be theory and becomes lived reality.