A Natural Progression
Cristina Pandolfo
Star Club is hosting the wonderful Cristina Pandolfo at our next Open Ritual in March for the Equinox, and I thought I should write a blog to let you know about it and explore the topic more. I asked Dr. Halo for a writing prompt, and they kindly provided "Why I included Natural Magic in the SC curriculum". As usual, they help me to express exactly what I want to speak about.
That weekend - 23rd March - I will be in the Isle of Wight for the Magick, Art, and Medicine Conference speaking about the Neuro-Gnostic Model, so this is also a good time to outline what exactly the differences are between Star Club, The Visible College, and other projects I’m involved with.
A Brief History of Star Club
When I first put together the Star Club Framework and the 8 Praxes which would be worked within it, I identified strands of magical operations which are common to many different traditions within Western Mystery Schools. These are derived from what have previously been described as “low” and “high” magic(k) but I wanted to move away from those terms and see the practices for what they are: Ceremonial Magic, Witchcraft, Druidry, and Sorcery of various types. There are plenty more out there which defy such categorisation and fall without its scope but, as we’ve always said, the intention was to create a syncretic system without being appropriative, and sticking to traditions which I was linked to either by training, initiation, or heritage.
The synthesis of the 8 Praxes
And so the 8 Praxes came together in pairs: Divination & Conjuration, Sympathetic & Ecstatic, Natural & Classical, and Visual & Neuro-Gnostic which we call Dyads.
In seeking to bring Natural Magic into the Star Club curriculum I envisioned taking the core practices of working with nature and helping Students and Practitioners to understand our place within a living, animist Universe starting with that which is most immediately around us. My own core practices included fluency with these spirits, but to teach on this subject I knew I needed to reach out and find someone qualified and initiated in Druidry and Witchcraft with a strong relationship with entities such as the Fae - enter Dr. Halo Quin.
Halo and I had met and connected at The Occult Conference in Glastonbury in 2017 and when we reconnected in early 2019 I was excited to discuss Star Club as a whole with them. Over the years of running the Conference and then creating The Visible College, I had frequently discussed the core components of magic with speakers and guests and ran private rituals looking to experiment with the technology at the heart of these traditions. Halo brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to bear and together we fleshed out what became Natural, Ecstatic, and Sympathetic Praxes within Star Club.
So, why did I include Natural Magic as part of the Star Club curriculum?
The World Around Us
Natural Magic is the immanent part of our Dyad with the transcendent Classical Magic - I’d better unpack that sentence first!
When we talk about immanent and transcendent practices, we mean that the way in which we interact with the Universe can be roughly described in two ways.
Immanent practices are those where we operate mostly in the manifest world of Assiah, and invite forces and spirits to attend us here to collaborate in our rituals.
Transcendent practices involve practitioners moving our consciousness away from the manifest world to higher planes such as Yetzirah in order to interact with the Universe more closely.
Each Dyad is made up of an Immanent and Transcendent Praxis each. Where does Natural Magic fit in?
Natural Magic is the practice of interacting with the natural world and forming relationships with the spirits which inhabit it, to empower our rituals and further their aspirations, and in so doing create pathways for results to arrive within that sphere.
Classical Magic leads us to older and greater spirits which exist outside of this world and this plane, bringing us into contact with Universal forces which have been used for millennia to aspire towards apotheosis.
In this way, we are looking at the world as an animate and inhabited spirit landscape, within an animist and conscious Universe, and we can make allies with the spirits closest to us as we do our work.
I know that most of the traditions I work within are firmly rooted in Temples which are indoors (and have central heating!) but as magicians we cannot forget that we are part of the world and our impact on the environment is not a one-way street. This is why I have always enjoyed and appreciated Sian Sibley’s lectures on the natural world and why we’ve invited Cristina to speak at Star Club, and why Halo’s contributions to the Star Club curriculum, syllabus, and teaching cannot be overestimated even though Star Club was originally of my design.
Star Club in Context
As I mentioned earlier, Star Club grew out of The Visible College. In 2018 I was forced to take time away from the occult community, and I’m very grateful to be back now. Star Club was always intended to be a course offered by TVC, but through collaboration with Halo and others who have participated in the Cycles and Initiations, it is an entity not wholly mine. You know what? I’m really pleased about that.
TVC is back up and running as a home for my own projects, such as the provision of an event space in South Gloucestershire for the pagan and occult communities, and the dream of creating a lasting home for alternative academia and esoteric art. Star Club is both part of this and outside, with its own magical momentum and dare I say it egregore, but also something which I hold most of the responsibility for and am the primary driver of.
So let’s be crystal clear:
The Visible College is the umbrella under which I organise and host events for other groups, and the vehicle for the courses and lectures I offer.
One of those courses is Star Club, in collaboration with Dr. Halo Quin, with its own community of Practitioners and Initiates.
The Thelemic Symposium is a collaborative event between The Visible College and the Oxford Golden Dawn Occult Society, sponsored by Star Club and Mandrake of Oxford.
I have been invited back on to the committee for The Occult Conference in Glastonbury and I’m pleased to say I have accepted this post, a purely supportive role to Dr. Liz Williams who runs the ship.
I have written elsewhere about how grateful I am to those in the esoteric community who have held space for me over the time it has taken me to come back to the world; I have always had the urge to share my knowledge and help others learn, and even though the lessons along the way have been hard, I am proud to be of service to the community in these different ways once more. Thank you for being part of the journey.
I won’t see you in Bristol this month but I hope you can make it to our Open Ritual and fantastic lecture by Cristina. Sign up here if you’d like to hear more about our events and courses:
Until next time.