Aerik Arkadian

I’ve always been comforted by the presence of books.

Physical books. On shelves. And as much as I will race to acquire and store as many digital copies or PDF’s as possible, they just don’t provide the same comfort as their tangible counterparts.

There’s just something oddly satisfying about the haphazard pattern that books make while on a shelf. Take a look at these.

Some of the above books are new, but I believe some are older than I am. It’s such a mix of age, color, and size. Some are even obnoxiously facing the opposite way, but that’s okay.

There’s a smell to new books. And there’s a smell to old books. Is it the ink? The glue in the binding? The paper? Library books also smell differently. It may sound strange, but one of the first things I do with a new book is crack it open and smell it.

Occasionally, I’ve tried to sleep with a book beneath my pillow to astrally absorb the content. The efficacy of this method is disputed, but I won’t stop trying. I once fell asleep with a copy of a ritual and miraculously woke up with it memorized, so there is hope.

But once you’ve read a book, what do you do with it? Do you give it away? Does it just live on your shelf for the rest of its life? No, you read it again!

Re-reading a book at least once is recommended for almost all good texts on magick. You will almost always get something different the second time around. As such, there are several books that I’ve read three or four times. If I had to venture a guess, the books I’ve read the most are The Four Elements of the Wise, The Chicken Qabalah, and Initiation Into Hermetics.

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Good morning and happy Monday, friends.

This past week, the Summer Magick Fest spotlight series continued with Ivo Dominguez, Jr. I also posted a summary of my favorite musical myth, which is when Orpheus goes up against the Sirens.

Music, Myth & Magick episode 9, featuring Christopher Penczak, is up on YouTube or your favorite podcast platform. I know y’all like to read, so you can expect a written version soon.

I’ve actually been a little under the weather this past week. As such, our cat, Loki, has been almost inseparable from my lap. Every time I lay down, he runs in the room, jumps on me, and curls up… which is actually very strange behavior for him. I’m 100% convinced he sensed sickness and is trying to provide kitty healing. As I continue to write, know that I am writing with a mouthful of zinc lozenges, echinacea, and elderberry.

On the bright side, this has given me several hours to lay in bed and watch video editing tutorials. So far, I’m really enjoying my transition away from iMovie.

I’ve also been working quite a lot of Fluid Condensers Part 4. It’s already up to about 4000 words, which is rather lengthy for a blog post, so I’m going to be capping it soon. But how will I contain all of the rest of the information? Will there be a Part 5? No. No there will not be. Anything else I write on the topic will have to go in a book.

Time to mention (and perhaps reveal) some of the cool stuff I have on the schedule so far for the next year:

• Summer Magick
• The Alexian Show
• StaarCon
• WitchCon

Don’t worry, I’ll be giving out more info on these as the dates draw closer.

In other news, my website has officially turned one years old! In honor of that, I’ve been working on a little celebratory review for the past year. I think I’ll be posting that later this week as well.