Home » Magick » M3 Episodes » Season 1 » Christopher Penczak, Temple Building, and Personal Pantheons – Ep. 9
Christopher Penczak is a witch, a High Priest, and the author of more than 20 books, including The Three Rays of Witchcraft and The Mighty Dead. He also co-founded the Temple of Witchcraft.
Oh, and did I mention that he has a degree in music?
Honestly, you probably already know his name, have read one of his books, or have been taught something that rings of his influences.
Background
Christopher started studying magick with a family friend after graduating Catholic school. She gave him a few books to start off with — Stalking the Wild Pendulum, The Kybalion, and Power of the Witch — then taught him meditation and some psychic development. After some time, she introduced him to Laurie Cabot and he started studying formally in the Cabot tradition.
In the interview, Christopher mentions several interesting personal experiences, like how his mother was studying alongside him to make sure he was safe, but I’ll let you watch the video and listen in his own words. He graduated college with a degree in music, then went on to work for a recording studio and record label, but the goddess had other plans.
Christopher had been teaching some classes on meditation and leading group rituals on the side, but never really had an interest in pursuing that full time. In one of his own meditations, he received a message that he needed to teach more. He brushed it off, saying “if you want me to teach, give me more time.”
And then he got more time — he lost his job. It’s funny how sometimes the universe does exactly what we ask for, right?
The rest is history — books, classes, and eventually the Temple of Witchcraft.
About the Temple of Witchcraft
From the way Christopher described it, the underlying system for the Temple of Witchcraft was based on some of his classes and teachings sometime around 1998. As he taught classes, he made notes. The notes became a manuscript… and that became a book!
It eventually got back to him that someone (who had gone through the training) had been going to festivals and referring to themself as a “Penczakian.” It’s awesome when other people name things for us, right? These teachings became a tradition, then a community, and finally… an organization!
The Temple of Witchcraft was co-founded as a non-profit organization in 2009 by Christopher Penczak, Steve Kenson, and Adam Sartwell. They have a 5.5 acre property in Salem, New Hampshire, with a house, barn, and guest cottage. The house functions as ritual space, administrative office, and residence for the founders. I’d love to visit some day and check it out!
I asked Christopher what sets the Temple of Witchcraft apart from other traditions. Here are a few key points:
- They are not coven based. Training takes a more academic, self-paced approach
- The initiatory system has five degrees and follows an elemental model
- There is not an exclusive focus on fertility or gender mysteries
- Much of the teaching is based on “The Three Rays” system (Will, Love, and Wisdom) rather than polarity
To join the Temple of Witchcraft, you just need to start showing up at events! After participating in three events (rituals, classes, or otherwise), you can claim membership. To become an initiate, you need to go through the mystery school (either in person or online). To check out what events are happening soon, you can view their full calendar online.
Personal Pantheons
I always like to read an authors book(s) before the interview. In Christopher Penczak’s case, I had an almost overwhelming selection to choose from. I decided to grab a copy of The Living Temple of Witchcraft Volume Two: The Journey of the God because I thought the description sounded like something I’d like to presently learn more about.
For those unfamiliar, this book is part of a multi-book series of study. In fact, from what I understand, this is actually the sixth and final volume of the series.
To say I skipped ahead would be putting it lightly, but I’ve been known to do that. Actually, I think the only book I read in order from start to finish was The Four Elements of the Wise by Ivo Dominguez, Jr. — and that was only because he specifically said not to jump around right in the first chapter.
Wherever you are in your craft journey, I think there’s something to be gained from all of Penczak’s works.
I, for one, was rather fascinated by the concept of the “personal pantheon” that he presents, where the student is instructed to choose one deity for each twelve archetypes that are drawn from astrology. Gemini, for instance, represents the Trickster archetype, which for me I suppose could be someone like Loki or Mercury. At the end of the process, you’ll wind up with a set of twelve deities that are personal to you. I won’t give away the full list… you’ll have to buy the book for that, but I sat and stared at it for quite a while trying to determine where I thought Pan would fit in. Like most deities, he can play multiple roles, so it’s important to understand how they present in your life in particular.
This is certainly a thing that will require much thought. As a fair point, this concept isn’t limited just to the Temple of Witchcraft. There are other traditions that emphasize crafting your own personal pantheon, but I think what really appealed to me about Penczak’s method was the astrological breakdown. It’s kind of like a big puzzle — it might take me a year or so of adding, removing, ordering, and reordering, but I’ll eventually get it set!
Like I said, there’s going to be some deep thought required.
When I asked Christopher for words of advice on how to get started on this simple, yet daunting task, he suggested to try working with whoever shows up. That’s great advice, but it can be a little scary! I think a really good thing to keep in mind is that a deity might show up for a short time and lead you to another. Either way, by working with whoever is present, you’ll be gaining knowledge and making progress toward completing your own personal pantheon with an astrological twist.
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Astrology Magick
Speaking of astrology, it’s never been my strong suit. I can’t even make heads or tails of my own chart, let alone glean meaningful information from someone else’s. If you tell me that you’ve got Taurus in your Twelfth House… well, I can certainly Google that for you, but beyond that, I’m lost.
Nonetheless, astrology plays a big impact on many schools of magick. In fact, the structure of the Temple of Witchcraft is even organized with the zodiac in mind — there are twelve branches, or arms of ministry.
I have to remind myself sometimes that “I’m not good at that” isn’t an excuse to not continue learning about something. Naturally, I asked Christopher for a little advice on incorporating more astrology into magick. His advice was very practical.
He suggested starting small and incorporating whatever you’ve learned in little ways until you get comfortable. He mentions moon phases, planetary days/hours, and meditations with planetary powers. You know what? That actually makes me feel a little better. I already do all those things. Maybe I’m not so bad at astrology after all!
No… no… who am I kidding? I’m bad at it.
Views on Deity
As Christopher concluded his astrology advice, he mentioned thinking about things in terms of powers and patterns — which is certainly a mindset that could be applied to deity as well. So I wondered… how does Christopher Penczak view deity? Are they “personal?” Or are they incomprehensible channels of energy? I couldn’t help but ask.
His answer (which by the way is the best type of paradoxical answer you can ever have for a magickal question), is that they are both — and that part of the mysteries is understanding how they can be both.
Building the Temple
One of the most exciting parts of the conversation, for me anyway, was when Christopher started telling me what he’s learning right now about temple building, like how to rearrange a room to incorporate different flows of energy. I’m super interested in topics like this because we have a very multipurpose room in our house where we eat dinner, relax, and have coven ritual.
For folks who want to learn more about this, you can check out Energetic Geometry’s website or grab some of their books. If you’d like a little bit more information, Christopher explains it much better than I can, so jump to that section in the interview and give it a listen.
Influential Work
With so many books, which ones do I mention here? Instead of going through a giant list, I just asked Christopher for his thoughts on his favorite book and most important book. Here are his answers:
He also said that he’s got a new book coming out soon that he’s very excited about that will cover the parts of the soul.
Okay, but here are a few other books you might be interested in, too.
- The Inner Temple of Witchcraft
- The Outer Temple of Witchcraft
- The Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft
- Ascension Magick
Finding Christopher Penczak
It’s pretty easy to find Christopher Penczak online.
- Website: ChristopherPenczak.com
- Facebook: Christopher Penczak Author & Teacher
- Instagram – @ChristopherPenczak
Here are some links to a few of the places that he mentioned where you might even catch him in person!
Finding More About the Temple of Witchcraft
If you’re interested in learning more about the Temple of Witchcraft, you should check out their website, their calendar events, or maybe even look into TempleFest.
Sound and Music in Ritual
“I chant a lot and I sing a lot,” says Christopher. He finds it helpful to use Sanskrit mantra or chanting of barbarous words. Sometimes he even asks spirit for a chant that doesn’t mean anything except to him!
Personally, I love barbarous words — which, by the way, are really just words of power. Barbarous words have no apparent or intelligible meaning, but it’s generally accepted that they hold magickal value. There’s a lot of oomph behind chanting a bunch of random syllables… and if you don’t believe me, just try it. Sometimes knowing the meaning of words can get us caught up in thinking about the meaning instead of just letting the magick flow. But I also think it’s a really cool idea to ask spirit for an impromptu, meaningless chant.
The whole thing has always reminded me quite a bit of scatting, which is a jazz practice of singing random syllables like “boo bop bi doo.”
You might also be familiar with the chorus of the above song.
Ooh Eeh Ooh Ah Aah Ting Tang Walla Walla Bing
It’s so silly. It’s borderline ridiculous, actually. If you tried to use that lyric in a ritual, you’d run the risk of the entire coven falling over laughing at themselves — but that’s also a great way to raise energy.
And you know what? If you pay attention to many of the oldschool witch chants, you’ll notice there’s lots of similar, meaningless vowel sounds thrown around. People have been chanting those words for decades… maybe even centuries — and there’s power in that.
Conclusions
This conversation was a lot of fun. As usual, I learned a lot and had a great time doing it. We’re actually reading The Mighty Dead for our coven book club this month, which I’m excited about. I’d also love to grab a copy of The Three Rays of Witchcraft soon.
I’d also really like to attend one of the Temple of Witchcraft’s rituals. If I can’t find one nearby, I’ll go virtual… but at some point, Selene and I just might have to take a trip up to New Hampshire to see things in person!
Do you know someone that has interesting things to say about the spiritual aspects of music? If so, feel free to contact me because they might just make a great future guest on M3!
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Aerik Arkadian 
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