Erich and Alannah Brown are the founders of the Temple of Limitless Light and the authors of the book Modern Hermeticism: A Beginners Guide to Ceremonial Magick.
In this conversation, we dive into their fascinating journey, exploring the worlds of both Hermeticism and Enochian magick, and discuss how they blend ancient practices with modern insight and witchcraft.
You know how this works right? You can catch the written highlights here, but I’d strongly encourage you to watch the full interview so that you can connect with the information on a deeper level. Listen to them, not me.
A Little Background
Before we get too far into the interview, let’s learn about our guests!
Erich, aka Frater Anubis, has had an interest in magick since he was a teenager. He says he was always the type of kid to see spirits and actually tried to train himself not to see them. After finding a book on the Golden Dawn, he began learning everything about it that he could. Sometime in his 20s, he met Frater Barrabbas, who would become his teacher and initiate him into ESSG.
Alannah began studying Buddhism and martial arts in her childhood, then later became a practicing psychotherapist. In 2010, she developed lyme disease and went through what she calls a “death phase” — a time where she wasn’t completely dead, but mostly dead, which she feels helped hone some of her spiritual gifts. She was initiated into ESSG by Frater Barrabbas and is also a 2nd degree Alexandrian witch and an initiate of the OTO.
I’m summarizing, of course, so be sure to check out the interview for a more in-depth explanation. Together, they decided to form their own temple, which brings us to the next point…
The Temple of Limitless Light
The Temple of Limitless Light, which was co-founded by Erich and Alannah, is a branch of Egregora Sancta Stella Gnostica (E.S.S.G.), aka the Order of the Gnostic Star, or O.G.S. for short… I know, that’s a lot of acronyms. Here’s the highlights: ESSG is a ritual magick order, founded by Frater Barrabbas, which to some degree seeks to fuse Golden Dawn teachings with traditional witchcraft (more on this later).
The temple is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization with a goal of uniting the community through the practice and study of magic. Sounds pretty cool to me!
If you’re near the Tallahassee, FL area, you can actually attend in person. The rest of us, however, can still join in online to catch some of their rituals and pathworkings.
Modern Hermeticism
Erich and Alannah’s book, Modern Hermeticism, presents itself as an introduction to the Western esoteric tradition of Hermeticism and ceremonial magick, but I actually feel as if it goes quite a bit deeper than that.
It opens with a prayer:
Three are the veils that obscure the Bornless One,
Four are the letters of the name of the Infinite Thoughts,
Seven are the rays that emanate from the Cosmic Jewel,
Twelve are the citadels of the Secret and Unknowable Inner Kingdom,
Sixteen are the forces that express the Ultimate Feeling of Eternal Bliss.
Twenty-eight are the Mysterious Mansions of the Moon.
All for the miracles of the One.
There’s definitely some mysteries embedded in those words! Of course, you’ll have to read to fully understand them.
There’s so very many topics covered in this book that it’s almost hard to list them all — Tarot, Qabalah, Enochian Magick, pentagram rituals, scrying, sigils, godforms… but it also doesn’t skip over the basics either, like meditation and breathwork.
If you have even the slightest interest in ceremonial magick, Modern Hermeticism will give you a healthy dose of history and background, plus instructions on how to actually build a practice.
What I really appreciated was how accessible Erich and Alannah were able to make all of this information. It isn’t just a collection of rituals and instructions — it actually walks you through the reasoning. This way, you can truly understand what you’re doing rather than just blindly waving your arms in the air while chanting words in another language (which, yes, some books would have you do). The practice gradually builds on itself, and by the end, you’ll have been introduced to some pretty advanced rituals, like the Rose Ankh Vortex, and fascinating concepts like the Great Table and the Table of Union.
What is Hermeticism
Okay, so what is Hermeticism anyway? In essence, it’s a blend of Ancient Greek and Ancient Egyptian religious ideas, philosophy, and practice. In the interview, Erich explains why they chose that term, where it came from, and what it means to them, but I’m going to cite a few things from their book. They came up with a list called “Principles of Modern Hermeticism,” which are as follows:
- Sympethea, or Correspondence
- Living Nature
- Imagination as an Organ of Perception
- Transformation
- Concordance
- Transmission
- Nonduality, the Pleroma
All in in, that’s seven principles that they believe define their practice. Was it heavily influenced by the Golden Dawn? Absolutely it was. It’s kind of hard to sum up a tradition in so few words, and since my aim here isn’t really to write a treatise on the definition of hermeticism, I will instead just quote the end of their introductory chapter:
The aim of this book is to awaken you to your true nature and free you to become the very best version of yourself. But remember that awakening to your True Self is really just the beginning of an amazing adventure, the first step to liberation and the freedom to live your best life. Once awake, you can claim the knowledge and personal power and freedom that is your birthright.
That quote might not tell you what Hermeticism is, but it can tell you what it does.
Getting Started with a Hermetic Practice
It might all sound complicated and mysterious, but getting started with a Hermetic practice is actually easier than you might think. As Alannah explains, all you have to do is practice some of the rituals…. namely, the Qabalistic Cross and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP).
The Qabalistic Cross sounds like “ATAH, MALKUTH, VEGEBURAH, VEGEDULAH, LE OLAM, AMEN.” If you’ve hung around in ceremonially-adjacent circles for long enough, you’ve probably heard it, seen it, or performed it at least once or twice. And for those of you that haven’t, Erich demonstrates at 1:00:23 in the video. Aside from vibrating the words, there are a few hand motions involved, but it’s all rather simple and just takes a minute to perform. By the way, if you’d like to view the Qabalistic Cross in very real context, you can watch some of The Temple of Limitless Light’s YouTube videos.
The Qabalistic Cross is commonly used as opening and closing for other rituals, like the LBRP. Personally, I use it quite frequently on its own as a grounding and centering exercise.
If you can wrap your head around that, give the LBRP a try. The text of the ritual is printed in basically every book that has ever been written on Ceremonial Magick or the Golden Dawn, but you can find plenty of free sources online. And of course, you can also find it in Modern Hermeticism.
Congratulations, you’re now a hermit!
Mixing Witchcraft and Ceremonial Magick
At one point in the interview, Erich said that Frater Barrabbas was “more of a witch” than a ceremonial magician. As a witch myself, I personally found it really interesting how their view of Hermeticism has been framed by traditional witchcraft.
This might not be obviously evident, but there were at least a couple of things that stuck out to me as I sifted through their versions of rituals. In the pentagram rituals, for instance, there is the addition of physicals gestures called invoking and banishing spirals that felt very witchy to me. You won’t find that in the original pentagram rituals from the Golden Dawn. Alannah also mentioned that they they have a large focus on the goddess aspect of things, which again felt to me like it was more of a traditional witchcraft influence.
When we study multiple traditions, each one starts to influence the others in unexpected ways. I love seeing how different people express this and create their own unique flavors of magick.
Formal and Informal Practices
As I read through Modern Hermeticism, one thing really struck me as interesting. Erich and Alannah write about a concept called the formal and informal practice. Let’s pause now for a personal anecdote…
When I was an outer court student, there was an occasion where my high priestess drove me to an event. While we were on the highway, she said “I don’t feel like I’m driving very well today. Please cast circle around the car for protection.” Of course, I did as she asked. And while I may have briefly feared my own death in a towering inferno of car wreckage and twisted metal, I was taught a valuable lesson: you can do a ritual anywhere in your mind.
Donald Michael Kraig also touches on this concept in Modern Magick when he discusses an astral version of the LBRP. It’s not really a new idea. And certainly, plenty of other authors have their own way of describing it, but I think Erich and Alannah did an excellent job at breaking down the fundamental processes that are involved in making it possible.
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The formal practice is when you have all the bells and whistles of ritual. You have your robes on. You’re in the temple. You say all the words out loud and you perform all the physical motions with gusto. And while you do all that, you memorize the body sensations that you experience. Erich and Alannah call this “somatic body awareness.”
The informal practice happens basically at any other time. You recall your somatic state to receive the benefits of the formal practice without actually doing the formal practice. The best part is that you really can do it anywhere. It’s as equally accessible while you’re in line at the coffee shop as it is while you’re lying awake in bed at night.
You can listen to this part of the discussion around 19:26 in the interview.
Enochian Magick
Wanna go beyond the basics? Enochian is a system of ceremonial magic, received by John Dee and Edward Kelley through scrying around the 16th century. It lets you communicate with and call upon Angels.
Look guys, I have a fascination with it, but I’m really not qualified to explain it at the moment. Okay? So here’s a picture.
That’s a page out of the chapter called “Enochiana.” A good portion of the book is dedicated to this subject and a significant part of the interview was me just listening to Erich and Alannah talk about it. If you watch the video, you can also see them show off all of the really awesome temple tools and art that they use for these types of rituals.
Finding Erich and Alannah Brown
If you’re looking to connect with Erich and Alannah, one of the best ways to do so is to check out the Temple of Limitless Light.
- Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/617698308578092
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whirlingchinacat
You can join the Facebook group above to hop in on some discussion, or you can head to their YouTube channel to catch up on pathworkings or to watch them perform some of the temple’s rites.
Erich and Alannah just finished a festival tour to promote their book. They made stops at Mystic South, Sassy Magick, and more. Unfortunately I’m writing this after the fact, but I’m sure if you keep an eye out, you can catch them at other cool places in the future!
Sound and Vibration
Would you like to hear how Erich and Alannah use sound in their spiritual practice? I’ll give you a hint: it involves vibrating words and names of power. This is where Erich gives a demonstration of the Qabalistic Cross, as I mentioned a little earlier in the article.
Alannah also brings up a really fascinating perspective with the intentional use of silence. She describes ritual as silence that is interrupted by sound. In my opinion, sound and silence are two sides of the same coin — they’re on the same spectrum, just like light and darkness are on the same spectrum — so I really enjoyed the discussion.
And for the full scoop on that, you’ll have to watch the interview!
Conclusions
I had a really awesome time getting to know Erich and Allanah, reading their book, and hearing their views on Hermeticism. I’m hoping to catch them in person at a festival soon, but I’ll also be tuning in to some of their YouTube rituals in the near future (and I suggest you do the same).
Make sure you check out their Facebook group and subscribe to their channel! And while you’re at it, make sure you subscribe to my channel, too. I just passed 1000 followers and I’m really excited about it. If you’d like to do something extra in support, you can do so at my Patreon page.
There’s just two more episodes left for this season! Stay tuned for more!
Don’t miss out. Here’s what’s coming up…
Oh, I didn’t realize I posted this on Halloween. How spooky! Well, it’s time for some spooky fine print. There are links on this page. Some of those links are referral links to Amazon. If you use of those links to make a purchase, Amazon will pay me a small commission. That’s all. Now go buy their book. Are you wearing a costume right now? I’m not.
Aerik Arkadian 
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