Stellar Magic by Payam Nabarz A Practical Guide to Rites of the Moon, Planets, Stars and Constellations The practical rites and ceremonies in this Liber Astrum are created using a myriad of hymns and tales, drawing inspiration and material from many ancient, classical and medieval sources including: the Hymns of Orpheus, Ovid's Metamorphoses , Plato's Timaeus, the Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius, the Greek Magical Papyri, the Chaldean Oracles, the Persian Shah Nameh 'Epic of Kings' by Ferdowsi, Scipio's Dream by Cicero, the Persian Pahlavi Texts, book of Enoch, Bible Ezekiel chapter, Egyptian temples and texts, The Golden Ass by Lucius Apuleius, the Zoroastrian Yasht hymns, Sufi works of Ibn Arabi and Rumi, the Kabalistic Sefer Yetzirah, the Mithras Liturgy, Persian Burj Nameh, the Picatrix, Hesiod Works and Days, Homer's The Odyssey, Porphyry's On the Cave of the Nymphs and Aratus' Phaenomena. In bringing these ancient rites into modern times, stellar related material and ideals by modern poets such as WB Yeats, Robert Graves, Sylvia Plath, and esoteric writers such as John Milton, John Dee, Elias Ashmole, Francis Barrett, Rudolf Steiner, Aleister Crowley, Gerald Gardner have also been included, giving a Bardic blend of the ancient and the modern. The rites here 'set the scene' and after all the poems and invocations are uttered, the point is reached in the rite where the magus has to make his/her direct connection, and to draw inspiration from the stellar well directly. The rites here are the beginning steps on your stellar journey, it is recommended that you write your own poems and invocations to the constellations and make your Path to the stars. This is a highly accessible, succinct and practical book on this complex subject. It is written in such a way that it can be used as a manual and workbook for practicing stellar magic or simply read for gaining insight into star lore. -------- Praise for Stellar Magic: "In Stellar Magic Dr Nabarz provides both the reader and the practitioner with an invaluable book filled with the rich lore of stars and a series of stunning and powerful rituals to enable a deeper awareness of the effect these have on our daily lives. Drawing on rare and out of the way materials Dr Nabarz has assembled a veritable treasure house of wisdom and lore. This is an absolute must for anyone even remotely interested in Star Lore and for any practicing magician or seeker after truth." John Matthews (Author of many books including Walkers Between Worlds, The Grail Tarot, The Arthurian Tarot, The Celtic Shaman, Taliesin).
This one of the best books I have read to date. What can I say it resonates with me. My pre-Pagan spirituality haled from the Middle East. Author, Payam Nabarz gives the reader several rituals dedicated to the stars, planets, moon and constellation. All of them are complete and easy for anyone from beginner-expert to follow and do. The rituals can be performed individually or with groups. The author encourages the reader to modify the rituals to get the most out of them. The author also gives the mythology behind the rituals and the mythology derives from many sources such as Zoroastrian, Egyptian,Greek and Roman. Very thorough! I hope to see more from this author. Not only is the book packed with information but it is loaded with sources for further research.
Ever since Ancient times the stars have been used for divination. The Caesars of Rome valued anyone who could accurately read the stars and interpret what they mean. Some of the Caesars would interview the diviners personally if they failed then they faced the real possibility of being executed. But things went further then that the stars were the center of ancient ritual. People could draw power from those rituals.
After the introduction the author explains the standard opening and closing for the rituals. It is the same every time and it is a variation of the Lesser banishing pentagram ritual in a way. The first part of the opening is the tree meditation which is derived from the Celtic sources and draws energy from the earth and celestial spheres into the practitioner. Next is calling the quarters and then a reading of the Hymns of Orpheus.
The first right is the Orion -Horus Right. As with each of the rituals the author gives the outline and then he gives a thorough explanation of the mythology behind the ritual. He equates Orion with Horus and he explains the similarity and the difference between the two deities. The book is chock full of rituals and to list them all would be far too exhaustive. In closing I would like to say that our souls come from the stars and that each of us has a star in the sky. Our life's journey is to return to the stars. This book is a great guide. Buy the book. The rituals are sensible, practical and easy to follow. You will enjoy the results.
Nothing could prepare me for the content of this book. Astrological magic is a preferred topic of mine and usually involves ancient hymns taken from old dusty tomes which cannot be altered in any way. The author instead presents a living modern approach which may look at first as "chaotic", but that is centered on the same old legends; he takes the liberty (gasp! The nerve!) Of writing his own rituals for this ancient practice. I liked the book because of the bravery it shows. Maybe I will not do every ritual suggested on it. But everyone of them was inspiring. I do not consider it a beginner's book, I would recommend it to practicing magicians.