Pentamegistus

Hoodoo’s golden age (the early 1900’s) left us a number of valuable books. Arguably the least known is a curious 63 page text, titled Mystic Secrets of Mind and Power: The Key to Success, anonymously published in 1942. This is an extremely obscure work; the sole reference I found was in Robert Tallant’s Voodoo in New Orleans , and couldn't even locate the original publisher. Consequently, I decided to highlight it here, that it may become better known. The anonymous author may have been any of the early prolific writers on Hoodoo listed here , but his/her identity remains a  mystery. Mystic Secrets is a guidebook to psychological self improvement, inspired by New Thought, with a section on the virtues of herbs and substances commonly used in rootwork, a table of lucky and unlucky days, and a chapter on prayer. The first few chapters address methods for overcoming fear (especially irrational fear), with useful techniques, such as shifting the mind’s focus to physical activit...

  The following is my attempt to collate a comparative list of Decanal names from various ancient sources, from Pharaonic Egypt to the Byzantine era. This is by no means exhaustive, but will hopefully prove useful. Blogger ruins tables, so I had to include them as images only. Thank you to Alison Chicosky, Ioannis Marathakis, Mogg Morgan, and Kerry Wisner for their invaluable assistance. ___________________ Table 1: Egyptian decans (Esna, Seti); Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius; Vosges Hermetic Tablets Table 2 : London Greek papyri, Hephaestion, Firmicus Maternus, Liber Hermetis Table 3: Celsus/Origen, Codex Vindobonensis, Aristobulus Table 4: Decanal demons from the Testament of Solomon Table 5: Gods ruling the Decans, according to Cosmas of Jerusalem Table 6: Egyptian Decans and their figures from the Dendera temple Column A lists their possible decanates based on their order, while B lists the attributions based on their names in comparison with the Seti/Esna lists....

An aretalogy is a first-person litany by a God or Goddess, enumerating their deeds and attributes. Aretalogies were common in late antiquity, and the best known are those of Isis. The most famous and influential Isis aretalogy was found in  Kyme , but others have survived as well. The present one was engraved on a marble slab on the Greek island of Andros, and dates to the first century BC. As far as I know, this was not yet translated into English. It is regrettably fragmentary in a few sections, but otherwise fairly complete. My translation was made from Laurent Bricault's French edition, in  Recueil Des Inscriptions Concernant Les Cultes Isiaques (Ricis): Vol. 1 (Peeters, 2005), 365-368.  The original Greek text is hexametrical. I tried to render the French as closely as possible, but was compelled to take liberties at times with some expressions and go by instinct. My knowledge of Greek is extremely poor, so unfortunately I couldn't rely on the original for more...

The Egyptian God Anubis developed unique traits in the Ptolemaic & Roman periods, as a result of syncretism with the Greek Hermes in his chthonic aspect. As Hermes-Anubis or Hermanubis, the God’s iconography evolved considerably within Greek & Roman adaptations of Egyptian religion, and he took on the additional role of intermediary between the living and the dead & the Gods, which extended into magical contexts. Full text on Academia.edu

Newcomers to the PGM invariably wonder what practices they should first take up. The methodology here is based on my initial approach around 2011-2012, and I can attest to its transformative effects when done regularly & diligently. Essential, first-stage, regular practices: - The adoration to the sun God Phrê for success (PDM XIV, 475-480)     - The adoration to the Lord of the Universe (Corpus Hermeticum I) - The Recitation of the Heptagram (alignment with the 7 vowels, PGM XIII, 824-835) - The Hidden Stele (PGM IV 1115) - The Secret Hymn / Hymn of   Rebirth (Corpus Hermeticum XIII) - The prayer of Thanksgiving (The Perfect Discourse) At the end of this post, I included my versions of these. You can incorporate all the above into a daily regime as follows. Recite the adoration to Phrê eastward seven times right after waking up; perform the Heptagram while showering (even if you're in a confined space, simply pivot on your axis); toward midday recit...