The Crystal Cave

With a swagger that would make Mick Jagger blush, I strode the campus of Ball State University in a haze of drug-induced over indulgence. I was a student inspired by the likes of Hunter S. Thompson, Robert Anton Wilson, and Terrance McKenna. The mind was a thing mired in the surrounding mediocrity of hapless sheep and I was bound and determined to expand my consciousness beyond the pale. I sought nothing less than pure enlightenment. I was a strutting Byronic figure, devouring poetry and music, and delving into the preternatural to unlock the mysteries behind the veil.

Cock-sure and over confident, I was taking Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion independent study under the tutelage of Professor Flores-Meiser and basking in the glow of her ardent praise.

The course was "taught" over four semesters. The first semester we covered shamanism, the second semester we focused on religious ritual, after summer break we dove into medieval ceremonial magic, and for the final semester she left it up to me to pick our direction.

I had always had a fascination for the magical fraternities of the late nineteenth century, especially the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. I was already exploring modern paganism with an Alexanderian Coven and sensed a relationship between this form of ritual and worship with that explored by the Victorian upper class. We started with Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, danced through Regardie's compilation of Golden Dawn methodology, feasted on Crowley's Equinox and Magick in Theory and Practice, and wrapped things up with an overview of the era's more esoteric writings, things penned by the likes of Waite, Mathers, Yeats.

All in all, I found this exploration of all things eldritch fulfilling and inspiring. Though I eventually parted ways with the Alexanderians and passed beyond Hermetic ritual, what I learned from these forms of spiritual expression can not be measured in words. As my path has led me to an embracing of the Folkway of my Northern European ancestors, in true wizard fashion I have taken bits and pieces of knowledge from my earlier studies and incorporated them into my own personalized system of preternatural exploration.

In the shadows lie lost secrets, words and gestures used by those who walked with gods and creatures whose songs are sung in ancient myth. They are there to be embraced if you are brave enough to challenge the dark.