The Raven's Crucible

A blind raven

The Raven’s Crucible

Musings on magic, divination, and the occult.

  • Belief & Magic: A Skeptic’s Guide

    I often see questions come up around the role of faith versus skepticism in occult practice. Do you need to believe in your results for them to manifest? How do you know any of this is real, rather than all in your head? I’ve personally struggled with this question for decades. A huge part of…

  • Closed Practices: Initiation, Secrecy, and Context

    I recently saw some discussion around the idea of “closed practices” – those spiritual methods that are not generally available to the public. It’s an idea that is regularly misused or misunderstood, so it seemed worth exploring more deeply. Generally, closed practices fall into one of two categories: those that include an initiatic lineage, or…

  • Ink Making III: India Ink

    This week I continued my experiments in ink making with India ink. India ink is an extension of the carbon black inks that I have made in previous experiments. It is traditionally made using soot or lampblack as a pigment and shellac as a binder. Because shellac is more challenging to work with than gum…

  • Beginning Spirit Work: Solomonic Conjuration for the Modern Mage

    I’ve written previously about how to get started with divination, and how to build a solid magical practice more generally. The vast bulk of my magical work at this point, however, is spirit conjuration – specifically in or inspired by the Solomonic tradition. Let’s say you’re learning your chosen divination system and you have your…

  • The Magic Triangle: Ease, Consistency, and Miracles

    I’ve discussed in previous posts my own long and meandering exploration into magic. I’ve spent over a decade struggling with a simple question: what can be accomplished through magic? I’ve tried to consistently find ways to push the bounds of what I thought was possible. In doing so, I’ve repeatedly struggled with cases where magic…

  • Materia: Frankincense – Boswellia spp.

    Overview Few substances are associated as strongly with the Solar current as frankincense. Tapped from the wounded bark of desert-dwelling trees, the fiery breath of frankincense serves as both balm and offering. Physically, it soothes pain and inflammation, tightens the tissues, and combats microbial infection. Magically, it cleanses and uplifts the spirit, clears the subtle…

  • So You Want to Practice Magic? A Guide for the Overwhelmed

    In a previous post, I offered some options for people interested in getting started with divination. But divination is only one piece of the puzzle – and usually not the one people are most interested in when they find themselves drawn to the occult. What about magic? How does one get started? In this post…

  • Building an Alchemical Incubator: Modern Heat for Ancient Work

    In our series on spagyric alchemy, we mentioned the benefits of letting an alchemical preparation extract or mature at a consistent temperature. In herbal spagyrics, and doubly so for more advanced types of alchemy, there is a distinct benefit to being able to hold the work at some prescribed temperature for a long period of…

  • Planetary Hours: Unlocking Celestial Timing for Magic

    I’ve referred a couple times now to planetary hours, or doing a working “in the day and hour” of a particular planetary power. What is a planetary hour, and how do we find them? In short, a planetary hour is a particular time that is viewed as having a special affinity for some celestial power.…

  • Ink Making II: Carbon Black Ink Revisited

    In the last ink-making post, I shared an experiment making carbon black ink – specifically with vine charcoal. The results were disappointing; the ink was pale, and struggled to flow evenly from a glass dip pen. This time I tried a couple different things. First, I doubled the amount of pigment in the ink, increasing…