Description
Edited by Michael Howard and Daniel Schulke, illustrated by Hagen Von Tulien and Francisco Divine Mania; Authors: Ethan Doyle White, Frater U:.D:., Fredrik Eytzinger, Lee Morgan, Madeline Ledespencer, Michael Howard, Raven Grimassi, Richard Gavin, Robert Fitzgerald
Three Hands Press, 2016. Hardcover with dust-jacket, limited to 800 copies. 155 pages. As New/Fine.
The Arcanum of the ‘fallen angel’ Lucifer evokes such concepts as heresy, rebellion, pride, liberation from the bonds of demiurgic oppression, and impetus for human evolution. Meaning ‘light bearer’, Lucifer has, from his earliest origins, been hailed by religious and artistic countercultures as a patron saint of enlightenment —the essential quality embodying overthrow of ignorance and the inspired process of revelation. Allied to ancient Gnostic cosmological conceptions, the fallen angel has also found dominion within occult traditions and philosophy. Lucifer has also, in many mystical traditions, assumed a female form in the guise of Lucina, Lucia and Diana Lucifera. In his guise as the Serpent of Eden, he bestowed a magical philosophy of the Luciferian Woman, she who was not born of the clay, and was therefore especially receptive to the forbidden powers which would render one ‘as God.’
Yet, outside most occult contexts, Lucifer is commonly conflated with the Christian figure of Satan, or the Devil, a relic of early Christian propagandists eager to repudiate and tarnish rival polytheisms. Ironically, this conflation of deific forms is where Christian dogma and some contemporary forms of Satanism are in agreement.
The nine essays found within The Luminous Stone examine the evolution of the light-bringer in both traditional and contemporary occult contexts, shedding light on the Luciferic magical philosophies of such occult orders as the Fraternitas Saturni, the Order of the Morning Star, and the Cultus Sabbati, as well as the eroto-salvific Christianity promulgated by the Abbé Boullan. Also examined is the concept of Lucifer as the Witches’ God, present both in folklore and in the modern witchcraft revival, as well as his link with individual revelation, and the nature of the critical interplay between Light and Darkness necessary of Luciferian illuminism. Contributors to this third volume in the Western Esotericism in Context series include Frater U:.D:., Robert Fitzgerald, Michael Howard, Ethan Doyle White, Fredrik Eytzinger, Richard Gavin, Raven Grimassi, Lee Morgan, and Madeline Ledespencer.
Michael Howard (1948-2015) was an Anglo-Irish writer, researcher, magazine publisher and editor, and member of the Folklore Society. As a writer and editor, his career began in 1974 when he launched the esoteric magazineSpectrum. This ceased publication after ten issues in 1976, when he inaugurated the witchcraft magazine The Cauldron, which was published for 39 years. In the early 1970s he also began contributing feature articles and book reviews to the US magazine Fate and the British astrological journal Prediction. In 1975, his first book on candle magic was published. Since then he has written forty books on the runes, folklore, herbal remedies, faerie lore, traditional witchcraft, Earth Mysteries and the Luciferian tradition.
Daniel Schulke is a writer on the subjects of folk magic, comparative religion, and occult herbalism. His essays have appeared in the prominent occult journals STARFIRE, THE CAULDRON, and ABRAXAS. Schulke is the general editor of the Western Esotericism in Context book series, and of the 2012 book VENEFICIUM, concerning vectors of poison usage in magical traditions. His newest title, ARCANA VIRIDIA (‘The Green Mysteries’) is an occult herbal 25 years in the making, and will be released in late 2016.
Hagen von Tulien is a German artist and occultist working in a variety of media including pen and ink, paper cut, collage and digital formats. His work draws upon Saturnian Gnosis and Esoteric Voudon. His first full length book Occult Psaligraphy: The Hidden Art of Papercuts, was published in 2013 by Ouroboros Press.
