What Magic Is This?

Simply put, Demonology is the study of Demons; what they do and how they interact with humans. While most cultures throughout time here in the west have had their own specific Demonology, from the mi…

We live in an infinitely complex cosmos, more alive and chaotic than any of us can ever imagine. Throughout human history, the great mystery of our existence has been rendered to us mortals through c…

Excellent news, weirdos- The Great What Magic is This? Podcast Hiatus of 2025 is coming to an end! The show will be returning shortly with a newish presentation and new ambitions. It's a little bit o…

One of the most asked questions that I get, is about something which has already been covered on the podcast previously but perhaps needs a bit more context. Hermeticism is hard to get one's head aro…

Happy 2025 Humble Listeners! We made it! I thought that this would be an appropriate time to make a small announcement. Please be sure to have a listen to get some news regarding What Magic is This? …

Not unlike the Celts, if you head to your local New Age Occult store you will notice that there is an overabundance of Runes. From necklace pendants, to books, to divination stones and more- Runes ar…

It has been quite some time since What Magic is This? has had the chance to talk about one of the most important figures of High Strangeness in the last 100 years. Robert Anton Wilson was a phenomeno…

As far as we can look back into our past, humanity has both interacted with and been haunted by the spirits of the dead. The tales of apparitions and hauntings pervade not only our most popular art b…

Most Grimoires which are housed in the many museums and collections around the world are somewhat well copied documents that seems to have been done by professionals. Yet every once in a while what s…

For over 200 years, France was inundated with small cheaply produced books, bound with blue covers, filled with some of the most amazing things. These were the Bibliothèque bleue. Lots of these books…

After King Solomon, the legend of Cyprian of Antioch looms quite large in the Western Magical Tradition. A spirit conjurer and occasional summoner of the devil, Cyprian later converted to Christianit…

Have a listen and be sure to check out my What Magic is This? Bookshop, please! Hopefully all of the show notes book recommendations will be in place and updated by October 2024, but if you have any …

Southeast Asia has always been a place with many magical and animistic cultures. Perhaps no other country in the modern age has such a sycretic and extraordinary Magical environment than the land of …

It's time to kick around an idea that gets brought up and used quite a bit these days. Unverified personal Gnosis are the terms used to describe a belief gained through personal subjective experience…

For the last 50 years, many people around the world but particularly in the west, identify themselves as a witch and if asked what religion they ascribe to, will say Wicca. Despite what some claim, t…

Throughout the centuries, one figure has flittered through both folkloric and fortean encounters. To some, this figure has simply been called the Devil, yet others aren't so hasty to place such an ep…

Without a doubt, the second most recognizable and used Tarot deck in existence is the Thoth Tarot. While many are familiar with the originator of this deck, the Great Beast himself, Aleister Crowley,…

Grab a Snapple™ and make sure your tips are frosted, we're going back to the distant, far off time of the decade right before Y2K ended everything. The decade kicked off with a shaky start, as distru…

We truly live in a golden age for Magic, the Occult and all the high strangeness that comes with it. There are many of the greatest thinkers to ever tackle these strange and weird concepts alive righ…

Most likely each and every one of us has walked into a building or a structure which had the capacity to touch something inside of you in some ineffable way. For Millenia, cultures around the world h…