S.J. Reisner's Blog, page 19

Thank you for your concern, but I disagree…

Anyone who is a practicing occultist/magician/pagan has had this conversation: The concerned friend or family member who takes you aside to share with you their knowledge of the occult, which usually consists of a couple of books on feminist Wicca revisionist history written by feminists, or archeologists whose ideas don’t agree with the majority of archeologists. Barbara G. Walker anyone? At the end of the conversation, if you were polite and didn’t start arguing, they remind you not to “mes...

Planning All the Things

I have a confession to make. I’m a bit of a planning junkie. I’m not always as meticulous with my planning as I should be, but when I am, I’m far more productive. I started to get back into my meticulous planning habit this past September when I discovered my life felt like it was sliding off the rails with so many to-dos. 

I had to move my “coven whiteboard” to a spreadsheet because it grew way beyond this…

Where my planning really shines, aside from my obsession with business and project sp...

This spell isn’t working, Sir. May I have another?

At some point enough is enough. A few years back I finally lost my patience with inexperienced practitioners coming to me wanting a bigger, badder, more effective “spell” or “ritual” because the previous one I gave them didn’t work, or didn’t work quickly, or didn’t give them exactly what they expected.

I started telling them the truth of the matter. Spellwork and low magick rituals can only get you so far. If you’re not doing the inner work, the high magick (and the rituals therein), to comp...

So Speshuuuul! Now with MORE Satan.

About once a month I either hear or see this same comment somewhere out there in the Occulture:  “Once you get to a certain **point** in your magickal practice or relationship with the Daemonic, you no longer need rituals or to write things down.”

Why? Because apparently, you become sooooo speshuul the Daemons will just pop by for coffee on a whim, you’ll remember everything, and if you just think it – the Daemonic jumps right on it because you’re so damn special.

I’m beginning to think the p...

Submerging into the Demiurge

For those who have been following me here, on my newsletter, or on my Patreon, you know that one of the books I’m currently working on is a book about Leviathan and the Demiurge. Sometimes books take longer for me to write just because I need to put in the actual magickal work before I start putting things to paper. I do that so that every ritual included, and all of my information, has been tested multiple times for manifestation, and to make sure I fully understand my subject matter on the...

Playlist for Illuminated Darkness (OTS 5)

For your listening pleasure – a list of songs (on Spotify) that have inspired Illuminated Darkness. This is the fifth book in the OTS Series.  The first song on the list is the theme song for the entire novel. Each book I write has a theme song. Listen at your own risk. I have rather aggressive/dark tastes in music that may cause pearl-clutching in some individuals.

Is it Wrong?

Some real reviews of books I never left on said books because I refuse to give any book less than three stars. If I can’t give it at least three stars and find something good to say, I simply don’t review it. Books and authors have been omitted, but let’s face it – we’ve ALL read these books.

“When I look at this book’s cover I feel like I’ve taken a handful of quaaludes. It’s more psychedelic than the myriad of tie-dye shirts at a Phish concert.”

“The prose is so dry I could use it to soak u...

Everything Roses

In tarot, the symbol of roses suggests everything is in balance. Perhaps that’s why roses keep showing up in my life. The hectic schedule is finally starting to wind down and I’m tremendously excited for 2019. I have a lot going on. However, I have to remember that I still have a few things to pull out of the hat before year’s end.

The final OTS book is past the mid-point and starting to flow rather smoothly, open enrollment at the day job is winding down, and the thinning veil is almost upon...

Manifestations #amwriting #DoMagick

Manifestation

I want to take a moment to talk about the manifestation of the magick I’ve been working within the past two years. Done right, all magick will manifest. It just may not manifest in the ways we expect or always want. We can try to be picky/choosy, but sometimes the divine has a mind of its own and the universe, the Daemonic, gives us what it sees fit to make us stronger and to make us re-evaluate our goals or strengthen our skills before helping us obtain the very thing we want....

Autumn Dawns #amwriting

It’s that time of year again where I move all my sweaters to the front of the closet and I start wearing socks again. I find something about the crisp nip of colder weather invigorating both mentally and physically after a long, wilting summer. Nothing sounds more welcoming than leaves (and snow) falling outside while I’m hiding in my writing cave with a cup of cocoa, my office heater on full blast, and an open Scrivener project.  ::sigh::  That is heaven for an introvert writer like me.

Autu...