October 2004
Topic: Old Site Archives

October 2004: Hey folks! Check out

Pagannews.com! My "Thelemic Origins of
Wicca" is currently on the front page. :)

September 2004
Topic: Old Site Archives

September 2004:
Well, I'm afraid there is some bad news about the
upcoming "Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires."
The publisher has- YET AGAIN- put the book on
hold. It is now set to release in August of 2005. :(

In other news, WitchSchool has finally
released the first of my Hermetic classes: An
Introduction to the Hebrew Alphabet. It will soon
be followed by introductions to the Tree of Life,
Astral Travel, Meditation, and more! :)

Speaking of online schools, you might also
want to check out the

Sanctuary of Ma'at Order of the Golden Dawn
(www.ritual-magic.com). The "SoM" was founded
as an online study group for folks who didn't have
access to nearby G.D. Temples, and who believed
in the concept of Self-Initiation. The SoM
curriculum is taken from the Cicero's "Self Initiation
Into the Golden Dawn Tradition" - based upon the
Outer-Order teachings of the HGOD.

If you are studying Golden Dawn or Hermetic
material alone, you will want to see this for
yourself. The SoM provides you with all the textual
resources you need (you don't even have to buy
the book to get started!), along with a community
of fellow students, Proctors (for personal
instruction) and Instructors (for group classes). All
of this is done on-line. However, if a Proctor lives
close enough to you, you can request some face-
to-face learning. You can also choose to work in a
study group- if you have interested friends who live
nearby. And, working study groups have the
potential to grow into full SoM Temples someday.
So, as you can see, there are many opportunities
here...

More Later!

April 2004
Topic: Old Site Archives
April 2004:
Wow, lots of pretty cool stuff going on...

I'm holding my breath, because I think we *might*
have cleared the last hurdle in the publication
problems with "Secrets of the Grimoires." :):):) It
doesn't look like they will back off of their early
2005 release date... but at least things are rolling
again. I'm putting some corrections in the final
manuscript (many of them supplied by you folks!
Thanks!) and sending in a brand new hard-copy.
I'll keep you updated here from time to time- but
you can get real time info from the Solomonic list.
Which brings me to:

My cyber-life is hopping these days!! First of all,
there is the Solomonic Mailing List:


http://groups.yahoo.com/group/solomonic/

I created this list to go along with "Secrets of the
Grimoires"- so people could get real-time progress
reports on the book, and (once it comes out)
discuss the various subjects the book covers. Of
course, more than this, the list is for anyone
interested in Solomonic or medieval grimoiric
magick. Over the past months, the list has gained
some popularity. The files, links, and photos
sections are literally maxed out. You can find just
about any grimoire here for free, not to mention
pictures of tools and talismans, etc, etc. The links
section rocks, and even has a "Grimoire
Bookstore" where you can order the grimoires
brand-new from Amazon. The list has attracted
experienced Solomonic practitioners as well as
students.

The files section actually overflowed recently...
Someone attempted to upload a whole slew of
documents on John Dee, and maxed out our
account! :) So, to fix this, a few people got
together and created an entire new Yahoo group to
accept these new John Dee files. (The Solomonic
List's first spin-off list!) The new Alchemist Royal
Advisor Dr John Dee group can be found at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AlchemistRoyalAdvisorDrJohnDee
It is VERY worth joining.

Most recently, I've been publishing essays and
book reviews with "Diamond Fire Magazine." This
is an incredible publication folks! I have to say in
all honesty, that this might be the next "Gnosis." It is a professional, insightful, and really beautiful piece of work. The editor is Joseph Polanski, and I can only imagine that this magazine is a pure labor of love for him. I highly recommend subscribing to this one. It's been around for some time, and is not likely to leave us anytime soon. Unfortunately they don't have a website yet. However, you can email them directly and ask for subscription info:

diamondfiremagazine@comcast.net

You will also want to keep your eye on

WitchSchool.com. Some time ago, they
published the first chapter of "Secrets" as an online
magickal history course. Since then, they have
decided to create a new department of the school
for "Magickal Studies." They want to offer a
complete course in Hermetic Magick- from the
basics to advanced work. To this end, they've
asked me to write the entire curriculum. (!!!) Of
course, I just couldn't hope to do such a task
alone. So, when I found out that Nick Farrell was
about to offer his own course through WitchSchool
(on Talismans), I knew I just had to plead with him
to save me!! The result, so far, is an entire
ccurriculum offered by the two of us- some classes
by me, and some by Nick. We are working on it
now, and I'll let you know when WitchSchool offers
the courses. In time, I hope to recruit further
authors into the cause... I'll see who I can interest
in contributing to the project. :)

July 2003
Topic: Old Site Archives
July 2003:
Well gang, it looks like we drew up a bit short on
the July release of "Secrets of the Grimoires." My
book is a rather long one, and that means a high
production cost. Of course, money is tight for all of
us these days. :( This is not the only "more
involved" project that Llewellyn has set back in the
past couple of years. I am merely assumnig this is
the reason for the delay. Stay tuned!, as the book
is now set for an early 2005 release. It WILL be
worth the wait, I promise.

At any rate, there are still some cool things
happening. Check out the Virtual Reality
environment I have created:


The Vault of the RR.'. et AC.'.
https://kheph777.tripod.com/GD/temple.html

April 2003
Topic: Old Site Archives
April 2003:
Cool news on the book publishing front! I have in
my hands the Spring/Summer issue of Llewellyn's
trade magazine "New Worlds of Mind and Spirit."
"Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires" appears at the
centerfold (p 24) with a full page ad. :) :) :) I have
also placed the ad on the web:

https://kheph777.tripod.com/secretscatalog.html

Anyone out there who runs a bookstore might want
to check it out, since they offer a pre-pub discount.
(Orders before 6-1-03) Also, those who edit
various 'zines (print and/or online) might be
interested in chapter one of the book- Medieval
Magick- which I will offer as a stand-alone article.
It can be trimmed down to fit the space you have
available.

Exciting stuff! :)

February 2003
Topic: Old Site Archives




February 2003: Greetings! I'm now
putting the next-to-last touches on the manuscript
for Secrets of the Magickal Grimoires. href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/07
38703036/13thstarcomin-20>It's already available
for pre-order! So reserve yourself a copy
today!

December 2002
Topic: Old Site Archives

December 2002: Secrets of the Magickal
Grimoires:

My book has finally gone into the editing stage.
(Yay!)

Here's the full sized JPG of the cover the publisher
designed for it. (I'm hoping this will draw in
the "Necronomicon kids"- not to mention a fair
number of Neopagans. I already know the
Hermeticists and Qabalists will be interested-
regardless of cover art.

The original title was just "Secrets of the
Grimoires." But, I can see why they wanted to add
"magickal" to it. It will draw in more of the "young,
hip, male audience" (as the publisher put it)-
especially those who don't know what a grimoire is
to begin with. I can say the same for their decision
to use a simple Pentagram instead of my original
pic- the Seal of God from the Sworn Book of
Honorius.

My original sub-title was "Biblical Shamanism in
Medieval Europe." I actually re-thought that one
myself. While I love the way that sounds, it really
only describes about 1/3 of the book's content
(specifically- Book I: Oculta Philosophia). The rest
of the work (Book II- Oculta Practique) focuses on
practical application in the here-and-now.

I have yet to feel the sharp stab of the editor's pen.
(I've been told I might get lucky with this being my
first time through.) Even so, I'm not overly worried.
Anything the publisher insists I shouldn't include
will be offered for free on my homepage. (Gods, I
love the Information Age!)

September 2002
Topic: Old Site Archives

September 2002: Greetings again! Just
wanted to let you know I'm still alive and kicking-
and working on my page. Also:

Gnostic Cross Magazine is back again! This
time we're independant, we're accepting
submissions, and it's all FREE. Right now I'm
working on the first "sample" issue- it should be
ready soon.

July 2002
Topic: Old Site Archives

July 2002: I'M BACK! It is currently
Saturday, July 13, 9am. I'm still not on-line with
my own e-mail going yet. (Though, when I am, the
address will still be aaron@leitch.net) But, I have
been tinkering with things on the web from work-
and I can't see any reason not to at least
get the main page of my site back up tonight. So,
welcome back folks! :) Anything that doesn't work
will be fixed as soon as possible.

Just an update (7-21-02): The page has been up
for a few days now. I'm still working on getting all
of my articles here for you to read- shouldn't be too
much longer. I do apologize for the ad-bar at the
bottom of the page. Apparently, register.com will
sell you a domain for about $35, but they then hold
part of your screen hostage with their banner
unless you pay them an additional $50 a
year. It's a scam, pure and simple- and I haven't
yet decided what I'll do with/about it.

Also: the old e-mail address isn't up and running
yet. But, you CAN contact me over at
aaronleitch@hotmail.com Drop me a line and let
me know if you find the page. :)

April 2002
Topic: Old Site Archives

April 2002: As is often the case with on-
line 'zines, Illumin-8 Magazine has gone
mysteriously into limbo. But never fear! I say it is
actually a good thing for our own sub-zine
Gnostic Cross, because we are now looking
into going independent IF the parent magazine
never rematerializes. For those of you following
along, my Gnostic series is one article away from
completion- for a grand total of eight parts!
(Whew!)

Of course, none of you can read this right now,
because my page has vanished from the Web!
Actually, it has just been down while I went into a
bit of reclusion and finished my book. Plus, by the
time you guys read this, you'll note that I am no
longer at AOL, but at my own domain
aaronleitch.com! Pretty cool.

Finally, keep checking here for updates on my
upcoming book on Grimoiric magick. Secrets of
the Grimoires: Biblical Shamanism in Medieval
Europe. I promise you'll love it, no matter what
angle of occultism, history, or consciousness
expansion you're into.