Main Page

Featured article

Hathor was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god Ra, both of whom were connected with kingship, and thus she was the symbolic mother of their earthly representatives, the pharaohs.

She was one of several goddesses who acted as the Eye of Ra, Ra's feminine counterpart, and in this form she had a vengeful aspect that protected him from his enemies. Her beneficent side represented music, dance, joy, love, sexuality, and maternal care, and she acted as the consort of several male deities and the mother of their sons. These two aspects of the goddess exemplified the Egyptian conception of femininity. Hathor crossed boundaries between worlds, helping deceased souls in the transition to the afterlife.

(Full Article...)

Did you know...

Magic Square

• ... that magic squares are sometimes used to create sigils?
• ... that the Wheel of Fortune tarot card corresponds to Jupiter?
• ... that the word Archangel only appears twice in the Bible?
• ... that The Craft served as an inspiration for the Katy Perry song "Dark Horse"?
• ... that the olympic spirit Aratron ruled the earth from 550 BC - 60 BC?
• ... that the first recorded use of the word Wicca was in 1962?
• ... that tarot cards on The Cary Sheet are not numbered?
• ... that the qlippoth of Golachab corresponds to Mars?

This month in history Saint Joan of Arc 2 May - Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. (1536) 2 May - German Jesuit scholar and author Athanasius Kircher is born. (1602) 3 May - Occult horror film The Craft is released in theaters. (1996) 4 May - Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance. (1415) 7 May - Argentine folk saint Eva Perón is born. (1919) 8 May - Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years' War. (1429) 9 May - Austrian painter Christoph Haizmann successfully retrieves his diabolical pact from Satan with the help of an exorcist. (1678) 9 May - Doug Headrick, a 12-year-old boy, disappears from Devil's Gate Dam in Pasadena, California. (1960) 10 May - Antoine Court de Gébelin, author who wrote an early treatise on the Tarot, dies in Paris. (1784) 13 May - Psychic Jeane Dixon predicts the assassination of John F. Kennedy in an issue of Parade Magazine. (1956) 15 May - French author Jean-Baptiste Pitois, who coined the terms Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, is born. (1811) 16 May - In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc. (1920) 19 May - Arthur Edward Waite, creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot, dies. (1942) 23 May - A merchant of Shiraz, the forerunner of the Baháʼí Faith, announces that he is a prophet and founds a religious movement. (1844) 23 May - German physician and astrologer, Franz Mesmer, is born. (1734) 24 May - Nicolaus Copernicus dies. (1543) 26 May - Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia. (1896) 31 May - Occultist and author Éliphas Lévi dies. (1875)

Featured image LSD can catalyze intense spiritual experiences and is thus considered an entheogen. Some users have reported out of body experiences. LSD is also capable of occasioning mystical experiences and ego dissolution, albeit less frequently than compounds such as psilocybin. In 1966, Timothy Leary established the League for Spiritual Discovery with LSD as its sacrament. Stanislav Grof has written that religious and mystical experiences observed during LSD sessions appear to be phenomenologically indistinguishable from similar descriptions in the sacred scriptures of the great religions of the world and the texts of ancient civilizations. In the 1960s, LSD and other psychedelics were adopted by and became synonymous with, the counterculture movement due to their perceived ability to expand consciousness. Owsley Stanley, the most important black market LSD manufacturer distributed LSD at a standard concentration of 270 μg. Photographer: Travis McHenry (More Images)

Featured Quote "Mysticism is the means to a new universal life, richer, greater, and more full of resource than ever before." - Israel Regardie

More info

• About the Occult Encyclopedia
• General disclaimer
• Copyright issues