A 12-Week Graduate Course in Hermetic Initiations & the Western Mystery Tradition
Required Text:
Cüsters-van Bergen, Ina. The Temple of High Magic: Hermetic Initiations in the Western Mystery Tradition. Destiny Books, 2010.
Instructor’s Note: This course treats high magic not as mere physical ritual, but as the construction of an “inner edifice created by sustained meditative practice”—what the author calls the “Yoga of the West.”
Additional Open-Source Resources
Free E-Books & Texts:
• The Kybalion — Full text at Sacred Texts Archive https://sacred-texts.com/eso/kyb/kyb01.htm
• Corpus Hermeticum — Translations at The Gnostic Society Library
www.gnosis.org/library/hermet.htm
Instructor’s Advisory
High Magic is a transformative and potentially destabilizing practice. Students are advised to:
1. Maintain daily grounding practices
2. Keep a thorough Magical Diary
3. Work within an established ethical framework (Wiccan Rede, Ten Commandments, Karma, “Talk-Shit-Get-Hit”, “Fuck around and Find Out” (FAFO) and “Don’t start nothing, Won’t be nothing”, and “The Golden Rule”, are all examples of ethical frameworks).
4. Seek community support when encountering difficult psychological material
5. Remember: “The Temple of High Magic is not a mere physical structure but an inner edifice created by sustained meditative practice.”
Blessed Be.