You’re looking at a photo and all the books are from the same guy.

For those of you not in the know, Stephen E. Flowers, PhD. went by the name of Edred Thorsson and wrote numerous books, texts and literature on dozens of different magickal systems throughout his life and career

In the 1970s, Flowers was attending school and had joined The Temple of Set well before joining anything else.

In the 1980s, he formed the Rune-Gild which was the first school to initiate students into the Runes. During that time, while he’s researching The Runes and all that comes with them, he was researching and writing Hermetic Magic, one of the books you see in the photo.

He wrote Futhark, publishing it in 1984, the same year he got his PhD and established his academic credentials.

In 1985, his membership to Temple of Set became active.

Two years later, he published Runelore, another book pictured, that many folkish groups clamor around to claim that it’s pure, however, Flowers was still an active member of The Temple of Set.

Two years after that, he was expelled from The Odinic Rite after it was revealed in an open letter that Flowers was an active part of Temple of Set.

I’m going to admit that I had a passing interest in the organization back when I was in my 20s but it was fleeting. Might have thought about it for all of an afternoon before I decided “Better that I not…” and moved on but that association bothered Odinic Rite so much they kicked him out.

It takes so little, people. All you have to do is be “impure” to someone and you’re as good as gone.

In 1989, the same year he was kicked out of OR, he published The Galdabrok, a translation of a universal magickal text.

In 1993 The Troth formed. He was never involved. He was already an outcast by this time.

From 1995 on, he still publishes work and there are a ton of books on different systems of magick. He’s done with the political and now, just writes about those subjects without politics coming into play.

To the Odinic Rite and AFA, he’s to be avoided because he’s a “traitor” (We’ll come back to this in a minute.)

To The Troth, he’s “tainted.”

The reality is that yes, he was involved in The Temple of Set. I don’t know what they’re about or what they do so I can not comment on that. I don’t know where that problem is there but then, I also don’t give a shit about it. If he’s still with them, okay, great. If not, okay, great. I literally just can’t be compelled to care one way or the other.

The “blood and soil” portion of his work. Well, as I pointed out, he was with Temple of Set the entire time. Those folkish types that scream about “betrayal” are the same types that clutch pearls when someone one the internet lies to them. So there’s that. That leads to one chilling conclusion (and there are still more to come) and that is that he never believed the “blood and soil” rhetoric from the beginning. He managed to find a niche where his work would sell and he targeted it. I’m not mad at him for that, it’s smart business. Fools and their money and all that.

Let’s say his “blood and soil” rhetoric is real, just hypothetically, then the Hermetic Magic he was writing about is bunk. He has no ties to it genetically or otherwise. He’s a white guy from Texas. So, if he’s truly all about the genetic ties to a specific region of this planet, I have to either ask for proof that it works for people who aren’t of Persian, Jewish, Egyptian, etc. lineages or he’ll have to admit that he never truly believed in the rhetoric in the first place.

Now, you have to ask, which is it?

If Flowers ever wanted to comment and make his position known and clear, that option will always be open to him. A lot of this is just to show you something.

Either way, the man has been researching and writing about other magickal systems since before his first book ever dropped. His books still sell and yes, there’s language in all of his books that suggest something, however, I’m not looking for that.

Neither should you.

Listen, peeps, especially in my religion, you have two sides sure, but they’re the same worthless-ass coin. Flowers figured that out years ago and that’s something we should figure out too.

For those that love to tell me that my magick won’t work, to them all I have to say is this.

It’s always motherfuckers with no magick trying to tell you how to use yours.

Fact of the matter: These are different systems for accessing what is essentially the same thing. If I happen to be doing technical work on a system in Japan, the basics will always be the same, conductors conduct electricity and power, insulators keep it moving as it should, safely.

It’s the same principle when it comes to your practice: Go with what actually works.

If you’re in The Troth, The AFA or The OR and they’re trying to argue this point with you about purity and bullshit like that, point out how The Golden Dawn takes a mix of practices and people who have zero genetic ties to Persia, Egypt or even The Middle East still use Hermeticism the world over and all it takes is discipline, drive, ethics and work. …if not they can then set about proving how each of the people that practices Thelema is genetically-predisposed to it.

Here’s the thing, we’re not talking about the types of things you can measure when it comes to esotericism. Genetics, on the other hand, that’s measurable and provable and since the claim has been made by the Folkish, the burden of proof rests upon them.

Until that day, tell them to get fucked.

That being said, I’m going to have my Read The Fucking Manual moment here.

Universalists, strap your diapers on.

If you are going to engage with a system, you must respect it’s culture and it’s rules. That means you go in, ready to be shaped by your experience. If you go in thinking it’s going to conform to you, well be ready to be pissed when that doesn’t work out for you. You trying to dictate rules to other cultures to fit you in instead of it being the other way around is the most disrespectful form of cultural appropriation you could commit.

I can cite two examples: Ralph Blum & Wizards of The Coast.

Wizards of The Coast released a Dungeons & Dragons tarot deck awhile back. Some in my circles knew I read tarot and played D&D (or the clones, I’m partial to the clones) and presented this thing to me as though to say “Look! You Should Be Excited!!! You’re validated!”

No, I’m not.

I spent a lot of time, including doing some very risky shit like bringing my D&D books to my catechism class and challenging the teacher to find devils and demons. That did not go well, people. I don’t think I have to detail how not fucking cool that went.

What made me hard pass on the D&D tarot deck is that it’s just another product released by WoTC which is egregious enough but then, in their companion book to the deck…it actively urges readers to make up their own meanings for fun.

Know who actually did that?

Ralph Blum.

His book, The Book of Runes was just that, Blum assigning his own meanings to The Runes.

It’s irresponsible as hell, especially when it comes to the fucking Runes.

Try doing bind runes with Blum’s work and you’ll probably have a colossal Karmic bill to pay and I’m not helping with that rent, boy, you on your own.

This is what the Universalist To A Fault would do, just look at something and go “Well this is what it means to me.”

It’s not about you. Never was.

Who are you reading for? You need to keep that in mind.

To the point at hand, these systems of magick were written from a cultural standpoint. That is to be respected. That means you’re going into someone else’s house and you follow their rules or you don’t venture in at all.

The extremes in this faith are irresponsible and should have their tax exempt statuses stripped from them for being nothing more than Politicos playing fucking dress-up.

Hey, dickheads, my faith isn’t your fucking costume.

This is why they get pissed at you. It’s not because you’re following your heart and soul and everything in it tells you that these political parties wearing your faith as a skin suit. They’re pissed at you because you’re not getting involved in a war that has nothing to do with you and never did.

Hey, dickheads, our faith isn’t your fucking battlefield either.

If they were at all secure in their positions they wouldn’t have meltdowns everytime you mentioned a word ending in the letter “y” or micromanaging your every bit of involvement.

Which brings us to why I’m here telling you about all of this.

Because that shit is a scam and I’m not even here to sell you a subscription (I’ve managed to secure most all of the books I need for my curriculum and I’m currently actively running it) so there’s no grifting on my part, I have nothing at all to sell you and you probably have no money to give me and I’m actually okay with that.

I’m here about the work. I’m here for the gods. I’m here for the faith and I’m here to discuss it.

The Troth, AFA, Odinic Rite, The Odinic Fellowship (…heh…fellowship…heh) those groups are about politics and hating the other guy. If that’s what you want, go join them, there’s nothing here for you.

Look I’m no Christian by any stretch but if you can’t see that the idolatry of The Other has taken your focus clear off your faith, then there’s no means by which I can help you.

This is part of The Magnusson Standard. We study the materials we have, we do the work, we keep at it and when it works, we share our best practices. I might not be into Hermeticism but I do have plenty of texts that spawn from it and plenty of rituals like the LBRP come from that. It’s literally the basis for most modern western-based magickal systems. Also…it works! It works for a great many people, most of which have zero ties genetically to Persia, Israel or Egypt.

Saying you can’t use the runes because you don’t have genetic ties to a specific area while ignoring how many people today are using them is a rather wild thing to do. Back in the ‘90s when Stephen MacNallen was droning on about “metagenetics” (a pseudo-scientific term meant to skate the burden of proof of a genetic link) now, he can’t because we know that’s not a thing. Anyone making that claim? They’re not serious people and shouldn’t be taken as such.

The gods of time can be just as cruel as anything and just as unforgiving.

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