Paganism

Pagan bookshelf: Egregores, Pooh, and more

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TWH – Book-loving Pagans (is that redundant?) may want to check out new works on psychic entities known as egregores, Mesoamerican shamanic rites, sacred geometry, and a nature-loving bear named Pooh. Egregores: The Occult Entities That Watch Over Human Destiny by Mark Stavish (Inner Traditions, paperback, $16.99, 140p.)

Egregores, Mark Stavish writes by openly citing wiktionary.org, is “an autonomous psychic entity made up of, and influencing, the thoughts of a group of people.” Stavish explores the concept by delving into such writings as the Book of Enoch (an ancient Jewish text), and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’s Transmission of the Etheric Link ritual with its talk of an “astral tunnel” and the order’s belief that “astral entities need devotion to increase their own power.”

Other works Stavish references include Valentin Tomberg’s anony  mously published Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism (Tomberg believes all egregores are “demonic,” Stavish writes), UFO investigator Jacques Vallee’s Passport to Matagonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers, Julius Evola’s Revolt Against the Modern World, H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon, the works of Kenneth Grant, and even Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian. Sometimes Stavish’s quick-paced romp may leave readers more tantalized than fulfilled. Stavish notes that Lovecraft established a circle of friends with writers that included Howard, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth and others in order to share ideas and inspiration.