Words

If I took a straw poll of which planet most closely corresponds to the concept of glamour, I imagine that the two top candidates would be Venus and Neptune. I’ve written about glamour and Venus in the past, calling out Venus’ counter-clockwise rotation and association with art, finance, and love; malleable constructs whose definitions shift with cultural tides. Venus IS a culture-maker. It makes concepts that would otherwise be taboo socially acceptable. Venusian sex appeal is sanctioned because Venus is a thing to covet. Is this a spell in itself? How come Venus gets to move all weird while Uranus’ sideways-rolling is highlighted as evidence of its transgressive nature?

Nyssa GrazdaJune 22, 2024Mercury, magic, magician, glamour, scholarship, middle ages, etymology, astrology, esoteric

Bedknobs and Broomsticks: A Modern Golem Tale?

Today I rewatched Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), which I viewed probably hundreds of times before age seven but never since, as we didn’t own the VHS. I can’t say that I’d recommend it to anyone now even though it’s technically a “classic” - it’s agonizingly long and the Portobello Road song sequence, while perhaps trying to do some sort of “It’s A Small World” schtick, comes off as deeply cringe. Also, this may be a small bone to pick, but the characters, who are living in WWII England during the Blitz, refer to football as “soccer”; a glaring faux pax. But the opening credits contained the below image, reminiscent of the Rider Waite Hermit, performing a gesture evocative of the sign of silence, and wearing a cloak of astrological symbols, so I kept on for two hours to see what else cropped up.

Nyssa GrazdaMay 19, 2024magic, esoteric, kabbalah, Abramelin, egypt, Golem, cinema, talisman

Wp Rnpt, The Sothic Cycle, and historical intent

8/8 is almost here, and if you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve already heard my thoughts on the matter. But rather than re-hash criticisms of new age thought (I actually have no horse in that race - believe Cayce all you want, just maybe avoid claiming ancient Lion’s Gate origins), I wanted to dive further into the historicity of the Sothic cycle itself, which isn’t without debate, even among (especially among) scholars.

Nyssa GrazdaAugust 7, 2023sothic cycle, sirius, sopdet, egypt, mythology

Venus and Pluto's Final Conjunction in Capricorn

Venus and Pluto conjoin today on the 27th degree of Capricorn. This is a transit which occurs nearly every calendar year. Sometimes twice! It is not what would be considered a “rare” alignment. However, what has received surprisingly minimal press is that this is Venus and Pluto’s final conjunction in the sign of Capricorn until January 2256. Which for us mere mortals means this is their final conjunction in the sign of Capricorn, ever.

Nyssa GrazdaDecember 31, 2022astrology, venus, pluto, transit, capricorn, magic

Reflections on The Lovers year

At the beginning of the year, I naively mused “I wonder what this Lovers year will teach me about love?”, supposing that I might stumble upon some grand romantic takeaway. Of course, had I been focusing on correspondences, I would have spent a lot more time thinking about what to use the sword for.

Nyssa GrazdaDecember 15, 2022astrology, tarot, kabbalah, the lovers, magic

Cusps

Cusps are one of those perennial hot-button topics, like the yearly rediscovery of the constellation Ophiuchus, or the persistence of “in retrograde” verbiage, that finds astrologers leaping from their chairs to pen strongly worded objections to anyone, anywhere, using the term for identification.

Nyssa GrazdaSeptember 5, 2022astrology, cusps, progressions, transit

I Turn My Room Into A Cube of Space

Hello, and welcome to this episode of Cribs, where I turn my room into a Cube of Space.

Nyssa GrazdaAugust 4, 2022cube of space, hermeticism, magic, kabbalah

The Mars-Uranus-North Node Conjunction in Taurus

I have been thinking a great deal lately about world building. Maybe it’s my upcoming solar return. Maybe it’s the seeming futility of living in late-stage Pluto in Capricorn. I actually think it has a lot more to do with the Mars-Uranus-North Node conjunction, perfecting today, by which countless hordes of astrologers have descended upon the internet hive mind to announce gloomy predictions of economic and environmental collapse, terrorism, and war.

Nyssa GrazdaAugust 1, 2022mars, uranus, north node, lunar north node, taurus, transit

Musings on astrology, the occult, and topics in the field of Western Esotericism