Brandy Williams - The Woman Magician: Revisioning Western Metaphysics from a Womans Perspective and Experience

Gary Quinn Photography

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brandy Williams is a Witch, Ceremonial Magician, and ordained priestess of EGC. Her previous books include Practical Magic for Beginners , Ecstatic Ritual: Practical Sex Magic , and Womens Voices in Magic . She lives in Kitsap County in Washington state, where she is active in the local transition movement. Additional information about Brandy and the Order of the Sisters of Seshat can be found at www.sistersofseshat.com.

Llewellyn Publications

Woodbury, Minnesota

Copyright Information

The Woman Magician: Revisioning Western Metaphysics from a Womans Perspective and Experience 2011 by Brandy Williams.

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First e-book edition 2012

E-book ISBN: 9780738729763

Cover art John William Waterhouse/Bridgeman Art Library, London/SuperStock

Cover design by Adrienne Zimiga

Interior illustrations by the Llewellyn Art Department

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am indebted to many generous and thoughtful people in the magical communities, in the Pacific Northwest, and in the contemporary intellectual traditions for their support of the processes that resulted in this book.

Two women provided the quiet spaces into which I retreated, the real physical enclosures that granted me the solitude to hear my own voice during the process of writing this book: Petra Martin and the Whidbey Island Writers Refuge, and Therese Charvet of Sacred Groves, a ten-acre forest sanctuary and eco-retreat center on Bainbridge Island. I am deeply grateful for their generous hospitality.

The women and men who attended my workshops and lectures contributed interest, energy, and perspective. Chance comments that may seem trivial can have profound effects.

I had the good fortune to speak with Irshad Manji, the woman who wrote The Trouble with Islam Today , knowing shed spend the rest of her life traveling with bodyguards. When I told her of the fear I experienced championing womens concerns in traditionally male-centric communities, she said to me, In a free society there is no reason for self-censorship. I repeat those words to myself often as I write. I also think about the grand dame of Dianic Witchcraft, Zsuzsanna Budapest, who enjoined me (along with many others) to Make trouble!

The Womens Voices in Magic project acted as a collective counterpoint to this soliloquy. I am grateful to all the women who contributed to the volume, as well as managing editor Taylor Ellwood, whose belief in the work made it possible.

The women participating in the e-group Magia Femina and the women and men of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn have provided ears willing to listen and an extended community. Creative women have always needed a group context to support the work; you have provided mine.

My sisters and brothers in Ordo Templi Orientis lived through numerous iterations of my lecture on feminist Thelema, which prepared the ground for this treatment. I appreciate the opportunity I was given to pres ent that work to the national O.T.O. community at NOTOCON VI. Spe cial thanks to Richard Kazynski, editor of the volume Beauty and Strength: Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial National Ordo Templi Orientis Conference , whose conversations on this topic helped to clarify my thinking.

The readers who took the time to comment on this volume were invaluable: Ted Gill, Kallista, Shellay Lynn Maughan, Renee Randazzo, and Soror Inde Seraphina. I am also grateful to T Polyphilus for references, discussion, and feedback, which made this a better book. Finally, Llewellyn acquisitions editor Elysia Gallos meticulous review was invaluable and deeply appreciated.

As always, I must thank Alex Williams and Ted Gill, who gave unstintingly of their time, encouraged me in my darkest moments, stood back when the circle closed them out, and stood guard outside that circle to make the work within possible. They are exemplars of brotherhood.

I have spent much of my adult life with my sister Kallista, talking feminism and magic, as well as writing, performing, and critiquing ritual. She spent many hours with me on the ritual section of this book, which is immeasurably improved by her input. Her insights resonate throughout this book.

Finally, I offer my profoundest gratitude to the first Sisters of Seshat: Dana Doerksen, Egypt Rose, Kallista, Kineta Chien, Onyieh Bunnie Jewel, Shellay Lynne Maughan, and Soror Inde Seraphina. Your work has made these rituals sing and has broken the ground for the sisters who come after us.

While this work would not have been possible without aid from the people listed above, all opinions, conclusions, errors, and omissions here are strictly my own.

To all the sisters of my heart.
In particular to Soror Inde Seraphina,
who kept asking for this book until I wrote it.

Contents

PART ONE: Magia Femina

: Sisters of Seshat

THE ORDER OF THE
SISTERS OF SESHAT

: The Heart of the Tradition

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

: The Gnostic Mass

: Tree of Life Sepher Yetzirah

: Tree of Life Judith Laura One

: Tree of Life Judith Laura Two

: Adam Kadmon as Astrological Man

: Adam Kadmon as Tree of Life

: Tree of Life Male

: Judith Laura Three

: Tree of Life Eve Kadmon One

: Tree of Life Eve Kadmon Two

: Image of Seshat

: T Robe

: Tree of Life as Planets

: Egyptian Goddesses Cosmolog

: Sign of Seshat

: Goddess Forms

: Temple Ritual

: Tree of Life and Shadow Tree

: The Shadow Tree

: In the Underworld

: In the Underworld, Rotated

: The Composite Tree

: Establishing the Temple of Mystery

: The Moon Temple

: Establishing the Temple of Knowledge

: The Path of the Sun

: The Temple of Knowledge

: Temple of Knowledge Diagrams

: The Temple of Beauty

: The Path of Aquarius

: The Path of Mars

: The Temple of Venus

: The Temple of the Sun

: The Ascent

: The Greek Letters

INTRODUCTION

I am a woman magician. By woman , I mean that I was born into a culture that recognizes two biologically based sexes and that I was raised in the female sex. I have always been comfortable with my bodys sex assignment, but I have not always been comfortable with the assumptions made about me because I am a woman and the way I am expected to behave. Also, I have not always been comfortable in the company of other women, although I have come to understand and cherish womens culture.