The Gates of Horn

Shortly after Practical Magick first opened, the beautiful, and very talented Dr. Elizabeth Young gave a fascinating introductory talk; first in a series about herbs and their medicinal and magical use. She had a Masters in Botany and a Doctorate in toxicology, which was a good start, but her great appeal was the way in which she treated plants with the respect that they deserve as fellow travelers on space ship Earth, and not just as fodder, or raw material to be exploited.

This question was asked at a Q/A session of magicians, Wiccan Officers and novice Wiccans. Here is the transcript of my reply.

This is a much more common problem in magickal circles than it often appears to be, mainly because those who cannot visualize easily usually give up very soon in their magickal work and fade away from the ken of those who remain.

Probably the two most widely used oracles today are the I Ching and the Tarot. The English translation from the German of Wilhelm's I Ching came out in 1950 with a famous foreword by Jung, describing how he used it, and explaining the principle of synchronicity. Since then many other versions have been produced in English. Some by Chinese Taoist scholars.

But since 1950 I have used it in one form or another as an oracle whenever reason and knowledge failed to cast light on a problem. It has never failed.

The pattern that I have mentioned before, has been consistent for centuries. A sensitive or exceptionally gifted individual discovers or senses a phenomenon and describes it.

The current bunch of scientists or experts shout ‘Fraud,’ ‘ Liar,’ ‘ Charlatan,’ ‘Impossible,’ and the like—without of course making any attempt to investigate what they perceive as nonsense. After about thirty years or so the phenomenon is absorbed into the enlarged scientific vision and the scientists and experts talk about it as if they had known it all along.