Astrological Magic: Basic Rituals & Meditations

A Review by Samuel Scarborough

December, 2012
Astrology and Magic, two terms associated with understanding the universe, affecting the universe, and
spiritual development. Astrology is often merely considered for divinatory means or discernment of a
natal chart. Magic often uses astrological influences to fine tune the effect of a ritual or ceremony to
achieve a desired result.
In Astrological Magic: Basic Rituals & Meditations Dr. Benjamin N. Dykes and Jayne B. Gibson
explore the uses of astrological influences in a magical and ritual context for spiritual development.
The authors dedicate the first section of this book to explaining what they are trying to achieve with an
in depth Introduction. This is followed by the meat of the book, three sections devoted to astrological
magic; Elemental, Planetary, and Zodiacal. Finally, there are several appendices with varied
information from lists of deities and pantheons to incense that can be used with the material presented
in Astrological Magic.
The authors, Dykes and Gibson, take the time to fully explain their approach to astrological magic in
their comprehensive Introduction. This has some rather interesting material, including a section on
elections for rituals. Elections are nothing more than choice of when to do ritual or ceremony by
looking for auspicious astrological times to perform them. The authors give three types of elections for
performance of ritual work; Simple Elections, Enhanced Elections, and the Moon. Simple Elections;
this being the most basic of astrological time associated with a particular working, i.e. such as attuning
yourself to the energies of Sol on a Sunday during the hour of the planet. The majority of the magical
rites and meditations given in Astrological Magic fall into being used in this category, and should be
useable by just about anyone.
The magic in this book is heavily influenced by Golden Dawn material, though it is not strictly Golden
Dawn in nature. It is ceremonial magic at its best though, and should be available to anyone or any
tradition of magical practice regardless of whether they are ceremonial magicians or neo-pagans.
Dykes and Gibson write in a manner that easily conveys what they mean. When talking about more
complex ideas, they keep the language simple and thoroughly inform the reader in a clear concise way.
It is refreshing to see some of these more complex and often confusing astrological ideas explained in
such a way as to be readily perceivable to anyone familiar with astrology or not. The same applies to
magical terms and concepts within this book.
The heart of this book is made up of a series of rituals and meditations. The first section refers to the
Elements. The second to the Planets. The third section deals with the Zodiac. At the end of each of
these sections is a culmination ritual which combines all the material from that section. For the
Elemental section, the ritual is called A Feast of Spirit. For the Planetary section, Creating a Magical
Universe. For the Zodiacal section, Invoking the Triplicities.
Each of these sections present a unique method of better understanding and integrating the associated
energies or forces into the life of the person performing the rituals. Obviously for the Elements, each of
the traditional Four Elements is explored using a representative of that Element. For Earth Salt is used.
For Air Incense is used. For Water both water and wine/juice are used. Finally, for Fire a Candle is used.

In conjunction with these Elemental representations, specific tarot cards are used from the Tarot
Trumps or Major Arcana. This use of tarot card, ritual, and physical representation help to further
implant and ingrain the forces of the Element into the life of the magician. This format is also utilized
in the sections for the Planets and the Zodiac.
The rituals and meditations in Astrological Magic follow a standard format with a multitude of
diagrams per ritual. While many of these diagrams and graphics are duplicated several times
throughout the rituals, the verbiage within each is not just a series of copy and paste, but rather each
has some unique wording and phrasing to better help the magician in connecting with the forces
invoked and worked. Some of the inspiration for these invocations is drawn from Classical Greek and
Roman myth, while others are from Gnostic texts, and yet others from Rosicrucian, Golden Dawn, and
Egyptian texts, though these have been rewritten by the authors to flow in each of the rituals and
meditations.
When reading through this book, I found that the language was unambiguous and easy to understand.
The authors' comprehension of astrological and magical material comes through clearly and concisely
so that anyone regardless of level of magical training or magical tradition can use these rituals and
meditations. It is refreshing to pick up a book that better helps explain astrology and magic together in
one package.
While there are some editing issues (there are a few typos and some misprints), overall the book has a
nice look, being laid out in a manner that is user friendly. These sorts of mistakes creep into nearly all
books regardless of publisher (in fact I have recently read a couple of books from larger well-known
publishers that contained more such mistakes; even having worse grammatical errors), but do not really
detract from the overall quality of the material in Astrological Magic. The Cazimi Press did a great job
with editing and layout, emphasizing the quality of the material written by Dykes and Gibson.
If you cannot guess, I highly recommend this book to any and all magicians regardless of tradition or
ability. The material within its pages has something to offer so long as a person is willing to actually
work the rituals. Dykes and Gibson hint that there will be further books along the lines of this one
which is great news for those people who are looking for practical material to better aid them in their
quest for the balancing out Elemental, Planetary, and Zodiacal forces within themselves, thus drawing
that much closer to Union with their Divine Selves.
This book will not be just another recipe book of magical rituals that sits on the shelf (or nightstand),
but will be something that will inspire and provoke the magician to further action in pursuit of the
Magnum Opus the Great Work. Astrological Magic: Basic Rituals and Meditations is a quiet classic
in the magical field, one that is sure to go on to be one of those books that is used and talked about by
all people interested in practical and magical astrology. Even if a person is not interested in astrology,
but just ritual magic, this book is an absolute must read.
Astrological Magic: Basic Rituals & Meditations by Dr. Benjamin N. Dykes and Jayne B. Gibson.
The Cazimi Press.
ISBN: 978-1-934586-21-1. 378 pages. $24.95 USD.