In review: Scavenged Rituals Issue V1N3 released Autumn 2023, available from Portland Button Works and The Spiral House Shop
I recently came across an online discussion stating that the Foundation for Shamanic Studies Europe has begun denying entrance to pagans and witches (1). Meanwhile, The Serpent’s Key, an esoteric supply shop in Hanover Pennsylvania, has endured repeated harassment by Hanover Police Chief Chad Martin and his flunkies.(2) And this past December, Rabbi David Wolpe of Harvard University defied common decency with his essay in The Atlantic which likened Paganism, as a philosophy and practical lifestyle, to the greed and hubris of career criminal Donald Trump.(3)
These examples all come from so-named western democracies; things go far worse for suspected practitioners in many other parts of the world.
The Big Three of world religions- what I call the Desert Slave God Complex- are always trying to eat one another. Civil society, the biosphere, and now sublunar space are the arena of Messianic and memetic struggle waged by vicious geopolitical empires.
As the tides of fascism rise again worldwide and polytheists are increasingly targeted for ridicule and violence alongside queers, women, workers, and other minoritized populations, we must recognize that the peaceful and reasonable masses of the world religions are unfortunately not the ones who have intertwined their amassed colonialist fortunes with numerous world governments, nor are they really breaking a sweat trying to wrest their holy books from the hands of those warring socioeconomic powers who always have. So those of us who wish to celebrate our rites, honor our ancestors, explore our mysteries, can’t pretend that feeble armatures of democracy and civility will protect us from the apocalyptic hubris of these powerful death cults. Instead, we must braid ourselves into a strong cable of mutual support and respect. It doesn’t serve any of our best interests to retreat into cubbyholes of research and practice; we who walk these paths of idiosyncrasy – the witch, mystic, sorcerer and theurgist, seer and healer, mage and priestess- must continually and enthusiastically engage in a respectful poly-sectarian exchange of ideas and inspiration, building real social capital beyond our own temples and covens and online connections.
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The organizers of Scavenged Rituals may have had some of these same concerns in mind when publishing their periodical. An introductory note from The Scavenger confirms just this sort of curiosity and solidarity, introducing a pluralistic collection of various traditions that together represent a sampling of diverse esoteric practices. Lushly printed on thick semigloss stock and measuring 7 x 9.5”, issue N1V3 is an impressive full color journal – it’s a pleasure to hold it and peruse loosely, letting the pages fall open through red and purple, green and amber and black.
The other thing that is immediately striking and valuable about this issue is its practicality. From artist Erika Harada’s presentation of the Hifumi Norito, a sacred song of ancient and unknown origins that “utilizes all 47 sounds of the Japanese language” (Harada, p. 2), to Ambrose Mellifico’s Coptic Ritual of Deification that draws on both ancient sources and contemporary sensibilities, to Frater Robert Gordon’s skillful exegesis of a beautiful 18th Century ritual document called The Highest Symbolic Grade of the True Magic, there is much to take in. Meanwhile we encounter The Ozark Blessed Mother in an instructional text on the Mother’s eightfold arboreal manifestations by Brandon Weston, alongside evocative painted images by Sarah Redel which provide powerful iconographic counterparts to Weston’s words.
Daniel Yates sets us upon the Dream Path with the somber and highly valuable advice that, “…we will need to be frank and honest with ourselves in our failures. Each failed attempt is a step in the right direction toward success.” (Yates, p. 32).
Fr. E.M.C., “Sevis” uses their own relationship with the Crones of Winter to explore various magical uses of snow that can be extrapolated to each reader’s personal praxis. The periodical also includes two tracks by sound artist Lauren Hope (available on hard copy with the magazine or digitally through a bandcamp link) that meld folk melodies, samples, and field recordings into ambient soundscapes.
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I’ve yet to mention one more article: Astrapsoukos’ Ritual For the Favor of Hermes by John Opsopaus. I’d like now to take a closer look at this piece because it presents a clear and illuminating treatment of a rite that I have just recently been inspired to work with. The titular spell is a relatively popular one found in that collection of scrolls from the classical period, known today as The Papyri Graecae Magicae (The Greek Magical Papyri). This one in particular comes from The London Papyrus 122 (PGM VII) and as indicated, its purpose is to gain the favor of Hermes; or at least, one unknown ancient magician’s syncreto-composite take on Thoth-Hermes, aka The Baboon Faced God or, alternately, The Dog-Faced Baboon. A friend recommended the rite this past Autumn, and when Scavenged Rituals arrived on my doorstep I was absolutely delighted to find Opsopaus’ version and commentary within.
Now, being a bit of a scavenger myself (cue Willem Dafoe meme), I feel comfortable in adapting this very adaptable spell toward my wider designs regarding work with the Mercurial energies and correspondences of the god Hermes in their many guises. As a theurgical expression of the original spell I have repeatedly recited the invocation, stretching spellwork into devotional practice.
The Astrapsoukos ritual calls for crafting an effigy of the baboon-faced god. The text specifies carving one out of olive wood and that may be the ideal route to take, but mine is going to be sculpted from air-dry clay. Invoking the god as “Hermes-Mercury-Thoth” and other variants, I blessed the clay and other implements with offerings of song, incense, oils, candles and flowers, feathers, repetitions (re- petitions) of the Orphic hymn, my own prayers, and portions of the main rite toward which this is working.
That was begun in November. I try when I can to observe the planetary hours, moon phases, and other astrological conditions. Having set this project aside since mid- November due to retrogrades, waning phases, other research, and the general accumulation of tedium and pleasure that any person carries, I am once again ready to continue! As the thick layers of last week’s ice storms melt around me and I feel myself concluding an extended run of pretty intense chthonic ritual work throughout the past couple of months (and to some extent the past couple years), Now feels like a perfect time to spread my wings with Hermes, who in the guise of the Baboon- Faced God presents opportunities that are both gracefully aerial and illuminative while also holding, as the ape, an undeniable element of curiosity and mirth and mischief.
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Scavenged Rituals V1N3 is brimming with inspiration for the scholar and practitioner both. What inspiration any reader takes from it will differ from my own, and there will be a lot to explore before one has exhausted the possibilities. If you do however come to the end of working through the volume, there’s no need to fear! Issue V1N4 is newly minted; in fact it arrived on my doorstep just as I was finishing this current review. The new issue contains some equally tantalizing content from great workers-in-spirit such as Arùn Joseph Ragan, Marcus McCoy of Troll Cunning Forge, and more.
…and oh yeah- the photos are in fucking 3D!!
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Until next time, abide in grace and mischief.
Jason Triefenbach, HFHR SGM
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REFERENCES
(1) I am citing this as “unconfirmed report”. Discretion was requested by another party.
(3) https://wildhunt.org/2023/12/rabbi-wolpe-declines-invitation-to-speak-with-modern-pagans.html
Ecstatic Agendas 
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