Jake Stratton-Kent the legendary goetic magician and writer, has died of a stroke after a long illness. Statton-Kent will go down in esoteric history for being a huge influence on ceremonial magicians and standing up against the institutionalisation of magic. For this reason, he did not fit in with many who wanted their magic precisely the way the Golden Dawn or Aleister Crowley performed it, although he had considerable sympathy with the latter’s approach. The Thelemites saw him as one of their own -- even if he appeared obsessed with Old Aeon stuff and didn't fit in with them. Unlike many magicians who wanted to “attain unity with a transcendent being”, Stratton-Kent followed a much older sub-lunar approach to daemons and demons. Geosophia for example, linked medieval demons found in the Grimoires to their ancient sources. His later work on the True Grimoire demythologised these texts and found their roots, but the notes explained how they worked based on actual experience. ...

Gareth Knight (Basil Wilby) has died at his Essex home on 1 March. He was 91. It is hard to find a place in the British Western Mystery Tradition where Gareth Knight did not influence. He trained in Dion Fortune’s Society of the Inner Light and his follow-up to her Mystical Qabalah with Practical Guide to Qabalistic Symbolism. Knight became Fortune’s post-war interpreter, providing many footnotes and making her unpublished works accessible. He was her biographer. In the 1980s, Knights books were among the few which captured an authentic flavour of magic and esotericism. There was a certain “hands-on” about his approach to British mythology. He wrote more than forty books covering topics as diverse as Qabalah, the history of magic, Arthurian legend, Rosicrucianism, Tarot, the Inklings and the Feminine Mysteries, and several practical books on ritual magic. While no modern esoteric group will admit it, most of them followed Knight’s approach. His system can be seen in the work ...

The teenage apprentice of E A [living god] Koetting who murdered two sisters in a London park in a bid to win the lottery, has been given two concurrent 35-year jail sentences at the Old Bailey. Danyal Hussein, 19, killed Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman in a random attack, which he believed would act as a “sacrifice” to “the mighty king Lucifuge Rofocale.”  Hussein stabbed Henry eight times and Smallman 28 times as she fought back, causing Hussein to cut his right hand with the 12cm knife. He then dragged their bodies 75 metres away into a wooded area where they lay undiscovered for 36 hours. They were found by Smallman’s boyfriend a day after they were reported missing to police. Police traced DNA gathered from the knife left at the crime scene back to Hussein, they raided his family home in Blackheath, south-east London. They found a contract Hussein believed he had drawn up with a demon – signed in blood – pledging to “perform a minimum of six sacrifices every six months for as ...

E A [living god] Koetting Comedy black magician E A [living god] Koetting and fired carpet cleaner has been implicated in the murder of two sisters in a Wembly park in London. Danyal Hussein, who carried out the murders, was a member of a web forum run by an E A Koetting, who gave him instructions about demonic pacts that mirrored steps taken by the killer. E A Koetting was the creator of an online forum, Becoming A Living God , whose active members included Hussein, 19, who killed sisters Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry after making a pact with a demon that he would sacrifice a minimum of six women in six months. At Hussein’s trial earlier this year, it was revealed he made a pact agreeing to kill the sisters in exchange for power and wealth. Parts of the pledge appeared to come from Koetting’s work, but he was able to continue promoting his work, including books, to more than 200,000 followers on Facebook and YouTube. Following an investigation by the PA news agency and the...

There is an attempt across the channel and the pond to form a Golden Dawn group using a bogus Whare Ra lineage. For those unfamiliar with Whare Ra, it was the last Golden Dawn temple with a direct lineage to exist. It closed its doors in the 1970s, and while some people have high grades from that Order, they were given after the temple closed its doors. Now Nick Farrell claims that a member of his group was approached by another Italian who claimed to have lineage from the Stella Matutina (sic) and Whare Ra.  He said that this group had been formed by a “notable American occultist” who claimed to have received lineage from a long-time friend of Farrell's. The Italian was interested in the idea of fusing transmissions of Whare Ra with that of Martinism and Builders of the Adytum.  He also claimed that one of the leaders of this group (whom he named) had been initiated into the tradition by my friend and held the lineage and transmission from Whare Ra. “This was surprisi...

One of the most controversial Golden Dawn chiefs of the late 20th century is attempting to rebuild his much-schismed Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn. Robert Zink, who managed to keep the group's name, has been laying low since he was awarded the Order of the Golden Boot by his own order three years ago. In the 1990s Zink’s Order of the Morning Star was more akin to a money-making sex cult which used the Regardie version of the Golden Dawn as a wrapper. It was incredibly successful drawing in large numbers to quite well-equipped temples.  For those who could not get to one of its temples, Zink devised a method of Astral Initiation.  This involved handing over cash for an initiation and then a ritual would be performed in your absence, possibly.  Zink managed to recruit some highly technical people into his group and they staged online wars between his sock puppets and those of the other “sole trading” Golden Dawn business run by David Griffin.  Griffin managed to ge...

Washington County Drug Task Force has arrested comedy black magician E A [living god] Koetting on a variety of drug-related charges after stopping his car in the Bloomington area.  Capt. Kyle Whitehead of the task force said Koetting was charged under his real name of Matthew Joseph Lawrence, 33, and was charged with five third-degree felony counts for possession of drugs, one third-degree felony counts of being restricted possessors of a firearm, and one misdemeanour count each for possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia. They were released from the appropriately named Purgatory Correctional Facility on bail. Whitehead said their arrest occurred a week after the task force received a tip from a confidential informant. After conducting the traffic stop, investigators searched the roommates' residence in the 500 West block of Los Alamitos Drive. The search uncovered cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, and other drugs, along with a gun, Whitehead said.