Jan Fries

This is a manual of freestyle shamanism. The book aims to develop vision and imagination. It builds on the inspiration of such figures as Austin Spare and Aleister Crowley and stresses the need to develop one's unique magical way. It shows how magicians, witches, artists and therapists can improve their visionary abilities and strengthen the imagination. Activate the inner sense, and discover new modes of trance awareness. The emphasis is on direct experience. The book asks the reader to think, act, do and enjoy as s/he wills. The book began as a small treatise on sigil magick and automatic drawing and was circulated privately amongst occultists. It is especially suitable for practising mind explorers of the unorthodox variety. Both beginners and experienced magicians will find it inspirational and insightful. Jan Fries has a reputation amongst the magical community as a genuine adept. His articles and luminous artwork have graced many of the best magical journals.

A Practical Guide to Trance, Sigils and Visualization Techniques

Visual Magick

Preface to the new edition: When I went to school, my history teacher told us about the old Germani. In her opinion, the Taunus mountains were populated by a bunch of brawny brawlers who wore horned helmets and small pieces of pelt. They lived in hilltop settlements which were fortified by ringwalls. Barely able to manage agriculture, they had to rely on hunting to fill their stomachs. They lived in shabby huts with mud-plastered walls and when the Romans came, they fought the invaders with crude swords, pointy sticks and by hurling rocks at them... Nowadays, the ringwalls of the Taunus are known as the work of La T�ne Celts, who lived on the heights in well organised cities. For this new edition much of the text has been rewritten and updated. A large section on the bronze ages, the Celts, Germani and the later Vikings added. The theme of Wodan and Helja has been elaborated with more detail on pagan Scandinavia. The chapter on magical rune inscriptions has been extended, on Sei�r/seething trances rewritten, the bibliography updated and twelve pages of new illustrations added. The runes are a pan-European magical language. Its roots lie in the ancient pagan beliefs of our ancestors, who built many thousands of stones circles, long barrows and dolmens throughout ancient Europe. These same symbols and techniques were used by the pagan Celts and Germans. This book is a complete manual of magick based upon arcane symbolism and secret techniques.

A Manual of Rune Magick

Helrunar

Kali Kaula is a practical and experiential journey through the land of living magickal art that is Tantra, guided by the incisive, inspired and multi-talented hands of Jan Fries. By stripping away the fantasies and exploring the roots, flowers and fruits of Tantra, the author provides an outstandingly effective and coherent manual of practices. Acknowledging the huge diversity of Tantric material produced over the centuries, Jan Fries draws on several decades of research and experience and focuses on the early traditions of Kula, Kaula and Krama, and the result is this inimitable work which shines with the light of possibility. Unique in style and content, this book is more than a manual of tantric magick, it is a guide to the exploration of the inner soul. It contains the most lucid discussions of how to achieve liberation in the company of numerous Indian goddesses and gods, each of whom brings their own lessons and gifts to the dedicated seeker. It is also an eloquent introduction to the mysteries of the great goddess Kali, providing numerous views of her manifold nature, and showing the immense but hidden role played throughout history by women in the development and dissemination of tantric practices and beliefs. Jan Fries explores the spectrum of techniques from mudra to mantra, pranayama to puja, from kundalini arousal to purification to sexual rites, and makes them both accessible and relevant, translating them out of the Twilight Language of old texts and setting them in the context of both personal transformation and the historical evolution of traditions. The web of connections between Tantra and Chinese Alchemy and Taoism are explored as the author weaves together many of the previously disparate strands of philosophies and practices. This book challenges the reader to dream, delight, and develop, and provides an illustrated guidebook on how to do so. Bliss awaits those who dare.

Kali Kaula - A Manual of Tantric Magick

The Manasā Epic is a collection of stories about the Indian serpent goddess Manasā and her sister Neta which were retold, extended, modified, changed and embellished by poets for more than 500 years. Includes: Vedic rituals, pūjā ceremonies, mantra practice, kuṇḍalinī, breathing and awareness exercises

Myth and Magick of East India's Serpent Goddesses

MANASA AND NETA

he Manasā Epic is a collection of stories about the serpent goddess Manasā and her sister Neta which were retold, extended, modified, changed and embellished by poets for more than 500 years. Includes: Vedic rituals, pūjā ceremonies, mantra practice, kuṇḍalinī, breathing and awareness exercises

Manasa and Neta

A study I Ching, but presented with all its magic intact and in a totally unique way. This leads naturally to an examination of the techniques of Taoist meditation and finally to look at the divine entities that lie behind the system the Immortals. Anyone who has read Jan Fries' inspirational books -- Helrunar, Visual Magik and especially Seidways: Shaking and Serpent Mysteries, cannot have failed to notice that some of the magical techniques of the east and of the Taoist tradition are very close to his heart. Here you will find many practical exercises, I Ching divination in the mind, breathing experiences and visualisation of coloured vapours.

Three Movements of the Tao

Living Midnight

The definitive study of magical trance and possession techniques. The author is inspired by the Nordic tradition of Seidr, said to have been taught to the human race by Odin.

Shaking, Swaying and Serpent Mysteries

Seidways

"Nightshades is the record of one remarkable magician's exploration of the inverse regions of the Tree of Life. Aleister Crowley's Liber 231 provides the map and Kenneth Grant's Nightside of Eden a travelogue. "Liber 231, apparently started life as a text within the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, as an exercise to develop astral and trance abilities or perhaps in other more elaborate rites. The nightside aspect requires some care and alertness in case of accident. The correct attitude is said to be one of self or ego-less witness. Or maybe it's just one needs Or maybe it's just one needs the use of an all-embracing rather than a limited kind of identity and self-identification?" "The Nightside is always with us. It's so much older than the Dayside. Before the light began to shine, the night was there. Some assume that we are dealing with a simple polarity. On one hand the radiant world of colours and forms, more or less thinkable, reasonable and meaningful. Like the pretty picture of the Tree of Life it has its scenic cites, its hotels, restaurants, shopping opportunities and highways in between. On the other hand the chaotic world of uncertain and incomprehensible mysteries. Both of them connected by the voidness that makes them possible. It looks symmetrical. But when you reach the Nightside it doesn't work like that. The Nightside is not simply a reflection of the dayside with a few confusing and spooky bits thrown in. The Dayside is a tiny island of experience in a huge ocean, the Nightside, full of currents, island chains and continents of the possible and impossible. All and Nothing are present everywhere. Our island is not the opposite of the world-ocean, it is simply a tiny and comprehensible part of it." Jan Fries Nightshades comprises 72 intense drawings prefaced by an explanatory essay detailing the background and genesis of this ultimate magical adventure.

A Tourist Guide to the Nightside

Nightshades

The Seven Names of Lamastu is an exploration of the religions and mysteries of the cradle of civilisation, Mesopotamia. A modern translation of the famous Lamastu Series, with commentary, which can be used as a dictionary and travel companion through the earliest form of religion and sorcery.

A Journey Through Mesopotamian Magick and Beyond

The Seven Names of Lamastu

Dragon Bones is a masterly and insightful exploration of ritual, myth and oracles in Shang Period China. The author shines a light on one of the most obscure and least-known areas of ritual practice in the ancient world, demonstrating its value and connection to the development of magical practices in China over a period of many centuries.

Dragon Bones - Ritual, Myth and Oracle in Shang Period China

Imagine the forest. As darkness falls, the somber beeches disappear in misty twilight and shadows seem to gather under their branches. Far away, the blackbird's call tells of the coming of the night. The birds cease their singing, silence descends, soon the beasts of the night will make their appearance. Between tangled roots, hidden by nettles and brambles, the earth seems to ripple. A few humps of earth seem to emerge from the ground. They are the last traces of burial mounds, of mounds, which were tall and high 2500 years ago. Many of them have disappeared, hidden by tangled roots of beech and oak, ploughed flat by careless farmers, others again show caved-in tops where grave robbers have looted the central chamber. The locals shun these hills. There are tales that strange fires can be seen glowing on the mounds, and that on spooky nights, great armed warriors arise from their resting places. Then the doors to the deep are thrown open and unwary travelers have to beware of being invited into the halls of the dead and unborn. Here the kings of the deep feast and celebrate, time passes differently and strange treasures may be found. Who knows the nights when the gates are open? Who carries the primrose, the wish-flower, the strange blossom that opens the doors to the hollow hills?

A Manual of Celtic Magick

Cauldron of the Gods

This title looks at Kaalai and her worship in Kaula Tantra."

Jan Fries

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