Episode 49: The Feast of Saint Elijah

Welcome Golgothites, we wish you an excellent Feast of Saint Elijah. In honour of this day and indeed this holy figure of the Abrahamic faiths, we bring you a bevvy of topics co-mingling fiery and watery mysteries. Our Saint (and Prophet and perhaps Angel) is San Elias, the prophet Elijah, who ascended to heaven in a whirlwind chariot, and extends his mantle and wisdom in his returns to earth. Our Demon (indeed Queen of Demons) is Lilith; affording us a deep-dive into ancient, medieval, and early modern demonology, midrash, the heresies and hallowings of witchcraft, and much more besides. Our Herb is Willow, the One-That-Weeps, Lunary tree of Lunary Waters; boughs that bend, weave, and root; balm and bane of the living and the dead. Our Mineral is Citrine, lighting our way to consider lapidary title-shuffles of Solary golden stones, the yellowing processes of alchemy, merchant’s stones, and more. Our Style of Magic is Card Magic, prompting discussion of divination, gambling, the manipulations of significators, and where the sortilege meets the sorcery. Our Beast is Sheep, placid phlegmatic wool-bearer; by which we compare and contrast the differing lores of rams and lambs from ewes. Our Daysign is Atl (Water), whose non-oppositional duality with fire which presents fascinating contrasts to some often-unexamined assumptions of Western occult philosophy. Our Figure is the geomantic Cauda Draconis, The Dragon’s Tail, explosively Fiery figure of Saturn and Mars, and its counterparting Odu of Ifa and Diloggun, Ogunda Meji, sparking talk of creative destruction, rational action in the heat of crisis, and mysteries of war. Our Tarot is the Two of Wands, allowing us contrast between the energetic Fiery Wands in Thelemic conceptions, and melancholic Earthy Bastos in Spanish cartomancy. And our Dead Magician/Sorceress/Witch Queen is none other than María Díaz de Padilla; tracing the afterlife of a king’s mistress crowned queen of earth in hell, whose legions champion the ambitions of women and the oppressed across terreiros of Quimbanda to this day as Pombagira Maria Padilha. We hope you enjoy this extended and animated discussion of these flaming topics, and we wish you all a very pleasant hot hag summer!