I COME FROM A LONG LINE OF WITCHES. I KNOW THAT SOUNDS FUNNY. “WITCHES” - WHAT A MISAPPROPRIATED TERM IT HAS BECOME. SOMETHING FROM THE WIZARD OF OZ. SOMETHING WICKED. AN OLD HAG BOILING CHILDREN AND GOD KNOWS WHAT ELSE IN HER CAULDRON. THAT VAT OF BUBBLING MAGICK. BUT THE TRUTH IS SOMETHING MUCH MORE SUBSTANTIAL. WITCHES, WARLOCKS, SHAMANS, SAGES, MEDICINE MEN AND WOMEN, ALCHEMISTS ETC. PRACTICE A VERY SPECIFIC TYPE OF CRAFT. AN ART OF LIFE. YOU CAN CALL IT MAGICK. AT TIMES IT MAY APPEAR AS THAT. A DEEP SENSE OF KNOWING. A CONNECTION TO NATURE AND THE COSMOS. AND A VERY SPECIFIC SET OF GUIDELINES KNOWN AS THE HERMETIC PRINCIPLES. A STRUCTURE OF THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE. A SET OF STANDARDS THAT ALL MATTER IN THE NATURAL COSMOS IS SUBJECT TO. A FRAMEWORK. AND THESE ARE ALL WHAT YOU WOULD CALL “UNIVERSAL TRUTHS”. THINGS THAT OCCUR AND EXIST JUST AS GRAVITY “EXISTS”. THOUGHT TO HAVE BEEN BROUGHT FORTH INITIALLY BY THOTH, THE EGYPTIAN GOD OF WISDOM. AN ATLANTEAN PRIEST WHO HAD ESCAPED THE SINKING OF ATLANTIS WITH A GROUP OF DISCIPLES. DISPATCHED TO EGYPT AND ALL KNOWN CONTINENTS. THROUGH HIS TEACHINGS ENGRAVED IN AN ANCIENT ARTIFACT KNOWN AS THE EMERALD TABLETS. MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS LATER CAME A GREEK KNOWN AS “HERMES TRISMEGISTUS” WHO BEGAN TO SPREAD THE TEACHINGS OF “HERMETIC ALCHEMY” FROM GREECE TO EGYPT THROUGH ALEXANDRIA. THIS WAY OF BEING HAS GONE IN AND OUT OF VIEW OF THE MAINSTREAM FOR MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS. BANISHED INTO THE SHADOWS AND DRAPED IN NEGATIVE PROPAGANDA THE ART OF ALCHEMY WAS TRANSFORMED INTO SOMETHING OF A JOKE. THE ART OF TRANSFORMING METALS. RATHER THAN THE ART OF EVOLVING ONE’S OWN CONSCIOUSNESS. THE PRACTICE OF RAISING ONE’S LEVEL OF CONSCIOUSNESS FROM A LOWER ONE TO A HIGHER ONE WAS TRANSLATED INTO TRANSFORMING LEAD INTO GOLD (A SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TASK). THE PRACTICES OF NATURE WORSHIP AND GOING WITHIN WERE LABELED WITCHCRAFT, BARBARISM, ETC. HUNTED DOWN, TORTURED, BURNED AT THE STAKE, STONED TO DEATH WITCHES HAVE ENDURED A LONG HISTORY OF VIOLENCE AND PERSECUTION. THE CELTIC PAGANS WERE FORCED TO SURRENDER OR MASSACRED DURING THE REIGN OF MARCUS AURELIUS IN ROME. THEY WERE VIEWED AS BARBARIANS WHO THREATENED THE SANCTITY OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. MANY TIMES OVER FORCED DEEPER AND DEEPER INTO THE SHADOWS. ONLY TO LIVE ON THROUGH SECRET SOCIETIES. THE FREE MASONS, ROSICRUCIANS, ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN ETC. 

THIS KNOWLEDGE IS EMBEDDED IN MY DNA. MY FIRST AMERICAN ANCESTORS, MY MANY GREATS OVER GRANDMOTHER MARY BLISS PARSONS AND HER HUSBAND CORNET JOSEPH PARSONS CAME TO THIS COUNTRY IN 1655 AND FOUNDED THE TOWN SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS. MARY WAS THE DESCENDANT OF DRUIDS, THE ELITES OF THE CELTIC PEOPLE IN EARLY GREAT BRITAIN. DRUIDS WERE THE SHAMANS, THE LAWMAKERS, JUDGES, SECURITY, OF THOSE EARLY TRIBAL SOCIETIES. THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE STRUCTURE OF THEIR TRIBES. NEEDLESS TO SAY MARY WAS GIFTED WITH A BIT OF MAGICK IN HER BLOOD. SHE WAS PUT ON TRIAL FOR WITCHCRAFT THREE TIMES (AND GOT OFF THREE TIMES). HAD AN ONGOING FEUD WITH MANY OF THE WOMEN IN HER TOWN. THEY FEARED HER TO BE TOO SEDUCTIVE WITH THEIR HUSBANDS. IT IS SAID THAT ON A VISIT TO A NEARBY FARM UPON MARY’S DEPARTURE ALL THE CATTLE WERE FOUND DEAD. THE PARSONS HOUSEHOLD WAS KNOWN FOR BIZARRE SCREAMS AND SOUNDS LATE AT NIGHT. THERE WERE RUMORS THAT JOSEPH WAS FORCED TO LOCK MARY AWAY IN THE BARN DUE TO HER BEHAVIOR AFTER SUN DOWN. I KNOW THAT SHE HAD ELEVEN CHILDREN, ONE OF THEM NAMED EBEN PARSONS, KILLED IN A BATTLE WITH INDIANS AT THE AGE OF 21, PEOPLE OF THE TOWN CONSIDERED HIS DEATH MARY’S KARMIC PUNISHMENT FOR HER PRACTICES OF WITCHCRAFT. SHE LIVED TO BE 84 YEARS OLD. UPON FURTHER RESEARCH I DISCOVERED THAT MARY WAS IN FACT TAPPED INTO THE HERMETIC PRINCIPLES. THEY WERE HER GUIDELINES. 

AS I WOULD GO ON TO LEARN, THE PRACTICE OF WITCHCRAFT WOULD NOT END WITH MARY. THERE HAVE BEEN MANY OTHER ALONG THE WAY. HOWEVER, IT SEEMS TO ME THAT MANY OF US JUST DON’T KNOW IT AND THIS ANCIENT FAMILY PHILOSOPHY HAD BEEN FOR THE MOST PART FORGOTTEN. 

MY MOTHER HAS ALWAYS SEEMED TO ME A WITCH. BUT, IT HAS TAKEN HER GETTING INTO HER SIXTIES TO FINALLY BEGIN TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN SHE’S A “WITCH”? BEING A WITCH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF THE THINGS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED. BEING A WITCH HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ONE’S CONNECTION TO AND RELATIONSHIP WITH LIFE. HOW ONE EATS, HOW ONE MOVES, HOW ONE THINKS. BELIEFS ABOUT NATURE, BELIEFS ABOUT SPIRIT AND GOD. IT IS ABOUT AN OMNIPRESENT CONNECTION TO ALL THINGS. AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE INNER LIFE OF THE WORLD. THE LIFE FORCE IN A TREE. THE WISDOM OF A DOG. THE TASTE OF THE BREEZE. THE VIBRATION OF THE EARTH. BEING IN TUNE. AT ONE TIME THEY WERE CALLED PAGANS. WITHOUT GOING TOO DEEP INTO MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY HISTORY RIGHT NOW I WILL SAY THAT WHILE THIS IS MOSTLY FOCUSED ON MY MOTHER’S SIDE I WAS BLESSED WITH AN UNKNOWING SHAMAN FOR A FATHER AS WELL. MY PARENTS GIFTED ME WITH AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE MAGICK AND MYSTICIM OF THE WORLD AND THEY PROVIDED AN ENVIRONMENT TO HELP ME CULTIVATE THAT UNDERSTANDING IN MYSELF. WHICH I AM ONLY NOW BEGINNING TO FULLY UNDERSTAND. 

THE WORLD OF THE OCCULT IS VAST. IT IS A DEEP AND DARK CAVE THAT SEEMS TO HAVE NO END. AN ANCIENT ART KEPT ALIVE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. PROTECTED. KEPT SACRED. AS IT IS KNOWN BY THOSE WHO “KNOW” TO BE THE SAVIOR OF ALL MANKIND. IN TRUTH THESE ARE THE KEYS TO HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS AND OUR VERY EXISTENCE THAT WE HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR SINCE THE DAWN OF MODERN CIVILIZATION. BEYOND OUR DISILLUSIONMENT. BEYOND OUR DISCONTENT THE HERMETIC PRINCIPLES REST JUST AT THE FINGER TIPS OF ALL THOSE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO BEGIN TO LIVE THEIR LIFE FROM THE HEART. TAKING TIME TO LISTEN TO THE MESSAGES THEY RECEIVE FROM THE UNKNOWN. 

MY DEEP DIVE INTO MY LINEAGE LEAD ME SOMEWHERE COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED AND YET, VERY CLOSE TO HOME. I REMEMBER I WAS ABOUT 16 OR 17 YEARS OLD. LIVING IN LOS ANGELES. DRIVING THROUGH PASADENA ON SUNWASHED DAYS UNDER CRISP BLUE SKIES. FLYING DOWN THE 134 INTO THE 210 IN MY DAD’S MASSIVE MAROON LINCOLN TOWN CAR. “THAT’S JPL! NASA’S ROCKET HEADQUARTERS! IT WAS FOUNDED BY THIS DUDE JACK PARSONS, HE WAS A MANIAC! A GENIUS!” HE YELLED EXCITEDLY AMIDST THE WINDBLOWN INTERIOR. “JACK PARSONS? AM I RELATED TO HIM?” (PARSONS IS MY GRANDMOTHER ON MY MOM’S SIDE). “I DON’T KNOW!” HE SAID. I GUESS I FORGOT ABOUT IT. YEARS LATER I’M RE-INTRODUCED TO JACK. I START GOING DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE. JACK PARSONS, BORN IN 1914 IN PASADENA, CA. HIS FATHER MARVEL S. PARSONS WAS FROM A TOWN IN MASSACHUSETTS CALLED - SPRINGFIELD (YES, THE TOWN MY ANCESTORS HAIL FROM). JACK HAD A DEEP RELATIONSHIP WITH MAGICK, WITCHCRAFT, PRACTICING THE DARK ARTS TO MANIFEST HIS VISIONS OF SENDING ROCKETS TO THE MOON. HE IS CONSIDERED THE FATHER OF MODERN ROCKETRY. REVOLUTIONIZED FUEL SYSTEMS. FOUNDED JPL, THE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, NASA’S ROCKET SCIENCE HQ. WAS THE RIGHT HAND MAN OF THE INFLUENTIAL ALEISTER CROWLEY TOWARDS THE END OF HIS LIFE. WAS CONSIDERED AN EXPLOSIVES EXPERT, MASTER CHEMIST AND VISIONARY GENIUS BEFORE BEING KILLED BY A VIOLENT EXPLOSION IN HIS GARAGE AT THE AGE OF 37. HIS DEATH CLOAKED IN MYSTERY, MANY SUSPECT FOUL PLAY AND THERE ARE MANY CONTRARY THEORIES THAT MAKE STRONG ARGUMENTS FOR THE CASE OF ASSASSINATION. HIS STORY IS STEEPED IN SEX, DARKNESS, MYSTICISM AND SCIENCE. AND AS DESTINY WOULD HAVE IT HE IS MY COUSIN. THIS IS A WORLD IN WHICH I WILL EXPLORE FROM TIME TO TIME. I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE RIDE AS I RECTIFY THE HISTORY OF MY LINEAGE.