Double Feature Review: Pragmatic Magics and The Dark Arts of Tarantula

Last week I decided to do something I have been meaning to do for a while, pick up Pragmatic Magics by Brother Moloch. While I was at it I grabbed another book sold on his site: The Dark Arts of Tarantula by Tarantula. I’m glad I did, as I enjoyed both of these books a great deal.

Pragmatic Magics is a book that I wish I had as my fourth or maybe fifth book on magic. It is 150 pages of solid info, presented in as pithy a presentation as you could wish for. What is striking about the book is the blend of  Conjure style candle, oil and powder work, with powerful mental exercises and meditations, and fairly modern modes of work like fluid condsensers, magnet magic and radionics patterns. It is rare to find people that know how to combine folk magic with, meditation and energy work, and Moloch’s presentation is pretty seamless.

I read some reviews of the book that were a little unfair and I wanted to take a moment to address those. The book is $25 and only 150 pages long, so some people complain that it is too short. If you are looking for an occult tome to linger over and read this is not the book for you. If however you were looking for a book to supply practices that will keep you busy for a good long while, this is exactly the kind of praxis-dense tome that you will love.

If people complained about Pragmatic Magics being short for their $25, they will really not like the Dark Arts of Tarantula, which is the same price, but comes in at only 56 pages. The thing is though, that this is a very specialized book and in the occult, you should expect to pay a bit more for specialized knowledge.  Certainly I have paid more for less. Not only did I feel it was worth it, but I was really delighted by it because some of the ways it has overlapped with other work I have done.

This book is a personal grimoire that is, as advertised, a bit on the darker side. What is great about the book though is not anything to do with “dark” magic (a concept that I generally read as “dork” magic), but rather with how a Sorcerer works with different types of spirits and why.

The book starts with how to get in touch with a patron demon or god and make a pact. This is followed by how to get the patron to give you a familiar spirit and some examples of how to work with it. Next is working with the dead, accompanied by a great Mortis Novena that even I am itching to try. This is followed by a short piece on Thralls, and why if you have a spirit familiar and the dead to work with, why you would even want to work with artificially created spirits.

The booklet ends with a write up on the Baron Zaraguin Family of Lwa, who are detailed in Michael Bertiaux’s Vodoun Gnostic Workbook. The book reveals some of the Veve’s that are not in the workbook (including the Weiser re-print) and have been passed around the community in a secret LCN document for decades.

I first encountered this nation of Loa myself through doing a ritual written by Louis Martine. I explored further with Bertiauxs methods and veve’s when I got them in the mid 90’s. Much of my experience confirms the dealings that Tarantula speaks of right down to the way that the spider Lwa supply information.

My only real complaint about the book is that he references the “Artimesia” herb in one of the rituals. Which one man? Artemesia is a genus with over 200 species. Mugwort, Wormwood, Sagebrush?

I am not necessarily going to be practicing anything from this book, but I would have if I was in a different place than I am now, and I am glad to have the book. I understand that Tarantula will be publishing another book soon. I will definitely be ordering a copy.