Toward Ecosophy

The four elements are one of the foremost themes of Western occult tradition and have been used across history as a basic template for the process of initiation, and seasonal ritual.

The book assigns each element to each of the four seasons of the year it is traditionally associated with and is intended to be worked through in sync with those seasons. There is no fixed starting point, and students can begin with any of the four elements by starting at whatever season begins next.

Each chapter includes both theory and practice ranging from symbols and teachings relating to the elements, suggestions for further reading, to exercises for awakening the etheric senses and astral clairvoyance.

The Way of the Four Elements is the quintessential next step for students of the occult to continue developing and honing the skills learnt in their magical education."

The less blurby description is that it's the second step in the process of instruction set out in The Way of the Golden Section, expanding the initiate's knowledge and awareness through a year-long initiatory process. There's some significant overlap with the material taught by the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose, but it's all been reworked to use the Golden Section rituals and symbolism. Those who complete this work will also be prepared to establish and run a Temple of the Golden Section Fellowship -- that is to say, a group of four or more people who've completed the initiatory process in The Way of the Golden Section and want to work together in the quest for wisdom, revelation, and enlightenment.

If you're interested, it can be preordered here if you're in the US and here elsewhere; in either case, use the code FE20 at checkout and your get a 20% discount on the preordered copy.

All this is part of a broader structure.  The third and final volume in this sequence, The Way of the Secret Temple, is complete in first draft right now; three volumes of instruction and training -- The Occult Philosophy Workbook, the forthcoming The Earth Mysteries Workbook, and the volume I'm writing now, The Life Force Workbook -- are designed to complement these; and of course the keystone of it all is The Sacred Geometry Oracle. This is a system of occult training and practice I've been developing for many years and I'm delighted to have the chance finally to get it into print and available to students.

An investigation into the underpinnings and superstructures of the Pagan world view

Pagan religions have tended to be more concerned with practice than with theory and in a system that has no dogma - no legislated doctrine - that is as it should be. Yet as the movement grows and matures, it is inevitable that we will begin to think in a more abstract way about our models and systems.

John Michael Greer provides a primer on the kinds of ideas and themes that must be included in any discussion of the theology and philosophy of Neo-pagan religions.  Much of the book takes shape in a dialogue with existing ideas in theology, philosophy, and comparative religion. It looks to find a comprehensible yet intellectually rigorous middle ground between too much and too little reference to the work of other scholars.

It aims to be part of a conversation, that stretches out over the centuries. Voices of polytheist spirituality have had little place in that conversation for many years, but much of value has been said in their absence. The rebirth of polytheism as a living religious tradition in the Western world will inevitably force a reassessment of much of that heritage, and pose challenges to some of its most cherished assumptions.Yet reassessment is not necessarily rejection, and the traditions of modern polytheism are deeply enough indebted to legacies from the past that an attentive ear to earlier phases of the conversation is not out of place.

Finally, why "For  A Few Gods More"? Back when I was originally working on this project, twenty years ago, it was a running joke among my friends to refer to it as "A Fistful of Gods," with reference to a certain classic spaghetti Western film starring Clint Eastwood. That inspired suggestions that a sequel or new edition should be "For A Few Gods More," and a third would of course be "The Good, The Bad, and the Godly"...

"Eighteen-year-old Ariel Moravec doesn't expect much from a summer with the grandfather she hasn't met in years: a respite from her dysfunctional family, perhaps, and a brief delay before she has to face an uncertain future.  A few days after her arrival, however, she learns that her grandfather is an occult investigator tasked with hunting down the perils of the Unseen -- and he offers Ariel the chance to assist him on a case. Strange forces are stirring in the little farm town of Criswell, where a famous witch lived in colonial times. Has old Hepzibah Rewell's curse awakened, or is the evil magic the work of someone living? Caught in a tightening net of bitter local rivalries and strange happenings, Ariel has to find out...or her own life may be at risk."