Stephen Skinner

Drury y Skinner — The Search for Abraxas (1972) [DECLARADA]

King y Skinner — Techniques of High Magic (1976) [DECLARADA]

Skinner — The Living Earth Manual of Feng-Shui (1982) [DECLARADA]

Skinner & Rankine — The Goetia of Dr Rudd [DECLARADA]

Skinner — Sacred Geometry: Deciphering the Code (2006) [DECLARADA]

Skinner — Techniques of Solomonic Magic (2015) [DECLARADA]

Magia ceremonial · Miembro

Feng-shui · Comentarista

«M agic is not an art but a technique which has repeatable procedures and observable outcomes in the physical world. It relies upon the existence of spirits to accomplish these outcomes, which cannot otherwise be explained by psychological theories or inner plane events» — abre su prólogo al Stellas Daemonum de David Crowhurst con su posición declarada sobre qué es la magia: técnica de procedimientos repetibles y resultados observables, que descansa en la existencia de los espíritus y no en teorías psicológicas ni en planos internos. La M suelta del arranque es la capitular que la capa de texto separa.

«Whenever I am asked if I believe in demons or spirits, I usually reply no, because my knowledge of these entities does not spring from my belief in them but from my observation, evocation, and interaction with them over an extended period of time, in my case, more than fifty years» — firma el Libro Cinco del volumen de DuQuette, *Demonology and Spirit Evocation*, y ahí declara de dónde le viene su conocimiento de los espíritus: no de creer en ellos sino de observarlos, evocarlos y tratar con ellos durante más de cincuenta años.

«Belief is secondhand knowledge, repeated from what you have heard or been told. Knowledge is the result of experience, of testing and repeating the same procedures, and getting the same results. Belief requires only faith, but knowledge requires method, observation, and repeated experiment—in short, the application of the scientific method» — opone creencia y conocimiento: la primera es de segunda mano y pide fe; el segundo pide método, observación y experimento repetido.

«The usual dichotomy between religion and science would be much better expressed as the difference between belief and knowledge. When it comes to spirits, demons, and demonology, knowledge is a much firmer footing than belief» — reformula la oposición habitual entre religión y ciencia como oposición entre creencia y conocimiento.

«people are realising that magic cannot be done by just straining your own mental faculties, but needs the assistance of gods, angels, daemons, or spirits, or “spiritual creatures,” as Dr. John Dee used to refer to them. Only cooperation with such spiritual creatures can produce results that can truly be described as magic or miracles» — sostiene que la magia no se hace forzando las facultades mentales propias sino con la asistencia de dioses, ángeles, demonios o espíritus, las spiritual creatures de John Dee.

«brought back the so-called “spirit model” of magic, confirming that magicians dealt with spirits not with psychological complexes» — adjudica a la publicación de grimorios de fines del siglo XX y principios del XXI el retorno del llamado spirit model frente al modelo psicológico.

«Magic has, in the early part of the 20th century, often been looked down upon as a subject with no theoretical framework, just a collection of unconnected superstitious practices and beliefs. I would like to dispose of that view by showing the amount of detailed theory behind the preparation and sequencing of magical rituals» — declara el propósito del libro frente a la idea de la magia como conjunto de prácticas supersticiosas sin armazón teórica.

«For the practitioner there is always an underlying rationale, theory and structure upon which his practice is based. This might not be scientifically rigorous method, but it has the elements of logic and repeatability (an expectation of repeatable results), which are by definition scientific» — atribuye al practicante una razón, una teoría y una estructura, con lógica y expectativa de resultados repetibles.

«Part of the theoretical background of learned magic is the acceptance of the existence and involvement of non-physical entities. In most cases the magical effect is seen to be achieved via the good offices of a non-physical entity, or spiritual being, be it spirit, demon, or angel» — pone en el fondo teórico de la magia docta la aceptación de entidades no físicas por cuyo oficio se logra el efecto mágico.

«Grimoires are magician's handbooks of ritual invocation and evocation. They are not meant to be primers in magic, but were simply the working handbooks of magicians. The word is supposedly derived from the French grammaire meaning 'grammar,' as in a grammar or primer of magic, but I have my doubts about this derivation» — define el grimorio como manual de trabajo del mago, no como cartilla de iniciación, y deja dicha su duda sobre la etimología por el francés grammaire.

«This book is an amplification of the second part of my University of Newcastle Classics Ph.D. thesis entitled Magical Techniques and Implements present in Graeco-Egyptian Magical Papyri, Byzantine Greek Solomonic Manuscripts and European Grimoires (aka The Technology of Solomonic Magic» — declara el libro como ampliación de la segunda parte de su tesis doctoral de Newcastle, y da su título.

«I wish to record my thanks to my supervisor Dr. Marguerite Johnson who was most supportive during its construction. Also my thanks to my long time co-author, David Rankine, whose dedication to unveiling the mysteries of the grimoires was a constant inspiration» — nombra a su directora de tesis, Marguerite Johnson, y a David Rankine como su coautor de mucho tiempo.

«One of the continuing aims of this Volume in the present series is to show how interconnected the scholarly practice of angel magic was with the magic of the grimoires, and to rescue the grimoires from the stigma of being mere sorcerer's handbooks, as A E Waite suggested, and to show that they are indeed an integral part of the traditions of ceremonial magic, and were often utilised by such acknowledged luminaries as Trithemius, Agrippa, Dee, and de Abano» — declara, en plural con David Rankine, el fin de la serie Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic: mostrar la trabazón entre la práctica erudita de la magia angélica y la de los grimorios, y sacar a estos del estigma de meros manuales de hechicero que les adjudicaba A. E. Waite.

«and this indeed became an indication of our later respective career paths: Nevill's in magic, music, shamanism and art, and mine in practical magic, Qabalah, grimoires. Gnosticism and eventually Graeco-Egyptian magic» — reparte en el prefacio de 2016 los caminos suyo y de Nevill Drury tras The Search for Abraxas: el de Drury por la magia, la música, el chamanismo y el arte; el suyo por la magia práctica, la cábala, los grimorios, el gnosticismo y al final la magia grecoegipcia.

«Such concerns with proportion and direction are so universal across so many cultures that they must reflect a reality. In this book I propose to search for those specific measurements that are sacred exactly because they help to hallow or make sacred such buildings: from Iron Age megalithic rings, through ancient Greek and Egyptian temples and Renaissance cathedrals to the very latest modern organic constructions» — declara el propósito de Sacred Geometry: buscar las medidas que son sagradas por consagrar los edificios, de los círculos megalíticos a la construcción orgánica moderna.

«just a year after this dictionary was first published by my company, Askin Publishers» — nombra como suya la casa que imprimió el diccionario de Laycock en 1987, Askin Publishers.

«Skinner, Stephen 1948-The living earth manual of feng-shui. Bibliography: p. 137 Includes index. I. Feng-shui» — la ficha de catalogación de la Library of Congress que imprime la edición Arkana le da 1948 como año de nacimiento; es el único año de nacimiento que el corpus imprime.

«Stephen Skinner graduated from Sydney University, majoring in philosophy, geography and English. With this balance of arts and science he has brought to his research into feng-shui both the logical techniques of a geographer and the understanding of the mystical side of feng-shui» — la solapa de la edición Arkana de 1989 da su formación: Sydney University, con filosofía, geografía e inglés.

«Having worked as a lecturer in geography he migrated to the United Kingdom in 1972 to further his research into the work of John Dee and the earlier magical manuscripts in the British Museum. I t was here that he became interested in geomancy and feng-shui» — la misma solapa data en 1972 su traslado al Reino Unido para seguir investigando a John Dee y los manuscritos mágicos del British Museum, y de ahí su paso a la geomancia y al feng-shui.

«Several trips to the East put him more firmly in touch with modem practitioners of feng-shui, especially in Hong Kong,. Bangkok and Singapore where experts in this field are consulted by even the largest building companies on projects ranging from new towns to office blocks» — la solapa le adjudica viajes a Hong Kong, Bangkok y Singapur y trato con practicantes modernos de feng-shui.

«After graduating from Sydney University, Dr. Stephen Skinner began his career as a geography lecturer at what is now the University of Technology in Sydney. He authored The Search for Abraxas in 1972, and migrated to London the same year, where he wrote the Techniques of High Magic in 1976» — la nota About the Author del volumen editado por Lon Milo DuQuette repite la formación de Sydney y data The Search for Abraxas en 1972 y Techniques of High Magic en 1976.

«He collaborated with Dr. Donald Laycock on a dictionary of the angelic language discovered/used by Dr. John Dee, and edited Crowley’s Astrology and the Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley: Tunisia 1923» — la misma nota registra su colaboración con Donald Laycock en el diccionario de la lengua angélica y sus ediciones de Crowley.

«From 2004 till 2010 he collaborated with David Rankine to produce the Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic series, producing The Veritable Key of Solomon, Lemegeton (including the Goetia), Janua Reserata, Sepher Raziel: Liber Salomonis, and Clavis Inferni» — la misma nota data entre 2004 y 2010 la serie Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic con David Rankine y enumera sus volúmenes.

«He was awarded a PhD in Classics by the University of Newcastle for his research into the Greek text of the magical papyri (PGM) and its connection with the Latin grimoires. The first part of this thesis has been published as Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic, and the second part as Techniques of Solomonic Magic» — la misma nota le adjudica el doctorado en Clásicas por la Universidad de Newcastle sobre el texto griego de los papiros mágicos y su relación con los grimorios latinos.

«He lives in Singapore. Visit his website at www.SSkinner.com» — la misma nota lo sitúa en Singapur.

«Most notably Adam McLean, and more recently the scholar-magicians Stephen Skinner and David Rankine, place Thomas Rudd at the center of a previously unknown magical tradition» — Egil Asprem los llama scholar-magicians y les adjudica, con Adam McLean, la tesis que pone a Thomas Rudd en el centro de una tradición mágica hasta entonces desconocida.

«In 1974 Stephen Skinner published a facsimile edition of Casaubon’s True and Faithful» — Asprem data en 1974 su edición facsimilar de la True and Faithful Relation de Casaubon; el título de Casaubon sigue en la plana siguiente y el verbatim se corta en el marcador de plana.

«The reprint of the book by Weiser is a document of this, prefaced and introduced by two leading occultist authors, Stephen Skinner and Lon Milo DuQuette. In his preface, Skinner, who was a personal friend of Laycock’s, even manages to recast him as a practicing magician, without mention of the thoroughly skeptical tone of his article on Enochian language» — Asprem objeta que en su prefacio al diccionario de Laycock lo presente como mago practicante sin decir el tono escéptico del artículo de Laycock sobre la lengua enoquiana; dice también que Skinner era amigo personal suyo.

«As Ian Rons has pointed out in his rather baleful review of Skinner and Rankine’s book, there is also at least one instance where the exotic provenance of the manuscript is debunked due to exactly the same kind of evidence seen with the Treatise, namely, the duplication of errors found in T&FR» — Asprem trae la reseña de Ian Rons contra el libro de Skinner y Rankine, y el argumento de los errores duplicados de la True and Faithful Relation.

«Stephen Skinner, in his useful book The Oracle of Geomancy (Prism, 1977, 350-2), rightly points out that, because of the inherent» — Donald Tyson lo llama útil y le da la razón sobre la estructura de las figuras geománticas; el tramo se corta en el marcador de plana.

«This, by the way, does not seem to have been understood by Skinner, who in describing Gerard’s system incorrectly directs that geomantic figures be pricked for both the Head and Tail of the Dragon—indeed he represents them in his diagram (Oracle of Geomancy, 313) ina trine aspect (!), which destroys the integrity of the chart» — Tyson objeta, en el mismo apéndice, su exposición del sistema de Gerardo de Cremona y el aspecto de trígono de su diagrama.

«Skinner, Stephen. The Oracle of Geomancy. California: Prism Press, 1986. Useful as a guide to the available works on the subject, but contains nothing original and reproduces a number of errors» — la entrada bibliográfica de Tyson repite la objeción: útil como guía de lo publicado, sin nada original y con errores reproducidos.

«The best source I have found for Book H and its history is a book called The Practical Angel Magic of Dr. John Dee’s Enochian Tables by Stephen Skinner and David Rankine. While the authors present some theories that are not generally supported today (such as the idea that Dee himself might have written Book H, which is very unlikely), it is not their speculative theories that make their book important. Instead, it is the history of Book H and its influence on the Golden Dawn that makes the book required reading» — Aaron Leitch, en el Libro Siete del mismo volumen, tiene The Practical Angel Magic de Skinner y Rankine por la mejor fuente sobre el Book H y a la vez niega la tesis de que Dee lo escribiera.

«In his commentary to The Goetia of Dr. Rudd: The Angels and Demons of Liber Malorum Spirituum Seu Goetia Lemegeton Clavicula Salomonis, author and lecturer, Dr. Stephen Skinner, discusses a similar case in regard to a mysterious and likely psychoactive “root Barra" that was placed within a magical ring and conceivably “smelled" at a specific point in the rite» — P. D. Newman lo nombra author and lecturer y le atribuye el caso de la raíz barra encerrada en el anillo mágico, en su comentario a la Goetia del doctor Rudd.

«Preface to original edition copyright © 1994 by Stephen Skinner» — la página de derechos de la tercera edición de 2023 le adjudica el prefacio de 1994.

«Foreword by Lon Milo DuQuette, author of Enochian Vision Magick Foreword by Stephen Skinner» — la portada del Stellas Daemonum lo pone, con Lon Milo DuQuette, como firmante de uno de los dos prólogos.

«Book Five: Demonology & Spirit Evocation—by Dr. Stephen Skinner A review of the traditions and procedures involved in the evocation of demons or spirits» — el índice del volumen de DuQuette le adjudica el Libro Cinco.