I wanted to make a programming language that resembled magical circles. This is more like a way to write PostScript that looks like a magical circle, but I will refer to it as Mystical in this document.
The structure of Mystical is based on rings. These are circular bands of text and sigils, with an inner and outer border. The content of the main ring of a program starts at the rightmost (3:00) point and flow continues widdershins (counter-clockwise) both to respect postscript's angles and to reflect the assumption that these rings should be written from the outside. Subsidiary rings start from their attachment point to their caller.
There are three types of rings in Mystical:
- executable arrays, written in { } in PostScript, are represented with simple circular borders on the inside and outside of the ring, with a star of some sort inside. The start/end point is marked by a symbol based on the "work complete" symbol from alchemy.
- non-executable arrays, written in [ ] in PostScript, are the same but without the star. The start/end point is marked with a simple triangle.
- dictionaries, written in << >> in PostScript, are polygons with a double outer border and a single inner border. The start/end point is marked the same as the array.
Many built-in operators have been given their own sigils. These are used in place of the text of the operator if it appears as a name or operator (but not if it appears as a string). I have generally made these sigils based on the initial of the command and an illustration of the concept, though in some cases I have taken a more fully illustrative route or created some standard visual language.
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After 6 years of sharing spellcraft in Portland, The Raven's Wing Magical Co-Op is excited to announce that the staff have come together to form a cooperative. We are now entirely employee owned and operated!
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This project demonstrates some possibilities for computational magic and telematic and automatic telesmata, and is intended to provoke discussion about the expression, automation, and trivialization of magic through technology. The basic concepts underlying the technology are based largely on several of Peter J. Carroll’s ideas.
Just what it says on the tin.
Cornell University Library’s Witchcraft Collection is part of the Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. It contains more than 3,000 books, manuscripts, and related materials. More information about the content of the collection is available on the Collection Overview page.
The homepage of Grant Morrison.
The companion book to the Doctor Strange comics, by Cat and Nagasiva Yronwode.
An online bookstore catering to all things occult and all paths. Especially interesting for its selection of left-hand path texts. A good site that brings lots of different books together so you can find the non-mainstream texts out there.
One mage's Livejournal charting his progress while performing the Abramelin operation.
A wiki maintained by the Myriad about all things occult, strange, weird, magickal, and unusual.
The VR of the Enochian temple is outlined here.