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Episode 211: Conversation with Aerik Arkadian
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Welcome back, Witches! This week we're joined by the incredible Aerik Arkadian for a fascinating conversation about his magical practice, his journey as a musician, and the inspiration behind his new book, Fluid Condensers: Unlocking the Mysteries of Gold, Alchemy, and Magick. We explore the role of fluid condensers in magical work, discuss alchemy, creativity, and the intersections of music and magick, and hear about the experiences that shaped both his practice and his writing. So get in, Loser, because this week we're sitting down with Aerik Arkadian for a conversation you won't want to miss.
If you really loved the show and want more Get in Loser content, check out our Patreon & Buy Me a Coffee links below. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @GetinWitches, on TikTok @weredoingwitchcraft, or email us at weredoingwitchcraft@gmail.com. You can support our show through our links below.
Patreon: patreon.com/GetinWitches Supercast: https://getinloserweredoingwitchcraft.supercast.com Buy Me a Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/getinwitches
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio- The Witch
Resources
Fluid Condensers: Unlocking the Mysteries of Gold, Alchemy, and Magick by Aerik Arkadian
Aerik's website: https://aerikarkadian.com/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Witchcraft and the Occult
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you feel drawn to learn more about witchcraft and the occult, but feel lost on where to start? Then welcome to Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft, a podcast all about what it means to be a witch and where to get started on your journey.
00:00:12
Speaker
Join us as we navigate through various witchy topics and share what we've learned about the craft. So get in witches as we sit down with the amazing Eric Arcadian to talk about his practice and his newest book release.
Eric Arcadian's Background in Witchcraft
00:00:42
Speaker
So are joined today by Eric Arcadian, author, musician, teacher, and practitioner whose work blends music, myth, and magic in some really fascinating ways. Whether he's writing, teaching, or performing, Eric brings a unique perspective to modern spiritual practice.
00:00:58
Speaker
So Eric, welcome to the show. We are so happy to have you on, and we'd love to start by having you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about yourself and your background. Absolutely. And thanks so much for having me on the show, guys. ah A beautiful introduction.
00:01:13
Speaker
So nothing as you said, my name is Eric Arcadian, and I am a witch, a writer and a musician. So those are kind of the three areas of life that really interest me. So if you want to find out more about that stuff, you can read my book, you can read some of my articles that I write on my website about magic and witchcraft, or you can check out my YouTube channel and watch videos or interviews that I do with other cool people in the community.
00:01:42
Speaker
And if you guys listened to our episode on Alchemy, you'll know that we actually used some of your articles as resources for that. It was really funny. We got like halfway through the episode and i was like, oh my gosh, that's who we're having on the podcast. Perfect.
00:01:59
Speaker
perfect Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And side note, we were going to put a disclaimer out. If you guys can hear my fan, I'm sorry. It's 90 degrees in Germany and I don't have air conditioner. so The fan is just there.
00:02:14
Speaker
So you wear a lot of hats, whether it's musician, witch, writer, teacher, occultist, which of those identities feels the most central to who you are right now?
00:02:25
Speaker
m That's an interesting question. I think... That's something that is really easy to struggle with. And I've kind of struggled with that for all of my life, like just fitting in various roles and trying to think of which is the most important role to play at that moment. But the one that is most persistent is music. So that's that's definitely the thing that has been.
00:02:53
Speaker
Core in my being as long as I can remember, whereas Other things, sometimes they come and go, but music is always around. So I think that's probably if I had to distill my essence down to one important thing, that would probably be the thing.
00:03:12
Speaker
That's really cool. Yeah. So with that, was there like a specific moment or experience that kind of pushed you from being interested in witchcraft to like fully committing to the path?
Spirituality and Recovery
00:03:24
Speaker
Maybe that connected to music or any other aspect?
00:03:29
Speaker
Hmm. A moment that pushed me to commit. I, yeah, I mean, that's, that's kind of a long story. So, I mean, I can, yeah, I can, I can try to summarize a little bit. So in my twenties, I struggled a lot with addiction and towards the end of that decade of my life, I moved to Florida and I,
00:03:59
Speaker
got in recovery programs and and stuff like that. And I had always been really interested, like previously in witchcraft and and stuff like that.
00:04:12
Speaker
And every time that I tried to kind of seek spirituality, it led me in that direction. But I think it was just kind of blocked by, you know, the the substances took a more important spotlight.
00:04:32
Speaker
um So when I finally did start to kick all that stuff, I had a had a sponsor through the Alcoholics Anonymous program.
00:04:44
Speaker
And I said, what do I do next? Like I went through all my steps and I did all the stuff I'm supposed to do. What do I do next? And he said, focus on your spirituality. And I said, OK, well, how do I do that?
00:04:58
Speaker
And he said, I don't know, dude, like I'm not pagan or Wicca or whatever you are. So go talk to some pagan people and see what they do. And I had i had filled out.
00:05:13
Speaker
A request online like a long time ago um through WitchVox, if you guys are familiar with WitchVox, right? Yes. Not around anymore, but that's how we all found Covens.
00:05:24
Speaker
Yes. I had filled out a request on WitchVox. And it just had sat there for like months and months and months. And it was really shortly. It was kind of like serendipitous because it was really shortly after my sponsor told me to go find some pagan people and figure out what they do.
00:05:40
Speaker
I got a response from WitchVox for a local coven. And they were like, the coven has been waiting for you. And I was like, oh, okay. so So that was kind of like just pushed me along. And I i finally decided to...
00:05:56
Speaker
make that sort of commitment and step and officially join the practice and do that style of work. I love that because I feel like so many times things come to you when you need them. Like, you know, you said it sat for like months and months and you're like, okay, whatever. And then like that time when you actually need it, they're like, hey we're here for you.
00:06:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. If it had happened at any other time, it probably would have not worked out for me and it would have just been like hitting a wall. So the universe knew. Yeah. That's beautiful. I love that.
00:06:33
Speaker
It is. And I love too, that your sponsor was just like, oh, you need to focus on your spirituality and how, you know, both Tiffany and I, our backgrounds are in behavioral health and,
00:06:45
Speaker
I feel like oftentimes when people talk about spiritual fitness or the importance of spirituality in your life, people just always assume Christianity yeah or some other form of organized religion. And it's like, it doesn't have to be that. it's like a belief in something greater than yourself. And it can be any religion or it can be any practice, but it's it's so important in the recovery process or even just developing yeah ah like a better, i guess, spiritual set of skills to help you be more resilient. So I think that's that's so amazing. i love that.
00:07:19
Speaker
I love that too. And I feel like at least any of the AAs that I have had experience with when I was doing, i was a drug and alcohol counselor for like three years.
00:07:32
Speaker
So when I was doing that, they always did say like whatever your higher power was and they didn't push like one specific religion. So I feel like at least from what I've seen, they do a pretty good job at letting you kind of decide what that is.
00:07:48
Speaker
I hope that was your experience. so Yeah, yeah, I definitely appreciate that. That my sponsor did not try to instruct me like on anything specifically and instead just kind of set me on my own quest because that's what I needed.
00:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I do too. So looking at um your website and um when we were doing some research on you, just in particular, ah your website talks a lot about bringing magic to the mundane. And um what does that actually look like in your day-to-day life?
Magic in Daily Life
00:08:27
Speaker
Okay. So I try, I try. It's tough sometimes, right? It really is. I try to do these little things.
00:08:40
Speaker
like when you make coffee like I make coffee in the morning I pour some sugar in it and as I stir it up I try to say like a little spell like that this is bring I say like brings me health, wealth, and joy or something like that. yeah um yeah When I eat, I try to like take a moment of quiet gratitude for the food that I'm eating.
00:09:07
Speaker
And I affirm why I'm eating it like, ah you know, like I'm eating it to bring me strength and I'm grateful to whatever the thing I'm eating that is giving me that type of nourishment. Now, there are definitely some things that I I struggle with, you know, like finding a magical ah perspective on doing them.
00:09:31
Speaker
And i I talked to Byron Ballard about this. If you guys are familiar with Byron Ballard and I i I said, one of the things I really struggle with is doing dishes. How am I supposed to find the magical perspective on doing dishes? And she said that when you're doing the dishes for your family, like it's to take care of them. It's because you love your family. and And so it's really, it's not, I don't know if I always feel like it's,
00:10:03
Speaker
magic, but it's like a different perspective. It's gratitude. It's magic. It's just its presence of mind and its being in the moment. um And I think every little thing we do is like every action is a magical action if it's an intentional action. Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:25
Speaker
I love that. I feel like a lot of times people do struggle with that. We see that question a lot when we you know put out feelers for episode topics or whatever. People want to understand how can they make everything magical. And you know I feel like you're not always going to make everything magical, but sometimes just like you said, being present and being grateful and showing gratitude for those things does help.
00:10:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. yeah I agree. And I think even for I don't know about you, Tiffany, I imagine it's probably similar, but I also struggle with that sometimes i myself, and especially with how technology is so at our fingertips. It's so easy whenever we're doing things like washing dishes washing. doing something where we should be present and mindful where it's like, Oh, it's just easy to put on a podcast or listen to a book or watch it like a YouTube video while you're doing dishes. And it completely takes you out of being mindful in those practices. And so I have to stop myself. I've become better at it but for a little while, I'm just like, I use that as an escape and it's like, no, like I need to be mindful in this moment. And I need to, if I'm cooking for my family and I want to make it magical, Like instead of just being like, oh yeah, you know, I'm just gonna add the seasoning because this is what it means to me. Like actually sitting with that and not having the distraction of anything else while I'm doing it.
00:11:50
Speaker
But it's hard to get out of the cycle whenever will you have things that are just so instantaneously at your fingertips. Like so yeah, it makes it difficult.
00:12:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree with that. You know, if your attention is constantly being grabbed by something, then it's really hard to maintain intention for whatever you're doing.
00:12:13
Speaker
Yes. Yeah. So going back to music, it seems that music is just deeply tied to your spirituality.
Music and Magic
00:12:22
Speaker
So what role does sound play in magic for you? i think...
00:12:30
Speaker
It kind of defines how I see everything. And it took me a while to kind of put that together. um But it's like in the same way that.
00:12:42
Speaker
Sound is vibration and a wavelength. It's the same thing that we do in magic when we put our intention out there, it's all on. some sort of wavelength going on. I know that sounds like super hippie, like, oh, we're on the same wavelength, bro.
00:12:56
Speaker
But like, it's true. It's scientific. Like you can go check. You can go check out um that kind of stuff if you look into it. But also it is that. Feeling and something that I noticed is that.
00:13:12
Speaker
The same. presence is there when I'm making music as when I'm in a good ritual, if that makes sense. Yes. Yeah.
00:13:27
Speaker
That is really interesting as someone who isn't really musically inclined as far as like. Same. um i I wish that I knew how I like I've tried before trying to teach myself how to play guitar and things like that. And I'm not that great at it. um But, you know maybe I've seen more practice, but that that space you get into whenever you're doing a ritual, like it can be to me like it feels very um addictive in itself. And oh being able to experience that too with music, i think that sounds, that just sounds amazing.
00:14:05
Speaker
It's hard to describe, but you know, it, it again, I think it goes back to that. It's like a form of, of presence of mind. Yes. So you've talked about Jesus. Nix is know she's on it today. ah I'm sure somebody walked by or a leaf flew by. Yeah. My dog is very special.
00:14:27
Speaker
So tying into with music ah specifically and just sound, um do you think modern pra practitioners underestimate the power of sound and music when it comes to their magical workings?
00:14:42
Speaker
Yeah, I do. i think i i think I make like pretty clear statements about that, like on my yeah YouTube channel quite often. Yeah. It was something, so, and I know this is not necessarily going to be everyone's experience, like going through some sort of witchcraft training or studying the occult or whatever. But in my experience, my training pretty much lacked any sort of musicality.
00:15:10
Speaker
And i spent a significant amount of time earlier in life in the Christian church, and music was always such a big part of worship and religion and i think maybe i felt that lack there because of it because even though i didn't agree with christianity and christian church i could still feel the spiritual moments when i was
00:15:41
Speaker
playing the music in the church. So I couldn't feel that sort of like connection to source, despite not necessarily liking the location or the people that, that were around me.
00:15:53
Speaker
um So when I was doing coven work and there was nothing like that, I think it felt a little bit more empty and I i didn't know what was missing until I figured out what was missing. And it was like, Oh, like there's, we're not,
00:16:12
Speaker
we're not drumming enough or we're not like chanting enough or we're not just putting on some ambient background music. Like we're not doing that enough.
00:16:23
Speaker
um And it can come across in such simple ways. Like if you just bang on something and and make a cacophony of noise, like that can raise energy, but then, you know, it also goes down to your voice and intonation and vibration. And I think that is,
00:16:43
Speaker
super, super and important and in like, especially in traditional witchcraft, when you are using your words as your intention, how you say them and how you vibrate them, like really changes the effect that they have and being carried out into the universe.
00:17:03
Speaker
And i just, I hear people all the time that go in to do something ritual wise that, that has, something that needs to be said. And it's like, it's basically the equivalent of like, hey, like, you know, here I am. um I think I'm doing this thing. And it really like, is that how you feel about it? Are you questioning that? Like, where's your willpower? Shouldn't your voice reflect your ah your intention and your will?
00:17:33
Speaker
So yes I don't know. Those are my observations sort of in general. I love that you were able to connect that thing for you. Like as someone who also – grew up in the Pentecostal church and I feel like like you said being able to put that piece into your ritual. Like when you went to church, a lot of times like you would start – at least for us, we would start with like praise and worship. And so it like set the the tone for the rest of the yeah you know time there. So I think that's such a great connection that you were able to make for yourself in your practice.
00:18:10
Speaker
Yeah. i I feel like there's just something, i can't quite put it into words, but Like I said, I feel that same connection during a good ritual as I do like if I'm in the middle of a jam session with somebody and it's really good.
00:18:30
Speaker
And it's like this it's this oneness and like connection that I haven't really been able to find anywhere else.
00:18:42
Speaker
And so I think that's what, when i when I went into ritual one day and I felt that feeling and I was like, oh, this is what it feels like when I play music, I made that connection for me that like these are both access roads to source energy, you know? Yeah. Yeah.
00:19:02
Speaker
I think that's really, really interesting. And i have never, I guess, really thought about how much in like the church music plays into the whole ritual aspect of the church and how magically oftentimes it's not connected and it needs to be. And I think I'm just having this realization now. um And I am just, I don't know, floored by this because it just feels like an epiphany talking about it and hearing you talk about this because growing up for me, i had a completely different experience where I didn't grow up in the church.
00:19:41
Speaker
And so, and my dad was pagan, but it was very, his practice, he was a solo practitioner and his practice was very much his own to where it was like, you know, I don't want to force any of my beliefs on you. You figure out what you want to believe in. And so I tried like, cause growing up in Oklahoma, it's very much a, where you go to church, it's kind like a social staple. It's a big thing. It's a big thing. Your baptism date. Yeah. I kind of made it bad baptism date and everything.
00:20:11
Speaker
And I tried, I gave it the full college try to, I even joined like a Christian social, ah Christian service sorority in my undergrad. And I'm just like, I don't understand this. And I feel like it's not me. And so that kind of led me like, oh, hey, maybe I should look more into like how my dad believes and how he is able to like connect his solo, like his practice and maybe like see how he does it and then come up with my own path. But I feel like music
00:20:44
Speaker
that is something that is like, if you look deep enough, you can find musicians like that are, you know, pagan musicians, or pagan musicians, but I've even struggled with trying to find um musicians that I connect with that I want to play like in my house or something like just to set the mood when I'm lighting incense or I'm doing like just a, a smoke cleansing in my house to like really set the mood and stuff.
00:21:11
Speaker
And outside of just what I knew i would listen to as a kid with my dad with like Dead Can Dance and stuff. So like it, yeah, i I feel like this just kind of opened up a whole new avenue for me to research when it comes to music and how we can relate it back to magic and our and our practice just as a whole. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:36
Speaker
Yeah, i I think we live in a weird time right now. I mean, for a number of reasons. But if you if you went back maybe like 20, 30 years, there were a lot more music classes being taught yeah in schools.
00:21:53
Speaker
And so if you went back thousands of years, you would also find that like, according to my research anyway, in ancient Greece, kids were expected to learn instruments. Like that was part of daily life. And and so I think it was more innate. We had more of a natural connection and like the ability to speak through music than we do now because we're lacking, <unk> we're losing some of it, like the yeah natural ability to incorporate it into our lives.
00:22:26
Speaker
And as I see music as an inherent element part of spirituality. If we lose our connection to music, that also means in some way, we're also losing ah one of our routes to connect to spirituality. So it's, you know, it's, it's kind of sad. And that's why I do feel strongly about talking about it.
00:22:49
Speaker
Yeah, I'm gonna go a little bit rogue and ask you a question that's not on the list here. So with you being so connected to music and your practice,
00:23:00
Speaker
are there musicians that you connect with or that inspire the music that you do?
00:23:11
Speaker
That is like, that is so momentary, you know? um and is so momentary because i I also find that music can become very distracting in a ritual setting. And I think...
00:23:29
Speaker
um Like there are moments where you can turn on a silly song with words during a ritual and like that sort of laughter raises the energy. But if there is a moment of reverence, there's just like a lot of music that can completely throw off the tone, especially stuff with with words.
00:23:51
Speaker
For me, words become very distracting. unless it is something that I have written myself. and And I find that the best music, so i'm I'm not trying to dodge the artist question, but I just, I find that like spiritually speaking and in terms of magic, the best type of music or sound that can be produced is something that isn't recorded. It's something that you are making live and and it's coming spontaneously and with the feeling of the moment. And it doesn't matter if you suck or you can't play an instrument because like you can...
00:24:29
Speaker
You can take a singing bowl and strike it with a hammer and you're making sound and you know and that doesn't require any skill. There are things you can do without any practice or ability that can still put that sound out in the area. And like in my head when I picture it all, there's some sort of different vibration that's coming off of like an instrument that's being played in a live setting and a recording of an instrument.
00:24:56
Speaker
easy Yes. And I think tying, you know, music to spirituality and to like mental health aspect too, it's so important. And even like,
00:25:10
Speaker
So when you mentioned sound bath, that's something that at my work, I work with the military in a more of um like a mental health prevention capacity and something that they're finally, I never thought I would say this as related to the military, but they're incorporating sound bath training for our soldiers i to help them with being able to to come to terms with some of the things that they've been struggling with, with their mental health. And it it just, I think we underestimate so much how much music and sound really can help heal us and ah help build us into...
00:25:53
Speaker
better humans than we already are. I love hearing stuff like that. I love hearing stuff like that. That's amazing that they have made that connection to help people in that way with this kind of tool.
00:26:07
Speaker
I think we're only at like the cusp of figuring out what we can do with it. We're maybe like, 3 to 5% of the way in figuring out like how powerful of a tool it can be. And I yeah i just hope that we get a little closer within this lifetime.
00:26:24
Speaker
Well, now I think with like that the 3 to 5% for the general general populace, I would say probably military is at like a 0.5% on where they would be with that. Yeah. Even just like i ah less than... So trying to think of... I'm really bad with math and this is not even that long ago.
00:26:44
Speaker
Probably like five years ago, i were we were just starting with um teaching mindfulness training to pilots who, you know, they would go and they would do acupuncture and then they would come to us and we would do like a mindfulness session with them.
00:27:03
Speaker
we would only have maybe like five pilots who would be interested in that, even though none of it was documented. It's not like we're interfering with your ability to fly. It was just like a ah mental health preparation thing. And so i couldn't I could never imagine five years ago being like, oh yeah, we're going to we're going to bring in this person. who's going to do some sound bath stuff with you. and um I could never imagine that.
00:27:31
Speaker
And now we're here. And back when I was working, um doing like the mindfulness stuff, that was with Air Force. And Air Force usually seems to be more open to like yeah all different things. Now I'm working with the army and they're bringing in, we're doing sound bath. And I'm like, this is amazing.
00:27:49
Speaker
I love this. How did, like, I love that we've progressed here. this far is so quickly, but also like it's been a slow progression, but the fact that people are actually open to it, it's it's amazing.
00:28:02
Speaker
So, yeah. So I guess let's go into your book.
Fluid Condensers and Alchemy
00:28:10
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. So for listeners completely unfamiliar with the topic of alchemy and fluid condensers, how would you explain specifically like fluid condensers,
00:28:23
Speaker
what they are and what they're used for. So in a nutshell, a fluid condenser is some sort of substance that we have agreed on collectively is really good at conducting magical energy.
00:28:39
Speaker
And typically, if you look at like a lot of the traditional recipes that ends up being some sort of liquid solution that you prepare with herbs and stuff like that, but it also falls into crystals and incense and like basically everything that you use for your magical workings. um It's just stuff that helps give you that connection point.
00:29:04
Speaker
I like to think of it as a connection point between the astral and the mundane or the physical reality and the fluid condenser is the thing that helps make that connection. Well, I guess, do you want to share the title of your book? Because we haven't said it one time.
00:29:22
Speaker
like jumping in, expecting everybody to know what talking about. It's okay. We were having such a good talk about music. We forgot the title of my book. It's called Fluid Condensers Unlocking the Mysteries of Gold, Alchemy, and Magic.
00:29:38
Speaker
Perfect. So did writing the book change your own relationship with your practice in any way?
00:29:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it definitely made me think a lot more about alchemy um as like a practical thing, because i think...
00:30:01
Speaker
When I first started doing research into fluid condensers, a lot of stuff led me to alchemical writings when I was trying to explain like to myself what was going on and why it was working that way.
00:30:17
Speaker
And for a long time, alchemy was kind of something that i looked at with with a laugh as a joke, you know, like as, oh, that's a silly thing.
00:30:29
Speaker
But I was looking at it. in terms of thinking that people were like in their garage trying to actually turn lead into gold like physically um because you do see those people online sometimes and they're like yeah i've got this secret or they posted a little like short video of this thing that looks like they're dripping weird chemicals into something that comes out as gold and they're like oh and you just think well how come you're not like super wealthy now if you have the secrets to make and go. But anyway, um I used to kind of laugh at it. And then for me, and I can only share like my perspective and what it means to me. But for me, it turned out to be something that is more about my mentality and my spiritual awareness and a metaphoric transformation rather than like literally turning something physical into something else.
00:31:28
Speaker
As a follow-up, I guess, what what really like drew you to this topic to begin with?
00:31:37
Speaker
I heard about it. like in in ah in a ritual In a ritual I was doing one day, um we had to use a fluid condenser. And I was like, I've never heard that terminology before.
00:31:48
Speaker
um That sounds interesting. And I went to... learn more, you know, as I often do when I hear something that piques my interest. And I couldn't really find anything past like somebody just writing a couple sentences as a definition. And I thought that really bothers me.
00:32:07
Speaker
So my I wrote the book. You went full send down the rabbit hole on that. Yeah. I love that though, because there are a lot of times, you know, we'll get a topic request sometimes and we're like, okay, yeah, we'll totally cover this for you. And then we start trying to research things and we're like messaging each other behind the scenes. Like, are you running into the same issue I am?
00:32:29
Speaker
and So I love that you just were like, you know what, I'm taking this into my own hands. Yeah. Yes. And especially alchemy, I feel like I've always, I have struggled, and Tiffany can to speak to this. I have struggled with really understanding it from a way that makes sense to me. um But I also really struggled with chemistry as well in um high school and college. And so I'm just like, maybe it's just...
00:32:55
Speaker
maybe that is a thing um where it's just, it takes me a little bit. So I'm really intrigued by your book and i I want to pick it up and read it for myself so that I can hopefully have a better understanding of some things when it comes to alchemy. um And then, you know, speaking back to, you know, what you said about like, you'll find some things online where it'll just be like a brief definition and then not really going into detail was like,
00:33:24
Speaker
When it comes to your own research to it, did you find that like there were maybe sources or or anything from, um I guess, like historical sources or traditions that really influenced your approach to the book?
00:33:42
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. So probably one of the biggest sources of information when when we talk about like at least this terminology for things is Franz Barden and his book Initiation into Hermetics, which is um I think it was probably translated into English probably in like the 1950s. So it is fairly recent terminology in terms of like the history of magic and and sort of different practices and things like that.
00:34:18
Speaker
But one of the things that I try to get to as a destination in the book is that like we're using this terminology and these are things that we do in witchcraft and like maybe we have these weird potions or fluids or whatever that we're using for a certain reason.
00:34:39
Speaker
But if you look from really far back and you try to distill down, what are we doing with this thing? What does it look like from a distance? You look at other religions and other practices.
00:34:52
Speaker
Basically, around the world, everyone has some sort of thing that they use to hold energy. And it's often very similar to a fluid condenser. Even if you just look at Catholicism and holy water.
00:35:11
Speaker
Like we have a liquid that is holding the energy of God, right? Or the Eucharist, like literally the food becomes God and then we eat the food.
00:35:23
Speaker
So, and that's all alchemy. Also, because it's taking something and transforming it, making it holy, transforming it, making it not physical gold, but spiritual gold.
00:35:39
Speaker
And so it's just it's that process. And if you look back from from a distance, you can see, OK, we're we're really kind of all trying to do the same thing. So for your book.
00:35:50
Speaker
Is this a book that you'd recommend more for somebody who is experienced in their practice? Is this more for beginners? Is it somewhere in between? Where do you feel that your book lies for just the general reader?
00:36:05
Speaker
i think that I start at the beginning, but I also go pretty far into some advanced correspondences and practice.
00:36:16
Speaker
Now, in terms of alchemy, do. I think I've said that like, cause there's really one chapter. It's a substantial chapter in the book, but it's really one chapter that is just about alchemy.
00:36:29
Speaker
And I kind of wrote that the intention is that for someone who is not like super interested in alchemy, that is going to give you enough information to know what you need to know for people that are really interested in alchemy. Well, that might just like wet your whistle a little bit to pick up some of the works of like Paracelsus or something and and read some really heavy tomes from the fifteen hundreds or something like that.
00:36:59
Speaker
um But I do I start at the very beginning, I explain, at least in my imagination, how magic actually works and what a fluid condenser is and how you can make the most simple form of fluid condenser and how you can use it and other cool things you can do with it. And we just build and we build and we build from there until I even get to, you know, recipes that I that i jokingly say are like, you're not going to make this if you had years of time, like you would not be able to make this. But just because for some people,
00:37:35
Speaker
We need that over complication of ritual to make it feel like, oh, this is special. I really put in the work. So there's a lot. I think there's something for everybody in there. I love this. And this sounds like your book is perfect for Sam.
00:37:48
Speaker
Yeah, I did. I was trying to say, I will be picking this book immediately because this... Well, not just that, but we... Whenever we did cover, I think we did an alchey an alchemy episode. We did like, I think it was a part one, part two. And then we're like, totally make this a series because there is so much you can cover on the topic of alchemy.
00:38:11
Speaker
When we were covering it, we were like, This is a lot. overwhelmed and i And I also don't really know what I'm talking about. So I'm so excited to read your book. um And I think that this book, we're going to share it across our socials and everything as well.
00:38:27
Speaker
For our listeners who have specifically requested information on alchemy, I think this is going to be an amazing resource for them. um Was there, I'm going little bit rogue, Tiffany, I'm just letting you know. Oh, no. was going to go rogue again. Okay. Well, we can both go rogue. It's fine.
00:38:45
Speaker
Was there anything especially difficult ah when you were researching for this book? Like anything that you came across that was especially like difficult to research or um find information about?
00:38:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, just the topic of fluid condensers, I think, is sometimes really hard to to find information about. um And that's, again, that's why I felt like I'm just going to make my own book because I was really frustrated with there not being the information that I wanted out there.
00:39:17
Speaker
um There, an an interesting thing happened around 1970s-ish. nineteen sixty s nineteen seventy s ish And that is a bunch of the forefront of authors who are writing about witchcraft.
00:39:37
Speaker
including like, you know, like Scott Cunningham, Sybil Leak, Stuart Sherrard, like all these people who were probably many, many folks first book on witchcraft. Yes. yeah They did not cite sources and they tended, you know, no disrespect, but they tended to repeat ideas and say it was theirs in a lot of cases.
00:40:03
Speaker
So um you can look at like, scott cuning Scott Cunningham has a fluid condenser recipe. Sybil Leek has a fluid condenser recipe.
00:40:14
Speaker
Stuart Farrar has a ah fluid condenser recipe. I actually like I break them down in my book in one chapter because I'm trying to map the history back. And it goes back to Franz Barden. And they basically took he he has this one particular recipe.
00:40:28
Speaker
And it's like The only instance of text where you will find like pumpkin seeds and Angelica flower and like these weird ingredients next to each other.
00:40:40
Speaker
So it's really easy to see that it's his recipe. And they took that and they changed like one or two ingredients. And they said, this is. This is how you do it. This is my thing.
00:40:51
Speaker
um And so like that kind of that frustrated me a little bit. And I was like, guys, you know, this was not your idea. But, you know, that's just that that's something that kind of bothers me. um So I it was like pulling back some cobwebs or or like you know, cleaning the glass so you can see through to actually figure out where some stuff is coming from. But then the other thing that's that's really difficult is when you are doing any sort of research in alchemy, like you were saying, there is a ah crazy amount of information to sift through and to try to put a summation of alchemy
00:41:36
Speaker
into one chapter almost seems like a fool's errand, but I tried to do it anyway. And I mean, you guys, you should have seen, I'm usually pretty tab heavy in my web browsing.
00:41:47
Speaker
I probably have like, let's say a hundred or so tabs open on my other screen right now. yep When I was in the middle of all my alchemy research, I pro i mean like my,
00:42:03
Speaker
my computer was just quitting on me because I probably had like 300, 400, and I would lose track of all the windows that I had open on other screens with 100 tabs over here and 100 tabs over here because there's so many things that you have to go through.
00:42:18
Speaker
But it's not written in plain English. It is yeah all this giant obfuscation and like how do we make something sound complicated that isn't and that's the worst that's the worst part.
00:42:36
Speaker
They say like, if you can figure out the secret, you'll finally realize that it's so simple that a child could understand it and it's like, well, then just tell me. what is yeah Explain to me like I'm okay. yeah I want to say out our alchemy episodes were one of the ones that we had to put a thing out being like, hey, we can't even fit all the resources that we used for this episode on our character limit for the episode. So if you want the full thing, just send us an email. Yes. Yeah, we have it. um
00:43:11
Speaker
It is a lot. yeah And it's it can be very overwhelming if you're not... ah very familiar with it. And even on our book club episodes, we've done a few book club episodes where we've read um we've read fiction that talked about alchemy and it's still confusing sometimes if you don't understand because the way the author writes it, like clearly the author understands alchemy at a level that we do not understand. yeah and So it it can be a very intimidating subject. um
00:43:44
Speaker
But I love the way that you've talked about the writing process and how, um like your process of creating this book and being able to write it from a way where regardless of your experience with alchemy, you're going to find something useful within the book. And so I think that's really awesome. And I'm excited to read it because, you know, a lot of and what we've noticed too, and I'm not sure if Tiffany, I'm sorry, I'm going rogue. And I know this is your turn to ask the question. It's my turn. But I have to ask it.
00:44:20
Speaker
But something that we've noticed with just with our podcast and the fact that both of us, we when we approach different topics, we approach it from a very research heavy background. We want to make sure that like obviously some things you're not going to find scientific journals on. But in other the topics that we can find scientific journals on, we want to see how Because in a lot of situations, like especially with like, for instance, grounding, like there is scientific research that backs this up when it comes to the effects of grounding on the human body. But when it comes to your research um and something that we've noticed is With the occult, it seems like there are some topics that ah tend to be very mystified or gatekept.
Alchemy and Healing Practices
00:45:09
Speaker
Did you notice this at all with alchemy? Or was it pretty... um like I guess... ah yeah Yeah. Yeah, I think like inherently it is a very...
00:45:24
Speaker
gatekeepy tradition. And I feel like and I mean, like, maybe these are just like the stories that we tell about it. But back in the day, probably if you wanted to study it, you would be apprenticed to someone and they would teach you about it. And it wasn't something that you talk to other people about. So like, it's very there's a lot of secrecy, but ah also on on the other side of it.
00:45:51
Speaker
I think that So if we go to a definition of what alchemy is, um i believe it was Raider Albertus who said it is the raising of vibrations.
00:46:07
Speaker
OK, so this is something that like every person in the spiritual world can can probably relate to just that simple definition. We're raising our spiritual vibration.
00:46:18
Speaker
But if you were going back in the day when most of the driving force of the spread of information and conquest was like religion and probably a lot, the Christian church.
00:46:32
Speaker
And you were like, all right, well, this thing is important because we're raising our vibrations guys. They probably would not have really,
00:46:42
Speaker
disseminated that information for you, right? So by cloaking it in this thing of we're making gold, which of course all the kings are interested in, hey, you're making gold? Okay, well, let me give you some money to fund your research because I want that. Who doesn't want more gold? So in that sense, I have this thought that maybe it was all just a big dress-up game.
00:47:12
Speaker
Or these really simple teachings. And the reason that needed to happen was so that it could make its way down in time instead of these simple ideas being really lost. I feel like I just went on a giant tangent. I don't even remember what you asked me.
00:47:32
Speaker
No, I think that's important too to the discussion because of how historically alchemy was used in a way to benefit kings, right? And to create gold. And it's like, well, hell yeah, I want a sorcerer that's connected to the crown to be able to do these things because at the end of the day, money talks, right? So and I think that...
00:47:56
Speaker
I mean, I feel like that kind of answered the question. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. is your favorite thing that you learned about this topic when researching for the book?
00:48:08
Speaker
Ooh, there's probably many things that I... But one thing that I think is just really cool is like making spagyric medicine...
00:48:24
Speaker
At home in your kitchen. So if you are not familiar with spagyrex, it is like an alchemical distillation, a form of medicine that you can make. And yes, you can make it with really, really, really complicated chemistry lab equipment.
00:48:45
Speaker
if you want something like that. But you can also do a simple version on your stove by just like letting herbs soak and kind of boiling the liquid down. And then and then in the end, you take the herbs that you out of the solution and you light them on fire. And so you get ash. And so it's, it's these three parts alchemy being represented.
00:49:13
Speaker
They're called the tree of prima salt, sulfur, and mercury. And so you have as your solution, your liquid solution is basically your mercury and your sulfur, which is like consciousness and spirit.
00:49:27
Speaker
And then you have your salt, which is the things, the herbs you took out and you lit on fire and you've turned into ash. So that's your your salt, that's your physical body, right? You combine these things. So what we're doing is we are separating and purifying and then recombining. And that's basically the essence of alchemy. You separate and you recombine, you separate and you recombine.
00:49:51
Speaker
And so when you do that with intention, you make medicine and and I'm not saying this to like replace any type of real doctors out there like anytime you do spiritual medicine it should only be supplemental to like actual medical advice so I would never recommend that but like for instance um I was having some headache issues. So I chose an herb that corresponded to astrologically to the head.
00:50:27
Speaker
So you can find these like um charts that show mappings of the planets to different body parts and and stuff like that. So you take that herb and you make a little spagyric medicine out of it. You let the herb soak.
00:50:42
Speaker
You you kind of boil them a little bit, you take the herbs out, you burn them, you take that ash and you recombine everything. And you just take like a tiny little drop of that and you put it in a glass of water and then you drink it.
00:50:57
Speaker
But you also like you drink it with intention and you do something like maybe you say a prayer or maybe you just spend a quiet moment in gratitude and then you heal.
00:51:14
Speaker
and And so it's all of these points and the things that like, I'm noticing as we're talking about it now, all these things are moments of presence of mind for me. And and maybe that's maybe that's the secret. We just have to be aware of what we're doing. But lots of opportunities and alchemy for that.
00:51:34
Speaker
My herbalist heart is just so happy. that you have find the two but Yeah, when you started talking about it, i was just like, I know Tiffany is like, oh my God, like I can see the twinkle in her eye. Yeah, well, and even when you were talking about finding, you know, the astrological, astrological like, correspondences, our longtime listeners will know that I have spoken about a book called Alchemy of Herbalism.
00:52:03
Speaker
several times on this podcast. Anytime we do normal episode, it's pretty much, you know, in our resources. And it does bring in the astrological correspondences for each herb and what planet rules these herbs. So I love that you just connected the two.
00:52:19
Speaker
Well, I'm just gonna point out that like, there are people who take spagyrex very seriously. And they're probably gonna look at what I'm talking about and say, Oh, that's not, you know,
00:52:30
Speaker
That's not real. But a lot of this I think is just the important part is taking the essence of something and doing it in a manner that is practical for you to be able to do. Not everybody can afford like thousands of dollars of glassware to to fill their house with to do this type of thing.
00:52:49
Speaker
But if your intention is set the right way, you can still get the same effect. It's like if we do a ritual, we don't really have to have the the wand, the pentacle, the chalice, and the athame. We can do it without those things. We just like to have them because they're fun. They make things better, but we don't have to have them to do a ritual.
00:53:10
Speaker
This is something that we preach on our podcast like every episode, I feel like almost. We're just like, you don't have to buy all the things. Like use what you have. Our ancestors did not have Amazon. yes Yeah. like i yes because we get so many requests about, you know, well, sort of things do you have to have start witchcraft? Nothing. Yourself. You're a true witch. You are the magic. You are magic. And it's just so frustrating to see on social media that
00:53:48
Speaker
while I do love how it is more accepted nowadays to be magical and to be pagan and to walk in the space and not feel like you're in quote unquote, the broom closet. A lot of what you see online is very much like you need this and it needs to be very aesthetic and you need X, Y, Z. And it's like, no, you don't. You don't need any of that. yeah.
00:54:12
Speaker
I love that you talked about that. That's amazing. Um, with your book though, what is like, do you have a hope for
Exploring Spiritual Practices
00:54:23
Speaker
readers? Um, once they finished your book, what do you hope they walk away with once they finish it? Hmm.
00:54:31
Speaker
A better perspective. I think like, I kind of asked myself that question also as I was writing it because, um at some point, you know, I'm throwing a lot of information at you. I'm throwing a lot of correspondences at you, maybe a lot of ideas, a lot of recipes. And then it's like, what are you, what are you going to do with this? What's the point?
00:54:53
Speaker
And I think besides just like basic empowerment um and the ability to grow spiritually, like it's that perspective of,
00:55:07
Speaker
here's another way to look at something that all religions, usually, want to say all, but you know generally, everyone on some sort of spiritual path is trying to do.
00:55:21
Speaker
And when you look at that thing and you understand that thing, then you are closer to understanding the rest of them. And maybe that's a point of unity amongst an area of the world that there's lacks a lot of unity and has a lot of discourse.
00:55:45
Speaker
I love that. Okay. So moving away from the book, what's one occult or magical topic that you could talk about for hours without getting bored?
00:55:57
Speaker
Haven't we been talking about music? I wondered. Okay.
00:56:03
Speaker
goodness Yeah, we know the answer to that question already. It's music. No, I love that. um But what about books? Do you have any books, magical or otherwise, that have made a huge impact on you personally?
00:56:20
Speaker
Yes. i I really love, I'm staring at it right now. I've got a stack of books. I have stacks of books all over. Yeah. um But...
00:56:32
Speaker
Three books of occult philosophy by Agrippa is just like a fascinating read but if you want some really old, heavy, dense occult stuff so to read. But also something that I would recommend everybody read is The Chicken Kabbalah by Lon Milo Duquette because...
00:56:56
Speaker
I don't know if you guys are into Kabbalah, but I think that Kabbalistic theory is has permeated ah most of Western magical practice because of groups like the Golden and Dawn and and stuff like that where we can trace stuff back to.
00:57:14
Speaker
And it's this really heady, ah hard to comprehend topic in a lot of books that present it as such and like alistair crowley is almost in i mean sorry guys i love crowley but like his cabala stuff is almost impossible to read it really is yeah but duquette in chicken cabala he makes up
00:57:45
Speaker
a fictional story of this guy who has like these lost teachings of Kabbalah. And it's all funny. And you almost think you're reading like a hilarious little novel, but then he drops in study and facts and correspondences between like those crazy stories.
00:58:08
Speaker
And in the end, you'd almost don't realize that you are, you have learned Kabbalah and it's, it's kind of weird in that way. So I always like that's on, that's definitely on our coven reading list. And then also like the four elements of the wise by eo Dominguez Jr. um Yeah. I mean,
00:58:27
Speaker
we We teach, my wife and I, so we have lists of books that we recommend or require our students to read. Yeah, that is awesome. So that book, like, first of all, we're adding the chicken cabala to our list of books that we're reading. The podcast is FYI, Tiffany. It reminds me to a few, well, it's been a couple, well, it's been about a month ago, but When his episode, I think his episode is about to release, but we had the author Chris Allen our podcast and the way he wrote, he wrote, was it a black book of Jonathan Not Bristle? Jonathan Not Bristle.
00:59:06
Speaker
And he did that in the same way you're describing. or describing not ascribing, can't talk apparently. The way that you're describing Chicken Kabbalah, that's kind of how he wrote the Black Book of Jonathan Knott Bristle, where it was essentially a spirit came to him and told him the story and he developed based on that information, a fiction tale about the specific topic. And then, but also by the time you're done with the book, it teaches you about specific practices and magic. And at the very end, there's also a list of like the all of the spells and how you do it.
00:59:46
Speaker
And i just thought it was such an interesting way to present magical topics because sometimes depending on the book, It can be very, very heavy, or it can feel more like an instruction guide as opposed to helping you to really understand the topic at hand. So I'm very intrigued by this because you are right. Aleister Crowley, my dad was really, really into his teachings. And I tried when I first started becoming, ah like trying to find my practice.
01:00:17
Speaker
And I was just like, I don't know if this for me. I don't know. um But this might be my way of getting more into it and developing a deeper understanding. um so I'm really, i I've never even heard of that book, so I'm i'm really excited to read it.
01:00:33
Speaker
yeah Yeah, definitely recommend. Perfect, we'll add it to our list. We're gonna make everyone read it with us. Yes. So if you could sit down and have a conversation with any historical figure, who would it be?
01:00:49
Speaker
oh man, I'm really bad at choosing favorites. Any historical figure.
01:01:01
Speaker
I'm sorry. Any historical cult, a cult figure. A cult figure. missed a word. Okay. Okay. We'll make it a little bit easier. um I think it would be one of the earliest attested figures.
01:01:18
Speaker
alchemy people like this is just my if you ask me tomorrow my answer would probably change but right now answer i'm gonna give is it would probably be one of the earliest like attested alchemy writers like um like mary the prophetess or um shoot sop his name starts with a z we actually have an episode where we've covered both of them covered mary and I cannot think of his name.
01:01:47
Speaker
just listened to a podcast about this particular person too. I know what I have to worry about. Do I know the name? No. You know, there's these words that I read all the time and then I go to say them and I have a neural disconnect because I don't, I don't say it out loud.
01:02:03
Speaker
no no So yeah. One of them. Yeah. Yeah.
01:02:10
Speaker
Um, and so this question, so this is kind of, um, potentially could open up a can of worms. but Ooh. Do you have any unpopular occult opinions or opinions about witchcraft that would be unpopular? Hmm.
01:02:28
Speaker
Um, I guess that really, that depends on who you ask. Yes. I mean, it there is, i don't, Not to get like too political, but there's like a pretty big split in a lot of traditional witchcraft groups right now about inclusivity.
01:02:50
Speaker
And yeah, like our coven is inclusive and there's a lot of people who don't think things should be that way. So yeah, on unpopular.
01:03:00
Speaker
You know, if you look at that group also, if we if I lighten it up a little bit, I think um some of the traditional lists in terms of my alchemical views would not be so happy about how much I have simplified things.
01:03:22
Speaker
e Yeah, I love both of those hot takes, I feel, because especially for um the inclusive part of it, too, one thing that we have noticed is there is an increase of...
01:03:39
Speaker
well, not just witches, but mediums who are also very, very conservative in their political leanings. And the way I look at it is, you know, at the end of the day, when it comes to specific traditions in Christianity, there is an emphasis on, um i can't even think of the word, but where they um go and they... ah I can't even think of the word, but you guys would know it, I feel like, but like where you're trying to get people to convert to Christianity, like you're- Proselytizing. Proselytizing. Yes, proselytizing.
01:04:17
Speaker
And in witchcraft, you don't have that. in pagan or magical traditions, you don't have that. So the way I look at it is, okay, if somebody who is coming into mediumship or paganism or anything related to witchcraft, and they have this background of like being very Christian or very maybe religiously or not religiously, politically conservative, if we are like gatekeeping all of the information, then it's just going to
01:04:49
Speaker
keep them in that bubble. They're never going to learn anything outside of their own worldview. Whereas if we are inclusive and we are accepting of everyone to learn these different topics, while we may think, okay, um this seems kind of counter counterintuitive if you are very politically conservative and maybe you are like a supporter of Donald Trump or something like where,
01:05:15
Speaker
it's, it seems counterintuitive that you would be interested in paganism because we do, you know, our beliefs related to just specifically like the earth and mother nature, like it kind of doesn't make any sense how you can be both.
01:05:31
Speaker
But I feel like being accepting of everybody and being inclusive and sharing how we believe in our ideas and how we practice with other people will allow them to grow spiritually and maybe just as a human and allow them to maybe think a little bit differently than how they might've grown up or what their experience in their hometown. So, yeah. yeah So what's next for you?
Upcoming Works and Connections
01:06:01
Speaker
Well, I just finished a manuscript on runes. So speaking of things that people get upset about or might disagree with, um there's another thing because I don't take very traditional stance on runes.
01:06:23
Speaker
So that'll be fun. So that should be coming out with Weiser at some point, maybe in the next year. and ah you know, I might just, I just have to write the next book about music. So we'll see.
01:06:37
Speaker
And love other than that, you know, I'm just, I'm always on making a YouTube video or a podcast or something every month. So um that's my agenda.
01:06:48
Speaker
Perfect. Yeah. I love that. So as far as like, we know where to find you. But where can our listeners find your work, your music, your classes that you offer or connect with you online if they would like to?
01:07:04
Speaker
So pretty much everywhere. my handle is at Eric Arcadian. And if you go on YouTube slash at Eric Arcadian or Facebook, Instagram, Instagram,
01:07:15
Speaker
whatever social media, it's Eric Arcadian. Search my name and you will find me. ah YouTube is probably where I am most active at the moment, trying to put out cool videos and cool interviews. And you know I get to be on the other side of the show where I host it and I make other people answer questions for me.
01:07:36
Speaker
um And if you want to read some stuff that I've written, i I write a lot of articles on magic and that's at my website, ericarcadian.com. And I want to point out that it's Eric, A-E-R-I-K. It is. yeah And then just as a fun closing question, is there anything that you wish people asked you more often in an interview? Man.
01:08:06
Speaker
man These are some thinking questions. that We like to make you think. All right. um Yes, I do. i I wish people talked more about music.
01:08:18
Speaker
I think the the the musical half of this conversation I really enjoyed and it was it had a flow and a musicality to it and it was like a nice fun discussion and I wish um wish I could do that with everybody.
01:08:37
Speaker
Perfect. Yes. So if you're listening and you want to have Eric on your podcast or on your YouTube channel, ask about music. Not just joking. But seriously, though. And any last notes from you for our listeners?
01:08:57
Speaker
i I just, if I could do, like repeat one thing since we've talked about so many complicated things. so many complicated things is that however you can approach the complicated task is what's right for you. And I think that is something that gets left out a lot and it makes people feel like there is something, a hurdle that they have to jump through before they can even begin.
01:09:28
Speaker
Just taking something at a simple level and approaching it in a way that you understand it is valid.
01:09:36
Speaker
Perfect. I love that. Yeah. That's super important too. That is. yeah Thank you so much for this conversation. i can only speak for myself, but I'm assuming Sam as well. This was very enjoyable.
01:09:50
Speaker
Yes. Well, thank you guys. It's a lot of fun.
01:10:03
Speaker
That's a wrap on this episode of Get In Loser, We're Doing Witchcraft. We hope you had as much fun as we did. If you loved this episode, we'd be eternally grateful if you left us a five-star review wherever you listen to your podcasts.
01:10:15
Speaker
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01:10:27
Speaker
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01:10:42
Speaker
You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at GetInWitches or email us at WerdewingWitchcraft at gmail.com. Join us next week as we explore tales of real or suspected witchcraft in royal history.
01:10:55
Speaker
Until then, stay magical, stay curious, and as always, blessed be witches.