Invasion of the Golden Hoard

As many of you know, I am an author published by Llewellyn. I am very proud and happy with this relationship. Llewellyn is the worldwide leader in publishing and distributing the widest range of occult and New Age information. Simply put, nobody produces more material for this community than Llewellyn.

In order to continue doing this, Llewellyn, as a business, has to be profitable. That means publishing materials for beginners, intermediate, and advanced seekers. Llewellyn has a long history of doing exactly this. Llewellyn has produced books for beginners in all fields, including astrology, Tarot, psychic abilities, magick, Eastern spiritual systems, and more. Llewellyn has also published intermediate and advanced works, ranging from astrology books on single advanced topics, Tarot books that look at single subjects (including my own Tarot & Magic), and magick books including many of those on the Golden Dawn. Historically, Llewellyn published the first post-WWII modern books on astrology, many of the first republications of Aleister Crowley's books and the first printing of his Tarot deck and Gems from the Equinox, some of the first real books on Wicca and Witchcraft, etc.

The number of advanced practitioners in any field pales in comparison to the number of intermediate practitioners. And the number of intermediates is nothing when compared to the number of beginners in that area. It is unfortunate that many people who start a spiritual path end up leaving it. But it is because of this that authors gravitate toward writing books for beginners. That's where the market is. Llewellyn can only publish books from the manuscripts it receives.

Although Llewellyn has published numerous books for advanced practitioners, they have published more for beginners. Bookstores order what their customers want, and since there are far more people who are beginners, stores tend to stock books for beginners. It’s just the way the market goes. As a result, some people only see the books for beginners that Llewellyn publishes. A few of those people—forgetting that they, too, were once beginners—have unfairly tarred Llewellyn as only publishing beginners books. It's untrue now. It's always been untrue. But they have unfairly given Llewellyn that label.

The Ancient Golden Horde
In the 12th century, a man named Borjigin Temüjin united many of the tribes of northeast Asia. These people, collectively called the Mongols, with Temüjin as their ruler, or Khan, swept down moving east and west, slaughtering warriors and civilians alike, eventually conquering most of current-day China and Central Asia. He ruled until his death in 1227 using the name by which he is best known: Genghis Khan.

Toward the end of his life, he let his sons move into control of the empire, giving them sub-areas called Khanates to rule. One of his sons, Batu, eventually became the leader, expanding the empire, covering most of the land from Eastern Europe to Siberia and Asia. It was the largest empire in the history of the Earth, dwarfing that of Rome and Britain. Batu's tent was said to be golden in color, so these conquerors were called the Golden Horde.

Stephen Skinner
Stephen Skinner is one of the most important people in modern occultism. In the 1970s he wrote (with Francis King) Techniques of High Magic, a book that influenced me and many other magicians. Soon, he became the driving force behind Askin Publishers. Askin published some incredible occult resources, such as Dee's True & Faithful Relation (one of the sources of Enochian magick), (pseudo-) Agrippa's Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, along with titles by luminaries such as Austin Osman Spare and Aleister Crowley. They are now highly valuable collectors items. Over the years he became interested in Feng Shui and has published several books on the subject. He also met David Rankine.

David Rankine
David Rankine is another highly-respect magician, researcher, and occultist. Since the 1980s he has contributed hundreds of articles to mostly British occult journals, such as the Skoob Occult Review, Nuit-Isis, Chaos International, and Talking Stick. Beginning in 2004, he and Mr. Skinner began publishing some of he most valuable sourcebooks—including newly discovered texts—with a new publishing company, Golden Hoard Press.

The New Golden Hoard
Like the Golden Horde of years ago, the new Golden Hoard Press has amazed beginning, intermediate, and advanced occultists with their high-quality reproductions (with comments) of some of these books. Unfortunately, they faced the same difficulties of many new and small publishers—distribution.

What many people see as problems, occultists and entrepreneurs see as challenges. Golden Hoard Press needed to get their magnificent books to all who wanted them. Llewellyn wanted to further support the community and cement their reputation as providers of books for all levels of students, beginning through advanced. The solution became obvious, and Llewellyn is now proud to distribute titles from Golden Hoard Press, featuring exclusive illustrated, hardcover editions of important grimoires, rare esoteric texts, and books published in English for the first time. The following books represent the start of this relationship:

• An Important Resource for All Magicians
  One of the first books Llewellyn offered is Stephen Skinner’s The Complete Magician's Tables. Simply put, this is now the standard for books used to find correspondences, which are vital in virtually all forms of magick. This has more than eight hundred tables of correspondences with sources collected from a wide range of books and authors. If you're familiar with books such as Crowley's 777, you know what this book is about. It's a must have for all magicians. There is no other set of tables and correspondences as complete as are found here.
• Enochian Magic Secrets
  Here is what might be John Dee's most important manuscripts. Practical Angel Magick of Dr. John Dee's Enochian Tables is the first publication of two manuscripts with instructions for their use by members of the Golden Dawn, including Wynn Westcott (a founder of the Order) and Alan Bennet, a teacher of Aleister Crowley! This material is so powerful that Skinner and Rankine believe it may actually have been suppressed by the heads of the Golden Dawn. It is a complete system of Enochian magick. If you're a student of Dee's work or a practitioner of Enochian magick, this book is a necessary addition to your reading.
• What You Don't Know About the Goetia
  The Goetia, one part of the Lesser Key of Solomon, has become one of the most famous grimoires around. In The Goetia of Dr. Rudd, you get the full transcription of the Goetia, previously unpublished, as found in the collection belonging to Dr. Rudd, a practicing magician of the early seventeenth century. It includes restored versions of four complete grimoires, including the technique of binding the spirit, something vitally important for safety's sake yet left out of all other published versions.
• The Secrets of the Archangel Metatron
  This unusual manuscript was found encoded in three magickal scripts, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, and reversed Latin with many contractions and short forms. Skinner and Rankine expanded everything in this manuscript so it's easy to understand or even use. Its original name is The Key of Hell with White and Black Magic as Proven by Metatron. The book is titled The Grimoire of St. Cyprian, as it is attributed to Cyprian of Antioch before his conversion to Christianity. Being pre-Christian, it omits numerous religious prayers and conjurations. The many included sigils make this a must for Chaos Magicians.
• Return to Byzantium
  Michael Psellus (1018–1178) was an important writer and philosopher of the Byzantine era. He is credited with triggering a shift away from Aristotelianism and a movement toward Platonism. In Byzantine Magic, Skinner and Rankine make his interpretation of daemonology clear. Not only will you discover what the Byzantine people thought about working with such entities, you may even be able to try it yourself. This is an important book for magicians, historians, and students of philosophy.
• Keys to Solomonic Evocation
  In The Keys to the Gateway of Magic, Skinner and Rankine publish a highly desired and extremely rare text known as The Nine Great Keys. It reveals for the first time the keys to evoking creatures from Archangels to demons, from Olympic Spirits to elementals. It also shows how Dee and Kelly's Enochian system meshes with the Angelic and Demonic hierarchies.
• The Ignored Divination System
  At one time, geomancy was as popular as the Tarot or I Ching are today. It was used in the Golden Dawn and by Aleister Crowley. In Geomancy in Theory & Practice, Skinner draws from Latin, French, German, and Arabic manuscripts and books to reveal the roots of this system, how it developed and moved around the world, and how you can use it today.
• The Chinese Science of Placement
  Feng Shui, the Chinese art of placement in order to maximize the positive flow of energy, has become very popular over the last decade. There are two major systems of Feng Shui, and the one most ignored in the West may be the one with the ability to change this art into a true science. After more than thirty years of research and practice, Stephen Skinner reveals this amazing techniques of Feng Shui that uses a small device in Guide to the Feng Shui Compass. In this book you'll learn its history and how to use this amazing device. Included is a description of all seventy-five rings of the compass.
• Previously Unpublished Solomonic Magick
  The Veritable Key of Solomon contains three previously-unpublished versions of the famous Key of Solomon. In this case they are not the oldest manuscripts, but they are the most complete, far more complete than any other published version of this book. Skinner and Rankine add notes and comments that make this incredibly valuable to all practicing magicians.

Well, there you have it. These are the books intermediate and advanced magicians and occultists have been requesting. This is why Llewellyn remains the leader in occult publishing. We are thankful that Golden Hoard Press has agreed to let us distribute their amazing books as together we help advance occultism and real magick.