Happy New Year everyone!  In following the model of out with the old and in with the new, my computer decided to spectacularly die earlier this month, leaving me to buy a new computer and reload everything.

That means some emails may have been lost in the shuffle.  That means I got a bit behind in checking up on blog comments, and for that I apologize.

I am, however, back up and running.  I'm also back in class as a college instructor.

New articles for this month:

• The thetan in Scientology.  This was actually started by an email I received several weeks ago helping me to clarify my own understanding of the thetan, as opposed to the Christian concept of the soul.
• Purification rituals. The need for physical and spiritual purity is a common one in religion.
• Sweat lodges.  A summary of common practices associated with legitimate Native American sweat lodges.
• Types of Satanism. A summary of types of Satanism (including Luciferianism, which commonly sees itself as separate) with links to articles addressing each branch.

While I started this month a little slow, I've attempted to make up for it now that my semester is over.

Because I personally have to deal with confusions between different terms relating to magic, I've started making glossary entries for them.  First up: witchcraft and ceremonial magic.

Also a discussion on conspiracy theories and how you can identify them from legit theories. Finally, I've added another entry to the geometric shapes gallery: the hexagram. It includes discussions of both the Star of David and the unicursal hexagram.

Three new articles have been added so far this month.  Look out for more before year's end.

Satanic Infernal Names of European Origin, which continues my study of names provided by Anton LaVey in his list of Satanic Infernal Names.

An Introduction to Spiritualism, a religion centered upon gaining knowledge from the spirits of the dead.

Lucifer of the Luciferians, which describes Lucifer in the words of two practicing Luciferians.

The last couple of weeks have seen the addition of two new articles.  First, Satanic Infernal Names of Middle Eastern Origin, part of the LaVeyan Infernal Names series.

Second is an article on the use of Gender in Western Occultism. Identifying various qualities, elements, and so forth as being either masculine or feminine in nature is a basic approach to understanding the nature of the world.