His brows drew forward in an angry slash. “For what?”
“Money laundering, Sir. You have the right to remain silent.”
They maneuvered him down the steps.
“Money laundering?” Donovan sputtered. “This is crazy!”
“Donovan?” Riga stumbled down the steps after them.
“They’re wrong, Riga. I don’t know what’s going on, but they’ve made some mistake. Call my attorney,” he said over his shoulder.
No, she thought. No. This couldn’t be happening.
She followed them mutely, watched while they put Donovan into an SUV with government plates, watched them drive away.
Donovan cheating on his taxes? Maybe. But money laundering? No. He wasn’t that stupid.
She was going to get to the bottom of this, get Donovan out of jail, and then…
Riga stood listening to the car engine fade in the distance, listening to the forest, the only sounds now a faint ringing in her ears and the raucous laughter of a jay.
The Emerald Tablet, as Translated by Sir Isaac Newton, c. 1680
1) Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
2) That wch is below is like that wch is above & that wch is above is like yt wch is below to do ye miracles of one only thing.
3) And as all things have been & arose from one by ye mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
4) The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,
5) The wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nourse.
6) The father of all perfection in ye whole world is here.
7a) Seperate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.
8) It ascends from ye earth to ye heaven & again it desends to ye earth and receives ye force of things superior & inferior.
9) By this means you shall have ye glory of ye whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
10) Its force is above all force. For it vanquishes every subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing.
11) So was ye world created.
12) From this are & do come admirable adaptaions whereof ye means (Or process) is here in this.
13) Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of ye philosophy of ye whole world.
14) That wch I have said of ye operation of ye Sun is accomplished & ended.
[Dobbs 1988: 183-4.]
If you liked this book, please leave a review at Amazon, e-mail the link to me via my contact page at kirstenweiss.com and I will send you a free copy of The Metaphysical Detective.
Acknowledgements
A book based on current magical (or magickal) thought and practices would be nothing without its source base, and I’m grateful to the many magicians and philosophers who have shared their work. In particular, Patrick Harpurs books on daimons, alchemy and the imagination: Daimonic Reality and A History of the Imagination. For a side-splitting look at the life of a modern magician, I can highly recommend Lon Milo Duquette’s two memoirs: My Life With the Spirits and Low Magick. His book on Goetia, The Key to Solomon’s Key is also a wonderful source. Finally, the tarot deck described in Riga’s dream is the Tarot of Dreams, by Ciro Marchetti.
Also, a huge thanks to my editor, Diana Orgain, author of the brilliant and funny Maternal Instincts mysteries.
About the Author:
Kirsten Weiss worked overseas for nearly fourteen years, in the fringes of the defunct USSR and into the Afghan war zone. Her experiences abroad not only gave her glimpses into the darker side of human nature, but also sparked an interest in the effects of mysticism and mythology, and how both are woven into our daily lives.
Now based in San Mateo, CA, she writes paranormal mysteries, blending her experiences and imagination to create a vivid world of magic and mayhem.
Kirsten has never met a dessert she didn’t like, and her guilty pleasures are watching True Blood and drinking good wine.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Calcination
Chapter 2: Pride and Prejudice
Chapter 3: Life in the Penthouse Suite
Chapter 4: Ashes
Chapter 5: Casting Couch
Chapter 6: Prima Materia
Chapter 7: Tahoe Tessie
Chapter 8: The Fortuneteller’s Cafe
Chapter 9: Dissolution
Chapter 10: Action
Chapter 11: Personal Demons
Chapter 12: Sun of the Morning
Chapter 13: Unlucky
Chapter 14: Nine Lives
Chapter 15: Group Therapy
Chapter 16: Separation
Chapter 18: Putrefaction
Chapter 19:Coagulation
Chapter 20: Sublimation
Chapter 21: Incineration
Chapter 22: Fermentation
Chapter 23: Multiplication
Chapter 24:Hldlng
Chapter 25: Albedo
Chapter 26: Cave Dive
Chapter 27:Citrinitas
Chapter 28: Projection
Chapter 29:Rubedo
Chapter 30: The Sun and Moon