Book Discussion Thoughts on the Quareia course materials?

[G. Ephraim]

Greetings,

I'm curious if anyone would be kind enough to share their thoughts and/or experiences with Josephine McCarthy's Quareia course books. I've looked over the contents of the various level textbooks and am intrigued by the idea of a well-structured academic-style course related to Western Occultism in study and practice. The price point is another draw as it is somewhat rare to find this kind of material being put out freely!

Many Thanks,

G. Ephraim

 

[TheHummingbirdWizard]

Greetings,

I'm curious if anyone would be kind enough to share their thoughts and/or experiences with Josephine McCarthy's Quareia course books. I've looked over the contents of the various level textbooks and am intrigued by the idea of a well-structured academic-style course related to Western Occultism in study and practice. The price point is another draw as it is somewhat rare to find this kind of material being put out freely!

Many Thanks,

G. Ephraim

I haven't taken it but I am curious myself. I am a fan of Fratar Acher and the two of them seem to get along together famously. He is very much an advocate of her courses. I find her choice of labeling interesting. It is clearly masonically inspired even though Acher, is wary himself of large systems in general. Although his apprehension is exaggerated I would say in his interpretation of the text which is a basis for his book, Rosicrucian Magic.

I want to be clear though just in case what I just said was not obvious and what was meant: I am not in any way saying that her course is based on any kind of large structure or Masonic teaching but rather the name itself is reference to doing the work in the quarries. There are other things they have said which give a nod to Masonic language. I'll over to my knowledge there is absolutely nothing within the course that is Masonic teaching. What I do know, is what she has said on Glitch bottle and elsewhere, as well as what is on the site for the program itself. I do know that the course includes Spirit travel and out-of-body work which she talks about end of the techniques used because they influenced their perceptive barrier between worlds, her courses are not advisable for those who are suffering from certain mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. These are her words and policies, not my opinion though I do certainly understand the situation and do not disagree with her. It is a double-edged sword because in many cultures of a certain vintage, the medicine people were the only people that there was afflicted with such illnesses had to turn to. You didn't have modern medicine and many are these inflicted individuals would study with the medicine people and become medicine people themselves as it was their best hope for navigating their affliction and living a functional life. Yet certainly not all teachers are comfortable teaching somebody with such an affliction and for good reasons. Even if you were to take someone of that predisposition as a medicine apprentice, you would do well too avoid certain practices or certainly not rely on them.

On that matter I can agree with her though I wouldn't say that I agree with her on every point she makes concerning me subtle bodies and how things really are in their spiritual nature of things. We might have slightly different conclusions regarding certain spiritual phenomena and experiences. However I would also say that her and I have much in common and I can understand why Frater Achar is so fond of her. Hers is a world full of spirits and spirit relationships and she would find herself right at home in the paracelsian paradigm that informs much of the frater's work. To this I would say while her and I might disagree on details we agree in the overall ecology of the spirit work. I do not know to what degree she draws on Paracelsus, a he does, that would be shocked to find out that she is unfamiliar with his work in such regard.

I've been meaning to see if I can find any materials from the course that may give me a glimpse of what it is about, but that will have to wait until after a few of the upcoming internet apprentice degrees that I have to study for.

 

[DiLoco_DelEted]

I will be reading through it. The apprentice series was very good, and I've read and tried to apply Magic of the North Gate.

 

[tranmut3]

I'm working with Quareia, generally i am enjoying it but like any system it is very 'specific' - i.e. it doent fit in with other systems, and seems to be rather antagonistic to traditional hermetic magick.
In terms of the 'price point' i think you have to buy the book, here is so much material to work through printing out doesnt really work in the long term as i quickly realised. I'm about halfway through the 1st book 'apprentice' , am enjoying it immensely and plan to do the next one - initiiate - after this.

 

[Abromoskot]

Greetings,

I'm curious if anyone would be kind enough to share their thoughts and/or experiences with Josephine McCarthy's Quareia course books. I've looked over the contents of the various level textbooks and am intrigued by the idea of a well-structured academic-style course related to Western Occultism in study and practice. The price point is another draw as it is somewhat rare to find this kind of material being put out freely!

Many Thanks,

G. Ephraim

The system is pretty good, well structured and well presented. I would define it as "dry" or rather "serious" perhaps it is similar to someone doing their job regardless of the outcome, the way I see Mccarthy teach this course as well as her previous Magical Knowledge Trilogy, it's a very to the point no-nonsense, no luster, no titles, no roundabout style of magic. Which I say as a compliment, there is only the Work and the knowledge put there, no additional stuff that can lead astray.

In her works she often talks and explains the concept of being of service, I think that's what gets across the most, that's what you are expected to do and to be if you are to take this specific course.

In general I recommend it, but as was said by others it is "hostile" to traditional GD style magick (and its derivates), in the sense that in general GD is very much a style, lusted and titles kind of current (as many masonic style currents), besides that there are also some explanations in the books themselves about why Mccarthy doesn't like GD magick per se, besides the lodge style which is basically antithetical to quareia.

 

[tranmut3]

The system is pretty good, well structured and well presented. I would define it as "dry" or rather "serious" perhaps it is similar to someone doing their job regardless of the outcome, the way I see Mccarthy teach this course as well as her previous Magical Knowledge Trilogy, it's a very to the point no-nonsense, no luster, no titles, no roundabout style of magic. Which I say as a compliment, there is only the Work and the knowledge put there, no additional stuff that can lead astray.

In her works she often talks and explains the concept of being of service, I think that's what gets across the most, that's what you are expected to do and to be if you are to take this specific course.

In general I recommend it, but as was said by others it is "hostile" to traditional GD style magick (and its derivates), in the sense that in general GD is very much a style, lusted and titles kind of current (as many masonic style currents), besides that there are also some explanations in the books themselves about why Mccarthy doesn't like GD magick per se, besides the lodge style which is basically antithetical to quareia.

i agree with everything you said. for me it's - at times - revelational, but it is absolutely about 'service' and about giving yourself up to the land around you. its very much the antithesis of 'results magick' which she continually ridicules, its hard to see how they can be combined.

 

[pwrsurg35]

I am also doing the course. I am enjoying it so far. It seems like I already was aligned with the thinking processes taught in the course before I started so it works out for me.
There is alot of emphasis on meditation and visualization- which can be difficult- but ultimately beneficial. There is ritual practices as well, and even nature magic.
I think if someone was interested, they can look at the Magical Trilogy books and get an overview of what is taught (although the magical tri is not the course itself) I also think some of the early lessons/modules are useful for anyone starting out- no matter what path they ultimately choose.

 

[NovareSerbando]

i have bought the first tome i read some of the tezt but i didn't started working properly. but Josephine seems really a great person and she answered my question really fast..
Everyone should remember that the first book has to be meticulously written and worked in a diary and for foreigners like me remember to write or at least re write in English because when you will send your work to the quareia trainers to be evaluated they won't accept other languages than english.
for me being italian is really annoying being me a kind of person who like to write pages and im not able to do schematics
But at least is a skills experience to better your English,

 

[pixel_fortune]

Everyone should remember that the first book has to be meticulously written and worked in a diary and for foreigners like me remember to write or at least re write in English because when you will send your work to the quareia trainers to be evaluated they won't accept other languages than english.

Given that they only want the diary to show you've done the work, could you scan your handwriting (handwriting recognition is incredibly good these days) and then use google translate? It wouldn't be perfect, but it's not a published book, it's just a record for someone to look through once

 

[pwrsurg35]

i have bought the first tome i read some of the tezt but i didn't started working properly. but Josephine seems really a great person and she answered my question really fast..
Everyone should remember that the first book has to be meticulously written and worked in a diary and for foreigners like me remember to write or at least re write in English because when you will send your work to the quareia trainers to be evaluated they won't accept other languages than english.
for me being italian is really annoying being me a kind of person who like to write pages and im not able to do schematics
But at least is a skills experience to better your English,

You can write in your own language if you want to. The experience of writing and journaling is to help you grow personally. Yes, if you want mentorship you will have to share your work- in particular the stuff related to the tasks and research. But If you need to write it on computer you still can. Any handwritten stuff can be translated if needed, as pixel mentioned. There is a point where you will do more computer notes and you will start to keep handwritten for your own personal use (you may have stuff here and there to potentially share)
But I should restate, if you want mentoring, you need to keep the journals and share it- you can go thru the course and not do the mentoring.

 

[OberonFromTheHills]

The amount of informations in that course is insane.

Plus i love how shady Joséphine McCarthy is.

When i need a good laugh i always return the part when she calls "Lilith a modern astral sex dolls for frustrated magicians"

 

[tranmut3]

a couple more thoughts on Quareia -
i think that in magick, it's very easy to become a 'collector' of hundreds of books, there is so much excellent material now available, not so expensive.

i'm a couple of years into Quareia, and i am now realising that it's such a big comprehensive system that, to make sufficeint progress and maintain momentum through the course modules, its almost impossible to devote any time to other forms of magick.
there's a lot of variety in Quareia. The modular rituals should be memorised, uttered phrases also, movements and visualisation also. there is also lots of reading + research to do, chapters from classical works to study as you go through the course, and sometimes 'actions' that you need to do (typically going into nature and doing things), and actions whih you have to make happen in your life before you can progress. all that takes time, and, unless you are a full time amateur magician, a singular devotion to the exclusion of other forms of magick.
i'm still a collector of different books / systems but i've reached the conclusion that the other stuff on my shelf are just little breaks now and again, whilst Quareia is the big machine.

 

[MehenVox]

a couple more thoughts on Quareia -
i think that in magick, it's very easy to become a 'collector' of hundreds of books, there is so much excellent material now available, not so expensive.

i'm a couple of years into Quareia, and i am now realising that it's such a big comprehensive system that, to make sufficeint progress and maintain momentum through the course modules, its almost impossible to devote any time to other forms of magick.
there's a lot of variety in Quareia. The modular rituals should be memorised, uttered phrases also, movements and visualisation also. there is also lots of reading + research to do, chapters from classical works to study as you go through the course, and sometimes 'actions' that you need to do (typically going into nature and doing things), and actions whih you have to make happen in your life before you can progress. all that takes time, and, unless you are a full time amateur magician, a singular devotion to the exclusion of other forms of magick.
i'm still a collector of different books / systems but i've reached the conclusion that the other stuff on my shelf are just little breaks now and again, whilst Quareia is the big machine.

Thank you for your explanation, when this system came out I was immediately fascinated by the completeness and complexity of the system itself.

Unfortunately, I had the impression that it was a system that did not give practical applications and that therefore was entirely focused on the inner world rather than on an active change in the reality in which I operate, the earthly one.

Anyway I bought all three manuals to support the work Josephine has undertaken, which definitely deserves praises.