Apocalyptic Witchcraft
by Peter Grey
The spectre of witchcraft is haunting the West, the dead giving up their secrets. This is a ritual unveiling of these mysteries. It is a vision and a revelation of the mythopoetic structure of the Art.
Apocalyptic Witchcraft is a bold project which does not seek to impose an orthodoxy on what is the heresy of heresies. Instead, it suggests a way forward. Apocalyptic Witchcraft gives a compelling and profound account of the Sabbat and Wild Hunt as living experiences. These are the core of our ritual practice. Dream, lunar and menstrual magic are explored as a path to this knowledge. The wolf, the devil, and the goddess of witchcraft are then encountered in a landscape that ultimately reveals the witch to her or himself. These are not separate threads, but arise from a deep mythic structure and are woven together into a single unifying vision. Alternating between polemic, poetic and ecstatic prose, an harmonious course is revealed in a sequence of elegant stratagems. The book is threaded together with a cycle of hymns to Inanna, pearls on the tapestry of night. Seemingly disparate aspects are joined into a vision which is neither afraid of blessing nor curse. This is a daring undertaking, born from both urgency and need. It offers a renewed sense of purpose and meaning for a witchcraft that has seen many of its treasured ideas about itself destroyed. An apocalyptic age demands an apocalyptic witchcraft, and this is a book which is offered up to revolutionise the body of the craft, a way out of the dark impasse.
Tradition is not static, it flows, and this work pours forth a vision for the future. Founded in pilgrimage and ritual, encountered in dreams and gleaned from the conversations of both doves and crows, a remarkable narrative unfolds. Its wings span from prehistory, through the witch panic and it emerges fully fledged into our present moment of crisis. It offers a witchcraft for our time.
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Table of Contents
Exordium
I Inanna ascends
APOCALYPTIC WITCHCRAFT
II This is War
A MANIFESTO OF APOCALYPTIC WITCHCRAFT
III Who sings this?
SHE IS WITHOUT
THE CUP, THE CROSS AND THE CAVE
IV This dance for Inanna
A SPELL TO AWAKEN ENGLAND
V The knives are out
THE SCAFFOLD OF LIGHTING
VI Venus phosphorous flare
THE CHILDREN THAT ARE HIDDEN AWAY
VII Midnight Sun
A WOLF SENT FORTH TO SNATCH AWAY A LAMB
VIII Flayed by sun rays
FIFTEEN
IX This the blood cup
HIC RHODUS, HIC SALTA!
X Whore star of heaven
Bibliography
Index
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Paperback Edition
200 pages. Sewn paperback, printed on 100 gsm paper.
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Press, reviews, endorsements
“Apocalyptic Witchcraft is a poetic contemplation of the role of the natural world in the practice of the Craft. Of the visionary journey through uncharted nature that must occur in the lives of those who would work with spirits of the land. A paean to the landscape and all that it holds in its bosom, to the feminine and masculine forces of nature. It weaves a narrative of the soot covered past of the Craft at the edge of mankind’s first fire to the encroaching edge of urbanization eating away at the wilds of the world…
Grey manages to look under the edge of our practice, to single out the hypocrisies of modern living and spiritual practice centered on nature in a world quickly being destroyed. Drawing on authors both poetic and academic, legends and mythologies interwoven and spread over the world that feed a common narrative of magician and witch as protector of nature and her bounty.
Apocalyptic Witchcraft is a manifesto of contemporary craft practice. A timely and rewarding personal journey through the roots and caves of the conscious of the witch and all that dances from the Wild Hunt to the Sabbat.”
The Skeptical Occultist - read the full review here
“I believe that this book is another important milestone within the world of Occult Publishing and Witchcraft in general. For those who are already on the fence and have some inkling as to what this book relates to, my whole recommendation and this post can be summarised quickly and simply: it’s an important work, if you are the least bit interested, order a copy at the next available opportunity.”
The Luciferian Revolution - read the full review here
“What does ‘Apocalyptic Witchcraft’ mean? I’m still not entirely sure. I do know it means action and fearlessness. It means enfolding art into whatever it is we do. It means embracing magic as a philosophical, artistic, and practical way of living – not just as a spiritual orientation. I know Grey is tapping into a Current that is pulling many people forward right now. I feel it, too, though I am not able to articulate it in any way at this time. Ultimately, each of us will need to find out what apocalyptic witchcraft means for ourselves. Good thing Peter Grey is pulling us forward with his vision and art.”
Nikki Whiting - read the full review here
Book Excerpt by Peter Grey in Cunning Folk Magazine - read it here
Book Review by Blackbird Song - watch on YouTube here
Author Talk by Peter Grey on the SittingNow channel - watch on YouTube here
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About the Author
Peter Grey is a writer, and the co-founder of Scarlet Imprint. He is the author of The Red Goddess (2007), which has inspired the resurgence of interest in Babalon, the goddess of Revelation. His Apocalyptic Witchcraft (2013) has been called the most important modern book on witchcraft, placing it in the mythopoetic context of the sabbat and in a landscape suffering climate and ecological collapse. His collected writings, from 2008–2018, are published in The Brazen Vessel (2019) with those of Alkistis Dimech. His notable work, The Two Antichrists (2021), is a return to the Babalon and Antichrist workings of Jack Parsons and his eclipsed sodality The Witchcraft. His Lucifer: Princeps (2015) is a study of the origins of the figure of Lucifer; followed up by his most recent work; its second instalment Lucifer: Praxis (2025).
He has spoken at private and public events and conferences worldwide to both practitioners and academics. These have included Occulture, the Occult Conferences in Glastonbury and London, Treadwell’s Bookshop, the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle, Flambeau Noir in Portland, the Psychology, Art and the Occult conference in London, Here to Go II in Norway, the Trans-States conference in Northampton University, the Magic and Ecology conference for CRASSH at Cambridge University and Pagan Federation events. He can be heard on podcasts including Rune Soup, Secret History of Western Esotericism Podcast, Right Where you are Sitting Now, Thelema Now, Spirit Box, Quarantine Sessions with Jake Kobrin, Against Everyone with Conner Habib, Grimerica, Witches and Wine, Thoth-Hermes, and Rendering Unconscious.
Peter lives with his lover Alkistis Dimech in Cornwall on the edge of the Lizard peninsula, where he surfs in the cold Atlantic, walks the ancient land and pursues his magical practice.
