---
title: "Archaeomancy Explained: Frater Barrabbas, Qabalah, and the Forty Worlds System"
url: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/post/archaeomancy-explained-frater-barrabbas-qabalah-and-the-forty-worlds-system/
date: 2026-04-20
modified: 2026-07-03
lang: en
author: "Perseus Arcane Academy"
description: "Introduction Frater Barrabbas Tiresius is a practicing ritual magician who has studied magic and the occult for over forty years. He believes that ritual magic is a discipline whose mystery..."
categories:
  - "Interviews"
  - "Western Traditions"
tags:
  - "Ceremonial Magic"
  - "Magic"
  - "Quabbalah"
image: https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/BarrabbasTiresius-author-photo-released-04-24-2022-768x1024.webp
word_count: 3723
---

# Archaeomancy Explained: Frater Barrabbas, Qabalah, and the Forty Worlds System

## Introduction

Frater Barrabbas Tiresius is a practicing ritual magician who has studied magic and the occult for over forty years. He believes that ritual magic is a discipline whose mystery is unlocked by continual practice and by occult experiences and revelations. Frater Barrabbas believes that traditional approaches should be balanced with creativity and experimentation, and that no occult or magical tradition is exempt from changes and revisions.

Over the years, he found that his practical magical discipline was the real source for all his creative efforts. That creative process helped him build and craft a unique and different kind of magical system, one that is quite unlike any other yet based on common Wiccan practices. So, despite its uniqueness this magical system is capable of being easily adapted and used by others.

Frater Barrabbas is also the founder of a magical order called the Order of the Gnostic Star and he is an elder and lineage holder in the Alexandrian tradition of Witchcraft.

---

## Interview

![Frater Barrabbas](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/BarrabbasTiresius-author-photo-released-04-24-2022-768x1024.webp)Frater Barrabbas

**PAA: You describe Archaeomancy as something that grew out of a single word by [Michael Bertiaux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Bertiaux) that stayed with you for decades. Do you feel like you discovered this system as a sudden insight, or that it revealed itself slowly over time?**

There were actually both processes at work in the development of Archaeomancy. When Michael Bertiaux briefly described his idea, it had a powerful effect on my imagination. I began to have impressions about what that magic would look like and determined that it involved the Qabalistic structure of the Forty Worlds. After that, I developed my magical technology over time to best accommodate the process of working with the various angelic beings in these worlds. Yet that was just the first approach to this magical topic and it spanned the 1980’s into the 1990’s. 

The second approach was taught to me by the Nephilim, who helped me to develop a new approach to the Tree of Life. They presented to me a Tree of Life pattern without the Sephiroth, showing the skeletal lattice where triangular shapes were emphasized, and that just below the supernal triad were two trapezoidal shapes. There is a total of eighteen of these shapes formed by the pathways, and these are the Qabalistic Dimensions, which became the focus for this new system of magic. I developed a system of magic that would aid me to enter into these dimensions to experience the source or core of the Tree of Life. This magical technology is discussed in greater detail in the second volume of this series on Archaeomancy.

[![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/410vrJZMgOL._SY445_SX342_FMwebp_.webp)](https://www.amazon.com/Liber-Artis-Archaeomancy-Mastering-Angels/dp/1968185062/ref=books_amazonstores_desktop_mfs_aufs_ap_sc_dsk_0?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=qyFyH&content-id=amzn1.sym.9c9a049f-252a-49d9-a8c2-e300a1663200&pf_rd_p=9c9a049f-252a-49d9-a8c2-e300a1663200&pf_rd_r=134-3606462-8601428&pd_rd_wg=2BqeJ&pd_rd_r=6359bdcc-c5f6-4d1b-9ad7-014cb6b807a1)Liber Artis Archaeomancy: Mastering the Angels of the Four Worlds (June 2026 Release - Pre order now)

**PAA: This book, being a manual, also has the components of a philosophical work. What compelled you towards this format?**

Overall, this book is a practical approach to the art of angelic invocation involving the forty Qabalistic domains. I also wanted to discuss the historical precedence for this kind of magic in Medieval Europe, and how what I am proposing now is a variation of what was performed in that world. I am also a pagan and a Witch, so that will color how I approach angelic spirits, and how I view the world. While all this is true, I did not seek to include any philosophical speculation in this book, but it does attempt to create a sacralized environment in a very secular post-modern world.

**PAA: You mention that this system of magic developed in the 1980s and 1990s. What changes in your understanding of Archaeomancy occurred over those years?**

While the initial development for Archaeomancy of the Forty Worlds was begun in the late 1980’s, with the basic concept or target domains for this work, the actual magical technology evolved over time. This is especially true with the development of the second methodology of gaining entrance into the dimensions. Even as recently as the early 2000’s this magic has been in a state of development, mostly refinements and the ritualized utility for others in my magical social circle. The earliest inspiration remained the same, but the technical methodology evolved and changed over the decades.

**PAA: Can Archaeomancy, in practice, be distinguished from classical ceremonial magic?**

The differences between my system of magic and ceremonial magic are considerable. As technics of magic, they have some common ground, but they differ in the approach. First and foremost, godhead assumption is the primary state and mindset of the ritual magician who would practice my system of magic. While I will use a magic circle, it is to define the boundary between the sacred precinct of the temple and the outer profane world. What this means is that all magical operations and interactions with spirits occur within the magic circle and not without. There is no need nor requirement for the magician to hide behind a protective magic circle while engaging with spirits. Because a ritual magician is exposed directly to the spirits that they invoke or evoke, they rely on their godhead assumption to mitigate any potential harm that they might experience while engaging with these entities inside of their defined spiritual domain.

My system of magic uses internal cross-roads, gateways, pylons, and energy vortices that make the magical workings directly tangible through a process of immersion. Direct contact with the spirits conjured is startling different from what is practiced in ceremonial magic. Also, godhead assumption allows the magician to be fully inspired by their personal Deity so that the ritual script can be completely abrogated for a more impromptu approach. Immersion allows for spiritual transformation of the highest kind, since there is a direct contact between the magician and the conjured spirit. Oddly enough, I have discussed the idea of immersion with other practitioners and I have discovered that left-hand path magicians use the same kind of approach. 

So, I don’t consider myself a ceremonial magician because I decided long ago that strictly following a tradition was too constraining. I also find that ceremonial magic is too wedded to the Abrahamic faiths, and I am too much of a pagan to follow such a path. Ceremonial magicians also treat my system of magic with a certain disdain, where one such individual referred to my magical system as “stinking of Witchcraft,” which I took as a badge of honor. 

> Entering the domain of spirits, whether angelic, neutral or demonic has the effect of producing deep, profound, and highly impactful spiritual transformation.
>
> Frater Barrabbas

**PAA: What are the side effects of entering the domains of spirits?**

Entering the domain of spirits, whether angelic, neutral or demonic has the effect of producing deep, profound, and highly impactful spiritual transformation. The main purpose for angels is to evolve the practitioner and rely on their help to become a better person, and ultimately to achieve enlightenment. While most magicians start out seeking personal power and material gain, yet at a certain point in their quest, if they continue their work, they will change it to one that is about seeking knowledge, wisdom and self-mastery. This is where the interrelationship with spirits can have its most positive and constructive effect on the practitioner; when they have given up the pursuit of material gain and personal empowerment.

**PAA: Can Archaeomancy be understood without being practiced?**

A person can always understand any form of magic from a theoretical perspective, given that they have a good imagination and a basic education in the occult. Archaeomancy is no different in this way than any other system of magic, although it is more complex and has more ritual components. However, unless and until someone successful performs one of these ritual workings, they can never know how potent and profound this system of magic actually is when compared to other systems. To know is to do, is my personal aphorism when contemplating any form of magic. Outsiders will view this magical system as overly complex and perhaps too dissimilar from other systems of conjuring spirits, particularly if they are a practitioner of one of the more traditional systems of magic. My hope is that people will not only read my book but actually try to construct their own rituals and perform a magical working using this system. Those who can do that will discover the value of this magical approach.

**PAA: Do you see the forty worlds mapped through the Qabalah as something objectively real?**

The Qabalah, whether we are talking about the Forty Worlds, the Eighteen Dimensions, or the structure of the Tree of Life, presents to the practitioner a simplified model of what is very complex and beyond any kind of mind-based approach. Just as a map is not the actual physical terrain that it seeks to describe, models of spiritual consciousness are also symbolic representations that cannot be confused with the reality. They are representations, overly simplistic so we can approach and grasp them with our mind. To truly apprehend this spiritual world, we would need the eye of spirit rather than the eye of mind. What I have found by experiencing the subtle planes of consciousness is that symbols are protean and changeable, and words and mental constructs of any kind are useless.

**PAA: How should a practitioner use the relationship between the eighteen dimensions and the forty worlds?**

The Qabalistic Forty Worlds structure is one of many models of the domain of the inner planes, and it is not the only model. The Qabalah of the Eighteen Dimensions is another model that I was taught by the Nephilim, or the fallen Sons of God. Either approach is just another way of taking a view-point on the Tree of Life, where one sees the ten Sephiroth through the four Worlds, and the other sees the triangular structures of the Tree of Life as actual living spiritual worlds. What binds them together is the Tree of Life, but any approach used to define sacred space using symbolic models is limited by the fact that the mind cannot fully comprehend the domain of spirit.

**PAA: Do you see the intricate and extensive correspondences in your book as a language to be learned and spoken?**

Tables of correspondence are an arrangement of unrelated materials, concepts and symbols that when combined using a template describe a spiritual concept. In that way, it could be construed a language. Since my system of spirit conjuring uses a matrix of symbols to define a specific Qabalistic domain where resides a spiritual being, or a hierarchical group of spiritual beings, then one could conclude that the use of these symbols forms a magical language of conjuration. Used as such, it describes and fully defines the place of residence of a spirit. When it is used with a ritual technology, that symbolic description becomes fully realized, opening up a Qabalistic world to the magician.

> In numerous ways, myths protect us from the real truth, which would be confusing and disturbing, and it would negate much of what passes as dogma and theology in most religions. Myths can also point to the truth, but only to those who are willing to question their face value and to seek their underlying mystery. 
>
> Frater Barrabbas

**PAA: From magic to theology, what do you think most people are missing about angelic beings?**

Religious beliefs about angels, as well as associated folklore, present to the faithful a logical and friendly exoteric perspective. There is a hierarchy of good angels, and they do the work of God in heaven. Then there are the bad angels, who reside in the underworld of Hell, and are used by God to tempt and lead astray the unbeliever and the unfaithful. It is a very simple, neat and tidy representation of something that is very complicated and not at all as friendly and reassuring.

First off, there is no one supreme godhead, there are in fact many gods answering to a myriad of human spiritual needs and wants. There is, in all of this, a singularity, which I call the One, but it has no name nor any kind of interactive personality. It is the union of all being, the source of all that was, is and ever shall be. The closest we can get to that holistic being is through the highest states of consciousness, called by many names, but is a form of conscious illumination.

In numerous ways, myths protect us from the real truth, which would be confusing and disturbing, and it would negate much of what passes as dogma and theology in most religions. Myths can also point to the truth, but only to those who are willing to question their face value and to seek their underlying mystery. 

With that said, I can state that spiritual beings reside in the archetypal domain of consciousness, and have both a symbolic existence and an activated and manifested instantiation. They exist in a place called the inner planes and function in specific roles. Since there is no supreme Deity, then there is no polarity in the spiritual world. There is just the functional roles and the striation of spiritual or material density. There was no rebellion against heaven, and demons reside in the underworld because it is close to the earth and the place of their origin. They are not evil or good, since such moral values have no relevance in the spiritual world. Things are much more complicated, and angels, demons, earth spirits, fairies, and the whole host of disembodied entities do not have conflict with each other.

These ideas, which I have gleaned by a long period of interacting and communicating with these spiritual beings are so far removed from what non-practicing people believe about angels that it becomes for me a point of not communicating what I have experienced. However, all spirits can have a role in helping a human being to perfect themselves over time. What is required is for the seeker to break past the exoteric beliefs that function as a barrier in order to discover the esoteric truth.

**PAA: How much of the emotions and personalities of angels and demons are projections, and how much is intrinsic to the entities?**

As I have pointed out previously, spirits have a symbolic existence and an activated and manifested instantiation. That process of materialization is determined by the beliefs and expectations of the practitioner. When I have achieved states of consciousness that reside in the subtle realms, I have observed spirits assuming an egg-shaped globe of colored light. However, in my imagination, they appear in the guise based on my expectations, wearing the characteristics of their symbolic nature as I interpret them.

**PAA: Is there truly a division between “high” angelic magic and “low” goetic practice?**

Conjuring any kind of spirit using whatever manner of magic might be considered “high” magic, and performing magical spells to acquire material benefits might be considered “low” magic. Using magic to help or harm others, to obtain enlightenment, or selfishly empower and enrich oneself could also represent polarized perspectives on the practice of magic. However, there must always be included the context of one’s intention, and social and material situations to consider. Thus, defining this kind of a binary approach to magic is likely an inaccurate assumption. Since I don’t see angels and demons as opposed or representing good or evil, then such a perspective on high magic or low magic is practically irrelevant.

**PAA: Did you already have the chance to see Archaeomancy consistently transform the lives of others?**

Yes indeed – those who shared these workings with me were transformed by them, although temporarily. As I have stated in my book, a person would need to have a continuous ongoing spiritual discipline and practice and then to integrate what was experienced into that discipline in order for the transformative revelations to be more permanent.

**PAA: What really is spiritual renewal all about? And is it the goal of Archaeomancy?**

Renewal sounds like maintenance to me, such as maintaining a spiritual discipline by periodic religious-magical events or experiences. Archaeomancy is a magical system that produces a profound spiritual transformation that can completely change someone’s orientation or belief-system. When practiced as an ordeal, it can overcome all personal obstacles and bring the practitioner face to face with their personal godhead, with all the revelations, insights and visions, and realizations that that might incur. Whether or not someone has a regular and consistent spiritual discipline, after successfully performing one of these ordeals, they will quickly adopt one in some fashion or another.

**PAA: You speak of “veil of darkness” that brings emptiness and terror along the path. How important is this veil and what is it veiling?**

I talk in my book about the absolute source of beingness as the One. From a Qabalistic perspective, that would be the Sephirah of Kether. Yet behind and beyond the One is the None, which is source of being as Non-Being. This would be the Ain Soph in the Qabalah. From the perspective of individual beings, such as we are, the idea of non-being would be a veil of darkness that is terrifying. If we cannot consciously comprehend the One, which is the source of all being, then how can we expect to understand non-being. Buddhists have stated in their various sutras that what is beyond and also the source of all beingness is emptiness. This metaphor is what I was trying to relate, in my limited fashion using words, what is the actual source of everything. The veil is our own blindness and the inability to mentally comprehend these very exalted, spiritual concepts.

**PAA: When revising and innovating a tradition, should we risk distorting it or should we prevent it at all costs?**

I am the last person to defend any kind of tradition or orthodoxy when it comes to the practice of magic. It is my strong belief that in each new age, a magician must reinvent the practice of magic. Traditions of magic cannot be transported or accurately reconstructed from one age to another because the cultural context supporting that tradition is irreparably lost. 

I sought to show this when examining angelic magic as it was practiced in Medieval Europe and then comparing how it is practiced today. So much has changed in how we see the world around us that it is surprising that magic can even be practiced by intelligent people in our post-modern world. A magician must invent their tradition, using the various practices of the past along with more modern practices that will hopefully produce a complete and workable system of magic. People saw supernatural occurrences easily in the 16th century because that was the framework of their culture and their religious beliefs and expectations. We are not the same people, so we have to work at breaking out of our culture determinants in order to see and experience spirits. This is why meditation and trance are so integral to the practice of magic today, where it was not as important to practitioners in the previous age.

Preserving a tradition of magic that no longer has relevancy in our current age is a fool’s errand, in my opinion. This is because reconstructing a tradition is basically changing it in a fundamental manner.  

**PAA: Did your work within the Order of the Gnostic Star influence the development of Archaeomancy?**

Archaeomancy was developed for use by the members of the Order, or at least the Qabalah of the Forty Worlds. However, in the early 90’s the mother temple fell apart, and since then there has not been an active temple to use what I had developed. Additionally, in the 1990’s I developed the second methodology of Archaeomancy, and then in the 2000’s all this lore was redeveloped along with the Abramelin Lunar Ordeal to become the resident lore of the Order. While I did share the transdimensional system of Archaeomancy with a few members of the Order, the revised version and the additional lore have not been engaged by anyone in Order as far as I know. I am hoping that changes with the publication of this book and the next in the series.

**PAA: Is this system something that should be adapted to evolve, or something that requires fidelity to the original structure?**

As I stated previously, I am against any kind of orthodoxy, including for my own work, which, I might add, has changed and evolved over the years. I would assume that someone who would seek to use this system of magic would adapt it to their own system. They would thereby create a hybrid, and then over time, it would evolve into something that is unique to their own personal practice. This is a very natural progression for magical development, and one that I would highly approve. I am a strong believer that magicians should show fidelity and consistently to their personal practice. They owe no fealty to me and what I have developed, since I am just another practitioner with a different perspective.

[![](https://staging13.perseusarcaneacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/811XQFePpLL._SY466_.jpg)](https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Ritual-Magick-Frater-Barrabbas/dp/1959883364)

**PAA: Who is the ideal reader of this book?**

This is an advanced book on magic. Beginners would probably not find it very useful, since it will be seen by them as complex and having many ritual components. What a beginner needs to do is build their own magical system from the ground up, and I do have a book that teaches a beginner how to do that – “[Mastering the Art of Ritual Magick.](https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Ritual-Magick-Frater-Barrabbas/dp/1959883364)” My audience for this book is individuals who already have their own system of magic and have practiced magic intensively for a few years. Such a person will see the value of this system of magic and be able to adapt it to their own system. I am hoping that people who read this book will also attempt to perform the rituals that are in it. I think that anyone who can achieve this goal will be greatly rewarded by what they experience. To make the best use of this system of magic, it also requires an individual to have their own well-established spiritual discipline, so that when they perform one of these ordeals, it will be able to permanently change and transform them.

**PAA: Thanks to Frater Barrabbas for taking part in this interview and to Andre Consciencia for facilitating this interview. **

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## Learn More

##### Frater Barrabbas Books

##### Blog

##### Amazon Author Page

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