Book Review: '#OpGrimoire: The Hexorian Field Guide to Urban Witchcraft' by Agent M

#OpGrimoire is the physical field manual for a vibrant emerging magical current that I think will only grow in importance in times to come: The Hexorian Movement, which has thus far mainly been communicated via various digital and social media channels. Because of the archetypal importance and relevance of the current's focus, I think it was a very wise decision by the members of the movement (credit for this goes to Agent M) to publish in physical form this resource which organizes and compiles the essential details, both theoretical and practical, needed to participate fully in this current. This has made it much more accessible, which will help the movement to grow.

If I had to sum this current up in a few words, I would describe it as "urban shamanism meets chaos magic." Hexorian Witchcraft is the magic of the decidedly postmodern urban magician. Why am I reviewing it here, on a blog dedicated to exploring the intersection of magic and video games? It's because there's a close relationship between urban magic and video game magic; the two occupy adjacent spaces that also overlap just a tad. It is very likely (though not a given) that anyone interested in combining video games with magic has lived a life shaped in important ways by the urban environment and lifestyle (it’s hard to imagine, but there are exceptions, places in the world where people live mostly traditional lives, but wearing Western clothes and such). To look at the relationship in another way, the domain of the digital simply does not come into existence, historically, without the domain of urbanity. Video games were born in cities, and are a popular pastime in many urban settings where quality outdoor spaces can sometimes be hard to find. Lastly, I remember growing up that one of my favorite computer games was SimCity 2000; as such, it is very likely that I eventually write posts that combine these two currents, and I will probably take some breaks from my focus on video games here to write about some of my own Hexorian work.

I also think it's important to feature books like this one because there is more to the "World of Ruin" theme here than doom and gloom. A book like this could not have been written prior to the Aeon of Horus and is one of its more positive consequences.

As the book explains, the Hexorian current was born on August 8th, 2020 when Yahve Alexander awoke from a strange dream in which the name "Hexorius" appeared to him. Following a series of synchronicities and "chance" encounters bringing strangers together, Hexorius was divined to be an emerging (or, perhaps, awakening) god who presides over the hidden or "Underworld" aspects of all cities.

There are other deities who have since joined Hexorius in this emerging pantheon, including Valdas, representing the Hexorian assault from below on the city above; Arcadia, symbolized by a fox or a woman with a fox face, representing the realization of the current's objectives as well as the balance between humans and their environment; and of course, Eleora (whose sigil is pictured below), A Goddess of the Digital Crossroads, who partakes of the essences of Athena, Hekate, and Saraswati. Eleora is an embodiment of the very relationship between cities and the digital that I described above, and her presence in the pantheon is the best possible link yet between this site and the Hexorian Movemement.

This book will introduce you to the entire Hexorian pantheon, along with the "urban elementals," or the four classes of modern "nature spirits" who aid the Hexorian magician as the classical elements aided the classical magician. You will be shown the Hexorian Compass, a sigil and magical tool to help you navigate the magical byways of your city watched over by Hexorius. You will learn a beautiful dedication ceremony to connect with the current and a daily ritual practice to fuel your journey. Everything you need to join a worldwide community of City Mages to empower yourself and your community is in this affordable volume.

The Hexorian Current is relatively young and this is a good time to join it. I think this book helps to fill in an important gap in the occult book market. Historically, magick and urban life have always gone together; in fact, I have always felt that there was something inherently magical about cities and the more I learned about both magic and cities, the more committed I've grown to that view. Having learned magic myself in an entirely suburban setting with modern pop culture contexts as primary, there has in fact always been a strong need for something like this to help me feel more connected to my environment, because it's jarring when you're trying to learn magic and you live in a city, but the only books available frame magic in a nature-oriented context. The opinion that magic belongs to the wilds and dies in cities is just that: An opinion, a mindset, and in a modern world where most people find themselves in or near an urban environment, that is simply a very limiting attitude.

There have been books on this subject before, but I feel a stronger resonance with the Hexorian Movement because it is a grassroots movement that formed spontaneously, with an open and egalitarian ethos that isn't putting one person at the helm and concentrating magical power on them to the point that their ego bursts from overinflation. This isn't just some popular occult author's take on the civic aspects of their otherwise Pagan practice: This is civic magic born as a child to a loving parent, and then raised by an equally loving village. This means the Hexorian current partakes of the essence of cities in ways that mass-marketed books do not. This is a source you can trust.

If you're interested in learning more about The Hexorian Movement, you can buy the book today at Amazon. There is also a Facebook group where members of the movement convene, and from there you can find your way to their other online hubs of activity:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hexorius