Stephen Skinner

After graduating from Sydney University, Stephen Skinner began his career as a geography lecturer at what is now the University of Technology in Sydney. He authored his first book on esoteric subjects, The Search for Abraxas, in 1972 with co-author Nevill Drury. He migrated to London in the same year and co-authored Techniques of High Magic with Francis King in 1976.

After spending some time in the manuscript reading rooms of what was then the British Museum, he produced Terrestrial Astrology: Divinatory Geomancy, which is still the most complete work in English on the history and practice of Western divinatory geomancy. After reading the manuscript diaries of Dr John Dee, he published a dictionary of the angelic language with Dr Don Laycock. He then published a facsimile edition of Meric Casaubon’s True & Faithfull Relation of what passed for many Yeers [sic] between Dr. John Dee…and some Spirits…

He edited both the Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley (1923) and the first edition of Crowley’s Astrology.

Highly illustrated coffee-table books such as Millennium Prophecies: Apocalypse 2000, Nostradamus (with Francis King) and Sacred Geometry for Gaia/Hamlyn, pursuing a longstanding interest in geometry, followed.

Reverting to his interest in European magic, in 2005 he edited a completely reset edition of Henry Cornelius Agrippa’s often maligned Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy. From 2004 – 2010 he collaborated with David Rankine to produce the first six volumes of the Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic series. This has involved much manuscript research into, and transcription of, important grimoires from the 16th-18th centuries, resulting in completely new and much expanded editions of The Key of Solomon, the Lemegeton (including the Liber Malorum seu Goetia, Ars Almadel, Theurgia-Goetia, and Ars Paulin), Janua Reserata, and Sefer Raziel: Liber Salomonis (with Don Karr). The series also includes the Clavicula Tabularum Enochi, an expansion of Dr John Dee’s angel magic texts by the 17th century magician Dr Thomas Rudd, and a unique Solomonic grimoire pseudepigraphically attributed to St. Cyprian of Antioch.

During this time he produced a substantial reference book, The Complete Magician’s Tables a tabular summary of the correspondences important to the theory and practice of magic, Kabbalistic framework, attendant angels and demons from many grimoires, gods of many cultures, constituents of astrology (Greek, Babylonian and Egyptian), gem stones, plants, perfumes, incenses of practical magic, gematria and isopsephy of many Greek and Hebrew words and correspondences with Eastern belief systems like the Yi Jing are all included. A total of over 840 comparative tables.

Stephen summarized the practical magic techniques found in the grimoires in his Techniques of Solomonic Magic in 2015. He then went back to the main root of all western magic, the Greek magical papyri written in Egypt between the 1st and 5th centuries, and extracted from the Greek text details of all the methods used by these magicians which he published in Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic in 2014. Both books concentrate on practical magical techniques as recorded by the magicians who actually used them. 

Stephen is also the author of more than a dozen books on classical feng shui, including the first one written in English in the 20th century, Feng Shui: The Living Earth Manual. He has also edited four translations of feng shui texts from classical Chinese and wrote a substantial reference book to the subject: Guide to the Feng Shui Compass, the fruit of years of research into Chinese sources in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Stephen has written more than 46 books, translated into more than twenty different languages. He was awarded a PhD in Classics by the University of Newcastle for his research on the Greek text of the PGM and a number of Latin grimoires. Stephen lives in Singapore.

Features contributed to The Witches' Almanac:

Greaco-Egyptian Magic, The Witches’ Almanac 2017, p. 30

Bibliography:

Books on Magic, Western Esoteric Tradition, etc.
The Search for Abraxas (with Nevill Drury), Nevill Spearman 1972, Salamander 2013, Golden Hoard 2016
Techniques of High Magic (with Francis King), Daniels 1976, Inner Traditions 1981, Affinity 2005, Golden Hoard 2016
The Oracle of Geomancy: Techniques of Earth Divination, Prism, Devon, 1987
Terrestrial Astrology: Divination by Geomancy, Law Book, Sydney,
Nostradamus: Prophecies of the World's Greatest Seer : Prophecies Fulfilled and Predictions for the Millennium & Beyond (with Francis King) , Carlton, London, 1994
Millennium Prophecies: Predictions For The Year 2000 And Beyond, Carlton, London, 1994
Practical Angel Magic of Dr John Dee's Enochian Tables (with David Rankine), Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2004
The Keys to the Gateway of Magic (with David Rankine), Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2005
Sacred Geometry, Gaia Books / Sterling Publishing 2006
Clavis Inferni: the Grimoire of Saint Cyprian (with David Rankine), Golden Hoard 2009
The Goetia of Dr Rudd: Liber Malorum Spirituum (with David Rankine), Golden Hoard 2009
Geomancy in Theory & Practice, Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2011
Veritable Key of Solomon (with David Rankine), Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2011
Dr John Dee's Spiritual Diaries (1583-1608): the revised edition of ‘A True & Faithful Relation of what passed between Dr John Dee & some Spirits’, Golden Hoard 2011
Key to the Latin of Dr John Dee's Spiritual Diaries (1583-1608), Golden Hoard 2012
Sepher Raziel also known as Liber Salomonis a 1564 English Grimoire (with Don Karr), Golden Hoard 2010
Techniques of Graeco-Egyptian Magic, Golden Hoard, Llewellyn, 2014
Techniques of Solomonic Magic, Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2015
The Complete Magician's Tables, Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2015
The Voynich Manuscript: The Complete Edition of the World' Most Mysterious and Esoteric Codex, Watkins, London, 2017

Books edited and introduced by
The Magical Diaries of Aleister Crowley, Red Wheel Weiser/ Spearman, London, 1996
Agrippa's Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, Ibis Books, Lake Worth, 2005
The Archidoxes of Magic, Ibis Books, Lake Worth, 2005
Michael Psellus on the Operation of Daemons, Golden Hoard, Singapore, 2010

Books on Feng Shui
Guide to the Feng Shui Compass: a Compendium of Classical Feng Shui, Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2008
Feng Shui History: the story of Classical Feng Shui in China and the West from 221 BC to 2012 AD, Golden Hoard, Llewellyn 2013
Advanced Flying Star Feng Shui, Golden Hoard/Llewellyn 2015
The Living Earth Manual of Feng Shui, RKP, Penguin, Arkana, Brash 1976, 1981, 1991, 2006
KISS Guide to Feng Shui (Keep It Simple Series), DK, London, 2001
Feng Shui: The Traditional Oriental Way To Enhance Your Life, Parragon, London, 2002
Feng Shui Style: The Asian Art of Gracious Living, Periplus, Singapore, 2004
The Water Dragon, Golden Hoard/CreateSpace 2016
The Original Eight Mansions Formula, Golden Hoard/CreateSpace 2016
The Key San He Feng Shui Formulas, Golden Hoard/CreateSpace 2016
The Mountain Dragon, Golden Hoard/CreateSpace 2016

Stephen's website can be found here

Stephen's Wikipedia entry can be found here