Loren
LaLuna
About Loren LaLuna

Scottish by blood.
Seeker by nature.
Teacher by calling.

Rooted in the mystery traditions of the West, my work weaves together Hermeticism, astrology, tarot, Qabalah, witchcraft and animism. I honour the old ways while walking a very modern path.

In the house I grew up in, an dà shealladh, the two sights, was mentioned the way you might mention that someone had a good ear or a bad back. It was not romantic. Nobody performed it. It came with rules about what you did and did not say aloud, and with a quiet expectation that you would be useful with it rather than impressive.

That upbringing gave me two things I still work from. The first is a high tolerance for the ambiguity of spiritual experience: a thing can be real to you and still be difficult to prove, and both halves of that sentence matter. The second is a dislike of spectacle. The people I trusted most were the least theatrical.

When I began reading seriously I found the same material I had grown up with running through written sources I had never been told about. Charms recorded in the Highlands sat beside medieval planetary magic. The plant lore in my family's kitchen turned out to be the tail end of a herbal tradition with a paper trail centuries deep. Hermetic philosophy answered questions my folk practice had only gestured at. I have been following that seam ever since.

A tradition survives by being understood, not by being guarded.
Why I teach

Occultism has an old habit of secrecy, and some of it was earned: people were hanged, drowned and ruined for this. But secrecy outlived its usefulness and became a business model. Knowledge is withheld to create scarcity. Fear is manufactured to create demand. Beginners are told they are not ready, and then sold readiness.

I do the opposite, on purpose. I show sources. I name where a practice came from and where it was invented last Tuesday, because both can be worth doing and you deserve to know which you are holding. I teach the technique and then I get out of the way, because the relationship you build with spirit, land and your own mind is not something I can have on your behalf.

Four commitments I keep

History first

You will always be told where something comes from, and how old it actually is.

No fear as a sales tool

You will not hear that you are cursed, doomed, or spiritually behind.

Doubt is method

Testing a result and keeping a record are ancient practices too.

Your practice is yours

The aim is your own competence and discernment, not a lifetime of dependence.

The shape of the work

What I actually do

I run the Esoterica Academy, where courses, study circles and mentorship run through the year. I read privately for a small number of clients. I lead two covens, one online and one local, and practise as a member of two closed covens, alongside a closed study group in astrology and tarot. I facilitate seasonal rites, séances and workshops, in Southern California and online. I write long essays, record a podcast, and make short teaching pieces for anyone who will never take a course and should still get something true.

Ways to work together

Letters from the fireside

Reflections, essays and teachings delivered to your inbox.