Once the largest private library of esoteric historicism in the world, in 1635 the Institute moved its headquarters from Prague to Zurich and began accepting qualified members. In 1927 The Institute of Magical Historicity moved its headquarters to San Francisco and became a private, membership based, academic think tank.

 

Our mission is to leverage our unique history and resources to research, document, and explore the numinous in all its manifestations.

 

We offer limited classes to the public, as permitted by the Amsterdam “Forbidden” Accords.

Administration

Benjamin Wachs

President

A former Papal Nuncio, since excommunicated, he is the author of both editions of the divinatory arcanum "Choose Your Words Carefully" and the Isperieth fairytales "Lamenting Avalon." A student of the legendary Victor Raskin, he was the recipient of the 1999 Antioch award for his research on the uses of laughter in the occult, and the 2011 Griswa Medallion for his study of the uses of ritual in warfare. His current research focuses on the semantic mechanics of mysticism. In addition to his work with the Institute, he remains an emeritus Inquisitor of Morpheus, active in inquisitorial affairs.

Ariel Cruz

Dean of Aesthetics

Principle composer for the one-man musical collective Circular Ruins, his academic output focuses on the history of philosophy, sociology of art, Shadow Canon studies, anthropology of ritual, and noumenal pragmatism. He is currently Artist In Residence at the Institute's Rochester College Of Liminal Arts where he conducts the Subterrainian Orchestra and acts as head librarian for the Institute's collection of Umbral Texts.

Felix Graham

Provost

A graduate of Columbia's Teachers College, where he specialized in the metaphysics of neuroscience, Dr. Graham is committed to the support and guidance of a truly diverse faculty with a depth of both research interests and life experience. His most recent research focuses on the expression of psychology and soul through the voice. A resident scholar at the Larkin Lab, he was the lead researcher and last survivor of the team which, in 2018, managed to isolate the so-called “voice of God” in a glass jar at sub-zero temperatures for almost 30 seconds. He works out of the New York City branch, where he is currently examining the role of the amygdala in successful tulpa manifestations."

Misa Rygrova

Director of Global Partnerships

Though best known for her Rudolf Fellowship work on psychogeographic praxis, Maestra Rygrova’s early work focused on applied theater at the margins of society, where she produced work for Cirk La Putyka and stage managed for the Prague Burlesque. Her office serves as the primary point of contact for the Institute’s global partnerships and initiatives outside of its five signatory offices, coordinates a number of research initiatives, and frequently serves as its ambassador at conferences not directly related to its research interests. Her current research focuses on the portability and miniaturization of gates to liminal space, with a manuscript forthcoming.

Faculty

Robin Ziiro

Professor of Ritual Practice

Robin Ziiro is a ritual design consultant, community systems strategist and conceptual artist. She draws from experience in clinical and corporate settings as well as traditional and experimental theater in her consulting work. She’s presently developing a dynamic model for surfacing the shared passions and collective wisdom of small groups, teams, organizations and communities while moonlighting as a lesser demiurge of the San Francisco Underground.

Michael Ryan Garcia

Professor of Esoteric Logistics

Recipient of the H. R. Hughes Award for Dendritic Thought and a Foreign Legion commendation for heroism in speculation, Professor Garcia has published extensively in defense of the reclamation of public space from heuristics. He lives in San Francisco, where, in addition to his work at the Institute, he has thrown himself into the work of unionizing cryptids.

Visiting Scholars

Medicium

Art, Temptation, and Damnation

During the current term, Medicium will be traveling from the City of Dis for limited numbers of independent study tutorials Master Classes on the ways in which art is the purest expression of the soul, its desires, and its fallen state. Students will be asked to sign mortality waivers.

Salazar Crato

Futureological Alchemy

This will be Dr. Crato's first formal teaching engagement since his position as the Court Alchemist to Catherine the Great. Students in upper level courses, personal tutorials, and Master Classes, will be asked to sign mortality waivers.

Staff

Laurelle Hafen

Iconographic Preservationist

Certified IPX through the Cosimo Medici Foundation, secretary emeritus of the Sangha Artifact Society, lead designer on the 2015 restoration of the Trajan Sword. Has designed and built almost 200 shrines actively in use around the world.

Meghan Schultz

Webmistress

Nocturnal, elusive and enigmatic, Meghan Schultz is a fabricator of artifacts, author of clandestine doctrines, breather of life to the secrets of the mind, and designer of podcast websites. She lords over her physical and digital domains from her secret cave lair in West Oakland.

David Katz

Director of Legal Espionage

A graduate of Harvard Law, David Katz was a portage of the late Professor Enoch Scholem, the world's foremost specialist in the legal applications of Kabbalah and Kabbalitic principles. After matriculation, David served as an associate at Koravstich Associates, in Romania, Senior Counsel to the Order of The Wicked Blade, in Crimea, and a partner at Winter Associates, in NYC, before that office closed after the death of Benjamin Winter. He works out of the Institute's NYC office.

Allison Brown

Threshold Designer

An advanced synthetistician specializing in retro-augury and the descensioning of artifacts. Inducted into the Chthonic Heirophony in 2003. Honorary Furia by signum of Mstge. Lenormand. Ultima Thule native. Chess Club initiate.

Theodore Wachs

Chief Wine Steward

A graduate of the Bacchus Institute and the Dominium de la Rominee-Conti y Mouton, Theodore served as the cellar master at the Chareau d’If prison, and the author of "The Use and Abuse of Vino Veritas" and "A Guidebook to Seelie Varietals."