Wednesday, May 27, 2020

The Mythology of Ancient Britain and Ireland: Now Available!



This short work is yet another creation series entry; essentially in part supplementary to Anwyl's "Celtic Religion" in the same set. It is partially linguistic in nature and traces the development of post-christian British Isle spiritual systems and folklore (especially in the Arthurian sense) from prior religious figures; namely, deities of various sorts.

The origin stories of both Britain and Ireland are also explored in some detail, and the work is, as a whole, quite well made.

55 pages.

Sunday, May 24, 2020

The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru: Now Available!



This is yet another edition from the creation series of the early 20th century; and indeed it is one of the best pieces within the set.

The entire first chapter meanders through the concept of pre-columbian Nordic or Irish influence on Northeastern tribes in the Americas and then differentiates that with the Mexican )Aztec) and Peruvian (Inca) cultures. The two are then expounded on at length and largely contrasted; for example while the Aztecs probably sacrificed hundreds of thousands of people during their extremely brief period of existence as a local empire, the Inca rarely engaged in the practice. At all times this work compares both cultures to Christianity (as was the habit in the early 1900s) and exhibits a somewhat sympathetic view towards both cultures.

55 pages.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Swedenborg and the Sapienta Angelica: Now Available!



This intermediate-length text is essentially three short works in one; the first third of the work is an autobiography of Emanuel Swedenborg and the second a brief overview of some of his more important works. In both, there are bits of his overarching philosophy listed and described briefly. The final section is a fairly lengthy bibliographic appendix listing both his works and the works of those about him available at the time.

The man himself is rather an enigma; he began receiving religiously themed visions and dreams and abandoned secular philosophy, inventing, and basic science, in favor of theological and spiritually philosophical work, which he wrote profusely. A small religious sect has sprung up around his teachings (which adherents appear to regard similarly to how Mormons see Joseph Smith.) His detractors consider Swedenborg to be either opportunist or madman. However, his genius cannot be denied; he developed the basic idea of neurons long before modern studies of the brain and was notable in his engineering finesse.

86 pages.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Christ Or Buddha? Now Available!



This short work of Rosicrucian lore essentially serves one purpose; to differentiate Eastern and Western occultism, favoring the latter and refuting the concept that- at least in the Rosicrucian path- Buddha or Eastern esoteric concepts held supremacy over the conception of Jesus Christ.

When we analyze this work it is important to note that it was a fairly common criticism of occult movements at the time that they were not Christ-centric enough; Heindel's prescribed work here (through Annett Rich) is an answer to the concerns of religious folk at the time. I must personally note that the initial manuscript was riddled with typographical errors and grammar mistakes and I redacted them all.

36 pages.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

General Update: The Final Stretch And Amazon's Slow Processing Times

Alright everyone time for a new general update!

Editing by and large has been going about as normal, but you might have noticed a slowdown in actual work output... why?

Well the answer is simple; Amazon used to process files and give them their check for copyright etc within 72 hours of file uploads; at a maximum this meant a week to finalize everything because even if it got a copyright double-check, only another three days at most was needed, since it takes me at most five to ten minutes to respond to copyright queries, as I always keep links to the source files just in case of such a thing.

Now, 72 hours is less than the MINIMUM time it takes for the file to either be accepted or queried by Amazon; it's usually closer to five working days; in other words, a whole week. The book I posted here yesterday had taken no less than ten days to process and be allowed. Edition 280- "Christ or Buddha"- is as we speak still being reviewed, and will also take at least nine days total; it got a copyright query, thus at least doubling the review time.

While I can understand Amazon slowing down some of its services due to pandemic, I am still flabbergasted why all these large tech firms (Youtube and Facebook also) can't seem to keep pace with things using a remote workforce; moderation staff tend to be offshored anyways, and can work from home. Delivery times are so slow that paperback sales collapsed for several weeks (and have partly recovered now) necessitating I release a couple dozen new works on KDP to make ends meet; while this worked, it was a hassle.

In happier news I just got done with the 281st work so I am now in the final stretch of completing the third and final mandatory part of my extremely long term literary crusade. Once I hit the 300th edited work, I intend to take some time just to organize files and even longer-term projects both authored and edited, because after that I can take it a bit more easy. I also want to compile works within occult subgenres to provide collected critical editions with more notes, fleshed out bibliographic material, and commentary.

Saturday, May 9, 2020

The Mystical Interpretation of Christmas: Now Available!




This short work is another by Heindel, a decidedly Rosicrucian, and sometimes quite odd, title, comprised of five short lectures which range from a basic refutation of outright atheistic skepticism, to an embracing of the concept of earth spirits (salamanders, fairies, etc) a la Hermetic lore.

It is quite good; the symbolism of Christmas is covered in brief but comprehensive detail- the holiday of course goes beyond just its base pagan roots, as well as well beyond its Christianized form, either then in the early 20th century, or now in the early 21st.

29 pages.