Monday, December 31, 2018
Assamese Demonology: Now Available!
This booklet is a detailed study of some of the spirits and demonic forces within the local lore of the Assam region of India- for the geographically uninclined, the region far to the East, near the borders of Bangladesh and Burma. The local lore is rife with strange creatures- some more malevolent than others, some more dangerous and some more easily pacified. It contains a laundry list of exorcism practices as well which involve often burning various substances. Altogether extremely interesting. It amusingly contains a list of noted exorcists by region that is obviously outdated (anyone having been an adult in 1906 there being "probably" dead.)
44 pages.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Vampires and Vampirism: Now Available!
This work is one of a number of interesting titles on the subject of vampirism that come in the late premodern period. Many works even from that interesting early 20th century academic era only fixate on vampires as the bloodsuckers of specifically southeastern European lore- this work manages to extend its scope to Asia and Russia as well and includes a number of interesting poems and stories. In the most amusing inclusion, it classes Bram Stokers' "Dracula" as an exciting modern romance- this being amusing only because the work dates to over a century ago.
Only a small proportion of works I edit actually grab my attention fully whilst being edited- this is one of those books and I highly recommend it.
113 pages.
Occultism in the Shakespeare Plays: Now Available!
This quite short work is an excellent example of the type of Theosophical writing common in its era; a remarkably detailed study of some of Shakespeare's plays and the occultism and references to omens, witches, and so forth present therein; it labels "The Tempest" as the most outwardly occult (which I happen to agree with) and also speaks about "Julius Caesar", "Macbeth", and a few other works. It should be noted that the Baconian tradition of Shakespeare was also studied within Theosophy and the topic of theater is of note within the occult because of its lycanthropic importance; the concept of illusion and deliberate misrepresentation of reality.
37 pages.
Friday, December 28, 2018
How to Hold Circles for Developing Mediumship At Home: Now Available!
This short work is interesting for two reasons, neither of which has strictly to do with the stated main topic; it is all about how to develop the skill of mediumship, but the occultist has perhaps more use for it in its admonitions regarding self awareness and focus, and the literary buff will find it more of interest because it's an exceptionally good example of the specific kind of mystic literature proliferating at the time, in the wake of the east-to-the-west expansion of spiritual consciousness.
43 pages.
Thursday, December 27, 2018
The Family Nurse: Now Available!
This excellent work is at once a manuscript of folk medicine, an apothecarian work, a recipe book, and a compilation of basic life tips from the 1830s; indeed, it is one of those "receipt books" from the era which, in domestic work, displaced some of the more odd content of the prior eras' cosmopolitan grimoires. Gone is the alchemy in favor of more rational medicinal workings.
Containing a fairly lengthy herbal remedy section and recipes for ointments and salves as well, it's surprising how much of the content is still utilized today- it humorously refers to the banes of both alcohol and opium while suggesting sometimes a little kick of gin should be added to a recipe or two, to solve for "patient discomfort."
163 pages.
Wednesday, December 26, 2018
Fishes, Flowers, and Fire: Now Available!
This is yet another of the infamous phallic works written during the late 1800s presumably by Hargrave Jennings, anonymously. The works at the time contained taboo materials, since they spoke of fertility rites, sexual symbolism, and feminine spiritual forces. While "Ophiolatreia" is perhaps the best known of the titles in this privately printed series, this one might be the most interesting.
The work contains three basic sections, as its title suggests; the use of fish as a sexual symbol especially as tired with Christianity would have been considered blasphemy in its era (even if accepted now)- flowers are a fairly obvious sex symbol, but the greatest bulk of the work regards fire worship. Here we see the interesting suggestion that those who "passed their seed (children) through fire to Molech" may have been not sacrificing them but rather ritualistically purifying them. An extremely good work.
115 pages.
Monday, December 24, 2018
There Are No Dead: Now Available!
This reasonably short work is a compilation of purported communications with spirits created by the notable Sophie de Meissner- whose own work stretched well beyond the spiritual and involved charitable work and many other literary forays.
Of significance here especially are several communications supposedly held with none other than the captain of the USS Titanic after its ill fated voyage, as well as numerous letters between the author and other figures, which regard the form and function of the afterlife and the importance, in their opinions, of the actual name of Jesus, among other things.
91 pages.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
The Tabernacle: Now Available!
And now it's time for a happy surprise- one final occult work to release before 2019 begins. It's quite a great one also- compiled from sermons and writings from the renowned Presbyterian George Junkin. It covers the architecture of the Jewish Temple in minute detail and offers (sometimes inferred) symbolism and other asides. Altogether it's painstakingly detailed, and the amount of content here would take up twice as many pages were it not for the compacted writing style. It is strongly recommended to anyone with interest in the era of Moses, even if some of the historicity is taken less seriously now than in the 1860s.
123 pages.
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Ars Theurgia Goetia: Now Available!
And now it is time for my 155th occult work and the final work of 2018- the Ars Theurgia Goetia, which is the second book and a component of the Lemegeton AKA Lesser Key of Solomon which I released previously. It required some degree of reformatting since the work is shorter, but it's still its own technical stand-alone work. However, it should be noted that some content here explicitly requires the first book, the Ars Goetia, to function.
This particular part of the Lemegeton dwells on spirits which are less Hellish and strictly demonic than the former work, while naming some of them as largely malevolent. The number of purposes for these demons and their summonable dukes (and occasionally "under-dukes") are less than the arcane and strange Ars Goetia.
116 pages.
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
The Lesser Key of Solomon: Now Available!
At long last it is time for the final literary release of 2018 and one of the most important grimoires ever concocted. Standing at 259 pages, it's also full length.
The Lesser Key of Solomon is actually a compilation of other works from the same era- the initial variant compiled by none other than Mathers and Crowley themselves contained five works- the Ars Goetia, Theurgia Goetia, Ars Paulina, Almadel, and the Ars Notoria (shortened to Nova in some variants.) The material is variable, beginning with the most demonic and then progressing through natural spirits, airy spirits, the angelic, and then the strictly divine.
Since the Notoria is actually centuries earlier I have omitted it in this edition. It has been re-edited with care and completely re-illustrated. I am quite happy with the final appearance. One of the most important occult compilations finally available here, reworked entirely, and for a cost significantly lower than the apparent competitors (please note that three of the Amazon titles under the moniker "Lesser Key" only include the Goetia, and are not complete works.)
Sunday, December 9, 2018
Years End Petit Albert Update
As some of you may know, two years ago a hardcover and leather bound fine edition of the Petit Albert was produced by Ouroboros Press with yours truly having reworked the volume. The fact that a book bearing my name was truly, professionally produced in this manner is up there in the top five or so things I've accomplished that I am most proud of.
If you are interested in fine editions of this sort, the Petit Albert is one of the best grimoires- at once a compilation of folk spells and a receipt book (the predecessor of the modern term "recipe"- which originally included everything from folk medicine to culinary content to methods for removing stains or making candles or bird food) and comes from France, during the 18th century. It is a cosmopolitan grimoire, containing self-proclaimed foreign spells and tips of various sorts, and also touching on the hand of glory- one of the most famous (and diabolical) objects spoken of in any occult lore.
I have a copy of this work (one of only a few works I have physically obtained that I myself have worked on or released) and the quality is quite high. At 178 pages, it's a sometimes amusing, often thought provoking read.
If you are interested in fine editions of this sort, the Petit Albert is one of the best grimoires- at once a compilation of folk spells and a receipt book (the predecessor of the modern term "recipe"- which originally included everything from folk medicine to culinary content to methods for removing stains or making candles or bird food) and comes from France, during the 18th century. It is a cosmopolitan grimoire, containing self-proclaimed foreign spells and tips of various sorts, and also touching on the hand of glory- one of the most famous (and diabolical) objects spoken of in any occult lore.
I have a copy of this work (one of only a few works I have physically obtained that I myself have worked on or released) and the quality is quite high. At 178 pages, it's a sometimes amusing, often thought provoking read.
Ars Theurgia Goetia / Lesser Key Update!
It is with glee that I announce that I am now 50% done with the final image formatting for the Theurgia Goetia. This means there is a 99% chance it will be ready within a week or so. That means the Lesser Key can be released in time for Yule and the stand-alone edition (which will be around 100 pages in my format) in January alongside a second work (hopefully) on phallism.
That brings me however to one potential stumblingblock which is the full absorption of Createspace by Amazon; at this particular time I do not know fully how to load a paperback there and I am having difficulty figuring out the transition process for all of my paperback titles- when I attempt to use the link on KDP it only finds 5 works out of the over 160 that I have available, and I am unsure why- neither Createspace nor Amazon are logging my paperback sales despite them all being available so I cannot see my works to edit content if needed, and I cannot track my sales. I have contacted them so hopefully this issue will be resolved within a day or two. I only hope Amazon keeps the template generator on CS alive because I have no clue how to manually determine trim size.
That brings me however to one potential stumblingblock which is the full absorption of Createspace by Amazon; at this particular time I do not know fully how to load a paperback there and I am having difficulty figuring out the transition process for all of my paperback titles- when I attempt to use the link on KDP it only finds 5 works out of the over 160 that I have available, and I am unsure why- neither Createspace nor Amazon are logging my paperback sales despite them all being available so I cannot see my works to edit content if needed, and I cannot track my sales. I have contacted them so hopefully this issue will be resolved within a day or two. I only hope Amazon keeps the template generator on CS alive because I have no clue how to manually determine trim size.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)