Accelerated Thinking

This month I have mostly been thinking about my magickal adventures in old London Town. While not getting to go back all that often now, growing up in such a mythologised city did give me the chance to take part in some pretty out there occult experiments. Like the time I travelled to the very edges of the Tube network and then to the banks of the Thames to make contact with the spirit of the city, an entity as schizophrenic as it was frenetic. Then there were the frequent and ultimately unsuccessful visits to Crossbones Cemetery to try and speak with the Goose. Or one very eventful self guided ghost tour with a friend, and the plague pits that screamed from below the parks and squares at us all along the way. That said, location is important, but transitory. As long as the magickian stay true to themselves the weird will find them wherever they end up.

Empowered Words

“The body is but a vessel for the soul, a puppet which bends to the soul’s tyranny. And lo, the body is not eternal, for it must feed on the flesh of others, lest it return to the dust from whence it came. Therefore must the soul deceive, despise and murder men.”
— Arazlam Durai, Vagrant Story

Occult Almanac

Due to the Blue or Reed Full Moon on the last day of August, September has a quiet start. But the further through the month we go, the busier the observances get. The Third Quarter on the 6th is followed by the New Moon on the 15th and First Quarter on the 22nd. This is the same date that Mercury reaches its greatest elongation West. Finally, the Harvest or Hazel Full Moon is on the 29th. Neptune is at opposition on the 19th and the Taurids meteor shower begins in the Southern Hemisphere on the 10th before running through to the end of the month. For observances, those of a demonological persuasion will note that Luciferge Rofocal’s holy day is on the 14th and the 21st is the second rite to Leviathan. The September Equinox, or Mabon, is on the 23rd in the Northern Hemisphere and Ostara is observed instead across the Southern Hemisphere around the same date.

Necronomicon Mortui

A list of notable members of the occult, paranormal and Fortean community, ordered by date of death as opposed to birth. Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente, Witch, born 4th January 1922, died 1st September 1999. Jane Roberts, Medium, born 8th May 1929, died 5th September 1984. Robert Fludd, Magickian, born 17th January 1574, died 8th September 1637. Leila Ida Bathurst Waddell, Magickian, born 10th August 1880, died 13th September 1932. Edward James Ruppelt, UFOlogist, born 17th July 1923, died 15th September 1960. Eileen Jeanette Vancho Lyttle Garrett, Medium, born 17th March 1893, died 15th September 1970. Pamela Colman Smith, Magickian, born 16th February 1878, died 18th September 1951. Paracelsus, Alchemist, born around December 1493, died 24th September 1541. John Edward Mack M.D., UFOogist, born 4th October 1929, died 27th September 2004. Karl Zener, Parapsychologist, born 22nd April 1903, died 27th September 1964. Edmund Dawson Rogers, Spiritualist, born 7th August 1823, died 28th September 1910.

Media Magick

Now I know that Chemical Wedding is a controversial pick for this newsletter, turning as it does a respected occult figure’s legacy into a darkly humorous low budget comedy. Yet I cannot help but wonder if Crowley himself would get a chuckle out of how the highly convoluted and at times extremely ridiculous plot plays out. Mashing up Magick, mysticism and a heap of quantum physics tropes the end result is a crass, but ultimately likable, window into one occult obsessed professor’s frayed mental state. The brainchild of metal vocalist Bruce Dickinson and gorilla Filmmaker Julian Doyle, the movie itself shades into Night of the Demon territory at times with Simon Callow’s verbose performance as the not yet reborn Great Beast himself. Production values aside Millennial occulture in the UK is poorly represented in cinema, and for that reason alone it is worth a look.

Grimoire Guides

I think the majority of those who gave negative reviews to The Rough Guide To Unexplained Phenomena missed the point of the book. It is a primer, first and foremost, and in some ways represents what a psuedo-academic scrapbook of the weird and bizarre would really look like. None of the entries are necessarily in depth or fully referenced, but that was likely never the intention of the authors at the outset. Bob Rickard and John Michell have collected well over four hundred pages of the strangest topics lurking at the very edges of human experience, from the Abominable Snowman to Zarif the Calculating Horse and plenty of odd happenings in between. A staple of secondhand sellers online, the book is available in various conditions for a fraction of the original cover price and as a result is easily the most accessible and cost effective Fortean work currently available.

End Notes

And there we have it, volume three of this damned little endeavour out the digital door. New this month is the Empowered Words section, designed to allow for the sharing of interesting quotes and vocal cantrips that I find intriguing. Audio Sorcery, Grimoire Guides and Media Magick remain in rotation, and the content for the Necronomicon Mortui continues to expand. By far the biggest change at The Vulpine Portfolio as a site is the addition of a gallery section under the somewhat unimaginative Side Projects heading, where This Old Fox gets to show off his design skills through Pinterest pins and long dormant sigils. Less successful was my efforts to add visual crunch to my articles using AI generated images. Honestly, there is something just a little too uncanny about the current results, but maybe when the technology catches up with my expectations I will give posting them another go.