Accelerated Thinking

This month I have mostly been thinking about changing habits in the esoteric sphere. Or more specifically the different way we consume information now verses the early 2000’s. Blogs of any type are on the decline, and for those who write exclusively on occult topics perhaps long dead and buried. Social media has strangled the personal website, ease of use stripping any form of novelty from the web. Search algorithms bury even the most popular of independent voices in favour of advertiser friendly outlets that may well be spewing nonsense for clicks and views. The Commodification of Witchcraft as described in Tanice G. Foltz seminal essay has come and gone, leaving a handful of disreputable love and light New Age publishers to be the most visible, and least valuable, gatekeepers for new information. I see another dark age of magick on the horizon now, and it is brewing faster that you realise.

Empowered Words

“What has saved most self-proclaimed Satanists and Luciferians from dire psychological consequences in recent years, is that they are mostly magically incompetent or just uninterested. Most of them are poseurs out to shock stuffy respectable society, be they teenagers rebelling against fundamentalist Christian parents, or circus showmen like Anton LaVey, founder and head of the Church of Satan. It is interesting that when Michael Aquino broke away from the Church of Satan to found a serious magical order (the Temple of Set), the deity he contacted told him to call Him Set not Satan, a name less likely to bring forth that negative mediaeval energy.”
— Frederic Lamond, Religion Without Beliefs

Occult Almanac

February maintains January’s quieter celestial trend, though boasts a couple of notable occult observances. Most relevant among these is Imbolc on the 1st, a festival of fertility and the anticipation of spring dedicated to Brigid. It is also a good time to practice divination for the year ahead, as well as prophecy if you are so skilled. At the other end of the month is the 29th, signifying a leap year and carrying a folklore for lovers all of its own. The lunar cycle remains out of sequence with the calendar, and starts February with the Third Quarter on the 2nd and a Super New Moon on the 9th. This will be an especially powerful time to work any demonological magicks or hexes in general due to its lightless aspect being so close to the Earth. Then the first quarter falls on the 16th before a Micro Quickening or Rowan Full Moon limps into view on the 24th. And remember, the days are slowly lengthening as well.

Necronomicon Mortui

A list of notable members of the occult, paranormal and Fortean community, ordered by date of death as opposed to birth. Thelma Moss, Parapsychologist, born 6th January 1918, died 1st February 1997. Gerald Suster, Author, born 2nd August 1951, died 3rd February 2001. Raden Jacob Salatun, UFOlogist, born 29th May 1927, died 3rd February 2012. Ian Pretyman Stevenson, Parapsychologist, born 31st October 1918, died 8th February 2007. Christopher S. Hyatt, Magickian, born 12th July 1943, died 9th February 2008. Gerald Gardner, Witch, born 13th June 1884, died 12th February 1964. Benvenuto Cellini, Magickian, born 3rd November 1500, died 13th February 1571. Giordano Bruno, Astrologer, born 1548, died 17th February 1600. Henry Steel Olcott, Mystic, born 2nd August 1832, died 17th February 1907. Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Magickian, born 15th September 1486, died 18th February 1535. Joseph Banks Rhine, Parapsychologist, born 29th September 1895, died 20th February 1980. La Voisin, Witch, born around 1640, died 22nd February 1680. Aurelian Manta Rosie, UFOlogist, born 25th January 1931, died 22nd February 2011. Johann Weyer, Demonologist, born 1515, died 24th February 1588.

Memento Magus

Joseph Banks Rhine (born 29th September 1895, died 20th February 1980) is often cited as the father of modern parapsychology. Initially joining Duke University in the 1930’s, Rhine and his associates attempted to move away from more spiritualistic concepts and create a systematic approach to paranormal research. Before this point investigations had mostly been conducted within darkened séance rooms, and tended to display only fraudulent results. Approaching the field from an academic angle, his team sought to introduce standardised experimental procedures and promote parapsychology as a scientifically valid area of study. Work was carried out to prove the existence of psi abilities in the general population, though results were brought into question by perceived sloppy methodology and personal bias. His legacy lives on at the research centre that bares his name.

Grimoire Guides

Arguably far more exhaustive than most of the more recent entries in the genre, The Encyclopaedia of the Occult by Lewis Spence is a truly mammoth tome full to the brim with obscure lore. Now showing its age a little, the original text having been laid down in the 1920′s, it explores a long list of esoteric subjects, some of which run to the length of a small essay. The superstitions and magickal practises of certain geographic regions are present, as are articles on various divination techniques and the then burgeoning spiritualist craze as well. The book itself has received many reprints under a few different names, though my own copy is an obscure Bracken Books hardback from 1988 picked up in a charity shop a few years ago for less than the price of a packet of medium quality incense. The information that I gained, however, was priceless.

End Notes

And there it is, yet another digital issue of my occult and paranormal newsletter ready to go. Reader numbers seem to be pretty low on these, but I am going to keep making them regardless of the reception, at least until I get bored. Honestly though, it seems to be getting harder and harder to find relevant information online to fill the sections I am trying to curate. Especially the obituaries, a core reason for my doing this in the first place. And with reports that at least fifteen percent of online interactions are now with stealth bots designed to perfectly mimic fellow humans, a woeful state of affairs for an old Technopagan futurist like myself to have to witness, I do not know if I am reaching my target demographic or simply shouting into the void. Personal occult blogs may be dead, replaced by video and low effort listicles that appeal to ever shortening attention spans, but I refuse to give up just yet.