Accelerated Thinking

This month I have mostly been thinking about how dyslexia and dyspraxia alter my occult research. It may come as something of a shock to those who have been following me for a while, but I actually struggle to read books on the first pass. Short term memory issues related to my neurodivergence basically mean that I need to stop and reread certain paragraphs multiple times before they are understood. Which pushes my overall speed to a crawl. Audiobooks completely negate the issue though, and screen readers help as well. Oddly, this is not a problem for my own work or a book that I have already consumed at some point in the past. Only new information is affected the first time through. As such I tend to concentrate on the chapters that directly relate to the occult operation being explored and not whole texts, which in itself is a very chaos magick thing to do.

Empowered Words

“The end of the twentieth century and the dawn of the new millennium had seen something of a renaissance in the public awareness of the paranormal. Psychics, haunts, vampires – you name it. People still didn‘t take them seriously, but all the things Science had promised us hadn‘t come to pass. Disease was still a problem. Starvation was still a problem. Violence and crime and war were still problems. In spite of the advance of technology, things just hadn‘t changed the way everyone had hoped and thought they would. Science, the largest religion of the twentieth century, had become somewhat tarnished by images of exploding space shuttles, crack babies, and a generation of complacent Americans who had allowed the television to raise their children. People were looking for something – I think they just didn‘t know what. And even though they were once again starting to open their eyes to the world of magic and the arcane that had been with them all the while, they still thought I must be some kind of joke.”
— Harry Dresden, Storm Front

Occult Almanac

As always, April begins a trend towards warmer days and shorter nights. For those who take notice of lunar observances, the Third Quarter falls on the 2nd and the third and final Super New Moon in a row occurs on the 8th. A total solar eclipse also falls on this date in the USA, though its energy should still be felt elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. A good time for hexing and associated left hand path operations due to the proximity of the darker aspect of out closest neighbour and the blocking out of the sun, bringer of light, too. The First Quarter falls on the 15th and the Growing or Aldar Full Moon on the 24th. Lyrids, the earliest notable meteor shower of the year, peaks on the 22nd and 23rd though is visible to a lesser extent either side of those dates. As for observances, demonolaters who follow S. Connoly’s advice celebrate a rite to Belphegor on the 9th, and witches with either an eye to history or a darker aspect to their work celebrate Walpurgisnacht on the 30th too.

Necronomicon Mortui

A list of notable members of the occult, paranormal and Fortean community, ordered by date of death as opposed to birth. Sir William Crookes, Spiritualist, born 17th June 1832, died 4th April 1919. David Farrant, Parapsychologist, born 23rd January 1946, died 8th April 2019. Anthony Donald Cornell, Parapsychologist, born 1924, died 10th April 2010. Arthur William Bell III, Broadcaster, born 17th June 1945, died 13th April 2018. William Thomas Stead, Spiritualist, born 5th July 1849, died 15th April 1912. Christina Alexandra Queen of Sweden, Alchemist, born 18th December 1626, died 19th April 1689. Morris Ketchum Jessup, UFOlogist, born 2nd March 1900, died 20th April 1959. Florence Cook, Medium, born around 1856, died 22nd April 1904. Rudolf Tischner, Parapsychologist, born 3rd April 1879, died 24th April 1961. Hans Holzer, Parapsychologist, born 26th January 1920, died 26th April 2009. Carlos Castaneda, Mystic, born 25th December 1925, died 27th April 1998. Glenn Dennis, UFOlogist, born 24th March 1925, died 28th April 2015. Tommaso Palamidessi, Mystic, born 16th February 1915, died 29th April 1983.

Memento Magus

Instrumental in bringing Fortean topics to the masses, Arthur William Bell III (born 17 June 1945, died 13 April 2018) was the driving force behind the wildly successful Coast to Coast AM radio show. Gravelly voiced and not one to suffer fools, he gave an early platform to many within the alternative and conspiracy fields. Shadow people, UFO abductees, cattle mutilations, bottomless holes, time travellers and EVPs. The show covered all of these and more. Yet while Bell was a hero to many, his life was not without controversy. Art received the Snuffed Candle award from the Committee for Skeptical Enquiry as admonition for promoting conspiracies on his show, and also failed to honour numerous attempts at a broadcasting comeback after retirement. Despite this, and a habit of giving certain New Age hucksters too much credit, his legacy remains mostly pure.

Audio Sorcery

As someone who maintains a strong interest in electronic music, I now consider Neon Odin’s rousing Allfather to be the single finest example of Norsewave available. A side project of Vvilderness, the eight genre bending tracks offer a deceptively modern take on some old mythological themes. From the stirring strings of Wield the Hammer to the playful and airy synths of Ravens the album excels in setting the scene. My favourite track has to be March of the Jotnar though. The constant, slightly discordant drone and seemingly disconnected harmony really evokes the idea of a rising tide of wronged outcasts striding to make war with the Aesir over some perceived slight. Anything that recontextualizes Neopagan culture through a more modern lens makes a welcome change from the usual stuffy tribal chants that are associated with what we do, and the gods are alive in every single beat.

End Notes

And there it is, issue ten of my occult and paranormal newsletter ready to infest cyberspace with its damned ideas. When setting out to upload my previously published writing here in the hopes of reaching a wider audience I knew there was always going to be a cut off point. Those more polished essays were originally set to dry up in July, around a year after I initially opened The Accelerated Chaote. And with the best will in the world I knew would never be able to submit fresh articles to publishers and see them in print fast enough to keep the algorithm fed. So that is why the Unpublished Notes section was created, and the first couple of entries are now live over there. Worth keeping an eye on in the future, as its roughly monthly schedule will not only allow me to spread out my professional work a little more, but also give me something to upload here when all that inevitably runs out.