By Psyche | February 28, 2008
Magick on the Edge: Adventures in Experimental Magick, edited by Taylor Ellwood
Immanion Press, 1905713053, 317 pp., 2007
Anthologies present the opportunity to catch up with familiar authors and meet new ones and allow the reader to sample an assortment of styles and opinions. The theme for Magick on the Edge is “experimental occultism”, which seems a little perplexing at first. I understand that they’re trying to set themselves apart from chaos magick, but surely all magick is experimental?
Though a motley collection, the essays have been gathered into several themes, such as Space/Time Magic (no Ks in the table of contents), Magical Linguistics, Technology and Magic, New Approaches to Traditional Forms of Magic, Sex Magic and Inner Alchemy.
Nick Farrell’s “Experimentation as a Magical Path” immediately follows the introduction, but, unfortunately, does little to inspire the reader to continue reading the rest of the anthology. In an essay that makes a sensible argument or two for breaking from tradition and practicing “experimental” magick, the author, disappointingly, demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of chaos magick or Thelema . Later, he randomly asserts that “if you don’t believe in some sort of God, you are wasting your time doing magic”, though he offers no reason why this might be, beyond his own personal bias. We are supposed to trust his opinions on this simply because he said so. This doesn’t seem terribly progressive. Continue reading »
Popularity: 3%
By Psyche | February 25, 2008
Stuff White People Like is a satirical blog “devoted to stuff that white people like” in the form of short, snappy posts stereotyping “white culture”. Its about page describes it as “a scientific approach to highlight and explain stuff white people like,” concluding that “They are pretty predictable.”
I wonder how predictable its wildfire spread across the Internet was? It’s barely two months old and already boasts more than 3.6 million hits.
There are seventy-five numbered posts as of this writing, where we learn that white people like Recycling, Bicycles, Natural Medicine, Japan, Kitchen Gadgets, and Awareness, among other things.
While it could be argued that the blog might be better titled “Stuff Hipsters Like” or “Stuff Yuppies Like” or, better still, “Middle Class Stereotypes”, this wouldn’t garner nearly as much controversy, and though this blog is young (the first post is dated January 18th, 2008), it already seems to thrive on it.
The blog is the brainchild of Christian Lander, a self-confessed Continue reading »
Popularity: 3%
By Psyche | February 19, 2008
Workers at Southern Water’s treatment plant in Eastbourne, East Sussex, said they have been scared to enter tunnels after being followed about by a “humanoid figure” as they went about their jobs.
DailyMail.co.uk, “Ghostbuster called in after sewage workers stalked by ‘zombie’ in underground tunnels“
Incredibly a sewage treatment worker, Mark Wey, received permission from his bosses to hire a paranormal investigator, and so Michael Kingscote was called in to look into the matter. Continue reading »
Popularity: unranked
By Psyche | February 18, 2008
The Thoth Companion: The Key to the True Symbolic Meaning of the Thoth Tarot, by Michael Osiris Snuffin
Llewellyn Worldwide, 9780738711928, 216 pp. (incl. appendix, glossary, bibliography and index), 2007
The Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot is perhaps the second most popular tarot deck after the Rider-Waite-Smith. Conceived and executed towards the end of Crowley’s life, the Thoth Tarot distills some fifty years of magickal study and practice. Its densely packed occult symbolism is not easily obtained from his treatise on the subject, The Book of Thoth, as it assumes a high familiarity with a variety of esoteric disciplines. Several books have been written endeavouring to illuminate its significance; The Thoth Companion represents the most recent attempt.
In the introduction Snuffin writes that the purpose of the present book is to Continue reading »
Popularity: 17%
By Psyche | February 17, 2008
Upon discovering that there were no active print magazines dedicated to tarot Heidi Snelgrove decided to remedy the situation, and thus Tarot World Magazine was born. Volume I, Issue I was scheduled for release in January 2008, though I received my copy on Friday.
There are a number of regular columns such as the Business of Tarot, The Ethics Question, Astrology Window, and I’m on staff as the Origins columnist. My first article is on the origins of the suit symbols in tarot, and as such was a little footnote-heavy, which didn’t translate well to in-text citations – I might have phrased things differently if I was advised that was the format that was being used, but I suppose I know now for issue 2. Continue reading »
Popularity: 4%
