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Ibis Press has just published Robert Allen Bartlett’s second book on alchemy, The Way of the Crucible, his first being Real Alchemy: A Primer of Practical Alchemy.

Whereas Real Alchemy was more of an introduction to alchemical practices and from the looks of things The Way of the Crucible seems to be more of an an intermediate text and go into greater depth on specific subjects.

From the distributor’s website:

Alchemy is the ancient sacred science concerned with the mysteries of life and consciousness as reflected through all of nature. It is a harmonious blending of physical and subtle forces that lifts the subject, whether it be man or metal, to a more evolved state of being. The Way of the Crucible is a ground-breaking modern manual on the art of alchemy that draws on both modern scientific technology and ancient methods.

A laboratory scientist and chemist, Bartlett provides an overview of how practical alchemy works along with treatises on astrology, Qabalah, herbalism, and minerals as they relate to alchemy. He also explains what the ancients really meant when they used the term “Philosopher’s Stone” and describes practical methods toward its achievement.

Ibis Press is distributed by Red Wheel/Weiser, from whom I just received my review copy. Expect a review in the coming months. It looks interesting.

Teitan Press has released a new book, Thorn in the Flesh: A Grim-memoire, by Rosaleen Norton.

Thorn in the Flesh is comprised poetry, Norton’s reminiscences and various occult jottings, with reproductions of two photographs of Norton, as well as examples of her art.

I’m not familiar with Norton, but Wikipedia informs me she was an Australian artist and occultist of some renown. She certainly sounds like she lead an interesting life.

Excerpt from an e-mail received from Weiser Antiquarian: Continue reading »

Back in August I posted about My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, a new musical I’d heard about that debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival earlier in the summer.

It had just been announced that Mirvish was going to host a production of it at the Panasonic Theatre in November, and that I simply must see it based on the name alone.

November came, and indeed I did go to see it. And I’m surprised to say it was genuinely awesome and I loved it.

MMLJWW is narrated by David Hein, the co-author along with his wife Irene Carl Sankoff, and is based on the true story of how Hein’s moms got together.

Hein’s mother Claire (played by Lisa Horner) was an atheist who came out to her son is as a lesbian after falling in love with Jane (Rosemary Doyle), a Wiccan. Claire later comes out a second time to her son, this time as a Jew. It’s funny and it’s clever, but it’s also sensitive and genuinely touching. Continue reading »

Saturday Signal: sifting the signal from the noise of the Internet’s occultural cacophony.

Busy times, and it’s been a while since I last posted a Saturday Signal. Indeed, the last one was on Hallowe’en, that overcommercialized wreck of an otherwise excellent holy day.

The Onion is outraged, and takes pains to reminds us that “frightenin’ away demons is the reason for the season.” Which is pretty awesome.

It recently came to my attention that Earth’s Moon may be from Mercury. It’s a wild idea, and not universally accepted, but possible. Hey, at least Pluto’s still a planet, right? Right.

• Artist and magickian Danny Chaoflux wrote an interesting though unstructured piece titled “Style Sheet Witchcraft” discussing Aleister Crowley, chaos magick, Anton LaVey, memetics and art with some great design tips.

• How does this 1997 essay from Hakim Bey posted on Hermetic.com compare? Titled “Seduction of the Cyber Zombies“, Bey argues that “we are suffering from a crisis of overproduction of the image” which we cannot escape from, “media as ’satanic mills’.” And…the message?

• An Italian inventor has created a holy water dispenser to help combat the spread of swine flu, so reports the Telegraph.co.uk. Apparently this thing’s a sacred cash cow. The designer is quoted as saying: “After all the news that some churches, like Milan’s cathedral, were suspending the use of holy water fonts as a measure against swine flu, demands for my invention shot to the stars. I have received orders from all over the world.” Well, why not? Though holy hand sanitizer would likely prove more useful in the long term. Any religious market for that?

Until next week, mes amis.

Hidden Publishing has just released a new book edited by Dr Dave Evans and Dave Green, Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon.

Can you believe it’s already been ten years since Ronald Hutton first published The Triumph of the Moon?

Ten Years is “a collection of researches inspired by, deriving from or just celebrating the immense impact of [Hutton's] seminal book”. From the website:

The topics cover many historical periods, many academic disciplines and it provides a wealth of information of use to academic scholar and interested freelance reader alike. Includes an extended essay by Ronald Hutton on the history of such scholarship, the state of it today and some of his thoughts for the future.

I haven’t been able to locate a contributor list, but it’s suggested that there are “big names” and “those newer to the field” who collectively bring “nearly two centuries of hands-on pagan research experience between them”. Which sounds kind of impressive.