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But have you checked out our new Esoteric Book Club? First pick is Robert Anton Wilson's Quantum Psychology. Participate here!

Catalogue Seven was released today from Fulgur, featuring works of art by several of their authors and illustrators.

Most notably it contains several drawings and illustrations by Austin Osman Spare, including the one pictured left, titled there as “Three Men in a Cavern”.

Also included are “hand-decorated diabolical objects” by Barry William Hale, whose Legion 49was put out by Fulgur last year. By this they mean  Jack Daniels and rum bottles decorated with sigils and atwork and, well, I’ll use Hale’s description:

The Sigillick Conjuration of Beelzebub is incorporated into the walls of these Seven unique Talismanic Bottles sporting a variegated panapoly of magical signs and symbols sacred to the Lord of the Flies.

One of my favourite modern occult aritsts is also featured, Orryelle Defenstrate-Bascule, with images from his Conjunctio, also published by Fulgur.

I’m more than a little in love with the pencil drawing of Isis, especially after getting the chance to see Orryelle’s Ganeshe in his glory at Treadwell’s last fall.

Even if, like me, you can’t afford any of them, it’s definitely worth a look.

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

In the realm of the planetary spheres my vote this week must go to Mars for the most gorgeous landscape. Check out these Martian dunes on BoingBoing. Absolutely stunning.

• Rob, in Another Nickel in the Machine, writes about the early career of occult writer Colin Wilson in “Hampstead Heath and the Rise and Fall of the author Colin Wilson“. It’s a wonderfully photo-rich piece. (Who knew Wilson was such a looker in his youth?)

• Chas Clifton, in his blog Letters from Hardscrabble Creek, wrote an interesting post recently considering whether or not contemporary Pagans could be considered indigenous. His answer is no, and his reasons make sense. The comments section breaks it down further, asking some interesting questions.

• Nicole Pasulka interviewed Peter Ross for TheMorningNews.org. Ross took a series of photographs of “William Burroughs’s Stuff“, “a selection of weird, touching, and often unexpected possessions found in Burroughs’s windowless New York City apartment, preserved since his death in 1997.” It’s an odd collection.

• In Magic of the Ordinary, Peregrin has written an excellent post titled “Golden Dawn Blogs and Tradition” that covers more than it implies. Peregrin’s summary of the commentary surrounding one’s Holy Guardian Angel, for example, is spot on. Check it out.

• LAShTAL.com has the latest catalogue from Starfire, Kenneth Grant’s publishing house. Check it out for titles which have recently been issued, and what’s coming later in 2010. Several reprints, but some new material too, including a compilation of two grimoires by Austin Osman Spare.

I’m trying out delicious.com, a social bookmarking tool. It looks a little more complicated than the last time I logged in – they seem to have added a ton of new features in the past year.

This is to replace the 902834029834 some odd tabs I currently leave open in Firefox for compiling these Saturday Signal posts, but this little laptop, she cannae take it anymore. So, I’m experimenting once again with delicious. (There’s even a Firefox add-on for it.)

One of the great things about it is that you can tag your bookmarks and share them with other people. So, for example, if you tag a site “plutonica” I will be notified. Why is that so nifty? Because it makes it really easy to share cool sites.

If you use delicious, and you want to highlight something cool that you think should be included in Saturday Signal, tag it “plutonica” and I’ll add it. It’s an experiment. Let’s see how it works.

For those who are interested in stalking my path across the web, or, you know, simply getting the first crack at what may find its way into the Saturday Signal, my account there is, of course, plutopsyche.

Wondering what to buy that special twisted someone for Yule, Agnostica, Hanukkah, Kawanza, Christmas, Giftmas or whatever else it’s possible to celebrate in December?

Books

Classics such as At the Mountains of Madness, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward and of course The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories are must haves.

For the occultniks on your list there’s Simon’s cheesy The Necronomicon, H. R. Giger’s Necronomicon, or Phil Hine’s Pseudonomicon.

There’s also Anthony B Pearsall’s compendium, The Lovecraft Lexicon, several biographies and Lovecraft’s selected letters for those who like to get behind the scenes and learn more about the author and solve that endless riddle: where did he get those ideas from?

Sculptures & busts

For the serious enthusiast there are many strange artifacts one may purchase. Continue reading »

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 »

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.