You've probably already subscribed to our RSS feed, followed us on Twitter, and joined our Facebook page. (You're so Web 2.0!)
But have you checked out our new Esoteric Book Club? First pick is Robert Anton Wilson's Quantum Psychology. Participate here!

The votes are in, and April’s Esoteric Book Club selection is S.S.O.T.B.M.E., written by Lionel Snell as Ramsey Dukes. The full title is Sex Secrets of the Black Magicians Exposed – I love his sensational titles, they have almost nothing to do with the books themselves (see also BLAST Your Way To Megabuck$ with my SECRET Sex-Power Formula – another book about philosophy).

It’s an excellent book, one I’ve already read several times, and one I recommend highly. I’m thrilled that it was chosen, I think it will make for excellent discussion in April.

The only reason I didn’t include it in my list of “Top 5 Books on Chaos Magick” was because S.S.O.T.B.M.E. predated it, but it will be interesting to trace its influence through to today.

April’s forum is open and ready if anyone wants to get started a little early, otherwise I’ll post a reminder closer to the date.

Hope you’ll join us!

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

Our Esoteric Book Club officially starts on Monday, but the conversation’s already started, and people have to begun introduce themselves, come join us!

If you missed our earlier announcement, the first pick is Quantum Psychology, by Robert Anton Wilson.

Great stuff.

Now, on with our usual linkage:

• The wonderful blog Gyllene Gryningen has a great post titled “Genie or Genius?” which delves into the history and mythology of the djinn, also discussing possible elemental correspondences. Very nifty.

• Someone’s started a fan page on Facebook for people interested in Buying Crowley Books. They’ve even got a Twitter account (@crowleybooks) now. Via these methods they share info about good places to buy Crowley’s works as so much of it has gone out of print. As of this writing the Facebook page has nearly 700 fans.

• John Griogair Bell points out deficiencies in the Thelemic calendar and recommends some improvements in “Heliocentricity“.

Noise?

• In Letters from Hardscrabble Creek, Chas Clifton wrote a bit about a website he came across which focused on “Having Sex With Ghosts“. Gina “Gnothz” Lanier (what’s a “gnothz”?) is a self-described paranormal investigator who wants to hear about your intimidate relations with the dead. They’re not even funny. One woman complains about obscene phone calls from the dead. It’s just sad. For the voyeuristic with no sense of web design, here’s Real Sex with Ghosts. Oh dear.

Got a cool link? Please share it in the comments, or if you use delicious, tag it “plutonica” and we’ll take a look. Thanks!

Plutonica.net has always had a special focus on books and occult publishing in amidst the links and commentary on occulture.

We’ve now taken that a step further by creating a dedicated space to tackle one book a month with the Plutonica.net Esoteric Book Club.

What’s the deal?

I’ve created an About page for the book club with more info on the history of the idea and how it came about, but here’s the gist:

The Plutonica.net Esoteric Book Club isn’t just another general occult forum. It’s a space dedicated to esoteric and occult literature and what people do with it.

It tackles the same themes our blog is focused on: philosophy, spirituality, magick and occulture, with a little biography and occult lit tossed in for good measure.

The real focus will be on engaging in what we’re reading, as we’re reading it. Sharing thoughts, asking questions, hopefully going deeper into material together than we might have the opportunity otherwise, alone.

How it will work

We’ll gather suggestions Continue reading »

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

Holy cow. December was quite a month for holy days. (Though none, in fact, observed cows – as far as I know…?)

Hanukkah, Agnostica, Saturnalia, Winter Solstice, Yule, Natalis Invicti, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Day of Ashura – and apparently December 12th, 2009 was also the 53rd anniversary of patenting the first hovercraft. (Who knew?)

It kept me busy. So did work on the (not so) Secret Project ™ announced on the Facebook group. Beta version to be released Monday.

Now, on to the linkage:

• In Papers Falling from an Attic Window, Dan Harms asks (and answers) a rather interesting question: “Why did the fairies shrink?” Apparently we can blame Paracelsus and Shakespeare.

• However, fairies can’t fly, so says Graeme Paton in the Telegraph, who also advises that angels can’t fly either. Paton writes: “A leading biologist has compared the physiology of flighted species with the representations of spiritual and mythical creatures in art – and found the angels and fairies that sit atop of Christmas trees did not get there under their own steam.” I know, deep down, you’re just as disappointed as I am.

• The folks at Students of Tarot have created eleven Flash jigsaw puzzles out of images from the 1918 Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck. Each puzzle piece is double sided, with an image from a major arcana card on each side.  I’ve done a couple of them. It’s pretty nifty.

• Winston Rowntree, who writes and illustrates Subnormality, a wonderfully weird comic hosted by a fake company called Virus Comix, reminds us why it’s ok to be weird as there’s no other way to be. Spotted on Mutate!.

Speaking of weird, after my festive Cthulhu-themed gift idea post I thought I’d also mention a search engine I found: Cthuugle, which bills itself as “the complete HP Lovecraft Search Engine”. Indeed.

That’s it for this week, folks. I still have half an hour to post this where it can still be considered Saturn Day, so I’d better make it quick!