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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!

My review of Frances Yates and the Hermetic Tradition, by Marjorie G. Jones is up on SpiralNature.com.

Though I had of course heard of Frances Yates before, I didn’t know much about her, having only read Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, and that only recently.

Published by Ibis Press, Jones’ Frances Yates and the Hermetic Tradition is the first full-length biography to be written about Yates, and it’s a fascinating read.

@djninjastar also pointed me in the direction of this interview with Jones about the book on the Occult Sentinel podcast.

Though allusions to her not being a properly trained historian are frequent, not being any kind of historian myself I’m still not clear on what the distinction is. Help with that?

Either way, I’d now like to read the rest of her works, The Art of Memory especially, as it’s been called one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.

Check out my review, and let me know if you’ve read Yates, and what your thoughts were about her work.

Weiser Books sent me the new translation of Arbatel: Concerning the Magic of Ancients published by Ibis Press in 2009, and I’ve just started reading it.

Joseph Peterson’s translation is the first published in English since 1655.

This edition contains both the Latin original and the English translation, annotated by Peterson.

From Weiser:

Arbatel’s magic is full of wonder and free from the sinister elements usually associated with texts on the subject. But it is about more than magic; filled with gnomic wisdom, it urges us to help our neighbors, be positive and grateful, and use time wisely. Above all, it teaches us to pay attention, looking for the wondrous and miraculous. In fact, to the author this virtually defines the magus.

Full review to follow.

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

The comments section has been busier this week than it’s ever been in the history of this blog, largely due to my post about “Sexism in contemporary occulture“, with some spill over on my follow up with “Gender and the elements“. A third post on this theme was planned for Friday, but due to time constraints it will likely be posted tomorrow instead.

You may notice a theme in these signals.

• Did you know that Phil Hine has a new blog? Check it out at enfolding.org, especially the latest post, “Occult gender regimes: the Yin-Yang binary” for a lucid examination of why appeals to history and tradition are often misguided.

• Tim Maroney’s excellent 1998 essay “Facts and Phallacies” looks at Aleister Crowley’s use of the word “phallus” and provides deeper insight into the context which it’s used. It’s clearly not a gender-neutral term, and Maroney eloquently dispels this myth once and for all. (Via Phil Hine.)

• While we’re on the subject, the Arcane Archive has an excellent resource titled “Aleister Crowley: A Legacy of Sexism” which is a compilation of sexist remarks and other misogynistic material sourced from Crowley’s writing. I’ve no doubt the man was a Master, but there’s just no getting around the fact that he was a misogynist.

While not specifically related to occultism, GeekFeminism.org is a great blog and resource for all things geeky and…feministy? In a recent post, “Quick Hit: The Safety Dance“, Terri discusses her experiences at events with unwelcome contact. Strange men approaching her what follows amounts to sexual harassment. I’ve seen this happen at public gatherings at occultural events as well. Being female does not give anyone an excuse to initiate physical contact. Ever.

This is an important subject that requires ongoing discussion, but it will not become the dominant theme on this blog.

We’re rounding out the week, and if you have further links you’d like to share, or stories that need to be told, I’m always available on the blog, but for more private discussions, there’s always e-mail or IM.

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

Sexism is a topic that came up in a forum I recently started participating in. None contested that it was endemic in occulture, but few seemed interested in exploring why this was.

I know women who have been asked “who are you here with?” when they attended events. Several have had men try to “explain” technical points to them, unprompted. In my own experience, after choosing a stone to represent an element at a gathering, I overheard a man complain that I should not have been “allowed” to choose Fire.

The most common reaction reaction to the above was a dropped jaw and a private resolution to never attend such events again. And they don’t. Yet many (men, usually) seem bewildered by low attendance of women in their group/temple/lodges.

We have lost essential voices of dedicated magickians because they were treated poorly and edged out of the public sphere. They post profound things in friends-locked spaces on LiveJournal, are brilliant on IM, in private conversation  and other “safe” spaces where they won’t be shut down. Few publish books, and those that do stick to other “safe” topics like occult biography and history. 

How did we let this happen? What can be done about it?