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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!

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!

Speech in the Silence is a new Thelemic podcast put out by the ARARITA San Diego Thelema Group.

The first episode (Episode 1: Solstice in Capricorn, Year 105) aired on December 21st, 2009.

Their aims are straightforward and their focus seems tight:

The focus of Speech in the Silence podcast is on Thelema, Aleister Crowley, and Ordo Templi Orientis while also touching upon the subjects of magick, yoga, and initiation.

We will include lectures, music, interviews, discussions, and more. Also, we will feature readings of the Holy Books of Thelema and other important texts written by Aleister Crowley.

The first podcast briefly introduces Continue reading »

Teitan Press has recently published The Progradior Correspondence, edited by Keith Richmond.

The text is comprised of ninety letters and documents that were exchanged between Aleister Crowley (Frater Progradior), Frank Bennett, and members of Crowley’s inner circle, including Charles Stansfeld Jones (Frater Achad), Leila Waddell, Leah Hirsig among others.

The letters discuss first hand accounts of the development of Thelema and efforts to promote its vehicles, the A.’. A.’. and the OTO.

From Teitan Press:

The correspondence began in 1910 when Bennett wrote to Crowley seeking his advice on the performance of “The Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage.” It continued through the years of The Equinox, through Crowley’s residence in the United States during the First World War, and on past the heydays of the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalu in the early 1920s. The exchange finally drew to a close in 1926, by which time Crowley had dropped or otherwise lost contact with most of his associates of the preceding decade and a half.

The book is available in hardcover in a limited edition of 666 copies for $45 US, and is available from Weiser Antiquarian and Amazon.com.

Last week, Alan Chapman and Duncan Barford of The Baptist’s Head and Open Enlightenment were kind enough to answer several questions I put to them.  I have edited the questions for the sake of brevity and to make myself look less a twit.  Initially only Duncan was had agreed to participate in the interview, leading to a change in tone of my questions.

Duncan and Alan both demonstrate a lot of growth in their thought, and I believe many points I touch on rely on legacy material. I hope you enjoy.

At the beginning of August I wrote about the replica Stele of Revealing that I’d ordered from Weiser Antiquarian, and mentioned that the magickal version were being sold by London’s Atlantis Bookshop.

Turns out, Atlantis is having a bit of a do.

LAShTAL.com, who first posted about the steles, provides details of an event  called “Revealing the Stele“, which will develop themes outlined in an earlier lecture on the stele.

The seminar will be presented by Gary Dickinson, the artist executant for the Company of Heaven, which produced the replicas of the Stele.

The stele depicts Ra-Hoor-Khuit, Hadit and Nuit, three central figures in  the The Book of the Law, as well as Horus, whom Aleister Crowley’s wife Rose recognized, though previously unfamiliar with Egyptian mythology.

Unfortunately for me, this even occurs on September 19th, the day after I leave England. But if you’re in the land, check it out, it sounds like a neat event. Tickets are £31 a pop.