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

I’ve been crazy busy the past few weeks with work and trying to finish a few pieces of writing to submit to various publications, but I think I’m back on track now, so we’ll try to resume our regular schedule.

There’s still quite a bit I want to discuss in regards to sex and gender and what it means spiritually and magickally, but for now, let’s take a look at symbols in a more generic sense:

• Sor. Ceilede 789, in her blog Beautiful Pyre, re-posts “Golden Fiction“, which originally appeared on Key23.net. In it she examines the concept of hypersigils, noting the differences between these and graphic or mantric sigils, and discusses practical applications.

• Technoccult has started posting more in-depth pieces, and in “Hypersigils reconsidered” Klintron, with references to Grant Morrison (of course), discusses this in context of forming alternate identity-narratives and cybernetics.

• Grant Morrison at Disinfo.con in 2000 discussing…just about everything: aliens, drugs, Aleister Crowley, drugs, the fifth dimension, drugs, hypersigils, drugs, Robert Anton Wilson, drugs, and magick. Click here for part one of five, follow the links on YouTube’s sidebar for the rest. It’s very entertaining.

One of my favourite essays on sigils remains Marik’s Sigils, Servitors and Godforms, Part I and Part II. It’s a great resource. (Marik also makes excellent jewellery.)

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

This is a subject I’ve been frustrated by for some time now, and I’d like to air my thoughts and see what you think about it.

The basic gender assignment which are still frequently in use today date back to the 5th century BCE.  The fragmentary writings that survive from Empedocles, among other things, establish the four roots (later elements) as Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and that further, these are associated with specific gods: Hera, Zeus, Hades, and Nestis (Persephone).

These associations had complex geographical and mythical attributes which are rarely (if ever) taken into consideration. They don’t specify mystic sexual or gender-based properties inherent in the elements themselves, but rather describe mystic attributes relevant to these specific divine couples.

Taken out of context, the elements often get (mis)classed as: Earth/female, Air/male, Fire/male, Water/female. This tradition has become entrenched in modern occultism, and it is patently absurd.

If we take a surface reading of gender stereotypes as presented, they make little sense. Is the person the fiery temper represented by nurturing Earth or deep water simply because she’s female? Must  the practical labourer who’s held the same job for so many decades be viewed as intellectual air or fiery inspiration, simply because he has a penis? It simply doesn’t hold up, and perhaps it never really has.

We can still make use of the elemental associations in light of what they represent, for example:

• Earth – fertile, steadfast, practical
• Air – intellectual, remote, changeable
• Fire – passion, inspiration, transformation
• Water – emotional, nurturing, hidden

and various esoteric attributes, but we need not pretend these associations must be attributed to binary gender conventions.

Objects are no more imbued with mystical power than abstract concepts. The sword or wand ought not represent “male energy” (whatever that is) due to a faint phallic resemblances; there are no physical resemblances between a chalice or pentacle that suggest “femininity”. There are more relevant – and more potent – concerns inherent in the symbolism without forcing genders upon them.

Do we lose anything by dropping these arbitrary gender distinctions? What do we gain?

Arcane Wisdom, an imprint of Bloodletting Press, is reissuing a limited edition of Aleister Crowley’s novel Moonchild.

Included in this edition is a long introduction by Don Webb, author of Aleister Crowley: The Fire and the Force, among other books on occultism.

The plot description on Horror-Mall.com is brief:

Moonchild is a novel written by the British occultist Aleister Crowley in 1917. Its plot involves a magical war between a group of white magicians, led by the protagonist Simon Iff, and a group of black magicians over an unborn child. It was first published by Mandrake Press in 1929.

Moonchild is a novel held in high regard for its magical and occult significance and also for its complex and well written prose.

The print run is limited to 200 copies and retails for 55$US. The only source I’ve been able to find selling copies is Horror-Mall.com.

Thanks to Cole Tucker for the tip!

Teitan Press has released a new book, The Magic Seal of Dr. John Dee: The Sigillum Dei Aemeth, by Colin D. Campbell.

From Teitan Press:

The Magic Seal of John Dee comprises a detailed examination of the history and structure of the Sigillum Dei Aemeth of the Elizabethan scholar and Magus, Dr. John Dee, as well as a study of its use in the practice of ritual magic. The appendixes include a new transcription and translation of Dee’s Liber Mysteriorum Secundus, and an important new translation of the section of the famous grimoire, The Sworn Book of Honorius, that gives details of what is clearly a precursor of the Sigillum Dei.

Teitan Press also cites its value for the practicing magickian with these aims: Continue reading »

September seems to be the big month for releasing new fiction, but occult publishers seem to be putting out nifty stuff each week these days. The latest being The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon: From an Original Talismanic Grimoire in Full Colour by Ebenezer Sibley and Frederick Hockley, edited with extensive commentary by Joseph Peterson.

The Clavis contains a full-colour facsimile of a hand-painted, handwritten magical notebook and eight separate magickal texts.

The book is published by Ibis Press and distributed by Weiser Antiquarian. The descriptions differs on each site, offering different details about the book and its history, so I’ve reproduced them both here below. Continue reading »