Magick Matters

“Matrix Magic: The Mad Memer’s Guide to SocioMagic and Deep Societal Knowledge” by R. Kirk Packwood

"Matrix Magic is societal magic with a utopian twist. *Societal magic* is a sociospiritual discipline and art, involving work with spiritual elements, forces, and currents operating behind and embedded within human societies. Matrix Magic is focused at the point where sociocultural physical and ideological manifestation, laws, norms, and elements meet the realm of spirit. This metaphysical point is called the *sociospiritual realm*. Societal magic can be used to unlock and work with the occult mysteries, Societal Archetypes, machinations, and forces present within human societies. In addition, Matrix Magic can provide protection from and understanding of active and latent forms of negative influence initiated and perpetuated by omnipresent hostile societal^forces and ^elements. Within the Matrix Magic...>>

“The Chaos Conundrum” by Aaron John Gulyas

"In The Chaos Conundrum, historian Aaron John Gulyas examines how the paranormal has intersected and influenced our culture in myriad ways, from the conspiracy beliefs of William Cooper and Exopolitics to the challenge that the stories of Gray Barker presented to our concept of self and time. He looks at the maelstrom of personalities, agendas, impressions, data, confusion, and contradictions that can be found in the world of the weird, and demonstrates how they have become an integral part of our lives, whether in the form of flying saucers, hauntings, religious revelations, psychic abilities, or dozens of other guises. Gulyas delves into the stories of the people who have attempted to create order out...>>

“Esoteric Transfers and Constructions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam” edited by Mark Segdwick and Francesco Piraino

"Similarities between esoteric and mystical currents in different religious traditions have long interested scholars. This book takes a new look at the relationship between such currents. It advances a discussion that started with the search for religious essences, archetypes, and universals, from William James to Eranos. The universal categories that resulted from that search were later criticized as essentialist constructions, and questioned by deconstructionists. An alternative explanation was advanced by diffusionists: that there were transfers between different traditions. This book presents empirical case studies of such constructions, and of transfers between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the premodern period, and Judaism, Christianity, and Western esotericism in the modern period. It shows that there were...>>

“The Reality Bubble: Blind Spots, Hidden Truths, and the Dangerous Illusions that Shape Our World” by Ziya Tong

"From one of the world's most engaging science journalists, a groundbreaking and wonder-filled look at the hidden things that shape our lives in unexpected and sometimes dangerous ways. Our naked eyes see only a thin sliver of reality. We are blind in comparison to the X-rays that peer through skin, the mass spectrometers that detect the dead inside the living, or the high-tech surveillance systems that see with artificial intelligence. And we are blind compared to the animals that can see in infrared, or ultraviolet, or in 360-degree vision. These animals live in the same world we do, but they see something quite different when they look around. With all of the curiosity and flair that drives...>>

“Picatrix: A Medieval Treatise on Astral Magic” translated by Dan Attrell and David Porreca (kindle ebook version)

"A manual for constructing talismans, mixing magical compounds, summoning planetary spirits, and determining astrological conditions, Picatrix is a cornerstone of Western esotericism. It offers important insights not only into occult practices and beliefs but also into the transmission of magical ideas from antiquity to the present. Dan Attrell and David Porreca’s English translation opens the world of this vital medieval treatise to modern-day scholars and lay readers. The original text, Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, was compiled in Arabic from over two hundred sources in the latter half of the tenth century. It was translated into Castilian Spanish in the mid-thirteenth century, and shortly thereafter into Latin. Based on David Pingree’s edition of the Latin text, this translation...>>