Magick Matters

“Alchemy and Finnegans Wake” by Barbara DiBernard

"In the first full-length study of Joyce’s direct and indirect use of alchemical allusions, DiBernard shows how an awareness of the alchemical metaphor guides a reader through the richness of Finnegans Wake. For example, the alchemical transmutation of lead into gold parallels the transmutation of the dross and commotion of ordinary life into a work of art. This study shows how the themes of Joyce’s novel―death and rebirth, the conflict between physical and spiritual, incest, colors, forgery, and the reconciliation of opposites―relate to the alchemical process. The author then presents a theory, based on alchemical metaphor, on the much debated subject of Joyce’s view of the artist."...>>

“Blasphemers and Blackguards: The Irish Hellfire Clubs” by David Ryan

"Prostitutes, pimps, cutpurses, murderers and bawdy houses…. What were the hellfire clubs of 18th-century Ireland? Were they really élite groups who engaged in obscene orgies, devil worship and the ritual murder of servants? These questions have intrigued virtually everyone who has visited the supposed hellfire club meeting place in the Dublin Mountains, or heard the lurid stories that are associated with it. Cutting through this veil of myth and legend, Blasphemers & Blackguards: The Irish Hellfire Clubs reveals the truth about these mysterious societies."...>>

“Master of the Mysteries: New Revelations on the Life of Manly Palmer Hall” by Louis Sahagun (expanded edition)

"In 1919, a Canadian teenager with a sixth grade education arrived by train to the wilds of Los Angeles. Within a decade he had transformed himself into a world-renowned occult scholar. His name was Manly Palmer Hall, author of the landmark publication The Secret Teachings of All Ages, widely regarded as the best introduction to Western esoteric ideas, and the founder of the Philosophical Research Society, which housed one of the biggest occult libraries in the United States. Hall became the twentieth century's most prolific writer and speaker on ancient philosophies, mysticism, and magic, and a confidant of Hollywood celebrities and politicians. In 1990, he died due to "suspicious circumstances," which remains an open homicide case...>>

“Trip: Psychedelics, Alienation, and Change” by Tao Lin

"Part memoir, part history, part journalistic exposé, Trip is a look at psychedelic drugs, literature, and alienation from one of the twenty-first century's most innovative novelists--The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test for a new generation. A Vintage Original. While reeling from one of the most creative--but at times self-destructive--outpourings of his life, Tao Lin discovered the strange and exciting work of Terence McKenna. McKenna, the leading advocate of psychedelic drugs since Timothy Leary, became for Lin both an obsession and a revitalizing force. In Trip, Lin's first book-length work of nonfiction, he charts his recovery from pharmaceutical drugs, his surprising and positive change in worldview, and his four-year engagement with some of the hardest questions: Why...>>

“The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars: A Neuropsychologist’s Odyssey Through Consciousness” by Paul Broks

"When celebrated neuropsychologist Paul Broks's wife died of cancer, it sparked a journey of grief and reflection that traced a lifelong attempt to understand how the brain gives rise to the soul. The result of that journey is a gorgeous, evocative meditation on fate, death, consciousness, and what it means to be human. The Darker the Night, The Brighter the Stars weaves a scientist’s understanding of the mind – its logic, its nuance, how we think about what makes a person – with a poet’s approach to humanity, that crucial and ever-elusive why. It’s a story that unfolds through the centuries, along the path of humankind’s constant quest to discover what makes us human,...>>