31.08.2020

“The King in Yellow” by Robert W. Chambers (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)

Magick Matters
"The King in Yellow" by Robert W. Chambers (Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading)
"First published in 1895, this collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers takes its title from The King in Yellow, a fictional drama so laced with "the essence of purest poison" that it drives anyone foolish enough to read it insane. Although suppressed by authorities shortly after publication, copies of the play continue to seduce and destroy unsuspecting men and women who fall under its spell. The King in Yellow was a bestseller in its day, and was later praised by horror emeritus H.P. Lovecraft as a book that "really achieves notable heights of cosmic horror." Its ten stories include "The Yellow Sign," considered by many critics to be one of the greatest...>>
View
31.08.2020

“Mysticism After Modernism: Crowley, Evola, Neville, Watts, Colin Wilson, and Other Populist Gurus” by James J. O’Meara

Magick Matters
"Mysticism After Modernism: Crowley, Evola, Neville, Watts, Colin Wilson, and Other Populist Gurus" by James J. O'Meara
"In the wake of changing political attitudes and cultural values, it’s time for a look at what can now be discerned as an equally new development, on the fringes of Western civilization, among what came to be known as “popular culture,” during the so-called pre- and post-war eras: a new kind of spiritual teacher or “guru,” one more interested in methods, techniques and results than in dogmas, institutions, or - especially - followers. James O’Meara examines these “populist gurus” from a wide variety of different perspectives, featuring substantial chapters on well-known figures such as William Burroughs, Aleister Crowley, Colin Wilson, Alan Watts, Neville Goddard, and Julius Evola, as well as such fringe phenomena as Chaos...>>
View
31.08.2020

“New Wings for Daedalus: Wilhelm Reich, His Theory and Techniques” by Israel Regardie

Magick Matters
"New Wings for Daedalus: Wilhelm Reich, His Theory and Techniques" by Israel Regardie
"Though Francis Israel Regardie (1907–1985) is best known for his writings on the Western magical/mystical system known as the Golden Dawn, that is not how he made his living. He was a Doctor of Chiropractic under which license he practiced the psychotherapeutic methods of Wilhelm Reich, M.D. (1897–1957). Reichian Therapy was a revolutionary approach to dealing with psychological issues. Reich, who had once been an associate of Sigmund Freud, had developed important extensions to psychological theory and the therapy methods of the day. But in a clinical setting he and others were continually faced with the intractability of many patients against the therapeutic methods then in use. He came to believe that this "armoring" was...>>
View
31.08.2020

“Repose of the Spirits, The: A Sufi Commentary on the Divine Names” by Ahmad Sam’ani (translated by William C. Chittick)

Magick Matters
"Repose of the Spirits, The: A Sufi Commentary on the Divine Names" by Ahmad Sam'ani (translated by William C. Chittick)
"Major new translation of a unique and important Persian treatise on divine names in the Islamic tradition. The Repose of the Spirits is a translation of one of the earliest and most comprehensive treatises on Sufism in the Persian language. Written by Aḥmad Sam‘ānī, an expert in Islamic law from a famous Central Asian scholarly family in about the year 1135, it is one of the handful of early Sufi texts available in English and is by far the most accessible. It also may well be the longest and the most accurately translated. Ostensibly a commentary on the divine names, it avoids the abstract discourse of theological nitpicking and explains the human significance of the...>>
View