88 comments

Esoteric / Occult Publishing

Feb 20, 2020, 4:42 PM

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More than in any other field, the esoteric seems to depend upon access to old book, and on the business of republishing them. They tend to go back as far as the mid-19th Century.

But then there are also things like Neo-Platonism that go back to the classical era. Most not in Great Books of the Western World.

Reading this: amazon.com

I learn of groups which have existed, and which might still exist. Their writings largely gone, but then resurfacing in the 80's and 90's. I read about all of this and it is too many authors for me to keep track of, and too much material which is not in English.

Lots of groups offering initiatory programs. I feel though that today many people do not really want this. Such a program requires you to make a commitment of time and money, and to accept having things spoon fed to you, and not really knowing where it goes until you have made a big investment of time and energy.

So to really know about all of this, you need handy access to the old books.

So Public and Academic Libraries are extremely weak here.

And then much of the material is extremely obscure, and often never having been translated into English.

So we have now a number of good Esoteric Publishers. They do good work and they seem to make good decisions on what to publish.

In the early 70's James Wasserman, from PA, ostensibly going to college in OH, started working for Samuel Weiser in NYC. Mostly it sounds like his work consisted of republishing pre-war books, and that he forgot about college.

And since he and his wife Nancy have become leaders, bishops, in the OTO / EGC. And they have their own publishing businesses in Florida, and they write their own books too.

So why are books that should be published, should be in print, should be translated, and should be in libraries, not already so?

Well, this is not the highest dollar revenue portion of the publishing industry. It caters to a strong but special taste demand.

And some people probably find some of it to be beyond the pale.

I have always considered the Harry Potter books to be harmless fun. But I also recognized right off that part of the appeal is that they are needling Christian Fundamentalists.

And then with Casual Vacancy, you can read through and divide the characters into the Good and the Bad, and then try to figure out which will get picked to fill the council vacancy.

This Hans Thomas Hakl, born in Austria 1947, now based in the Netherlands:

en.wikipedia.org

He really is quite impressive, as also are all of these new academic based esotericists.

hthakl-octagon.com

And he specializes in the politics, because that is after all what it really comes down to. Many of these groups claim to be a-political, but that just means that they oppose progressive movements, they support the Right. And a large portion of them certainly do, but not all of them necessarily.

The Internet does seem to help. aiding with the spread of special interest information, text and video.

And then for me it is hard too, hard to get access to books, but then even with what I do get, being totally maxed out reading wise, and still struggling to get the kind of overview understanding which I want and need.

Some people believe that Marx, Engels, and Lenin were Masons. Either they were members, or they were influenced by it.

Now the standard Marxist position is that Masonry is just like religion, an opiate. And I can see this. But I can also see that within Masonry you do also have the roots of something like a Marxist view.

Well in Hakl's writings and in the above book, I do find forms of Western Esotericism and of Tantra, which are entirely progressive.

So things are improving.

SJG

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comments (88)

san_jose_guy5 years ago

Having more of these Esoteric Academic Chairs would help. Some deliberate publishing initiatives, on top of what we have, would help.

My organization will run excellent libraries. And for me this is important. Even if you have money to pay for all the books you want to read, not going to have enough home shelf space. So need these libraries for The Organization.

SJG

NeoLiberalism is not just economics and politics, it is also an occult practice which is very dangerous. Trump and his people are centered on this, and on worse.

Key thinkers of the radical right : behind the new threat to liberal democracy / edited by Mark Sedgwick (2019)

amazon.com

Both are available in libraries.

TJ Street tuscl.net

san_jose_guy5 years ago

library.hrmtc.com

amazon.com

Hermes explains : thirty questions about western esotericism : celebrating the 20th anniversary of the centre for History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam / edited by Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Peter J. Forshaw and Marco Pasi (2019) in libraries now, but not quite available.

Aleister Crowley and the temptation of politics / Marco Pasi (2014) Available!

Marco Pasi uva.nl

SJG

TJ Street

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san_jose_guy5 years ago

Looks Good, and in libraries: The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs Kindle Edition
by Tim Freke (Author), Peter Gandy (Author)

Curious cover for Magia Sexualis pictures.abebooks.com

So reading about Julius Evola. He only ran his UR Group from 1927 to 1929. Not clear that there actual practices are written about in accessible books. Lots of his Sex Magic seems to be about sexual refusal. Not interested in that. Worth reading some of his other numerous books, just to understand, and also to see how Fascism works, and how it can be opposed.

Paschal Beverly Randolph: A Nineteenth-Century Black American Spiritualist, Rosicrucian, and Sex Magician (SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions) Paperback – November 14, 1996 by John Patrick Deveney (Author) amazon.com

Now, extremely interesting: Maria de Naglowska

amazon.com

Maria de Naglowska (1883-1936) en.wikipedia.org

Born in St. Petersburg, legend she was initiated by Rasputin.

Translated PBR Magia Sexualis. Some say she put her own ideas in. Others say she greatly improved it.

She ran her own group in Paris. She was in Paris for only 6 years. Some of what she writes about might not have every happened. The religion she invented is a form of Satanism.

Her group had its own version of Naked Woman on the Altar, and for her group, there was definitely to be sex. To read her ideas, women are to give it up, plain and simple.

Thinking of Anais Ninn and her "Delta of Venus" and of Pauline Reage and her "Story of O", I wonder if they were influenced by Naglowska.

At the highest initiation level for Naglowska's group, there was a death and rebirth ritual.

She may have been influenced by Peledan and others.

So she translated Randolph. But her next book was a novel and it better lays out her own ideas:

The Sacred Rite of Magical Love.

and she talks about an "age of salvation through female sexuality".

And she published "The Light of Sex", and then "The Mystery of Hanging", this being about her initiatory group.

She has a sophisticated understanding of Satan.

As of today her books are not in libraries, by they are otherwise very available.

Maybe all of this is elitist, but I don't see it as trying to make a stratified society, or as otherwise fascist like Evola.

So, some videos about Naglowska:

de Naglowska: Open Letter to Pius XI & Initiatic Eroticism youtube.com

Port: Reading from de Naglowska's "Open Letter to Pope Pius XI" & "Initiatic Eroticism" youtube.com

Theism: A Thelemic Perspective youtube.com

Inner Traditions: innertraditions.com

innertraditions.com

SJG

TJ Street

farm6.static.flickr.com 3.bp.blogspot.com farm4.static.flickr.com

Butt Out spicylingerie.com

French Cut Panty Hose spicylingerie.com

Aerosmith - Walk This Way (from You Gotta Move)

youtube.com

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Saw one, about 2010? Not really 427 cid, but 4.6 liters, 435 hp

Peter Frampton Thank You Mr Churchill youtube.com

san_jose_guy5 years ago

So reading "Condensed Chaos" by Phil Hine.

Expecting a UK Publisher.

But I find, The Original Falcon Press, Tempe, AZ

By the name and the graphic, this sure looks to be another occult publisher. originalfalcon.com

Not sure how much of this will be in libraries, but it looks great. What authors do they seem to have up front?

Christopher S. Hyatt

S. Jason Black

Antero Alli

Israel Regardie

Joseph C. Lisiewski

Steven Heller

K. B. Well jr.

Jay Bremyer

SJG