Summary for the year 2017

Here’s a summary of Hermetic Library activity for the year 2017.

Every year there’s so much going on, I’m sure I’m going to miss some things. Consider going through all past summaries for more details about what was going on each week of last year. However, here’s some important things that come to my mind immediately.

The biggest project for 2017 was the switch from static, hand-coded HTML to the new wiki engine. I had been already working on that for all of 2016, but I was not able to make enough progress. Not only was I unable to focus on the library as a project, but I was also maintaining at least two versions of every page, one public facing and one on the new site while in development. I decided the only way forward was to put the work-in-progress wiki version of the site into place.

You know that quote about how the hardest thing is to switch strategy in the middle of a game? Well, I decided I had no other choice, and needed to put the work-in-progress site into production. There was no way I’d be able to get it ready enough, so waiting would only continue the pain of working doubly hard and not getting very far.

I knew that was going to still hurt because of how much work still needed to be done. I also knew that I’d miss all the hand-crafted work I’d done on the site. However, I felt the only way forward that didn’t end up with me burning out was to do make it happen. I had to stop maintaining two complete sites, and I had to be able to focus on the library. The switchover happened at the beginning of 2017.

Thanks to all the Funding and Patron supporters of my work and the library, I’ve been able to focus on the one version of the site and getting it all back up to standards. To be honest, I really thought I’d have finished, but I completely underestimated the amount of work that was needed, and how long it would take me to do. I knew I was working with an import that had lots of cruft, but thought I’d be able to clean that quickly. I look back and realize that I was insane to think that it would only take a month or two to get everything back to looking spiffy again! I’m still working on the site now, getting things cleaned up. But, as I go through everything, I’ve also been improving things, fixing errors, putting in better images, and so much more. Turns out that there’s still a lot of things I’m crafting and doing to make the presentation great, so I’m actually still enjoying that aspect of things, which I thought I’d miss more without HTML to handcraft.

All in all, though there’s still a lot of work to be done, I have realistically made great progress on cleaning up the old material. Not only that, but I’ve been getting it in even better shape than it ever was before.

All the while, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. While I’ve been improving the old content, I’ve also been constantly working on bringing in new content. There’s a bunch of new sections and lots of new material that has been added in the last year. The depth and breadth of the collection of material at the library continues to grow and improve!

One big new feature this year is the library site now has support for languages other than English, with new content added in Deutsch, Esperanto, Español, Français, Hrvatski, Italiano, Polski, Português, Русский, Svenska, and more can easily be started up when there’s volunteers willing and able to work on them. I’ve been slowly working on content for the German, Esperanto, Spanish, French, and Italian pages; but I’m nowhere near fluent in them, so it is slow going. However, I’ve been able to add some great content in these languages, especially French, that I’ve also been translating into English for the main site.

Being able to have an active volunteers working with me on pages for the library is something the wiki engine makes much easier! Thanks to one particular volunteer, and the only volunteer so far to actually help me with the site (so help me thank that person by visiting and sharing those pages!), there’s been a lot of pages added for Aleister Crowley material in Português.

One thing I’m excited about is the potential this has for adding classic texts in Latin and Greek, with translations back to the English site. But, for now, that’s just a potential for the future.

This year, for the anniversary of the library’s birth, I released Magic, Music and Ritual 13, the 2017 issue from the Hermetic Library Anthology Project. It’s a great one! I know I say that about them all, but when I do it also has the virtue of being true. They’re all great! Check them all out, and consider further checking out all the artists who participate.

This year, I created a new process to pitch ideas for paid submissions to the blog and the library. The first, and so far only, submission to make it turns out to be the number one most popular post on the blog on 2017: Seshat and the Clitoris. If you’d like to get paid to create new art or writing for the library, then you should pitch your idea too. Maybe you’ll be the author or artist of 2018’s most popular post!

Hermetic Library has actively pursued its mission of archiving, engaging and encouraging the living Western Esoteric Tradition, Hermeticism, and Aleister Crowley’s Thelema for 20 years. Thanks to each and every Funding and Patron supporter of my work and the library for making the Hermetic Library possible for everyone, that mission continues!

Consider dropping a buck in the tip jar or become an ongoing Patron to help support all the effort that goes into this work.

Consider also checking out what I’m up to on my personal blog and at Odd Order.

The Hermetic Library Blog

Faint gibbering heard from somewhere near the restricted stacks

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