An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for April 15, 2019

If you’d like to participate, head over to Omnium Gatherum on the BBS, or suggest something.

• Cinemagician: Conversations with Kenneth Anger by Carl Abrahamsson

  

  “Iconic American filmmaker Kenneth Anger has inspired generations of creative storytellers since the late 1940s. He is a unique visionary who drifts from pure poetry within his magical filmmaking to sardonic gossip in his bestselling “Hollywood Babylon” books. In-between these extremes we find a person who never tires of exploring his own creativity. In this intimate documentary, Anger lets us in on his fascinating life story, his approaches to filmmaking, and his relationship to British occultist Aleister Crowley.”

• “For sale: Aleister Crowley’s home of black magic owned by Jimmy Page” — Jim Lawson, The Times

  

  “The fire-ravaged ruins of the home once owned by an occultist described as “the most evil man in the world” is up for sale for more than half a million pounds.”

• “Invocation of Almost: The Art of David Tibet” through May 25, Cal State Fullerton’s Nicholas & Lee Begovich Gallery, California [HT OC Weekly]

  “Invocation of Almost will showcase a large selection of David Tibet’s past, present, and future paintings and drawings, which Channel his Cartoon Imaginings of Apocalypses, Hallucinatory Scribble Myths, and Sidereal Dream PickNicks. There will also be many new sculptures and installation pieces – all previously unseen works – which have been recently shown to Tibet as Dreams from the Wooden Child. Some of these unique artworks include, or have been inspired by, Coptic and Akkadian texts, languages that Tibet has studied for many years. Also on display will be original hand-written lyrics by Tibet, as well as ephemera from Tibet’s ParaMusical group, Current 93. An entirely new musical composition has been created by Current 93, as Red House as Red Barn, especially for The CSUF Begovich Gallery. In addition, this exhibition will flicker AlephFilms by the video artist Davide Pepe, David Tibet’s long-term collaborator and the FilmSaint for C93. An extensive full-color exhibition catalogue will be produced in Lunar Conjunction with this exhibition with texts and essays on David and his work by: Anohni, Nick Blinko, Henry Boxer, Jacqueline Bunge, Nick Cave, Shirley Collins, Michel Faber, Gef!, Norbert Kox, Thomas Ligotti, Hugo Lundhaug, Seth Sanders, David Tibet, Ola Wikander, Martin Worthington, and Daniel Wojcik. “

• “Gale Introduces New Digital Archive on Religions of America
  Traces the History of Religious Developments and Movements Unique to America” — News release via PR Newswire

  “Gale, a Cengage company, is introducing a new digital archive that explores the history and unique character of the American religious experience. Religions of America provides scholars and researchers access to the largest resource of its kind that follows the development of religions and religious movements born in and significantly reshaped by the United States from 1820 to 1990.

  …

  Cross searchable with other Gale Primary Sources, Religions of America comprises five unique collections:

  …

  The FBI Files on Jonestown, Moorish Science Temple of America, and the Branch Davidians: Explores the events surrounding the Free Peoples Temple in Jonestown; the activities of the early Black-Moslem Moorish Science Temple of America and, through reproduced negotiation transcripts, the beliefs and practices of David Koresh and his Branch Davidian followers.”

• “Ranked: The Creepiest Lore Episodes” — David Chiodaroli, Screen Rant

  

  “The episode delves deep into the background of the accentric Parsons, one of the pioneers of early racketeering and devout occultist, who blended science and spirituality in ways that seem unfathomable. Yet, Parsons manages to bridge this gap, resulting in a story that’s equally weird and enjoyable.

  While it may be a little unsettling to think that we owe much of our modern knowledge of space exploration to a known demon summoner, there isn’t anything particularly frightening in Parson’s story. Sure, the legendary occultist Aleister Crowley makes an appearance to impart some philosophical wisdom, but unless you have a particular aversion to the often reviled religious leader, then there isn’t much here to trigger the heevy jeevies.”

• Devil’s Fairground by The Tiger Lillies [also, HT Prospect Magazine]

  “London’s the Tiger Lillies are celebrating 30 years of their provocative brand of avant-garde punk-cabaret with their symphonic latest album, Devil’s Fairground (out 15 February). Themes of junkies, prostitutes and all forms of vice continue to make up the majority of their work, while frontman Martyn Jacques has a knack for finding beauty in the macabre and grotesque, like Poe, Lovecraft and Edward Gorey before him. The band have performed all over the world, making their way from humble beginnings busking in the streets and playing bar-rooms to performing in massive concert halls and opera houses. They’ve also shared bills with St. Vincent, John Cale, Patti Smith, David Byrne and many others, and have built a legion of devoted fans including film director Terry Gilliam, the late Robin Williams and Simpsons creator Matt Groening.

  Devil’s Fairground takes the listener on a tour through the sordid underbelly of post-soviet Prague, where Jacques’s eye finds poetry in legless drunks, bored hookers and fatherless children.”

• “Ydg Drops Terrifying Ode to Occult Deity, “Baphomet”” — Matthew Meadow, YourEDM

  “Baphomet is a widely misunderstood concept. Popularly characterized as a demon deity with the head of a goat and body of a man with black wings and long, pointed horns, it’s easy to draw a parallel to the idea of the devil. In reality, it’s actually a symbol denoting “perfect social order.”

  While it’s the unwanted interpretation at play here in YDG’s new song “Baphomet,” it’s an absolute banger all the same.”

• Faces of Muhammad: Western Perceptions of the Prophet of Islam from the Middle Ages to Today by John Tolan, due in June from Princeton University Press [HT AlterNet]

  

  “Heretic and impostor or reformer and statesman? The contradictory Western visions of Muhammad

  In European culture, Muhammad has been vilified as a heretic, an impostor, and a pagan idol. But these aren’t the only images of the Prophet of Islam that emerge from Western history. Commentators have also portrayed Muhammad as a visionary reformer and an inspirational leader, statesman, and lawgiver. In Faces of Muhammad, John Tolan provides a comprehensive history of these changing, complex, and contradictory visions. Starting from the earliest calls to the faithful to join the Crusades against the “Saracens,” he traces the evolution of Western conceptions of Muhammad through the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and up to the present day.

  Faces of Muhammad reveals a lengthy tradition of positive portrayals of Muhammad that many will find surprising. To Reformation polemicists, the spread of Islam attested to the corruption of the established Church, and prompted them to depict Muhammad as a champion of reform. In revolutionary England, writers on both sides of the conflict drew parallels between Muhammad and Oliver Cromwell, asking whether the prophet was a rebel against legitimate authority or the bringer of a new and just order. Voltaire first saw Muhammad as an archetypal religious fanatic but later claimed him as an enemy of superstition. To Napoleon, he was simply a role model: a brilliant general, orator, and leader.

  The book shows that Muhammad wears so many faces in the West because he has always acted as a mirror for its writers, their portrayals revealing more about their own concerns than the historical realities of the founder of Islam.”

• Smoke and Mirrors: The Psychology of Magic exhibition, through September 15, Wellcome Collection museum, London

  

  “What can magic and conjuring tell us about the human mind? Our new exhibition brings together the worlds of psychology and entertainment in search of the truth about deception.

  Explore how our biases affect our perception and whether our senses can be hacked. Discover spirit photography, magic props and psychology experiments to see how magic works on – and in – the mind of the spectator.”

• HERETICAL FATES ART BOOK and TAROT DECK with Danika XIX. A NSFW Tarot deck and art book with 78 photographs by Allan Amato, descriptions by Danika XIX and art by JAW Cooper + Lauren Panepinto. A crowdfunding effort by Allan Amato.

  

  “The idea for this deck arrived over breakfast one fateful sunday morning. My partner Mallory and I each pulled our tarot card, a prompt we do together to answer a creative question, get our bearings, or just invite our subconscious into the conversation.

  I wondered aloud whether a tarot version of those old timey naked lady playing card decks existed out in the world already (they do), and would a functioning photographed deck be interesting to contemplate? (it was) My partner immediately encouraged me to think more about it, and very much in the chaos theory way I do things, I had two shoots scheduled the following week.

  …

  In addition to the ethereal Danika, we have JAW Cooper creating the suites, backs and frontispiece of the deck, and Lauren Panepinto designing the complete series, soup to nuts. A true creative dream team that came together to make this the best possible project it could be. To say nothing of all the staggering subjects who allowed themselves to be transformed into angels, monsters and misfits! Ye Gods; Danika XIX, Amanda Palmer, Stoya, Joanna Angel, Vivid Vivka, Sash Suicide, Candy Ken, Ana Fox, Buck Angel, Jiz Lee, Anikka Albrite, Dani Daniels, Dominique, Nina Kate, Mick Blue, Mousa Kraish, Jeana Turner, Eugene Simon, Valis Volkova, Anactingangel, Bree Daniels, Jenna Fox, Pulpfictionally, Misti Dawn, Alexis Fawx, Fawn Grey, Taylor Wilkey, Eirenne SG, Thomas Gunter, Susanna Eggli, Mark Snyder, Megan Ayn, Ace Tilton Ratcliff, Roarie Yum, Ali Rose, Brandon Scott, TJ, Idiivil, Tee Beez, Andi Rye, Ryan Mclane, Autumn Fryer, Ms Briq House, Jettila Lewis, Small Hands, Vanessa Alexandra, Stephanie Inagaki, Tita Cupcake, Biqtchpuddin, Misfit Marceline and Astraia Esprit!”