Magical Work in Oz

Check out guest artist Miky Morgado’s “The Tower”! Look for more from Miky on the blog and in the zine.

For my part, I was reminded of Oz, made an authentic Unicursal Hexagram pizza, a special Unicursal Heart for Lupercalia, and, as always, worked on the website, blog, and more … Enjoy!

By the by, this week through next week is a winter storm, with snow everywhere and temperatures way below freezing all day, here at the library. Hope you’re staying comfy, whatever value of comfy is appropriate for your current local weather!

The Tower – XVI by Miky Morgado. 42X29,7cm. Mixed media on 300gr paper. 2019.

Magical Work in Oz

There’s recently been news about plans for another remake of Wizard of Oz. As if anyone could do better than The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz? Pshaw! (Ugh, and don’t even get me started on Wicked which is only redeemed at all by the musical, which was far better than the book.)

But, I’m always surprised when I meet people that don’t know the movie was based on the book by L Frank Baum, and that book is only the first in an extensive series, which also continued long after Baum’s death. Frankly, the first book, I think, isn’t even the best. Personally, I stan Ozma and Jack Pumpkinhead.

Back in 2006, I was involved in a planning committee for BC Witchcamp, an annual retreat in the Reclaiming tradition, and helped select the theme Wizard of Oz. I then spent a silly amount of time doing my own research and thinking about the theme, and came up with a bunch of stuff. I was in grad school at the time. I was probably avoiding working on my thesis, tbh.

The Shelfie of Oz

I put a lot of it online, but, as I gander at it now, I realize I didn’t finish it. (I ended up not going to the actual camp event, for personal reasons, and so didn’t finish those pages.) But, what I wrote is still up. You might find it interesting.

From What are these pages?:

“Yeah, it’s about modern western magic in the framework of the Oz stories, as a modern myth that is in the public domain.

There is a great deal of work that has been done on Oz as metaphor, allegory, myth, & c., but surprisingly little has been done on Oz as magic. Even more, few of the published books rest on the original materials, instead they are primarily based on the classic MGM cinema version of the story and only occasionally reference the original story as an aside.

These pages are an exploration of the connections and patterns between the original Oz stories and the work of magic, in both theoretical and practical aspects.

Traveling to Oz is a chance to experience more than what the common state of the human condition. On one level, Oz is a magical place that isn’t normal earth, either the faery realms or a land of dreams. On another, Oz could be the afterlife. Another, Oz could be seen as the promise of an ‘awakened’ life in contrast to the sleepy, somnambulant humans stuck in Kansas. Or, Oz is an allegorical tale of initiation and growth, where an individual comes into her power, and meets other powerful allies, who all form either aspects of a reconnected whole self or a vibrant family of choice.

Moreover, the experience of Oz is one of magic. Oz is a place where people come into their power and develop skills in the appropriate and right use of power.”

There’s a lot more, even if some of it isn’t finished, and some of what is finished, apparently, could use some additional editing. ::sad trombone:: Still, I’m kind of proud of that work, and think about it every time something about Oz comes up. So, if you’re interested, head over to my personal site, and check it out!

Magical Work in Oz

(Eventually I’ll probably mirror this over at the library, but I’ve just not gotten a round tuit, plus then I’d have to actually finish it.)

Ozma and Glinda k-i-s-s-i-n-g

Authentic Unicursal Hexagram Pizza

Look what you monsters made me do! Here’s an authentic Unicursal Hexagram Pizza for real! “The Only Correct Way To Slice Pizza. Fight Me.”™️

We finally really did it. [falls to his knees screaming] YOU MANIACS! YOU CUT IT UP! AH, DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!

As much as I liked the silly graphic I made, I wanted to see a real one.
Twirling the cutter all the way around seemed too awkward, so I let myself angle and reverse direction within the one cut.

↙️↗️↙️↖️↘️↖️🍕🍕

Thelemic Konami Code!

Yeah, I cut it before cooking it. But, um, you know they come that way, right? Haha, j/k!
I mean, no, they actually do come that way, but I was just going to cook 1 serving, not the whole thing. So, I decided to cut it first and use my toaster oven.

But, really, it’s because “I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel.”

There’s even special sauce on it. Wait. What? NOOOOOooooOOOOOooooo. Not that kind. I meant hot sauce. Geez!

“This is actually what got crowley kicked out of italy… “ says Comrade Charlie on Twitter

Unicursal Heart

Speaking of Unicursal Hexagrams, just in time for your Valentine’s / Lupercalia festivities, be sure to check out my new Unicursal Heart Serpent Blood Love Law Hexagram design. I’ve had this wyrming around in my brain for over a year now, and, given the season, thought it was a great time to make it finally happen.

e-girl and her podcaster boyfriend

Suspicious blank

I have run into a misprint in the text for Crowley’s Gargoyles as presented within in Collected Works, Vol III. I ran into this as I was preparing the page for this at the library sourced from both Bill Heidrick’s project to digitize Crowley material and in the print version of Collected Works, or, more properly Works of Aleister Crowley, in three volumes.
There’s a suspicious blank space in Gargoyles at “Kali” where it seems like the type slug didn’t hit the paper fully, or something. Moreover, the old Heidrick transcriptions faithfully includes this oddity without change or comment. By my eye, the text “may _ie” maybe should be “may die”?

“may _ie”

I mean, if it had been “may d_e” that would have been super goofy fun given that the next line will “annihilate the ‘I’” but …

Turns out there’s a scanned copy of the physical 1907 edition from Ohio State University Library. In this detached edition, the missing type on that page is an “l” and that makes the word “lie”.

“may lie”

Now that’s all sorted and it’s restored and now presented at the library in a convenient, searchable page.

Unicursal THE TRUTH IS THE UNKNOWN Propaganda Poster

Stuff at Hermetic Library to check out

THE TRUTH IS THE UNKNOWN—Added this Unicursal THE TRUTH IS THE UNKNOWN Propaganda Poster from Hermetic Library Office of the Ministry of Information

Gargoyles—Added Gargoyles: Being Strangely Wrought Images of Life and Death by Aleister Crowley, 1907

Chapter VII—Added Chapter VII in Ophiolatreia by Hargrave Jennings

Chapter II—Added Chapter II in Phallic Miscellanies by Hargrave Jennings

Foras, Asmoday, Gaap & Unicursal Heart

Goetia – Classics of Magick – Norton’s Imperium – Hermetic Library—Updates to Goetia at Classics of Magick, Norton’s Imperium; added Foras, Asmoday, Gaap, Furfur, Marchosias, and Stolas.

Bagh I Muattar – The Libri of Aleister Crowley – Hermetic Library—Updates to Aleister Crowley’s Bagh I Muattar; formatting and navs added to existing pages, and a bunch more sections formatted and added as separate pages.

Astrology: Your Place Among the Stars – Aleister Crowley’s writings on astrology – The Libri of Aleister Crowley – Hermetic Library—Fixing another batch of cruft on a selection of pages in this resource.

#SuperbOwl

Also, over on the blog

Omnium Gatherum: 7feb2021—An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for February 7, 2021. To view this content, you must be a member of Hermetic Library’s Patreon

“A nuclear war will, of course, make nonsense of everybody’s predictions.”—Aldous Huxley, Brave New World Revisited

“If you held the belief, child, that I knew everything that hid under every stone and leaf, I must disappoint you. I may have my own understanding of how the art works, sharpened by long years of memory, but I do not know how it will work for you. There is a reason I call magic an art, rather than a science. I might guess, but in guessing too hastily I might influence, or even diminish, your talents—taint you with my predictions.”—J Kelley Anderson, Casting Shadows

“I showed him to the shelf where we kept Crowley and other such nonsense, and returned to the counter frowning thoughtfully.”—Ruthanna Emrys, The Litany of Earth

“In the tradition of all great America ideas, [they] have created a confident plan for action, no matter how costly, impractical, or dangerous.”—Sean Bonner and Allen Morgenstern, The New Oklahoma

“Life always has room for heroism.” It was not just romantic nonsense but a precise and sober statement of the fact that our Soviet life is not the ultimate instance of reality but only, as it were, its anteroom.—Victor Pelevin, trans. Andrew Bromfield, Omon Ra

“The book was, in fact, a subtle and eloquent parody of the intellectual parasitism of the critic, and much of the delight lay in the knowledge that both the errors of play and the articulate nonsense of the commentary were so arcane that most readers would nod along in grave agreement.”—Trevanian, Shibumi: A Novel

“So you think I’m mad?” said Conway at length. Mallinson broke into a nervous laugh. “Well, I should damn well say so, after a tale like that. I mean … well, really … such utter nonsense … it seems to me rather beyond arguing about.”—James Hilton, Lost Horizon: A Novel

“To be honest, I’m not entirely certain he realizes it’s a ruse. He may just be deluded enough to think that he really does understand what’s going on, and somehow he manages to extend that delusion to include those in the immediate vicinity. As the originator of the delusion, he then becomes a sort of expert guide to those lost in its fog.”—Robert Kroese, Starship Grifters

“A sane person is always at a disadvantage when negotiating with a lunatic.”—Robert Kroese, Starship Grifters

Omnium Gatherum: 10feb2021—An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for February 10, 2021. To view this content, you must be a member of Hermetic Library’s Patreon

Martinezism, Willermozism, Martinism and Freemasonry—Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Martinezism, Willermozism, Martinism and Freemasonry by Gérard Encausse, aka Papus, trans Piers A Vaughan.

The Transparency of Evil—Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Transparency of Evil: Essays on Extreme Phenomena by Jean Baudrillard, translated by James Benedict, part of the Radical Thinkers series.

How to Win in the Chess Openings—Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews How to Win in the Chess Openings by I A Horowitz.

Tunc—Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Tunc: A Novel by Lawrence Durrell, book 1 of The Revolt of Aphrodite series.

Other stuff

I thought I’d mention I actually have another kinda email list thingy, other than this one, over on Bandcamp. Earlier this year, because I want to do better at keeping up with what all the Anthology Artists are doing and sharing that with everyone interested in the Anthology Project, I started using the community messaging tool on the library’s profile.

This was another attempt to reach people outside of the social media web where messages don’t reach people through the algorithms and noise, like what led me to start this email newsletter proper. I realized that I had a couple of “channels” that I needed ways to reach people, including those specifically interested in support and participating in the anthologies.

So, take a gander! I’ve included links to a couple examples from this month so far. If you’d like to get these, just follow Hermetic Library on Bandcamp!

And, you know, if you didn’t already, do check out all the awesome Anthology Albums! Currently there’s 15 albums, 142 artists, and 1d 1h 47m 32s of magick, music and ritual, plus there’s another 2 exclusive albums for Subscribers on Bandcamp. (Patrons on Patreon get offered gratis download codes for new albums when they release too!)

February 6, 2021—Here’s another round up of recent Anthology Artist news for you!

February 2, 2021—More news I’ve collected about Anthology Artist activity …