An irregular hodgepodge of links beyond the library curated together from @OmniumGatherum at Hrmtc I∴O∴ and more … Omnium Gatherum for July 27, 2022.

Here’s a selection of notable things I’ve recently found that you may also be interested in checking out:

• “Humble Book Bundle: Alien Encounters by Red Wheel Weiser. Chronicles of contact with worlds beyond.” Bundle with 1 day to go … if you’re into that sort of thing. “Discover what—or who—might be sharing the galaxy with us in this library of books from Red Wheel / Weiser! Explore the history and mystery of The Ancient Alien Question. Read about the US government’s research into UFOs in Project Blue Book. Encounter cases of abduction and contact, communal brushes with the otherworldly, and theories of the unknown—all while supporting World Central Kitchen!”
• “Deck Builder Bundle. The luck and strategy of the draw.” Bundle available for 9 more days … includes, among others, Black Box (Slavic folktales) and Cultist Simulator. “We’ve searched far and wide and gathered some of the most popular deck-building games for a bundle emphasizing strategy, timing, patience—and a little bit of luck! Use that brilliant mind of yours to fill the haunted shelves in Library of Ruina, explore dangerous dungeons in rogue-lite Vault of the Void, or conquer the battlefield in the beloved Witcher card game with GWENT – Ultimate Starter Pack. Discover all the ways you can play in this eclectic bundle, and help support the charity of your choice!”
• “Humble RPG Book Bundle: MORE Star Trek Adventures RPG by Modiphius. Boldly go on a role-playing voyage.” Bundle with 15 days to go … If you’d previously gotten the whole STA bundle from 2020, the new bundle’s $20 / 8 item option appears to me to include all the new items on offer (except for the Starter Set, which is a dupe). Of course, this doesn’t include linking these to DTRPG. “We’ve teamed up with Modiphius for a Star Trek RPG bundle! Crew your starship and outfit your away team with Star Trek Adventures books including the Core Book, Player’s Guide, and character supplements for The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Journey to new horizons with the Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide, resources for The Klingon Empire, and more. Plus, your purchase will support National Park Rescue!”
• “Land of Eem. The Lord of the Rings meets The Muppets in this lighthearted fantasy tabletop roleplaying game! Land of Eem is packed with simple rules and resources that encourage players to be creative and make GMing easy.” Crowdfunding effort with 15 days to go …
• Events at Treadwell’s through August
• “Announcing – Call for Submissions! The Gorgon’s Guide to Magical Resistance (Fall 2022). We Are Aradia & Revelore Press announces: The Gorgon’s Guide to Magical Resistance (The New Aradia, Volume II)”—”To get this project out ASAP ahead of the US Fall election, we have a strict deadline: All submissions must be received by July 26th, 2022.”
• “Antisemitism and Jew-coding in German Folk Tales.” Hermetic Library Fellow Jürgen Hubert writes: “Based on my (still limited, but hopefully fairly representative) review of German folk tales, antisemitic tales were both vile and widespread. However, the practice of ‘Jew-coding’–using supernatural creatures as proxies for Jews by applying antisemitic stereotypes to them–seems to be absent. My assumption is that the storytellers who shared those tales felt free to libel Jews directly without any fear of social consequences, and thus did not perceive any needs for thinly-disguised proxies.” “If I can find no compelling evidence of ‘Jew-coding’ supernatural creatures in German folklore, then what are the odds that British folklore is full of it? Thus, my current working hypothesis is that this is a later addition. This does not mean that J. K. Rowling and the creative directors of the assorted Harry Potter media properties came up with all of it, though this shows a deplorable lack of sensitivity readers in my opinion. However, something changed …” And, one might suggest, that JKR coded those references shows a consciousness of wrong, or at least fear of doing it openly.
• “Pope apologizes for ‘catastrophic’ school policy in Canada“—”While the pope acknowledged blame, he also made clear that Catholic missionaries were merely cooperating with and implementing the government policy, which he termed the ‘colonizing mentality of the powers.’ Notably he didn’t refer to 15th-century papal decrees that provided religious backing to European colonial powers in the first place.” Nice system where the system can never be admitted to do wrong, and the individuals have internal mechanisms usually sufficient for absolving themselves of guilt for wrongdoing. Glad to see that appears to have somewhat crumbled this time.
• “God Just Wants Us to Love Her Back.” About Let There Be Light: The Real Story of Her Creation by Liana Finck—”In this ambitious and transcendent graphic novel, Liana Finck turns her keen eye to none other than the Old Testament, reimagining the story of Genesis with God as a woman, Abraham as a resident of New York City, and Rebekah as a robot, among many other delightful twists.”
• Ecstasy: A Devotional Guide to the Female Mystics by Vanessa Irena—”The female mystics were a group of Christian visionaries who lived during the high Middle Ages. Around this period, women began to take a more active role in theological writing and their religious lives became more visible. Denied access to engagement in scriptural interpretation and philosophical studies, these women sought direct communion with God through their own bodies—through the practices of extreme asceticism, meditation, prayer, and the recreation of the sufferings of Christ within their own flesh. The visions they experienced during their numerous ecstasies granted them spiritual authority at a time when women had little, and their contributions to the mystical tradition are immense and undeniable. In this short guide Vanessa Irena introduces you to the lives and works of these remarkable women and to their transgressive, bodily, and erotic explorations of the divine.”
• Thread—”RIP Diane Lavey. Priestess of the Black Flame” “Diane was co-founder with Anton LaVey of the Church of Satan and served as High Priestess for approximately 25 years.⁣”
• “Scientology Tries to Prevent Danny Masterson Rape Accusers from Suing Church. The church wants a religious arbitration clause in their member contract that prohibits defectors from taking legal action against them to be enforced.”
• “On the ‘third-nature’ – II“—”In the previous post in this series, I examined the representation of non-normative sexualities and gender presentations in the Code of Manu and the Kamasutra. This time, it is the turn of ‘queer’ Buddhist anxieties. Again, this is an expansion of a Twitter thread earlier in the year.”
• Communist witches and cyborg magic: the emergence of queer, feminist, esoteric futurism—”The Venice Biennale was just one element in a new emerging chapter of women’s esotericism in art, one that expands the modern language of magic outward into a series of creative, empowering futures of psychedelic cities, communist witches, plant-human hybrids and beautiful monsters. This responsive and intersectional collection of artists shows women, once again, reconceptualising the modern conventions of the esoteric, the occult and the unseen.” “This recontextualisation of magic and esotericism is also not confined to artistic expressions. There are resonances in other cultural spaces where feminist esotericists and occult practitioners are currently challenging the received wisdom around who sets the tone for magical practice.”
• “Gematria Feat. Six Feet Under Guitarist Ray Suhy to Release Debut Album in September; “Unconquered Sun” Video Posted“—”The duo formed in 2017 out of a mutual respect for each other’s playing, a myriad of shared musical influences and a love for esoteric studies and explorations.” “The songs on their proper full-length release, Gematria II: The Spindle Of Necessity, were composed using elements of gematria, a qabalistic numerological system of relating words to numbers, the I Ching, sacred geometry and the writings of Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare to help generate rhythmic and melodic ideas.” Pre-order. Watch “Gematria – Unconquered Sun“—”‘Unconquered Sun’ is the first single from ‘Gematria II : The Spindle of Necessity’ coming out Sept 23rd on Nefarious Industries.” “The album’s lead single, “Unconquered Sun,” has been delivered through a captivating visual accompaniment created by video artist Uzair Ahmad and Ray Suhy.” And on Bandcamp: Gematria II: The Spindle of Necessity by Gematria.
• “Damn Them All introduces a new ‘occult antihero’ at Boom! Studios. Writer Simon Spurrier and Walking Dead artist Charlie Adlard team up for Damn Them All this October.”
• “Churches sue to use hallucinogenic tea in religious practice“—”Two Arizona churches are fighting in federal court to establish a right to use a sacramental tea brewed from plants containing a hallucinogenic compound in their religious practice.” “The churches are seeking a declaration that the government’s actions stopping them from using ayahuasca violate the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
• The Fenris Wolf 11 eds Carl Abrahamsson and Vanessa Sinclair. “The Fenris Wolf is a research journal focused on the human mind, developments in comparative magico-anthropology, and on the occultural implications and applications of these fields of study.”
• “‘Beowulf’: A Horror Show“—”Headley sees in Beowulf what Peele sees in American horror cinema—that humor can be an asset in dealing with the horror of life, and in transforming what are otherwise slasher narratives into political critiques. Peele aims his humor at the horror of American racism. Headley aims hers at the horror of Anglo patriarchy.” More about Beowulf: A New Translation by Maria Dahvana Headley.
• The Man from the Future: The Visionary Ideas of John von Neumann by Ananyo Bhattacharya—”An electrifying biography of one of the most extraordinary scientists of the twentieth century and the world he made.”
• “How Wasps Are Less Bothersome—And More Beautiful—Than We Think. Seirian Sumner on the Science Behind Wasp Stings.”—”Our blinkered and vexed view of what wasps are appears to be recent. The writings of early naturalists are littered with impassioned accounts of the ways of solitary wasps.” Excerpt from Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps by Seirian Sumner.
• “Meet Elinor Glyn, “Shocker of Grandmothers” and Founder of the Modern Sex Novel.” Excerpt from Inventing the It Girl: How Elinor Glyn Created the Modern Romance and Conquered Early Hollywood by Hilary A Hallett.
• Like an Astonished Magician: Poems by Jack Preston King—”From the pleasures of mature love (While ember kisses/stirred between two lifetimes twined in love/and years, those romance doesn’t know about), to Yeats-inspired Celtic witchery, to visions of angels, flying saucers, and meeting yourself in a dream, Like an Astonished Magician is a no-downer, zero-navel-gazing poetic celebration of love, life, the imagination, and, of course, magic”
• Internet for the People: The Fight for Our Digital Future by Ben Tarnoff—”Why is the internet so broken, and what could ever possibly fix it? In Internet for the People, leading tech writer Ben Tarnoff offers an answer. The internet is broken, he argues, because it is owned by private firms and run for profit.”
• “How Unjust Drug Policy and Systemic Racism Created a Class of Innocent Felons.” Excerpt from More After the Break: A Reporter Returns to Ten Unforgettable News Stories by Jen Maxfield.
• “Actually, Killing a Dog Was More Than Enough to Justify John Wick’s Revenge Quest.” Excerpt from They Shouldn’t Have Killed His Dog: The Complete Uncensored Ass-Kicking Oral History of John Wick, Gun Fu, and the New Age of Action by Edward Gross and Mark A Altman—”Nope, it’s the dog. It’s just the dog. And we love the dog, and every motherfucker who killed the dog should die.”
• “When Tribal Nations Expel Their Black Members. Clashes between sovereignty rights and civil rights reveal an uncomfortable and complicated story about race and belonging in America.” About We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power by Caleb Gayle.
• His Dark Materials: The Collectors by Philip Pullman, illo Tom Duxbury, due September 2022—”A chilling Gothic tale with a revealing glimpse of the iconic Mrs. Coulter–one of Philip Pullman’s most enigmatic characters. This companion story to His Dark Materials is now in print for the first time in a beautiful gift edition.”
• “David Lowery Begins Production on New Medieval Fantasy Film“—”A new film from David Lowery has just begun filming. The project is said to be a ‘spiritual sequel’ to ‘The Green Knight.’ I have no further details at this time, but it goes by the title of “The Oak Thorn & The Old Rose of Love.” A24 haven’t elaborated further.” “Speculation is that this is an adaptation of Michael J. Sullivan’s medieval fantasy novel ‘The Rose and The Thorn,’ but that has yet to be confirmed either.” Speculatively about The Rose and the Thorn by Michael J Sullivan, book 2 of The Riyria Chronicles series.
• “Dawn of the apocalypse: Existential crisis for our species is right here, right now. We’ve been warned for decades about the death march of climate change. But global elites have done almost nothing.”
• “Why does Saturn have rings and Jupiter doesn’t? A computer model may have figured it out. Researchers point the finger of blame at Jupiter’s own massive moons.” J’Accuse!
• “A Quantum Wave in Two Crystals. Breakthrough in neutron physics: A team from TU Vienna, INRIM Turin and ILL Grenoble has succeeded for the first time in building a neutron interferometer from two separate crystals.”
• “South Carolina bill outlaws websites that tell how to get an abortion. Legal scholars say the proposal is likely a harbinger of other state measures, which could have a chilling impact on First Amendment-protected speech.”
• “Oklahoma Threatens Librarians: ‘Don’t Use the Word Abortion’. After a total abortion ban in the state, library workers in Oklahoma were warned to not help patrons find abortion-related information, period.”
• “Pittsburgh Jewish, Black leaders call out Doug Mastriano for ties to Gab social platform.”
• Thread—”So the [New Yorker] has fired me, effective immediately. I’m speaking with the union about potentially filing a grievance on the termination. But here are some things that I will say….” “Whenever you raise concerns, criticisms, or alarms about one of the most powerful institutions in media, they will use every tool at their disposal to oppose you. That is their prerogative. But I will defend myself in the strongest of terms.” I mean, you know damn well that the professional archivist is going to bring the receipts … Also “Inside The New Yorker’s Flame War With the Editor It Just Fired. In this week’s edition of Confider, we look behind the scenes at the drama that has engulfed The New Yorker for the past week, resulting in the firing of its archive editor.”
• “LOK is out now!” Physical book. (Free) PDF version. “LOK is a book of mind-bending word-search puzzles. The goal of each puzzle is to find Lok keywords and use their special effects to black out all cells in a grid.”

This post was possible because of support from generous ongoing Patrons. Patrons get access to Omnium Gatherum immediately. On the blog, this will be exclusive to Patrons for one year, after which I’ll make it publicly available to everyone so they can see what they’ve been missing.