An irregular hodgepodge of links beyond the library curated together from @OmniumGatherum at Hrmtc I∴O∴ and more … Omnium Gatherum for August 3, 2022.

First OG post of the month, so this one goes out to all Patrons. And, in a year, hello to everyone else!

I’ve gone back and made public all the OG posts from a year ago, so go take a gander at them if you missed them or want a reminder of what was on the blog in July 2021.

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

• “A CALL TO CTHULHU. A quick trip through the stories of HP Lovecraft”—”Part comicbook, part artbook, part unsuitable for children storybook, A Call To Cthulhu is a quick irreverent trip through the stories of HP Lovecraft, the influential horror writer.” Crowdfunding effort with 14 days to go …
• “Pride Street: Soft-Boiled Corgi Detectives. A cozy mystery series with two charming men, two adorable corgis, and a ghost! Queer as all get out, with a dash of paranormal fun.” Upcoming crowdfunding campaign by T Thorn Coyle.
• August events at Treadwell’s, in-person and online
• “Necromancy, Amulets, Suffolk Folk Stories (& Holidays), Holy Wells, the Museum of Witchcraft & You“—”Join Us on Zoom For a Lecture” at The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History & The Last Tuesday Society, London, UK
• EXIT VEIL: Occult & Tarot JRPG. A Dark-Psychedelic JRPG & fully integrated Tarot deck.”—”Journey into a dark-psychedelic realm where nothing is quite as it seems. Delve deep into the shifting Labyrinths of the Archetypes and confront what it truly means to heal.” “EXIT VEIL is inspired by our passions. If you enjoy the works of Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison, Aleister Crowley, TOOL, Tarot cards, Magick, the occult & psychedelic weirdness. Then pull up a chair dear friend. You will feel very welcome here.” I mean … Crowdfunding effort with 7 days to go …
• “Why the Satanic Panic is still a thing“—”Satanic Panic has returned, or so we’re told. It certainly feels that way when we consider the extent to which hardcore American conservatives and the far-right … are leveraging the same essential moral panic, and all its inherently fascistic undertones” “But while a lot of commentary … present this as a revival of 1980s moral panic, the reality is that Satanic Panic never actually died out.”
• “Leonora Carrington’s Little-Known Explorations of Jewish Mysticism. In her designs for S. Ansky’s play The Dybbuk, the artist blends various visual and mythological strands of her European background with those of her adopted home of Mexico.”
• “Demon Baphomet in the Soul Hackers 2 Daily Trailer and Fresh Gameplay!“—”In this trailer, Baphomet has a demon inspired by western mythology, and is almost in this movie.” Watch the trailer at the 27 second mark.
• “Review: ‘WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT’ EINSTEIN’S WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING at The Overtime Theater. Closing August 6th at the Overtime Theater.” Includes a portrayal of Aleister Crowley by Chris Champlin. “Bill’s antics include everything from shooting up heroin to summoning Aleister Crowley to assist when Harvey’s fiance, Ally Toulouse, played by Jessica Roberts, is kidnapped by the Neo-Nazis.” “Champlin played a strong Crowley with a heavy focus on the magickal side of Crowley’s work. His summoning of a demon, though a failure, was quite enchanting for the audience.” Also, especially if you’re near Leon Valley, Texas and can get there in time to see it: “Einstein’s Wrong About Everything“—”The Overtime Theater proudly presents Einstein’s Wrong About Everything, a comedic play by Joseph E. Green, July 15- August 6, 2022. Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. with one Sunday matinee on July 31 at 3 p.m. at The Overtime Theater located at 5409 Bandera Road, Suite 205 on the city’s Northwest Side.” If you do, gadzooks, send me your review for the Zine or blog!
• “S2E9: Ghost poodle, yeeting beehives and a big hole” a podcast episode—”Hello everyone, in this episode I look into the history of Heideberg and tell some of the weird tales that can be found around here. A headless rider, a ghost dog, a very big hole, people throwing beehives, the French and some Nazis. This episode has it all.” Includes tales translated by Hermetic Library Fellow Jürgen Hubert. Via email Jürgen: “Thus, it is with great pleasure that I share the latest episode of the ‘The Drunken Storyteller’ podcast … where he gives us his own take on several tales from the Heidelberg region which I have previously translated.”
• “Theosophy and Race V – Some general observations“—”I began this series on the relationship between the Theosophical movement and race in order to contest the popular view that it is through the writings of Theosophical authors – Madame Blavatsky in particular – that the concept of the ‘Aryan’ passed into Nazi ideology.”
• “How to rescue a cult victim: An interview with Rick Ross, professional deprogammer. A cult expert explains how he saves your loved ones from the grips of cults like NXIVM.”
• “Shinzo Abe’s Assassin Succeeds in Twisted Plot to Expose Japan’s Deep Ties with ‘Cult’. The shooting of ex-PM Shinzo Abe has blown open secret ties between Japan’s ruling party and the mass-marrying Moonies.”
• “The Church of Scientology’s Audacious Interpretation of the First Amendment. The Hollywood-friendly church says its “religious arbitration” system—rather than civil courts—should apply to ex-members who say they were sexually assaulted by actor Danny Masterson. It hopes the Supreme Court agrees.” More on this.
• “PRE-ORDER – D&D ICONS OF THE REALMS: BAPHOMET, THE HORNED KING“—”This impressive miniature stands just below 4.5 inches tall on a 75mm base. Baphomet is featured in both Out of the Abyss and Decent into Avernus and would make a great addition to either of these fantastic adventures or as part of a growing collection.” There also appears to already have been one? “D&D Collector’s Series: Descent Into Avernus – Baphomet“—”Baphomet appears as a great, black-furred minotaur 20 feet tall with six iron horns. A hateful light burns in his red eyes. He wields a great glaive called Heartcleaver, but sometimes casts this deadly weapon aside so that he can charge his enemies and gore then with his horns, trampling them into the earth and rending them with his teeth like a beast.”
• “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.”
• Chaos Monk: Bringing Magical Creativity to the New Monastic Path by Steve Dee—”Sitting still is where it all starts. Only by ceasing to move can we gain access to the state of mind necessary to move. Both in our psyches, and in our lives, we carve out a space which is our own to pause, to take stock, to commune with our higher Self. And then, with our feet in the right place, we take the steps necessary towards our goals, in fellowship with our communities. The modern monk constructs their cell within the everyday world. This book helps to model some of these processes for you. It contains personal examples, historical reviews of Monasticism through the ages, gentle prods to keep things moving, and reflections upon what such a pilgrimage might mean. The alchemy of transmutation applied to the soul takes time, but gives us gold.”
• Bounded in a Nutshell: Lockdown, Magic and Infinite Space by Val Thomas—”Bounded in a Nutshell: Lockdown, Magic and Infinite Space is a magical diary of the Covid-19 pandemic, covering 2020 to 2022. Written at the time, as events unfolded worldwide, it charts the various lockdowns from the perspective of a witch drawing on her magical training and experience to cope with the situation, to protect, as far as possible, herself and her community, to learn from the situation and to seek guidance for the future. While largely confined to home, just like the rest of the population, the author embraces the present, yet travels in time and space by working with magical memories, history, folklore, fiction, plant knowledge and enchantments of various kinds. Thus, the diary offers a heady blend of observations, stories, spells, recipes, ritual and personal insights. It is one witch’s personal account of an extraordinary time, but it also shows the importance of the magical community, both locally and internationally, and how much can be achieved when practitioners pool their power and intention to work for a common end. We can be bounded in a nutshell physically, but there is no limit to how far our minds can travel and the enchantment we can bring to our own lives and the lives of those around us.”
• “A History of Water by Edward Wilson-Lee review — vagabond poets in the Age of Discovery. The lives of two extraordinary men are used to illuminate the world of the 16th century. Review by Paul Lay.” About A History of Water: Being an Account of a Murder, an Epic and Two Visions of Global History by Edward Wilson-Lee—”A History of Water follows the interconnected lives of two men across the Renaissance globe. One of them – an aficionado of mermen and Ethiopian culture, an art collector, historian and expert on water-music – returns home from witnessing the birth of the modern age to die in a mysterious incident, apparently the victim of a grisly and curious murder. The other – a ruffian, vagabond and braggart, chased across the globe from Mozambique to Japan – ends up as the national poet of Portugal.” “The stories of Damião de Góis and Luís de Camões capture the extraordinary wonders that awaited Europeans on their arrival in India and China, the challenges these marvels presented to longstanding beliefs, and the vast conspiracy to silence the questions these posed about the nature of history and of human life. Like all good mysteries, everyone has their own version of events.”
• Kali Magic by Mike Magee, illo Jan Bailey, foreword Phil Hine—”Kali Magic brings together Mike Magee’s decades of experience in translating and elucidating tantrik texts. The first section—Sadhana—explores the ritual worship of Kali through mantra, her various aspects, and her yantras. The second section—Tantras—includes new English translations of the Matrkabheda, Todala, and Yoni tantras, plus two Kali Upaniṣads and abstracts of ten tantras related to the worship of the goddess. With a comprehensive bibliography and glossary of key terms, Kali Magic will be of great value to devotees and scholars of the goddess alike.”
• “Artbook – Liber Suggestionium“—”The Liber Suggestionium Artbook contains high resolution artwork of all the great arcana and the texts belonging to them, a selection of symbolic art and a selection of the minor arcana. In this artbook I try to depict the beauty and terrors of the many other dimensions and states of consciousness which lie beyond our visible world. There can be found a lot of hermetic, alchemic, symbolic, magical and cultural references in these pages. My art should provide a gateway to different realms, metaphysical currents or steps on the paths we all have to take. There are fixed universal laws, defined steps and a general symbolic code we all experience in a similar context. That makes it possible to talk about initiation, awakening and gnosticism in an artistic way. This world is clouded in illusions, so if just one veil can be lifted through my work it would be worth the task.”
• “What’s the Point of a Jellyfish? Reflections on the Endless Cycle of Curiosity and Knowing.” Excerpt from The Neuroscience of You by Chantel Prat.
• “Marlen Haushofer’s Bucolic Apocalypse. Examining an isolated life, in the wake of an unknown cataclysm, The Wall forces its readers to confront their relationship to the natural world.” About The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, trans Shaun Whiteside.
• The Study of Religions in Ireland: Past, Present and Future eds Brendan McNamara and Hazel O’Brien—”This book provides a comprehensive and field-defining examination of the study of religions in Ireland. By bringing together some of the foremost experts on religions in an Irish context, it critically traces the development of an important field of study and evaluates the thematic threads that have emerged as significant. It thereby offers an assessment of contemporary religions in Ireland and their relationships to society, culture, economics, politics and the State. Contributors make connections between topics as diverse as Ireland’s Revolutionary Period, the formation of the Irish State, the decline of Catholicism, the rise of migrant religions and New Religious Movements and the effects of secularisation on religions and society. This book emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of the study of religions whilst illustrating the coherent themes that have shaped the development of the field in Ireland, making it unique.” Including: “Esotericism, Romantic Nationalism, and the Birth of the Irish State, Jenny Butler (University College Cork, Ireland).”
• “Prison Officials Remove Ban on Attica Book, Except for 2 Crucial Pages. In response to the author’s First Amendment lawsuit, officials said the alteration was necessary for ‘security reasons.'” About Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson.
• “Right-Wing Extremists Are Making Fiction Come True. Can Democrats Craft a Winning Message Off a Smorgasbord of Misogynist Madness?” By Nina Burleigh, author of Virus: Vaccinations, the CDC, and the Hijacking of America’s Response to the Pandemic.
• Utopianism for a Dying Planet: Life after Consumerism by Gregory Claeys, due September 2022—”How the utopian tradition offers answers to today’s environmental crises. In the face of Earth’s environmental breakdown, it is clear that technological innovation alone won’t save our planet. A more radical approach is required, one that involves profound changes in individual and collective behavior. Utopianism for a Dying Planet examines the ways the expansive history of utopian thought, from its origins in ancient Sparta and ideas of the Golden Age through to today’s thinkers, can offer moral and imaginative guidance in the face of catastrophe. The utopian tradition, which has been critical of conspicuous consumption and luxurious indulgence, might light a path to a society that emphasizes equality, sociability, and sustainability. An urgent and comprehensive search for antidotes to our planet’s destruction, Utopianism for a Dying Planet asks for a revival of utopian ideas, not as an escape from reality, but as a powerful means of changing it.”
• “Ancient Greece Was a Debauched Disney Trip for Romans. There were guidebooks with reviews, an ancient version of rental cars, luxury island hopping, and plenty of gimmicks. The ancient Romans were just like us!” Excerpt from Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws: And Other Classical Myths, Historical Oddities, and Scientific Curiosities by Adrienne Mayor.
• Vestiges of a Philosophy: Matter, the Meta-Spiritual, and the Forgotten Bergson by John Ó Maoilearca, due November 2022—”At the turn of the twentieth century, Henri Bergson and his sister, Mina Bergson (also known as Moina Mathers), were both living in Paris and working on seemingly very different but nonetheless complementary and even correlated approaches to questions about the nature of matter, spirit, and their interaction. He was a leading professor within the French academy, soon to become the most renowned philosopher in Europe. She was his estranged sister, already celebrated in her own right as a feminist and occultist performing on theatre stages around Paris while also leading one of the most important occult societies of that era, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. One was a respectable if controversial intellectual, the other was a notorious mystic-artist who, together with her husband and fellow-occultist Samuel MacGregor Mathers, have been described as the ‘neo-pagan power couple’ of the Belle Époque. Neither Henri nor Mina left any record of their feelings and attitudes towards the work of the other, but their views on time, mysticism, spirit, and art converge on many fronts, even as they emerged from very different forms of cultural practice. In Vestiges of a Philosophy, John Ó Maoilearca examines this convergence of ideas and uses the Bergsons’ strange correlation to tackle contemporary themes in new materialist philosophy, as well as the relationship between mysticism and philosophy.”
• The Magic of the Sword of Moses: A Practical Guide to Its Spells, Amulets, and Ritual by Harold Roth, foreword by Joseph Peterson—”A practical guide to the famed medieval book of pre-kabbalistic Jewish magic, freshly interpreted and revealed for the first time with instructions on how to use the spells. The Sword of Moses is one of the earliest Jewish magic books, which describes a rite for adjuring angels to assist in controlling and wielding the “Sword of Moses” for magical purposes. The rite involves a short period of purification and then the adjuring of four sets of angels, each higher than the last. These angels in turn give the magician the power to control the Sword through a series of divine names that work as magical spells. The spells, 137 in all, have a wide variety of uses, including healing, harm, love, sex, exorcising demons, divination, and more. This work was first translated by Moses Gaster in 1896, but he removed many of the spells, making the text unusable for magic. The Magic of the Sword of Moses is the first book to show in detail, exactly how a magician can use the Sword—how to do the purification ritual, adjure the angels, and pronounce and use the divine names for each spell.”
• What the Daemon Said: Essays on Horror Fiction, Film, and Philosophy by Matt Cardin—”For more than two decades, Matt Cardin has been one of the most profound and provocative critics and scholars working in the field of horror fiction, and this volume contains his collected essays on a wide array of topics within the genre. Cardin has made a specialty in treating the multifaceted work of Thomas Ligotti, and in six substantial papers he discusses such subjects as H. P. Lovecraft’s influence on Ligotti’s work and thought, the nature of horror in such celebrated tales as ‘Nethescurial’ and ‘The Bungalow House,’ and other phases of the work of this master of the weird. And in a wide array of interviews, Cardin provides insight into his own vision and outlook, which have served as the basis of his weird tales.”
• “How a Mormon Housewife Turned a Fake Diary Into an Enormous Best-Seller. Beatrice Sparks always insisted that there was a real teen-ager behind “Go Ask Alice,” but would never say who it was.”
• “New Phase of Matter Opens Portal to Extra Time Dimension. Physicists have devised a mind-bending error-correction technique that could dramatically boost the performance of quantum computers.”
• “Life Helps Make Almost Half of All Minerals on Earth. A new origins-based system for classifying minerals reveals the huge geochemical imprint that life has left on Earth. It could help us identify other worlds with life too.”
• From 2020: “Authoritarianism“—”If forced to summarise our current plight in just one sentence I offer this: liberal democracy has now exceeded many people’s capacity to tolerate it. Until we fix this central problem, nothing else works.” “There appear to be two critical determinants of authoritarianism. The first is lack of ‘openness to experience’ (one of the ‘Big Five’ personality dimensions, itself substantially heritable). The second is best described as cognitive incapacity.” “Lack of openness, and cognitive incapacity predispose one to authoritarianism by reducing one’s willingness and ability, respectively, to deal with complexity. People lacking openness to experience dislike variety, novelty, diversity and complexity, and are averse to the unconventional and unfamiliar. Those with cognitive limitations will naturally likewise prefer simplicity and be ill-equipped for complexity.” Also, thread—”When asked if there are not many fascists in America, the main character as written by Ernest Hemingway in For Whom the Bell Tolls responds, ‘There are many who do not know they are fascists but will find it out when the time comes.'”
• “Anti-Social Conservatives. The Republican party is against society.”—”Lately, however, I’ve come to believe that we should understand Thatcher’s remarks differently — not just as an excuse to sneer at the downtrodden, but as a political project, an aspiration. This is especially the case for conservatives in the United States, where Thatcher’s long been admired, not least as an ideological ally and devoted friend of Ronald Reagan. It can seem as if those on the American right read Thatcher’s line and responded, ‘I don’t know if she’s right, but let’s see if we can make it happen.’ The belief that society doesn’t exist, or shouldn’t, is a rejection of neighborliness and trust, a democratic civic culture, and the possibility of encountering those unlike yourself on equal ground.”
• “Bank of America Memo, Revealed: ‘We Hope’ Conditions for American Workers Will Get Worse. The financial behemoth privately fears that regular people have too much leverage.”—”the memo is focused on the enticing prospect of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates, slowing the economy, and bludgeoning workers back into line.” “The memo therefore tells us what we suspected all along: The most powerful economic actors in the U.S. — entities like Bank of America and its clients — do not like working people to have power. But it’s nice to have it in their own words.”
  
• “The backlash to Christianity: Republicans are now panicked — but they only have themselves to blame. It’s not lack of school prayer causing people to abandon faith, it’s that Christianity has become a toxic religion.”
• “Charlize Theron, Alfonso Cuarón Team for Philip K. Dick Family Drama ‘Jane’ (Exclusive). The Oscar winners will produce — and are being eyed to star in and direct — the Amazon project from Dick’s daughter Isa Hackett.”
• “Max Headroom’ Series Reboot Starring Matt Frewer In Works At AMC Networks From Christopher Cantwell & Elijah Wood’s SpectreVision.” Tweet—”We hope to flay eyeballs.”

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.