An irregular hodgepodge of links gathered together … Omnium Gatherum for December 1, 2018
If you’d like to participate, head over to Omnium Gatherum on the BBS, or suggest something.
- “The App That Reminds You You’re Going to Die. It helped me find inner peace.” — Bianca Bosker, The Atlantic [HT Andrew Chesnut]
“Five times a day for the past three months, an app called WeCroak has been telling me I’m going to die. It does not mince words. It surprises me at unpredictable intervals, always with the same blunt message: “Don’t forget, you’re going to die.””
- The Temple Peyton. Special Temple of Witchcraft Limited Edition Fundraiser.
“Orders are due no later than June 1, 2019, and the finished peytons are expected to ship in August 2019. All profits from this fundraiser go to the Temple’s Community Center Building Fund.”
- Portable Communion Bread & Red Wine Capsules from God’s Pills
“REVOLUTIONARY NEW PRODUCT AFTER 2,000 YEARS!”
- “Weʼre raising £3,000 to complete the building of the Temple of the Gods in Bulgaria (incl. the Goddess Hekate & Pagan God Dionysos)” — Sorita d’Este
“A unique and very special historical temple is being created in Bulgaria, within driving distance from Plovdiv by a group of people who have dedicated themselves to the worship, and the revival of the worship of the old Gods. In particular the Goddess Hekate and the God Dionysos, with their close association with the ancient Mysteries of Thrace, Ancient Greece and Rome will be celebrated and worshiped in this space – alongside a pantheon of other deities and spirits. The Temple will be a consecrated space which will be managed by the groups’ priesthood, which includes historians.”
- Tarot earrings by Blue Beehive Studio [HT Quadrivium Supplies]
- New paperback edition of A Rose Veiled in Black: Art and Arcana of Our Lady Babalon, edited by Robert Fitzgerald and Daniel Schulke, with new cover, upcoming from Three Hands Press
“The Lady Babalon is one of the more enigmatic figures in the Cult of Thelema. She is a manifold deity in the sense that She is a divine harlot, an initiatrix, a creator and a destroyer. In representative form, the letters of Her name encompass an heptogrammic star; yet She lies beyond mere representation, and Her star signifies only the powers of Her train and not the station of Her immanence. She is the unsignified, a cipher conveying manifestation, and yet the veritable seal of the invisible Order of Illuminated Adepts. In Her subtle and etheric anatomy flows the life-blood of the Saints – the All-Living – and in this is Her deepest mystery, for, as it is written, in the Gospels, and in Aleister Crowley’s Liber 418, ‘The Blood is the Life.”
A Rose Veiled in Black is the second volume in Three Hands Press’ ‘Western Esotericism in Context’ Series which began with Hands of Apostasy. The book is a potent gathering of twelve essays and rituals of Babalon by scholars, practitioners, and allies of Thelema, dedicated wholly unto the manifest contemplation of Her Mystery. Exploring occult themes of sacrifice, magical liberation, prophecy, witchcraft, and abomination, it marks a watershed publication for the discourse on this important and previously neglected aspect of Thelemic Studies. The written works are enhanced by an offering of original and visionary art from contemporary practitioners, each exploring Her magical arcana from a ritually embodied perspective.”
- “Unlock the secrets of the Freemasons — or at least gawk at their strange costumes — in this Alexandria museum” — Sadie Dingfelder, Washington Post
“‘Is It True What They Say About Freemasonry?’ That question was on my mind even before I saw a book with that title lying open on a table at the George Washington Masonic National Memorial. This lesser-known monument to Washington and museum of Freemason history is a modest tower in Alexandria — only 333 feet tall compared with the Washington Monument’s 555. It’s not that old — ground was broken for it in 1922 and it wasn’t completed until the 1970s — and, unlike D.C.’s many free attractions, the Masonic memorial costs $15 to visit, so I wasn’t surprised that I was the only person on the 9:30 a.m. tour one recent Monday.”
- How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus Aurelius by Donald Robertson, due April 2019 from St. Martin’s Press
“The life-changing principles of Stoicism taught through the story of its most famous proponent.
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius was the final famous Stoic philosopher of the ancient world. The Meditations, his personal journal, survives to this day as one of the most loved self-help and spiritual classics of all time. In How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, cognitive psychotherapist Donald Robertson weaves the life and philosophy of Marcus Aurelius together seamlessly to provide a compelling modern-day guide to the Stoic wisdom followed by countless individuals throughout the centuries as a path to achieving greater fulfillment and emotional resilience.
How to Think Like a Roman Emperor takes readers on a transformative journey along with Marcus, following his progress from a young noble at the court of Hadrian―taken under the wing of some of the finest philosophers of his day―through to his reign as emperor of Rome at the height of its power. Robertson shows how Marcus used philosophical doctrines and therapeutic practices to build emotional resilience and endure tremendous adversity, and guides readers through applying the same methods to their own lives.
Combining remarkable stories from Marcus’s life with insights from modern psychology and the enduring wisdom of his philosophy, How to Think Like a Roman Emperor puts a human face on Stoicism and offers a timeless and essential guide to handling the ethical and psychological challenges we face today.”
- “The A-Z of Believing: O is for Occult. Is the occult just religion without rules? Ed Kessler, head of the Woolf Institute, presents the 15th part in a series on belief and scepticism.” — Ed Kessler, Independent UK; behind a paywall
“One should not believe in superstitions, but it is best to be heedful of them – Sefer Hasdim
Look round any bookshop and the section on the occult is likely to be next to, or close by, the section on religion. Counting the books alone (and I confess to have been an avid reader of the Denis Wheatley Black Magic thrillers) confirms the popularity of the occult. The word is derived from the Latin word occultus, which means “hidden”. Both religion and the occult seek to make clear what is hidden to those who are not practitioners or believers.”
- Astrology as Art: Representation and Practice, edited by Nicholas Campion and Jennifer Zahrt, released in November from Sophia Centre Press
“Is astrology an art? How does art represent astrology and its practice? Is the visual language used by astrologers artistic? From Mesopotamia and Mediterranean culture to Mesoamerica and into the European Renaissance and the modern era, the nine chapters in this anthology explore the meanings of art and astrology, the iconography of astrology and the nature of its practice, the use of zodiac signs, and the portrayal stars and planets in literature and the visual arts. With contributions by Spike Bucklow, Ruth Clydesdale, Richard Dunn, Martin Gansten, Liesbeth Grotenhuis, John Meeks, Suzanne Nolan, Micah Ross, and Claudia Rousseau.”
- “Satanic Settlement Reached in ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’ Statue Suit. The dispute over the goat deity Baphomet, shown prominently at Sabrina Spellman’s school in the Netflix series, has been resolved.” — Ashley Cullins, Hollywood Reporter
“The Satanic Temple is pleased to announce that the lawsuit it recently filed against Warner Bros. and Netflix has been amicably settled. The unique elements of the Satanic Temple’s Baphomet statue will be acknowledged in the credits of episodes which have already been filmed. The remaining terms of the settlement are subject to a confidentiality agreement.”
- Letters, Dreams, and Other Writings by Remedios Varo, translated and introduced by Margaret Carson, released November from Wakefield Press [HT Pam Grossman]
“While the reputation of Remedios Varo (1908–63) the surrealist painter is now well established, Remedios Varo the writer has yet to be fully discovered. Her writings, which were never published during her life let alone translated into English, present something of a missing chapter and offer the same qualities to be found in her visual work: an engagement with mysticism and magic, a breakdown of the border between the everyday and the marvelous, a love of mischief and an ongoing meditation on the need for (and the trauma of) escape in all its forms.
This volume brings together the painter’s collected writings and includes an unpublished interview, letters to friends and acquaintances (as well as to people unknown), dream accounts, notes for unrealized projects, a project for a theater piece, whimsical recipes for controlled dreaming, exercises in surrealist automatic writing and prose poem commentaries on her paintings. It also includes her longest manuscript, the pseudoscientific, De Homo Rodans, an absurdist study of the wheeled predecessor to Homo sapiens (the skeleton of which Varo had built out of chicken bones). Ostensibly written by the invented anthropologist Hälikcio von Fuhrängschmidt, Varo’s text utilizes eccentric Latin and a tongue-in-cheek pompous discourse to explain the origins of the first umbrella and in what ways Myths are merely corrupted Myrtles.”
- “The Ultimate Rocket Scientist who went Mad with Sex and the Occult” — Ian Harvey, The Vintage News
“It’s well-known that exceptionally gifted people are often a little unusual. Our pop culture is full of such individuals, and historically Van Gogh, Picasso, and Nikolai Tesla are all prime examples of people who were utterly brilliant, but also saw the world in a very different light than the rest of us. Another example of this phenomenon is Jack Parsons.”
- “US ‘missionary’ shot dead with arrows by remote tribe ‘believed it was his calling from God to convert them to Christianity’. John Allen Chau had reportedly visited the prohibited North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean to preach Christianity to the tribe.” — Guy Birchall, The Sun
“AN American tourist killed by a tribe on a remote Indian island felt he was called by God to bring the gospel to the uncontacted people.
North Sentinel Island is off-bounds to visitors and home to the Sentinelese, who killed John Allen Chau after he was illegally ferried there by fishermen, officials said.”
- “Middle East Looters Turn to Spirit Possession to Find Gold Treasure” — Owen Jarus, Live Science [HT Matt Staggs]
“As “antique” gold coins from the Middle East pour into the United States, some looters are turning to spirits called “jinn” in their hunt for gold treasure. A few gold seekers even go so far as to try to get the jinn to possess them in hopes that the spirits will guide them to that hidden jackpot.
However, research by archaeologists and an investigation conducted by Live Science suggest that rarely, if ever, does using the jinn help looters find gold artifacts. Rather, metal detectors and mass excavation of archaeological sites seem to be the most effective ways of looting treasure.”
- “Secret ‘Catacombs Pact’ emerges after 50 years, and Francis gives it new life” — David Gibson, Religion News Service
“The signatories vowed to renounce personal possessions, fancy vestments and “names and titles that express prominence and power,” and they said they would make advocating for the poor and powerless the focus of their ministry.
In all this, they said, “we will seek collaborators in ministry so that we can be animators according to the Spirit rather than dominators according to the world; we will try to make ourselves as humanly present and welcoming as possible; and we will show ourselves to be open to all, no matter what their beliefs.”
The document would become known as the Pact of the Catacombs, and the signers hoped it would mark a turning point in church history.
Instead, the Pact of the Catacombs disappeared, for all intents and purposes.”
