Books of the Occult: the genuine, the fakes, the mythical

All of us who have come across the great, haunting novellas written by Lovecraft -- I know this is stretching fin de siècle a bit, but I'll be landing on my feet in a few lines -- have marvelled at his invention of occult books. I loved the intricate, almost obvious references to "De Vermis Misteriis", "Unausprechliche Kulten" or the almight "Necronomicon".

Keeping this in mind, I do wonder if there is - or not - a tendency of decadent / fin-de-siecle / occult writers to rely on such homemade or mythical or genuine background reference volumes.

I have almost finished Valery Bruisov' The Fiery Angel and in this one 15 th century mercenary hero Rupprecht hunts for volumes that can explain the dark arts to him so that he can serve the woman he is in love with. I am yet to check, but since Bruisov's goal was to depict the genuine psychological, philosophical and historical references and thought of the time, most of the VERY obscure books he mentions are genuine.

I would appreciate your views on this and any reference to occult or malign books -- genuine, fakes and mythical - in this group's roster of authors. Many thanks to you & happy enf of 2007.

And a happy beginning of 2008 to you, Kamakura!

Huysmans springs to mind, but I would have to re-read to see if there are any specific references. Ofcourse occultism had a heyday in the fin-de-siecle. Think Golden Dawn, McGregor Mathers, Sar Peladan...

I would however like to draw your attention to Le Satanisme et la Magie by Jules Bois (1895)

You have inspired me to re-read The Fiery Angel. Most of the fine details have passed from memory, but I do recall that Rupprecht visits Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. Agrippa's books of "occult philosophy" are availbale in affordable format. I believe mention is made also of Paracelsus - and many of his alchemical texts, etc., are easy to find.

The fin-de-siecle was a ripe period for occultism - and many of the works of the main figures are available in reprint editions - Eliphas Levi (Louis Alphonse Constant), after whom Huysmans modeled his black priest. There is Papus (Gerard Encausse), a disciple of Levi's who wrote a treatise on Kabalah.

As for other, less mentioned novelists who flirted with the black arts, there is Polish writer, Stanislaw Przybyszewski (fiercely alcoholic and once suspected of murder): The Synagogue of Satan (Runa-Raven press) and Homo Sapiens (reprint editions can, with a bit of effort, be found - or, if your eyes don't mind a little bit of cathose lasic, you can read it on Google's library project), and, of course, the vile novels and stories of Hanns Heinz Ewers (more on him later).

For anyone who is interested (and thank you , Kamakura, for getting me off on my parenthetical frenzy - the topic you put forth is dear to me), there is the phenomenon of libraries of real and apocryphal volumes mentioned in fin-de-siecle (etc.) novels. One of the more interesting characters (because limned and then quickly abandoned) in Edgar Saltus's Mr. Incoul's Misadventure has library, no doubt inspired by Des Esseintes', of works that provide a clearer glimpse of their owner's character than author bothers to undertake. James Branch Cabell writes of a library as a necromancer's cell. In one of the stories in The Collected Strange Papers of Christopher Blayre, Edward Heron-Allen writes of the libraries of Hell, which contain great, unfinished books which the damned work to complete (I need to re-read this one... details are hazy). In Alexander Theroux's brilliant, decadent, disturbed, hilarious, misanthropic, logorrheac (je m'accuse!) novel, Darconville's Cat, the protagonist, near his penultinmate melt-down, encounters a Harvard sage who is, among other things, a sadistic, satanic hermaphrodite (hence "Dr. Crucifer") who possesses a library containing every known and invented opus devoted to the cult of misogyny. Readers familiar with Frederick Rolfe's life and works will recognize the influence (in the novel, in it's author's life and works). Ok, LT is slow enough loading these days as it is, so I'll cut this rambling beast off at the shins.

My recollection of Là-Bas is that the book references are real. Not to be too harsh, but I think that perhaps it is easier for an author to pick things from bibliographies or the BL catalog than to invent a whole fictional tradition.

In addition to the reprints benwaugh mentions, of course, there is loads of rarer Renaissance stuff, like Arnauld de Villeneuve or Michael Sandivogius, online in Gallica or EEBO (if in English). Because it's scattered (every medium-sized library scanning their rarer books), sites like The Philological Museum are invaluable. Going there right now, for instance, I see that someone has put up a whole site with substantial parts of Giambattista Porta's Magia Naturalis.

Thank you, MMcM, for the wonderful links. I'm going to buy a batch of spiral binders this weekend.

There is no end to the this readiing list. As an introduction, anyone interested in the revival of magic in the Renaissance should also look up Frances Yates's books on the Occult, Bruno and Rosicrucianism as well as Giordano Bruno's, Marsilio Ficino's (etc.) works, some of which can be downloaded from the internet.

With regard to Russian writers associated with decadence and the occult, you might enjoy Fyodor Sologub's The Petty Demon and On the Banks of the Yaryn: A Demonological Novel, by Aleksandr Kondratiev (portions of which, I think, will appear in The Dedalus Book of Russian Decadence - if it ever appears).

The Petty Demon involves a nasty little school-teacher/non-entity whose comic/grotesquely mean little life and aspirations are thwarted contstantly by what appears to be a shapeless projection of his own personality - the "nedotyakamka", along with scenes of unrequited lust and provincial cross-dressing.

On the Banks of the Yaryn, draws upon the occult and Russian folk legends in a drama of the demonic world and its interaction with our own.

>1 Kamakura: This is a purely subjective impression, but a strong one nonetheless: Lovecraft's Necronomicon is a simple ripoff of the King in Yellow of Robert W. Chambers in the sense that Captain Marvel was a simple ripoff of Superman.

Edited to activate touchstones. Live, little ones!

I agree and had forgotten all about Captain Marvel. Remember Doctor Strange? Known only among handful of us who do not live in our disappointed parents basements, I suspect (and no, I don't).

Welcome back.

Huysmans provides lovely and quite actual bibliography. I often revisit the library of Des Esseintes in Chapter XII of A Rebours.

No one has posted here in some time. But it seems the proper thread in which to mention the occult transformational novel Zanoni by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.
Ben, I noticed you have a copy of this book. I must ask, are you a 4000 year old chaldean sage? You certainly have the knowledge and library of an immortal.
There is an initiation exercise incorporated in the book which summons a being called the dweller on the threshold. This exercise causes a personality split in which the fear and desire of the initiates id and ego manifest as a physical being(or vivid hallucination if you prefer). To vanquish the dweller it is necessary to overcome fear and annihilate the ego.
This experience shook me up considerably for a few days. Yes, I saw the vile fiend. Maybe a flash back from my psychedelic days aeons ago.
This really transcends what you would call a literary device. The monster in this book can jump out of the book and attack you fueled by your own fear.
Like Kubin's The Other Side and Meyrinks Walpurghisnacht this novel explores the theme of evil as an active principal in the world causing violence and war by controlling individuals through their own fear and hate.
After reading this book I no longer have to turn on the lights to read at night, as I am emanating mystic light.
Any thoughts on Zanoni or any other occult transformational novels I should add to my pile?
Sorry to be so long winded. I am enthusiastic about this stuff.
Incidentally, Doctor Strange was my favorite comic when I was a lad.
Thankyou everyone for the list of treasures contained in this thread. I can't wait to read On The Banks Of The Yaryn.

Hi David - I do feel like I'm 4000 years old this morning if that counts. Zanoni is one of the many books I have meant to read for years and have not yet gotten to (along with Bulwer's novel of dandyism: Pelham) - but now I'll need to roust the spiders and silverfish and get down to it.

As to books of occult initiation, I would recommend the books of William Seabrook, specifically Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today - in which, among other things, he recounts his association with Gurdjieff and Aleister Crowley (they once spent a few nights together drinking moonshine and communicating, deeply he claims, saying only "wow" to one another. Seabrook apparently wrote a short story inspired by the event, entitled "Wow"). Seabrook has also written books on his experiences in the Middle East (among the Druse and the Yezidi) Africa (where he apprenticed as a witch-doctor) and Haiti. Like Crowley, he went off the rails a bit near the end.

Others off the top of my head:

Arthur Machen: The Three Impostors and The Hill of Dreams

The books of the Rev. Montague Summers

Hans Henny Jahnn: The Ship

To cause more trouble, I will also add Julien Gracq's Chateau d'Argol to this list.

The tales of E. T. A. Hoffmann and Friedrich de la Motte-Fouque.

The Devil in Love, by Jacques Cazotte.

Guy de Maupassant's Le Horla

Leonard Cline: The Dark Chamber

Wolfgang von Goethe's Tales for Transformation (or any collection that includes "Novelle")

Robert Irwin: The Arabian Nightmare

Robert Smythe Hichens: The Dweller on the Threshold

The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Francois Augieras

The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz

Valery Bryusov: The Fiery Angel

and, why not - Doris Lessing's Briefing for a Descent Into Hell

Thankyou Ben, you are an excellent heirophant. I have read some of these already. I will add the rest to my wish list immediately. Have you ever read Doris Lessings Shikasta? That book shaped my world view more than any other when I was in college. I understand some of her cosmology was inspired by the teachings of Idries Shah.
I found Gary Lachmanns introduction to The Fiery Angel fascinating. Bryusov's real life was almost as fantastic as the novel. I wonder if he partly inspired Bulgakov's Professor Woland in The Master and Margarita?
I have been meaning to read Julian Gracq and Robert Irwin for way too long.
Montague Summers is an old friend from an adolescence spent perusing the local occult bookstore and watching old horror movies late at night.
Do you remember Vincent Price in Roger Corman's film version of The Horla called Dairy Of A Madman?
I am currently reading Goethe's German Refugees(with the fairy tale) and am in hot pursuit of Tales for Transformation.
Many thanks again.

Hey - Tales of German Refugees probably has all of the contents of the title I suggested, so save your money. I had no idea The Horla was filmed, but if by Corman, it must be an event!

I have not read Shikasta - but will pick it up. I had professor in college recommend Briefing to me - which is influenced by Sufi thought, gnosticism and... in keeping with the 60s, R. D. Laing's The Politics of Experience.

Gary Lachmann is an interesting guy - critic, occult enthusiast and a one time guitarist for Iggy Pop.

The German Refugees translated by Mike Mitchell (who translated the Meyrink novels and Kubin's The Other Side) contains only the Fairy Tale. I picked up the city lights edition of Tales for Transformation for 4 bucks. I always think of Goethe this time of year. I reread the walpurgis night scene from Faust every spring and then I dance naked in the moonlight.

Doris Lessing and Gary Lachmann are both very impressive personages. When they gave Doris the nobel prize last year her response was "So what!", then she mentioned that in the sixties the Nobel stuffed shirts sent one of their minions around just to tell her they would never give her a nobel because of her left wing politics. I am unfamiliar with "The Politics Of Experience". I will add it to my list.

Speaking of the sixties. Albert Hoffman passed away yesterday at 102. R.I.P.

I'm having a blast shopping for these treasures on abebooks. I am particularly excited about the Seabrook titles and am anxiously awaiting delivery of "Witchcraft: It's Power In The World Today" and "Adventures In Arabia ".

I also finally got a copy of the "Dedalus Book Of French Horror" and volume 2 of the Best of Arthur Machen(edited by Joshi), "The White People and other stories", which completes my set at last!

I made a mistake. "Diary Of A Madman" was not a Corman movie, but it is shot in the same style(by Reginald Le Borg) of the movies Corman made with Vincent Price in the sixties.

Thanks again for the wonderful recommendations.

"Gnosian Rhadamanthus here holds unrelaxing sway, chastises secret crime revealed, and exacts confession, wheresoever in the upper world one vainly exultant in stolen guilt hath till the dusk of death kept clear from the evil he wrought. Straightway avenging Tisiphone, girt with her scourge, tramples down the shivering sinners, menaces them with the grim snakes in her left hand, and summons forth her sisters in merciless train. Then at last the sacred gates are flung open and grate on the jarring hinge. Markest thou what sentry is seated in the doorway? what shape guards the threshold?"

from the Aeneid, Book 6

R.I.P. indeed. I owe several brushes with insanity to Mr. Hoffman. Speaking of psychosis - I'm eager to read about Ernst Juenger's ueber-manly diddlings with acid - in the 1950s, apparently! (Is there a logical progression from the stark gray of a Wehrmacht uniform to watching the Black Forest melt?)

I discovered Seabrook by accident, while digging through a garage full of books (all hail the holy Bookhouse!). His amusing accounts of hanging out with the Beast led me back to Crowley's autobiography... that guy is as quotable as Twain or Churchill. Crowley in DC, reflecting on the Washington monument: (roughly) "the obelisk is so simple a form one wonders how even the Americans could get it wrong".

And, while we edge closer to pulp occultism - I also picked up a copy of Voodoo Fire in Haiti, by some Austrian novelist of the 30s. Along with Seabrook's Magic Island and Hanns Heinz Ewers' Blood - I can put on my Chaino records, fix myself a pitcher of zombies and pull off a sort of ersatz Des Esseintes experience (wife's out of town for the week...).

I'm tempted to call LSD the elixir of life since Hoffman lived to be 102 and was active into his 90's. His invention certainly helped me exorcize a few personal demons in my youth. A good man. It's a pity the therapeutic potential of LSD has yet to be realized.

I'm not familiar with Ernst Junger. I'll research him a bit this afternoon.

Crowley was a very funny man. I've always thought of him as a kind of W.C. Fields of the occult.

On the subject of voodoo. Maya Deren's
book "Divine Horsemen:The Living God's Of Haiti" and the accompanying documentary of the same title are unrivaled. The video is available from Mystic Fire Video.

I was ignorant of Chaino, but thanks to the miracle of the internet I am having a ball listening to "Africana And Beyond" right now. Great stuff. I'm a huge fan of exotica.

I've wanted to live the Des Esseintes/Durtal lifestyle all my adult life. I enjoyed Huysmans "With The Flow" because it showed me Huysmans real life was much like my own. Working a tedious day job, struggling on a budget, searching for a decent restaurant, and dreaming of the life of an aristocratic dandy.

Both Hoffmann and Juenger lived past 100. Perhaps lysergic acid also functions as a preservative?

Ian Buruma's cosideration of Ernst Jünger in the New York Review of Books (and also the exchange of letters it occasioned) is worth a look. You can access it here:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=2516

but it's not free.

The article appears in: Volume 40, Number 12 · June 24, 1993.

You can read the letters gratis at: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2362

17: It's only recently that I have learned to appreciate Crowley - and that mainly in the context of wit and (flagrantly) self-made man (In this he and Ernst Jünger have something in common). It's his apparent seriousness with the "eclectic" hokum that puts me off.

Thanks as well for another voodoo title - and glad you have discovered Chaino. I love the cover art as much as the content.

Jünger is worth looking into. I can recommend Storm of Steel (available cheaply in Penguin paperback) and On the Marble Cliffs.

18: I think that's BHT?

19: Thanks for the link - Bruce Chatwin records a grudging admiration- with requisite, but small, dosages of sarcasm- for Jünger in What am I Doing Here? - in which he relates a visit paid to him in his Black Forest retreat.

12/13/14
I must put Briefing on the reading pile. How could I not have connected this with "occult" teachings?! I had no idea there was a Shah/Lessing connection.

20

I have still not learned to appreciate Crowley. I think of him as the theosophic answer to P.T. Barnum. There is a fairly recent biography of him that I've been meaning to look into. The problem may be not knowing where to begin, as almost everything by him I've picked up strikes me as gibberish. Maybe the autobiography would be a good start. I'm currently reading Alamut, with a recognition that Crowley ripped off the Ismaili motto.

I learned about Junger through the Chatwin essay, way back when. It was a long time before I actually got a chance to read On the Marble Cliffs and Storm of Steel*, but I second the idea that they are worth seeking out. The Details of Time is a good collection of interviews with the elusive Junger, touching on most of his themes.

I have never been able to figure out if Junger's Parisian diaries from WWII are available in English. Does anyone know?

*Why oh why are the touchstones not working on these titles? Arrgh.

I believe (but do not know, I do not own the book) that excerpts from the "Paris Diaries" appear in German Writings Before and After 1945. Amazon has an entry for the following:

The Paris Diaries: 1941-1944 (Hardcover)
by Ernst Junger (Author), Michael J. Hulse (Author)

but, I do not believe it was published because I can't find it used on ABE.

Also, this Junger website ( http://www.juenger.org/bibliography_english.php ) does not list this book as being translated.

Joe

PS I believe the 'German Writings' books contains the following:

Ernst Junger, From The First Paris Diary and The Second Paris Diary;
Irmgard Keun, From After Midnight;
Wolfgang Koeppen, From Death in Rome;
Alexander Lernet-Holenia, From Mars in Aries;
Gregor von Rezzori, Lwinger's Room;
Ernst von Salomon, From The Questionnaire;
Arno Schmidt, Scenes from the Life of a Faun;

Thanks for the info. The diaries remain tantalizingly elusive.

Speaking of fakes, the title of this thread puts me in mind of Borges' First Encyclopedia of Tlon in his story "Tlon Uqbar Orbis Tertius", a compilation so complete in its details that the "real" world is forgotten in favor of an imagined one.

And that in turn puts me in mind of the Wim Wenders film "Until the End of the World". If I recall correctly, a scientist doing research on blindness invents a device which enables the dreamer to record his/her own dreams. Society begins to dissolve, and there is a scene where several people are assembled together, but oblivious to each other as they are absorbed in their individual hand-held dream recorders. I think of this every time I see an iPod.

Crowley's sex and drug addictions hardly make him a role model for any serious student of occult sciences. I'll bet the parties at his castle were memorable though. He was quite witty and an interesting historical character. I consider The Book Of Lies the best of his books, which I agree are mostly gibberish and silly rituals.

Junger is very intriguing. I'll pick up On The Marble Cliffs and Storms Of Steel soon.

I do very highly recommend Lessing's Shikasta to any and all. Lessing herself considers it her best work.

23. Thanks for the tip on the Wim Wenders film. It sounds incredible.

Speaking of films. Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain is a must see for occult imagery.

Does anyone know if anything written by Josephin Peladan has ever been translated into english?

I added Holy Mountain to my Netflix queue...almost accidently added a Leni Riefenstahl film by that name instead, speaking of Germans with dubious pasts. Anyway, looking forward to the Jodorowsky film.

I didn't quite say the Wenders was incredible, but interesting. I understand there is a 6 hour version. No thanks! The "short" version was long enough. But now I'm thinking of watching it again - it's been quite a few years.

Pardon the digression. Back to the topic at hand...

From The Book of Lies:

"Corn Beef Hash" i.e., food suitable for Americans

http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/lib333.htm

Ok, I can see the humor in that.

In the The Book Of Lies my favorite is "Onion Peelings".

ONION-PEELINGS

The Universe is the Practical Joke of the General
at the Expense of the Particular, quoth FRATER
PERDURABO, and laughed.
But those disciples nearest to him wept, seeing the
Universal Sorrow.
Those next to them laughed, seeing the Universal
Joke.
Below these certain disciples wept.
Then certain laughed.
Others next wept.
Others next laughed.
Next others wept.
Next others laughed.
Last came those that wept because they could not
see the Joke, and those that laughed lest they
should be thought not to see the Joke, and thought
it safe to act like FRATER PERDURABO.
But though FRATER PERDURABO laughed
openly, He also at the same time wept secretly;
and in Himself He neither laughed nor wept.
Nor did He mean what He said.

"Never give a sucker an even break." W.C. Fields

I'll put the short version of "Until The End Of The World" in my Netflix queue. The premise certainly sounds interesting.

What is the Ismaili motto in Alamut (another I have yet to read)? I know that Crowley pulled his better-known slogans from Francois Rabelais (from whom the author of The Three Impostors borrows his moniker).

As to Peladan in English - yes , in The Decadent Reader.

The only "non-fiction" of Ernst Jünger's in English, as far as I know, is Storm of Steel and The Details of Time: Conversations With Ernst Junger.

I have not seem or heard of Wim Wenders in years - but I saw and enjoyed the film mentioned years ago (excepting the U-2 anthems...). Paris, Texas is also worth viewing.

The Ismaili motto in Alamut is "Nothing is real, everything is permitted", admittedly more Crowleian in spirit than a direct quotation. Chalk it up to my cynical opinion as to Crowley's motives.

"Do What Thou Wilt", of course, is the Rabelasian motto that Crowley adopted. I learned many years ago that few pleasures outdo a good chunk of Gargantua and Pantagruel and a big glass of beer.

I enjoyed Paris, Texas too. Back then I would watch peeling wallpaper if there was an image of Nastassja Kinski on it. "Until the End of the World" was a follow up to "Wings of Desire" - a beautiful film of which Nicholas Cage made a complete mockery.

@28/Ben: The motto in Alamut is, I believe, "Nothing is true, everything in permitted". This is a truly great book although a bit heavy in pages for my taste.

30
Absolutely right. Teaches me not to type before coffee. and to check my sources.

"Back then I would watch peeling wallpaper if there was an image of Nastassja Kinski on it." I concur: I needed assistance walking into the theater to see Cat People. Her dear Dad might make an interesting topic here. He reminds me of H. H. Ewer's "hero", Frank Braun.

I agree re Cage... an opinion underscored with the images of him with his mullet in the prison film and his supposed sensitive but actually annoying signature facial strummings in "Face Off" in which he starred with that other hairdo with a pulse, John Travolta.

Well, since we're off topic anyway, anyone interested in the ball of energy and insanity that was Klaus Kinski should have a look at Werner Herzog's film "My Best Fiend", or any of the other amazing Herzog/Kinski collaborations.

Favorite recent film of the decadent/fantastic:
"Pan's Labyrinth". Anyone see "Lovers of Teruel"?

Pan's Labyrinth was great, though I found it hard to watch at times (I don't know if it's because I'm a parent or that I retain some commendable human qualities). I missed The Orphanage and am waiting for the DVD to turn up for sale.

I have not heard of Lovers of Teruel, but am off to look it up.

re Message 33: There is also a Kinski autobiography.

32. Speaking of Cat People. I can't get enough of Simone Simon in the original 1942 Lewton/Tourneur version.

29. & 32. It's unfortunate that Nicholas Cage has ever been in any film.

28. Paris, Texas is a good one. Thanks for the tip on Peladan. I'll pick up the Decadent Reader.

33. I added My Best Friend on Netflix. My queue runneth over.

29. & 30. How did I miss Alamut? I just went to grab a copy on abebooks. That will go nicely with Seabrooks Adventures In Arabia, Irwins The Arabian Nightmare and a little hashish.

31. "Get up to soon and you'll feel all surly:
Best have your first drink nice and early."

from Gargantua

Message 28:

Ben

Jünger does have another non-fiction book in English, "The Peace", which was published by the Henry Regnery Company in 1948. It has a peculiarly Kojèvean flavor to it. But, I do not believe that Jünger ever attended the famous lectures on Hegel by Kojève. The last lectures by Kojève were given in 1939, and, though Jünger was posted to Paris (with the invading German Army), the invasion of France did not start until spring of 1940. But, I am sure the ideas were in the air...

Joe

And Jünger, in addition to everything else, is an authoritative verging on oracular flow of ideas. I just finished The Details of Time in which The Peace is occasionally in an offensively disquieting way. Particularly in his "idea" of the anarch (rather, a way of life, which, defended by someone with a slightly different past than Jünger, I am comfortable with).

As far as genuine and contemporary books on the occult go, I'd highly recomend:

Azoetia by Andrew Chumbley

Viridarium Umbris: The Pleasure-Garden of Shadow by Daniel Schulke

Both are published by Xoanon Publishing in very high-quality limited editions. It seems the grimoire tradition is very alive and well.

Chumbley died in 2004 at the young age of 37. Many occult practitioners consider his works some of finest occult texts written in generations. In fact, many believe, had he lived; he could have been the next Aleister Crowley. Since his death, his books have become near-legendary.

Andrew Chumbley is very interesting and the Xoanon editions are exquisite. I admire Chumbley's illustrations. The prices are unfortunately prohibitive however. I'll have to wait for affordable reprints.

In searching around for information about Chumbley, I read somewhere that Austin Osman Spare was one of his inspirations. Spare's writing and artwork look intrigueing and there are plenty of inexpensive reprints about. I threw a copy of The Book Of Satyrs into my Abebooks save for later cart to check out soon.

Thanks.

Here's something charming I just had to share. Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland by Lady Wilde (Speranza), Oscar Wilde's mother and niece of Charles Maturin, available at this address for free online perusal.

http://www.libraryireland.com/AncientLegendsSuperstitions/Contents.php/

That edition and a later one are also downloadable from Google Books.
Poems by Speranza is too: it will appear that it's only snippet view, because the full view copy is miscataloged as her son's work.

Does anyone know if the second volume of The Picatrix has gone to publication yet?

> 44 Looks dangerously close.

43. I enjoyed the reading the section on The Baal Fires and Dances as the solstice is coming up soon, friday I think. Happy Midsummer Eve.

44. and 45. WOW!

>>Does anyone know if the second volume of The Picatrix has gone to publication yet?

benwaugh -- I'm wondering the same thing. I emailed the publisher a week ago, but haven't heard back yet.

>>Chumbley

Chumbley's successor as magister of the Cultus Sabbati, Daniel Schulke, has a new book due out today (Midsummers), a reprint of his scarce ARS PHILTRON: CONCERNING THE AQUEOUS CUNNING OF THE POTION AND ITS PRAXIS IN THE GREEN ART MAGICAL. I can hardly wait.

Other new and recent grimoires worth mentioning are two recent editions published by Scarlet Imprint: HOWLINGS edited by Alkistis Dimech (limited to 333 copies) and THE RED GODDESS by Peter Grey (limited to 777 copies). The latter was just released today as well.

Scarlet Imprint has taken an unusual approach to book publishing with the stated intent of only publishing "talismanic" books, that is, beyond the contents, the books themselves (physically) are believed to be magickal. With THE RED GODDESS they state, "Each and every book is perfumed and consecrated." I guess that's one way to fight the piracy of illegally scanned and downloaded books on the net. In these cases one needs to have a physical copy to get the "full effect" so-to-speak. While this could be a clever marketing ploy, the end result is high-quality and beautifully bound books -- always a good thing in my book.

I received some news on The Picatrix Vol 2. I just spoke to the printer. He said it won't be released until the end of the summer (even though the website still reads, "Spring '08").

Time for me to start saving, then. Thank you - and welcome, by the way!

FYI. Picatrix Vol 2 is out. I just received my copy in the mail today. Beautiful book.

The forthcoming book, GRIMOIRES: A HISTORY OF MAGIC BOOKS by Owen Davies could prove interesting. (To be released in May 2009)

Amazon product description:

"No books have been more feared than grimoires, and no books have been more valued and revered. In Grimoire: A History of Magic Books, Owen Davies illuminates the many fascinating forms these recondite books have taken and exactly what these books held.

At their most benign, these repositories of forbidden knowledge revealed how to make powerful talismans and protective amulets, and provided charms and conjurations for healing illness, finding love, and warding off evil. But other books promised the power to control innocent victims, even to call up the devil. Davies traces the history of this remarkably resilient and adaptable genre, from the ancient Middle East to modern America, offering a new perspective on the fundamental developments of western civilization over the past two thousand years. Grimoires shows the influence magic and magical writing has had on the cultures of the world, richly demonstrating the role they have played in the spread of Christianity, the growth of literacy, and the influence of western traditions from colonial times to the present."

re 50: Did Ouroboros not produce a leatherbound edition? The thing was panned unmercifully on Amazon - for whatever that is worth. I am waiting for a cheap used copy.

51: This one's on my watch list. Thanks!

>>Did Ouroboros not produce a leatherbound edition?

Yes. Though I believe it's only available directly from the publisher.

Wow, you're right, they really did pan it on Amazon. I can't comment on my copy's text, as I haven't had time to examine it yet.

Grimoires: a history of magic books came in the mail today (I was probably prompted to put it on my wishlist by Dead Dreamer's mention in 51 above). It is not very thick, but its contents look substantial enough.

Most attractively, the "Further Reading" section is well-organized and at a glance seems to list interesting works.

Robert

An interesting syllabus:

http://www.amsterdamhermetica.nl/documents/hermetica_Occult_Trajectories_II,_Stu...

I'm not big on the Crowley circus, but there are few interesting resources here, particularly the Ismaili sect and the opium culture in the US.

http://izmaragd.blogspot.com/

56
Wow, thanks for this. I have a bit of interest in the Ismailis, and Hodgson, author of The Venture of Islam, was a first rate historian. Definitely worth looking into.

55
The syllabus is interesting too - David X ought to like this, as there is some discussion of Zanoni. As for me, I'm still searching high and low for those collected volumes of Bulwer-Lytton that I used to trip over every time I walked into a used bookstore.

56
The Bruno book down the page looks good too.

Have you read Alamut, by Vladimir Bartol? The novel is set in the amongst the Isma'aili sect of assassins.

I think most of Bulwer-Lytton's books are available relatively cheaply ( I did manage to grab some of those dusty old volumes from a local shop). David might also appreciate his dandy novel, Pelham.

56 I will, randomness willing, light a candle in the Campo dei Fiori this Christmas.

59
Read it, and reviewed it (the first on LT, I might humbly add).

60
Envy. Just don't get the flame too close to Giordano. I suspect he's sensitive to that kind of thing.

Did anyone attend the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle last weekend? I've heard it was well worth attending. Many of the publishers mentioned above: Ouroboros Press, Scarlet Imprint, Xoanon, etc. were in attendance. I would have gone but current funds wouldn't permit it; ironically, caused by books.

56

The Bruno book is on my list. How wonderful to have a vellum "Heretic edition".

Other noteworthy recent books: Joseph Peterson's new translaton of Arbatel, Encyclopedia Goetica Vol.1 by Jake Stratton-Kent, and Legion 49 by Barry William Hale. The latter is an extremely beautiful and creative modern interpretation of the grimoire tradition. It deals primarily with Beelzebub (The Lord of the Flies) and his minions. The book even comes with a clear bookmark shaped and printed like a fly's wing.

I ran across the following today - a nice one volume collection of Machen stories, but with a fairly steep (for me) price tag of $55 and a hideous cover painting that looks like Mr. Spock had intercourse with a goat:

http://www.horror-mall.com/horrorgy/2009/05/04/the-great-god-pan-and-other-weird...

I might just as well invest in the volumes of Machen stories on my Amazon wishlist, also edited by Joshi.

If you don't want to spend $55 on Machen;
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/m
The Angels of Mons
The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War (English) (as Author)
The Complete Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt (English) (as Translator)
Famous Modern Ghost Stories (English) (as Contributor)
The Great God Pan (English) (as Author)
The Hill of Dreams (English) (as Author)
The House of Souls (English) (as Author)

I have the three volume paperback Machen collection edited by Joshi. I love them. Joshi's introductions are very informative and well written.

55. An Esoteric lit class starting with Zanoni in Amsterdam. I want to enroll!

56. Thanks. I downloaded the Ishma'ili, Bruno, and Hermes Trismegistus books, for free! I'm starting to seriously consider buying myself a kindle to read all these wonderful free e-books.

59. There is a connection between Zanoni and the Assassins. The personality tranference technique incorporated in Zanoni is an old Ishma'ili trick.

I have yet to read Pelham. I'm still searching for a complete set of Lytton. I'm very anxious to read his other occult novels A Strange Story and Deveraux.

If anyone hasn't already read it, Lytton's story The Haunted and the Haunters is a great ghost story. Gaslight has a free e-text.

http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/haunters.htm

59
The Assassins: A Romance of the Crusades - by someone named Nevill Myers Meakin* - also seems to take on the story of the Old Man of the Mountain. It is available online as well-

http://www.archive.org/stream/assassinsaroman00meakgoog#page/n11/mode/1up

Haven't read it, so I can't vouch for it.

*An Englishman, apparently. Whilst swimming across the Bosphorus, a passing Turkish boatman made that guess, claiming that "nobody else would be such a fool."

Thanks Maki. Looks like a fun read.

65: "There is a connection between Zanoni and the Assassins. The personality tranference technique incorporated in Zanoni ...." And there is a connection with with a horror story by (and his horror stories are good and neglected) Robert Smythe Hichens... I will ransack the stacks this evening and see if I can recall its title. Oh and I nearly forgot -on this topic - personality tranference - you MUST read Walter de la Mare's The Return. Cheap Dover editions are readily available. It is beautifully written and perfect for this season of All Souls and elegant decay. De la Mare is one of my favorite authors.

The Hichens tale is The Dweller on the Threshold - a title Lovecraft might have coveted. Here's an hoary old review (which points out one of the more famous tales of severe bipolar syndrome or personality transfer - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde):

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9A06E5DC1431E233A2575...

Get your Hichens here (Tongues of Conscience contains the occasionally anthologized tale of horror "How Love Came to Professor Guildea"):

http://manybooks.net/authors/hichensr.html

Nice, ben. For those who can deal with an online text, The Dweller on the Threshold is here:

http://www.archive.org/stream/dwelleronthresh01hichgoog

Speaking of Lovecraft, does anyone have any idea who this Jonathan Hoag person was? Lovecraft liked him well enough to prepare an anthology of his work, along with some fawning poetry by ol' H.P., but a limited internet search turned up little:

http://www.archive.org/stream/poeticalworkswit00hoaguoft#page/n11/mode/2up

Apparently the sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein used the old chap's name in the title of one of his space operas.....

I have a nice old edition of The Dweller on the Threshold which I have yet to read. I think I'll read it this month for Halloween.

Thanks for the tip on Walter de la Mare's The Return and the Hichen's tale. I am quite fascinated by this stuff.

I am wallowing in nineteenth century supernatural fiction at present, as I am wont to do this time of year. Currently I'm reading Le Fanu and William Hope Hodgson.

You will love De la Mare, given the names you have listed. His short story collections are great as well (I think The Connoisseur contains "Seaton's Aunt" and a few other well-anthologized titles). I also love Le Fanu and WHH (The House on the Borderland is one of my all-time favorites; check out a movie called "Dead Birds" after you have read it. Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a slight influence). Le Fanu's The Green Tea reminds me of grad school days when I'd get hopped up on oolong or something to the point of seeing bats while hammering out a last-minute term paper. Oh les beaux jours! Uncle Silas was a great addition to the friendless young-lady trapped genre of the day (reminded me of Samuel Richardson - though less evil and claustrophobic, if you can believe that). I still want to read his vampire novel, Carmilla. Speaking of, prowled your profile and got a line on the Alexi Tolstoy collection. Will be digging into that soon!

You will love De la Mare, given the names you have listed. His short story collections are great as well (I think The Connoisseur contains "Seaton's Aunt" and a few other well-anthologized titles). I also love Le Fanu and WHH (The House on the Borderland is one of my all-time favorites; check out a movie called "Dead Birds" after you have read it. Maybe it's just me, but there seems to be a slight influence). Le Fanu's The Green Tea reminds me of grad school days when I'd get hopped up on oolong or something to the point of seeing bats while hammering out a last-minute term paper. Oh les beaux jours! Uncle Silas was a great addition to the friendless young-lady trapped genre of the day (reminded me of Samuel Richardson - though less evil and claustrophobic, if you can believe that). I still want to read his vampire novel, Carmilla. Speaking of, prowled your profile and got a line on the Alexi Tolstoy collection. Will be digging into that soon!

My edition of Dweller on the Threshold is drab and dowdy. I still covet the one with the deco-occultish cover. I had a graphic years ago... but lost the link.

By pure coincidence, I happened upon a pristine copy of a Faber & Faber edition of Best Stories of Walter de la Mare in a thrift shop today. The effusive praise on the back - citing Graham Greene - is merit enough, but ben's endorsement seals the deal. Can't wait to get into it this evening.

(My previous knowledge of de la Mare was limited to a few poems and an anthology of children's verse he compiled entitled Come Hither).

Thanks for the recommendation on De la Mare. Previously only knew him for his booklet on Lewis Carroll. Will definitely have to try some of those stories.

I don't mind proselytizing for De la Mare - and I hope you (all) enjoy the book. De la Mare is best known as a poet, and I think he brings that distinction to his prose works as well.

By the way, while the collection The Connoisseur does contain some notable stories, some of which are supernatural (All Hallows), the collection which contains "Seaton's Aunt" is The Riddle and Other Tales. About 10 years back Giles de la Mare Publishers Ltd issued two volumes of De la Mare's collected short stories, covering the span of his career.

Another nice collection of De la Mare's ghostly stories is Ding Dong Bell. I think these are incorporated into the Giles de la Mare texts.

I am currently reading Carmilla and it is a wonderful tale of the moonlit landscapes and candlelit scenes so characteristic of Le Fanu at his best. Uncle Silas is one of my all time favorites. I recently picked up the lovely Folio Society edition. It holds a place of honor in grandma's old barrister bookcase, right next to the Folio edition of Melmoth.

Emmanuel Swedenborg has been haunting my library through the fiction of Le Fanu and Balzac's Seraphita.

I have the drab and dowdy century 1911 edition of The Dweller on the Threshold. I am very happy to have it instead of a horrid facsimile. The one with the wonderful deco occult style cover is on my dream list.

I have just discovered William Hope Hodgson. I can't wait to read The House on the Borderland.

You will love Vampires: Stories of the Supernatural by Alexis(A.K.) Tolstoy. It is a beautiful book and makes a perfect companion to On the Banks of the Yaryn. I am fascinated by Ukrainian folklore. Gogol's Ukrainian tales Viy and The Night Before Christmas and Old Peter's Russian Tales by Arthur Ransome belong in this pile as well.

I recently picked up the great russian horror film adaptation of Viy(1967).

Here is a clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI38OrAOiY8

The entire thing is on youtube. Inexpensive DVD's are available.

A much anticipated Russian remake of Viy is scheduled for release on 10/29/2009. I am looking forward to it.

Mario Bava's film Black Sabbath(1963) starring Boris Karloff) includes an fun adaptation of A.K. Tolstoy's tale, The Family of the Vourdalak.

The whole thing is on youtube. Here is a link to part 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtjCROntBlk

I am off to search for De la Mare collections.

Carmilla is an old favorite. The first female vampire predates
Dracula. The lesbian overtones are remarkable for 1872.
Lefanu seems presciently Freudian. Uncle Silas is another example.

Speaking of Le Fanu and film, I'm sure most acolytes of the Chapel are aware that Carmilla (along with another Le Fanu story) was the inspiration for Dreyer's weirdly hypnotic film, "Vampyr":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampyr

Vampyr is a great film.

There was a film version of Uncle Silas made in 1947(d. Charles Frank). Jean Simmons made her debut as Maude Ruthyn(renamed Caroline in the film). Katarina Paxinou played Madame de la Rougierre and Derrick de Marney played Uncle Silas. Sadly, it has not been released on dvd.

Black Sabbath was a favorite from my childhood (anyone from the DC area? Remember Sir Graves Ghastly and Money Movie 7 horror week?) - also a favorite, I suspect, of a young man in the UK who had been wasting his talents as a bassist in a sappy band called The Magic Lanterns.

I will have to look up the other films mentioned. And join Netflix, again.

65
OK, a bit out of left field, but this Amazon "recommendation" that popped up for me seems quite in line with the personality transferrence theme -

http://www.amazon.com/Other-Thomas-Tryon/dp/1933618264/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=...

While I'm not usually one for popular novels, I'd have to say that, based on the description and reviews, this one has piqued my interest.

Further investigation reveals that the genuinely creepy Roman Polanski film - also with the personality transferrence theme - originated as a book:

http://www.amazon.com/Tenant-Roland-Topor/dp/193361806X/ref=pd_sim_b_3

I've never heard of Centipede Press, but they appear to have some interesting offerings.

86: I am not at all certain about the book, but it was made into a pretty creepy film in the 50s or 60s... that I recommend.

The Tenant is a great film. I haven't read the book.

It's been a long time since I've seen the film adaptation of The Other. I've never read that book either. I really must turn netflix on again soon. I keep spending all my cash on books.

Free Polanski!

87: Centipede Press is the Lexus of weird/horror publishing. Books in their "Masters of the Weird Tale" series are exquisite. Vol. 3, William Hope Hodgson, just came out. This will be followed by the Poe collection, with a Frank Belknap Long collection to follow.

A bit late but better late than never...

>1 Kamakura:, 8: am halfway through The King in Yellow (good re-edition work by Sattre Press) and I do agree on the "ripoff" by Lovecraft. Although so far I would say that Lovecraft's style - if you can call it "style, that is - is somehow better suited to these types of stories. Chambers seems is a bit verbose...

Have had a look at the dozens of interpretations of what the King would look like and there is, beyond the original 1895 cover (see http://people.uncw.edu/smithms/Ace%20singles/sM-series/M-132.jpg), some good ideas...

http://th01.deviantart.net/fs10/300W/i/2006/160/5/6/The_king_in_Yellow_by_Tillin...
http://media.photobucket.com/image/the%20king%20in%20yellow/eclectixx/kinginyell...

Oh, Chambers wrote some truly horrible fluff. If you ever decide to visit the exotic Commonwealth of Virginia, head down to Charlottesville. After visiting Poe's rooms at - I forget the name of the college there; something woodsy and homefried - and the estate of Arnheim, you may wish, if you're still under the influence, to head up to Walton's mountain (there was TV program in the 70s, and, yawn) where Earl Hamner's home is preserved - his study full of Robert Chambers novels. Very popular at the turn of 1the last century. Chambers did write a couple of other novels in the King in Yellow genre... though their titles escape me (and though they are in my library).

Before Lovecraft, Chambers himself filched bits from Ambrose Bierce (I am thinking specifically of a Bierce story about a strange eastern city of "Carcosa", associated with the occult). Lovecraft, to do him the small justice I am able, was not simply ripping off Chambers, but establishing a complicity with him, in trying to create a sort of lineage for his Cthulu stuff. Apparently he walked off with Chambers' overkill effects as well.

And here we are:

AN INHABITANT OF CARCOSA

by

Ambrose G. Bierce

For there be divers sorts of death -- some wherein the body remaineth; and in some it vanisheth quite away with the spirit. This commonly occurreth only in solitude (such is God's will) and, none seeing the end, we say the man is lost, or gone on a long journey -- which indeed he hath; but sometimes it hath happened in sight of many, as abundant testimony showeth. In one kind of death the spirit also dieth, and this it hath been known to do while yet the body was in vigor for many years. Sometimes, as is veritably attested, it dieth with the body, but after a season is raised up again in that place where the body did decay.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pondering these words of Hali (whom God rest) and questioning their full meaning, as one who, having an intimation, yet doubts if there be not something behind, other than that which he has discerned, I noted not whither I had strayed until a sudden chill wind striking my face revived in me a sense of my surroundings. I observed with astonishment that everything seemed unfamiliar. On every side of me stretched a bleak and desolate expanse of plain, covered with a tall overgrowth of sere grass, which rustled and whistled in the autumn wind with heaven knows what mysterious and disquieting suggestion. Protruded at long intervals above it, stood strangely shaped and somber- colored rocks, which seemed to have an understanding with one another and to exchange looks of uncomfortable significance, as if they had reared their heads to watch the issue of some foreseen event. A few blasted trees here and there appeared as leaders in this malevolent conspiracy of silent expectation.

The day, I thought, must be far advanced, though the sun was invisible; and although sensible that the air was raw and chill my consciousness of that fact was rather mental than physical -- I had no feeling of discomfort. Over all the dismal landscape a canopy of low, lead-colored clouds hung like a visible curse. In all this there were a menace and a portent -- a hint of evil, an intimation of doom. Bird, beast, or insect there was none. The wind sighed in the bare branches of the dead trees and the gray grass bent to whisper its dread secret to the earth; but no other sound nor motion broke the awful repose of that dismal place.

I observed in the herbage a number of weather-worn stones, evidently shaped with tools. They were broken, covered with moss and half-sunken in the earth. Some lay prostrate, some leaned at various angles, none was vertical. They were obviously headstones of graves, though the graves themselves no longer existed as either mounds or depressions; the years had leveled all. Scattered here and there, more massive blocks showed where some pompous or ambitious monument had once flung its feeble defiance at oblivion. So old seemed these relics, these vestiges of vanity and memorials of affection and piety, so battered and worn and stained -- so neglected, deserted, forgotten the place, that I could not help thinking myself the discoverer of the burial-ground of a prehistoric race of men whose very name was long extinct.

Filled with these reflections, I was for some time heedless of the sequence of my own experiences, but soon I thought, "How came I hither?" A moment's reflection seemed to make this all clear and explain at the same time, though in a disquieting way, the singular character with which my fancy had invested all that I saw or heard. I was ill. I remembered now that I had been prostrated by a sudden fever, and that my family had told me that in my periods of delirium I had constantly cried out for liberty and air, and had been held in bed to prevent my escape out-of-doors. Now I had eluded the vigilance of my attendants and had wandered hither to -- to where? I could not conjecture. Clearly I was at a considerable distance from the city where I dwelt -- the ancient and famous city of Carcosa.

No signs of human life were anywhere visible or audible; no rising smoke, no watchdog's bark, no lowing cattle, no shouts of children at play -- nothing but that dismal burial-place with its air of mystery and dread, due to my own disordered brain. Was I not becoming again delirious, there beyond human aid? Was it not indeed all an illusion of my madness? I called aloud the names of my wives and sons, reaching out my hands in search of theirs, even as I walked among the crumbling stones and in the withered grass.

A noise behind me caused me to turn about. A wild animal -- a lynx -- was approaching. The thought came to me: If I break down here in the desert -- if the fever return and I fail, this beast will be at my throat. I sprang toward it, shouting. It trotted tranquilly within a hand's breadth of me and disappeared behind a rock.

A moment later a man's head appeared to rise out of the the ground a short distance away. He was ascending the farther slope of a low hill whose crest was hardly to be distinguished from the general level. His whole figure soon came into view against the background of gray cloud. He was half naked, half clad in skins. His hair was unkempt, his beard long and ragged. In one hand he carried a bow and arrow; the other held a blazing torch with a long trail of black smoke. He walked slowly and with caution, as if he feared falling into some open grave concealed by the tall grass. This strange apparition surprised but did not alarm, and taking course to intercept him I met him almost face to face, accosting him with the familiar salutation, "God keep you."

He gave no heed, nor did he arrest his pace.

"Good stranger," I continued, "I am ill and lost. Direct me, I beseech you, to Carcosa."

The man broke into a barbarous chant in an unknown tongue, passing on and away.

An owl on the branch of a decayed tree hooted dismally and was answered by another in the distance. Looking upward, I saw through a sudden rift in the clouds Aldebaran and the Hyades! In all this there was a hint of night -- the lynx, the man with the torch, the owl. Yet I saw -- I saw even the stars in absence of darkness. I saw, but was apparently not seen nor heard. Under what awful spell did I exist?

I seated myself at the root of a great tree, seriously to consider what it were best to do. That I was mad I could no longer doubt, yet recognized a ground of doubt in the conviction. Of fever I had no trace. I had, withal, a sense of exhilaration and vigor altogether unknown to me -- a feeling of mental and physical exaltation. My senses seemed all alert; I could feel the air as a ponderous substance; I could hear the silence.

A great root of the giant tree against whose trunk I leaned as I sat held inclosed in its grasp a slab of stone, a part of which protruded into a recess formed by another root. The stone was thus partly protected from the weather, though greatly decomposed. Its edges were worn round, its corners eaten away, its surface deeply furrowed and scaled. Glittering particles of mica were visible in the earth about it -- vestiges of its decomposition. This stone had apparently marked the grave out of which the tree had sprung ages ago. The tree's exacting roots had robbed the grave and made the stone a prisoner.

A sudden wind pushed some dry leaves and twigs from the uppermost face of the stone; I saw the low-relief letters of an inscription and bent to read it. God in Heaven! my name in full! -- the date of my birth! -- the date of my death!

A level shaft of light illuminated the whole side of the tree as I sprang to my feet in terror. The sun was rising in the rosy east. I stood between the tree and his broad red disk -- no shadow darkened the trunk!

A chorus of howling wolves saluted the dawn. I saw them sitting on their haunches, singly and in groups, on the summits of irregular mounds and tumuli filling a half of my desert prospect and extending to the horizon. And then I knew that these were ruins of the ancient and famous city of Carcosa.

----------------------------

Such are the facts imparted to the medium Bayrolles by the spirit Hoseib Alar Robardin.