Bøger udgivet af Mandrake of Oxford

Within this book are rituals, stories, traditions and experiences of magicians'' scholars and artists who work with death. Some of the contributors such as Nema, Mogg Morgan, Louis Martine and Nevill Drury (to name but a few) have helped define contemporary transformative spirituality. Others are less well known but just as learned. As there should be in such a collection there is comedy, anger, confrontation and practicality. This anthology is about who we are, and where we come from. It is also about how we change. A Contemporary Western Book of the Dead contains voices and visions that acknowledge our past, feed our present and guide the direction of our future."I was musing on Singapore in all its affluent glory still having shrines for the dead on every street corner during ''The Festival of the Hungry Ghosts''. Then I was musing on how the socially mobile of modern western society eschew death rites and grieving in the name of ''holding it together'' and being progressive. I thought of which civilisations are falling and which are rising again, and wondered whether acknowledging death and the ancestors is a vital part of maintaining personal identity and our place in society. I remember how my grieving father mourned for all the information he had relied on his deceased wife remembering; information which was now lost. I recalled Michael Crichton''s words ''If you don''t know (your family''s) history, then you don''t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn''t know it is part of a tree.''Then I thought maybe someone should write about the cults of the ancestors and death, perhaps an anthology, perhaps cross relate experiences of loss to personal spirituality and magick and history. I know that years of working with the dead in the name of art and spirituality, didn''t prepare me for the death of my mother. What helped me was the advice of someone from a long tradition of working with the ancestors. I think that collecting the experiences of spiritual practitioners in their working with grief and death is part of a living and necessary tradition that will give respect to the dead and strength, identity and support to our own personal spirituality.'' "

Kaos HieroglyphicaAlchemy for the New AeonIn the year 1564, Dr John Dee published his work, Monas Hieroglyphica. Its central symbol represented the unity which was the gnosis of the monotheistic aeon.Now over four hundred years later, Anton Channing has published his long awaited debut work Kaos Hieroglyphica, within which he expounds a new symbol, the Kaos Hieroglyph. This symbol represents the plurality and freedom of the New Aeon. This work of magical alchemy draws on such diverse material as Thelema, the Chaos Current, the Maat Current, Timothy Leary, Witchcraft, Paganism, the Hermetic Tradition, Taoism, Shamanism and the author's own Pineal Gland.The Kaos Hieroglyphica offers the reader interpretations of Hermetic symbolism in a way that is both insightful and relevant to New Aeon Magic.

From words of prophecy made in earlier times, to the newsfeeds of the today's internet, more and more people are becoming aware of the changes taking place in the world. The old and much abused industrial model, driven largely by human ignorance and greed, has placed the future of both humankind and the Earth herself on a path to a questionable future. But there is hope. Over the past handful of decades, a great many people have been awakening to the realities of the world but as well, also hearing - and heeding - the call from the wisdom that lies in the heart of all human beings. It is a call to an older way, a better way; a way of returning to the realms of deeper spirit; of magic and of tribe. As individuals and as groups, those who have heard this call of the heart are rising to once again take their place as true human beings: as stewards of the land. Canadian author Jack Wolf brings us a collection of stories from one such group of Earth-stewards. He does so with the desire that what he shares will kindle the fires of awakening in the hearts and minds of those who are ready for the return of the primal spark-of-hope. Told in the narrative form, The Thornish Path, is intended to provide the reader with an intimate glimpse into the workings and relationships found within this formerly secret society. It is also intended as an introduction to this unique tradition for those who may wish to explore further. Thornish people believe that they are but one tradition of many emerging now, into the modern world in order to be of assistance in the ongoing battle to heal the Earth, and in the words of Jack Wolf: "The time has come for the folk of the green to come into their own - as protectors and managers of the Earth, not the despoilers of it."

For many people Dionysos is an obscure Greek god of wine and theatre. For others he is so much more.The Dionysian Spirit examines, in an easy and accessible form, the essence of what Dionysos is all about, both as a deity and as a cultural and social force. It looks at the relation of Dionysos with his opposite number Apollo. The twin gifts of Apollos and Dionysos are ekstasis (ecstasy) and entheos (enthusiasm) and have informed and enlivened our lives and cultures from ancient times right to the present day and beyond.The Dionysian Spirit - like the art of a good party - has always been with us and now, in many ways, we need it more than ever.Contents: Devotional to Dionysos / The Visualisation / The Myths of Dionysos /Dionysian Heroes / Dionysos Around the World / Dionysos Across The Millenium / Dionysos Goes Forth

2020 Edition features fascinating new revelations, as well as over a dozen rare and new images In the first-ever biography written about her, Wormwood Star traces the extraordinary life of the enigmatic artist Marjorie Cameron, one of the most fascinating figures to emerge from the American underground art world and film scene.Born in Belle Plaine, Iowa, in 1922, Cameron's uniqueness and talent as a natural-born artist were evident to many of those around her early on in life. During World War II, she served in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) and worked in Washington, D.C. as an aide to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and at the Naval Research Laboratory. But it was after the war that her life really took off when she met her first husband, Jack Parsons. By day, Parsons was a brilliant rocket scientist; by night, he was Master of the Agape Lodge, a fraternal magickal order whose head was the most famous magus of the 20th century: Aleister Crowley.Gradually, through the course of their marriage, Parsons initiated Cameron into the occult sciences, and the biography offers a fresh perspective on her role in the infamous Babalon Working Enochian rituals Parsons conducted with the future founder of Scientology, L Ron Hubbard. Following Parsons' death in 1952 from a chemical explosion, Cameron inherited her husband's magickal mantle and embarked on a lifelong spiritual quest, a journey reflected in the otherworldly images she depicted, many drawn from the Elemental Kingdom and astral plane.Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Cameron became a celebrated personality in California's underground art world and film scene. In 1954, she starred in Kenneth Anger's visual masterwork, Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome, stealing the show from her co-star Anais Nin. The filmmaker, Curtis Harrington, was so taken with Cameron he made a film study dedicated to her artwork entitled, The Wormwood Star. He then brought her powerful and mysterious presence to bear on his evocative noir thriller, Night Tide, casting her alongside a young Dennis Hopper.Cameron was an inspirational figure to the many artists and poets who congregated around Wallace Berman's Semina scene and in 1957, a group show held at the Ferus Gallery was shut down by the authorities due to the sexually charged nature of one of her drawings. Undaunted, she continued to carve a unique and brilliant path, although recognition only came in the latter part of her life.A retrospective of Cameron's work, The Pearl of Reprisal, was held at L.A.'s Barnsdall Art Park in 1989, and following her death, some of her most admired pieces were featured in the Reflections of a New Aeon Exhibition at the Eleven Seven Gallery in Long Beach, California. Cameron's famous Peyote Vision line drawing made its way into the Beat Culture and the New America retrospective held at the Whitney Museum in 1995; and in 2006, selections of her work were included in the touring Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle show. The following year a survey dedicated exclusively to her own work was held at the Nicole Klagsbrun Gallery in New York.With so much of her life and artistry shrouded in mystery, Wormwood Star sheds new light on this most remarkable artist and elusive occult icon..

P is for Prostitution is a primer unlike any you will have read before, the ABC approach far from simplistic. Through various episodes the author charts her own insights into addiction and the kind of existence that inevitably goes with this. Each letter marks a step on a journey into the lowest circles of hell in which the "author's creativity and intellect is misdirected towards a chaotic, nihilistic and devastating existence" (reader's foreword). There are moments of black comedy, sexual horror, and final, uneasy redemption in which the author reclaims the trajectory of her life. ". . . the life you lived . . . represents the era you grew up in and the position of women in society and the rules they were expected to live by and the consequences of breaking these rules. Women are often regarded as objects, possessions and are expected to be submissive." (Jane Hunt)P is for Prostitution grew out of the author's exploration of death and ancestral cults. It led her to acknowledge her own past, re-connecting and rescuing a catalogue of youthful dead or missing loved ones. "This was no surprise given the way we lived our lives at that time, but was no less saddening. Whilst the people concerned were not blood relatives, they were part of who I was and very much my family of choice in our shared inability or refusal to accept the terms of mainstream existence.""Daddy was an exclamation mark / exploding on blank walls / I was a biblioteque hero / supporting Atlas' balls /Rolling skating on Freudian slips / Pussy footing through the fly leafings/ Of fellow social misfits."

An A-Level drop-out graduates from evicting immigrants during the heyday of the inner-city slum landlords in the 1960s to stripping redundant churches during the early 1970s, before moving to northern Sweden equipped only with the proceeds of selling stolen property and some hashish. He finds new sources of hashish even in Sweden but eventually the money runs out , and he returns to London: only to discover it is even worse than when he left.Eric Naiman, a Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature at Berkeley, in a six-page attack on A.D.Harvey's multitudinous literary crimes in THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT in 2013, described Harvey's account of drug-taking and other shenanigans in London and the Swedish Arctic as "barely readable", but perhaps that was because he hadn't actually read it. Another of A.D.Harvey's novels, WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW was described by THE GUARDIAN as "weirdly compelling" and by THE INDEPENDENT as "free-flowing and poetic...unforgettable."

Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.Nearly seventy years after his death Aleister Crowley, the notorious Beast 666, is only just beginning to attract serious academic attention. Even so we would not expect to find him on any mainstream university courses; he is still too much associated with occultism. So, Crowley - A Beginners Guide is not your standard beginner's guide.Let my servants be few & secret: they shall rule the many & the known.Readers may be surprised at the richness and complexity of his thought, as well as the extent of his influence. He needs background to be understood. Giving this opens fresh perspectives on much recent intellectual history.Crowley - A Beginners Guide presents his main ideas in a straightforward and accessible format, with drawings and diagrams to place them in their historical context. It relates him to contemporary movements in art and scholarship. It describes his relationship to modernism and postmodernism, and his role in the counterculture of the sixties, as well as his continuing influence today. Interspersed are entertaining stories of his life and reputation.Brilliantly illustrated by John Higgins, Crowley - A Beginners Guide, is a highly accessible guide to this fascinating, complex and controversial figure. It neither promotes nor condemns him, presenting hostile as well as favourable views of his character and achievement.John S Moore is a freelance writer and independent scholar living in London. He is the author of Aleister Crowley: A Modern Master (Mandrake of Oxford, 2009) and Nietzsche - An Interpretation, (AuthorsOnline Ltd, 2011) and has written on Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein and Edward Bulwer-Lytton among others. More information at www.johnsmoore.co.uk/ John Patrick Higgins is a writer and illustrator. He is the author of The Narwhal and Other stories. His second collection will be published later in the year. He writes art criticism for various magazines and is Creative Director of Shot Glass Theatre Company. He lives in Belfast, which he continues to find extraordinary.

The Bloody SacrificeCharlotte Rodgers is a non denominational magickal practitioner and an animist, and The Bloody Sacrifice is the story of her work with blood. It chronicles her use of road kill and blood in art, ritualised scarification and tattoo work, and the use of venous and menstrual blood in magick. Also included are Charlotte's interviews with tattoo artists; priests from belief systems which utilise blood sacrifice; artists who use their own HIV positive blood as a medium; and those who use mortifications and body modification to effect changes in consciousness and self.All here share a common bond of talent combined with an ability to articulate their beliefs. For example Louis Martinie, a priest in the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple. Martinie has integrated his Tibetan Buddhist beliefs into his Voodoo practice and in doing so shows how personal spiritual evolution can effect change within a syncretic religion.As a blood related illness affected various parts of Charlotte's life, she was given a chance to explore blood ritual in a very different way. Documenting this part of her journey gives an understanding of AIDS, HIV and HCV, and its effect on spirituality and contemporary blood rites.Blood Ritual, with all its history, baggage and dangers holds a power to create change. Whether this power is held within blood and how much impact is created merely by our perception is for the reader to decide. The Bloody Sacrifice is an honest, modern and thought provoking personal insight into an ancient aspect of our spirituality and creativity.The author was born in New Zealand and after many years of travel, fast living and dodgy magick, now leads a life of quiet eccentricity commuting between England and Asia. She creates, exhibits, and occasionally sells art made from road kill and has had articles published in many magazines.

Early Christians were accused of practicing magic by Jews, pagans, and other Christians. Magic in the New Testament examines magical praxis common to the New Testament, the magical papyri, the Sepher Ha-Razim, the Book of Enoch, the apocryphal Acts and the pre-Nicene church fathers and surveys the professional literature on early Christian magic from 1927 through 2009. Additional topic include: · magic, family and sexuality, · the Old Testament background of early Christian magic, · the relationship between magic and apocalypticism, · veneration of relics and necromantic sorcery, · resurrection, ghost stories and polymorphism, · magic and mystery cult in early Christianity.

You're in your bed. It's dark, you hear footsteps coming up the stairs and into your room. There's someone there - a presence. They lie on you or beside you, gripping you tightly, crushing you into the bed. You can't move. There may be a sound, a grunt or a strange smell. Time passes, you are paralysed with fear. Eventually the entity changes, expanding or contracting, moving away from you, sinking to the floor. With a great effort of will you manage to move the tip of your finger, then the hand until movement returns to your whole body and the experience ends. You have been visited by the old 'hag'. Dreams, the real theatre or perhaps battlefield of magick, influenced by cosmic tides that ebb and flow through us as they did the Ancient Egyptians. Contents: Kiss of the Vampire / Origin of the Vampire Myth / Egyptian Psychology / Lucky and Unlucky / Supernatural Assault

'Bright From the Well' consists of five stories plus five essays and a rune-poem. The stories revolve around themes from Norse myth - the marriage of Frey and Gerd, the story of how Gullveig-Heidh reveals her powers to the gods, a modern take on the social-origins myth Rig's Tale, Loki attending a pagan pub moot and the Ragnarok seen through the eyes of an ancient shaman. The essays include examination of the Norse creation or origins story, of the magician in or against the world and a chaoist's magical experiences looked at from the standpoint of Northern magic.'Dave Lee coaches breathwork, writes fictionand non-fiction, blends incenses and oils, creates music and collage.