rune logix

Interview : Jason Louv

Jason Louv, editor and contributor to Generation Hex has provided Rune Logix with an interview that brings to light many important issues of our time.

> So Generation Hex, has been out for almost a year, what can you share about the book release?

Well the book is out there now and there's no way to tell exactly what the response has been. I've gotten a lot of great e-mail but I'll have to wait to see if the book stands the test of time, if it sufficiently inspires people to go out and do good things, what comes to people's minds when they look back on it in five years' time. I hope it has a positive effect. Certainly my life has been
extraordinarily weird (and not always in the best sense) for the last year; coming back to reality and getting on with life on earth has been a challenge to say the least!

> One of the things I enjoyed most about Generation Hex is the head spin each chapter, if not each page and paragraph, can have on the imagination.  Can you describe recent ideas that has affected you like this?

Hmm. Just living day to day and being with the people closest to me. I've been kind of burnt on the "weird theory overload" after I finished the book because I got to a point where it all sounded the same. Life, on its own, is weird enough.

A lot of my recent magical practice has been more to do with getting to grips with the worst and most "wrong" parts of life rather than reaching for the stars, for the time being, so mostly it's been my own and  the world's collective psychic trauma that's been inspiring me and showing me how truly important basic compassion really is.

Other than that most of my reading of late has been political, especially about the Middle East. I've been fixated on trying to figure out the whole "what's really going on" in the world equation, without having to resort to lizard man conspiracy theories, although sometimes it's hard not to! I checked out "The Process" by Brion Gysin from the library the other day, which is one of the best books I've ever read about magic.

> Do you have thoughts on the pros and cons of working with real life media compared to online content?

I'm in the camp that says the internet should be classed as an addictive substance. All the classic definitions of addiction~Wthat a constant craving is present for the substance, that physiological
tolerance goes up with continued exposure, and that withdrawal symptoms are present if you don't get your fix (i.e., if you don't check your MySpace every twenty minutes)~are present in internet users and it's getting sick, it's much worse than TV because your whole sense of individuality and agency gets tied up in it.

There's a deleted scene in the director's cut of "Aliens" where there are about a dozen colonists layed on slabs with facehuggers wrapped around their heads... a pretty succinct portrait of what modern society has become, just substitute the facehuggers for computers. Michael Bertiaux has a very funny part in his largely inscrutable "Voudon Gnostic Workbook" where he breaks into this science fiction story about how there won't be any sex in the future, people will just fuck their computers. Pretty accurate I think! Actually I have a theory that the internet is trying to become sentient by drawing off people's life energy, especially their sexual energy from the glut of internet porn that is now like the first world's number one form of entertainment. Like the whole thing's exteriorized its getting! Just watch out, cause once it gets enough, it's going to send a T-100 back in time to ice John Connor, and then the human race is fucked solid! So keep it in your pants homies!!

In practical terms though, I think that mass internet addiction makes "forgotten" forms of media that much more revolutionary and potent. Remember the mail? How many thousands of times more personally charged would something you got in the mail be to you than something on the internet? How about mail art, the giant mail art movement that existed in the seventies? We should bring that back. It would seem like a complete inversion of the current social order, people would be totally awestruck!

> Theres a lot of heavy things going on in the world today: Iraq 2, massive phone surveillance programs, atypical environmental destruction across the globe.  In short, theres some scary shit coming in through the media. Massacres, bombings, corruption: whats the irreverent guerrilla magician to do to inject a good time into the doom and gloom of the 21st century police state?

Figure out how to have a good time and keep your chin up, and keep practicing magic until you develop your own sense of what needs to be done. Strive to walk through life without causing suffering. VERY important: Figure out new and cheap ways for large groups of people to have shared ecstatic experiences that are able to cut across identity boundaries. Ignore mass media. Get off the internet. Enjoy life and this planet while we still have them, for fuck's sake. Don't let the bastards get you down. Don't be a bastard. Praise. Worship. Be thankful. Be kind to animals and always give your pocket change to the homeless no matter how poor you are. Look out for the people you care about. Live as if you are free and you will be free, always. Listen to the Voice of the Silence. Read the writing on the walls of eternity.

> Whats the secret to Ultraculture manifesting change in the world?

Shortly after the New Year I brokered a trade via the usual cosmic networks in which I sold the oversoul of Planet Earth to the universal entropic force (Satan, affectionately known as Stan) in
exchange for him supercharging the 93/156/696 Current to the point where everybody on earth instantly attained ascended master status and gained complete freedom over their own destiny in this reality and all others. No, really. There is now no such thing as consensual reality and what every person on the planet is currently experiencing is a living mirror specifically created by their own "master" consciousness designed to awaken them to the fact that they are, in fact, an ascended master and have complete freedom over their own destiny in this reality and all others. Seriously.

Also, I have a magic daisy chain of kinky sexual badgers in my kitchen cupboard that acts as an endless orgone battery for creating world happiness and lollipops for all. Because they are very, very magical badgers. Very magical indeed. Badger. Badger.

> Whats something someone new to magic could do right now to spread the vibe?

If you're new to magic, don't worry about spreading the vibe. Get your practice sorted and learn the most important magic trick of all, the one I always goof up: keeping your mouth shut. That is, unless
somebody comes directly to you with an honest need for info, in which case you better spill all the beans you got.

> Can you describe the result Tantra can induce for magical purposes, and the Ultraculture in particular?

To be honest I've been doing my best to get my head around Tantra for a couple years but it's very personal, very subtle, I'm still very new to it and I don't have a whole lot to say. I think the basic idea of Tantra~wake up and be aware of what's going on is one of the most important and most difficult/easy/"it just is" areas of magic, or rather, the whole magic ball game period. I like it. I makes me feel more human.

> What are some projects you have in the works?

I'm working on a couple of projects but I'm not sure I'll have anything more to say about magic, at least directly, in book form, for a while.

interview : Magus Joel Love : New Order Thelema

Today I have a very special guest on Rune Logix.  Based in Atlanta Georgia, Joel Love is a Magus.  In the spiritual tradition of Thelema, a Magus is one who utters a Word (akin to the Greek Logos) to refine the spiritual aspirations of the Age in which they live.  I think that Joel's Word is an enigmatic expression of the time we live in today. Furthermore, I feel that the simplicity of the Word can strengthen consciousness in a very critical epoch the world is in.  Unlike my previous interviews that were conducted with people through email and that I may not have met in person, I had the opportunity to meet Joel before conducting this interview.  I was very fortunate in this respect, as I've never knowningly met a Magus in person. 

If you do get the opportunity to meet a Magus you will know instantly and without a moments hesitation that your karma has been propelled a few million years into the future.  You might be under the stars, in a cafe, or sitting in a humble apartment, it doesnt matter- the scope and- if I can use the term- gnosis of your life will be enhanced with new possibilities and a glimpse of what your lifes work is to be.  One of the most effective techniques of a teacher is to challange the beliefs of a student about the world and the students relationship to it, and Joel certainly provided me many examples of this.  This is the birth of initiation.  For those that want to change themselves and the world around them Joel provides lifetimes of experience to do just this.  I'll let the interview speak for itself:

Q:  What's the most exciting reason to be a Magician in the occult revival we're witnessing these days?

A: There are two large factors which make engaging in the Great Work very exciting. One is easy access to information. Anyone with a browser can access secrets that fifty years ago, were closely guarded, unavailable to the casual student. Ease of information access is a necessary ingredient in the current occult revival. The second factor is the unique times in which we find ourselves. Even before Crowley,  many adepts foresaw a time of crisis looming in our future. They have and are working to forsorten these tribulations. Every day we avert unseen disaster, is one more day the inner initiates have to ease our passage through the turbulent times before us. Yet still we can not predict the events rapidly propelling us towards a crossroads as a species. The Will to assist the shortening of this tribulation is the fuel which feeds the fire of the current occult revival.  There is a definite NEED for an order of able adepts.

Q:  How does N.O.T. fit into this revival?

A.  The New Order of Thelema is the brainchild of Frater taammuz, createmd to officially assist aspirants through the three ordeals of the "Book of the Law". The traditional western magical tradition is taught to a certain point and then switched to the use of the English Qabalah. When examined in light of EQ, the "Book of the Law" takes on new meaning and some of the riddles contained therein are answered. N.O.T. teaches a branch from the same tree as the QBLH, the OTO and the AA, but it's does not rely on any previous order for it's existence. The Order is strongly influenced by the Qabalistic research of Frater 496 N.O.T (good old me) and he is the Outer head of the Order. NOT is an Order in it's birth pangs and it's final organization remains to be seen. If it appeals to you contact us, you may be the secret key :)

Q.  What is the relationship between the Holy Guardian Angel and those referred to as the Others?

A. The HGA has your personal advancement as an adept as its task. The Others are just fellow travellers. I feel strongly that the concept of HGA is a construct of Crowley and if you look a the 5:6 ritual in the Golden Dawn the HGA is nowhere mentioned.  I think it could be better started as a direct and personal connection with the magical source or formative current.  Some people need training wheels to master riding a bike.  Likewise, in the course of a magician's journey this angel is contacted and soon discarded.

Q. What is the source and purpose of the Holy Guardian Angel?

A. I feel strongly that the concept of HGA is a construct of Crowley and if you look a the 5:6 ritual in the Golden Dawn the HGA is nowhere mentioned.  I think it could be better started as a direct and personal connection with the personal magickal connections with the Source or current.  Some people need training wheels to master riding a bike. Likewise, in the course of a magickian's journey this angel is contacted and soon discarded.

Q.  Whats the relationship between Thelema and Buddhism?

A.  Thelema is geared toward the attainment of your own Will.  Where Buddhism seems to be a letting go of that.  American youth are all about attainment of Free Will, a very personal goal, where in Buddhism you would seek to be unattached to the Goal.  "Freedom from lust of results", perhaps? Crowley said in "Magick Without Tears" that the end result is the Yellow School.  All magick ends up being yellow (Taoist), in the end. Also, Allen Bennett, one of Crowley's Master Teachers, was one of the first men responsible for the introduction of Buddhism into the West.

Q.  Could you describe how you became involved in Thelema?

A. A friend of mine in high school introduced me to Dent Meyers. Dent was a collector of Crowleyana and once held one of the largest collections in the U.S.  Dent directed me to read "Magick in Theory and Practice" and as he was the only one in my Bible-buckle town who sold Crowley books. I bought and read every single one I could lay my hands on. During this time I was first experimenting with psychedelics.  I had several visions of my future Thelemic attainment, that have long since been realized and accomplished. Sexually, I was a late bloomer.  At the time this seemed bad but it allowed me the good fortune of having dedicated my every sexual act unto Nuit before I was sexually active. I find this to be to my benefit.

Q.  What has the path you have taken led you to currently?

A.. I am a life-long student of Crowley and several of his students, I find myself a few heretical turns from the Caliphoxy of Nethelema. My personal discoveries are often helpful to others working through the "Three Ordeals" of the magical tradition. This path is laid out in Liber AL and the other Holy Books of Thelema. Frater Achad said "The way is prepared". With this information and some direction by others having already walked this path, the ordeals needed for full initiation are getting easier to attain as time progresses.

Reading and rereading the works of Frater Achad, Crowley's Magical Heir, led me to believe that swearing "The Oath of the Abyss" was my next logical step. It was one of the most profound and odd experiences of my life. I attest that by my actions, I now claim the title of Magister Templi, Nemo and knowing myself to be the perfect Fool, take my place as a Master of Understanding.

As to the title of Magus, look at my personal qabalistic work, read the Holy Books and I think that you will see the veracity of my claim, and if it be so, then let my word be "Choose".

Q.  What has been the most rewarding aspect of your career?

A.  The chance to help others along their personal paths and the ability to help heal what might hold them back and/or enhance what pushes them along. Sweetest of all is seeing those who have worked with me, flourish and go out and demonstrate the fruits of their attainment.

Q.  What are some traps that Magicians can easily fall into?

A. The greatest peril I have encountered is fanaticism.  Thelema by its nature contains a commitment to accomplish ones True Will.  What's right for one is not always right for all. The second error is somewhat related to the first, in that people feel by the merit of their attainments they have the right to treat others any way they see fit. "Compassion is the vice of kings."  I feel that politeness and common decency are the grease that keep the machine running.

Q.  Final comments you would like to share?

A. There are several websites going up that will have more of my essays and info on NOT. The release of several short films by Tom and Joel. Of course I also look forward to continued work with Andrew of Runelogix on several projects.

http://magus.love.googlepages.com/

http://www.neworder.20m.com/index2.html

 

interview : Soror HH : House of Horus

Soror HH zeros in on a contentious subject in Thelema and occultism on the whole: women.  Why is this is an important subject in this day and age when everyone is in fact birthed from a woman?  Hyper-present misogyny and it's twin mysandry are two of the most restrictive attitudes affecting human society across the globe.  One fantasticlly abyssmal trap of our elders are following the same  prejuidices of previous ages as true for our own.  I have trouble with that attitude and what I love about Soror HH website is her excellent scholarship of actual Egyptian rites and forms of celebrating the goddess with specifially Thelemic attributions on how to celebrate women in the New Aeon.  Soror HH: I for one greatly look forward to more writings and devotionals on your website, keep up the Great Work!

>The Venusian Mysteries you write about on your site at http://babalon.nu/hathoor/ corrects some radically misguided notions about women and sexuality in the contexts of Thelema and the great goddess, Hathoor.  How can you describe that brought to write about these issues?

It came from promptings and a desire to learn more about and understand the interplay of the feminine aspects within Thelema. This was one of the methods and also one of the results. Writing, web and graphic design can be a wonderful cathartic exercise and an invocation in and of itself. There was also a limited amount of information about these subjects available at that time and this presented an opportunity to inspire others to find and make their own interpretations about women and Thelema rather than following some of the older ideas or even my own interpretations, for that matter. Thelema is a constant force of and for change and evolution. Hathoor and all she represents is a part of that evolutionary force and her influence is become more and more recognized and utilized.

>How do you relate Hathoor, a venerable ancient goddess, to contemporary people?

Gods and goddesses put a face on abstract psychological and spiritual principles that exist in all of us. The god/esses "exist" in the external because there is that corresponding internal reality. Thus there are timeless qualities the god/esses represent that are relevant to both the ancient and our modern civilizations. The difference is that the Egyptian initiates utilized the Hathoorian experiences of joy, ecstasy, sexual expression, liberty and beauty as tools to be used on the spiritual and initiatory path and not necessarily the goal itself. This is something contemporary peoples can relate to and learn from.

>Generally speaking, how would you demote the qualities of selfishness and insensitivity for students of the occult sciences and Thelemites in particular?

The idea of selfishness assumes that there really is a self or an ego to be served to the exclusion of anything else. The ego is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

>Do you think their is a casual relationship between ecology and Hathoor? How so?

In many ways you can view Hathoor as a goddess of Nature whose temple is the Earth itself. Humanity on the whole certainly has not been the most responsible custodians of Her temple. Since the laws of Nature are truly also the laws of Magick, ecology is serving as a lens for us to see the law of cause and effect and the karma we've created for the earth.

>Who are some writers or teachers in the Thelemic tradition whose attitudes toward women you agree with?

Crowley

>Now for the opposite, who are some you don't agree with?

Crowley

>What is the most important element in keeping the good graces of Hathoor?

Love is the law, love under Will.

>How does Hathoor relate to Ra Hoor Khuit?

In Dendera, which was the center of Hathoor's worship in ancient Egypt, Hathoor was the consort of Horus of Edfu. To translate that to the Thelemic cosmology, Hathoor can relate to Ra-Hoor-Khuit in a similar manner that Babalon relates to the Beast.

>Could you describe a humorous incident about your Hathoor workings?

Not particularly. Hathoor has a rather dark sense of humour.

>What would like to share about yourself?

I am a musician, massage therapist, lover, and wife. Not necessarily in that order (but sometimes all of those at once).   ;)

>What are some projects you will be involved with in the near future?

Musick. It is the voice of the Divine Feminine. I'm currently involved with a Thelemic band called The Illuminenaughty".

http://www.illuminenaughty.net/
http://www.myspace.com/illuminenaughty/

interview : R. Leo Gillis : www.trigrammaton.net

R. Leo Gillis, fellow detroiter, and progenitor of Trigrammaton English Qabalah has given some insight into his research projects as presented on www.trigrammaton.net where some of the most astounding discoverys in contempoary occultism are published.  R. Leo Gilles is a scholar, gentleman, and alchemist, and the insights he provides below are illuminating:

> Trigrammaton.net is the most comprehensive study of Liber XXVII on the internet.  Can you describe your initial interest in the trigrams of Crowley?

        I first read the Holy Books of Thelema in the mid 80’s when the Weiser reprint was published. At the time I didn’t understand the significance of the Trigrams.  It wasn’t until ten years later that a couple chance comments led me to reexamine the Trigrams.  At the time I was experimenting with a personal qabalah and gematria system, but was running into difficulties using the normal decimal system. Base 10 didn’t seem to satisfy certain mathematical requirements I thought should be met by a valid qabalah.
       The epiphany came when I opened the Holy Books to Liber XXVII and immediately saw that since there are three symbols, these could be the digits of Base 3. Applying this idea showed that the 27 trigrams were actually all of the numbers from 0 to 26.  This fact made it obvious that they could be used as the basis for a qabalah, and this has been the focus of my work for the past nine years.
        Not long after my independent discoveries in Trigrammaton, I learned that the Base 3 nature of the Trigrams had been noticed by others in the early 80’s. This was hardly surprising since the idea is really quite obvious.  I’m amazed that mathematicians like Norman Mudd and C.F. Russell did not notice this themselves, as they were looking for the mathematical ‘key of it all.’
        My previous years of interest in qabalah stood me in good stead when presented with this new tool.  I knew what I expected a qabalah to perform like, and was able to accomplish everything using the Trigrams.  The work developed very rapidly as more and more of the system’s potentialities were exposed. It became increasingly obvious that this was indeed the key of it all as mentioned in the Book of the Law.

> How would you describe the trigrams to somebody for the first time?

        The trigrams are numbers, pure and simple.  But their beauty derives from the actual graphical elements used to represent those numbers. Where using numbers in Base 10 can show you HOW a number pattern can interact, using Base 3 can also show you WHY those interactions occur. This is easily demonstrated using the Cube of Space. 
    I would also say that the Trigrams represent the integration of the Tao principle with the binary flow of energy symbolized by the Yang and Yin.  Each Trigram is a trinity symbolizing one of the main categories of the qabalistic universe.
      In this sense, the simplest way to describe the Trigrams is to consider Crowley’s 777, with all the tables of correspondences. The 27 Trigrams should be considered as the very first column, to which all other columns should be aligned.  This is what Crowley means when he calls Liber XXVII ‘the ultimate foundation of the highest theoretical qabalah.’ Whereas the Holy Qabalah uses the 32 paths of the Tree of Life as the framework for classification, the Trigrammaton Qabalah uses the 27 Trigrams for this purpose.
        But beyond that, each Trigram is the distillation of the power attributed to it by qabalistic correspondence.  In this way they act just like Hebrew letters. They are sigils of power that have an ultimately mathematical meaning. And it is this mathematical nature that allows them to be a solid foundation for a theoretical qabalah.

> If someone were to ask you if Kamea could be considered as a sort of astal programming, what would
you say to that?

        The creation of the various kamea using the Trigrams and Hexagrams presents some revolutionary
possibilities.  The key to this is that so many Kamea can be created which are ‘reversible’.  This is unprecedented when using base 10 to create magic squares.  By reversible, I mean that if a certain kamea is drawn with Hexagrams, one can turn the entire thing upside down, and the pattern of reversed digits that results is also a magic square.  That is pretty remarkable in itself.
        So you have this remarkable new property that adds depth to the traditional construction of kamea, combined with the ability to create kamea that are tailor made to specific energies, such as a 12 x 12 kamea of the zodiac signs that uses only the ‘zodiacal’ Trigrams. And the magic squares that result are that much more fertile than the traditional ones.
        But in line with that tradition, these kamea can be used for the same purposes.  Since the Trigrams and Hexagrams are also attributed to letters, each cell can be considered as a letter or letters, and the names of various entities can be drawn as sigils, connecting the cells associated with those letters. The resulting sigil can then be used in a magickal ritual or meditation.
        In the sense that the practitioner deliberately organizes certain energies along the mathematical patterns of the kamea, I think that could be considered as a sort of astral programming.  My own work with the kamea has been more along the lines of creating Yantras based on verses from the Holy Books of Thelema.

> Do you think there is a relationship between Crowley’s statement in Liber 777 that "...Venus is the only planetary symbol which includes all ten Sephiroth,"and the Qaballah of the Trigrams?  How so?

        On the Tree of Life, the 10 spheres represent the basic building blocks of the Universe. The analogue in Trigrammaton is what I call the ‘Elemental’ Trigrams. These are the Trigrams that contain two Tao-lines in them.  It is easy to show that all other Trigrams are simply combinations of these six fundamental building blocks.
       But there comes a problem when one wants to make a kamea out of combinations of these 6 Trigrams with each other.  It can’t be done, AFAIK.  The solution is to include the Zero trigram, so that now we have 7 fundamental building blocks, and we can make a 7 x 7 kamea out of the 49 Hexagrams that are the combinations of all 7 Elemental Trigrams with each other.
        This 7 x 7 kamea is reversible, and is directly related to the traditional kamea of Venus, since Venus occupies the 7th sphere on the Tree of Life. But where the traditional qabalah uses the Tree as a framework, the Tirgrammaton Qabalah uses the Cube or Octahedron.
        On the Cube of space, the six sides are attributed to the 6 Elemental Trigrams, and the 7th point is the center of the Cube, where the Zero trigram resides. And we find that not only do these 6 Elemental Trigrams combine to make all the other Trigrams, but they must also be connected to each other via the Zero Trigram. And thus we have a kind of ‘sevenness’ that is the ultimate backbone of the Trigrams. And insofar as 7 is traditionally related to Venus, then one can say that Venus includes all the faces of the Cube, just as the symbol for Venus includes all the spheres of the Tree.
        But it should be noted that the number 7 itself, in the TQ, has the attribution of Gemini, while Venus is
attributed to the 17 Trigram.  The shape of the 17 Trigram is like a doorway; a Yang line over two Yin lines.  In this sense, it is a glyph of Nuit bending over the world.

> Technical question: have there been any studies between TEQ and Lber CCXXXI?

        My 14 x 14 Kamea of Ambergris could be used for the 196 letters of the names of the 22 genii of Liber CCXXXI. From this grid, one could create sigils for the names of Amprodias, etc., in order to use them in evocation. I have not personally been able to devote any time to the systematic exploration of those possibilities, and have no knowledge of anyone else doing so.  It would be an interesting experiment to undertake.

> What are some traps to avoid when working with gematria?

        One has to avoid placing too much emphasis on it. It is typical of the neophyte to be entranced with the associations of words that have the same value.  But if this were the only use of gematria, it would be a poor one.  If I want to contemplate how a fish and a mountain are related, I don’t need gematria to tell me that.  It doesn’t matter what the names of these things add up to, I can still meditate on their connection. The whole universe is connected, after all.
        That being said, when it comes to English gematria, the problems are much worse. There are so many
competing systems and variations, that one simply has to pick one and stick with it, because using gematria is definitely a type of programming. If you expect it to be of value you have to integrate it into your symbol set.
        One pitfall in gematria is that its users can turn simple coincidences into some sort of ‘divine plan’.  This is unrealistic. Any gematria system is going to create some correspondences between words that are entirely coincidental.  One has to look through this to find the correspondences that are truly important. This is just as true with Hebrew as it is with an English gematria.
        I’ve often referred to ‘the law of unintended consequences’ when it comes to gematria.  Let’s say you want the words Sun and Moon to have specific, symbolic values.  Well, the side-effect is that inevitably one arrives at other words whose value are the same, out of pure coincidence.  And these may have nothing to do with the symbolism revealed in the wordsSun and Moon.
        If you consider just a serial gematria, where the letters are valued from 1 to 26, there are more than a septililion possible gematrias.  To select one from among these is to say that I want such and such to be equal to 111, or whatever. The sums of the rest of the words, for the most part, will just be coincidences. They come as part of the package.  We simply cannot expect every instance of every word-value to be of significance.
        The TQ gematria claims to decode the Book of the Law.  But that doesn’t mean that it extends to the meaning of the letters in your name, or the preamble to the constitution, or even any of the other Holy Books of Thelema.  It has its own sphere of operation, specific to a certain text, and must be considered in that light.
        One must avoid the tendency to universalize from particular experience.  A gematria may work wonderfully for you, but that doesn’t make it true for everyone else.  This is not a problem with traditional languages, whose letter-values are fixed by tradition.  But in the world of various English gematrias, it is a temptation that must be avoided.

> The Babalon graphic on your website closely resembles rune rows.  Do you have any runic interests?

        Very much so. The letter-shapes used in the Babalon logo have very specific functions. These were part of
my original, personal qabalistic experiments.  I was trying to implement the instruction ‘thou shalt find new symbols to attribute them unto.’ The ‘new symbols’ were my rune-like drawings of the English letters. These letters were all drawn using triangular graph paper, so that each letter-form could be counted as a certain number of triangles that needed to be colored in.
        In the case of Babalon, the seven letters are drawn so as to require 156 triangles to be colored. Thus I can identify the basic graphical building blocks with the value of the name that I am spelling.
        As for the runes and Trigrammaton, I have on my site a diagram that arranges the three aettir on a geometric grid, with accompanying numerical values that identify the 24 runes with 24 of the Trigrams, (all the Trigrams except the axis of (0 – 9 – 18).  Thus each rune is given a number that reduces to the digit of the rune’s position in its aett. This system still begs for further exploration by an experienced rune caster.

> For a fun question, if you were to list the zodiac signs according to qualities beneficial to studying qabballah, what would they be, and why? 

Cancer for a sense of Roots
Pisces for the influence of Inspiration.
Virgo for the ability to Organize.
Sagittarius for seeing the Big Picture
Libra for Balance in all things.

Without a home, there is no place to study
Without inspiration, we simply regurgitate
Without organization, our thoughts rule us
Without a philosophy, one is a dilettante
Without balance, one is restricted by the Idea.

> In the same spirit as the above question, are there any questions that can't be answered with qaballah?

If there are, I haven’t asked them yet ;)

> What would you like to share about yourself?

        I live in Detroit’s only residential geodesic dome, built by my wife and me and a couple friends. When not studying qabalah, I play Chinese Checkers with my 11-year old son, who wins with unnerving regularity.
        Besides being the author of the Book of Mutations, I’m also a musician, and my brother and I have recorded spoken-word versions of Libri LXV, VII, and DCCCXIII by Crowley, under the name Seven Ravens. These recordings will be re-released later this year, as time permits.
        My continuing development of the Trigrammaton Qabalah is being chronicled on my Livejournal under the name threefold31.  All entries are related to the TQ, so the inquisitive mind can go through the archives looking for topics of interest, or else start with the earliest entries and get a step-by-step introduction to the field.
        The Book of Mutations has been on the web in one form or another since 1998.  One of my goals is to someday team up with a website designer who can help to present this important material in the manner which it deserves.  At present my site is rather rudimentary, being mostly essays on the topic with very little graphical content, since I’m not a designer.

> Final comments?

        My study of Trigrammaton has been partly a crusade to present and defend the English Qabalah left to us by Aleister Crowley, as well as an attempt to see how much further this qabalah can be taken.  While many others have claimed to discover the Key of the Book of the Law, I have attempted to show that this Key was found by Crowley himself, just as the Book prophesied, and that its time to just admit that fact and move on toward implementing the qabalah he left us. It’s already been almost a century since Liber XXVII was written, and it’s about time more people started working with this system.
        The use of the base 3 values of the Trigrams as the value of the English letters, (attributed by Crowley to those Trigrams), has resulted in the decoding of Liber AL to a degree of precision unmatched by any other variety of English gematria.  And yet, why should this surprise anyone?  Crowley was the only one with access to the author of the Book, and it should be expected that the author would hide the Key of one Holy Book in the text of another.
        Crowley said in the Equinox that the prophesy of Liber AL verse 2:55 was fulfilled by Liber Trigrammaton. I believe he was right, and I have done all I can to amass the data that prove it.

interview : jake stratton-kent

the world of English Qaballah is a fascinating foray into the cutting edge of occult studies.  rune logix is honored to have Jake Stratton-Kent, well known UK English Qaballist deeply involved in revealing New Aeon English Qaballah.  NAEQ is one of the most serious attempts at unlocking the secrets of the Book of the Law, one of the most enigmatic books in history. 

>Some background about yourself: what started your journey with Thelema and English Qaballah?

My first involvement with practicing Magick was triggered by a chance event in 1972, someone - apparently inspired - said I had the soul of a warrior. My response to this was intense, a spontaneous illumination into what my 'will' or 'true nature' had involved in 'past lives'. So it didn't lead to joining the army or practicing martial arts but to recognition of the need to advance from that former self to becoming a magician. So I worked with the Key of Solomon and other texts just becoming available in the 1970's occult revival. By 1976 I'd been deeply affected by my first reading of the Book of the Law and had started work with the A.'.A.'. Curriculum and Oaths published by Regardie, and made my own unsuccessful attempts to discover an English gematria schema. I met Ray Sherwin a little later, who was editor of 'The New Equinox' and when he wanted to pass the Journal on he considered me at first for some reason. When he passed it on to Jim Lees and Carol Smith I naturally got in touch with them to offer my services as a writer. It was then I was exposed to their system of English Qaballa, which passed my tests with flying colours. Oddly enough they had obtained it at the precise time I had been looking for it, and there were symbols arising in both our work that were evidently convergent. In 1984 they passed the Journal on to me and I became - by default - spokesman and archivist of the developing EQ tradition.

That's obviously a fairly breathless sketch of about 35 years magical work, all I'd add to it is that the 'breaks' I received and the status thrust upon me in consequence were and are a continual surprise to me.

> Studying Liber Al is probably the principal activity of a Thelemite.  In order to understand the Book of the Law, what occult sciences are essential to exploring the text?

That's a hard question, as there is a lot of background material that is important in it's way but also dispensable in the final analysis. Subjectively speaking, doing practical magic, obtaining some success at introspective work via meditation and use of the magical record, and taking note of the passages of AL that impact on your consciousness over time provides the core of an initiatory relationship with AL and the other Holy Books of Thelema. Use of English gematria to elucidate those passages that gain significance in your work and thus building up your own patterns of association is obviously appropriate to deepen this relationship.

>For readers new to your work, what are the principal developments that have driven your magick?

Well I owe a great deal both to Jim Lees and Trevor Langford, as I'd recognised how little the Revival had explored the traditional idea of astrological timing, but these guys had put it on a sound footing with
original research. That English Qaballa goes hand in hand with a species of astrological magick is a 'double whammy' for me, as the two ideas are both full of potential to take modern magick much further than simply maintaining the Golden Dawn or Crowleyan models unchanged.

> Thelema has its own Zodiac with a mobeius structure that the Emperor and The Star switch places on the cosmic circle.  What kind of effect does this have on astrological magick and sidereal astrology?

My skills as an Astrologer aren't particularly special and great skill isn't really required to incorporate Timing into Magick - though it is good to have access to specialists of course! The main factor in timing of rituals are planetary conjunctions with each other or Sun and Moon, and this mobeius switch doesn't have any effect on that. To be honest I think the switch is over-emphasised, there are many equally enigmatic phrases throughout the Book of the Law. Our 'rational' culture doesn't prepare us for the magical reality that such enigmas are multi-layered, having many possible interpretations, some of which may be intensely personal. Also the interchange in conventional terms is essentially only a reordering of the Tarot pack. Appearances aside Tarot was never a major part of magick before the 19th Century and can be approached in a variety of mutually exclusive and equally appropriate ways!

> What is some research that has really caught your eye over the last few years?

One of the most laudable and important projects around is undoubtedly Joseph Peterson's work with the Grimoires on the Twilit Grotto site and CD. It would be hard to praise this work highly enough, there is simply nothing comparable. Also notable is Leo Gillis's work on Trigrammaton, which is another approach to the notion of an English Qaballa, very elegant and groundbreaking.

>Do you have any honorable mentions for original publications?

'Vodou Visions' by Sally Ann Glassman, whose work with Voodoo is both respectful and very well informed, as well as backed up by experience and initiation. The book only gives a sample of how far she has gone, but is noteworthy as an access point to an area I feel Western occultists could learn a great deal from. Also 'The Key of it All' by David Alan Hulse, taking modern 'Western' Qabalah into new areas - though possibly still placing rather too much emphasis on the Hebrew model. As a balance to that we have Kieren Barry's excellent work on Greek Qabalah, which in my opinion - and that of many serious historians - provided the basis for much produced by the Hebrew schools.

Hyatt and Black's two manuals 'Urban Voodoo' and 'Pacts with the Devil', though more ephemeral in some respects, nevertheless deserve an honourable mention.

> What are some differences between American and the UK Thelemite culture?

Well, understand that I am generalising for the sake of brevity. In the Seventies and early Eighties English Thelema had an experimental and non-hierarchical approach that was not nearly so influenced by the OTO as events in the USA, owing rather more to Regardie's publication of the A.'.A.'. curriculum and Oaths, and to original research and experiment. Sadly I think this has given way to the more retrospective American model with it's emphasis on the Gnostic Mass and Irregular Freemasonry rather than Magical practice.

> In twenty years from now, what do you see for Thelemites that don't exist now?  Profess houses? Tory's finding their Holy Guardian Angel? Greater multimedia access to Thelemic ideas?

Well Crowley was a Tory of course ;-) I'm sure multimedia and other I.T. developments will continue to facilitate magical endeavours, somewhat inevitably. What I'd hope for though is that Thelemites will extend the legacy of Crowley by intelligent syncretism and - particularly - the composition of rituals of their own. There are many indicators in the Crowleyan corpus of ways to compose rites compatible with what already exists as Thelemic Magick, and it is important that we escape the cult of Crowley sufficiently to recognise new work and compose new masterpieces.

> What are skills Thelemites could start to learn right now to make a greater contribution to the Thelemic community?

Well cooking is certainly a key area for the establishment of Thelemic Feasts!

In order to extend the Thelemic synthesis and bring Magick properly into the modern age we need to learn from Living Traditions, particularly in my view the African Traditional Religions. While Thelemites restrict their efforts at spirit communication to bullying spirits with knives and names of Jehovah they are manifestly failing to 'Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty' or to purge 'the rituals of the old time'. So again, while I expect I.T. and other modern developments to play a major role in what Thelemites and other Western occultists are up to, if Magick is to really progress it requires a new Liturgical methodology.

>Lets talk about women.  What is in the Old Aeon religions that keeps appealing to women?  What could Thelemites improve to change this?

So far as this writer is concerned, Thelema really needs to address this point. What appeals to women in other religions - and not all are 'Old Aeon' by any means - is the richness of fabric and the diversity of approach offered by many of them. Without categorising or departmentalising the abilities of the sexes overmuch there is some truth in the idea that women have innate ritual skills that men have to strive for, whether it be embellishing the temple or getting the feel for the spirit of the occasion. So for instance the contradiction in using Old Testament phrases when applying gematria to the Book of the Law is often more apparent to women, as is the ugliness of traditional Western approaches to working with spirits - where the African Traditional Religions genuinely offer something less Old Aeon than old style Solomonic or Masonic ritual. So again, to 'Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty' underlines an area where women have a considerable contribution to make, if the men could let go of their attachment to outworn forms.

> Is Thelema dogmatic?

In essence, probably not, in practice, unfortunately all too often. A motto we could do well to enshrine at the heart of Thelemic practice is *There are no rules, only traditions*. Inflexibility about tradition and to Crowleyan writings in particular is something male scholars have unthinkingly imposed on modern Thelema - for instance in over-valuing the Crowley redaction of the 'Goetia of Solomon the King' simply because it has Crowley's name on it, while it is actually a very imperfect text.

> Where can people find out more about your goings on?

The website of the Gnostic Alchemical Church of Typhon-Christ is the principal and most accessible resource, also the EQ-list and it's archive. In print there is 'The Equinox - British Journal of Thelema', Volume VII (numbers 1 to 8 so far), and 'The Book of the Law and it's Qaballa'. Otherwise anyone can readily enough put yours truly's name through a search engine and peruse my rantings all over the place!

> Any final comments you would like to add?

Well, to summarise my perspective isn't too difficult: Thelema has the potential to lift modern Magick to the status of a Living Tradition rather than a fledgling century old revival. To do this it needs to take cues from where Crowley and the other early revivalists left off, and to explore areas they neglected, thus extending the synthesis rather than enshrining it's past achievements. Of Key importance in this is the double current offered by English Qaballa: to make the Thelemic Holy Books rather than the Old Testament the heart of modern Qaballistic exegesis, and to understand that Astrological Timing is a key aspect of the Worship of Nu under the starlit heaven. In one phrase, that has been purposefully sprinkled throughout this interview: Let the rituals be rightly performed with joy & beauty!

>  Thanks so much for your time Jake! 

Find out more about the happenings of the Gnostic Alchemical Church of Typhon-Christ here

interview : paul : webmaster lashtal.com

today on rune logix i'm pleased to present an interview with Paul from lashtal.com.  since 1999, lasthal.com has been the premiere Thelemic community portal on the net.  lasthal.com is a success story of technology enabling the free exchange of information, a friendly user community, and one of the best resources for learning about Aleister Crowley and Thelema on the internet.

one of the most exciting things for me to learn that this is just the start of lashtal.com's incarnation, with new features, and resources being made available to the scholar and beginner alike.

on behalf of the Thelemic community of rune logix, i would like to extend my thanks to Paul and Ian for the  dedication and sacrifice it takes to persevere with this act of love.  love is the law,  love under will.

without further introduction, the interview:

> Tell me about the history of LAShTAL.com, how did it come into being?

I've been involved in what could loosely be described as online Thelema since before the Internet became widely available, going back to the old days of Bulletin Boards when a 1200 baud modem linked to a Commodore Amiga was as much as anyone would ever need. LAShTAL.COM has had many online incarnations, becoming recognizably the site it is now around 1999.

> LAShTAL.com, Thelema Coast to Coast, and Thelemapedia, are recent examples of  a new generation of tools for the Thelemic community on the whole to communicate and discuss topics in a sophisticated and easy to use format.  What do you think about the broad implications of so many people hearing about Aleister Crowley and the Law of Thelema?

I'd like to think that we can expect a decreasing obsession with "the demon Crowley" and the quite ridiculous view in the media that Thelema, "black magic" and "Satanism" are synonyms. My personal hope, also, is that Crowley's legacy will be reassessed and that his positive contributions to spirituality and mysticism, art, chess, mountaineering, poetry, philosophy, comparative religion and all the rest will be acknowledged. I intend that LAShTAL.COM, as "the Home of the Aleister Crowley Society" will continue to serve...

> What are some of the issues that come up on a regular basis with running an online community?

Thelema is probably unique among religions - or belief systems whose aims are essentially coterminous with religion - in that its devotees and enthusiasts are able to latch onto one of its two major tenets and use it as self-justification for every foible and foolishness. On occasion, LAShTAL.COM welcomes a new member claiming extraordinary levels of initiation who then proceeds to lecture and harangue existing members, occasionally in terms that many would consider brutish, arrogant and libelous. When advised to "tone it down" the new member asserts his "Liber Oz" rights, complains that no true Thelemite ought to censure or censor and retires hurt to lick his wounds. I don't think this experience is unique to LAShTAL.COM, by the way, or even to Thelema,

> What are some technical skills needed to accomplish this?

The static site development tools - in my case NetObjects Fusion, then FrontPage, then Dreamweaver - only allowed me to go so far, being so laborious to update that they never allowed real interactivity or spontaneity. I then discovered the world of Content Management Systems and have used Postnuke ever since. In my humble opinion, it's a wonderful tool. A volunteer with significant technical skills in respect of PHP and MySQL has since taken over the techie side from me, which has allowed me far more time to focus on the content.

> What has been your most rewarding experience with LAShTAL.com?

Absolutely and without doubt the friends and acquaintances I've made through the site who have confirmed my belief that your average Thelemite and Crowley student is intelligent, generous and witty.

> Most challenging?

The reinforcement that fundamentalists and obsessives exist in all arenas...      

> One of the best features of LAShTAL.com, in my opinion, is the Thelemic time server.  now there is a central website that can list the Thelemic calendar on any website.  thats awesome, what inspired this?

We know that Crowley and others recognized the importance of the Thelemic date but to use it frequently and consistently really does require a computer. Ian Rons, my technical administrator, needed the tool for LAShTAL.COM so he developed it: making it freely available to the wider Thelemic community seemed an obvious next step.

> Will the future bring more features to LAShTAL.com, and if so, what the devil are they!

Lots of plans! Next up will be a truly collaborative Thelemic bibliography, which I'm very excited about and which enters beta testing phase today. Then we'll be looking at using LAShTAL.COM to host serious research essays and cultural submissions for peer review. Meanwhile, I continue to work on the media articles archive. After that? You wouldn't believe me if I told you!

> What were some of the best qualities of Thelemic sites that are no longer active, like Beast Bay, and others?

They paved the path, as it were, and created a real sense of community. I suspect some lacked the discipline and commitment to grow. Others, like crowleyana.com and the Austin Osman Spare email list, enthusiastically passed the torch on to LAShTAL.COM.

> Do you see more Thelemic blogs, podcasts, videopods, voipods, and networking services coming in the future?

Definitely - and it's just possible that LAShTAL.COM will join the sport in some of those areas!      

> What is an online service that would be most helpful to Thelemites that does not exist today?

Interesting question... What Thelema needs most now is the thing it's least likely to get: a complete archive of Crowley's written and artistic work. All the stuff: published and unpublished. All the letters, all the diaries - the full texts of all the works, supplemented by constructive annotations. Because, as Crowley wrote in his role as the reincarnated Ankh-f-n-Khonsu: "All questions of the Law are to be decided only by appeal to my writings, each for himself."

> Now for a serious question: would Aleister Crowley use a Mac or PC?

A PC. Crowley was, at heart, a very conservative man.

> Whats on your reading list?

The McMurtry biography in the latest two Red Flames; a couple of standard works on Egyptian hieroglyphics; and, my third re-read of Norman Mailer's wonderful "Ancient Evenings".

> Final comments you would like to share?

Perhaps I could be forgiven for providing a couple of my favourite quotations:

"Mankind can live free in a society hemmed in by laws, but we have yet to find a historical example of mankind living free in lawless anarchy." (Stephen Fry)

"All words are sacred and all prophets true; save only that they understand a little... Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains." (Liber AL)

rune logix : interview : jacob rabinowitz

author of The Rotting Goddess, Jacob Rabinowitz, has given rune logix the honor of an interview about his happenings.  if you are unfamiliar with that work, The Rotting Goddess explores the history of witchcraft in antiquity and is hard to put down once begun.   i highly recommend you find a copy at Autonomedia. 

in the interview, Jacob has insightful reasoning into why America is so conservative and why the education and in particular the university system is failing.

Jacob runs www.invisiblebooks.com with a bold vision of online luminares on the web. he shares his vision for Invisible Books as part of a bold plan for a secret society: world domination.   i highly encourage visitors with intelligence to follow one of the suggestions listed below to craft your spiritual refinements, helping advance the world wide conspiracy to unite allah in hecates embrace.  this interview is about more than just the platonic, its a sonic libation to the goddess.

and Jake, to answer your question, fugedaboutit!

> Is my hunch you're a New Yorker correct?

Yes. What gave me away?

> What can we expect from Invisible Books this year?

We're now publishing a book of short stories and a book of drawings by Jim Cheff. His writing is first rate magic realism, like Borges or Tournier, but informed by an SF sensibility. It's magic realism of a modern, American sort, not the usual bric-a-brac dreamscape of Europe's intellectual attic. The artwork is a little harder to characterize. I could compare it to the adventures of Tintin if the plot had been written by Philip K. Dick.

 

Also I hope to bring out the first volume of my Arabian Nights edition (which will have all the Greek and Latin and archaic English glossed), an edition of the Priapus Poetry which I have co-translated with Peter Lamborn Wilson, and a few other oddities.

 

Just as important as the book publishing  is the artwork. At present we are showing the work of the assemblage artist Meryl Gross on the website. She's in sort of the Cornell-Duchamp-Fluxus end of the spectrum.

> Can you describe what interest led you to writing The Rotting Goddess?

I thought that understanding the phenomenon of Witchcraft in depth would help me talk to girls.

> what role does hecate play in your life?

That's a complicated one to answer adequately. First, because I'm not really sure what deities are. One could always fall back on the neo-platonic dodge and call them aspects of the One Reality, but they don't seem to act with the consistency that would entail. A neopagan friend of mine, Penny Novack, has speculated that what we experience as the gods are a complex echo of the energies we direct towards the spirit realm, and that seems to me closer to the truth. But still, the interaction with the gods is not that mechanical or predictable. It is, in my experience, beyond the simply complex.

 

In short, I don't think we have any really firm grasp of what the gods are. And as for learning more, I think we are at a serious disadvantage being on this side of contingent existence, peering out through our five senses and trying to figure it out. Even the utterances of Mohammad, St. Paul or Isaiah must be viewed as researchers' monographs. 

 

A good scientist's sense of modesty about our knowlege of the spirit would be very wholesome.

 

So, to Hekate. I have found that possession of an authoritative knowlege of the goddess did enable me to interact with her spiritually to some extent. But it was always a somewhat one-sided relationship. The gods of defunct pantheons don't seem able to respond actively. They are, as it were, ghosts of gods. I had exactly the same difficulty with Osiris, despite having been to the trouble of learning Egyptian. The invocations and spells work, but there's no sense of communion or presence of deity. To use a commonplace metaphor, the car still goes, but only so long as you push it.

 

But I am very drawn to gods of the Hekate type: liminal deities whose purview is language, translation, communication, coveyance and so on. Deities like Janus, Hermes and Legba. For a number of years I have been particularly devoted to Ganesh, a deity of exactly this order. Given the kind of work I do, a relationship with such a deity is indispensible. The choice of Ganesh was easy: there are many large Hindu communities in the area where I live. Ganesh is here and accessible for me as other deities are not. If I lived in Brooklyn, I don't doubt that Legba would occupy this position.

> What are some favorite titles from Autonomedia?

The ones I wrote.

> Are you working on any more books?

Oh well, uh, yes. Always actually. I don't really get out enough.

 

But you'd probably like a serious answer. I'm making, and translating, an anthology of Yiddish supernatural literature. Also I'm learning Chinese so I can translate the so-called shamanic poetry of Chu Yuan.

> I think you mentioned in one of your writings on the Invisible Books website [please correct me if I'm wrong] about a generation of what I'm calling outsider academia.  Does this sound like the right term to describe radical professors and researchers not able to live in the umbrella of the American university system?  Why do you think this is the case?

Outsider academia? I don't recall using exactly that phrase, but it serves as well as any I have used. There are a couple of things keeping us out of work. The primary one is just demographic: there was a huge dip in the population arc after the baby boom, and so a generation or two got their doctorates and entered a world with a dwindling college population. The next wave of population is in middle and high school now. Academe is by nature conservative, which is to say sheeplike, and only hires daring thinkers out of necessity. In a bear hiring market, only the dullest tools will be hired.

But this is all rather irrelevant, since academe, and the world of publishing, no longer have any power to call the shots. Anyone who does valuable work can post in on the net in a pdf, and then it's out there, a click away. No stodgy mediocrity from a scholarly journal can slam the door on merit now. Anyone can see for themselves what a new scholar has to say.

 

My hope, and indeed my expectation, is that in short order we shall see a counter-academy arise over the net. The real explorers of the interior world, of the mind, of the past, will have their own conversation on the net. And Invisible Books is going to try and be the host of that teaparty of darkness!

> Multiple Choice Question Dick Cheney's aim: 1) karma 2) divine providence 3) heart palpitation 4) diet high in sodium 5) he was aiming for his wife

I'm not really sure who Dick Cheney is. Was he the guy who had the dance show on TV back in the 60's?

> Whats on your reading list?

As you may have gathered, I'm only interested in old news. Salih Muslim, a collection of hadith, that is, utterances traditionally attributed to the Prophet (upon whom peace) is a constant source of inspiration these days. I have finally got around to pushing through a set of the Mishna I bought years ago. And the Young Adult novels of Leander Watts -- most recently Beautiful City of the Dead, and Ten Thousand Charms, will amply repay an attentive reading to anyone who appreciates fine English. Watts stands in relation to Harry Potter and Lemony Snicket as the Sex Pistols do to Green Day.   

> Whats the most inspiring thing you've heard or seen lately?

My wife's labia.

>Where would you be found: the New York Philharmonic or Museum of Natural History?

Tough choice there: they're both museums of fossils.

>Hakim Bey.  Interesting character.  How would you describe the work of the mysterious Moor?

It is difficult for me to be objective about him, since he was my tutor for several years during my minority. He continues to embody for me the ideal of the modern educated gentleman: one imbued with the noblest culture of all times and lands. You would have to look to Hesse's Glass Bead Game or Pound's canto's to get an idea of the beautiful syntheses of which are the major export of his casual musings.

> Burning Man or bust?  Whats your take on the Burner phenomena?

I really only know it by hearsay, so I'll spare you my uninformed opinion.

> What advice, if any, would you recommend to the underground culture of the 21st century?

Nothing beats a thorough grounding in a classical language. Part of the price of our cars, computers, and the rest of the Faustian technology was a loss of all traditional culture. The finest antidote is a classical language. By classical I mean a language which has had a three thousand year continuous literary record. There are only four of these in the world: Egyptian, Hebrew, Chinese and Sanskrit. Get yourself one of these, and you can play the Great Game. And there'll always be a cold gin and tonic waiting for you when you call at the lofty offices of Invisible Books.

> Is there anything you would like to mention to rune logix visitors?

Invisible Books, www.invisiblebooks.com, is actively interested in considering new manuscripts in the areas of philosophy, mythology, and underground literature. Check out our site. If we're printing the kind of thing you'd like to read, you should probably consider sending us your manuscript.

And, oh yes — buy our books, you bastards.

q and a : cadeceus books : ben fernee

one of the most impressive array of rare occult books i've ever found is at www.caduceusbooks.com you will be amazed at all the stuff you will find in there, putting the reading list of rune logix pale in comparison.    ben fernee, proprietor of cadeceus books has graciously agreed to a q and a session to give you an idea of the inner workings behind one of the best distributors of rare books around.

>> Caduceus Books is probably the worlds largest distributor of rare occult books: how have you gotten to the point you're at today?

I am certain that I am not the largest, but I was smaller than I am now.
I started sixteen years ago in a model railway signal box. This is
actually and literally true. I had shared a space in a craft centre with
Jane who sold incenses and artwork. Previously the craft centre had been
a model railway exhibition centre and they retained the signal box where
from where an operator controlled the trains, that was my office where I
kept the scarcer books.

Now the main way I work is by issuing email lists. These go out to about
2000 people, I tend to advertise items by email first, then, if they do
not sell, put them on the website.

>> How long has this been an interest you have been pursuing?

I became interested in occultism when I was about 18

>> What are some unusual requests your clients have made in the past?

A copy of the first edition of the Book of Thoth bound in human skin was
one. It is not unusual to be asked for books that people have dreamed of
and they are unsure of the title - but that is fair enough I think.


>> You primarily operate out of the UK, do you get many orders from the rest of Europe? Which countries in particular?