EDGE
OF THE CIRCLE BOOKS
IS
PROUD TO PRESENT
THE FOLLOWING
NEW TITLES:
TOUCH ME
NOT
Edited
by Hereward Tilton and Merlin Cox
Standard
Edition, Hardback, – 160 pages – Fulgur Ltd.
A
full-colour facsimile of an infamous Austrian manuscript compendium
of the black magical arts, completed c.1795.
Unique and otherworldly,
it evokes a realm of visceral, dark magic. A star of social media, it
is published here for the first time.
List Price:
$69.95
FROM THE
PUBLISHER:
Touch Me
Not is an Austrian manuscript compendium of the black magical arts,
completed c.1795. Unique and otherworldly, it evokes a realm of
visceral dark magic. As the co-editor Hereward Tilton notes, the
manuscript ‘appears at first sight to be a ‘grimoire’ or
magician’s manual intended for noviciates of black magic.
Psychedelic drug use, animal sacrifice, sigillary body art,
masturbation fantasy and the necromantic manipulation of
gallows-corpses count among the transgressive procedures it depicts.
With their aid hidden treasures are wrested from guardian spirits,
and the black magician’s highest ambition – an infernal
transfiguration and union with the Devil – can be fulfilled.’
Hidden for
decades within the Wellcome Library collection, Touch Me Not is
published here as a full colour facsimile for the first time. We have
commissioned a translation of the German and Latin texts from
Hereward Tilton and Merlin Cox, scholars who have explored the
sources for the various elements and provided copious references.
There is also an introduction from Hereward that lays out the context
for this extraordinary survival. Contents include:
– On
coagulation. Narcosis.
– Compendium
of the operation.
– Names
of the evil spirits to be conjured.
– On the
pact in nigromancy between the Devil and man.
– On
black magic in general.
– On the
cacomagical mirror.
– He who
has ears [to hear], let him hear.
“Beyond
its purely historical value, there is much in this curious manuscript
to entice and inspire the contemporary practitioner of magic. No
doubt each reader will find an intriguing reflection of their
experiences or interests therein; I discovered my own among its list
of psychoactive fumigants, which includes an entry testifying to the
magical employment of an indigenous European source of the
hallucinogenic compound dimethyltryptamine (DMT) – the rhizome of
the ubiquitous common reed (Phragmites australis). Following the
advice of Herpentil, I made my way to a remote cave, reed rhizome and
Syrian rue potions in hand, to explore the infernal realms and
contemplate the distinction between white and black magic. This seems
to be as fine as a spider’s silk, as our manuscript
asserts.”~Hereward Tilton
THE
NINTH ARCH
by
Kenneth Grant
Standard
edition, bound in black cloth and priced at $69.95.
Starfire
Publishing.
The
Ninth Arch is the final volume of the Typhonian Trilogies. It
comprises an extended analysis of and commentary upon Liber OKBISh,
The Book of the Spider, a transmitted text which was received in the
course of the Workings of New Isis Lodge in the 1950s. Grant’s
novella Against the Light (Starfire Publishing, London; 1997, 2016)
casts some of the themes of Liber OKBISh into fictional form. A brief
account of the background to Liber OKBISh can be found here.
New
Isis Lodge was the final name given to a magical group developed by
Kenneth and Steffi Grant over several years in the late 1940s and
early 1950s. The main body of work by New Isis Lodge extended over
the years 1955 to 1962, and it was on the basis of his experiences
within this Lodge that Grant was later to publish his monumental
series of nine volumes which has come to be known collectively as the
Typhonian Trilogies. Including several O.T.O. members from Crowley’s
day, an insight into some of their methods is given in Hecate’s
Fountain (Skoob Books Publishing, London, 1992; Starfire Publishing,
London, 2014). Another transmitted text, the Wisdom of S’lba,
together with several chapters of commentary amd analysis, is
published in Outer Gateways (Skoob Books Publishing, London, 1994;
Starfire Publishing, London, 2015).
From
the author's account on the inside flaps of the dustjacket for the
first edition of this book:
The
Ninth Arch, comprising the Book of the Spider (OKBISh), is the final
volume of a series of Trilogies which trace the emergence into
historic times of an ancient body of occult doctrine known as the
Typhonian Tradition.
In
order fully to understand its purpose and content, The Ninth Arch
should be scanned against the background of the larger canvas on
which it is painted. Such an approach will facilitate insight into
the Oracles of OKBISh and their accompanying comments. As an
additional aid to focussing salient features of the Tradition, the
author's Nightside Narrative, Against the Light (Starfire
Publishing, 2016), should serve as a helpful and explanatory
‘footnote’ to the circumstances existing at the time OKBISh was
‘received’.
The
Oracles were communicated audibly, and occasionally visually, to
various members of New Isis Lodge (1955-62) and at certain stages of
magical ritual. The Current which generated the material began,
sporadically, as early as 1939, with the initial movement of a
transmission which developed over the years into the text known as
the Wisdom of S’lba (see Outer Gateways, Starfire Publishing,
2015). In 1945, the Wisdom – then in its nascent stage – was
recognized by Aleister Crowley as an authentic communication. From
that time, the Informing Intelligence went on to complete the Wisdom,
and proceeded to produce the massive series of Oracles presented in
The Ninth Arch. The mode of reception has been described in the
Introduction. The method of documentation confirms beyond cavil the
validity of serial qabalah, as used previously in analyses of the
Wisdom.
The
richly complex pattern of magical correspondences, in both cases, has
proved of unparalleled value in determining genuine contact with
occult forces possessed of Knowledge and Prescience concerning
important terrestrial Events. That the pattern reflects direct
contact with an indefinitely ancient yet ever new Typhonian Gnosis,
is demonstrated by the application of relentless and rigorous
qabalistic exegesis, as recorded in the comments.
For
readers interested in significant relationships between Numerical
(physical) and Magico-Mystical (metaphysical) concepts, The Ninth
Arch contains an exhaustive thesaurus of the Typhonian Tradition. But
beyond considerations of gematria, the Oracles of OKBISh adumbrate
Events likely to overtake planet Earth within the lifetime of many of
the book's readers; and – for individuals who are able to interpret
the Oracles in terms relative to their own magical universe – they
issue warnings of the dangers that lie ahead of those unprepared to
invoke the Sign of Protection against the oncoming wave of Outer
Forces set to assume control of the planet. Now, at the turn of a
millenium, it seems appropriate to release this Knowledge.
The
book is republished in a fresh typesetting, incorporating corrections
made by the author in his own copy of the book. Artwork has been
rephotographed where possible, and presented in colour where
appropriate. Six of these plates are new for this edition, and are
taken from an illuminated calligraphic manuscript of The Book of the
Law executed in pen, ink and watercolour by Steffi Grant in the mid
1940s.
VENEFICIUM
Second
and Revised Edition
by
Daniel Schulke, Art by Benjamin Vierling
(Three
Hands Press)
Trade
Paperback: $24.95, 192 pages with 4 page color insert, limited to
2,200 copies.
Standard
Hardcover: $52.00, 192 pages with 4 page color insert, and dust
jacket, limited to 750 copies.
First
published in late Summer 2012, Schulke's book on esoteric toxicology
Veneficium was an instant success, selling out in six months. Its
principal concern is the intersection of magic and poison,
originating in remotest antiquity and reaching into the occult
traditions of present day. Beyond their functions as agents of bodily
harm, poisons have also served as gateways of religious ecstasy,
occult knowledge, and sensorial aberration, as well as the basis of
cures. Allied with Samael, the Edenic serpent of first transgression
whose name in some interpretations is ‘Venom of God’, this facet
of magic wends through the rites of ancient Sumer and Egypt, through
European Necromancy, Alchemy, the arcane the rites of the Witches’
Sabbath, and modern-day folk magic.
The second
edition of Veneficium is now properly contextualized within a trilogy
of forthcoming books entitled Triangulum Lamiarum (‘Triangle of the
Witches’), each of which concerns a specific ontological aspect of
witchcraft. Veneficium, of course, treats the occult parameters of
poison, toxins, and venom, and their presence in witchcraft and
allied magical arts.
Newly
released, the second edition of Veneficium contains the first edition
in its entirety, but there are some notable expansions and
evolutions:
—a new
typographic design for the entire book, to be used for the whole of
the trilogy
—slight
expansions of certain chapters
—one
additional chapter
—additional
images
—a new
title page illustration by artist Benjamin A. Vierling, as well as
two new ornaments by the same
—correction
of typographic errors from the first edition, as well as footnote
enumerations
—index
—an
acknowledgments section.
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