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IN
THE CENTER OF THE FIRE:
A MEMOIR OF THE OCCULT
1966-1989
By
James Wasserman
Hardcover:
336 pages
Publisher:
Ibis Press (June 15, 2012)
List
Price: $35.00
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
In this daring
exposé by a survivor of a unique era in the New York occult scene,
James Wasserman, a longtime proponent of the teachings of Aleister
Crowley, brings us into a world of candlelit temples, burning
incense, and sonorous invocations. The author also shares an intimate
look at the New York Underground of the 1970s and introduces us to
the company of such avant-garde luminaries as Alejandro Jodorowsky,
Harry Smith, and Angus MacLise. A stone's throw away from the Velvet
Underground and Andy Warhol's Factory, William Burroughs' "bunker,"
and the legendary Chelsea Hotel was a scene far more esoteric than
perhaps even they could have imagined.
When James
Wasserman joined the O.T.O. in 1976, there were fewer than a dozen
members. Today the Order numbers over 4,000 members in 50 countries
and has been responsible for a series of ground-breaking publications
of Crowley's works.
The author founded
New York City's TAHUTI Lodge in 1979. He chronicles its early history
and provides a window into the heyday of the Manhattan esoteric
community. He also breaks his decades of silence concerning one of
the most seminal events in the development of the modern Thelemic
movement -- detailing his role in the 1976 magical battle between
Marcelo Motta and Grady McMurtry. Long slandered for his effort to
heal the temporary breach between the Orders of A.'.A.'. and O.T.O.,
James Wasserman sets the record straight. And, he meticulously
chronicles the copyright contest over the Crowley literary estate--of
which he was an important participant.
This is also a
saga with a very human tableau filled with tender romance, passionate
friendships, an abiding spiritual hunger, danger, passion, and
ecstasy. It also explores several hidden magical byways including the
rituals of Voodoo, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism. Finally we are given
a bird's eye view of the 1960s hippie culture and its excesses of sex
and drugs, and rock n roll--along with the personal transformations
and penalties such a lifestyle brought forth.
Reconstructed from
personal memories, magical diaries, multiple interviews, court
transcripts, witness depositions, trial evidence, and extensive
correspondence, this book elucidates a hitherto misreported and
ill-understood nexus of modern magical history. It also shares tales
of a mythical moment in American life as seen through the eyes of an
enthusiastic participant in the hip culture of the day.
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR:
James Wasserman
has been a member of Ordo Templi Orientis since 1976. He has been
described as a "founding father" of the modern O.T.O. and
has played a key role in numerous seminal publications of Aleister
Crowley's literary corpus. He is responsible for the widely
celebrated Chronicle edition of The Book of Going Forth by Day, The
Egyptian Book of the Dead. His numerous writings and editorial
efforts maintain a focus on spirituality, creative mythology, secret
societies, history, religion, and politics. He is a passionate
advocate of individual liberty.
He has appeared in
numerous documentaries on The History Channel, National Geographic,
and The Discovery Channel, addressed the National Press Club on
esoteric symbolism in 2009, and has appeared on many radio broadcasts
and podcasts.
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GRIST
TO WHOSE MILL?
A
NOVEL OF NEMESIS
by
Kenneth Grant
List Price:$49.95
London: Starfire,
2012. Limited Edition of 1000 copies.
A FINE CLOTH COPY
IN DUST JACKET. Full color cover, illustrated endpapers, with a
colored frontispiece. Front panel of the full color dust jacket is a
montage designed by Steffi Grant, as are the custom endpapers. 233
pages. Octavo.
FROM
THE PUBLISHER:
This is the rich
and gripping first novel by Kenneth Grant. Written in late 1952 and
early 1953, the typescript was thought lost for many years. A welcome
addition to Kenneth Grant’s substantial and diverse body of work,
it is now published for the first time as the latest in the novella
series of Nightside Narratives. Subtitled by the author “A Novel
of Nemesis”, the story has a variety of characters who are
clearly anamorphic — and thus distorted — representations of
‘real life’ persons in occult circles of the time. However, as
cautioned in a prefatory note by the author, “All the characters in
this book exist solely in the imagination of the reader”.
It is a few years
after the death of the notorious English occultist, Ruthven Seeley.
Now in charge of the British branch of his magical Order, Seeley’s
erstwhile disciple Marcus Maybourne becomes aware that something
nefarious is gathering momentum. Earthbound, and desperate to resume
human life, Seeley sees his chance of resurrection when learning of
an impending sacrificial Rite. At the moment of the bloody sacrifice,
he will vampirise the released energy and once again become corporeal
. . .
The celebrants of
the Rite each have their individual motivations for taking part.
Fand, the High Priestess of an ancient lineage of Witchcraft, intends
to facilitate the incarnation of a powerful priestess. Geoffrey
Richardson and Sylvanus Carnac, scholars of the arcane, are plotting
the generation a lost Salve which promises extraordinary powers.
Veronica Kinloss is obsessed with taking revenge on Maybourne through
a Blood Link. Unknown to them all, however, there are deeper and
older forces at work . . .
As a series of
troubling events moves to a climax, Marcus recognises that at root,
these malefic events and characters in the drama are fleeting
configurations of the One Consciousness, shadows which arise from the
web of karma. As such they are equally facets of that Consciousness,
and all grist to the mill — but whose mill?
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