Enochian Vision Magick: An Introduction and Practical Guide to the Magick of Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley, by Lon Milo DuQuette
Weiser Books, 9781578633821, 261 pp. (incl. appendices, notes, bibliography and index), 2008

Lon Milo DuQUette is the author of more than a dozen books on esoteric subjects, and has served as the OTO’s United States Deputy Grand Master since 1994 This is his second book on Enochian magick, his first being Enochian World of Aleister Crowley: Enochian Sex Magick co-written with the late Christopher Hyatt.

Enochian Vision Magick opens with Continue reading »

I first came across Siva Vaidhyanathan‘s excellent and wonderfully lucid book, The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash Between Freedom and Control Is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System, via Wes Unruh‘s recommendation on Alterati.com.

It looks at the way we interact with information with a focus on ownership and distribution, arguing that the way we structure this can be boiled down into two essential forms: anarchistic and oligarchic systems.

Vaidhyanathan avoids cartoonish portrayals of anarchy, sticking largely to anarchy’s core definition: the absence of recognized authority, rules imposed or enforced.  Oligarchic forms use the rule of the few, the elite who decide how and where information is distributed, if at all.  They set the the rules, and they hold all the cards. Continue reading »

Practicing Conscious Living and Dying: Stories of the Eternal Continuum of Consciousness, by Annamaria Hemingway

O Books, 9781846940774, 218 pp. (incl. bibliography and works cited), 2008

The book opens with an introduction to near death experiences, or NDEs, offering an overview of what happens, then follows with several stories recounted by individuals who’ve died and “come back”, naturally with a sense of greater purpose and an increased zest for life. Continue reading »