Ashley Naftule is a used bookseller by day and a playwright by night. He doesn’t currently maintain a proper blog, but he can be reached via Facebook and Twitter.

To be honest, I’ve dodged a serious bullet with Datura. When its editor, Ruby Sara, put out a call for submissions on Scarlet Imprints last year, I almost submitted a handful of poems for inclusion. The thought of an anthology of occult-themed poetic work and essays on the mystical aspects of the creative process struck quite a nerve with me, and I was eager to contribute. Luckily a combination of a busy life at the time and a creative dry spell prevented me from sending Sara anything by the deadline, and after reading through Datura, I’m deeply thankful that the few pieces I was able to conjure up never got sent her way. For even if they were accepted and published in the pages of Datura, the quality of the content is so high my work would have looked like utter shit next to everything else between its covers.

Datura contains the work of 26 poets, that work being a mix of 6 essays and 47 poems. When I picked up Datura, I was really eager to read the essays. Scarlet Imprint has published three other anthologies in the past – Howlings, Devoted, and Diabolical -  and their occult essays were absolutely stellar. While I do love poetry, and have a deep fondness for the Pagan and fortean realms, I’ve read enough awful odes to Odin and tree-spirits (and composed quite a few myself, to be fair) that the thought of a book devoted to such poetry might be a risky gamble. I figured that six good essays could make up for some lousy astral-poetics. Thankfully while the essay-work is every bit as good as I hoped it would be, the poetry in Datura manages to keep its nimble-feet from stepping into the bear-trap of twee Pagan cliches. Continue reading »

Upon checking my postbox yesterday I found a package from Disinformation.com containing their 2008 and 2009 catalogues, and Hidden Wisdom: The Secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition, by Tim Wallace-Murphy.

I don’t normally post about all the neat stuff I receive from publishers, but this is the first time I’ve received anything from Disinformation, and this one sounds kind of neat.

From the description found on the website for Hidden Wisdom (which, not-so-coincidentally, is the same text found on the back of the book):

From Egyptian mythology to Jewish mysticism, Rome and Greece to the druids and the gnostics, Tim Wallace-Murphy exposes a fascinating lineage of hidden mysteries and secret societies, continuing through the Templars, Rosicrucians, and Freemasons to our modern visionaries. This hidden stream of spirituality and that of sacred knowledge are inseparably entwined to form the single most important continuous strand in the entire Western esoteric tradition.

This tradition exerted a seminal influence on the thinking of the builders of the great cathedrals; leading teachers in ecclesiastical schools; philosophers; playwrights; poets such as Shakespeare, Goethe, Blake, and W. B. Yeats; and on artists and Renaissance giants such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. It is also the root from which sprang alchemy and modern science.

Now, as more people are looking to find information on the alternatives to dominant religions and dogmas that have told us what to think and how to behave, as faith has been questioned by religious scandals, economic meltdowns, and an increasingly sick planet Earth, Wallace-Murphy reveals the secrets of the masters, including invaluable spiritual insights into everyday life that have been hidden throughout the ages. He shows us who kept this spiritual tradition alive despite appalling persecution, so that we in the twenty-first century might benefit from its accumulated fruits and ennoble our lives.

It’s been a good long while since I last read this sort of book. Sounds like fun.

Disinfo has a lot of neat stuff in their catalogue, I look forward to pursuing more of their stuff. Is there anything you’d like to see reviewed?

Full 2009 catalogue available here.

My review of Aleister Crowley: A Modern Master, by John Moore is now up on SpiralNature.com, you can read it by clicking this link.

I was really excited when I got the book. It was published by Mandrake of Oxford, who’ve put out many excellent books over the past decade, but unfortunately this wasn’t one of them. I really wanted to like this book, read the review for an analysis of why it didn’t end up happening.

In other, closely related news, Weiser Antiquarian has announced that they have three new Crowley titles available for sale, all signed by the author.

They are as follows: The Magickal Essence of Aleister Crowley, by J. Edward Cornelius; Aleister Crowley and the Aeon of Horus, by Paul Weston; and The Wickedest Books in the World: Confessions of an Aleister Crowley Bibliophile, by Blair MacKenzie Blake. Each sounds interesting in their own way, particularly Cornelius’, which contains reworked material originally published in the Red Flame.

So many new being published about Crowley lately. A new trend?

The Occult Reliquary will be released in March 2010 by Three Hands Press.

Introduced by Graham King, the book largely consists of more than 200 illustrations, 80 of which will be in full colour.

The images are selected from from the Richel-Eldermans Collection, an occult archive of some 2,000 images and artifacts housed in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall. For a sample, check out the images available for viewing on the website.

From the book’s description on Three Hands Press:

Situated at the crossroads of erotic magic, ceremonial angelic conjuration, and witchcraft, the images comprise, in part, a pictorial cipher of the rituals of Ars Amatoria, a European magical order using sex magic, and the lesser-known M∴M∴, based in the Hague and Leiden. Also referenced among the collection are materials relating to A∴A∴ of Aliester Crowley. [sic]

The transfixing procession of images, charms, magical seals, and ritual objects in the Collection is the work of multiple artists, and displays a high degree of magical insight and creativity. It will be of interest to students of witchcraft, Freemasonry, the Goetia, sex magic, and early twentieth century occultism.

Three editions will be available, a special edition (already sold out), a deluxe edition (£130, 220$US) and a standard edition (£65, 110$US). All editions are limited.

See Three Hands Press for more.

Book’s cover image taken from the notice of publication found in the Museum’s blog, the Museum of Witchcraft Diary.

Bought Crowley books that is.

An order came in today bearing a few of the books that are still in print that I didn’t already have. Including: Diary of a Drug Fiend (pictured right), White Stains, and the Sutin biography, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley.

From the out of print market I also picked up The Revival of Magick and Other Essays (Oriflamme).

It’s great to see that Moonchild is in print again, even if it is a limited edition (I’ve already pre-ordered a copy), but with so many titles going out of print, I feel like I have to rush to fill the gaps in my library while I still can.

Whatever polarization there is amongst readers of Crowley, we’re not “beyond the books” (there is no such thing). This OOP situation needs to be rectified. I still can’t find a decently priced copy of Confessions.

Also, thanks to Joseph Thiebes who, on ahrfoundation.org’s Facebook page, let us know that Buying Crowley Books isn’t just a Facebook group and a Twitter account – it’s also a blog! Complete with an “Anti-Boycott” manifesto.

Final point, unrelated to Crowley (for now), but still on a bookish theme: the Esoteric Book Club is up and running. Check in and let us know where you’re at.