It’s a weird world we live in when we learn that squid can fly. It’s true. Photographic evidence here.

Earlier we asked which colour was the least magickal, here’s a link to an article where you can train yourself to see impossible colours. Nifty.

As it’s been a while since I last posted one of these, I have an impressive backlog of links, but we’ll begin gently with the following signal finds:

• Erik Davis was interviewed by Klint Finley for Technoccult. They discuss spirituality and his new book, Nomad Codes.
• Over on Enfolding.org, Phil Hine has scanned and made available essays he wrote for Chaos International, as well as an essay on sigilization for White Dwarf.
• The Eyeless Owl writes about “Spiritism and the Singularity“, discussing the transference of consciousness into machines, and its implications.
• Kalagni on Blue Flame Magick explains “The Secrets of the Summoning Circle“, its history, and why it’s more than just a simple protective barrier.
• On the Llewellyn JournalCaroline Dow offers “10 Tips for Giving Dynamite Tea Leaf Readings“. They’re good tips, and most of them can apply to any kind of divinitory reading, especially tarot.
• And Ryan Valentine gives good book porn in “Spring Devils and Giving Hands“.

Over on our sister site, SpiralNature.com, we have some new reviews:

• The Three Rays of Witchcraft, reviewed by Mike Gleason
• Everyday Sun Magic, reviewed by Ryan Valentine
• Disciple’s Guide to Ritual Magick, reviewed by Mike Gleason
• Sun of gOd, reviewed by Gesigewigu’s
• Where Do Demons Live?, reviewed by me
• Thomas Berry, Dreamer of the Earth, reviewed by Ryan Valentine
• Feast or Famine, reviewed by L.D. Taylor
• Victor Hugo’s Conversations with the Spirit World, reviewed by Mike Gleason

As always, if you come across anything nifty, please share it in the comments, or drop me a line, and we may post it in next week’s signal – along with attribution, of course!

Mandrake of Oxford has released The Octavo: A Sorcerer-Scientist’s Grimoire, by Peter J. Carroll.

This book sounds rather intruiging, with an unusual premise. From the publisher’s website:

Every universe potentially has its own Supreme Grimoire containing the spells which define its reality and the magic which you can perform within that reality. In this Octavo we have assembled scattered secrets for a Supreme Grimoire for Roundworld, the universe in which you’re standing.

To this end we have taken some inspiration from Pratchett’s Discworld, and a lot from Theoretical Physics and Practical Chaos Magic.

The Octavo was released October 2010, and retails for £10.99 or 20$US.

I haven’t read any of the Discworld titles since I was a teenager, but I recall them fondly. This should be an interesting read!

Practical magicians deal with a lot of unknowns when it comes to getting results in the “real world”. Sometimes a magickal operation will be met with stunning and hard-to-doubt success, sometimes with an ambiguous success (the old “would that have happened anyway?” or “just a coincidence” conundrum), sometimes with a totally unknown degree of success (for example, if it is possible that the operation succeeded in an unobservable way), sometimes with an apparent failure. Navigating through the jungle of mixed results can be a real headache, especially where a magickal operation has apparently failed when it (of course) should have succeeded.

When testing out or trying to perfect a new technique, these kinds of issues can cost a lot of time and effort. If you have Continue reading »