Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods, directed by Patrick Meaney
Halo 8, 80 minutes, 2010

I suspect there are only a few kinds of people who’ll be interested in the documentary Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods – either serious documentary fans, devoted comic-book readers, or magical practitioners. Each of them will come away from this film quite happy.

Director Patrick Meaney largely works with a familiar pattern for this kind of celebrity documentary – one of mostly stepping back and letting the interviews (and, of course, editing) tell the story. There are several attempts to visually represent the psychedelic elements of the tale created by cinematographer Jordan Rennert, though the results are far less annoying than is often the case in such films! The perspective is mostly one which aims at the comic-reading audience, introducing them fairly gently to the core of occult thought that permeates his work.

The film opens with a montage of several comic-book writers and artists talking about Morrison’s reputation as a very successful comics creator who is also out as a practicing chaos magician who’s no stranger to psychedelics – and the usual kind of “drug-crazed madman” rumours that inevitably follow. Continue reading »

Saturday Signal: sifting the signal from the noise of the Internet’s occultural cacophony.

I’ve been crazy busy the past few weeks with work and trying to finish a few pieces of writing to submit to various publications, but I think I’m back on track now, so we’ll try to resume our regular schedule.

There’s still quite a bit I want to discuss in regards to sex and gender and what it means spiritually and magickally, but for now, let’s take a look at symbols in a more generic sense:

• Sor. Ceilede 789, in her blog Beautiful Pyre, re-posts “Golden Fiction“, which originally appeared on Key23.net. In it she examines the concept of hypersigils, noting the differences between these and graphic or mantric sigils, and discusses practical applications.

• Technoccult has started posting more in-depth pieces, and in “Hypersigils reconsidered” Klintron, with references to Grant Morrison (of course), discusses this in context of forming alternate identity-narratives and cybernetics.

• Grant Morrison at Disinfo.con in 2000 discussing…just about everything: aliens, drugs, Aleister Crowley, drugs, the fifth dimension, drugs, hypersigils, drugs, Robert Anton Wilson, drugs, and magick. Click here for part one of five, follow the links on YouTube’s sidebar for the rest. It’s very entertaining.

One of my favourite essays on sigils remains Marik’s Sigils, Servitors and Godforms, Part I and Part II. It’s a great resource. (Marik also makes excellent jewellery.)

Found something fab? Please share it in the comments, or if you use delicious tag it “ahrfoundation” and we’ll take a look. Thanks!