Anton Channing is the author of Kaos Hieroglyphica and hosts the website for the KIA Illuminated Adepts. His blog is at serpent.antonchanning.com.

Publish and be damned they say.  I feel a bit like that with my book Kaos Hieroglyphica: Alchemy for the New Aeon.  I started writing this when I was just 23 and had finished writing it by the time I was 28.  It wasn’t published until I was 29, nearly 30.  I am now 35.  Inevitably my 35 year old self cringes at some of my decade old writing.   However, in the first article I ever had published, namely “Liber Minor 0“, I had enough sense to write one of the best sentences I have ever written, namely that ‘I reserve the right to disagree with myself at a later date.’

Well, here I am at a later date exercising my right to disagree with myself!  In particular I have cause to revisit the Psyche Magic chapter, in particular the ritual.  Rather than rewrite the ritual, I am going to tell the story of its actual performance, what lead up to it, and how the recipient has been empowered by it since. Continue reading »

The Globe and Mail recently ran an article in their Life section titled “How to set an unfair rule (yes, it’s acceptable)” about perceived double standards, a sentiment I encounter quite a bit among friends, co-workers and human beings in general.

The article, written by clinical psychologist Anthony Wolf, looks at the rules set for Continue reading »

I heard Jordan Peterson speak at the Royal Ontario Museum a few months ago; he was awkward, but very knowledgeable. I can’t recall the topic, but when it was mentioned he wrote a book on the psychology of myths in religion, I took note. That book was Maps of Meaning, which I’ve recently begun reading. It’s fascinating, and deeply insightful: expect further commentary.

In the preface Peterson outlines his background. He was raised Christian, attended church, and left while young (“twelve or so”) due to a minister’s inability to reconcile modern truths with archaic beliefs. (“Religion was for the ignorant, weak and superstitious. I stopped attending church and joined the modern world.”) Typical story.

As a young adult he joined a socialist party, convinced “[e]conomic injustice was the root of all evil”. Secular dreams replaced religious, political utopia exchanged for spiritual paradise. Familiar territory.

He left the town he grew up in, attended an out of town college, and got involved with university politics, retaining his left wing stance. He writes:

“The board was composed of politically and ideological conservative people: lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. They were all well (or at least practically) educated, pragmatic, confident, outspoken; they had all accomplished something worthwhile and difficult. I could not help but admire them even though I did not share their political stance. I found the fact of my admiration unsettling.”

In contrast, the socialist leaders he wanted to look up to did not inspire respect. He found them to be ineffective complainers. He explains that “[t]hey had no career, frequently, and no family, no completed education – nothing but ideology. They were peevish, irritable, and little, in every sense of the word.”) He found he did not admire those who believed Continue reading »