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Supergods – a new book by Grant Morrison

By | July 19, 2011 | Print This Post | E-mail This Post | 4 Comments

Supergods, by Grant MorrisonToday is the release date for Supergods, a new work of non-fiction by Grant Morrison, author of The Invisibles, and numerous other comics.

Published by Spiegel & Grau (an imprint of Random House), Supergods bears the rather lengthy subtitle “What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human”.

Supergods explores the history and mythology of the superhero archetype. We’ve seen this before, notably in Our Gods Wear Spandex (my review here), but Grant Morrison’s likely to do it in a style unique to himself.

From the publisher’s description:

For Grant Morrison, arguably the greatest of contemporary chroniclers of the “superworld,” these heroes are powerful archetypes whose ongoing, decades-spanning story arcs reflect and predict the course of human existence: Through them we tell the story of ourselves, our troubled history, and our starry aspirations. In this exhilarating work of a lifetime, Morrison draws on art, science, mythology, and his own astonishing journeys through this shadow universe to provide the first true history of the superhero—why they matter, why they will always be with us, and what they tell us about who we are . . . and what we may yet become.

For more, see Scott Thill’s interview with Morrison in Wired.

Despite David Itzkoff’s mixed-to-negative review in The New York Times, I’m looking forward to reading this.

“Make-A-Wand” volunteers needed in Salem

By | June 27, 2011 | Print This Post | E-mail This Post | Leave a Comment

Witches' Education LeagueMike Gleason is an incredibly prolific Pagan book reviewer who has written for a number of websites, among them SpiralNature.com. At the moment he’s seeking volunteers to help out at the annual “Make-A-Wand” table weekends in October in Salem, MA.

The table is sponsored  the Witches’ Education League, which is composed of the former members of W.E.B. and Project Witches Protection. Younger volunteers, in their late teens and twenties are especially needed, though they welcome volunteers of all ages.

From Mike:

I won’t tie up space going into the details, but will simply say that if you enjoy being around enthusiastic children; don’t mind getting glitter in places it really shouldn’t be; and are prepared to offer 2 hours of your time to help raise money for charity and make children happy in the process, we would love to have you join us.

We operate (usually) from 11am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday, every weekend during the month of October. We will also operate for a (mostly likely) reduced time span on Halloween.

We would like to have a couple of volunteers each day, and merely ask for a two hour commitment.

Please e-mail me [...] if you would like more details, or want to offer your help.

Mike Gleason

If you’re in or near Salem, and you’d to help, please do get in contact with Mike, his e-mail address is included in the link above.

New occult parenting forum

By Psyche | May 18, 2011 | Print This Post | E-mail This Post | 1 Comment

Parentes NefariiThe lovely Bkwyrm, whose review site is now archived on Hermetic.com, has created a new forum for unconventional parents called Parentes Nefarii.

I got into magick predominantly in my teens, and it’s been interesting watching the transitions of various friends as they integrate their magickal practice and alternative spiritualities into the traditional life streams of school, work, families. Many are navigating the bulk of it alone, often with partners who are sympathetic, but not always practitioners themselves.

I guess that’s where forums like this can help, by providing a space where occult parents or anyone involved with kids can get together, chat, problem solve and/or gripe about issues that arise.

Parentes Nefarii is described as a place

for parents (or parents-to-be) who are involved in the occult to come and discuss issues specific to these topics, and the intersection of these topics.

It’s intended for “mothers, fathers, step-parents, non-custodial parents”, pretty much anyone “as long as there’s a kid in your life and it impacts your spiritual practice in some way”.

If this sounds like you, stop by and check it out.