Posts Tagged ‘Cabinets of Curiosity’

Esoteric Book Conference

BY: Mark

I only managed to make it to the first day of presentations at the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle. Held at the Northwest Rooms of the Seattle Center, it’s a quiet little arrangement of a book fair, a room for presentations, and a small art show. Somewhat of a blink-and-miss-it arrangement, and if you wander too far, you end up in a much larger ballroom where the Seattle Miniature Dollhouse show was going on.

As one can imagine, it was pretty easy to tell the difference between the two, and not just from the general wardrobe difference between the patrons of each. Still, an odd little juxtaposition on a somewhat rainy fall day.

Hosted by William Kiesel (proprietor of Ouroboros Press), Michael Kolson (of Night of Pan Books), and Catamara Rosarium (who unveiled Rosarium Blends, an alchemical endeavor that is concocting ways to enrich our sensory lives), the Esoteric Book Conference is in its second year, and from the outset, it was clear that the participants were eager to dive into two days of esoteric book talk. Last year, attendance at the lectures seemed to creep up to a reasonable level–a number that was clearly matched in the first lecture this morning. People were ready to talk about the occult today.

The first presenter was Debra Chesnut, and her topic was the spoken aspect of rituals from the ancient mysteries to modern occult societies–the legomena. No one would argue with her about the idea that words have power, and she quickly dove into the practical application of that concept: how you say the word is almost as important as the word itself. The Greek language, she notes, was not meant to be read, it was meant to be spoken aloud. The written word was only meant to guide the speaker, and most Greeks never read silently. She cites Plato’s dialogue Cratylus as being not only about the meaning of language, but also about how to speak properly.

From there she progressed to the Chant of the Seven Vowels (see Joscelyn Godwin’s book The Mystery of the Seven Vowels for much more detail). The vowels invoke power; the consonants are the container. How you contain and direct the vowels via consonants is how you manifest power. The Tetragrammaton is nothing more than a series of vowel sounds; IAO–which shows up on amulets in the Middle East, is the Greek spelling of the Tetragrammaton, and is the name of a valley on Maui–is clearly a resonance of vowel sounds that transcends cultures and regions. Chesnut walks through examples found on gold tablets in Greek burial sites, within the Corpus Hermeticum, the Mithraic Liturgy, and Zoastrian Hymns to Mithras.

She closed with a quote from the Chaldean Oracles of Julianus.

Never change the barbarous names;
For there names in every nation given from god,
Which have unspeakable power in rites.
When thou seest a sacred fire without form,
Shining, flashingly through the depths of the world,
Hear the voice of fire.

The next presenter I had a chance to hear was David Beth of La Société Voudon Gnostique, who was celebrating the release of a new edition of his book, Voudon Gnosis. His presentation was on the Qliphoth and Nightside Gnosis, two things very near and dear to my heart. He began with a bit of a poke at the “fluffy” groups who look upon Qliphotic pathworkings as their “kink.” Western students of the spiritual arts tend to have a consumerist attitude; they expect answers to be served to them in easily digestible chunks, and when those aren’t offered, they get petulant. “Well, if you don’t give me what I want–” (insert outraged foot stomp) “–then I’ll take my business over here, and boy, won’t you be sorry!” (aka The Supermarket Model of New Age Spiritual Seeking) As a result, some groups look to Qliphotic workings as the off-the-beaten-path material that will keep their fussy constituents happy and engaged.

This is not the Voudon Gnosis model, obviously.

The Qliphotic workings are an inverse way of examining reality, and Beth made the comparison that if study of Universe A was ontological, then study of Universe B was meontological. A lefthand adept understands that bliss cannot be truly received and comprehended if it is not relished. One must be cognizant of what one is experiencing–i.e., maintaining their individuality as a perceptive point–in order to know it. Individuality is not relinquished during gnosis. Working through the Qliphotic Tree–along the Pathways of Frustration–is to be able to understand a synthesis with everything without extinguishing the distinction between the perceived and the perceiver.

It’s a highly individualized process. “The Law may be for All,” Beth says, “But the Gnosis may not be.” When gnosis is attained, there is a reversal of energy within the adept. No longer is he or she nourished by the Golden Light, but he or she will be powered by the Black Sun, the Cosmic Luciferian Manifestation.

His presentation offered a great deal of food for thought, and it certainly dovetails (with less terminology) with the course of thought I’ve been exploring. An underlying precept of the Codex of Souls is the individuation of enlightenment, and I can see that I’ve got some more reading ahead of me, which is perfectly timed as I should be starting Book 3 fairly soon.

Finally, Daniel Shulke have a presentation on the newly released Occult Reliquary, a collection of material from the Richel-Eldermans Collection in the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall. The Occult Reliquary is a large-format book containing more than 250 illustrations (many of them in full color) from the collection, and Shulke pointed out that the material in the book is around 10% of the collection. There is a tradition among secret societies and occultists that libraries and artefacts be destroyed upon the death of their holders (though, in many cases, “destroyed” may simply mean “removed from the public’s conscious awareness”), and to have such a collection preserved for public viewing is somewhat miraculous. Though, there is speculation that the entire collection may have been 10X larger than what was preserved.

The collection of charms, images, magical seals, and other ritual objects stem mainly from the workings of Ars Amatoria, a European magical order that–perhaps not surprisingly, given the antecedent of their name–employed sex magic in their workings. There are also some material relating to the M∴M∴ and the A∴A∴ (again, the whole sex magic angle).

It’s a gorgeous book (as are all the books produced by Three Hand Press), and Shulke’s discussion of the history of the collection (received from the Dutch collector, Bob Richel, who, in turn, inherited much of it from his father-in-law, Mr. Eldermans) was a welcome insight into the secrecy–and controversy–surrounding the legacy of occult collections.

Atlas Obscura’s World-wide Equinox Celebration

BY: Mark

Atlas Obscura is celebrating March 20th by hosting a number of events around the world, all of them highlighting the Strange in your neighborhood. Check the full list of events, and if you’re in Seattle, Ourboros Press publisher, William Kiesel is presenting “Alligators and Alchemy in Cabinets of Curiosity” at the Ancient Grounds Cafe at 1pm.

There will be a brief slide show displaying some early examples of Curiosity Cabinets as well as some discussion as to the similarities shared with alchemical laboratories. All of this will take place is a cafe that is merely masquerading as a coffee house.

Ancient Grounds has a great deal of Native American masks, totem poles, tribal art, headdresses and other clothing, and other displays. And probably an alligator or two.