Plutonica.net

Closing Notice

Psyche — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:50:36 +0000

Sorry, guys, I know I’ve been remiss. This site hasn’t been updated since August 2011, and I’ve received a number of inquiries from you kind folks wondering what’s up with that.

Well, what’s up is that Plutonica.net kinda stopped being necessary.

When I started this blog in 2007, there weren’t very many people doing this. There was a gap, I did my best to fill it. But these days you have tons of great occultural blogs like Gordon’s Rune Soup, Phil Hine’s Enfolding.org, Klint Finley’s Technoccult, Kaligni’s Blue Flame Magick, the Valentines’ blog, Jack Frost’s Dionysian Atavism, Jason Miller’s Strategic Sorcery, and dozens of others focusing on specific niches.

I’ve gotten busier, and everyone else is doing such great job that I don’t have the time or inclination to add anything beyond the odd comment here and there. You may see the odd guest post from me elsewhere on the Internet, and Plutonica’s older sister Spiral Nature, is still up and running. New reviews and essays will continue to be published over there several times a month.

But as for Plutonica? That’s it. It had a good run, from 2007 – 2011. The content will remain up, but there will be no new posts.¹

For those interested in what I’m up to these days, I post about reading, writing and random stuff over on my personal blog.

Thanks for the run, it’s been fun. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Closing Notice

Footnotes:

Unless someone wants to take it off my hands. Contact me if you’re interested.

Notice regarding Plutonica.net RSS feeds

Plutonica.net has moved to a new server

Psyche — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:13:25 +0000

Plutonica.net has moved to a new server.

Nothing should look different on your end, but the blog was down for a couple of days due to some complications in the move.

My apologies if you stopped by and found a 404 page, or another error. We are still here, it just took a bit longer than anticipated to get up and running again.

I’m off on vacation, but have a few posts scheduled for while I’m away, and will still be checking in on things from Angleterre.

Thanks for your patience, guys!

Plutonica.net has moved to a new server

Magickal battles, singing bowls, AC, anthropocentrism, Regardie’s Golden Dawn and Mathers’ silver locks

Psyche — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:00:58 +0000

Another Saturday, another Signal.

Before we get started, I just wanted to highlight that the first “Interludes” issue of Trigger93 is now available for download, free of charge.

You may recall I reviewed the first issue of the new occult journal in January, and if that’s anything to go by, it should be a good read.

While we’re at it, I have a new review in the latest issue of Witches & Pagans as well, issue #23. The theme for this issue is “Law & Chaos”, and it has a great interview with Peter Carroll, Jaq D Hawkins and Andrieh Vitimus about chaos magick, what it means to them and where they think magick is heading in the future. You should check it out.

Now, on with your delicious linkage:

Dave Evans and David Sutton¹ have written an article on the magickal battle of Britain for Fortean Times.
Tibetan singing bowls have given up their chaotic secrets, as Jason Palmer reports for the BBC. Science is cool. (Spotted via Technoccult.)
Sarah Veale gives five reasons Aleister Crowley’s still relevant on Invocatio.
Over on Therioshamanism, Lupa has a thought-provoking post about anthropocentrism and what it means in (neo-)Pagan spirituality.
On Nick Farrell’s blog, Nick shares what Regardie didn’t know about the Golden Dawn, the post title a cute play on Regard’s classic, What You Should Know About the Golden Dawn (my 2006 review here).
More fun from Nick Farrell, “Mathers’ secret hair colour revealed“. Deliberate deception, or an old magickian’s vanity?

New reviews on our sister site, Spiral Nature:

Planetary Spells & Rituals, reviewed by Gesigewigu’s
Confessions of a Black Magician, reviewed by me
Dancing with Spirits, reviewed by Mike Gleason
The Light of Sex, reviewed by me
Zen: Simply Sitting, reviewed by me
Bridging the Gap, reviewed by Mike Gleason

Thanks it for this week, kids.

Magickal battles, singing bowls, AC, anthropocentrism, Regardie’s Golden Dawn and Mathers’ silver locks

Footnotes:

Hey Dave, how come you always seem to write with other people name Dave or David? Where do you find them all?

This shirtless dude really digs Lovecraft

Psyche — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:29:29 +0000

Told in three parts, frostyobsitnic‘s enthusiastic retelling of HP Lovecraft’s Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath is absolutely hilarious. It’s like Lovecraft via Jay, of Jay and Silent Bob.

frostyobsitnic “The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath RETOLD! – Part 1: Army of Mooncats” NSFW

My favourite moment is when he mimics the moon cats’ flight through space.

Check out part two, “Oh no squidbirds“, part three “This book isn’t as long as I thought it was” for the moral he derives from the story, and his blog, Myths Retold.

As spotted on Kalagni‘s Facebook.

This shirtless dude really digs Lovecraft

Supergods – a new book by Grant Morrison

Psyche — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:29:32 +0000

Today 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.

Supergods – a new book by Grant Morrison

Lovecraft dug Goya, sexy angels, Pagan “Elders”, bullshit and Pastafarian rights

Psyche — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 20:07:41 +0000

I know you’ve been asking yourself “What would a teaspoonful of neutron star do to you?” The answer: bad things.

Or you may be asking “Where has Psyche gone?” The answer is: nowhere really. I’ve just been busy. (Sorry.)

As it happens I’m still around, often on Twitter and Facebook, and I recently joined Google+ – which is pretty nifty. I blogged my initial thoughts about G+ over here. (BTW: if you’re intrigued and want an invite let me know and I will hook you up.)

I’ve also been posting reviews on Spiral Nature (see below for the full list of new stuff), and I have a few pieces forthcoming in various occult journals – further details upon publication.

Neat stuff keeps happening, and I want to share it. I don’t know where the time goes.

Here are a few things I’ve found:

John Coulthart shares HP Loevcraft’s favourite artists over on Tor.com. Among them are Henry Fuseli, Francisco Goya and Sidney Sime. Also included? Lovecraft’s first sketch of Cthulhu. Nifty.
Kalagni has great advice for sex with angels over on Blue Flame Magick. All the stuff you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask. Pro-tip: plan for bukakke.
On Enfolding.org, Amy Hale discusses Pagan “Elders”, and challenges the term, even as it’s usage is growing. I’m not a big fan of the term myself, especially when most Pagan “Elders” are self-proclaimed.
In other news, NewScientist shares a field guide to bullshit in an interview with Stephen Law, regarding his new book, Believing Bullshit. Could be useful. *cough*
In Austria a Pastafarian has wont he right to wear a pasta strainer in his driver’s license photo. It’s religious headgear, you see.

As mentioned above, since our last Saturday Signal, our sister site has posted a number of new reviews which may be of interest:

Divine Duality, reviewed by Ryan Valentine
Defense Against the Dark, reviewed by Gesigewigu’s
Man-Made Monsters, reviewed by me
Teachings of the Santeria Gods, reviewed by Lilith Saintcrow
Gift of the Dreamtime, reviewed by L. D. Taylor
Witch Hunts, reviewed by Mike Gleason
Loneliness and Revelation, reviewed by me
Swami Panchadasi’s Clairvoyance & Occult Powers, reviewed by Gesigewigu’s
The Weiser Field Guide to the Paranormal, reviewed by Lilith Saintcrow

And that’s the signal for this week.

I’ve missed you guys. What’s new with you?

Lovecraft dug Goya, sexy angels, Pagan “Elders”, bullshit and Pastafarian rights

“Make-A-Wand” volunteers needed in Salem

Psyche — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:23:00 +0000

Mike 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.

“Make-A-Wand” volunteers needed in Salem

New occult parenting forum

Psyche — Wed, 18 May 2011 20:10:52 +0000

The 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.

New occult parenting forum

Contest for Loneliness and Revelation

Psyche — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 13:00:45 +0000

Brendan Myers is running a contest for his latest book, Loneliness and Revelation, published by O-Books.

The details:

Brendan Myers, author of Loneliness and Revelation, is offering you a chance to attend any conference, convention, festival, sporting event, concert, theatrical performance, or community gathering of your choosing, anywhere in the world! Let Brendan know what event you have in mind, and if you win this contest, he’ll buy your ticket!

To enter, take a picture of yourself with the book, and share it with a link to the book’s website, lonelinessandrevelation.com, and let Brendan know where. For more information, see Brendan’s original post.

The first deadline has passed, but the contest has been extended to Saturday, April 30th, 2011.

It’s a great book, I’ve already read it and will be reviewing it (very favourably!) for Spiral Nature in the coming week.

For those of you who remember, Brendan contributed an essay to Plutonica.net, “Magical correspondences and social values“.

Contest for Loneliness and Revelation

Interview, chaos, spiritual machines, circles, readings and book porn

Psyche — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 13:00:52 +0000

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!

Interview, chaos, spiritual machines, circles, readings and book porn