WEATHER-MAGIC IN THE WEST INDIES “The soul of some people is such that they can stop the rain and command the winds and the storms.” –from De magia by Giordano Bruno (written circa 1588). “But the men marvelled, saying, ‘What manner of man is this that even the winds and sea obey him!’” -Matthew 8:27. From the earliest…
FANTAST IN FOCUS: DARRAGH MASON “O’er space immense of seas and lands to go Will be your fate, and realms unknown explore Far as the confines of Earth’s utmost shore.” -from Jersusalem Delivered by Torquato Tasso, trans. by J.H. Hunt (1822). Darragh Mason is a photographer, writer, and occultist. His wanderlust has driven him to some…
“Remember the true story of the licentiate Torralva, whom the devils carried through the air, riding on a cane…” -from The life and exploits of the ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, vol. II, by Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Charles Jarvis (1749). According to tradition, the first person on the Iberian Peninsula to make…
“It is well known that until the nineteenth century, treasure seeking was steeped in magic.” -Professor Johannes Dillinger “A very deep meaning lies in that notion, that a man in search of buried treasure must work in utter silence ; must speak not a word, whatever appearance, either terrific or delightful, may present itself.” –from…
ODD TRUTHS: JOHN EVANS, THE SINISTER ASTROLOGER OF FETTER-LANE “He was the most saturnine person my eyes ever beheld…” -from History of His Life and Times by William Lilly (1715) There is a guilty pleasure in picturing the early modern era as a time of taboo-defying dynamos and charismatics. Personalities like Giovanni Pico, Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno, and John Dee…
FANTAST IN FOCUS: GYRUS Gyrus is the editor and psychonaut behind Dreamflesh, a dynamic webzine that explores the overlapping and often hard to articulate layers of the human psyche. First conceived in the 2000s, Dreamflesh has been a boon to readers interested in consciousness, ecology, and politics for over a decade. The project has many offshoots,…
ODD TRUTHS: THOMAS TRYON, THE PYTHAGORAS OF LONDON “Cast thy Eyes round about thee, and enter into the inside of Things, and with a silent distinguishing Thought, and earnest sedate Meditation, and Contemplation, behold the wonderful Operations of the serene silent magick Powers of the Coelestials, and also of the Terrestials…” -from The Knowledge of a…
ODD TRUTHS: JANE LEAD, PROPHETESS OF A NEW AGE “She, I believe, carried to its practical extreme the Paracelsian doctrine concerning the magical power of faith…” -from Hours with the Mystics, vol. II, by Robert Vaughan (1856). In April of 1670, Jane Lead (or Leade) had a vision that would change her life forever. While walking in the…
ODD TRUTHS: A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY GHOSTHUNTER “This man [Alexander ab Alexandro] is familiar with everyone, and yet no one knows him.” -from Letter to Viglius Zuichemus by Desiderius Erasmus (1533). Born in Naples in 1461, Alexander ab Alexandro (also known as Alessandro Alessandri) spent the first part of his life as a practising lawyer. At some point however,…
“There were visions in the air, and dreams sitting on the staircases…” -from Memoirs (1893) by Charles Godfrey Leland “Kerner’s house is, perhaps, the most remarkable and peculiar in all Swabia…if we wish to receive or impart a right idea of Kerner, we must see him and describe him in his own house.” -from Justinus…