Novelists interested in occultism

Discussion on literature other than by the Star of Azazel.
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Benemal
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

Post by Benemal »

Antal Szerb "The Pendragon legend". A wonderfully written and funny novel about alchemists and occultists from before ww2. A bit like "Master and Margherita". The writer's only book, he was killed in a concentration camp.

Also Philip K. Dick and Clive Barker must be mentioned.

Then there's the Illuminatus trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
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Jiva
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

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Jiva wrote:Arthur C. Clarke is a fairly obvious candidate. Aside from 2001: A Space Odyssey, my favourite book of his is called Childhood's End as it deals with psychic abilities in a more direct manner than any other books of his I've read. A summary of the plot can be read on wikipedia with many aspects of the book aligning closely with occult philosophy e.g. stereotypical devils as psychopomps, a significant plot point being revealed by scientists messing around with an Ouija Board, humanity rapidly evolving mentally and so on. Essentially I believe Clarke was channelling a similar form of energy as Lovecraft without necessarily knowing it.
A thought struck me when re-reading Jacob Böhme's Signature of All Things. I didn't mention the symbolism in 2001: A Space Odyssey as it's fairly obvious. However many people neglect his following books in the series. For example, in 2010: Odyssey Two the monoliths force Jupiter to implode and become a star, which scientific authorities on Earth eventually name Lucifer. Saturn was swapped for Jupiter in the film adaptation of 2001 and so I'm of the opinion that to maintain continuity Clarke accepted the swap for his following books. It should be mentioned that in other areas Clarke simply didn't care about continuity so I may be exaggerating the significance. However, when Jupiter and Saturn are swapped the aforementioned events are similar to some alchemical symbolism
'Oh Krishna, restless and overpowering, this mind is overwhelmingly strong; I think we might as easily gain control over the wind as over this.'
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Nefastos
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

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I just read an interesting short story by Clive Barker: "The Madonna". It seems to be published in his Books of Blood, although I found the story from another collection. It's about sex, but goes deep into psycho-symbolical levels extremely important in occultists' self-reflective & energetical working.

In the story there's this abandoned labyrinthine building, seemingly chaotic by structure but then understood (by a lady) as a spiral way leading to its center. Three sensual, naked young women inhabit the dark corridors, leading men to the labyrinth's center. At that center there's a god-like featureless monster, called the Madonna. Madonna gives birth to endless streams of repellent monsters, who are then nurtured by the three women. A man led there (always) becomes mesmerized, copulates with one of the ladies, and is allowed to return from the labyrinth. After his return, one will soon undergo a process that changes his body to the feminine one.

The psychological structure of the story is so many-layered I'm not going to comment it here, but I seriously think that anyone who's going to reach a certain step in White aspect occultism should be able to understand the symbolism of this seemingly both misogynistic & misandristic story.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
Tulihenki
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

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Is George Macdonald's Lilith familiar to anyone? I'm currently reading it and feels good, but I haven't get far, so I won't say anything more yet.
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Jiva
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

Post by Jiva »

William Gibson's Sprawl and Bridge trilogies both involve merging man and machine in an almost mystical way. Particularly the Sprawl trilogy gets into things like Voodoo and dual consciences developing separately by necessity before finally uniting. The setting is a digital dystopia, very much in the vein of Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Both trilogies heavily influenced The Matrix, although I hope that doesn't put anyone off :P.
'Oh Krishna, restless and overpowering, this mind is overwhelmingly strong; I think we might as easily gain control over the wind as over this.'
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Benemal
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

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Did you know, that William Gibson had already written Neuromancer, when Bladerunner came out? The movie was exactly how Gibson imagined the future and he decided to rewrite the book, because he didn't want it to be similar. Philip K. Dick himself was stunned, when he was shown a scenes from the movie. How is this possible, he asked, because it was exactly how he imagined the future.

From Dick's work specifically, "Valis" made a big impression on me. The "mindblowing" thing, that I've also experienced with some esoteric books, like The Fall of Lucifer, by Nefastos. Of course, things that impress when you're twenty, won't be the same, when you're a tired old cunt.
Philip K. Dick was one the greatest writers of the 20th century. Any one of his books would be a classic, if it was written by a lesser and less productive writer. Dick wrote so much, that people "can't see the forest from the trees". A unique genius. I've told that to many people, but nobody believes me. I think it's my misleading personality. Nobody would assume I've read a lot of books and know what I'm talking about.

Also mentioned in some different thread: Frank Herbert's Dune trilogy. I can't describe how I felt re-reading this a few years ago. I was stunned and sweating and scared. Very deep stuff. Same as Dick, calling it sci-fi, doesn't do it justice.
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Jiva
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

Post by Jiva »

As a result of my recent William Gibson marathon I've actually been thinking about giving Dune a proper change. The main reason I've stayed away from the books is because of the terrible film. I'm a massive fan of films that are so bad they're good, but I just found Dune annoying and depressing.

I've also not really read Philip K. Dick properly yet, but I think I've watched most of the film adaptations of his works for what that's worth :lol:. I'm really looking forward to finally reading Ubik and the Valis trilogy you mentioned though :). The vague descriptions I've read of their plots seem really interesting.
'Oh Krishna, restless and overpowering, this mind is overwhelmingly strong; I think we might as easily gain control over the wind as over this.'
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Benemal
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

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An interesting and funny speech by PKD in 1978, about his work, media and Disneyland and how a few things from his book "Flow my tears the policeman said" happened to him later. Dick was always ahead of his time. In this transcript, he talks about "spurious realities" and "fake realities" as if he was talking about today.
http://yin.arts.uci.edu/~studio/reading ... index.html
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Nefastos
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

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Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) had more than a hint of occultism in his short stories, although he handles his topic like the one who's trying to see the little folk in the forest: not focusing one's gaze, but instead taking quick peeks from the corner of one's eyes... The book I am reading from him is a Finnish compilation, but I think it mostly corresponds to Labyrinths. Take away half the sarcasm of Umberto Eco's ideas on occultism & add more intellectually sophisticated metaphysical madness instead, and you get this. Recommended.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Jiva
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Re: Novelists interested in occultism

Post by Jiva »

I just finished reading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, which is often considered his masterpiece. It's based on the mythologised history of John Glanton and Judge Holden who acted as scalp-hunters on the border between the USA and Mexico during the 1850s. I read the book after me and a friend had a conversation about books that would be unfilmable and didn't know anything about academic gnostic interpretations until I'd finished reading it, although one of the quotes that introduces the book is written by Jakob Böhme.

The book is relentlessly violent, much of which is based on Holden's desire for domination, which accordingly presents him as a demiurge of sorts. However, while I was reading it I instead found myself thinking of the Major Arcana of the tarot. The majority of the book takes place in barren wastelands where individuals interact against an oppressively impersonal backdrop that serves to accentuate the archetypes they represent. I'm definitely going to read it again and think about these some more.

I usually don't like American literature so much but I think Blood Meridian lives up to its reputation. I wasn't even too bothered by the lack of punctuation and vernacular spelling :P.
'Oh Krishna, restless and overpowering, this mind is overwhelmingly strong; I think we might as easily gain control over the wind as over this.'
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