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A new episode of Scroll of Thoth is coming this weekend….

While you’re waiting for the next Scroll of Thoth podcast, check out my new favorite magick podcast – Runesoup. It’s shockingly good and entertaining.

Making some updates to the website in anticipation of getting this party started again. What would you like to see on the website? You can use our comments or our handy new contact form.

Expect a new podcast in the next few weeks.

We’re still working on a new podcast. Why not come see me live? Khaos in Kansas is a one of kind festival devoted to chaos magick. It is a weekend long camping event filled with workshops and rituals. I will be doing workshop/rituals on invocation, and the Gutter Bible. This is a unique event, the only multi-day festival devoted to chaos magick. It’s being held at the Gaia Retreat Center, about 30 miles outside Kansas City, KS. Who says we don’t get good things in the Midwest?

For some time I’ve been thinking about writing books about magick. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t have enough experience and depth of knowledge to carry an entire book. What I do have, however, is multiple years of experience as an editor, producer, and distributor of fanzines, magazines, books, and ebooks. Through my podcast and my blogs, I have a way to reach a substantial audience for esoteric works. So it recently occurred to me, why not become a publisher?

There are a lot of esoteric book publishers out there, but I haven’t seen many that fit a certain niche. I want to buck the trend of making expensive and hard to get talismanic books. It’s not that I don’t love those tomes, but I see a need for giving a voice to some of the up-and-coming practitioners who may not be able to draw an audience to justify those kinds of books. Also, I see a desire for more books that are not directed at beginners and are accessible and affordable.

This is an open call to all practitioners with a desire to share their work.

Let’s get the sticky part out of the way first. As a writer, I am a strong believer that content producers should get paid. But we all know that esoteric book publishing is a cottage industry. I have the means in place to get the books to market, that costs more time than money. I don’t have the means to pay an advance. What I can offer is royalties based on sales. I am taking 20% off the top for the work that goes into production and distribution. After that, contributors will be paid on a 90 day cycle, earning a percentage of the gross sales based on the length of their contribution.

Example:

If we publish a book on November 1^st, your first payment would be January 28^th, and you would receive a payment every 90 days after that for as long as the book sells. If the book’s total gross sales are $200, I would get $40 and the rest would be divided amongst the contributors. From a book that is 80,000 words, you wrote a section that was 15,000. That’s 18.6% and you would get 18.6% of $160 ($29.76) in your first 90 days.

Nobody will be getting rich from this but it’s the fairest way I can think of to make sure everyone gets paid. Reports from distribution channels will be included with payments so you can verify the numbers. Introductions, acknowledgements, forwards, and appendices will not be included towards word count.

With that out of the way, here are the subjects I would like to cover first.

Activist Magick

For this project I’m looking for contributions about using magick for social justice and political causes. It could include essays in the history of activist magick, basic principles, organizations, and magical rituals or operations that further causes. Please query before September 1st. Final submissions must be complete by October 18th, with a target publication date of December 1st.

Aeonics

This will be a collection of essays about belief in aeonics and their effect on magical systems. I’m especially interested in contributions that concern alternative aeonic systems, but well written examinations of Thelemic or other popular aeonic schemes would be welcome. I also want to see how aeonic belief directly effects actual magick being performed. Please query by October 1st. Final submissions must be complete by November 15th, with a target publication day of February 1st, 2015.

Query

To query, send an email to james at scrollofthoth dot com. For both books, I’m looking for contributions 3,000 to 15,000 words in length, with a target total word count for the book between 70,000-85,000 words. Your query should be a basic outline of your proposed contribution and be at least 500 words. The query also serves as your writing sample, so be mindful of the quality of the writing itself.

Promotion

No one sells books without promotion. All authors would be expected to promote the books on their own social media and other outlets. Authors are also required to produce one, short (at least 500 words) related blog post for the Scroll of Thoth website, and appear as guests on the Scroll of Thoth podcast. I’m sure you can see how this would be beneficial to all involved.

I’m extremely excited about this project and looking forward to the submissions people send in. I hope that authors and practitioners see this as an excellent way to get started in publishing and advance their own magick.

I’m jumping on a bandwagon with this review. Others have already spoken out on the quality of both the writing and the production of the Epoch, but I feel a certain obligation to add my thoughts for many reasons. For starters, a new book by Peter J. Carroll always makes waves through the chaos magick continuum, and we would be fools not to give it the coverage it deserves. Also, Mr. Carroll was gracious enough to give us an interview before the release, and it seems only right to tell people about the book now that it has arrived. Especially since the creators have taken the brave stance of not releasing the book on Amazon. They felt that Amazon’s demands were unjustifiable and they don’t appreciate the company’s dodgy business practices. Though I sell on Amazon myself, I empathize with those beliefs. So without the Amazon juggernaut to facilitate distribution, more word of mouth is required. Last, I am just a huge fan of Peter J. Carroll and I’m just too damn excited not to share.

The Epoch consists of The Esotericon—a 200 page, 11 in x 9 in, hardbound book, lavishly illustrated in full color. Its workmanship reminded me of some of the high-end RPG books on the market by folks like Paizo Publishing and Onyx Path. My only beef with the construction is the three column format laid out landscape, at times makes the book difficult to handle. Though I suppose it does give the book more gravity. I myself would have appreciated a PDF to accompany each purchase for reference purposes, but I understand why the creators would be shy on that idea. The second part of the Epoch is the Portals of Chaos cards illustrated by Matt Kaybryn. The cards are much larger than any card set I’ve seen before, each one 9 in x 5 3/4 in. While some decried the use of computer artwork on the cards, it is obvious to me that the style was intentional. Computer created art does not look that way these days unless someone is doing it deliberately. Each card is an amazing rendition of a theme, be it a god, element, or elder being. The cards seem flimsy, but they can withstand some wear. I spilled wax on my Thoth card and it came right off without damaging the card. You’re going to want to start looking for some kind of case for your cards right away. I am thinking of hollowing out a book for the purpose.

The first chapter of Esotericon lays out Peter J. Carroll’s history of magick from Antiquity to H.P. Lovecraft. It includes his personal system of Aeonics, which is the only part I take exception to, partly because I am probably too wrapped up in my own, and also by necessity, Aeonics paints large swaths of history with a broad brush, which by its nature obscures the nuanced truth.

I did find fascinating his idea that we are moving from a Platonic Pagan-Monotheist paradigm, loosely put, looking for god from without, to a Quantum Neo-Pagan paradigm that looks for god from within.

The second part of the book describes a totally new system of correspondences called Chaobala. For someone like myself who has never felt attracted to traditional Kabalah, this is a godsend. With a masterful hand, Peter Carroll sets up a path of metaphysical understanding working up from the classic Aristotlian  elements, through Baphomet as a symbol of universal life, through a range of god-forms both Western and a few Eastern, to at last end up at the Lovecraftian Elder Gods, used as symbols for humanity’s new existential, cosmic perspective, as we stand ready to use our new god-like knowledge to take our place amongst the stars or totally annihilate each other.

This is where the cards come in. While they can be used for divination, they are designed for use as altar pieces for evocation and invocation of the elements, gods, and elder beings. It can be seem as akin to traveling up the Tree of Life. A magician can work their way through each invocation, learning about themselves, the many parts of their psyche, and their own ability.

The last part of the book contains Peter J. Carroll’s own Necronomicon. Unlike the versions that have gone before, the author does not feel a need to make a slavish pseudo-reproduction of the fictional book. Nor does he write a modern goetia with the names cut and paste from Lovecraft’s Mythos. This is a totally new grimoire, which approaches the material in a thematic sense. Carroll points out why the Mythos have been so appealing to readers, and especially magicians, for years. Though he’s not the first to call Lovecraft’s creation a mythology for atheists, he takes that idea and applies it to a system that appeals to the modern chaos magician. It is also blessedly detailed, with full instructions on creating magical tools and the incantations for the principle deities in the system.

Without a doubt the Epoch will have great influence on the chaos magick paradigm and modern magick in general for years to come. I think every magician, even if they have their own correspondences, should examine the Chaobola system for its elegance and breadth.

In the UK and Europe, purchase the Epoch directly from Arcanorium College for 30 pound. In the US, it is being distributed by Weiser Antiquarian for 60 dollars, and you save considerably on the postage. My copy from Weiser came signed and contained both a postcard from Arcanorium and a book mark. It is my understanding that Weiser has sold through its first shipment and subsequent lots may or may not have these features.

Just as our dust will return to the Earth, so that dust will one day return to the stars.