POPULAR OCCULTURE
Reviews

Radical Dreaming by John D. Goldhammer, Ph.D.
Citadel Press

Book Review by Ron Adams
Sunwolf

Have you ever dreamed of torching your bosses desk at work and stand
there laughing, while it burns? Don't worry, it doesn't mean you
need psychiatric help; your dreams are revealing something important
to you about your Authentic Self.

Use your dream to change your life. John D. Goldhammer has written
an excellent book that goes beyond dream symbolism and how to books.

Yes, he uses some great quotes from Dream teachers such as Carl Jung,
Joseph Campbell, and James Hillman. But most of the material in this
book is hand's on experiences from his clients and people he has
worked with in his dream workshops.

This book is about an inner revolution, using the dream process to
find out what the Authentic Self is showing us in our dreams.

The first step is believing that dreams are giving us important
messages.

John Goldhammer shows us how to interpret our own dream symbols, by
going into each dream symbol, and role playing, finding out what each
symbol means to us, if we were that symbol; what is it saying to us?
This is much better than reading someone else's symbols.

There are a number of great dreams in this book, even a few from the
author, where dreams came and changed people's lives.

Dreams hold a great treasure for us.

If you have ever considered starting a dream journal, learning more
about lucid dreaming, or even thought of joining the fast growing
dream groups on the internet and in most major cities, this is a
resource book for you.

This is a radical book. It is about using dreams to slay your
dragons, face your fears and making a difference in your life.

If you want to use your dreams on a journey of self-discovery, Dr.
Goldhammer's program will help you "pull the sword from the stone".
The book includes studies, exercises, and research based on over
20,000 dreams. Navigate your dream's multiple layers of meaning by
using this innovative program that includes a more personalized
method to dream interpretation.

I must admit, I find John D. Goldhammer's book very insiteful and
I've been interested in dreams all my life, and even have been a
dream team moderator over at Sea Life, based in Australia.

Shiva And Dionysus: The Omnipresent Gods of Transcendence and Ecstasy by Alain Danielou, Inner Traditions 1984, 250 pages, illustrated, bibliography. The current edition has been re-titled God of Love and Ecstasy.

This book is among the all-time most powerful influences upon my personal mythology. Beginning with the very earliest and deepest levels of human history, it traces the path and development of one of humanity's most primal deities through the formative cultures of the East and West. By a close examination of the stories and symbols of Shiva in India and Dionysus in Greece, Alain Danielou makes a compelling argument for their common origin. Indeed, it has been said that when the soldiers of Alexander the Great reached India, the Greek worshippers of Dionysus were greeted by the devotees of Shiva as co-religionists; no doubt a most diplomatic and tactful way to greet an invading army, but one containing many elements of truth.
This god can be recognized as the primal, and often horned, Lord of the Beasts known from prehistory. There are striking similarities between representations of the Dravidian proto-Shiva and those of the much later Celtic Cernunnos; their eternal consort is the Great Goddess of many names, Parvati, Kore, the Mountain Mother. Their common symbols include the lingam or phallus, the serpent, the bull, the ram, the labyrinth and the swastika known over vast areas of the ancient world.
An influential French scholar, Alain Danielou (1907-1994) spent many years in India, and many more in the West representing Hindu thought to the wider world. He was a noted authority on religion and temple architecture, a renowned musician, author of works of fiction and mythology, and translator of a number of important texts including the only complete edition of the Kama Sutra. His other major writings include The Gods of India, Yoga, and When The Gods Play.
In comparing Shiva and Dionysus he provides one of the finest mythological studies of each, covering their origins, aspects and legends, the Goddess who is their bride, their children and companions, animal and plant forms, and their sacred places of pilgrimage. He explores the religious practices and festivals of their cults, and their place at the very beginnings of theater. These are the true gods of magical power, of sexual ecstasy, intoxication and transcendence. They provide an enormous contrast to the gods of later civilizations, who serve only the cause of oppression and social control, the authority of priesthoods and royal houses.
With Shiva and Dionysus we dance in the realm of true and primordial religion, with the powers of pleasure and liberation. Danielou also explores their implications for the jaded societies of today, and the secret doctrines that have long been preserved in India and suppressed by the churches of the west. This is a tale of richness and wonder, which I have returned to many times over the years. I cannot recommend it strongly enough to anyone who has the courage to turn away from decaying dogmas, and rediscover divine communion with the true and original Pagan mysteries that still live in all things to this very day.
 
 

Introduction To Magic: Rituals and Practical Techniques for the Magus, by Julius Evola and the UR Group, including works by Arturo Reghini, Giulio Parese, Ercole Quadrelli, and Gustave Meyrink. Inner Traditions 2001, 376 pages.

As a general rule I do not review volumes I have not completely read, but I am rather excited by this one. Like Rene Guenon and Rudolph Steiner, the somewhat controversial Julius Evola was one of the 20th century's great authorities on the esoteric tradition; my personal favorites among his many works are The Yoga of Power, The Hermetic Tradition, and Eros & the Mysteries of Love. In the late 1920s he worked with the UR Group, a fairly loose alliance of scholars who actually dared to seek "the identification of the individual with the Absolute", and to interact magically with the world. They drew upon hermetic, alchemical, masonic and kabalistic texts, tantric and Buddhist rites, Mithraic and Pythagorean mysteries. They sought to create a practical metaphysics through actual practice: yogic breathing and visualization exercises, the use of fragrances, images and words of power, and drawing entities out of the Void. They also shared their researches in a number of journals, and a fascinating selection of their works is introduced and offered here. I have only begun to explore this material, but I consider it both an important contribution to the history of occultism and a remarkable resource for the thoughtful practitioner. Nor should we underestimate their courage in publishing such works in the face of censorship by Italy's fascist regime. This is not a book to be digested overnight, but to be explored with study over time.
 

The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence of Alien Contact 5,000 Years Ago by Robert Temple. Destiny Books, 1998, 440 pages.

Originally published in 1976, Robert Temple's fascinating study was reissued in a revised and expanded edition in 1998. Wide ranging and revolutionary, it examines the strange enigmas surrounding the Dogon tribe of Africa, who claim an ancient visitation by aliens from Sirius and have a unique and inexplicable knowledge of astronomy to prove it. This begins with the fact that Sirius is in fact a double star, which was unknown until quite modern times. From this starting place he explores the astronomical and mythological knowledge of the classical cultures and the ancient middle east, finding confirmation in the lore of Greece and Egypt, Pythagorean physics and chaos theory, which may actually verify some form of extraterrestrial contact. It is important to emphasize that this man is no Erich von Daaniken, but a serious scholar and the author of a number of excellent books. His work has been fairly respectfully covered in sources ranging from scientific journals to TIME magazine, and while still controversial it is also quite painstakingly documented. Apparently it is also threatening enough to the status quo to have experienced some attempts to suppress it; after the first publication Temple allegedly came under covert pressure from various intelligence agencies. It seems that Sirius is a serious matter; in the occult tradition this double star is considered the Sun behind the Sun, and our solar system orbits the Sirian center in this arm of our galaxy. Arcane writers such as Robert Anton Wilson and Kenneth Grant have drawn extensively upon Temple's work, and I recommend this challenging and thought provoking volume to all who dare to seek beyond the horizons we think we know.
If you can find it I also suggest his Conversations With Eternity: Ancient Man's Attempts to Know the Future (Rider & Co., 1984); it explores the oracular from divination by entrails on up to the I Ching. Very thought-provoking, and recently, extensively, and rather strangely rewritten as Netherworld (Arrow Books, 2003).
 
 

The Seven Faces Of Darkness: Practical  Typhonian Magic by Don Webb, Runa-Raven Press 1996, 104 pages, illustrated, bibliography.
Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to The Left Hand Path by Don Webb, Runa-Raven Press 1999, 120 pages.

There are relatively few books that successfully balance competent scholarship with the actual practice of magick, and fewer still which openly espouse the shadows of the Left Hand Path. The works of Don Webb, current High Priest of the Temple of Set, do both.
Seven Faces Of Darkness is in a sense a user's manual to the rich field of sorcery that grew out of the declining days of the Roman Empire. As the forces of a rapidly reorganizing christianity took control, there paradoxically arose a movement to challenge it which was more sophisticated, more tolerant, and in many ways more humane. Pagan Syncretism drew upon all the diverse spiritual traditions and magical techniques of the age: the complex gods of Greco-Roman Egypt, the gnostic sects of Coptic christianity and esoteric judaism, the varied philosophies and cults of cosmopolitan centers such as Alexandria.
Mr. Webb provides an excellent historical overview of this world, with a special emphasis upon Set/Typhon, the god of rebellion and magick, of chaos and foreign influences. This deity rose and fell in influence through several periods in ancient Egypt, and has found renewal in recent years in the works of magi such as Aleister Crowley, Kenneth Grant and Michael Aquino. By exploring the deep mythological background of Set, the author reveals an aspect of ancient paganism that is too often lacking in some (but not all) of the recent neopagan revivals: the true complexity, diversity, and power of the gods in the ancient world. When modern magicians fully immerse their imagination and understanding in the intense study of such traditions, the vast currents of power that made the old gods and goddesses so real and immediate a presence to their devotees begin to flow through new channels. Every school of magick or witchcraft ultimately draws upon the most ancient traditions and makes them new again; to take full advantage of the original sources for such practices is to forge a link with the archetypes that inspired them.
There are a large number of texts recording such spells, collected in the absolutely essential The Greek Magical Papyri In Translation by Hans Dieter Betz (University of Chicago Press, 1986). Perhaps the best known is the fragment of ritual known as the Invocation of the Bornless One, employed by both the Golden Dawn and Aleister Crowley and his heirs. Mr. Webb includes a number of these writings, along with detailed instructions for the materials and practices required for their use, and sources for further exploration. This, in essence, is what makes a book on magick valuable: the advice of someone with firsthand experience, rather than mere theory.

With his second book he advances into the present: Uncle Setnakt's Essential Guide to The Left Hand Path presents his understanding of the work of a contemporary Setian sorcerer. Divided into four parts, it opens with his definitions of the philosophy and psychology of the LHP. It continues with the practices and workings of the tradition, and then The Grand Initiation, a remarkable series of rituals to different aspects of the dark gods. This work contains a uniquely practical and well-thought-out system of both occult and mundane personal development, and it closes with a section of Resources including books and film and popular culture. There is also the most explicit available exploration of the Temple of Set, which has also accomplished a feat often notably absent in the history of magical groups: an apparently orderly succession from the founder, the sometimes controversial Michael Aquino, leading on to the current High Priest Don Webb. The Temple of Set is known for demanding considerably more scholarship and discipline from its members than some currents of magick; their official web site is located at http://www.xeper.org, or they may be reached at Temple of Set, PO Box 470307, San Francisco, CA 94147. I find Mr. Webb's writings to be sharp, incisive, thoughtful, and clearly of value to any sorcerer genuinely involved with the radical transformation of the Self.
 
 

The Book of Solomon's Magick by Carroll 'Poke' Runyon, MA. The Church of Hermetic Sciences, Inc.1997, 232 pages, illustrated, bibliography. The Magick of Solomon, companion video, 75 minutes.

Carroll 'Poke' Runyon has been operating his magical order, the Ordo Templi Astartes, for over three decades now; and has done some very creative and important work in deciphering the mysteries of the Goetia, also known as the Lesser Key of Solomon , and the lists of spirits it contains.  In many ways he takes a pagan approach, drawing upon the gods and goddesses of the ancient Phoenician mythos in the Middle East, and celebrating their festivals. This may surprise those who think of Solomonic magick as a strictly christian tradition, but these spirits extend back further in time than the medieval survivals whose forms we know. His use of the Phoenician alphabet instead of the Hebrew is an innovation I particularly like, as I find the letter forms simpler, more primal, and considerably easier to distinguish.
Mr. Runyon includes the history of his personal experience in this work, and also very practical advice on the making of the temple furnishings; the use of large sheets of plywood to make a permanent yet portable Circle and Triangle of Art strike me as excellent alternatives to chalk, paint, or cloth to delineate these patterns.
The core of his teaching, however, centers around the proper use of the crystal and mirror for the manifestation of the spirits invoked.  Recent works on magick recommend the inefficient use of a censor of incense in the Triangle, and the attempt to visibly materialize entities in the smoke; he argues that traditionally sorcerers utilized the technique of scrying, and that this secret became confused and lost over time. Specifically, he recommends the use of the Black Mirror (most familiar to readers of Franz Bardon), flanked by candles and reflecting the face of the medium, as much more effective when set in the Triangle for demonic evocations; this is paralleled by the use of the crystal within the circle for angelic invocations. He provides documentary evidence for his theory, which I find entirely convincing, and has also discovered an important key linking of the 72 Spirits of the Brazen Vessel in the Goetia with the 72 corresponding angels in the text called the Almadel.
The accompanying video covers the major elements of the book, and also portrays actual ritual workings within the Temple, clearly illustrating the Order's working and bringing the practice to life. There are many armchair magicians in this world; Mr. Runyon is not one of them. He can be contacted at CHS Publications, PO Box 403, Silverado, CA 92676.

Goetic Evocation by Steve Savedow, Eschaton 1996, 203 pages.

Steve Savedow is perhaps familiar to many from his serviceable introduction, The Magician's Workbook; the second volume of the series is entitled Goetic Evocation, and delves into the same dark realms as our last review. In a similar vein, Mr. Savedow presents his own researches into the goetic spirits, with full correspondences and illustrations of their seals, and also includes accounts of several of his own workings. He surveys both the magical and biblical literature, and provides a clear digest of all the available thought upon the Qlipoth, or dark inverse spheres of the reversed Tree of Life. He also includes a first person account of the society and geography of Hell, provided by demons, and appends the remarkable text of the Testament of Solomon.
As paired with Mr. Runyon’s book and video, both of these works are essential user's manuals for any magician wishing to perform the traditional varieties of ceremonial magick, and I have only lightly touched upon the range of history and ritual contained within them.  A final thought:

One of the foremost researchers into the realms of the dark side of the Tree is Mr. Kenneth Grant, whose Nightside of Eden (1977) is virtually a grimoire of the Cells of the Qlipoth. In his Beyond The Mauve Zone (1999) he devotes much discussion to influences from Outside appearing linked to the color mauve, which he associates with the inbetweeness states beyond dreaming (and with the demon star Algol). In light of this, I was quite amused by two odd synchronicities in the books I have just reviewed:
In the record of one of his evocations Mr. Savedow describes a spirit manifesting out of a swirling mist: "....color was not discernible  at first, but soon became noticeable as a small dot of grayish purple or mauve. Some effect was taking shape within the swirling cloud...."
Likewise, Mr. Runyon observes: "As I continued to stare deep into the dark mirror the panther metamorphosed into a deformed, fungoid face that glowed in fluorescent mauve."

Apparently, It's a mauve, mauve, mauve, mauve Otherworld!