Salamander and Sons going out of business

Sad news: The occult publisher Salamander and Sons is closing shop.

According to the official closure announcement, this small occult press has "collapsed financially" and has ceased publishing. Until the end of March 2016, it will remain possible to purchase books from them (at a discounted price). And then...

...stock unsold after March 31 will be destoryed.

Please join me in the collective weeping over the death of this small occult press.

Salamander and Sons catalog...

...S&S catalog continued.

S&S closure announcement.

Great Book of Shadows Hunt 2013

The books work much better after sitting on a Secret Chief (aka my dear cat and familiar--the evil Barti).

*sound of howling bagpipes*

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Today, we announce the start of the Great Book of Shadows Hunt of 2013. Ye shall go forth and search your lodge's attic and the basement of your High Priestess and her freezer and all the other places that a Third Order member might hide something until thee finds the most secret book of magic--the grimoire and Book of Shadows that J.K. Rowling borrowed her material from.

The prize if you find it? All the powerful magics of the Harry Potter universe. Including the ability to create a flying broom. So go ye forth and find that book because I need to borrow a flying broom from someone by tomorrow.

*more delightful music from bagpipes*

What you are still sitting there?! You think that this is a joke?! It is not--no, this is the big news of the day--Harry Potter style magic is real!

Or so claims the grand-daughter of Bob Larson and her two super-friends.

Yes, the grand-daughter of Bob Larson and her two super-friends are headed to England to save the world from the evil of Harry Potter, which has caused an increase in number of people joining the ranks of Satanism.

Not only is all magic evil because it comes from the power of Satan despite what Potter and company would like you to believe, claims the most reliable of sources, eighteen year-old granddaughter of Bob Larson, Brynne Larson, but you can also learn Harry Potter style magic from a book kept by a real witch.

"The spells and things that you're reading in the Harry Potter books, those aren't just something that are made up," friend of Brynne Larson, eighteen year-old Tess Scherbenback, revealed in a shocking video that threatens the security of all the secretive Third Order and High Coven members. "Those are actual spells. Those are things that came from witchcraft books."

And we all know that we can trust this information, right? After all, the Larson clan would not lie to us to get us to shell out for their own personal brand of snake-oil, would they?

Are hardcover occult books worth the cost?

Hmm, I am a little slow some days--I still not be able to figure out who said what.

One of the latest bits of news is that the ROGD is almost out of signed hardbound copies of Pat Zalewski's Golden Dawn Rituals and Commentaries. The few remaining copies are currently for sale through the HOGD site.

This got me thinking about something--are hardcover occult books really worth the cost?

In this case of this particular book, I brought a signed hardcover shortly after they came out. I picked my favorite number (the sum of the traditional planets). For me, it was worth the cost. I brought a copy of the previous edition from Pat years ago. It is a book that I consult quite often; it is also a book that I have inflicted bits and pieces of onto my fellow and lady lodge members. Given the amount of use that I have gotten out of the previous edition, I figured that spending some extra money on a hardcover copy was well worth it.

My friends who are familiar with my magical practices can tell what books that I use; they are the books held together with packing tape, or which have fallen out of their covers with the pages now residing in three-ring binders. The exceptions are the books that I own in hardcover...and even they show some wear and tear if they are among the books that I actually use. There is a red hardcover that I own that is blackish with fingerprints.

777 and Other KBL Works (Crowley), Golden Dawn (Llewellyn edition--has been replaced twice), Godwin's Cabalistic Encyclopedia, Modern Magic (the old edition--Kraig), a couple of reference books by Scott Cunningham, a couple of books by Pat Zalewski, and a book by the Ciceros: all of these are taped and falling apart. There are a few others.

On the other hand, I have got some books that show absolutely no wear and tear at all.

"This book is in mint condition. How long have you had it?"
"Since it came out. Karen special-ordered it for me."
"Huh. So in ten years, you have opened it how many times?"
"About two dozen. It is a pretty useless book."
"Yes, I can tell--it is still in mint condition. Still you could probably sell it."
"I will, once I find someone who is willing to submit to highway robbery."

Of course, that is the potential problem with hardcover occult books. Especially those from unknown writers or source books you have never actually seen. You could end up with an expensive hardcover that is good only for weighing down papers that you are gluing together (an actual use of heavy hardcover books in my house).

But overall, I will admit that hardcover editions--the limited editions, that is--tend to hold their value, at least from a collector's viewpoint. And occasionally, even one of the useless ones will leap up in value--provided that you can locate the right buyer--making the investment worthwhile. If you can actually use them, it is a bonus (though in all fairness, you should never use a copy that you brought solely for investment purposes--use of a book wrecks its resale value).

Qlippothic Color Scale

Colors of death, decay and things that go bump in the night.

Recently, I have been taking part in an online conversation about whether there is a color scale for the Qlippoth; and if so, what would the basis of that color scale be. My personal gut reaction is that it would not just be various shades of black or a mixture of the Prince (Vav) and Princess (Heh final) color scales. No, it would be based on things that disgust and make one sick to one's stomach (unless you are into necromancy and zombies---no judgment here, hehe). Rotten meat, slime, the inside of the dead organs, things like that. The photo here is a part of a page (page 28) from Drawing and Painting the Undead by Keith Thompson; this particular chart shows the Color Spectrum of Death. I believe that this little chart illustrates what I am talking about. If it does not, feel free to visit your local funeral home or city morgue. 

Advertising or News Suicide After Reading a Book

Today on one of the Golden Dawn message boards, I saw some bizzarre postings that were pretty much gibberish---much like the van down the street that says (written in masking tape) "Hope" and "Underwear" and "Wear clean underwear." Except that the van makes more sense than the replies that I was reading which seemed to be merely random words with a few links tossed in for good measure.
And I found myself wondering if anyone ever actually clicks on the links posted that way. (Heavens knows that Google ignores such links.)

This thought in turn made me wonder about a book inquiry I saw a few months ago---one that I suspect was a secret book advertising campaign.

The inquiry was about whether anyone had read a certain occult book. The person claimed that the book really freaked them out after they read it, and that they also heard that someone committed suicide after reading the book.

Given the fact that the inquiry appeared on several Golden Dawn forums at the same time, and was from a person that none of us had ever seen before, I think that most of us raked it up as an advertising campaign.

When someone pointed out that it seemed to be an advertising campaign, the person claimed not to be the writer. Of course, the proof of the pudding may be that none of us have seen this person post anything ever since. And so it goes.

Of course, it is possible that someone may have committed suicide after reading the book. But I would also like to point out that a lot of people who have committed suicide have also read the Bible. We hardly ever blame the Bible for causing suicides...so one has to consider why that is.

Whenever I have actually seen a book blamed for something, it is either a slow news day (complete with a journalist trying to spice up a story), someone trying to smear a group (ex. playing Dungeons and Dragons causes people to commit suicide and worship the Devil), or someone trying to assign blame to (or explain) some really wanked-out events. For instance, look at the number of video games and movies blamed for school shootings.

By the way, a lot of people do not see the approach of suicide (or mass violence) in others. Anyone who finds an occult book in the library of a loved one who committed suicide or did a violent crime will blame the occult. It is easier for the survivors to blame the occult than to admit that they did not see the long term mental problems that led to the suicide or mass violence.

(People also will blame the occult to explain why someone became the victim of violence. My own family has an example of that tendency.)

Anyways, as I already said, I suspect that the inquiry was merely a ruse to heighten the dark allure of an occult book.

And I wonder if it resulted in any book sales at all. Or did people in the community just ignore the book for the simple reason that it was such a clumsy advertising ploy. I ignored it, and I bet that you did too.