Many people associate Surrealism with politics, but it was also permeated by occult ideas, a fact often overlooked by art historians. This fascinating book concerns the magical subculture and the central role it played in the development of a great art movement. This occult influence goes beyond general themes to the movement's very heart. The antinomian stance of Surrealism can be traced directly to the influence of radical nineteenth century magi such as Eliphas Levi, whose Dogma and Ritual o High Magic was widely read by Surrealism's ideologues. Amongst these we find its progenitor Andre Breton. The book shows how many Surrealists and their predecessors were steeped in magical ideas: Kandinsky, with his involvement with Theosophy, the sorcery of Salvador Dali; the alchemy of Pablo Picasso and the shamanism of Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington. Surrealism did not establish itself in Britain until the 1930s but a select few felt something in the air. Almost ten years before the Surrealist experiments with automatic drawing, an obscure English artist, Austin Osman Spare had perfected the technique. Nadia Choucha shows, convincingly, that occult and surrealist philosophies were often interchangeable. Surrealism and the Occult is seminal reading for art historians and occultists alike, while artists will find it a vital guide to the unlocking of the imagination.

Surrealism & the Occult

Arts & Photography

Nadia Choucha

History & Criticism

Mandrake of Oxford

Timothy d'Arch Smith is a well-known bibliographer, reviewer and antiquarian bookseller with a special interest in the by-ways of literature, notably the occult and the curious.  For Aleister Crowley a book was a talisman and their every part right down to colour, dimension, and price was symbolic. He also used magical techniques to gain literary success--thus new editions of Crowley's writing multiply daily, tantalizing the bibliographer. All the more indispensable is this authoritative guide to his magical first editions.  Timothy d'Arch Smith, widely acknowledged as a leading expert on Crowley and on underground literature, offers several shorter articles on:  *Oxford's demonologist Montague Summers;  *R A Caton and his Fortune Press;  *Sexual prophet Ralph Chubb;  *Florence Farr;  *The British Library Private Case;  *and Timothy d'Arch Smith.  *For this new edition, he also adds an extra chapter on Crowley.     ''...one could hardly wish for a more stimulating guide...''  -The London Magazine  ''One of the more immediately striking things about the book is its gentle humour.''  - Time Out

The Books of the Beast: A guide to Aleister Crowley's Magical 1st Editions

Literature & Fiction

D'Arch Smith, Timothy

Smith, T. d'Arch

d'Arch Smith, T.

British & Irish

The story of an enigmatic 18th-century sorcerer whose work still influences occultists. This biography of Francis Barrett also describes his pioneering experiments in balloon flight and discusses his teachers and peers, and the subsequent progress of his disciples.

The Flying Sorcerer

FRANCIS X. KING

Biographies & Memoirs

The Cannibal Within (Quotations) "The truth is not beautiful - it stands on cloven hooves - it is covered in coagulated blood - but it is the truth." "Ingestion is the ultimate act of domination. The victim is absorbed by the eater--body and soul are absorbed--and all that remains is excrement." "You must torture it first, she whispered, with perverse logic. "Terror-stricken animals taste better." "Man needs lies like children need toys." "In this reality of ours, gods are simply expert players who move grotesquely carved pieces in a game without rules." "Self-destruction would be a brief, almost autoerotic free-fall into a great velvet darkness." "Had not the great Yukio Mishima killed himself with a dagger? Thrusting and wet--his hand one with the weapon--Mishima called suicide the 'ultimate masturbation.'" "Crawling into your soul, we can brutalize you without even touching you." "Nailed to the crosses were two thieves. Naked except for crowns of thorns, they were called 'Perverted by Wealth" and 'Degraded by Poverty.'" 'Error is like sin,' hissed a voice in the dream. 'The deeper it is, the less the victim suspects its existence.'" 'In the next world--as in this world--beauty and danger, seduction and torment, are indissolubly linked." "Devoted to wicked science--the hostile domination of nature--the complex is composed of thousands of gloomy laboratories. Here, legions of amoral researchers--greedy for knowledge--commit crimes against bodies and ideas." "In my dreams I kissed her in a playful and amorous way, and then we made love--in the fresh air--the way wild animals do."

The Cannibal Within

Mark Mirabello

Contemporary

You're in your bed. It's dark, you hear footsteps coming up the stairs and into your room. There's someone there - a presence. They lie on you or beside you, perhaps even gripping you tightly, crushing you into the bed. You can't move. There may be a sound, a grunt or a strange smell. Time passes, you are paralysed with fear. Eventually the entity changes, perhaps expanding or contracting, moving away from you, sinking to the floor. With a great effort of will you manage to move the tip of your finger, then the hand until movement returns to your whole body and the experience ends. You have been  visited by the old 'hag'.   Dreams,  the real theatre or perhaps battlefield of magick, influenced by cosmic tides that ebb and flow through us as they did the ancient Egyptians. Over the millennia we have lost contact with these tides, and stand alienated from Nature.To restore that first 'Eden' we must undertake an exercise in the archaeology of knowledge. We must reconstruct the ancient Egyptian Wheel of the Year, revealing archaic, predynastic Mysteries, the Lunar Mysteries of Horus & Seth.  Contents:  Kiss of the Vampire / Origin of the Vampire Myth / Egyptian Psychology /  Lucky and Unlucky / Supernatural Assault/The Wheel of the Year in ancient Egypt/The Lunar-Stellar Calendar of Horus & Seth/Deities attending the Northern Constellations / Oracles & Lunar Omina  / Lunar diary

Supernatural Assault in Ancient Egypt: Seth, Renpet & Moon Magick

History

Morgan, Mogg

Africa

In the autumn of 1888 the streets of London were streets of terror. The cause - a series of mysterious and apparently motiveless murders. The victims were all prostitutes. This title presents a factual reconstruction of the crimes and a fresh theory, based on modern methods of detection, to solve the greatest mystery in British criminology.

Jack the Ripper in Fact and Fiction

ODell, Robin

True Crime

From 'one of the most articulate occult writers of recent years' (Fate Magazine) comes the definitive book on Rosaleen Norton. In the 1950s Norton was popularly known in Australia as the 'Witch of Kings Cross'-a colourful, bohemian figure from Sydney's red light district. 'Roie', as she was often called, could be recognized by her dark flashing eyes, her mysterious arched eyebrows and her devilish smile, but beyond her exotic appearance there was a lot more to her than was generally realized. A natural trance artist, she experimented with self-hypnosis and as a result of her visionary explorations portrayed a wide range of supernatural beings in her paintings and drawings. However her 'pagan' art plunged her into continuous controversy. Widely criticised for allegedly bizarre sexual practices with her lover, Gavin Greenlees, she was regarded very much as a renegade from mainstream society. It is now clear that Rosaleen Norton was one of this century's finest occult artists, and comparisons can be made between her visionary drawings and those of English trance occultist Austin Osman Spare. This biography-the first account of her life as a whole-provides a detailed evaluation of both her magical beliefs and her art and includes a fascinating selection of previously unpublished material. Nevill Drury was born in England in 1947 but has lived most of his life in Australia. An internationally published writer in the fields of magic, occult mythology and the paranormal, he is the author of Don Juan, Mescalito and Modern Magic, Inner Visions, The Elements of Shamanism and The Occult Experience-among many other books. Praise for the Australian edition: '. . . a fascinating study. Drury's understanding of the occult and spiritual realms makes Norton's art and life comprehensible. . . ' Sydney Morning Herald

Pan's Daughter - the magical world of Roseleen Norton

DRURY, Nevill

Norton, Roseleen

1st Edition.Mandrake of Oxford, 2002. Paperback. Book Condition: Brand New. 79 pages.

Thelemic Magick I: Being the Proceedings of the 9th Thelemic Symposium (Vol 1) (2002-09-27)

Religion & Spirituality

Occult & Paranormal

From the author of Helrunar: manual of rune magick, and Visual Magick, a handbook of freestyle shamanism, comes the definitive study of magical trance and possession techniques. The author is inspired by the Nordic tradition of Seidr, said to have been taught to the human race by Odin. The book provides an extensive survey of the manifestation of this powerful technique through several related magical traditions - shamanism, mesmerism, draconian cults and even the nightside of European paganism. Seething is probably the most useful magical technique I have ever learned. I first was taken by the pleasure of it. My body felt warm and sensual, and seething in the hips felt quite sexual. I liked the feeling of my body taking over where the shaking was first voluntary - but I could still have some control, making the shaking stronger or more subtle. After a while I started to see visions - something that very rarely happens to me. I could see (with my physical eyes, not astrally!) the surface of the land in the centre of the circle rippling, like waves of energy. It was a really moving experience in a site that - until then - had not been particularly 'special' to me... it ..has had a major impact upon my magical work which used to be largely indoors, as at last I have found a way that I can work outdoors. This gives my magical work a potency that it simply didn't have before. - Shantidevi quoted in chapter twelve 'Rhythms and the Mind'

Seidways: Shaking, Swaying and Serpent Mysteries

Fries, Jan

New Age & Spirituality

Ayurveda is an Asian medical system which has its beginnings in India during approximately the sixth century BC and thrives even to the present day. Medical ideas underpin a great deal of Eastern thought especially Tantrism, alchemy, yoga and the science of love. This book is not intended as a series of health tips or as a textbook for the clinical practice of medicine, which in the Ayurveda tradition requires at least seven years intensive training. The book is aimed at students and lovers of South Asian culture, perhaps also anthropologists and others with a need for a straightforward introduction to the core principles of another scientific tradition.

Medicine of the Gods: Basic Principles of Ayurvedic Medicine (Mandrake Ancient Science)

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

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