5,945 words
Sympathy For The Devil: The True Story of The Process Church of the Final Judgment
Director: Neil Edwards
Appearing: Malachi McCormick, Timothy Wyllie, and other former members, along with George Clinton, Lucien Greaves, John Waters, Genesis P-Orridge, and others.
1 hour, 46 minutes; 2015
“What about the Process?” I said. “Don’t they have a place here? Maybe a delicatessen or something? With a few tables in the back? (more…)
Alan Moore’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: a modern take on the motifs of the weird nineteenth century.
5,476 words
It’s ill to loose the bands that God decreed to bind;
Still we be the children of the heather and the wind.
Far away from home, O it’s still for you and me
That the broom is blowing bonnie in the north countrie. [1]
Even below the Missouri-Compromise Line, the mornings now have a delicious coolness, faltering on the edge of a “chill,” and I found myself yearning for an old-fashioned, nineteenth-century ghost story. (more…)
1,423 words
The most bizarre cultural battle of 2020 emerged last week. Frederick Joseph, a semi-prominent black author and Democratic surrogate, shared with Twitter his horrifying ordeal with an Airbnb rental over Labor Day weekend. Mr. Joseph booked a home in an allegedly rural area. When he arrived at the property he found all kinds of Satanic (more…)
Robert Plant (left) and Jimmy Page (right), Chicago, 1977.
2,100 words
Someone told me there’s a girl out there
With love in her eyes and flowers in her hair
— “Going to California”
Led Zeppelin’s back catalog already includes songs like “Ramble On” from the rocky Led Zeppelin II and the melancholic classic “Tangerine” from the flower-powered III. (more…)
1,444 words
The Peoples Temple, the utopian death cult best known for the Jonestown Massacre, recorded a gospel album under the name of the People’s Temple Choir in 1973. Far from an amateurish production, the album He’s Able features slick studio trickery and a surprisingly talented backing band for the choir to swing cuts of pop songs, (more…)
1,627 words
Changes can be considered the very first example of a neofolk band. Formed in 1969 by cousins Robert N. Taylor and Nicholas Tesluk, Changes has its roots in the earliest days of the folk revival and hippie scenes in the United States. (more…)
1,507 words
Aleister Crowley’s essay “Cocaine” is not among his most-discussed works, being overshadowed by those more esoteric, salacious, or dense. Nonetheless, “Cocaine” is an entry worth noting in the Crowley catalog on account of its prophetic nature and as an insight into Crowley’s personal philosophy and mental state.
Crowley begins with a tantalizing weave spun about the seemingly supernatural powers of cocaine; referring to it as an “herb,” he describes its capacity to provide man with near-immediate self-satisfaction and thumos-imbued energy. (more…)
4,533 words
To say that Aleister Crowley was a very colorful individual would be an understatement. He was known for his many talents arising from his great intellect, as well as some disagreeable personality quirks. In his time, some called him the “world’s most wicked man,” which certainly was an overstatement. He was a favorite target for hordes of third-rate journalists. We understand!
He called himself “The Great Beast 666” and took it seriously. (more…)
2,254 words
Current 93 is a neofolk group fronted by David Tibet. Its name is derived from Aleister Crowley’s numerological manipulation of the words Thelema and agape, the “93 Current” of the present age.
If that’s not weird enough for you, it gets better! (more…)
1,784 words
Released 12 years ago yesterday, March 3rd, 2008, Death in June’s The Rule of Thirds is a somber and introspective record that tussles with the concepts of aging and death, love lost, and the decay of the surrounding world. It’s recorded in the characteristic stripped-back, solemn, guitar-centric style of Douglas Pearce, Death in June’s sole constant member, (more…)
Neville
4,196 words
Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)
It is with relief that one turns to Neville’s biography; the bright Sun, soft breezes and blue ocean of the Caribbean replace the dark and soggy little Plymouth Brethren colony.[1]
Neville speaks of his father many times – itself a clue – but here is one of my favorites, and it includes much interesting material for our considerations:
Aleister Crowley, presumably after having consumed his daily drug regimen.
4,286 words
Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)
“It’s when one gets to the parents that a bottomless pit opens. My dear, such a pair.”[1]
“Can we ever be certain that it was not our mother while darning our socks who began that subtle change in our minds? (more…)
2,418 words
Vox Day
Jordanetics: A Journey Into the Mind of Humanity’s Greatest Thinker
Castalia House, 2018
I have a confession: I was once a fan.
I was recommending the works and lectures of Dr. Jordan Peterson to friends, strangers, and family. (more…)
3,582 words
Introduction
It would be utter foolishness to underestimate the influence of spiritual and religious currents usually described as “occult”. While these concepts are not being displayed in mainstream society and most of the public is unaware of what they actually consist of, they have and always had the power to lure and change the worldview of those few individuals who dared to take the occult seriously. (more…)
107 words / 63:58
Audio version: To listen in a player, use the one above or click here. To download the mp3, right-click here and choose “save link as” or “save target as.” To subscribe to the CC podcast RSS feed, click here.
Greg Johnson and John Morgan convene another episode of Counter-Currents Weekly. (more…)
8,319 words
Jason Reza Jorjani
Prometheus and Atlas
London: Arktos, 2016
“A man is, whatever room he is in.”[1]
Christy Mattling: Tellin’ them innocent kids stories about the dead and their hauntings! That’s the work of the devil. You’ll pay for it. The Devil! That man is the Devil Himself!
Renee Coliveil: Oh shut up, you potentate of righteousness![2] (more…)
3,156 words
Joy Division left us with the most relentlessly depressing body of songs since Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. In some ways, though, this singularity of approach, this lack of light touches to add color to the palate, is responsible for making them enduringly fascinating. (more…)
5,274 words
A Constant Reader has called my attention (keep those cards and letters coming in, folks!) to some critical commentary on the magical writings of Baron Evola[1] by none other than John Michael Greer, who is Past Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America and current head of the Druidical Order of the Golden Dawn. (more…)
2,512 words
Katherine Beem and Andy Paciorek, eds.
Folk Horror Revival: Field Studies
Wyrd Harvest Press, 2015
The term “folk horror” is a relatively recent invention that can be applied to a wide range of artistic creations, not all of them belonging to the horror genre. It was popularized by the 2010 BBC TV documentary A History of Horror where the term was used to describe three horror films: Witchfinder General
1,060 words
Paul Waggener
On Magic: A No-Bullshit Primer on Working the Will
Lynchburg,Virginia: Operation Werewolf: 2015 (e book)
There are very few writings that deal with genuine magic in a straightforward way. Hocus-pocus, if you will, permeates every aspect of magical instruction—from the mainstream Law of Attraction books to Esoteric Runology tomes based upon initiatory occultism. (more…)
5,169 words
Richard B. Spence
Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult
Port Townsend, Wash.: Feral House, 2008
“The great scientists, the artists, the philosophers, the religious leaders — all maniacs. What else but a blind singleness of purpose could have given focus to their purpose? Mania, my dear Mister Bond, is as priceless as genius. (more…)
1,120 words
Watching Carol Morley’s new film, The Falling, I found myself wondering, slightly obsessively, exactly which year it was set in. I settled on 1970 because the visual cues in the home of the main character, Lydia, suggested that strange point in time where hallucinatory sixties psychedelia ossified into lurid home furnishings. Subsequent googling revealed that it was set in 1969. (more…)
3,047 words
The Weiser Book of Horror and the Occult: Hidden Magic, Occult Truths, and the Stories That Started It All
Edited and Introduced by Lon Milo DuQuette
San Francisco: Weiser Books, 2014
“What would your feelings be, seriously, if your cat or your dog began to talk to you, and to dispute with you in human accents? You would be overwhelmed with horror. I am sure of it. And if the roses in your garden sang a weird song, you would go mad.” — Arthur Machen, “The White People” (more…)
5,685 words
Matthew Levi Stevens
The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs
Oxford: Mandrake of Oxford, 2014[1]
My very first question to him, a living, breathing, Beatnik legend in the flesh was . . . “Tell me about magick?” William was not in the least surprised by my question. “Care for a drink?” he asked. Putting on the TV to watch The Man from U.N.C.L.E., he explained “Reality is not really all it’s cracked up to be, you know . . .”—Genesis P-Orridge (more…)
3,618 words
Erik Davis
Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica
Portland, Or.: Yeti Publishing, 2010
“I find the internet-driven pressure to make pieces short, data-dense, and crisply opinionated — as opposed to thoughtful, multi-perspectival, and lyrical — rather oppressive, leading to a certain kind of superficial smugness as well as general submission to the forces of reference over reflection.” — Erik Davis[1]
2,549 words
“So check it out, and next time you go cruising down the street, take a look around. We are Franklin Franklin.” — Jeff Frankas
After reading Jeff Frankas’ excellent review of Small Apartments[1] I did what I usually do in such circumstances–head over to Amazon to see if there are any used copies in the $0.25 range (my current book budget). Once there, I discovered that it has already been made into a movie, a veritable “underground hit” with big stars like . . . Billy Crystal. (more…)
1,399 words
Mircea Eliade’s The Portugal Journal
4,463 words
Translated by Cologero Salvo
The occult war is when the forces of worldwide subversion lead from behind the scenes, adopting means that almost always elude ordinary methods of investigation. (more…)
Great Eleusis Frieze, Eleusis Museum, Greece, late 5th c. BCE
9,609 words
Translated by Bruno Cariou
It is not easy, today, to give an exact idea of what is meant by Initiation and to define the figure of the ‘Initiate’. The main difficulty lies in the necessity of referring to a vision of the world and man, and to structures, which belong essentially to traditional civilisations, distant from the present one, not only from the modern mentality and culture, but also, to a large extent, from the religion which has come to predominate in the West.
