Gregory Arnott on RAW and magick [link fixed]

Apuleius Charlton gave a talk at Confluence on Robert Anton Wilson and magick, and now you can listen to an MP3 file of his presentation. (Sorry about the bad link -- it's fixed now).

Apuleius  has a strong interest in magick in the Aleister Crowley tradition and also influenced by figures such as Wilson and Alan Moore. He is currently a student at West Virginia University. He led this blog's online reading group discussion of the Hilaritas Press edition of Email to the Universe and has served as a volunteer copyeditor for Hilaritas. 

About the talk, Apuleius says, ""I would like to note that many of the ideas in this talk are derived directly from points made by Alan and Steve Moore (no relation) as well as Robert Anton Wilson, naturally, in their interviews and published works. I merely synthesized their ideas and have had some experiences inspired by their lives."

About 42 minutes long, recorded July 28.

At Confluence with the RAW fans

I'm at Confluence in Pittsburgh, where Bobby Campbell is exhibiting his interior illustrations for the Historical Illuminatus! books just republished by Hilaritas Press.  To protect the copyrights of the artists, photography inside the art show is not allowed, but I was given permission to take a photo at the entrance of the art show, and as you can see, Bobby's display is visible from the hallway. Bobby could not get to the convention right away, so Greg Arnott and I saw his display before Bobby did.

This is the artwork that Rasa posted at the Hilaritas Press announcement. Greg explained many of the symbols and details in Bobby's work to me, and pointed out the Ouroboros at the top of the picture.

Also Friday, I interviewed Propaganda Anonymous (with some help from Greg) on  Skype about his upcoming biography of Robert Anton Wilson. It was a meaty interview, lasting about an hour. I've made an MP3 audio file of the interview which I'll release soon.

Find the others in PIttsburgh update

It's time to come to Pittsburgh and find the others! This weekend, in and near the Confluence SF convention. Here's an illustrated guide and update.

Friday: I will interview Prop Anon at 4 p.m. I can't give you a location yet, as I apparently will have to do so in my hotel room, but connect with me via social media (@jacksontom on Twitter) and I'll try to let you know when I know. Or try email: tom.jackson (at) gmail.com. Or if you know Bobby or Greg, contact them.

Saturday:  2-4 p.m. RAW coffee talk, with Bobby Campbell and me, details above. I will talk about Robert Shea. Bobby has two talks he can offer, one on his adventures illustrating "Historical Illuminatus" and one on the Kenneth Noid-Dominos Pizza incident.

9 p.m. -- Greg Arnott will talk about RAW and magic, in my hotel room. Exact location to be announced at the coffee event, or contact me via Twitter or email.

Sunday: 3 p.m., presentation by Bobby Campbell at the convention, "Living in a RAW World."

Art: The convention art show will feature Bobby Campbell's new illustrations for the three Historical Illuminatus Chronicles books just released by Hilaritas. Confluence is the only place to see Bobby's exhibition anywhere in North America in 2018.

The rest of the time you can hang out with us or enjoy what promises to be an excellent convention, featuring the prominent writer Catherynne Valente, Geoffrey Landis, Mary Turzillo and others.

Thanks to Bobby for the wonderful flyers.

Find the others in Pittsburgh the last weekend of July

Time to find the others? Here's an update on Confluence, the science fiction convention in Pittsburgh at the end of July, where I can guarantee you'll meet at least three hardcore RAW fans: Bobby Campbell, Greg Arnott and myself. Confluence (July 27-29) [link] is a well-run science fiction convention that has been around for years; the main writer guest of honor, Catherynne Valente, is considered a major figure. I just finished the audiobook of her interesting and unusual novel, Radiance.

I asked the convention if we could have a panel discussion devoted to Robert Anton Wilson, and a few hours in one of the rooms for some RAW programming. My panel request ultimately was rejected. The only official time the convention offered was a slot at 3 p.m. Sunday.

So here are how things are shaking out at this point; much of the RAW programming will be unconnected to the convention, which means that anyone who makes their way to Pittsburgh can take part, without having to buy a convention membership:

Bobby Campbell will have an art show at the convention of his interior illustrations for the new Hilaritas Press editions of the Historical Illuminatus books. It's the only place this year to see the art in North America (please see the flyer below). You will have to have a convention membership to see it and to attend his Sunday talk. 

At 4 p.m. Friday, I will interview Prop Anon via Skype about his new biography of Robert Anton Wilson. I'll probably do this from my hotel room, figuring out some way to let people know the room number via Twitter direct message or text message once I find out. Friday night, Greg and I will likely get together for dinner and drinks at some convivial location, and any other RAW fans in town are invited to join us.

I have reserved space from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Anchor and Anvil Coffee Bar in Coraopolis (the same town in Pennsylvania where the convention is being held); I plan to give a presentation on Robert Shea, and Bobby Campbell has a couple of presentations he can offer, one on his adventures illustrating "Historical Illuminatus" and one on the Kenneth Noid-Dominos Pizza incident.

Saturday night there will be another gathering, probably in a hotel room, and Greg will give a couple of talks, one on RAW as a magician, and one on how RAW's views on marijuana prophesied the wave of legalization sweeping the country. Sunday will feature Bobby's talk.

There should be other opportunities to get together for coffee, meals, etc. I do plan to attend some convention programming, as time permits. 

I had a Skype conference call with Bobby and Greg and they both said lots of interesting things. More than an hour flew by before I had to leave to do my chores (my cat was biting me to remind me it's time for his snack). They've both promised to save some of their best thoughts for Pittsburgh, so if you don't show up, you're fucked.

Flyer for Bobby's art show, exclusive (in this hemisphere) to Confluence. 

Email to the Universe Discussion Group, Week 2!

The Santa Cruz shore during the Robert Anton Wilson memorial service; one of the boats is Wilson's family, preparing to scatter RAW's ashes as the same location off the boardwalk as his wife, Arlen. I am told the scene is similar to what RAW could see from his balcony in the scenes mentioned in the haiku. Photo by Branca Tesla. 

By Gregory Arnott, guest blogger 

(Pages 1-37 of the Hilaritas Press edition, up to location 782 of the ebook).

Before saying anything else, I’d like to say that the “note” on page three is perhaps one of the most elegantly succinct statements of Robert Anton Wilson’s philosophy that captures his years of experience and wonderment. “I don’t believe in anything, but I have many suspicions.” Michael asks the reader to ruminate if RAW’s theory of “intelligent design” has any analogs; to my knowledge his proposition is similar in its operation to certain theories that point out that consciousness may be an emergent property of matter and the ponderings of Jacques Vallee and Charles Fort.

Claude Shannon,  mentioned in the "Note."  (Creative Commons photo via Wikipedia).

Michael’s introduction also asks us to consider the meta-models as a type of yoga. While I have very little hands on experience with any of systems that RAW says he is indebted to, I do remember thinking it was curious that he didn’t say anything about Crowley or Leary who had been in so much of his earlier works. Perhaps this acknowledgement is part of a shift away from those men and their influence.

Part One begins with three quotes. One of which is from my favorite television series, The Prisoner.
Considering the footnotes and the subject matter I believe that “The Passion of the Antichrist” was included by RAW in this volume because the threats to our civil liberties haven’t passed but simply changed. Sadly parts of this essay are still all too relevant as we still live in a de facto Christian nation. Anti-Islam rhetoric is at an all-time high in our nation as our Commander-in-Chief, who had called for a national ban on Muslim immigration (which was received with cheers by his supporters), currently on his Armageddon tour of the Middle East.

One part of the essay that isn’t as relative today is that atheism isn’t exactly the daring philosophy that it was for Madalyn Murray in the Fifties. Indeed the virulent rhetoric of typified by the New Atheists mention by Mr. Johnson in the Introduction had made atheists into something of a joke on the internet. Sam Harris is also a well-known bigot who proves that you don’t have to be Christian or Jewish to be prejudiced against Islamic people. If the bullying tactics of the New Atheists can be traced back to Murray does that make her a less sympathetic character? And does her character matter?

Netflix recently released a film based on Murray’s activism and her murder mentioned at the end of the essay. It, like Time and Newsweek, also steals the title “The Most Hated Woman in America.” I watched it this past week and enjoyed it myself. Much of the discussion about Murray centers on her personality and accusation of moral ambivalence. Elsewhere RAW even notes that Murray could be unpleasant and even mocked him on occasion for his beliefs.

But the essay isn’t about atheism or Ms. Murray, is it?

Madalyn Murray O'Hair in 1983. Creative Commons photo by Alan Light. 

After another haiku that ends with the sumptuous image of “buttermilk clouds” RAW introduces the reader to the one law of economics. I couldn’t think of any exceptions -- did anyone else have any luck?

“The Celtic Roots of Quantum Theory” is classic RAW that comes from roughly the same period as Cosmic Trigger II and Coincidance which is why its themes and material seem so familiar. I’ve been a fan of Bishop Berkeley ever since reading Borges’ "Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius" and becoming interested in the often mentioned “Berkeleyan idealism” that help explain the fantastical happenings in that story. I can attest that Berkeley helps one lose their grip on consensus reality.

One thing that RAW brings up a few times in the essay is the relationship between New Agers and Quantum physics that has led to so many terrible books and a widely accepted documentary that was actually made by a cult in Seattle that believes a middle aged woman is channeling an ascended master. ("What the Bleep Do We Know!?" –also available on Netflix) As someone who has spent too much time reading about occultism I try to avoid talking about Quantum physics. Everything I know about the subject is due to RAW or Alan Moore and both of them would probably ask me to do a little more reading before opening my mouth. So I’m happy to leave this open to the more scientifically minded among us.

The final quote by Dennis Kucinich (the true Democratic candidate of 2008) is reminiscent of John Higgs Stranger Than We Can Imagine which ends with a discussion of evolution of corporations into personhood and how this dooms all of us. The situation has degraded since 2005.

This post was brought to you by Netflix and pessimism. Let’s try for something more lively next week when we’ll get to discuss Black Magic and Paranoia.

(Next week: Pages 38 to 53 of the Hilaritas Press edition, e.g. to the end of the "Black Magic and Curses" essay.)

Greg Arnott to lead 'Email to the Universe' discussion

Gregory Arnott. (Photo courtesy Mr. Arnott) 

The Email to the Universe online reading group will begin soon, on May 15. It will resemble past online reading groups (archived at the right side of this page). There will be a blog posting, and everyone else will be invited to post comments.

Greg Arnott has volunteered to serve as a guest blogger and lead the discussion. Mr. Arnott has handed over the first post to me. He'll handle all (or most) of the rest of the postings, setting the pace, inviting guest bloggers if he sees fit. He can  deal with it however he lives, and I'll post in the comments along with everyone else (reserving the right to do separate blog posts if there's something I want to talk about.)

I've enjoyed Greg's posted comments to this blog and have corresponded with him. He's a serious student of literature and has wide-ranging interests, and I'm sure you'll find him an interesting guide. He attends West Virginia University in Morgantown, W.Va., pursuing a graduate degree.

I've asked Greg to say a little bit about himself, and he obliged:

"I was born and raised in the Mid-Ohio Valley. After undergrad I ended up drifting across the States before settling in Colorado for a spell. I returned home to pursue my MA.

"The summer that I graduated high school I was gifted a copy of The Illuminatus! Trilogy. Over the next week I couldn't put it down; I would sneak away from working the register at the family pharmacy to go read it in the basement. The book dazzled me: I laughed, grew frustrated, learned to question everything, I think I was even frightened a few times. I would soon devour Masks of the Illuminati and Cosmic Trigger. Wilson serves as a touchstone and aspirational point.

"I spend my free time reading, babbling back and forth with my daughter, gardening, kayaking, or playing with my cat.

"I think reading the poem/essays in groups of three, occasionally altering that pace so we don't cross the separate Parts during the same week, would be a reasonable pace."