Sex, Drugs and Magick reading group concludes

Over at his Jechidah blog, Apuleius Charlton has wrapped up his online reading group on Sex, Drugs and Magick with a blog post on the afterwords written by Rodney Orpheus, Andrew O'Neill, Alexis Mincolla and Arden Leigh. There are also notes on other items of interest.

While he isn't sure yet about the next project, Charlton reports that some book reviews are likely on the way: "I've recently finished Alan Moore's Illuminations and Phil Baker's City of the Beast: The London Of Aleister Crowley, both of which I intend to review soon as I think they'd be of interest for our little group. I also received Higgs' soon to be out of print novels which I might write down some thoughts about.

Speaking of Alan Moore, happy 69th birthday. 

'Sex, Drugs & Magick' blogging continues

The latest discussion of Sex, Drugs & Magick at the Jechidah blog, on Chapter 3, seemed particularly interesting to me; there's discussion of Hassan i Sabbah, "Philip Farber's excellent High Magick: A Guide to Cannabis in Ritual and Mysticism," and Robert Anton Wilson's sex magick information, more detailed than in other Wilson pieces on the same subject. It's not too late to grab a copy of the book and get caught up on the discussion. 

'Sex, Drugs and Magick' online discussion continues

Some of Apuleius Charlton's other obligations have eased, and so the online discussion of RAW's Sex, Drugs and Magick: A Journey Beyond Limits has speeded up; a new entry appeared Tuesday.  

Apuleius tells me to expect entries more often. "It might not always be the same day but I'lI have an early week post up each week," he told me. 

'Sex, Drugs & Magick' discussion returns

I am having a busy day, but I wanted to note that over at Jechidah, the Sex, Drugs & Magick online discussion group has resumed, looking at Chapter One of the book, and don't miss the comments, either. 

Saturday news and notes

 

1. In the Hilaritas Press newsletter announcing the publication of Wilhelm Reich In Hell, Rasa wrote, "we think the timing could not be more appropriate. We live in strange and challenging days."

This could refer to any number of things, of course, but one of the main concerns of RAW's play is the amount of violence humans do to each other, and there has certainly been a raft of mass shootings lately in the U.S. 

There was another one on June 1, the day the book came out, and it had a kind of grim synchronicity for me. 

Five people were killed during the Tulsa shooting, including the gunman and two doctors. The shooting took place at the medical campus for St. Francis Hospital, only a short distance, an easy walk, from where both my parents and my sister live. Survivors and their families were reunited at Tulsa Memorial High School, my alma mater.

So certainly I have violence on my mind as we discuss the book.

2. I recently posted about "Infinite Gesture," R.U. Sirius' new collection of song lyrics without music. Steve Fly Agaric 23 has now set one of them, "Not A Bug But A Feature," to music. Listen to the track here. 

3. Over at the Jechidah blog, Apuleius Charlton has been leading an online discussion of Sex, Drugs & Magick. He's been busy with his day job, but that's easing up, and he wants everyone to know blogging will resume next week. 

Randy Weaver has died

Randy Weaver

Randy Weaver has died. He was known for a confrontation with the government (arguable instigated by the government) at Ruby Ridge in 1992 that resulted in three deaths. 

Robert Anton Wilson wrote about Weaver in the "Preface to the 2000 Edition" of Sex, Drugs & Magick: "In the 1980s, a Fundamentalist couple named Randy and Vicki Weaver fled to a mountain top in Idaho, to get as far as possible from the U.S. government, which they considered a Zionist conspiracy. However goofy that idea was, it was the only 'offense' of which the Weavers were guilty ... The Weavers sure had a lot of nutty ideas; nobody but another Fundamentalist would deny that. But maybe their idea of the nature of the current U.S. government, and its attitude toward its serfs and subjects, was a hell of a lot more accurate than the ideas you read in liberal journals."

Apuleius Charlton wrote about the case in a blog post that's part of the ongoing series about Sex,Drugs & Magick. His post argues that ultimately Weaver put his family in danger. 

Jesse Walker on the Weaver case: "It isn't hard to find examples of marginal groups whose paranoia about the government drove them to violence. The tale of the Weavers shows how the government's paranoia about marginal groups can drive *it* to violence, too."

 

Sunday notes: John Lilly podcast and 'Sex, Drugs & Magick' reading group

 

From the press kit at Coincidence Control Publishing.

A couple of things worth the attention of sombunall of you:

1. Yesterday I listened to the recent Hilaritas Press podcast on John Lilly, and it was one of the best of the series. Graham Talley, the person interviewed by host Mike Gathers, really knows a lot about Lilly (Talley brought Lilly's work back into print) and even read Cosmic Trigger to be better informed about LIlly's influence on Robert Anton Wilson. Talley also knows a lot about floatation tanks, so there's a lot of informed discussion about their uses.

2. A new post is up for the Sex, Drugs and Magick reading group. Apuleius Charlton is not very far into the book, so there's time to get a copy and join in. 

Sex, Drugs & Magick reading group continues

The second week posting for the Sex, Drugs and Magick online discussion group has been posted by Apuleius Charlton.  

This week, Apuleius writes about the forewords written by Grant Morrison, Damien Echols, Phil Farber and Ian "Cat" Vincent. 

It's not too late to grab a copy of the book and join in. 

New 'Sex, Drugs & Magick' book group

Apuleius Charlton has launched a new online book discussion group at his Jechidah blog for the Hilaritas Press edition of Sex, Drugs & Magick: A Journey Beyond Limits. It launched with a post that went up Monday night, "Guided By Memory, a Tintinnabulum to Ward Our Studies."

The format is the same as the reading groups at this blog: A blog post goes up, and everyone is invited to weigh in with a comment.

For Apuleius, Sex, Drugs & Magick is a chance to experience early Robert Anton Wilson, even before the publication of Illuminatus!: 

"He was brash and silly and full of It. He had the broken spectre and glory of a newborn magician. Wilson the Magician. I wouldn't argue that this is our closest contact with that persona, but I would argue it is one of the more straightforward."

New RAW reading group: Sex, Drugs and Magick

Apueleius Charlton, who lead a reading group recently at his Jechidah blog on Robert Anton Wilson's Ishtar Rising, has announced a new online reading group on Wilson's Sex, Drugs and Magick, also reissued recently in a new edition by Hilaritas Press. Apuleius mentioned that in his last Prometheus Rising post, and there is also an announcement at Jechidah.

The reading group starts Feb. 28,  giving everybody time to get a copy, and I believe it will follow the same format we've followed here, i.e. Apuleius will post, and everyone contribute via the comments. 

Hilaritas published the new Sex, Drugs and Magick in April 2021 with an unusually large number of guest pieces, with essays from Grant Morrision, Damien Echols, Phil Farber, Cat Vincent, Rodney Orpheus, Andrew O'Neill, Alexis Mincolla and Arden Leigh. 

Halloween event announced in London for reissued RAW book

 The new Mycellium Newsletter written by Michelle Olley announces a big Halloween event in London to promote the Hilaritas Press edition of Robert Anton Wilson's Sex, Drugs & Magick: A Journey Beyond Limits. 

For details, news about more interesting events in England and other news, please see the newsletter. 

'Sex, Drugs & Magick' next at Jechidah

Apuleius Charlton's Jechidah blog has a new entry which will conclude the Ishtar Rising reading group. 

And there's an announcement that a reading group will follow for Robert Anton Wilson's Sex, Drugs & Magick: A Journey Beyond Limits. This is good news for me personally, as I wanted to re-read it and had delayed doing so to take part in the Ishtar Rising group. 

"I won't really know when we're beginning Sex, Drugs & Magick until I finish copyediting TSOG. Hopefully I'll have an update within a month," Apuleius reports.

Nick Herbert's 40, uh, unification experiences

Nick Herbert, "hippie physicist" and friend of Robert Anton Wilson, has a new post up called "Forty Memorable Fucks." It's an interesting piece in itself, but also fits in well with Sex, Drugs & Magick, the Wilson book that Hilaritas has just reissued, and which I've just read. 

Here's how Nick's post begins:

"Actually some of My Forty Fucks are not sexual at all but what they have in common is a strong and  instructive connection with The Mysterious Other -- in this particular list I define The Other to be a member of the opposite sex.

"Sometimes on various mind-altering drugs. Sometimes completely straight.

"Just for fun a while ago I made a list of (for me) Forty Memorable Fucks. Since then I have added more items, both through subsequent happenings plus reminiscences of ones I'd long forgotten.

"It's more than forty now.

"Are you the least bit interested in exploring what sexually astonishes you? I encourage you to put together your own list of memorable fucks. Since I was somewhat shy and ignorant in those days, your list will probably be much much longer than mine."

Nick then includes a (nonsexual) anecdote, showing that what he is looking for here is not just the sex but the "a strong and  instructive connection with The Mysterious Other." 

Inspired by Nick's post, I have begun work on my own list (which I'm not planning to post.)

Unsplash photo by Jeremy Bishop

You'll notice that Nick mentions some of incidents are "sometimes on various mind-altering drugs" but I see other connections to Sex, Drugs and Magick. Not that I'm an expert on magick, but it seems to me that "a strong and  instructive connection with The Mysterious Other" sounds a bit like the sex magick under discussion in Wilson's book.

It also sounds a bit like the related topic of "unification experiences," a term Wilson deploys in Sex, Drugs and Magick and attributes to David Cole Gordon. "A unification experience, in essence, is simply a moment of release following a period of built-up tension; in this spasm, the energy flow is so strong that one cannot 'remember' the usual distinction between self and environment. One simply is." (Pages 286-287 of the Hilaritas edition.) 

There are not just sexual experiences, but nonsexual experiences that register as"cosmic trances" and "satoris," Wilson writes. 

I think Nick Herbert's post also speaks to something else: His blog links to physics and science sites sites, but it also links to a pretty explicit sex site, Eros Blog, and a drugs site, Erowid. Physics is interesting, but sex and drugs are interesting, too. 

Notes on the contributors for the new RAW book

 

As I mentioned yesterday, the new Hilaritas Press edition of Sex, Drugs & Magick: A Journey Beyond Limits has an unusual number of additional pieces, from eight different people. I thought it might be useful to tell you a bit about each one and offer links to find out more. Checking out their music etc. should keep me busy for awhile. 

Grant Morrison

The comic book writer and author of The Invisibles.   Prop Anon interviewed him about Illuminatus! and other RAW topics. You can follow him on Twitter. 

Damien Echols

Damien Echols is a ceremonial magician. You can find him on Twitter and also he has a Patreon account.

Phil Farber

Philip Farber is the author of many books on magick; you can browse his titles on Amazon. 

Cat Vincent

Ian "Cat" Vincent is a British magician and writer, mentioned quite a few times on this blog; you can for example read my 2016 interview with him and listen to an interesting recent podcast.  He is active on Twitter. 

Rodney Orpheus

Rodney Orpheus is musician known for his band The Cassandra Complex but notice also his book Abrahadabra: Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Magic. He also is active on Twitter.

Andrew O'Neill

Andrew O'Neill is a British comedian, musician, presenter and writer.  On Twitter, but also check out the Patreon account. 

Alexis Mincolla

Singer in the band 3Teeth. He also is on Twitter. And you can find him on Patreon.

Arden Leigh

Lead singer for Arden and Wolves and for Prospertine. Follow on Twitter. Also, do yourself and favor and check out this music video, which I couldn't really explain at the time. 

More news from the RAW Trust

Yesterday's blog post about the latest newsletter from the RAW Trust focused on our upcoming The Widow's Son reading group (starts Friday!)  but there are some other items I need to highlight. If you haven't signed up for the email newsletter yet, you can read the latest one here. 

The newsletter from Rasa recommends two new RAW books, Robert Anton Wilson: Beyond Conspiracy Theory edited by V. Vale, and Beyond Chaos and Beyond, edited by D. Scott Apel. Rasa writes about one of his favorite RAW anecdotes in the Apel book. He's also gotten permission to reprint Andrew Bishop's well-down introduction to the Vale book, and published it as a blog post.  Rasa also links to my review of the Vale book, and I've posted many times about the Apel tome, including this review.

Rasa also writes that Hilaritas "has been simultaneously working on our next four reissues of RAW titles on our list."

According to the Hilaritas website, the next four titles scheduled to be republished are Sex, Drugs and Magick: A Journey Beyond Limits, The New Inquisition, Ishtar Rising and Reality Is What You Can Get Away With. Of course, when these reissues become available, I will be reporting on it here.