Archive for April 2009

Last year me and a few others quietly put together an online discussion community whose aim was (in the words of the official blurb) "to promote a visible and intelligent discourse around the theory and practice of magic, spirituality and experiential religion". We wanted a high signal-to-noise ratio, writing that... More »

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Two brief extracts on creativity from Clayton Eshleman's marvellous poetic exploration of Palaeolithic cave art, Juniper Fuse: Anton Ehrenzweig [from The Hidden Order of Art]: "Any creative search, whether for a new image or idea, involves the scrutiny of an often astronomical number of possibilities. The correct choice between them cannot... More »

J.G. Ballard, a hugely important writer and considerable influence on my own thought, has died. I spoke to him once. In Leeds, 1994, I decided to start publishing a zine about dreams, and loved the mock-corporate feel that lifting its title from Ballard's novel The Unlimited Dream Company would give it.... More »

The past decade or so has seen an intermittent but healthy blossoming of various conferences and festivals celebrating intercourse between esoteric thought and the wider culture, between academic and fringe archaeologies, between the many varied disciplines and perspectives that any serious-minded, open-hearted student of consciousness gets embroiled in. Thankfully there's... More »

A couple of different yet complementary speeches on the current upheavals in finance and commerce. From indefatigable comedian and activist Mark Thomas, an impassioned rant against "neo-liberal capitalism" given at the Put People First G20 rally in Hyde Park, London, 28/3/09: And a more in-depth, though equally passionate call for the decentralization... More »