QUOTE
Darkmage I guess I agree with your dark cynicism in part, but mostly this is a thing that truly annoys me; there are some seriously talented occultists out there who could do way better and who make next to nothing, yet are busting it out there all the time helping folks out. I feel that stuff like this is... egomaniacal,
Because the serious occultists who are out there busting ass, covering new ground every day, and helping out their friends and relatives are usually *not* the ones staring at their navels and writing books. They don't have the time. The ones that *do* write books, well, it's just like any other division of the entertainment industry, I'm afraid. Can you get a good agent who can get you a good contract with a juicy advance attached? Most people wouldn't have a clue--I know I wouldn't. In addition, to have a book sell enough copies for the publisher to justify the cost, you've got to break complex ideas and theories down into forms the layman/non occultist can understand. This is actually a hell of a lot more difficult than it seems. The problem is that then the books appeal to the lowest common denominators and people who have passed Magic 101 are screwed when they're looking for new material--Llewellyn publishing, anyone? :eyeroll:
Some of our local heroes like Joseph Peterson are actually more academics than authors, although he does walk the walk which is always a bonus. Those people I like to support as it's very much a 'publish or perish' world at the higher levels of academia--if they're not forced to publish scholarly papers 24/7 and instead can publish much-needed revisions of books most of us on the forum probably have and use regularly, more power to them. Donald Tyson is heading that way, esp. after his magnum opus of Agrippa's Three Books of Occult Philosophy ten years ago. The annotations are worth the cost of the book. Also, there's the Magic in History series which is pretty useful, but usually terribly dry stuff--once again written by academics.
On the other side of the spectrum we have assclowns like the author of The Secret and people like Ted Andrews. Andrews' techniques are good for the beginner, except he wraps the Qabalah into damn near EVERYTHING, even things that don't call for it, and
for the love of God get him to an English 101 class and teach him to WRITE. His repetition of things that could be combined into one sentence as well as sentences that could be broken up, but instead go on forever, make my eyes bleed. :/ And don't get me started on Silver RavenFluff. :/
And yes, if anything else pops up I'll let you know, and post links to the stories if available. So far the airwaves have been quiet on this.
This post has been edited by Darkmage: Nov 30 2009, 05:29 AM
Two Dead In Arizona During 'spiritual Cleanse'
Bb3 Two Dead In Arizona During 'spiritual Cleanse' Oct 10 2009, 07:50 PM
Oct 10 2009, 07:50 PM
