The Hermetic Journal Is One Year Old from the Date of Its Inception

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The Hermetic Journal Is One Year Old from the Date of Its Inception A Collection oJSacredl\.fayicl;.Com 4 he Esoteric ~ibrary ERMETIC JOURNAL I &kE EEUmIC JO~X~AL.is published . quarterly 12 Antigua Street Ein'mgh 1 Edited by Adam NcLean I ,All material copyright the individ- ual contributors. Material not cred- ited, copyright the iiermetic Journal. ISSN 0141-6391 b J Editorial Editorial News and Information The Zodiac and the is en enthusiast for the rebirth of Flashing Colours tho hermetic tradition, I feel I Ithell Colquhoun Q mst speak out against the current Colour and the Two Sigils "Necronomicon Phenomenon". Ithell Colquhoun @ In the last year or so a number of A ~osicrucian/Alchemical writere and publishers have intrigued I4ystery Centre in Scotland to fabricate versions of a suppoeed Adam McLean Q occult manuscript, an ancient grip oire called the Necronomiwn. These Hermetic Bleditation No 4 recreatians of a supposed lhgical Regular Feature test are not arrived at by medim Number and Space ship, automatic writing, or some Patricia Villiers-Stuart@ kind of 'received coenunicationl, which might make them worthy of some Alchemical l-Iandala No 4 attention, but arise purely out of Regular Feature conscious contrivance. The Golden Chain of Homer The source of the name Necronomiwn, Commentary by Adam XcLeanO is the writer H.P. Lovecraft, who Final No of a series of 4 seems to have been a soul oyen to The Fountain Allegory of obsessive encounters with the dark Bernard of Treviso unconscious facct of the lower astral world, rather than a balanced Fulovlelli occultism. Lovecraft oan only per Kenneth Rzyner Johnson @ petuate the image of the frightening The Rosicrucian Cz.nons nature of the meeting with the of Benedict Hilirrion occult aide of life, rather than the positive inspirational espeot which The Four Fire Festivals I trust all the readers of this Part Three - Seltane magazine find in the esoteric. Colin 1:urray @ The Sword of Yisdom Special Review Feature Reviews Lovecraft's imaginary 'Book of Dead ;ihat saddens and ennoys me is that iJanes1, the Iiecronomican, is one of this distortion has now sprear? into his constant obsessions and a;Jpears the sphere of serious occult in many of his stories. That five research. One can only hope that separate versions of this supposed this is not the Segbnins of a new l?ecrono.nicoz have recently been class of literature. published, ezch ?urporting to be It nay be an amusing and interest- an the oripLna1, is only indication ing exercise to create a _aseudo- of how large the narket is for this magical system, but to pretend it negative side of occultism. to be original, to be part of the It makes me sai to think of the tradition, to lie in this way is masses of real inspirational occult inexcusable. It takes a great deal naterial, in manuscript or printed of esoteric msturity to penetrnte book, lying bound up in Libraries the lie of these books (indeed I and snecial collections - material vould not worry much over the con- that needs to be published. But sequences of this literzture, here Ire have publishers and writers except thzt it has been so elcell- investing their time, energy, and ently and convincin-;ly produced). money in:o perpetuating drems. OccultLsts whose task it is to work :mile contrived nonsense manifests in the public sphere, of course itself as true occultism, the works expect occasionally to be encount- of Trithernius, Robert Fludd, Hicqael ered ~riththe "Denis :Iheatley" type Naier, lTjlius, etc., remain untrans- distortions, and it is difficult lated and locked in National Librzr enough to handle questions on that ies. level. But we have in the Necro- It seems to me that behind this nomicon the incarnation of son:- "Becrononicon Phenomenonn lies a thing much more insidious, much concerted attewt to disoredit more difficult to counter. true occultism. In the world of One can only trust that this creat- occult literature it mimics what ion of a 'fake tradition1 will run has been done in other media to its course quickly and die throwh distort occultism, as in films like lack of inner strength. "Rosemery's Bzbg", "The Omen", .The DerilsLa,or the nonsense Please let us work with reality, not fiction of Denis iiheatley, and his the dreams of the IJecrononiCON. kind, who hzve done enormous damage to the reputation of the occult. This kind of insidi-ms entertain- ment, moulds people's preconceptions and superstitious prejudices con- cerning the occult, and creates m atmosphere iz which it becomes inoreasingly aifficult to incarnate the positive healing aspect of the esoteric. A Colhction of~acred~a~ick.~om4 he Esoteric ~ibrary News & Inf or mat ion XZPORT 017 THZ AQUARIiiII FZZTIVAL III ITACH from a London Correspondent. The festival season started ire11 this ye- et Lambeth Toia Hall, where entevrising orgcniser Joan dndrews gathered together a wide spectrum of differing groups offering support and encouragement for mind, body, and soul as they jointly enter into the new Bquarian Age. It was opened by Colin :?ilson, the well 'kno%m author, -.rho from his early success in '#The Outsider", through his interest in the Occult, has always been in the forefront of the newest ideas. His lecture later vras filled to capacity and he had a fascinating thesis to unfold. It secns that recent scientific work on the areas of the brain have detect- ed that one side hzrclly ever knows and sometimes is con?letely iporznt of, what the other side is registering. In extreme cases this accounts for dual personality, in more ordinary situations it means that a person may have periods of heichtened psychic perception, rrhen one side of the brain is fun tioning more positively than the other, but not entirely excluding it. The ideal, presumably, is to be zble to use both sides hz-moniously, the soul being in chcrge of the two opposite aspects of the brain. This :rould link in with the Alchemical idea of the herm- aphrodite being, in which both male and female, sun admoon is combined. There were at the Festival about 60 different sturds, so it seems invidious to pick out one more than another, but since this is written for a journal which orres its existence to the dedication of its editor, it is of interest to mention similar enterprises. The Institute of Geomzntic Resezrch (I.G.R. of cambridge) was there in force with Xigel Pennick. Their aim is to bring the science/art of geonancy into the 21st century. Geommcy is defined as modifying the landscape in order to express the forces inherent within it. Then there were the Atlanteans of Cheltenhan. The search for the orig inal Atlantis seems to be going through a temporary lullon all fronts just now, but they continue to keep the image alive. Also from the !Jest Country vras the journal "Picrrinnardl' with its aim of making the folk of !lessex more conscious of their interesting origins. And since :re are looking westward, Colin ?.Iurray and his Gold.:n Section Order must be mentioned. His society is for the preservation of Celtic culture 2nd festivals, as leader he is frequently dressed in druid robes to prove the point. But the prize for one-man-upmanship must have gone to Stead 34, where Ik Iiooper of Shropshire claimed to be the 867th Chief of the Celtic Cluls. He is hoping to launch an appeal for recognition. Glastonbury with its legends and mysteries was well represented by I!ary Czrine and .Anthony and Jan Roberts. Anthony, a staunch sup~orterof the vrisdon of ancient Britain, has a new book out entitled "Sowers of' Thunder : Giants in 13th and Historyn, (~idertl Co). In some trays author and title seem to make a matching pair! It is becoming more and nore evident that in the distant past power centres were the order of the day and Glastonbury seems to have been one of the most potent in southern England. No doubt equally valid clzims can be made for Scotland. In a lecture ILary Caine explained how the ,peat circle of earth effigies contoured by Avalonls hills and outlined by its roads and rivers, known as the Glastonbury Zodiac, rras rediscovered by Katherine tlalttrood in the 1920's. Xhen a map of the zodiacel stars is placed over a map of this area, the earthly effigies will be seen to coincide with the stars, not only visually but also in many cases by nane and with associated legend. There also secms to be evidence that this was the original Round Table and the source of Ar*.hurian and Grail legends. Altogether the Festival was a great occasion for people rrith a fzith in the progressive zad humanitarian spirit of these islands to be proud of. How that we have accepted so meny newcomers into our midst, Ire particulzrly need festivals such as these to demonstrate that humankind in all its variety has a united, peaceful m.d yet stimul- ating purpose. I.lith this fourth Issue the Hermetic Journal is one year old from the date of its inception. Its future is now quite assured with a small thouzh healtw subscrintion list providing a foundation on trhich it czn stand financially. By this fourth issue readers should be able to see clezrly the style, format and direction of the magazine. The Xenetic Journal is a vehicle for encowhqin," the development of a living hermetic tradition, and concentrates on new and original research, rather than repeating the same stale old well worn material. The substance oithe journel is difficult, it can never be a popular magazine even in terms of occult publications, and although the stand- zrds set for contibutors are high, I have been most gratified to have received many interesting and valuable articles.
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