* (restored)

 

Doctor Lev’s Paul Is Dead Website
James Paul McCartney (1942-1966)
Paul is dead @ Wikipedia

 

lenmac
Nov 17, 2005, 3:54am

From August 25th 1966 I’ve seen no more the guy above

 

mommybird
Sept14, 2007, 7:52am
I just spent forever looking for the YouTube video of the recent Beatles Tribute on David Letterman. The one with the new Sgt. Pepper Drum in it ?
Faul says, “With friends like these, who needs life ? ”
A close friend asked me about that statement. She thought that it was a very strange thing to say.
The other people on stage with him were:
Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono, and Olivia Harrison
I was considering what he said this morning & it suddenly struck me. What could he possibly have meant by that ?
“With friends like these, who needs life ?”
Were the people on the stage with him involved with death somehow ?

In watching the video clip below of Faul/Bill and Ringo, all I could think of is how much older Faul/Bill looked than Ringo. His face sags like an elderly person yet Ringo looks younger (Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight).

There has always been speculation that Faul/Bill was quite a bit older than the boys. From looking at this, at least 5 years I would guess.

 

semolinapilchard
Sept 14, 2007, 9:49pm
The striking thing about the imagery of the Beatles when they first came out were talented, funny, personable, lively, animated men. They had a charm about them.

But after 1967 it was so different. With Paul’s demise, their drug use, and if they were indeed mind controlled, drugs would be part of their “programming” as well as what “recreational” use they may have had with them. But their personalities were different, the chemistry that was among them in the early days was gone from MMT on.

Now some would argue well, grief over the loss of JPM and maybe even with Brian being gone. If JPM was truly killed in a natural accident, time would pass and the other three would have healed to the point where their personality would still be there. Grief may suspend creativity for a time, but it would come back eventually. But with the case of this group,it was more than just grief. It’s as if different personalities entered the other three.

 

sinbad
Sept 16, 2007, 4:04pm
I’ve done a little bit of research on this today.

From what we know, Faul may have been born in 1935 and he also may be an Aries, i.e. the Ram album reference.

Looking at his planets and those of Linda and Heather, a birth date in the range of April 11-17, 1935 certainly would fit quite well.

 

faulconandsnowjob
Nov 22, 2008, 7:21pm
November 21, 2008 — The Sunday Times (UK)
Sir Paul McCartney confronts the ghosts of his past

… Wherever he makes an appearance, he is followed by his own video crew; every minute of every public moment is recorded. Two stills photographers are part of the team, and he retouches and vets every image they release to the media. He even did this in the hubbub of Tel Aviv. Why? To preserve his legend for prosperity? The question draws a defensive response.

“I just don’t like to see terrible photos of myself?it’s straightforward vanity. You tell me someone who wants to see terrible photos of themselves.”

“I’ve learnt to compartmentalise,” he says. “There’s me and there’s famous Him. I don’t want to sound schizophrenic, but probably I’m two people.”

 

mommybird
Nov 23, 2008, 4:49pm
I wish with all of my might that Sir Paul would just stop with the bullsh*t & finally come totally clean. I for one could think of many things that I would rather do with my time than to continuously commiserate over poor Paul’s fate! Sometimes I just want to rattle his skull and scream “STOP BEATING AROUND THE DAMNED BUSH!”

 

truecolors112
Nov 26, 2008, 7:10am
Well, my personal theory is that TPTB/Illuminati had control or were trying to get control over the Beatles. I believe they were pushing a drug agenda (LSD) to fracture, & possibly, control society (MK ULTRA/Mockingbird). Rock n’ Roll was definitely used to promote drugs. I don’t, personally, think Paul was willing to do that. Someone who isn’t going to play ball controlling a lot of wealth & having a lot of influence is probably not ideal for TPTB. So, I think they decided to remove him & put in a team player. Paul was probably made an example of for the other Beatles (let that be a lesson to you sort of thing). I am personally convinced that TPTB must have been involved w/ Paul’s death & replacement. If not, the truth would have come out much sooner, imo.

 

faulconandsnowjob
Dec 9, 2008, 4:09pm
Sorry to be morbid, but I’ve been trying to narrow down Paul’s date of death. I have seen it speculated that he died somewhere in Sept – Nov 1966. I think it may have been earlier. After looking at these photos & videos, I think he may have died somewhere btw Aug 19 & Aug 27, 1966.

These pics from Aug 29 at San Francisco airport:

Yeah, I think they’re Faul, too.

Compare to Paul:

 

TrJ22487 (’06)
Dec 9, 2008, 5:25pm
According to 60if Paul and Brian Epstein were held captive for several weeks before the death. Both 60if and the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club have the date of death as September 11th, 1966.

I’ve been in agreement since the start of me being here that August 26th is the last time we see Paul. The L.A. press conference on the 28th is truly the head scratcher, because they speak with him so much, hes with the classic Beatles, just two days later. I feel the Faul you are seeing at the end of August is in fact the same as the LSD Faul from 1967. And I don’t believe that’s Bill. I believe Bill’s first appearance as Faul is November 24th, 1966. Why Bill wouldn’t be the LSD Faul, I cannot speculate.

 

faulconandsnowjob
Aug 27, 2009, 12:22am

I’m certain Paul was in this interview from Aug 19, 1966 Memphis interview:

But I’m not convinced this is Paul:

 

 

faulconandsnowjob
Sept 8, 2009, 2:12pm
When George on the Dick Cavett show, Dick Cavett referred to The Beatles as “your former organization.” George joked that there were 10 Beatles, & said “Didn’t you hear of the 18th Beatle?” He also said “They just sent four dummies out there”.

 

dreamdoctor1966
Oct 18, 2009, 3:46pm
I’ve been catching up on all the threads from the forum, looking at pictures and playing the vids and have come to one conclusion – The people responsible for this MUST pay! I’m not joking…if I presonally knew any of them , I would get that smoking gun and use it. It makes me so sad to think of JPM – the REAL Paul who I was named after being killed in that way and that right B”$TARD who’s taken his place. Paul is gone and Faul is now Paul…and that’s without even just listening to his voice or song writing skills – Mary had a little lamb????Live and Let Die????? rubbish compared to She’s Leaving home or Elenor Rigby

 

faulconandsnowjob
Nov 4, 2009, 4:05am
I just wanted to share a little story about what happened tonight. I went out to an election night party at a bar & started talking to this guy. I asked him at one point if he were a Beatles fan. He said yes & no. I was intrigued & asked him to elaborate. He said he liked them up until ’66-’67, but then something changed. I was like “Yeah, something changed! Paul McCartney did, for one.” Anyway, I went thru the whole biometrical analysis w/ the 6% change in the mandibular curve, etc, & this guy seemed to be on board w/ Paul having been replaced. Actually, I think this guy already intuited it. He agreed Paul was a genius & Faul sucks

 

plasticmacca
Dec 21, 2009, 1:26pm
From the Stewart Swerdlow site today:

***
Paul McCartney
Posted: December, 21, 2009
I have just been doing some research on Paul McCartney may of died in a car accident in 1966 and was somehow replaced with a double in 1967. He was replaced by a man claiming to be called Bill Sheppard. They say a row broke out between band members and Paul walked out of the studio in a drunken frenzy got in his car and drove very fast he also picked up a women hitchiker. Theirs rumours that the original Paul didnt want to go along with the agenda in promoting the hallucinative drug LSD at the time and the entertainment industry wanted to use The Beatles in promoting it apparentely.

The PID domino is starting to fall!

 

mommybird
Feb 7, 2010, 7:58am
For me the biggest discovery of this year is the Aberfan snub. The Beatles were asked to help raise money for the families of 144 dead children & they said no, not because they wouldn’t but because they couldn’t.

I can’t see those boys turning something like that down. The only logical explanation is that they were still reeling from Paul’s death and scrambling to get a handle on the cover-up…

 

pentothal
Mar 6, 2010, 12:21am

Mar 5, 2010, 11:55pm, thewinged wrote:
^ Oh… Ok, what can you tell me about the RA 30 and the footage taken on Aug, 31? And the footage from Melody maker awards, taken in early September, 1966?

Tampered? PAULsified? Go on, please.

The footage you say taken on August 31th actually was taken on August 24th 1966.
See above list.
The footage about MMA is fully blurred and shows a right handed man.
Beware before Faul there was another Paul replacement.

 

pentothal
Mar 7, 2010, 8:49am

Hello plasticmacca
I think your blog is what more close to the truth on the Internet now.

 

dreamdoctor1966
Mar 7, 2010, 7:50pm
I think the whole mask idea is a bit of a leap in technology for 1966. Possibly prothetics, but not a whole mask – I don’t think it would look real enough, and also would make all the plastic surgery Faul’s had totally un-nessessary. We’ve seen pictures of the scars and signs that he had proceedures to make him look more like Paul – if it was a case of putting a mask on and walking out straight into the public eye, why bother? The photos from then could have been re-touched by experts, hell, anyone with a pc can re-touch photos now, so I am wary to any that come from regular sources.

Also, MY general belief is the replacement happened late August – early Sept when Paul was killed/murdered and Faul took over. There has only been ONE Faul – the facial changes are due to refinement of his face to make him look more like Paul, which was completed in phases – again, if it was a mask, why would his face have gone through several changes over time??

 

plasticmacca
Mar 8, 2010, 6:56pm
I’m not taking the position that Faul is definitely wearing a full or partial face mask in “Hey Jude.” I’m just saying it’s possible.

 

deanna2003
Mar 10, 2010, 7:20pm
Faul does seem to rub his eyes a lot…

 

Sunssol
Mar 11, 2010, 11:43am

***Reversed Lyrics***

ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
yeah yeah yeah
ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh oohhh

Paul Paul Paul
Dea..Dea..Dead
I remember what I want
Paul Paul Faul

Need fire
What’s the end?
The Fireman

Oh, I’ll burn it down
Cause I need some fire

Oh yeah
What’s the end?
The Fireman

Believe me, I want to be a fireman
Hell’s Bell, he said
Oh yeah, What’s the end?
The Fireman

ooh ooh ohh ooh ooh
ooh ooh ohh ohh ooh oohhh

 

pentothal

Look at the corner of Faul’s mouth. Could that be a mask? The skin looks weird.

 

eggman9
Mar 17, 2010, 2:05pm
Strange the way the skin around Faul’s eye is doing.

The left side of Faul’s face looks very weird in this one.

Here is another pic with strange fold in Faul’s face that I could not replicate in the mirror.

This is clearly another man trying to look as the real Paul did, through multiple surgeries and prosthetic pieces

Above: Photos from the same day in 1967
Left photo at the start of the day and right in the evening
Cheek filler sags within a 12 hour interval
The filler is called ‘Botaline’ and also creates problems stretching his face for Bill when he smiles

 

thewinged
Mar 17, 2010, 11:50pm
faul on the right doesn’t have such riffles and bags, which it had on the left picture.

Simple.

 

dreamdoctor1966
Mar 19, 2010, 2:29pm
My belief in PID has matured and I am a firm believer that, simply put, The Original James Paul McCartney was killed / murdered in late 1966 and that started the plan to replace him with William Campbell AKA Faul…

 

semolinapilchard
Mar 20, 2010, 8:45pm
Something that people confuse is Paul Being Replaced and Paul IS Dead and was replaced.
If Paul decided he didn’t want to be a Beatle any longer and wanted out…I really doubt if the Illuminists would permit Paul to live if he didn’t comply…..

So I firmly believe Paul died in 1966, whether it was some ritualistic killing or perhaps rigged the car accident to kill him…either way, it was brutal and cruel….

If there was an “accident”..it really was not an accident by chance, but a staged “accident” like Princess Diana’s death. That’s what I mean.

They make me sick what they do to people, use them, chew them up, abuse them and spit them back out.

 

notwithstupid
Mar 21, 2010, 11:42pm
should have been a bit clearer, I was thinking about the replacement theory about JPM being Neil Aspinal, those theories, as far as Paul kicking back, chillin’ somewhere.

But, I do agree with you semolina, if they had kept Paul alive, there would have been some imprisonment involved.

There are just too many clues, etc. for Paul not to have met a horrible death, leading to a doppelganger. He was replaced only after death. jmo.

 

michelle
Apr 17, 2010, 7:37pm

 

plasticmacca
May 11, 2010, 12:18pm
“I found a rather chilling passage in the book ‘SHOUT! The Beatles in Their Generation’ by Philip Norman…

This is a quote from Aunt Mimi about John Lennon as a child, “I’d go to the butcher’s for pheasants’ feathers and I’d make him up like an Indian with gravy browning, and put lipstick for warpaint on his cheeks. And when he said his friends were dead, they were dead.”

It occurred to me that she may have made up this little story so that she could deliver the last line with emphasis, like maybe she was trying to get something out and be blameless at the same time.”

 

mommybird
Jun 20, 2010, 1:52am
My hubby was operated on this past Thursday. I purchased the Globe rag, I mean magazine, to help pass the time in the hospital.
Was I ever surprised when I saw that there was an article on Sir Faul. It seems that Sir Faul is losing his memory. I sh*t you not !

Sir Paul McCartney ‘Struggles to Remember Songs’
Posted on Jun 2nd 2010 7:30AM by Julian Marszalek

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know my songs,” Sir Paul told reporters. “So if I’m at a party I’ll tend to do something like ‘Babyface’ or something silly like the old songs.”

He continued, “I know my songs when I go on tour because I learn them to go on tour but actually, I think there’s just too many of them for me to retain them so I don’t know them all.”

He doesn’t remember many of the old songs because he’s not the person who wrote & performed them !

 

UGLY PHIL
Dec 2, 2010, 10:29pm
knew they’d faked the Moon landing long before the movie Capricorn One came along. The fact that OJ Simpson played one of the astronauts only helped to cement my convictions.
Paul McCartney’s dead for starters. Well, the original one anyway!
He was replaced by a lookalike lefthanded bass-player early on, and the rest of The Beatles were sworn to secrecy.
Spurred no doubt by John Lennon, the now Fab Three tried to spill the beans with enigmatic album covers.
Just look at the cover of Abbey Road. What’s the number plate on the Volkswagen in the background?
It’s 28, the age Paul would have been had he lived. And Paul’s barefoot, of course.
Look at the cover of Sgt Pepper. All those dead celebrities on the cover, andPaulwith a hand raised above his head – in the Egyptian death sign!
And, hey, it explains why his music went from brilliant to bloody awful almost overnight.
Spooky or what? Bottom line here, people. If you’re Paul McCartney, then you’re living a lie.

 

plasticmacca
Dec 20, 2010, 4:51pm
Well, Sem, you might be happy to know that the host of the radio show agreed w/ me that Paul had been replaced. He actually contacted me about doing the show, so people are starting to figure out what happened. Now that the interview has been archived, more people will hear it who didn’t get a chance to hear it live. The info is slowly but surely getting out there. Hopefully, the Controllers won’t be able to shut down public awareness of Paul’s replaCIAment this time (as they did back in 1969).

 

plasticmacca
Apr 4, 2011, 1:12pm
Funny PID story I wanted to share. I wasn’t sure what my b/f would say to the whole PID thing (if he’d been PIA, that would have been a deal breaker). Anyway, yesterday, Magical Mystery Tour came on the radio, & I bluntly said that I didn’t like the fake Beatles. He was like, yeah, but it’s a good tune. I was shocked & said, “you know about the fake Beatles?” And he was like, yeah, I’m not deaf. LOL! He’s known about them for 8 yrs! Wow – that made me feel waaay behind the ball.

 

crystalcave
Apr 7, 2011, 9:53pm
It’s like we open a door slightly ajar and enter an ornate room and can see the beds nicely made up in this odourous room and sometimes our curiousity leads us to look under the covers over in that bed first to see if that’s where the smell is coming from and find a weaker but noticeable smell before we then go over to another bed and realize that it’s a slightly different odour but a part of the entire stench of the room behind the door.

 

PAUL IS DEAD! MISS HIM MISS HIM MISS HIM!

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Everyone, Mr. Ehrenstein’s FaBlog tackles the ‘Send her back’ thing right here, and, oh wait, FaBlog has a double header thanks to something called ‘Hit List’, and it’s here. ** Bernard, Hi, B. I do recall that about your parents’ house. I feel like I can smell it. Did I ever read ‘Perfume’? Mm … I think not. Did I see the film version? Mm … I think so. Very happy that Jesse’s post sat well. You are desperate if you’re willing to spend a few days in Brest. Paris’s weather forecasts change by the hour, but not necessarily for the better, and I think we are indeed majorly fucked from Monday through Thursday. Cheap air-conditioned hotels: there are a bunch in the Gare de l’Est area that are cheaper than the norm but not, like, cheap. Btw, see you soon! ** Nik, Hey, Nik! Good to see you, bud! There aren’t a lot of scent-based artworks that aren’t just lame and obvious. That post culled most the interesting ones I could find. I hate summer heat like nobody’s business, so I hear you. We’re in a few day lull between murderous heat waves over here. The good thing about Paris used to be that summers tended to end in early August, but I fear that’s not the case anymore. In LA, you used to be lucky if summer ended in October, and now it’s almost year-round there. I haven’t yet dug back in to the new novel. I’m on tenterhooks to do so. As soon as the film script and related funding docs are finished, it’ll become my priority. The novel-in-progress, as it stands, is definitely working with my autobiography. Actually, the piece in ‘I Transgress’ is one of the less overtly autobiographical parts. Formally, again at this point, it changes forms many times over its course and is very digressive, very different for me, and I’m just hoping I can make it work. That’s very exciting that the Sarajevo stay had such a profound effect on your writing! That sounds really exhilarating. Fantastic, man. Weekend: Skype meeting with the artist who’ll do the sound/score on Zac’s and my next film today, then see some art. The great German filmmaker Alexander Kluge is doing a talk on Saturday, and I want to see that. Stuff like that there. And you? ** NLK, Thanks a lot. Yes, I saw your thing is up on x-r-a-y, and I already read it and admire it a whole lot. Great! Everyone, The superb video/filmmaker and writer Nate Kouri has a fantastic piece of writing called ‘MARTELLO TOWER / NATIONAL MUSEUM’ up on the great x-r-a-y site as of now, and revising your brain with it is highly recommended. Here. May the smells in your vicinity also favor you. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, B. Yes, I remember your olfactory piece now. Damn. I wish I’d remembered it early enough to curate it. Everyone, _Black_Acrylic aka Mr. Ben Robinson made an odorous artwork a bit back in time that would but for the grace of my spaciness have been in the show yesterday. Please add it to the collection. ** MyNeighbourJohnTurturro, Hey! Man, I hope you fully appreciate your summertime drear and mellowness. There are those of us who would kill someone for some of that. I haven’t heard the new Ulver, no, but, thanks to you, I will later today. Sweet. Well, if you remember what you want my mental thing about, I’m here and rarin’ to opinionate. Great day to you. ** Steve Erickson, Hi. I enjoyed your PB piece. And it was very instructive. Kudos. If that attack piece stoops to snarking out on Dale’s prose then it just sounds like a tit-for-tat and who has the time. Dude, we’re going to get 102 degrees F by Tuesday so count your blessings, ha ha. ** Misanthrope, You think? Yeah, maybe. I wonder though if it isn’t hearing. You know, like how you hear a song you haven’t heard or thought about in ages, and it will bring back something in your life that occurred when it was in the air in this crystal clear flash. You know me, I don’t give much of a shit about characters or storyline consistency and that sort of stuff. Well, unless the author intends the characters and storyline to make sense, and it sounds like that dude does. Fingers crossed that LPS’s newness becomes consistent. ** Okay. I’m restoring this ancient goofball post specifically because a reader of this blog who is writing their dissertation on the ‘Paul Is Dead’ phenomenon asked me to in case it has things they could use. So that’s why. See you tomorrow.

* (restored)

Since the 60s there has been a ton of scholarly research on magic and the history of magic. Pioneered by people like Francis Yates, there have also been in and out of the margins public ‘practitioners’ that despite all efforts continue to profess the reality of certain techniques of ‘action at a distance.’ Some of the names below may be familiar; some less so. The survival of this material in the public consciousness is strange. Part of it has to do with the way books work. And that’s all of course changing radically right now.

The grimoire, or magical textbook, has a long and spurious history that sits in several places, often contradictory in nature: the most immediately relevant is it’s relationship to reality and fantasy. Magic books have lived most of their lives in the imagination – most grimoires were limited in distribution and secreted for various reasons in hand-written manuscript form. Their movements and reality were shrouded in rumor and secrecy. This secrecy became part of the grimoire’s reputation and it’s hidden and rare status contributed to it’s notoriety. This often dramatic reputation was immediately seized on in the advent of mass publication, and the occult book of arcane knowledge became a singular protagonist in most genre fiction and popular cultural forms. For fun I’ve sprinkled this survey with my favorite examples in recent film and television. The smattering of clips is a fraction of the material and could make a post all it’s own.

Giles the Watcher on Books vs. the Internet from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

As the internet absorbs printed text, a universe of books is being redistributed, pulped and fetishized. Nowhere is this more clear than in the bibliophile/scholar/geek culture for occult books. Certain choice used book stores are flooded with vintage books from the 60s and 70s new age, and small-run presses are fueling a renaissance of translation, scholarship and publication of magic texts that have languished for centuries in libraries all over the world. As someone who has been watching and participating in this culture for a while it seems to be a great moment to share a small list of available works and to meditate on the present moment’s import for the book and the book of magic.

Evil Dead II

The specific quality of this list helps underline the triple reality these books present at the moment. First, no matter how you break it down, these books are arcane. It is one thing to read about occult books as narrative devices in thrillers and weird fiction (which is awesome). It is entirely different to read the books themselves and chance the bleed of fantasy into reality. A close reading of any grimoire is Lovecraft x10. Sanity points will leech away from you and chapel perilous, once looming safely in the distance, will be just over the next hill. That’s the cautionary tale in every book/film/story about infernal books… Secondly, although arcane, all of these books are in print, available right now on Amazon. In fairness, to keep to that qualification necessitated some omissions I’m sad about, and in one or two instances I chose versions of the texts that are in fact out of print (this is after all a collector’s fetish realm). But thirdly, all of these texts are available online in one form or another. You won’t get the commentaries and the awesome footnotes detailing library chases for manuscript copies that were compared, and in many instances the online versions available suck, but the texts are all out there.

Enough people over the years have asked me ‘what books to get’ on this subject and while I in no way claim any expertise on the subject beyond blind bibliomanical enthusiasm, I don’t think I’m steering anyone wrong with the list of ten texts below and mentioning the most active presses and scholars I’ve come across in my travels.

***

The Devil Rides Out

Magic texts are as old as the written word (actually older). The form is almost unique in it’s persistence: from the oral tradition, into the time of hand written manuscripts, through early printing, into mass publication and now witnessing the transition to electronic text. Given this lineage it’s not surprising much of it feels like poetry, the only other form to ride all of these waves. It’s also no surprise that some of these texts have extremely bad reputations. The fluid social/political/philosophical space these books inhabit by definition makes them a threat to the status quo.

Magical texts are always in motion and eternally up for grabs. They suggest totalizing systems without ever accomplishing that totality. All I can say is that this seems to be the point. Every text I’ve looked at has and seems to encourage differences and discrepancies. As more and more manuscript research is done, part of the confusion seems to be from transcription errors and other typical forms of errata, but some of these foibles seem willful. The mistruths in these texts, it is often said, are to separate the worthy from the unworthy. It is well known that some works were written with multiple interpretations in mind, but there’s evidence some of them have multiple systemic interpretations or different codes to interpret the symbols by. Many of the societies formed around these texts, secret and otherwise, have graded progressions or levels, and symbol sets get completely different meanings depending on the reader’s grade or level. Where you are as a reader has a place that is rarely given importance in other kinds of text. Many magical texts can feel completely different on subsequent readings and will open up the more you work with them and the topics they cover. In that sense alone these texts have a palpable effect on reality. I can attest to this personally.

In the Mouth of Madness

Looking at these books historically it is also stunning and heartening how truly multi-cultural and inclusive the works are. Magic seems ultimately to be about synthesis, and looking historically, the magical tradition seems to have the most purchase and power where cultures meet and interact. I have been continually shocked to find every continent’s thought structures at play in one place or another. What is termed the ‘western’ esoteric tradition has back-currents from and to Africa, Asia and even the Americas. Several European grimoires have entered into African and Caribbean magic traditions, usually as representations of ultimate taboo. John Dee’s famous black mirror came from America and is rumored to have belonged to an Aztec priest…

John Dee’s Obsidian Mirror

 

The List of Texts

• Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Henry Cornelius Agrippa
Probably the most referred to of all of the grimoires, this book is a true encyclopedia of magical thought as it was beginning to shear away from accepted knowledge in the renaissance. Erudite in the high, Agrippa fluidly quotes between the Bible and the Christian apocrypha, The Jewish and hebraic occult traditions as well as the entire hellenic record. Chaldean and Islamic astrology have a prominent place, as well as most of the european folk remedies and cures. It was this later data that really marked the book for infamy: the perceived threat of witches and Ottoman expansion of the time made these materials ‘infernal’ in the eyes of his peers. Given all of the material covered and quoted, Donald Tyson’s fully annotated edition pictured here adds a value to the text that can’t be under estimated.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Occult-Philosophy-Llewellyns-Sourcebook/dp/0875428320/ref=pd_sim_sbs_bt_1



Online: http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/

 

• The Hieroglyphic Monad, John Dee
Second only to Aleister Crowley here in the English speaking world, John Dee is synonymous with magic and witchcraft. He’s gone through a significant makeover, being most recently the subject of an opera written by Blur/Gorillas architect Damon Albarn. The Monad is Dee’s first and most accessible magical text, written in a form mimicking Euclid’s Geometry which Dee had translated into English around the same time. With all the indicators of what was to come in what is now called Enochian magic, this text is shorter, clearer and much simpler than any of the Enochian texts, which are all dazzling in their own right. The Monad is a great introduction to the occult tradition and a great multiple-read text.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Hieroglyphic-Monad-Dr-John-Dee/dp/157863203X/ref=tmm_pap_title_2?ie=UTF8&qid;=1328905487&sr;=8-2



Online: http://www.esotericarchives.com/dee/monad.htm

A full documentary on Dee I hesitate to post for it’s length (and slight bombast) but I’ve already posted Evil Dead bits and the soundtrack is all Coil!

 

• Aleister Crowley, The Book of the Law: Liber Al Vel Legis
If the Hieroglyphic Monad is short and clear, the Book of the Law is short and utterly opaque. Dictated from a revelation/possession experience in 1904 in Egypt, this text is the foundation of the Thelema tradition, the contemporary bridge between the historical traditions and the contemporary traditions that exist today. Firmly rooted in the ideas of the Corpus Hermeticum as well as the east-meets-west confluences and conflations that are really what the occult tradition is all about, the text has everything Crowley has to offer at his most lovable and obnoxious. An automatic poem with a sharp and tangled point, it even ends with the warning that the book should be destroyed after being read. Several annotated versions of the text, all titled The Law is for All are available, each surrounded by controversy. I am partial to the commentaries of Crowley’s secretary Israel Regardie, an accomplished occult philosopher in his own right. The Book of the Law’s importance as a magical text is argued intensely, but no one denies Crowley’s importance in transmitting the fire and enthusiasm for magic that has burned steadily in the popular consciousness ever since.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Law-Aleister-Crowley/dp/0877283346

Online: http://www.sacred-texts.com/oto/engccxx.htm

Video: 9th Gate (Fargus’s collection)

 

• The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz

While not strictly a magical text, this allegorical story is a great ‘gateway’ into the mindset necessary to process a lot of the thinking found in magical texts. Surrealism as we know it today was heavily influenced by this text and the history that grew out of the alchemical and Rosicrucian traditions, of which The Chemical Wedding is considered the masterpiece. The merging of the symbolic, poetic and descriptive modes of writing makes for a dreamy, delusional and above all magical feeling that se
ems to be suggesting something above and beyond the simple ‘reading’ of the text. Indeed, the symbolism and structure of the text has been studied and interpreted rigorously since the work appearance in 1616.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Christian-Rosenkreutz-Hermetic-Sourceworks/dp/0933999356/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie;=UTF8&qid;=1328905631&sr;=1-1



Online: http://www.levity.com/alchemy/chymwed1.html

 

• Picatrix: Ghayat Al-Hakim, Volumes I and II

Of the books coming from the orient to renaissance Italy, this tome seems to be architectonic for many of the magical threads we can find today. An arabic text made up of several smaller works discussing the making of talismans, the lunar calendar and its magical properties, it clearly influenced all of the renaissance magicians and was at that time considered among the most infernal texts. It is also an excellent example of how much cross-cultural influence these traditions have, clearly demonstrating the large part the Islamic world had in preserving the knowledge of antiquity. Only recently translated into English, there are now several versions available.



Book (this is a different translation from the one above but is well rated and contains both volumes): http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Picatrix-Classic-Astrological-Atratus/dp/1257767852/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid;=1328905994&sr;=8-1



Online (this is a summary and not the full text): http://www.esotericarchives.com/picatrix.htm

Video: 9th Gate (book making: the devil is in the details)

 

• Sefer Yetzirah: The Book of Creation

The core text of Jewish mysticism, the correlation of alphabetic letter, number and the cosmos is here so elegant and systematic it is no wonder why Hebrew became the de-facto magical alphabet of choice. Most of the so-called angelic scripts are either ciphers of Hebrew or obviously derived from the letter system. Gemmatria, kabbalah, talismanic manipulation and many kinds of evocation and invocation owe their being to this text. Short and clear in it’s presentation, it is said this text existed orally for hundreds of years before it was written down in the early middle ages. Kaplan’s annotated version includes multiple translations and an in depth commentary that gives insight and clarity, whatever your familiarity with hebrew.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Sefer-Yetzirah-Creation-Aryeh-Kaplan/dp/0877288550/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie;=UTF8&qid;=1328906136&sr;=1-1



Online: http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/yetzirah.htm

 

• The Book of Abramelin, Abraham von Worms

A degraded manuscript version of this text was a source document many of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’s rituals were based on. The current translation is the result of almost 20 years of research and it opens up the text and clarifies many of the operations and procedures. Most importantly, the Book of Abramelin contains the blueprint of the HGA ritual (Holy Guardian Angel), an extremely involved ritual practice that really sets the bar for what kind of dedication a magical practice can require. The links to what we now know of the tantric, yogic and other eastern psycho/physical practices are amazing.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Abramelin-New-Translation/dp/089254127X/ref=sr_1_1

Online (This is an older translation): http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/abr/index.htm

 

• The Clavis or Key to the Magic of Solomon

A great new trend in contemporary magical publications has been facsimile editions of the more referred to manuscripts. Some of the most famous of these were penned by the victorian occultist Frederick Hockley. Most interested in scrying, Hockley a
lso copied occult manuscripts for his extensive library, a self-admitted bibliophile. The meticulous artistry exhibited in these documents transmits part of the pleasure of books and hand-made books in particular. This is a particularly interesting text to facsimile because of the number of variations of the Clavis or Keys that exist. The recent scholarship on these manuscripts is obsessive, detail oriented and wonderful to follow. Sifting between versions of talisman recipes underlines the personal, esoteric and process-oriented nature of these practices.

Solomonic grimoires show the intricacies and difficulty of dating and locating the origins of most Grimoires. Hundreds of manuscripts claiming the bible’s King Solomon as the author exist. None have proven to be nearly that old. The content of the texts is on one hand remarkably similar and on another intensely culturally specific, and examples of Solomonic grimoires have been found written in almost every language. The works definitely merit their own sub-category, but because of the way many of these texts were grouped together with other works the categories are fairly porous (see 9 and 10). The literature surrounding King Solomon (including the Bible) gives him great power as a controller of spirits (many were said to be marshaled in the construction of the first temple). This relationship between power and control of the spirit realm led to many stories up to the 19th century of powerful lords and their architects using ‘infernal labor‘ in their construction projects, particularly bridges.

Book (expensive, but it is an extensively annotated facsimile edition of a beautiful hand-rendered text): http://www.amazon.com/Clavis-Key-Magic-Solomon-Talismanic/dp/0892541598/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie;=UTF8&qid;=1328906684&sr;=1-1

Online (this is a completely different version, based on the same family of manuscripts but producing a very different text, and no pretty handwriting): http://www.sacred-texts.com/grim/kos/index.htm

From deGivry’s survey Magic Witchcraft and Alchemy

From deGivry’s survey Magic Witchcraft and Alchemy

 

• The Veritable Key of Solomon

In 1889 S. L. MacGregor Mathers, one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, published a text called the Key of Solomon, ostensibly starting the entire field of research/enthusiasm for what are now termed the Solomonic grimoires. There are hundreds of them and the divisions separating them can be minute and immense. While Peterson’s facsimile of Hockley’s manuscript gives a singular focus to the Solomonic tradition, Skinner and Rankine’s compendium of Keys (there are three separate tracts in this text) seeks to orient the reader to the different clusters of documents that have been translated and published over the years and given the Solomonic modifier. The research shows just how inter-penetrating and intermixed these manuscripts had become over several hundred years of clandestine transmission. Clear in the confusion, the reader gets a sense of some of the materials Agrippa, Dee and our other protagonists had access to in their researches. The book comes from the Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic series, now numbering eight volumes, all of which of the highest quality and detail.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Veritable-Solomon-Sourceworks-Ceremonial-Magic/dp/0738714534/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid;=1328987337&sr;=8-1



Online (One version from a specific manuscript, different from the ones referred to in the book, but comparable): http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/sl3847.htm

 

• The Arbatel of Magic

The Arbatel represents a renaissance streamlining of many of the threads of the occult tradition being formed and reevaluated. Insisting on an ‘olympian’ character of the planetary influences, the system described feels both pagan and judaeo-christian in it’s origins and makes for a somewhat unique and syncretic voice in the literature. Also of note is that unlike most texts, which claim an almost always apocryphal antiquity, this text was first printed in 1536 and seems to have been written at that time. Whereas Agrippa’s text is clear in his sources to the point of confusion (without a commentary I think most readers will be lost), the Arbetel is almost simple in it’s presentation. This gives it a somewhat privileged place in the lore, as it is an extremely ‘user friendly’ text. Peterson’s modernized translation makes it more so and the edition available is elegant and erudite. It also smells delicious.



Book: http://www.amazon.com/Arbatel-Concerning-Ancients-Joseph-Peterson/dp/0892541520/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie;=UTF8&qid;=1328907812&sr;=1-7

Online: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/arbatel.htm

 

Notes

The three sections below are gravy for people who want more information. I also wanted to specifically mention these small presses as I think they are quite amazing, some making books that are art quality objects. While I don’t totally agree with Giles’s sentiments stated in the opening clip of this post I do feel that there is an experience in books that is unique, that books should share our thinking space with these new technologies rather than be replaced by them.

 

Presses

Ouroboros Press

The Golden Hoard Press (Sourceworks of Ceremonial Magic)

Magnum Opus Books/Alchemy Web Bookshop

Teitan Press

 

Scholars/Translators

Frances Yates

Aryeh Kaplan

Adam McLean

Joscelyn Godwin

Donald Tyson

Stephen Skinner

David Rankine

Joseph H. Peterson

 

Additional Reference Texts

* I could list hundreds of books here but have chosen the ones I’ve found myself needing to refer to the most. Tyson’s edition of Agrippa can make up for most of the gaps, but if you find yourself getting comparative in your analyses and want primary data, these books have helped a ton. I’m not including any eastern or hellenic source works, although Ovid and the Upanishads etc… of course are relevant…

777
Aleister Crowley’s collection and correlation of tables. These get a little funky the further you get into the material record and begin comparing the data, but it is a notable and fairly reliable (and precedent setting) collection of the tabulations and correlations of thousands of years of magical data.

The Complete Magician’s Tables
Stephen Skinner’s answer to the missing facts and errata that have surfaced since 777‘s publication. Much more useful and accurate ultimately than 777, it is reverent to and respectful of the document it owes fealty to.

The Torah
Commentated and scrutinized in a completely different manner, the book of course gives insight to many of the specifically Hebraic structures that appear in much of this material.

The Bible
One way or another you will come back here. As something to react for or against (‘I keep the Bible in a pool of blood so that none of it’s lies can affect me’ is a good Slayer quote for the moment), the Bible is there looming in the background of most of this material. Over the years I’ve come to appreciate much of the text, and realize that like all infernal books it’s what you do with it that counts.

The Qur’an
Much more of the occult tradition is built on concepts in this book that most would at first think and it is pretty embarrassing how ignorant we are in (America at least) of what is in this book…

The Nag Hammadi Scriptures
For those leery of the ‘good books’ mentioned above (like me), the Nag Hammadi scriptures can ease some of the frustrations the Torah/Bible/Qur’an as a reference can cause. These texts also open up a universe of religious and mystical thought that was virtually unknown to the modern world prior to their discovery in the 40s. Much more mystical and concerned with the individual than made it into the good books, and you can see a pattern of control that got exercised by excluding many of these thought bombs…

The Corpus Hermeticum
This collection’s influence on magical texts cannot be underestimated. It also links many of the other occult traditions, especially alchemy. Presumed to be of deep Egyptian antiquity for centuries, it is actually 2nd century, close in age to the Nag Hammadi codices and sharing many of their ideas.
—-

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** NLK, Hey. I posted yesterday before your comment registered, but I managed to spot it. My pleasure, obviously, on expressing the pleasure your videos gave me. 16mm, cool, wow. I love that look. Are you adjusting your ideas in any way to match that format, or … ? My French is poor. I understand okay, basically, without getting nuances and subtleties, but I don’t speak the language, and I can only really read factual stuff in French, although I do go to see French films without subtitles a fair amount. Right now I’m in a rare in-between reading phase, meaning no fiction or poetry at this very moment. A book about the history of Grove Press, a book about the history of two art galleries: Pat Hearn and American Fine Art. What are you reading? Tips? I do love Bresson’s color films the most. I’m in that camp. I hope you’ll get a chance to see them, although I suppose you’ll probably have to end up streaming them or springing for the DVDs. Anyway, have a swell Wednesday. ** David Ehrenstein, Things were tough for the detectably gay back then. P.J. Castellaneta is apparently working on a new film. Zac’s and my producer might be its producer. Everyone, Mr. Ehrenstein’s FaBlog sinks its inimitable claws into the Trump beast. Check it. ** Sypha, Understood. Well, that ‘cut your losses’ strategy it works for you, obviously. I don’t think it would for me. For instance, with ‘The Sluts’, I started and abandoned that novel many times over a 10 year period before I finally figured out how to make it work. So I would have lost my ‘hit’. Wow, that’s so cool to see the list of the ‘Guide’ songs. I, of course, had forgotten which I’d chosen since I haven’t looked at the novel in forever. I wasn’t able to get Zac on the phone yesterday, but I’m spending the day with him, partly at his place, so I’ll find that lyric and identify it and give you the source, probably in the Comments later today. Thanks, James. I’m super stoked and grateful that you’re doing that. ** Steve Erickson, Hi. Oh, yes, I do think I remember you mentioning the Buttigieg essay a while ago. I agree with you about Peck’s essay and what it means. The negative on it has gone too far in some instances, for sure, but then, on the other hand, I’ve seen people, even people I otherwise respect, hailing Peck as the gay hero of this generation and using the hashtag #DalePeck2020. That’s just as depressing to me. What a horrible fucking moment we’re in. ** Bill, Ha ha, I’ll get to work on the screenplay ASAP. Cheerleading from Paris on your war with software. How was ‘Midsommar’? ** _Black_Acrylic, Some of those who prize Verhoeven’s films say ‘Flesh+Blood’ is an unsung masterpiece or something. Interesting about the Frank Sidebottom doc. Man, he’s getting sung in ways he probably couldn’t have imagined, no? ** KK, Hi, man. Thanks for the ‘Crawl’ report. That’s good enough for me. I was just wondering how the title would be translated for the French version so I won’t miss it only to discover that ‘Crawl’ is the French word too. How odd. Oh, cool, thanks, I’ll order Matt’s book straight away, assuming they’ll ship to France. Wait, I just saw your late comment. Well, I mean, if he doesn’t mind sending me a copy, that would be fantastic. Uh, I don’t want to put my street address here, but you can email me at denniscooper72@outlook.com, and I’ll shoot the address back to you, if that works. Please tell Matt thanks very much from me. Enjoy the acing and arranging and finessing of your collection, which I know you will. The shopping phase is always purgatory, but at least it can be a quickie, fingers crossed. Early very happy birthday to you! And your celebration plans are killer and envy-provoking. Wednesday looks busy on my end, which is good, and possibly a bit too hot, sky-wise, but I suppose you know what that’s like being where you are. Anyway, I hope you make yours count or vice versa. ** Misanthrope, George, I have a very strong intuition that there is no genius to be missed. Oops, about the semi-shared endings. But, hey, yours could easily make his seem like a mere preliminary sketch. Big up on LPS landing employment. And big hope that he settles in there and works his ass off. ** Okay. Today I restore a post made for the blog some years ago by the excellent visual artist and expert occultist Jesse Bransford. He knows his shit, so, if the post is up your alley, let it steer you right. See you tomorrow.