Paralibrum.
An independent home for bibliophile occulture
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‘The Tarot of Marsilio’ by Christophe Poncet
Card by card, Poncet meticulously takes us through the process by which he recovered the iconographic provenance of each card’s imagery based upon primary artistic materials, close observation of fine detail, and comparative historical and textual research. Poncet performs a virtuoso exercise in iconographic connoisseurship to create an evidential chain that convincingly explains the origins of the Tarot de Marseille tradition.
‘Arriton’ by Ayis Lertas
The powerful agitation this book achieves has been a primary revelation; the pain of recognition, then non-recognition is a firm strike of the disciplinarian’s rod to let these figures speak for themselves. The journey this book invites its readers to embark upon is certainly not of universal appeal. Yet, for those intrigued by the power of visual culture and willing enough to surrender to the taciturn spirits Lertas has conjured into these images, a profound pilgrimage awaits.
‘Two Esoteric Tarots’ by Peter Mark Adams and Christophe Poncet
I would recommend this publication to anyone with an interest in the tarot, and it works well as both an introduction to the historical, cultural, and spiritual contexts of both the Sola-Busca and Tarot de Marseille. It is a triumph of two passionate and sincere researchers and a genuine benefit to an audience within and without the magical community – perhaps even art critics.
‘Hagia Sophia’ by Peter Mark Adams
Hagia Sophia Sanctum of Kronos: Spiritual Dissent in an Age of Tyranny is Peter Mark Adams’ third book in a series of writings on classical initiation and its survival into the Renaissance. According to Adams, the Hagia Sophia itself is the incarnation of the most important ideas of Hellenistic theurgy, or spiritual practice wherein identification with, and even possession by one’s chosen devotional deity was the ideal.
‘ANARCH’ by Gast Bouschet. Reviewed by Peter Mark Adams.
In essence, ANARCH documents an ongoing process of profound personal transformation mediated by a four year long retreat in a forested landscape. Captured in fine writing and immersive photography, I cannot sufficiently commend the profundity of conception and execution that characterises this work.
‘ANARCH’ by Gast Bouschet. Reviewed by Frater Acher.
ANARCH brings the spirit of Beuys down into chthonic depths; brings it to lie beside us, as it were, in a sacrificial pit. From there, Gast’s book buries us alive, takes us on a satanic–alchemical journey to leave us injured, wounded, and fully given over to transience as undead revenants in the 21st century in new and diabolical forms.
‘Holy Heretics’ by Frater Acher
Frater Acher writes with very deliberate care for the reader. In a sense, this is a book about character, in terms of the symbols we use (and which also use us) to contour our perception and experience. It is also a study in contrasts, in order to explore what the author calls “the rainbow path” – which requires seeing through and behind caricatures. Whether those caricatures are those of the fanatical Christian extremist, the dissolute pagan, or the saintly hesychast, all are examined here with remarkable even-handedness.
‘Ani.Mystic’ by Gordon White
Ani.Mystic is a beautiful and informative work. But to read it is to embark upon a densely woven encounter. The sheer variety of voices that contribute to its fabric do not obfuscate, in any way, its message. Rather, they serve to pitch a distinctly perspectival challenge to the reader, to ingrained habits of thinking and being […]. The quality of its prose and the logic underpinning its argument are, respectively, stylistically well-polished and thoroughgoing; the choice and use of its various interlocutors a treasure chest of sources and ideas.
‘Mystai’ by Peter Mark Adams
A meticulous study of this book will most likely feel like a daydream transporting the reader to the ancient world of the Mysteries and their gods initiated by Adams’s eloquent writing and personal insights supported by beautiful images of the frescoes of the Villa of the Mysteries and other ancient iconographies and artifacts. The functional combination of text and imagery is what makes Mystai such a potent and inspiring book.
‘XVI. Bringing Down the House of God.’ edited by Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech
[…] Essays in the collection address an array of contemporary crisis situations and calamities and correlate their impact and meaning with the symbol of the fallen Tower. The opinions are diverse and the views often verge on disturbing: there is certainly nothing in the book that would be acceptable to everyone, and that is as it should be. The overall message is however clear: it’s the end of the world as we know it, whether we like it or not.
‘Black Abbot · White Magic’ by Frater Acher
[…] In addition to the bibliophilia edging into bibliomania, Trithemius’s other interests included cryptography, talking to angels, rummaging through grimoires, reforming the church and education, and social climbing. Like many of the Humanists and magi before and after him, he “desired to know all that could be known.”
‘An Excellent Booke of the Arte Magicke’ by Legard & Cummins | 2nd Review
We have previously shared Craig ‘VI’ Slee’s review of the Excellent Booke; and we are delighted to now present a second in-depth review of the book, this time by Frater Acher. As you will see, both perspectives stand side by side in a mutually enriching way and hope to inspire more dialogue on and research into this fascinating magical source material.
‘An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke’ by Legard and Cummins
What a wonderfully mammoth task and resource Phil Legard and Al Cummins have both undertaken, and also given us, with this book. It provides us with something which should excite anybody with an interest in magic or the occult – a readable record of occult technique and experience leading to, and dealing with, talismanic books, treasures and arcana.
‘Ajar To The Night’ by Autumn Richardson
Ajar To The Night comprises three poems. It has to be said from the outset that they possess a rare resonance, power and depth; one that affirms this collection as an important contribution to the longstanding tradition of a spiritualised and esoteric poetry.
‘The Testament of Cyprian the Mage’ by Jake Stratton-Kent
This fine double volume is an expedition into the ancestral blood-ties of the famous sorcerer-saint. To embark on it is to encounter Cyprian the Mage. Not only as the hero of an ancient polemic against the last surviving pagans, but more importantly as an ever present inner contact, a powerful spirit in its own right.
