Paralibrum.
An independent home for bibliophile occulture
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'ARCANUM' by Daniel Yates
Arcanum is a book almost entirely made up of images, of stunning macro-lens photographs taken by the highly talented Daniel Yates. Arcanum is also an assassin, as it perfectly understands the sequence of experiences it needs to take us on: From allowing us entrance, to slowing us down, to stilling our gaze, to drawing us in, to showing us a glimpse of the threshold its images can be, to finally pointing into the darkness beyond by means of its illuminating titles and chapters.
‘Dark Star Rising’ by Gary Lachman
While Lachman has deep-dived before into little known occultist tenets informing various political movements in history as a contrarian underground ontology of sorts, Dark Star Rising is rather different. It essays to render some rhyme and reason regarding an incumbent president of the United States (…): Donald Trump. Lachman (…) adopts a markedly phenomenological approach, opting for a reserved and sober analysis encompassing both Trump and his vast right-wing supporter base as well as their shared spiritual fundamentals.
‘The Book of Gates’ by McCarthy, Sheppard, Littlejohn (ed.)
This book comes highly recommended to anyone interested in ancient Egyptian thought and magical history. It is an open invitation to work in the Duat in magical service. (…) However, the book should come with a warning label to proceed at your own risk and with care, as its journey is called the Path of Hercules for a reason. You will find it to be a rich magical and mystical source if you dare to awaken the Ma'ati within.
‘The Gnostics and their Remains’ by C.W. King
Let’s start by bluntly acknowledging that this is not a good introductory book on the topic of Gnosticism. It is, however, a valuable book if one wants to deepen their knowledge of the subject. And it is certainly an interesting document for its historiography and for taking a closer look not only at the Gnostics, but at their physical artefacts: the magical gemstones, commonly known as Abraxas.
‘Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult’ by R.B. Spence
Very few researchers (…) of Hermeticism and Western Esotericism are likely to be familiar with the fact that at the end of the 19th century i.e. at the peak of the Victorian era, there was a publicly known occult organisation that was classified by the security authorities of the time as a most alarming hotbed of political terrorism, separatism and high treason.
