Paralibrum.
Independent reviews of bibliophile occulture.
‘Goêtic Atavisms’ by Frater Acher and Craig ‘VI’ Slee
This book requires multiple readings to understand how deftly the various sections gel together, despite their differences, or because of them. “What you did as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? Therein lies the key to your earthly pursuits” (C.G. Jung). This is one such puzzle of a book with which you could have hours of pleasure.
‘Nazarth: Pillars of Gladness’ by Alexander Cummins
[…] As Cummins suggests, the calls and figures as a whole might be deployed for various sorcerous reasons. Yet if there is one thing that remains constant with poetry, it is the ardency with which it is performed that makes it so evocative – even spoken softly, gently, soothingly, in tones of intimacy and friendship, there must be enthusiasm.
‘Historiola: The Power of Narrative Charms’ by Carl Nordblom
What Nordblom has done is provide us with a framework to discover our own relationship to the magical or sorcerous narrative within our own lives – a kind of praxis which enables us to think about word and image in a way which may be unusual to some moderns. […] we should thank the author for providing us with only a glimpse of the many worlds of the historiolae which may present the enquiring mind with rich alterities.
‘The Sworn and Secret Grimoire’ by Jake Stratton-Kent
Jake Stratton-Kent gently but decidedly brushes away the naive hope of offering the reader any sort of definite pathway, absolute truth or sanctified orthopraxy; instead, his book aims to create just about sufficient orientation points – as well as lazy readers’ trapdoors, one should add – so that each one of us can create, correct or continue to ruin their own ritualistic path.
‘Clavis Goêtica’ by Frater Acher & José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal
Frater Acher and José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal present us with […] a guide and a glossary diffracted through the prism of personal ritual practice, historical research, and painstakingly intimate relationships with spirits.
