Mike Magee 7 December 1949 – 11 August 2024
Mike Magee, my friend, teacher, and publishing collaborator passed away in the early hours of 11 August 2024.
Continue reading »
Archive for the category ‘Announcements’
-
-
Reflections on the Left-hand path
With a two-part lecture series on the left-hand path later this month at Treadwells Bookshop 25 July and 8 August, I thought I’d share some personal observations on my previous identification with the LHP.
Continue reading » -
New for 2024. Wheels within Wheels: Chakras and Western Esotericism
I’m very pleased to announce the release of a new edition of my book exploring the early passage of knowledge about chakras into Western Esotericism. This new edition collects the material originally published as a series of 4 chapbooks in 2018, and I’ve added some more information about the early tantric traditions.
Continue reading » -
New Books for 2023
Announcing two new books for 2023 – Queering Occultures and Acts of Magical Resistance.
Continue reading »
-
Unfoldings: A Substack Newsletter
I’ve started a Substack Newsletter – Unfoldings – for those who want to be informed of my various projects – upcoming lectures, new books, and Twisted Trunk publications. Whilst there will be some crossover with enfolding, the newsletter will mostly feature different content to what I post here – observations, reflections, ruminations and passing fancies. Sign up using the link below.
-
Announcing Kālī Magic
Kālī Magic brings together Mike Magee’s decades of experience in translating and elucidating tantrik texts. The first section—Sadhana—explores the ritual worship of Kālī through mantra, her various aspects, and her yantras. The second section—Tantras—includes new English translations of the Mātṛkābheda, Toḍala, and Yoni tantras, plus two Kālī Upaniṣads and abstracts of ten tantras related to the worship of the goddess. With a comprehensive bibliography and glossary of key terms, Kālī Magic will be of great value to devotees and scholars of the goddess alike.
322 pages, illustrated by Jan Bailey, Foreword by Phil Hine.“An exceedingly valuable resource for those brave enough to plumb the liturgical details of Kali worship. Thematically organized while consisting substantially of translations from Sanskrit scriptures, this is less a how-to guide than a survey of major tantric ritual components as presented in medieval sources. Three newly translated tantras and summaries of ten more round out the book, alongside copious illustrations and a lightly but helpfully annotated bibliography. Dive in!”
Joel Bordeaux (International Institute for Asian Studies/Leiden University)Kālī Magic is available from Amazon.
-
Edward Sellon and the Cannibal Club: Anthropology Erotica Empire – VI
In the third installment of this series, I examined the erotic writings of Edward Sellon. Now I will turn to his “anthropological” work – the two lectures delivered to the Anthropological Society of London (ASL) – Linga Puja: On the Phallic Worship of India and Some Remarks on Indian Gnosticism, or Sacti Puja, the Worship of the Female Powers and follow through with a look at some other works dealing with Phallic worship from the ASL.
Continue reading » -
Edward Sellon and the Cannibal Club: Anthropology Erotica Empire – V
At the close of the previous post in this series I promised I would take a look at the work of Irish scholar Henry O’Brien, an early nineteenth-century exponent of the phallic theory of religion. Continue reading »
-
Yakṣiṇī Magic available from Amazon
Mike Magee’s new book Yakṣiṇī Magic is now available from Amazon.com as a print on demand paperback.
Yakṣiṇī Magic is the first extensive treatment of Tantric texts dealing with practices that relate to the Yakṣiṇīs, an ancient class of female spirit beings often described as “fertility deities” and said to inhabit wild places, plants and trees. Drawing on a wide range of tantric textual sources, many of which are presented here for the first time summarised into English, Mike Magee examines the various practices through which a tantric practitioner could propitiate these powerful, fierce and sometimes jealous female spirits. Yakṣiṇī Magic affords us a fascinating glimpse into this hitherto unexplored aspect of the tantric world. Continue reading » -
Announcement: Treadwells Subscriber Lectures
Current circumstances have disrupted my lecture plans for 2020, but I have contributed a number of lectures to a new venture from Treadwells of London – their online subscriber lectures. Continue reading »
