ecosophia | Entries tagged with new book

I've been exploring some options for ritual and practice in the Universal Gnostic Church tradition of late. For certain ceremonies and personal practices, it would be good to have an anthology of spiritual texts, readings from which would fill something of tthe same role as the Epistle and Gospel readings in a Christian communion service. Since this is for the Universal Gnostic Church, though, the texts would come from many different traditions, focusing on inspiration and insight rather than, say, bad geology and thou-shalt-nots. I imagine this as being something like the Bible, which is an anthology of complete texts from different periods and traditions.

These are the texts I've tentatively selected to start with:

- the Gospel of Thomas
- the Gospel of John
- Thunder, Perfect Mind
- the Poimandres
- the Tao Te Ching
- the Havamal
- the Heart Sutra
- Jung's Seven Sermons to the Dead

The whole volume should be around three times as long as this, however, a nice hefty volume for the aspiring Gnostic, so I'm throwing this open to suggestions from my commentariat. I'm perfectly willing to consider anything from ancient to modern times, so long as it's out of copyright or otherwise available for anthologizing, but I do insist on complete texts rather than excerpts.

Oh, and anyone who wants to label me a one-man Commission of Ecumenical Translators is welcome to do so, so long as they're willing to explain the joke implied in "Cranks-Effing-Turners." That said, this text from the commentaries of the OC Bible may well be included:

"Much that was called religion has carried an unconscious attitude of hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensation which tells you this is something you've always known."

...and having thrown that cat among the pigeons, I'd be interested in your suggestions.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: Debussy, "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun"

I'm very pleased to report that my first book on mundane astrology, The Astrology of Nations, is now available for preorder and will be released in January next year. Those of my readers who have been following along with my mundane astrology project on Patreon or SubscribeStar will have seen the techniques in this book in action; for those who haven't, this is old-fashioned predictive astrology using solar ingresses, eclipses, and outer planet conjunctions to get a glimpse of political and economic trends in advance.

Here's the publisher's blurb:

"Discover the art of casting and interpreting astrology charts for nations, politics, and economies with this complete guide to the history and practice of mundane astrology.

Mundane astrology is the art of making predictions about the political and economic condition of nations on the basis of planetary movements. Mundane charts are cast in the same way as natal charts, but their delineation—that is, the analysis of factors and their synthesis into a complete picture—follows different rules.

Suitable for astrology students of every level, this complete guide to mundane astrology takes readers from theory to practice through an exploration of foundational astrology principles, planetary meanings, interpretations in houses and aspects, historical case studies, and more. Readers will learn how to cast and interpret political charts themselves to gain insights on current, past, and future events.

The practices of mundane astrology span back through five thousand years of human history and insight. With The Astrology of Nations, discover more about this fascinating practice and how the stars will continue to influence nations and politics today and beyond."

Interested? You can preorder direct from the publisher here. And of course, if you're interested in my ongoing predictions you can get them via an inexpensive subscription to my SubscribeStar or Patreon sites.

Oh, and one other thing -- the publisher has some publicity copies to spare. If you're a podcaster and would like to have me on your show, let me know and I'll get you a copy.

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: Will Ackerman, "Seattle"

I'm delighted to report that a new novel of mine, The Hall of Homeless Gods, is now available for advance order -- and so are three of my four remaining backlist titles.

*****

Meet Jerry Shimizu. He's a tough, two-fisted fixer who works for the boss of Habitat Four, one of five Japanese refugee communities built on abandoned oil platforms off the coast of the United States in a hard-edged dystopian future of technological decline and climate chaos. His beat is Shoreside, the bustling, brawling, anything-goes temporary port on the beach two miles from the Habitats.

He's trying to bust a robbery ring that's preying on Shoreside gambling money when he encounters a mysterious woman with strange mental abilities. Before long he's having to dodge hoods sent after him by Shoreside's crime lord, not to mention agents of the US government and spies from its archrival, the European Union. Does all this have anything to do with rumors of a secret supercomputer project in the now-abandoned country inland from Shoreside -- a project that once left a string of corpses behind it, and now might yield a fabulous trove of old world technology? Jerry's going to find out...if he can survive long enough.

Interested? It'll be out in September. You can preorder a copy of The Hall of Homeless Gods here.

*****

Meanwhile, three older novels of mine are also heading into the presses, and also available for preorder. First up is my first published novel, The Fires of Shalsha, a quirky science fiction story -- one of its early reviewers described it as reading a little like The Seven Samurai rewritten by Ursula K. Le Guin -- set on a colony planet orbiting Epsilon Eridani. It features mysticism, gunfire, strange visions, and even stranger psychoactive compounds, all under the shadow of a centuries-dead tyranny that is stirring in its grave and a threat of nuclear holocaust. You can preorder a copy here.

Its sequel, Journey Star, takes up the story twenty years later as one of the last survivors of the cannibal Outrunners, a thirteen-year-old girl named Asha, is caught up in an unexpected quest for one of the last remaining secrets of the planetary government that preceded the horrors of Shalsha -- a quest that will ultimately take her to Journey Star, the colony ship still orbiting high above Eridan's surface, and to a discovery that will change life on Eridan forever. You can preorder a copy of this one here.

Last (for now), but certainly not least, is the novel I wrote one monthly blog post at a time a decade and a half ago, the story of Trey sunna Gwen, ruinman of Meriga (we pronounce that "America" nowadays), and his search for the place out of legend where humanity might once have talked with alien intelligences -- a place called Star's Reach. It's my longest novel to date and my most extended exploration of what North America might look like four centuries or so after the end of our industrial age; you can preorder a copy here.

(Yes, in case you were wondering, my remaining novel Retrotopia is also on its way back into print, and I should have a release date and preordering information shortly. I'll keep you posted.)

Current Mood: exhilarated

While difficult things are going on in my personal life just now, the wider world rolls onward, and now and then the consequences are pleasant. ones. One of these showed up just now: an email from Sphinx Books, the publisher that carries my fiction these days. mentioning that interest in my Ariel Moravec occult detective novels is high enough that they're bringing out a deluxe edition of the soon-to-be-published second volume in the series, The Book of Haatan. Yes, that's a rendering of it on the left.

For those who haven't been following along, Ariel Moravec is eighteen years old, and is learning magic from her grandfather, Dr. Bernard Moravec, one of the most famous occultists in an East Coast city you'll have a hard time finding on a map. Dr. Moravec is also a private investigator specializing in occult cases; in this story, he and Ariel are called in by the city police to look into the theft of an old book of magic -- a book that may reveal a secret for which some people are willing to kill.

It's a lively story, and like all the Ariel Moravec adventures, the magic in it is real magic -- not the make-believe stuff you get from Harry Potter et al., but the sort of things that actual occultists practice and cope with. That's a habit I picked up from Dion Fortune, who did the same thing in her occult fiction; those who've read the first volume in the series, The Witch of Criswell, know that real magic is at least as good a plot engine as the fake kind.

Interested? The deluxe edition can be preordered from the publisher here. If you already preordered the trade paperback edition from the publisher directly and would like to cancel that order and get the deluxe edition instead, you can contact them at email office@aeonbooks.co.uk to arrange for this.

Current Mood: cheered up

The world is a very strange place and strange things happen in it. One that I didn't expect is that one of my very first publications, a pamphlet I self-published in the days when that meant staplebound photocopies, is back in print.

Between 1992 and 2004 I was deeply involved in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Once the largest fraternal order in North America, Odd Fellowship had dwindled to a tiny fraction of its former size by 1992, and mostly consisted of small groups of retirees meeting in vast brick halls meant for meetings ten and twenty times the size. I was one of a number of younger men who joined one of the Seattle lodges. One of the things that interested me was the symbolism of the Odd Fellow degrees of initiation, and for the benefit of fellow members, I put together a pamphlet called The Emblems of Odd Fellowship and sold it for a little over cost.

Then life happened; I left Seattle, moved to a part of the country where Odd Fellowship had gone extinct decades before, and I got a withdrawal card from my lodge -- that's what you do if you're an Odd Fellow and are traveling to a different state. It's still in my filing cabinet, along with a whole mess of other IOOF certificates -- I went through various offices, including a term as state head of one of the branches of the order. Meanwhile my pamphlet went quietly out of print.

Fast forward to last year. The movement of younger people into Odd Felowship -- it admits women as well as men these days -- has continued, and I was contacted by a brother Odd Fellow who's set up a small publishing house to produce books of interest to Odd Fellows. My pamphlet hadn't quite dropped completely out of memory, it turned out. and a second edition duly followed. If you're interested, copies can be had here; if you'd just like to know more about the Odd Fellows, the order's website is here.

Current Mood: bemused
Current Location: on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho

Another new book of mine to announce for preorder!. This one's the sequel to The Way of the Golden Section, the second in a planned sequence of three volumes of occult instruction. Here's the blurb:

"Based on an ancient understanding of the cycles of nature, John Michael Greer invites students of occult to continue their training with the study of the four elements

The four elements are one of the foremost themes of Western occult tradition and have been used across history as a basic template for the process of initiation, and seasonal ritual.

The book assigns each element to each of the four seasons of the year it is traditionally associated with and is intended to be worked through in sync with those seasons. There is no fixed starting point, and students can begin with any of the four elements by starting at whatever season begins next.

Each chapter includes both theory and practice ranging from symbols and teachings relating to the elements, suggestions for further reading, to exercises for awakening the etheric senses and astral clairvoyance.

The Way of the Four Elements is the quintessential next step for students of the occult to continue developing and honing the skills learnt in their magical education."

The less blurby description is that it's the second step in the process of instruction set out in The Way of the Golden Section, expanding the initiate's knowledge and awareness through a year-long initiatory process. There's some significant overlap with the material taught by the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose, but it's all been reworked to use the Golden Section rituals and symbolism. Those who complete this work will also be prepared to establish and run a Temple of the Golden Section Fellowship -- that is to say, a group of four or more people who've completed the initiatory process in The Way of the Golden Section and want to work together in the quest for wisdom, revelation, and enlightenment.

If you're interested, it can be preordered here if you're in the US and here elsewhere; in either case, use the code FE20 at checkout and your get a 20% discount on the preordered copy.

All this is part of a broader structure. The third and final volume in this sequence, The Way of the Secret Temple, is complete in first draft right now; three volumes of instruction and training -- The Occult Philosophy Workbook, the forthcoming The Earth Mysteries Workbook, and the volume I'm writing now, The Life Force Workbook -- are designed to complement these; and of course the keystone of it all is The Sacred Geometry Oracle. This is a system of occult training and practice I've been developing for many years and I'm delighted to have the chance finally to get it into print and available to students.

Update 12/14: I just heard from the publisher, and partly due to the enthusiastic response to these titles, the volumes in this series are now going to be available in hardback editions. The hardbacks of The Way of the Golden Section and The Occult Philosophy Workbook are both now live on the Aeon website:

USA:
https://spirit.aeonbooks.com/product/the-way-of-the-golden-section/94937
https://spirit.aeonbooks.com/product/the-occult-philosophy-workbook/95089

UK:
https://spirit.aeonbooks.co.uk/product/the-way-of-the-golden-section/94937
https://spirit.aeonbooks.co.uk/product/the-occult-philosophy-workbook/95089

This newest volume will be available for preorder in hardback at these same sites within a day or two. Thank you all for your enthusiasm!

Current Mood: very pleased

I'm delighted to report that the second of my Ariel Moravec occult detective novels, The Book of Haatan, is now available for advance ordering and will be coming off the press in March 2024. For those of my readers who haven't been following along, this is the sequel to The Witch of Criswell, which started eighteen-year-old Ariel on her career as an occult investigator, under the guidance of her adept grandfather Dr. Bernard Moravec.

In this volume, it's the theft of an old and rare grimoire that starts the tale in motion. That grimoire, which contains spells for treasure hunting, might be linked to a quest for treasure left by a pirate centuries earlier. Ariel and her grandfather aren't the only ones looking for the treasure, however, and the other parties involved are more than willing to use deadly magic to get their way...

Interested? You can order a copy in advance here.

Update 12/7/23: The Book of Haatan is now available for preorder in the United States via Bookshop; you can order it here.

Current Mood: delighted

I'm delighted to announce that one of my personal favorites among my books, A World Full of Gods, is back in print in a revised and expanded edition. When it first saw print in 2005, it was literally the Western world's first original work on the philosophy of religion in centuries to take polytheism seriously -- not as a metaphor, not as a mask under which some less challenging set of ideas could be found, but on its own terms, as a live religious option. There have been several other books on the subject published since then, but I think A World Full of Gods still stands up very well among them, and the fan mail I've fielded from Heathens, Kemetics, and many other modern polytheists leads me to think that other people share that opinion.

Here's the publisher's blurb:

* * * * *

An investigation into the underpinnings and superstructures of the Pagan world view

Pagan religions have tended to be more concerned with practice than with theory and in a system that has no dogma - no legislated doctrine - that is as it should be. Yet as the movement grows and matures, it is inevitable that we will begin to think in a more abstract way about our models and systems.

John Michael Greer provides a primer on the kinds of ideas and themes that must be included in any discussion of the theology and philosophy of Neo-pagan religions. Much of the book takes shape in a dialogue with existing ideas in theology, philosophy, and comparative religion. It looks to find a comprehensible yet intellectually rigorous middle ground between too much and too little reference to the work of other scholars.

It aims to be part of a conversation, that stretches out over the centuries. Voices of polytheist spirituality have had little place in that conversation for many years, but much of value has been said in their absence. The rebirth of polytheism as a living religious tradition in the Western world will inevitably force a reassessment of much of that heritage, and pose challenges to some of its most cherished assumptions.Yet reassessment is not necessarily rejection, and the traditions of modern polytheism are deeply enough indebted to legacies from the past that an attentive ear to earlier phases of the conversation is not out of place.

* * * * *

Three additional notes:

First, the publisher has graciously provided a discount code for this title, good from now until the end of May. Visit their website here and use the discount code JMG20 during checkout, and you get 20% off the cover price.

Second, longtime readers will be bemused -- to use no stronger word! -- to hear that Pagan blogger and podcaster Rhyd Wildermuth, with whom I've had some interesting history, had me on his podcast to talk about A World Full of Gods. We had a lovely conversation. As far as I know, it's only available to his subscribers so far, but it should be available to the general public in a few weeks.

Finally, why "For A Few Gods More"? Back when I was originally working on this project, twenty years ago, it was a running joke among my friends to refer to it as "A Fistful of Gods," with reference to a certain classic spaghetti Western film starring Clint Eastwood. That inspired suggestions that a sequel or new edition should be "For A Few Gods More," and a third would of course be "The Good, The Bad, and the Godly"...

Current Mood: delighted

One of the things that's starting to surface these days, after a long period of silence on the subject, is just how many significant figures in twentieth century intellectual life were up to their eyeballs in one or another form of esoteric spirituality. Some of them remain household names today; others have been largely erased from the official history. E. Graham Howe is one of the latter. An important influence on Alan Watts, a friend of Jiddu Krishnamurti, and a major figure in the history of psychology in Britain, the author of thirteen books, he's been deep-sixed from public memory...because he was a Druid.

I think most of my readers by now know that Druidry has been a significant force in alternative spiritual circles all over the English-speaking world since the eighteenth century. Howe was a member of the Universal Bond, one of the largest and most active Druid orders in the middle of the last century. He was among other things an influential teacher in the Druid scene, and at least one of his books, The Mind of the Druid, was very straightforward about his spiritual commitments. After his death in 1975, that seems to have been enough to get him cancelled.

A Druid in Psychologist's Clothing: E. Graham Howe's Secret Druidic Doctrine by Ian C. Edwards is a solid attempt to change that, discussing Howe's teachings and career with an eye toward the role of Druidry in his thought. I was delighted to pen one of the two forewords to this book. It's pricey -- it's being released by a fine printer, Anathema Press, and costs Cdn$105.00 -- but for those who are interested in the interface between Druidry and psychology, it's well worth the price. Interested? Details are here.

Current Mood: pleased

I'm very excited to announce the approaching publication of my latest novel, The Witch of Criswell: An Ariel Moravec Occult Mystery, due for release in April. This is the first volume of a new series, and heads off in a relatively new direction for me.

Occult detective stories go back nearly as far as detective stories themselves; as far as I know, the first occult detective story was Fitz James O'Brien's 1855 piece "A Pot of Tulips," which pits occult investigator Harry Escott against a ghost. William Hope Hodgson's "Carnacki the Ghost Finder" series, the first of which saw print in 1910, kickstarted the genre into motion, and there have been hundreds of other writers in the field since then, including serious occultists -- Dion Fortune and Aleister Crowley both published occult detective stories, for example.

One of the things that's irritated me about much of occult detective fiction, however, is that so many of its creators don't know enough about occultism to figure out which end of a wand to hold. It's understandable -- so many people don't have a clue that there's anything real going on in occultism, and so they treat it as a subset of fantasy and drag in all kinds of Harry Potteresque pseudomagical drivel -- but I can't help comparing it to the kind of really bad science fiction that ignores little things like the laws of physics. Nor is real magic any less useful as a plot engine than the fake variety. Dion Fortune's occult novels, in particular, make good use of actual magic; there are no Hollywood special effects in The Goat Foot God, for example, but there's still plenty of suspense and no shortage of plot.

I've always thought that the best way to get something to happen is to do it yourself. With that in mind, and with the enthusiastic help of Sphinx Press, a British fiction publisher, I've launched a new series with this book -- a sequence of occult detective novels in which all the magic is real. It's set in and around an East Coast city you'll have a hard time finding on a map -- Adocentyn, which (as you may not have learned in school) was founded in 1668 by Elias Ashmole and a group of his occultist friends -- and plunges the main character into a tangled case involving ghosts, witchcraft, and ceremonial magic. Here's the blurb:

"Eighteen-year-old Ariel Moravec doesn't expect much from a summer with the grandfather she hasn't met in years: a respite from her dysfunctional family, perhaps, and a brief delay before she has to face an uncertain future. A few days after her arrival, however, she learns that her grandfather is an occult investigator tasked with hunting down the perils of the Unseen -- and he offers Ariel the chance to assist him on a case. Strange forces are stirring in the little farm town of Criswell, where a famous witch lived in colonial times. Has old Hepzibah Rewell's curse awakened, or is the evil magic the work of someone living? Caught in a tightening net of bitter local rivalries and strange happenings, Ariel has to find out...or her own life may be at risk."

The second volume in the series, The Book of Haatan, is complete in draft and will be on its way to the publisher as soon as I get a few final corrections done; it centers on magical treasure-hunting and the theft of a book of magic. The second, The Carnelian Moon, is in outline form; it's about lycanthropy -- not the fantasy variety, but the sort of thing that Eliphas Lévi discussed in Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic. There will be more. There's an overall story arc of sorts, but it's an open-ended series and should be a lot of fun.

Interested? If you're in the United States, The Witch of Criswell can be preordered here; elsewhere in the world, the publisher's website is your best bet.

Current Mood: delighted
Current Location: Adocentyn

It's taken a while, but I'm delighted to report that the second volume of The Dolmen Arch, my reconstruction of a century-old American Druid Revival correspondence course, is now available in paperback. This and the previous volume (also available in paperback) were originally issued in a fine edition by Arcane Wisdom Press, appropriately enough, but a more accessible edition for everyone was always on my agenda.

Volume 2 covers the three grades of the Greater Mysteries. Here's the publisher's blurb:

"Based on a correspondence course circulated among American students of Druidry in the early 20th century, and reconstructed from the surviving fragments by widely respected Druid and occultist John Michael Greer, the Dolmen Arch is a comprehensive course of Druid occultism and nature spirituality. This second volume contains extensive instruction in the three grades of the Greater Mysteries -- the Gradd y Gwyddon y Ffordd (Grade of the Loremaster of the Path), Gradd y Gwyddon y Cylch (Grade of the Loremaster of the Circle), and Gradd y Gwyddon Rhydd (Grade of the Free Loremaster), comprising more than 100,000 words of instruction in the inner teachings of traditional Druid Revival occultism. Along with plenty of philosophy, symbolism, and the hidden meanings of Welsh legend, these lessons cover methods of practical magic, spiritual healing, and the skills needed to teach and initiate students into the mysteries of the Dolmen Arch."

Interested? If you're in the US, you can order a copy of Volume 2 here (and, if you don't have it yet, Volume 1 is here). Elsewhere, well, the publisher doesn't have a website that sells direct to the public, but you should be able to go to any full service bookstore or online retailer and have a copy on its way to you promptly.

Current Mood: pleased

I'm delighted to announce that two books by my late teacher John Gilbert, The Doors of Tarot and The Tree of Spirit, are in press and available for preorder. John himself was never willing to see his writings go through the publishing process, but with the help and encouragement of his widow, I assembled and edited these two volumes from his writings for a couple of defunct websites.

Here's the blurb for The Doors of Tarot:

"An accessible and practical introduction to Tarot divination.

"John Gilbert was an extraordinary tarot diviner and teacher, and this book draws on his knowledge and expertise to provide a clear and comprehensive outline of how to accurately and easily understand and read the cards.

"Beginning with an introduction on how tarot cards work, their symbology and divinatory meanings, this is the perfect starting point for anyone looking to understand these fascinating cards and glean a deeper understanding of the world.

"Gilbert also provides a selection of different tarot spreads, a discussion of tarot and astrology, as well as key tips on developing your intuition."

I would add to this that John specialized in a skill you'll rarely encounter in today's tarot circles: he was an expert at doing one-card readings. A client would ask him a question, he'd draw one card, and give them a clear, concise, and accurate answer. I've never known anyone who did that as well as he did, but some of his students came close, and he spends much of this book explaining just how to do it.

Interested? You can preorder here in the United States and here anywhere else in the world.

Here's the blurb for The Tree of Spirit:

"A fascinating exploration of the symbolic foundations of the Western magical tradition.

"Using the Cabalistic Tree of Life and the tarot deck, this book takes the foundations of Western esoteric tradition as a basis and goes onward into the deep places of magical spirituality.

"Written by the influential American tarot teacher and occultist John Gilbert, it is enriched by insights drawn from modern Gnosticism, spiritual alchemy, neopagan nature worship, and ceremonial magic.

"This book offers a wise and practical path to awakening for the modern student of the mysteries."

Here I'll add that this gives a great deal of additional information on the version of the Tree of Life John used, which is also the version central to the initiations and practices of the Fellowship of the Hermetic Rose, which I posted here last year and which seems to be finding a good-sized audience among students of the Western mystery tradition. Both these books make good supplementary reading for the FHR coursework, as well as being good solid guides to their respective corners of occult tradition.

Interested? You can preorder here in the United States and here anywhere else in the world.

Current Mood: delighted

For complicated reasons having to do with distributors, supply chains, changing publishers, et al., I have a pretty fair flurry of books coming out in the months immediately ahead. Here's one I'm especially delighted to announce.

Longtime readers will remember the monthly posts on the main blog discussing Dion Fortune's book The Cosmic Doctrine, the twentieth century's most important book of occult philosophy. I went through the text chapter by chapter, helping to clarify Fortune's sometimes obscure prose and providing context to help readers understand its concepts. I'm delighted to report that the whole commentary is now available for preorder in book form, and is scheduled for publication in March. Here's the blurb:

*******
A fascinating analysis of the most important work of occult philosophy in the 20th Century.

Dion Fortune’s The Cosmic Doctrine is a foundational text which has been required reading for students of the occult since it was first published in 1956. In it she attempts to explain the meaning and evolution of the cosmos from the first beginnings to our lives today.

However, The Cosmic Doctrine isn’t an easy book to read. It's conciseness makes it hard going, for every sentence requires close attention, but the challenge it offers to its readers goes well beyond this. In a phrase that has become famous in occult circles since its publication, The Cosmic Doctrine is intended to train the mind, not to inform it; it attempts to communicate to the reader an unfamiliar way of thinking, and so a great deal of patience and hard work are required to grasp what it has to say.

Some of the difficulties, however, can be smoothed out by reframing and rephrasing the ideas Fortune presents, and this is what this book aims to do.

John Michael Greer provides a learned and elucidating commentary on this classic text to allow students and teachers alike to more easily digest and understand this fantastic book.

*****
Interested? You can preorder a copy here if you're in the United States, and here anywhere else in the world.

Current Mood: delighted

Another day, another podcast! Granted, but this one was particularly fun; it's the first live discussion I've had about my latest book, The Ceremony of the Grail: Ancient Mysteries, Gnostic Heresies, and the Lost Rituals of Freemasonry. Host Jim Harold is very active across the spooky end of the podcasting world, and we had a great conversation about the Grail, Freemasonry, and the relevance of ancient weirdness in our allegedly modern and rational world. Interested? By all means give it a listen here.

Current Mood: pleased

I'm very pleased to announce the release of my latest book, The Ceremony of the Grail: Ancient Mysteries, Gnostic Heresies, and the Lost Rituals of Freemasonry. This is the sequel to my earlier book The Secret of the Temple, but it breaks a great deal of new ground; the process of researching and writing it involved discoveries that I wasn't expecting at all. Here's the back cover blurb:

"The holy grail. The Knights Templar. The Gnostics and ancient mysteries of Greece.

Discover the connection between them all with this phenomenal book written by 32nd-degree Freemason and celebrated author John Michael Greer. This book is a must-read for seekers of the holy grail and those who want to learn about the inner workings of occult Freemasonry. The Ceremony of the Grail delves deep into the ancient mysteries, drawing on recently translated texts and published documents that until recently were among Freemasonry's most jealously guarded secrets.

From the grail legends to the Picatrix to Jessie Weston's pioneering research, this book provides answers that have eluded seekers for centuries."

One of the things the cover blurb doesn't say is that I was able to find enough information on the old Grail rite, using sources that included an essay of Jessie Weston's that has never been reprinted since its first publication, to reconstruct the initiation ceremony of the Grail as it was practiced in the early twentieth century, when it was last in use. Oh, and that Jessie Weston essay? It's one of the appendices. ;-)

Interested? If you're in the United States, you can order it from my Bookshop store; otherwise, your local full service bookstore or your favorite online venue will be glad to get you a copy.

Current Mood: elated

I'm pleased to announce a new book of mine just out from Aeon Books: The Occult Philosophy Workbook, a companion volume to The Way of the Golden Section and The Sacred Geometry Oracle. It's a good solid introduction to classic occult philosophy, meant (ahem) to train the mind rather than to inform it, and it's designed to give the student a yearlong course of study in occult philosophy Here's the blurb:

"Intended to train and stimulate the mind, this book aims to open readers up to unfamiliar ways of thinking through various new techniques and challenges, such as discursive meditation, awareness exercises and affirmation.

"This thought-provoking book was not written simply to be read cover-to-cover in one sitting: it is instead a stimulating and well-crafted raw material for occult studies and readers are encouraged to read the 52 lessons across an entire year. Throughout the book, students will be taught through four in-depth and engaging modules: ‘The Planes of Being’, ‘Spiritual Evolution’ ‘Cycles of Life and Death’ and ‘The Way of Occultism’ and will exit the year with a solid foundation in occultism, preparing them for more advanced future study.

"The Occult Philosophy Workbook is a must-have introduction to the concepts and teachings of contemporary Western occultism and can be read as an accompaniment to Greer’s previous book, The Way of the Golden Section."

This volume is one of three workbooks on occult themes -- the second is currently in preparation -- that belong to a set of seven books in all, setting out a complete system of contemporary occult training based on the classic occultism of a century ago. It's the klnd of instruction and education you'd expect to get back in the day from a good occult correspondence course, but I'm releasing it in book form so that it's much more accessible than the old courses are. As presently conceived, there will be three books of practical instruction -- The Way of the Golden Section, The Way of the Four Elements (which is at the publisher), and The Way of the Secret Temple -- and three workbooks -- The Occult Philosophy Workbook, The Earth Mysteries Workbook, and The Sacred Geometry Workbook -- along with The Sacred Geometry Oracle, the symbolic linchpin of the system.

Interested? In the US, you can order a copy here; elsewhere, your best bet is the publisher's website here.

Current Mood: delighted

I'm delighted to report that the long-awaited anthology of stories from my Gristle cli-fi parody contest, The Flesh Of Your Future Sticks Between My Teeth, is in press and will be released on September 10th of this year! (If you're new to this story, you can get the gory details here, here, here, and here.

TFOYFSBMT

Twelve stories, all of them making merry mockery of the pretensions of the Grist cli-fi contest (now, gods help us, an annual festival of woke virtue signaling disguised as a science fiction anthology) to tickle your funny bone and annoy your self-important friends. It's being published by Looseleaf Publishing, well known to many of you as the firm behind the fine deindustrial sci-fi magazine New Maps. Preorders? Here's the place. The cost is $16 plus shipping; Looseleaf wil ship worldwide, though you may have to contact the proprietor for details.

Ah, but I need a little additional help to get this pug into the air. The publisher and I have agreed to spare a small number of review copies. One of those will be going to Grist Magazine, where it will doubtless elicit shrieks of outrage as it's being repeatedly flung against the wall. (One of the less impressive features of the current left is its remarkable inability to laugh at itself.) I'd like to arrange to send the others to bloggers, podcasters, and media outlets where somebody is likely to read it, chuckle, and post something about it. What say you, fellow pug pilots? Is there any venue you think would be a great place to send one of these for publicity purposes? Inquiring editors want to know.

Current Mood: amused

Pandemics and international crises may come and go, but a writer's life follows a slower rhythm, dictated by the hard work of research and writing, to say nothing of the necessary timelines and random whims of publishers. The book on the left, The Ceremony of the Grail: Ancient Mysteries, Gnostic Heresies, and the Lost Rituals of Freemasonry, is the sequel to my title The Secret of the Temple; it has been in preparation for most of a decade now. and has been working its way through the publication process for most of a year. It's been postponed once already due to supply chain issues, but is currently expected to hit the shelves in December of this year; I'll post more about it as soon as the date of publication is confirmed.

SotT cover

In the meantime, however, the publisher has been gracious enough to provide a discount on the first book in the series, The Secret of the Temple: Earth Energies, Sacred Geometry, and the Lost Keys of Freemasonry. This is the book where I first traced the discovery and history of a lost folk technology of agricultural abundance, symbolized in the legends of the Holy Grail and the Temple of Solomon, which used specially designed religious structures as resonating chambers for natural energies to improve crop yields. It's not necessary to read The Secret of the Temple to follow the history recounted in The Ceremony of the Grail -- but I admit it helps. ;-)

Be that as it may, Llewellyn Publications is offering a 20% discount on The Secret of the Temple from now until the end of the year. You can get the discount at the Llewellyn website -- you'll need a Llewellyn account, but you can sign up for one of those for free. The discount code, which you need to enter at checkout, is TEMPLE20.

This is an ongoing research project of mine and more books will doubtless be forthcoming. A little less exciting than slogging through distant jungles in search of a lost temple? No doubt, but it's got fewer scorpions and almost as much of a sense of adventure...

I'm delighted to announce that the first volume of The Dolmen Arch, my reconstruction of an early 20th century American Druid correspondence course, is back in print in paperback format. Here's the blurb:

"Based on a correspondence course circulated among American students of Druidry in the early 20th century, and reconstructed from the surviving fragments by widely respected Druid and occultist John Michael Greer, the Dolmen Arch is a comprehensive course of Druid occultism and nature spirituality, containing detailed instruction in meditation, ritual, healing, enchantment, and initiation, along with extensive papers on Druid philosophy and the hidden meanings of the Welsh legends of the Mabinogion, and much more. This first volume contains the complete instructional packets for the four grades of the Lesser Mysteries-the Gradd y Newyddian (Grade of the Novice), Gradd y Damcaniwr (Grade of the Theoretician), Gradd yr Ymarferiwr (Grade of the Practitioner) and Gradd yr Athroniwr (Grade of the Philosophizer)-comprising more than 120,000 words of occult instruction."

The second volume will be following in due time, now that the original hardback edition is sold out.

Interested? You can order a copy here if you live in the United States or from your favorite online bookseller anywhere else.

Current Mood: delighted

I'm delighted to announce that Polytheist Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters is now in print. It's an anthology, edited by Janet Munin, of essays by people involved in one way or another in the emerging world of polytheist and animist monastic life.Yes, there are monks and nuns in polytheist traditions; there were monastic traditions in polytheism long before Johnny-come-lately faiths such as Christianity and Buddhism were born; and the revival of polytheism in recent years has inspired a significant number of people to take up a vocation as polytheist monks and nuns.

The essays in this book were written by some of the people involved in that movement. I've got a piece in there, about the process by which the Ancient Order of Druids in America organized its own monastic system, but there are other essays in the collection that are much more interesting!

(All this is timely for another reason. One of the tasks on the horizon as I sort out the legacy of my late teacher John Gilbert is the revival of the Universal Gnostic Church, the religious tradition he inherited from his teachers and passed on to a handful of successors. The UGC had, among other things, its own monastic orders, the Order of the Universal Monk and the Order of the Universal Nun, and those will need to be reactivated as well in due time.)

If you're interested in the anthology, why, it's now in print and hitting bookstore shelves. You can order a copy here if you live in the United States (they're temporarily backordered but should have more copies soon) and here if you live anywhere else in the world.

Current Mood: pleased

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Toward Ecosophy

Entries tagged with new book

Universal Gnostic Anthology

The Astrology of Nations

A new JMG novel -- and three old ones

The Book of Haatan Deluxe Edition

An Odd Publication

The Way of the Four Elements

The Book of Haatan

For A Few Gods More!

New Book of Druid Interest

The Witch of Criswell

The Dolmen Arch 2 in Paperback

Two Books by John Gilbert

A Commentary on the Cosmic Doctrine

JMG on Jim Harold's Ancient Mysteries

The Ceremony of the Grail

The Occult Philosophy Workbook

The Gristle Cli-Fi Anthology!

The Temple...and the Grail

The Dolmen Arch vol. 1 in Paperback!

Polytheist Monasticism