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MarkostheGnostic
Elder
Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Quote:
Penguarky Tunguin said: How's the Regardie book?
I'm not too far in yet, but I've read a number of his other books going back many years, and enjoy many things about him. Like myself, he went into various therapeutic professions for a career. Like myself, he did not embrace cultural Judaism, and he became an occultist (despite Crowley's refusal to teach him magick). And like myself, he valued alchemy, but I'm only now beginning to practice laboratory alchemy. It remained in the Psychological and Spiritual domains for me until a few years ago. Regardie too didn't do laboratory alchemy until much later in life, and this book was written early in his career. He partly published this to thumb his nose at Crowley who never appreciated alchemy and was disdainful of it. My copy has footnotes by Regardie that answer questions he raised earlier, say, about where Jung stood on certain topics, but only later when Jung published more were those questions answered for him. Thanks for your interest, and of course I'll be better able to give a summary when I've read more.
MtG
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Madtowntripper
Sun-Beams out of Cucumbers
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 21,287
Loc: The Ocean of Notions
Last seen: 7 months, 20 days
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I'm reading this collection of short stories by Irwin Shaw, as recommended by a friend.
They are, without a doubt, some of the most emotionally provocative stories I've read in a long time.
Unfortunately, the emotion provoked is nearly always sadness, despair, or loneliness.
They are touching and poignant and oh-my-god-another-sad-story.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder
Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: Madtowntripper]
#16353567 - 06/08/12 08:18 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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We all tend to read things that reflect our personality type. Our types have been categorized by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBT!). In my particular type, the 'Feeling function' is my 'Inferior function,' and this is a determining factor on what I read, so very emotional, drama-laden stories are not what I would voluntarily read. I read little fiction, and that which I do read tends to be scifi, mystical, magickal, or metaphysical. I'm kind of locked in by my typology, and I recognize this, but that limits my knowledge of the breadth and depth of authors, especially contemporary ones.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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Penguarky Tunguin
f n o r d
Registered: 08/08/04
Posts: 17,192
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said:
Quote:
Penguarky Tunguin said: How's the Regardie book?
I'm not too far in yet, but I've read a number of his other books going back many years, and enjoy many things about him. Like myself, he went into various therapeutic professions for a career. Like myself, he did not embrace cultural Judaism, and he became an occultist (despite Crowley's refusal to teach him magick). And like myself, he valued alchemy, but I'm only now beginning to practice laboratory alchemy. It remained in the Psychological and Spiritual domains for me until a few years ago. Regardie too didn't do laboratory alchemy until much later in life, and this book was written early in his career. He partly published this to thumb his nose at Crowley who never appreciated alchemy and was disdainful of it. My copy has footnotes by Regardie that answer questions he raised earlier, say, about where Jung stood on certain topics, but only later when Jung published more were those questions answered for him. Thanks for your interest, and of course I'll be better able to give a summary when I've read more.
MtG
I surprised to learn Crowley was disdainful of alchemy. Was he from the start or grew to disdain it? I'm about 200 pages into Perdurabo, and there's been nothing that has mentioned it. Really curious. Does Regardie mention it in the book you're reading?
Even on Crowley's wikipedia page (I know...) it says:
"In 1898, Crowley was staying in Zermatt, Switzerland, where he met the chemist Julian L. Baker, and the two began talking about their common interest in alchemy."
-------------------- Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.
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MarkostheGnostic
Elder
Registered: 12/09/99
Posts: 14,279
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 3 years, 1 month
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I had to check my source before responding:
"And his [Crowley's] opinion of Alchemy? I mean, true, laboratory alchemy as opposed to spiritual alchemy? He told me I was a damn fool for even considering such a thing! Said I'd be better off perfecting my ritual work than I would be chasing after the shadows and phantoms that were Alchemy, and which were still being cast by the charletans and fools of the middle ages! He convinced me, on and off as it were, that the lack of practical instruction in Golden dawn Alchemy and other [then] contemporary material proved that Alchemy was allegorical in nature, and only had relevance in terms of spiritual growth. At other times he almost convinced me that the real laboratory alchemy was a thing of the past, lost with the likes of Paracelsus and that crowd, as he referred to the old timers [alchemists] with a sneer. And that what was available in the literature of our time was nothing more than watered-down, twisted distortions of the true but lost alchemy. He insisted the secret practice of true alchemy had become an occupation of dupes and scoundrels who simply wanted to turn lead into gold, or to convince their supporters they should fund them to do this. he was utterly beside himself when the subject came up! Even when I tried to use a spiritual interpretation of Alchemy with him he only sneered and said that it was nothing but magical principles in disguise."
- From Israel Regardie & The Philosopher's Stone: The Alchemical Arts Brought Down to Earth, by Joseph C. Lisiewski, Ph.D., pp. 32-33
I highly recommend this book if anyone is interested in an alchemical attempt to produce a Homunculus from the Universal Gur in rainwater, and human semen. Without some filtration of any life-form's waste products (dialysis?), I can't imagine even with my "true imagination" how success could have been expected. But that's my post-modern mind at work on a magickal reality based on ancient formulas.
-------------------- γνῶθι σαὐτόν - Gnothi Seauton - Know Thyself
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drkkenny
Explorer
Registered: 10/13/11
Posts: 1,440
Loc: Down a well
Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
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Kurt Vonnegut- Slapstick
-------------------- No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away // No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away. God 2 read 10932148 Unread messages
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pablokabute
Hari ng Amag
Registered: 11/22/11
Posts: 5,186
Loc: rural ghetto
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: drkkenny]
#16368568 - 06/12/12 12:29 AM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Mystery of Manna
-------------------- Fermented Mushrooms!! --- https://www.shroomery.org/forums/showflat.php/Number/23378638/fpart/1/vc/1 'The second seal: “All CONTAMINATED things and events are unsatisfactory.”' "I envy you. You North Americans are very lucky. You are fighting the most important fight of all - you live in THE HEART OF THE BEAST." --Anonymous Guerilla, or is he..
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drkkenny
Explorer
Registered: 10/13/11
Posts: 1,440
Loc: Down a well
Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: pablokabute]
#16370395 - 06/12/12 11:37 AM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Etgar Keret short stories.
-------------------- No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away // No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away. God 2 read 10932148 Unread messages
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OneMoreRobot3021
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,026
Loc: the sky
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: drkkenny] 1
#16371246 - 06/12/12 02:35 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Well, about 2 years or so after Madtowntripper had the book shipped to me, and after reading lots of you extol its virtues, I'm finally reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, the first book in the Malazan series. About 80 pages in and HOOKED.
Fuck.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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Quote:
OneMoreRobot3021 said: Well, about 2 years or so after Madtowntripper had the book shipped to me, and after reading lots of you extol its virtues, I'm finally reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, the first book in the Malazan series. About 80 pages in and HOOKED.
Fuck.
another member to the fold
i finished Deadhouse Gates and going into Memories of Ice
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Playful Hate
Transhuman Polyglot
Registered: 05/15/12
Posts: 1,040
Loc:
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: Bridgeburner] 1
#16371545 - 06/12/12 03:27 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Just finished:
Bukowski's Post Office
Stanislav Grof's When the Impossible Happens
Reading:
Sacred Economics, by Charles Einstein.
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McTwist
Stoned Stranger
Registered: 01/22/07
Posts: 1,969
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Quote:
MarkostheGnostic said:We all tend to read things that reflect our personality type.
Ya know I've never thought about this. Very interesting. As an ISFP, it makes sense that I read a lot of fiction since it's what I feel most drawn to.
Finished The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe. meh, would've been better as a child.
Currently reading The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky.
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drkkenny
Explorer
Registered: 10/13/11
Posts: 1,440
Loc: Down a well
Last seen: 5 years, 11 months
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: McTwist]
#16377748 - 06/13/12 08:02 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Choke Chuck Palahniuk
-------------------- No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry They Washed Away // No More Stories, The World Is Grey, I'm Tired, Let's Wash Away. God 2 read 10932148 Unread messages
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813hunter
Stranger
Registered: 06/14/12
Posts: 34
Last seen: 8 years, 9 months
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: drkkenny]
#16401366 - 06/18/12 11:23 PM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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zombie survival guide
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Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate
Registered: 09/20/05
Posts: 8,775
Last seen: 15 days, 11 hours
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: Bridgeburner]
#16402954 - 06/19/12 10:39 AM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
b0red5tiff said:
Quote:
OneMoreRobot3021 said: Well, about 2 years or so after Madtowntripper had the book shipped to me, and after reading lots of you extol its virtues, I'm finally reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, the first book in the Malazan series. About 80 pages in and HOOKED.
Fuck.
another member to the fold
i finished Deadhouse Gates and going into Memories of Ice
I should start GotM again. I read about 50 pages and put it down.
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
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lar20
Strange guy in a park
Registered: 01/17/11
Posts: 3,078
Loc: massachusetts
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: Lion]
#16407854 - 06/20/12 08:16 AM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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just finished up fear and loathing in las vegas and am now about 3/4ths of the way through the electric kool aid acid test
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OneMoreRobot3021
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,026
Loc: the sky
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: Lion]
#16408038 - 06/20/12 09:13 AM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Lion said:
Quote:
b0red5tiff said:
Quote:
OneMoreRobot3021 said: Well, about 2 years or so after Madtowntripper had the book shipped to me, and after reading lots of you extol its virtues, I'm finally reading Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson, the first book in the Malazan series. About 80 pages in and HOOKED.
Fuck.
another member to the fold
i finished Deadhouse Gates and going into Memories of Ice
I should start GotM again. I read about 50 pages and put it down.
I'm 3/4 of the way through it and already salivating over the next in the series...
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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OneMoreRobot3021
Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,026
Loc: the sky
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Also just FYI for the first 80 pages I was feeling very lost/confused but decided to just roll with it...and man, the payoff is SWEET.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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twighead
mͯó
Registered: 08/27/08
Posts: 30,332
Loc: Glenn Gould's Fuck Windmill
Last seen: 2 hours, 53 minutes
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Indeed, the author just sort of throws you into this completely foreign universe and definitely takes his time to reveal the nitty gritties, but damn it gets incredibly intricate, almost believable how well it is described, and chillingly deep in its allusions and parallels to our own.
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psyke101
Test Subject
Registered: 04/30/11
Posts: 748
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Re: What book are you currently reading? [Re: twighead]
#16412876 - 06/21/12 05:51 AM (11 years, 9 months ago) |
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Reading Gai-Jin by James Clavell. I read Tai-Pan and Noble House which are both awesome books, been around for a while but still great reads. Clavell's writing inspires me to travel.
Edited by psyke101 (06/21/12 05:54 AM)
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