Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law

Although the recent death of Greg von Seewald has been mentioned in the 'babble-box' I'm not aware of any notice appearing in the 'open' sections of LAShTAL. Greg was a friend and I shall miss him greatly. We shared a love of books and he was one of the few people to have been on the Fine Madness Society's mailing list from the very beginning. He died on Friday and a number of personal appreciations can be found on HOOR facebook pages.

"....unto them, may there be granted the accomplishment of their wills; yea, the accomplishment of their wills."

Love is the law, love under will

Clive

Internationally acclaimed author and lecturer, Stephen Skinner, returns to speak with Frater Puck about his recent Dr John Dee's Spiritual Diary.

He was responsible for introducing real feng shui to the west, and he wrote the first 20th Century English book on the subject in 1976.  He discusses finally being "free of Dee" and his recent studies regarding Gnosticism and Christianity.

It is with great pleasure that Jerusalem Press announce the publication of an invaluable memoir by one of the few remaining people still alive that knew Austin Osman Spare.

Friends and Influences
Gary Sargeant

The author is an artist who as a teenager was nurtured and taken to life-classes by Spare and his sister Nellie. Gary is blind, but the memories are sharp and evocative. Spare, it transpires, set Gary upon his varied career in Art and Design.

Gary paints a much needed 'tactile picture' of Austin Osman Spare, as someone who is more than the 'Occult artist' that many readers will be familiar with.

Here we are introduced to the selfless 'humanist', a generous soul encouraging 'raw talent' without any concern for personal gain. Spare is revealed as a life-long instructor on art, a natural mentor who relished nurturing the creative potential of others.

This uniquely insightful book is sure to be indispensible to anyone seeking a greater understanding of Austin Osman Spare.

The deluxe edition features one of a set of four different hand-numbered prints signed by the author-artist.

Weiser Antiquarian Books and the Teitan Press are pleased to announce the launch of:

The Art of Rosaleen Norton

with Poems by Gavin Greenlees

by

Rosaleen Norton and Gavin Greenlees

with an Introduction by Keith Richmond

The first US edition (and the first-ever complete facsimile edition) of this magnificent book of occult-inspired artist Rosaleen Norton's drawings, with poems by Norton and her lover Gavin Greenlees.

The original edition of The Art of Rosaleen Norton was published in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and immediately sparked a furore on account of its unabashedly occult and erotic imagery, and its iconoclastic jabs at the status quo and the authorities who defended it.

The artist, Rosaleen Norton, was no stranger to controversy. Born in New Zealand in 1917, she moved to Australia with her family when still a child and began drawing at the age of three, going on to study art at the prestigious East Sydney Technical College after leaving school. She worked briefly for a weekly newspaper, but soon abandoned regular employment and commenced a succession of part-time and temporary jobs which enabled her to devote herself both to her art and to her growing fascination with the occult.

An accomplished artist and natural rebel, her bohemian lifestyle, unconventional beliefs, and her challenging and often sexually-charged artwork attracted the condemnation of moral conservatives. Despite previous exhibitions of her work in Adelaide and Sydney proceeding without problem, police raided an exhibition of Norton's art in Victoria in 1949 and she was subsequently charged with exhibiting "obscene articles." Norton won that case, but following its release in 1952 her book The Art of Rosaleen Norton was soon banned from importation into the USA on the grounds of obscenity and also had a restricted circulation in Australia, with a court ruling that some of the plates were "obscene and an offence to chastity and delicacy." The publisher could only legally sell copies The Art of Rosaleen Norton that had the offending plates "blacked out." More arrests and charges against Norton followed, culminating in 1960 with the destruction, by judicial order, of several of her paintings. Prior to that no other serious Australian artist had ever been subject to such outrageous bureaucratic vandalism. The popular focus on Norton's occultism and the sexual nature of some of her paintings meant that her artistic talents were largely ignored. Most knew her only as "the Witch of Kings Cross," one of Sydney's more colourful eccentrics. She died in December 1979, leaving the world a rich and unusual artistic legacy that is only now starting to be appreciated.

The Art of Rosaleen Norton was reprinted in Sydney in 1982, but with a number of changes and omissions. This Teitan Press edition is the first US publication of the book, and the first reprint to include a complete facsimile of the original 1952 edition. The facsimile is prefaced by a new 40 page historical Introduction by Keith Richmond who played a key role in organizing the "Occult Visions of Rosaleen Norton" retrospective of Rosaleen Norton's art that was held in Sydney in 2000, and has also edited a collection of her short stories, Three Macabre Stories (1996 & 2010), and a collection of her magical and autobiographical writings Thorn in the Flesh (2009).

Conjuration of Beelzebub - Barry William Hale
Sunday 19th May, 2013
Treadwells, London

This extraordinary film is the result of many years of collaboration between Michael Strum, Scott Barnes and Barry William Hale, a collective called NOKO. Their sonic and filmic occult workings focus on the Enochian magical system, Beelzebub conjuration, and Qlipotic genii. This piece is a mesmerising occult experience, and was the sensation of the 2010 Sydney Biennale.

Barry Hale's work is known in the UK through his Fulgur book Legion 49 and memorable London performances. Here is your chance to see the UK premier of the final AV film, which is a 60-minute evocatory sensation.

O.T.O Poland and its publishing arm, Academia Masonica Press, are pleased to launch a new (English language) edition of Liber XV: Gnostic Mass.

This beautiful hardback publication bound in faux leather with a striking gilt blocking on cover is offered in a limited edition of 200 copies and is laid out in such a way that it can be practically used by Deacon and Congregation during the Mass.

It contains an official and updated list of Saints, two appendices with descriptions of steps and signs and translation of Greek words and phrases.

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