Here’s the text of an email sent today to registered members of LAShTAL.COM, repeated here for the benefit of the many unregistered visitors:
There’s lots of news both on the site and bubbling away in the background: the Maas Gallery Austin Osman Spare exhibition is generating some real interest in the artistic work of the master. Reviews are starting to appear in some very prominent and well-respected newspapers and this can only be good news to those of us that admire his work.
Aleister Crowley’s prominence continues to increase, both ephemeral – including name checks by Robbie Williams – and more serious. You can also confidently anticipate some interesting publishing news in the near future…
LAShTAL.COM itself continues to grow from strength to strength. Ian Rons has joined the administrative team as technical administrator and design assistant. As a result of his involvement, the site has changed to a new, more reliable host, hopefully less prone to server errors and hard disk failures. Ian has also upgraded the applications and database on which the site is based, increasing its security and making it slicker and more responsive. He’s worked with our graphic designer Mark Durant to further enhance the appearance of LAShTAL.COM. As webmaster, I thank them both for their continued efforts, which have been undertaken without reward.
So what else is there to report? Well, the first steps have been taken towards the development of a collaborative and eventually definitive Bibliography of published editions of the works of Aleister Crowley and associated individuals. And the Galleries have expanded to become what is generally considered the standard online archive of Thelemic images.
And some statistics:
– Well over one-and-three-quarter-million hits on the site since September 2003.
– More than 1,000 registered members.
– More than 570 published news items, with over 560 comments by members.
– Numerous media articles, newspaper pieces transcribed and items written specifically for LAShTAL.COM.
– The Downloads section includes Crowley’s Chess Notes, his earliest published works (for the Eastbourne Gazette), and legal documentation relating to Boleskine House.
– Finally, members have made a total of 2,328 Forum posts, making LAShTAL.COM’s Forums among the most vibrant and informative online.
So, if you’re a regular visitor, I offer my thanks to you for helping to make LAShTAL.COM what it is today; and if you haven’t visited for a while, do come and take another look. I think you’ll like what you see…
Paul Feazey
Webmaster
LAShTAL.COM