Recordings & Traces

Gentle atmospherics on tenor banjo accompanying a brief bit from one of Manly P. Hall’s lectures.

Thanks to Kim Cascone for sending a link to the MPH recordings.

A Head All of Fine Gold Transparent – Ahistorical Approaches to Prophecy and Vision

“For the confirmation of this a fresh Manifestation was given me, by the appearance of a Head that was all as of Fine Gold transparent, with a pair of Wings only joining to it. Under each of which Wings there were seven Eyes all fiery and piercing. Upon which this first Salutation greeted me, saying, “Tho’ thy corporeal Eyes be Dim, these Eyes are come to make up that Impediment, whose Properties to thee shall be into the Worlds and Regions to see that to mortal sight all hidden be.” Then Immediately I felt as if this Head and Wings did clasp themselves about the Vital part of my Heart. From whence it was said, The pure in Heart should be all seeing; and the Ears fixed in the Golden Head should become the true Hearing.”

- from The Signs of the Times Forerunning the Kingdom of Christ and Evidencing When It Will Come, Jane Leade (1699)

Augustine of Hippo taught against the practice  of historically interpreting prophetic, apocalyptic and visionary works. For Augustine the City of God comes about by a radical application of Christ’s passivity and subjection to the Divine Will rather than being immanatized through active participation with word, action or attention.

In seeking to understand this it is interesting to compare the eschatological 19th century charts of Charles Larkin, outlining the kind of historical eschatology favored by heterodox evangelicals like Harold Camping and Tim Lahaye, with an illustration from an edition of Jacob Boehme’s Theosophische Werke, published in Amsterdam in 1682.

Salient Sleight of Hand – On Illumination & the Proper Use of Stage Magic

Like the progression of many Arts the Art of Legerdemain suffers a slow drift  from its origins as a spiritual technique into an abused form of popular entertainment. Theatre, poetry, sculpture, painting, all have their basis in ritual. As Rachael Blyth, of the ritual theatre ensemble Foolish People, points out in her exploration of ritual media Inside the Temple of Cinema, even modified by contemporary technology, the sacred root of Art remains approachable to those who know where to find it.

Philosophy, when fully expressed, encompasses all aspects of life. A relationship with Wisdom provides the basis for everything that follows, and properly aligned all experience and action come under it’s guidance. Something such as sleight of hand, the ability to manipulate perception, is a powerful spiritual technique when given the right spin.