Reading Recommendations

A collection of links to articles & videos I’ve come across recently that might interest AstroMagick Lounge readers.

Recommended Reads:

• Hearken to the Witches Rune: Pagan Hippie Folk Shenanigans By Dave & Toni Arthur
  Excerpt: “The Arthur’s were much admired by fellow folkies for their dedication into researching and unearthing not just traditional song but also to the wider aspects of folklore and customs that informed their material – so whilst previous albums recounted traditional dancing, seasonal songs, sea shanties etc. by the time they recorded their third (and final) long-player they’d delved a little deeper than before, casting a watchful eye back to England’s Pagan ancestry with songs taking on a whole new ‘wicker-man-folk vibe’, helped in no small part by the influence of self-styled ‘king of the witches’ Alex Sanders, an English occultist and High Priest in the Wicca religion whose orbit they’d fallen (briefly) into.” Read More

• Why Tarot is Trending Again
  Excerpt: “At US Games Systems, a leading publisher of tarot and inspirational decks since 1968, business has been booming. ‘Sales of our decks have been steadily increasing over the past few years,’ says Lynn Araujo, editorial and communications director. ‘The rise has been even more dramatic during the pandemic. We’ve had to double many of our print runs because they sell out so fast.’ The appeal, says Araujo, is that ‘tarot and oracle decks are readily available tools for making sense of our changing lives and gaining new perspectives. It’s become more mainstream. Reading the cards is no longer considered occult.'” Read More

• Internet Occultists Are Trying to Change Reality With a Magickal Algorithm
  Excerpt: “Belief in magick has persisted throughout history, and technological advances have changed mostly the scale, accessibility, and form in which it is executed. In antiquity, magickal rites were performed first through repetition of speech. Then came writing, books, the printing press, and now, the internet and social media. ‘There’s always been that kind of tension between the shift of technology: does it devalue? Does it still work? What’s the next step: can it work in digital format?'” Read More
  
  
• Why Psychedelics, Big in the 1960s, Are Drawing New Interest Now
  Excerpt: “People have been blowing their minds with hallucinatory substances for millennia — at least since the ancient Greeks drank a psychoactive brew thought to contain a barley fungus, ergot, in one of their sacred rituals. Today, many researchers are convinced that trippers are onto something good — that the alteration of consciousness induced by psychedelics can be a tonic for mental health. Though these substances are largely outlawed, dozens of startups betting on legal changes are seeking to develop treatments based on them for illnesses like depression and anxiety. Not everyone is sold on the idea, and there are risks that come from manipulating the brain’s chemistry.” Read More
  
  
• How the Pandemic Paved the Way for Millennial Mysticism (Membership required)
  Excerpt: “For Millennials, who have long been disillusioned with mainstream religion, that means searching for alternatives. “We’re living in a moment similar to the 1970s wave of astro pop culture,” says Chani Nicholas, an astrologer and New York Times bestselling author of You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance. From the Capitol attack to the #MeToo movement, the past several years have been turbulent, to say the least. The seventies were similarly tumultuous, Nicholas points out, “and throughout history, you can find that folks look to the planets when things feel overwhelming and inexplicable on Earth.” Read More
  
  
• ‘Hail Satan!’ 55 Years of The Church of Satan
  EXCERPT: “The provocatively named Church of Satan was founded by Anton Szandor LaVey fifty-five years ago, on April 30^th, 1966. On that night, LaVey, who had already been running a popular occult lecture series at his home on San Francisco’s California St., ritualistically shaved his head and announced the formation of a satanic church. For LaVey, 1966 marked Year One, or Anno Satanas – the first year of the dawning Age of Satan. In contrast to many of the new religions that emerged at this time, the Church of Satan did not worship a deity, nor did it serve any kind of higher spiritual power. The Devil, who was positioned as the figurehead of the nascent Church of Satan, was not a literal figure and had little in common with the antagonistic entity of Christian lore.” Read More