Hermetic Library Newsletter #82
lo que será será!
This week the number of people following the library on Twitter passed 19,000. Wild. It’s definitely a milestone, and strange to pass that number even now I’m not active on big social. Frankly, the number of followers everywhere else has indeed gone down, as one might expect, though the total everywhere is still over 100,000. But, mostly growth has slowed everywhere except for the few following in the ‘verse and … another thousand new people finding me on Twitter. I mean. IDEK. But, cool!
There’s three posts on the zine blog this week and also the very first post on the new calendar blog! I was starting to wonder if there’d ever be anyone willing to step up and submit an upcoming event to the calendar, but there it is! It’d be neat to keep it up and even have more activity for both. We’ll see!
Also there’s AI generative art for the week using MidJourney for the prompts “Fortune tarot card by Pablo Picasso” and the description of Gusion from Goetia.
Plus almanac, propaganda, new and old memes, zine, updates, quotes, reviews, and more!
And, as always, I worked on various other things on website, blog, and more … Enjoy!
19,000 on Twitter
Just passed 19,000 followers here on Twitter, even though I've left big social. Go figure‽ But, either way, howdy everyone! For all of you, old and new alike, on this list, over on Twitter, and following along anywhere elsewhere, here's the 19th hexagram from Aleister Crowley's I Ching, Liber CCXVI.
And, check out The Cry of the 19th Æthyr in The Vision and the Voice.
I mean, I wish I could convince more from big social, especially my mutuals, to make the leap to the other place and follow me there, but: lo que será será!
MidJourney
This week I experimented with generating images using the description of Gusion from Goetia.
(11.) Gusion. – The Eleventh Spirit in order is a great and strong Duke, called Gusion. He appeareth like a Xenopilus. He telleth all things, Past, Present, and to Come, and showeth the meaning and resolution of all questions thou mayest ask. He conciliateth and reconcileth friendships, and giveth Honour and Dignity unto any. He ruleth over 40 Legions of Spirits. His Seal is this, the which wear thou as aforesaid.
And then I asked for “Fortune tarot card by Pablo Picasso”.
So, I don't usually post more about the multi-step process I go through to create these. But, I spent a little extra time this week trying things. Here's the four I ended up with.
On a visit to NYC, I went to MOMA and saw some of Picasso's art from his “Minotaur” period. What I saw was part of the Picasso: Themes and Variations exhibit, and there’s something in them all, but I recall being really struck by how much both Marie-Thérèse Dreaming of Metamorphoses and, I think, The Large Bullfight, with Female Bullfighter reminded me of Frida Harris' work on the Thoth deck. I had hoped to manage to get that a bit more of all that together in these images. Unfortunately, what I got was more minotaur than Fortune tarot card.
And, I also got some that were more Picasso than Fortune tarot card.
So, in the end I managed to get some that weren't so much the minotaur period as I'd hoped. But, I tried. Either way, you should look into Picasso's symbolist minotaur period stuff, if you're interested.
After that, I created entries in Hermeneuticon for both Gusion and Fortune.
Almanac
Here’s upcoming calendar and astronomical events, plus the daily Thelemic Tephilah practice for the coming week, August 19–August 26.
Calendar
Follow Calendar on the web, email, rss, and in the ‘verse. And, if you have a current or upcoming event to share, add it to the Hermetic Library Calendar!
- Greater Feast of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, died August 25, 1900 at Weimar, Germany
- T Polyphilus lists a date for a Feast of Krishna on August 26 on his Liturgical Calendar
- Greater Feast of Alessandro di Cagliostro, Giuseppe Balsamo, Joseph Balsamo, died August 26, 1795 at San Leo, Italy
Upcoming events
Astronomical
- Moon appears close above Mars and near Pleiades, before daybreak August 19
- Asteroid Vesta, our last remaining ancient protoplanet, in opposition and brightly lit, August 22.
- Crescent moon above Venus, August 25
- New moon, August 27
Thelemic Tephilah
Follow Thelemic Tephilah on the web, rss, and in the ‘verse.
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 19, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 16-18
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 20, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 19-21
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 21, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 22-23
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 22, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 24-25
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 23, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 26-28
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 24, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 29
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 25, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 30-33
- Thelemic Tephilah, August 26, Spirit, Liber LXV, Cap. V, 34-36
Zine
Follow Zine on the web, email, rss, and in the ‘verse. And, if you something you’ve created to share, send it in to the Hermetic Library Zine!
- Introduction to the Present Edition, from The Headflux Chronicles, Book 1, by Will Lorimer
- The Ants* and The Aphids* by SD Master
- Untitled by John Griogair Bell
Things to check out at Hermetic Library
- Added Hermeneuticon entries for Gusion, Fortune, and IHS.
- Updated The Cry of the 19th Aethyr, Which is Called POP.
- Updated image, alt text, and downloadables for Unicursal MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS Propaganda.
And on the blog
- Mail call 18aug2022—Let’s open this envelope that’s arrived at the Reading Room!
- The Gospel of Judas—Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews The Gospel of Judas [Amazon, Bookshop, Local Library] eds Rodolphe Kasser, Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst, in collaboration with François Gaudard.
- Omnium Gatherum: 17aug2022—An irregular hodgepodge of links beyond the library curated together from @OmniumGatherum at Hrmtc I∴O∴ and more. Until this post becomes public in a year, to view this content on the blog, you must be a member of Hermetic Library’s Patreon. However, you can follow the raw feed (drink directly from the firehose!) by heading to @OmniumGatherum at Hrmtc I∴O∴ and participate with likes, boosts, and comments to help curate the best stuff for everyone!
- The mystic slumber of my sense forlorn Stirs only now and then; some deeper pang Reminds despair there is a sharper fang—Aleister Crowley, Assumpta Canidia, Oracles, Collected Works, Vol II [Blog]
- Finding the Mother Tree—Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Suzanne Simard.
- What if we were able to train ourselves to desire only things that are firmly within our control? Then, in a very real sense, we’d always get what we want, and never get what we don’t want. Our happiness would never spill, since the cup of our desires is reliable and holds firm.—Massimo Pigliucci and Gregory Lopez, A Handbook for New Stoics: How to Thrive in a World Out of Your Control—52 Week-by-Week Lessons [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] [Blog]
- Declare—Hermetic Library Fellow T Polyphilus reviews Declare [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, Local Library] by Tim Powers
Hermetic Library Newsletter by John Bell the Librarian of Hermetic Library
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