This isn't what I thought it would be. I thought it would be an exploration of the occult on culture. it's a bunch of lectures (poorly written at that) that are crammed into a book with no cohesive flow.

I enjoyed reading this collection of essays/lectures. The author has collected a variety of essays all dealing with an aspect of the occult and its influence on culture. The essays are varied. Some are biographies and others are more historical. All the usual characters like Crowley, Jung and Steiner are included but some lesser known names are also represented. Like any collection I liked some essays more than others. Anyone wanting a good overview of Occulture will enjoy this book.

This wasn't what I expected. I ended up not being able to finish it.

When I requested this book, I thought it was an exploration of how occult beliefs have infiltrated our culture- things like why we have a pyramid topped with an eyeball on our basic currency. Turns out, that’s not what this is, even though the description on the Amazon page makes it sound that way. There are some references to that- like how the first art that we know of, cave paintings, were of magical intent. But the ‘occulture’ that is referred to is a post-modern movement, not the spiritualists of yore- but I had to look elsewhere for this explanation as it’s not laid out explicitly in the book.

It wasn’t an easy read for me. I didn’t understand an awful lot of it, and because of that it bored me and I almost didn’t finish it. YMMV. Also, it’s wasn’t written originally as a book; the chapters are conference papers given at various events in the last few years, which results in chapters not flowing into each other. Three stars.

The title says it all. Exploring the occult through popular culture and history. This is not the occult that we have come to understand, but rather occulture as in a post-modern movement. This is why I finished this book scratching my head. I was hoping for an exploration or uncovering of secret symbolism throughout popular culture, but instead received some lectures about the driving forces behind everything from Counter-Culture to Freud, from Dreams to the Media. These driving forces were explained from a philosophical and sociological angle, so I do feel a proper explanation of the “occult” was missing. Ironically, popular culture has distorted the occult to the point where we assume it is merely about magic and spells, but neglects to inform us of its psychological components- such as free will, cause and effect, intention, and individuation. This is where the author does a great job at exploring those components but neglects to actually explain what occulture actually is? Is it a corrupted esoteric lifestyle? Is it a desensitized trend? I would recommend placing the conclusion ‘Intuition as a State of Grace’ at the beginning of the book because it actually concisely summarized the contents of the book. This is a book I will read over and over again, hoping some of its content can actually sink in. If you would like to twist your brain and go on a mind bending journey through the underpinnings of society, this is a must read. I wouldn’t recommend this book if you are fairly new to exploring the occult, as your preconceived notions of it will surely be obliterated which you might find to be empowering or devastating.

One of the first things I noticed with this book is that the chapter headings have notes below the titles that say each of them was first given at a lecture or printed as an article someplace, so it soon became clear that this is a collection of several years' writings collected by the author into book form for presentation to a new audience. The subject matter is sufficiently different in each to create a nicely balanced volume on occult influence in society and particularly in art.

This is not a book for learning to do magic(k), but is more about modern cultural influences and symbols that enter mainstream consciousness through various mediums of artistic expression. In the Forword written by Gary Lachman, he explains the term 'occulture', occult + culture, coined by Genesis-P-Orridge, a cult figure in certain circles of modern day magicians, then goes on to point out connections between art and the occult and the significance of interpreting one through the other.

The lectures and articles cover a fascinating variety of loosely related topics. They include commentaries on alternative lifestyles and the rise of occult culture through significant periods like the 1960s and 1980s and the British and German groups and personalities who shaped much of modern occult culture.

The reader gets the benefit of a perspective by someone who 'was there' and understands the significance of a variety of cultural influences that still affect the culture today. He speaks of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth as well as about Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey and what he feels were the relevant contributions by controversial groups and personalities.

The perspective is very much about the intellectual side of the occult. No new age or airy-fairy crystal hugging comes into it. As occult history goes, this is an excellent reflection of the later twentieth century developments that built on the legacy of earlier magical Orders and traditions and the effects of an expanding cultural awareness that would shake the foundations of pre-twentieth century European occult study.

The significance of art and creativity is emphasised as is the freedom of social mores from the staid, limiting celibacy of groups like the early Golden Dawn and the cautions required by Medieval magicians to avoid any sniff of scandal that might lead to charges of heresy.

The history of Nazi involvement in the occult is detailed in one of the lectures and makes for interesting reading from a historical perspective as well. That lecture somehow moves from this to beatniks in California, which gives the reader an idea of the broad scope of some of the topics discussed.

This book would be of interest to anyone interested in occult history or in cultural development and the influence of art. It fills in the recent gaps in documented history for those of us who are too young to have been there for the changes in the 1980s and before as these periods are often not addressed in earlier books on the subject.

It also goes into everything from philosophy to conspiracy theories in recent decades and even Pokemon Go! I found all of the articles interesting for different reasons. A real treasure for anyone with interest in magick or the occult.

The term 'occulture' is of course an amalgamation of the two words, 'occult' and 'culture' and how occult ideas have influenced the creative arts in recent decades. The writer, Abrahamsson, is in a position to know, having been an active contributor for the underground eighties Temple ov Psychic Youth, linked to Genesis P-Orridge and Psychic TV.

There are chapters on Crowley, La Vey, Steiner and Jung and how each have created lasting awareness-raising memes. Every man and woman is a star. And so on.
Magic is defined as the use of will to make things happen. The importance of music (La Vey) is emphasised as helping to create the ambience and passion needed to generate this will. It also leads to the prolific creation of music and there are many artists in this field influenced by Crowley for example, not mentioned by Abrahamsson in this collection of essays
Occulture can and does make itself felt through the fine arts too - in fact, most likely, there was no real schism in the artistic execution of the Paleolithic cave paintings and the Shamanic impulses that lead to them. Art can be talismanic. A whole chapter is actually devoted to the Magical practise of creating fetishist dolls. That does smack a little too much of Golem/Frankenstein myths to me alongside the titillating news stories of custom-built sex robots. Perhaps the concepts behind this may make more sense to others more steeped within this area of wisdom.

What Abrahamsson has to say about the potential for occultare to create an art revival away from the Emperor's New Clothes vacuity of post-modernist galleries that sell empty canvasses of nothing to moneyed coteries supported a dying and decadent industry really does strike home. Here in these pages is a call for the return of the artist as a Shaman/Magician who may well be able to bring more vitality beyond the Matrix of cultural stagnation than the tired reiteration of Duchamp's toilet.

For much the same reasons Abrahamsson is no great fan of social media platforms either, which he sees as creating an enslaving mindset rather than a liberating one.
The Magician/artist should look for their myths to live by from within, leaving behind real books, real talismans, genuine gnosis. This last comes from Jung, who was always keen to remind the callow initiate that Individuation can be an intensely isolating path.

Essays here do also emphasise the importance of pure motives in magic. On an personal level, to ask for a smartphone in some exciting ritual for examplight well produce the goods - but then what if the goods have been stolen. On a collective level, Abrahamsson takes us back to a proto-era of naturism, a kind of hippyism that began in Germany, where frolicking freely and naked in the sun sat naturally with the ecological awareness of the Anthroposophists. Here, Solar worship, realising the divinity within on glorious summer days does have a gloriously pure and innocent ring to it, but we all know how these ideas were distorted and corrupted by the Nazi movement. The Swastika then came to generate a polarizing imperialistic edge to this solar power. This reviewer is no expert on Steiner and his take on Earth, Sun and stars. This strongly ecological emphasis on organic gardening and the like does however presuppose more room for Earth and Moon and general groundedness in Malkuth than might otherwise have been the case. In fact, this book does include a chapter dedicated to the moon, which for Abrahamsson seems to symbolise the imagination and subjective realms of fantasy.

There is also a chapter on short-story writer and composer Paul Bowles, along with two other writers appreciated by Abrahammson.

An interesting set of essays indeed.

I was expecting a book not and series of conference papers. Some chapters are interesting some are not. Not easy to read and sometimes it suffers from the content source.
I was really curious and had some expectations. Not all of my expectations were met.
Many thanks to Inner Traditions and Netgalley

Was unable to read, no Kindle version available. And now we type for the 50 required characters...