Style, Substance, and Sorcery

Like every other teenager in the 80s interested in magic, I purchased an Avon Press edition of the Necronomicon at the mall. I used to joke that maybe I could take it more seriously if the dread book of the black earth was actually an impressive leather bound tome and not something that could be stacked on a shelf with Harlequin romance novels. I worked it of course, and I got good results too.

10 years later my Chthonic Auranian initiator gave me his leather bound copy. I was elated, and could not wait to get cracking on the gates again. Then it hit me. The book didn’t actually matter. The ritual is the same. Its the magic that matters, not the book it comes from.

Fast forward again about 10 years. I was doing work for hire, and my client requested a photo as proof that work was being done. This was a common practice at the time. Livejournal and Yahoogroups were filling up with artful shots of herbs, and candles, arranged just so. I snapped a photo… too dark. I changed the lighting, but now it was too light. Maybe a filter… crop the photo just so… maybe a better background….

It hit me again. The aesthetics of this photo were becoming more important than the magic I was doing. I stopped, sent the first photo to the client, then immediately posted that I would no longer be taking photos of work done.

That was about 15 year ago.

Don’t get me wrong. I still treasure my hard cover Necronomicons. I still take pride in my altars and ritual arrangements. I see though a lot of people setting up spells that are 80% Instagram and 20% Witchcraft. I see people who will only take a book seriously if its limited edition hardback. There is however a degree to which optics can overtake occultism, and in which style overshadows substance and sorcery.

*And yes, I am an unabashed fan of the Simonomicon, I don’t want to hear any more about it,