Product Description

Disinformation's "wicked warlock" Richard Metzger gathers an unprecedented cabal of modern occultists, -magicians, and forward thinkers in the latest in the series of the large format Disinformation Guides. Just as Russ Kick's three Guides focusing on secrets and lies from the mainstream media, government, and other establishment institutions rethought what a political science book could look like and whom it would appeal to, Book of Lies redefines occult anthologies, packaging and presenting a huge array of magical essays for a pop culture audience. Just some of the contents:

An introduction by comics genius Grant Morrison, who also contributes a three-part article on Pop Magick.
Mark Pesce, author of The Playful World, compares computer programming and spellcasting.
Genesis P-Orridge, father of Industrial Music and Rave culture explains how samples in a rave song can have magical consequences.
Paul Laffoley discusses his magical artistic strategies (Metzger compares Laffoley to Merlin the Magician).
Magical Thinking-an extended excerpt from Daniel Pinchbeck's Breaking Open the Head.
William Burroughs and the occult.
Nevill Drury, Australia's most noted occult writer, tells of Dion Fortune, Austin Spare, and Rosaleen Norton.
Why Does Aleister Crowley Still Matter?
Donald Tyson's "The Enochian Apocalypse Working." Were the seeds of the end of the world sown in the Elizabethan era?.
The first ever biographical essay on Marjorie Cameron, the fascinating character from Los Angeles' occult and beatnik scene.
Hitler and the occult-Peter Levenda interview by Tracy Twyman.
Robert Temple on how his book The Sirius Mystery's, controversial thesis (for which he was ridiculed) was proven by the Hubble telescope twenty-five years late.
An exclusive Anton LaVey interview by Michael Moynihan, author of best-selling book Lords of Chaos.
Erik Davis, author of Techgnosis, looks at H. P. -Lovecraft's Magick Realism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32978 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From the Publisher
Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult

Edited by Richard Metzger

Published by Disinformation Books

Oversized Softcover • 352 Pages • ISBN 097139427X

An alchemical formula to rip a hole in the fabric of reality.

Customer Reviews

Quite the Shock
Because I consider it my duty to buy any book with the words "Magick" or "Occult" in the title, I picked this one up against my better judgement. On the whole, my initial fears were that this would be cartoonish, poorly written and obtuse. Even the name, cribbed from one of Aleister Crowley's works, worried me. That being said, I am very lucky that I purchased this book anyway.

Richard Metzger, the compiler and editor of this collection, has done the occult world a great service by bringing together this series of articles and publishing them in one soft cover. Containing the works of authors such as William S. Burroughs, Aleister Crowley, Anton LaVey, Timothy Leary, Donald Tyson and Robert Anton Wilson, this collection isn't any sort of theoretical discussion of magic. What you'll find here instead is a series of examples from fairly famous people who have actually practiced magic.

Many people who've been practicing or living magically for some time will still have a lot to learn from this book, just as I did. The examples are eye-opening in some cases, and at the very least thought-provoking in others. I often found myself saying "Wow... I've never thought of doing it THAT way."

My only real objection is the heavy emphasis on the use of illegal and illicit drugs. I understand that the use of these substances has been linked very closely with the occult, especially in the United States, but the way this book seems to promote the use of these substances upsets me. Still, there are enough examples of magic without drugs to satisfy my tastes.

All in all the book is very well put together, with a lot of detail, good editing and nice illustrations and pictures. I whole-heartedly recommend it to students of magic from intermediate to advanced. Beginner's might want to get a little more grounding before experimenting with some of these ideas, though. Good luck!

Acidhuman
"Richard Metzger opened the drug fetus's industrial BDSM play into the abolition world and transplanted the era respiration-byte sending program of the acidhuman body encoder to the digital chimpanzee's cerebral cortex." - Kenji Siratori, author of Blood Electric

The One They REALLY Don't Want You to Read
If the occultophobes of the world had any sense, they would leave the Harry Potter series alone and forget all about it. THIS is the book they should be trying to burn.

Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult is a collection of essays and articles by leading voices in the occult world. A total of 40 written pieces take up roughly 350 pages here. A small sampling of these includes Phil Hine on magickal initiation, Donald Tyson on the Enochian Apocalypse, and Boyd Rice on the connections between the Biblical Leviathan and the mythic Dagon.

An entire section is devoted to the infamous Aleister Crowley, his life's work, and those who took his ideas and ran with them. Fiction writer Grant Morrison (The Invisibles) delivers his philosophy on modern magickal practice as a lifestyle. Erik Davis discusses the fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and its significance to the practicing occultist. Tau Allen Greenfield debunks the popular history of Wicca, and P.R. Koening exposes the fraudulent "Caliphate" Ordo Templi Orientis.

This book reprints an interview with late Church of Satan founder Anton LaVey by author/musician Michael Moynihan (Lords of Chaos, Blood Axis) and Dr. Stephen Flowers's essay "The Secret of the Gothick God of Darkness." Only Robert Mason's article on the "Ahriman Consciousness" seems strangely out of place; it reads more like a vaugely Christianized version of David Icke's conspiracy theories than the work of a practicing magician.

Be advised this is not a "spellbook" as such; a few articles give practical advice for starting points and point the way to futher study, but the book as a whole is an exhibit, not a seminar. But it's a very well-assembled and stimulating exhibit; read it to learn, evaluate, and be inspired.

Young readers or newcomers to this area of interest may be surprised to learn here there is much more to the world of magick than astrology, Wicca, and themed-deck Tarot cards. This book is a joy in that it not only acknowleges the existence of a darker, more volitile side to the occult, but gives it legitimate coverage beyond a cursory two-sentance summary in dismissive, generalized terms. This is not commericalized, superficial reading. No Three-Fold Law. No love spells, vampire poetry or tips for naming your "familiar" (cat). This is a challenging and colorful showcase that gives a small sampling of the forbidden knowledge shamans of the Lost Age knew firsthand and embroyonic quantum science is only beginning to point to. Get your copy now... before the book burners do.