H. P. LOVECRAFT &THE BLACK MAGICKAL TRADITION can be PRE-ORDERED now on AMAZON or at BARNES & NOBLE.

AMAZON 
BARNES & NOBLE.

A full description of the book, along with other pertinent information, can be found on my website: www.johnlsteadman.com.

I have six book signing events coming up throughout the Michigan area and in Wisconsin.  All of these are scheduled in October.  I also have a radio interview in September.  These events are listed below in chronological sequence.

The Church of Mabus 

Radio Interview- Friday, September 4, 2015

Time: 7:00 PM Eastern Time

Mabus is an online multimedia conglomerate which focuses on researching and reporting on supernatural, paranormal, and unexplained phenomenon. Operating since 2001, Mabus has evolved from a simple web-community of paranormal and UFO enthusiasts into a multi-site and multi-medium news network.

Pages Bookshop

19560 Grand River Avenue

Detroit, MI 48223

P: 313-473-7342

Book Signing Event- Saturday, September 26, 2015

Time:  2:00-4:00 PM

The Pages Bookshop is located in a central area of the city of Detroit on Grand River between Outer Drive and Evergreen near North Rosedale Park.  The hours are Monday - Saturday 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM. & Thursday evening until 8:00 PM.

Pages frequently hosts leading writers in all genres for author visits.

Susan Murphy, the owner and operator of the bookshop, explains succinctly on the store’s website her rationale for operating a bookstore : “I want to share my passion for reading as a way to connect, both to stories and to each other. Even though reading seems to be a solitary activity, it can lead to great conversations between people. My book store will provide a gathering space to share the stories within books.”   
 

Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room

114 S. Main St.

Ann Arbor, MI 48104

P: 734-665-2757

Book Signing Event- Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Time:  7:00-8:30 PM

The Crazy Wisdom  Bookstore & Tea Room is located on 114 South Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan between Washington & Huron. The store is one of the largest and well-known bookstores in Michigan, established in March, 1982. 

Crazy Wisdom offers 200 book categories, from Acupuncture to Zen, Affirmations to Yoga. They also carry gifts, cards, jewelry, crafts, art, music, incense, ritual Items, candles, aromatherapy, body tools & yoga supplies, reflecting the best selection of merchandise available to nurture Body, Mind and Spirit.In addition, the bookstore also hosts the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room,  a great place to dine, relax, unstress and enjoy a great cup of tea; the Tea Room serves over 100 varieties of tea, coffee and coffee specialty drinks, appetizers, entrees, dips, delectable desserts and treats.

A Room of One's Own Bookstore
315 W. Gorham St.

Madison WI 53703
P: (608) 257-7888

Book Signing Event:  Thursday, October 8, 2015

Time: 6:00 -7:30 PM

A Room of One's Own is located in the beautiful city of Madison, Wisconsin near the University of Wisconsin campus.  The Room is an independent, local bookstore that offers a wide selection of current and classic fiction, nonfiction, periodicals, graphic novels, local interest titles, gifts, greeting cards, and t-shirts. The store also has strong children's and young adult, women's studies and LGBT fiction and nonfiction sections. The Room is also proud to be a central part of Madison's women's community and it provides an attractive meeting place, event forum, and safe space for members of this community as well as for visiting authors.

Barnes and Noble Bookstores

Established in 1873 and still thriving, this mainstream bookseller chain boasts almost 600 locations across the US and does brisk online business as well. Ubiquitous and well organized, Barnes & Noble arranges its huge book selection in 22 user-friendly categories, from Art and Architecture to Romance and Travel. The individual stores host seasonal book signings and family-friendly "Storytimes." Most  locations also offer free, complimentary Wi-fi; music; movies; and cafes that serve Starbucks coffee.

(1)Barnes and Noble

Lansing Mall

5132 W. Saginaw Hwy

Lansing MI 48917

P: 517-327-0437

F: 517-327-3989

Book Signing Event- Saturday, October 10, 2015

Time: 1:00 -3:00PM

(2)Barnes and Noble

396 John R Road

Troy, MI 48083

o: (248) 577-5073

f:  (248) 577-5064

Book Signing Event- Saturday, October 17, 2015

Time: 1:00 -3:00PM

(3)Barnes and Noble

4370 Miller Rd.
Flint, Mi. 48507
o: (810)732-0937

m: (810)732-0704

f: (810)732-1063

Book Signing Event- Saturday, October 24, 2015

Time: 1:00-3:00 PM

(4) Barnes and Noble
DePaul University Loop
DePaul Center
1 E. Jackson Blvd.
Chicago, IL 60604
P: (312) 362-8792

Book Signing Event-Friday, November 13, 2015
Time: 6:00-7:00 PM

JLS

H. P. LOVECRAFT &THE BLACK MAGICKAL TRADITION can be PRE-ORDERED now on AMAZON or at BARNES &NOBLE.

AMAZON 
BARNES & NOBLE.

A full description of the book, along with other pertinent information, can be found on my website:

www.johnlsteadman.com.

I have some events coming in the autumn which might be of interest.

The Church of Mabus 
Radio Interview- Friday, 9/4/15 7:00 PM Eastern Time

Mabus is an online multimedia conglomerate which focuses on researching and reporting on supernatural, paranormal, and unexplained phenomenon. Operating since 2001, Mabus has evolved from a simple web-community of paranormal and UFO enthusiasts into a multi-site and multi-medium news network. Mabus consists of the Church of Mabus radio show on the Paranormal UFO Radio Network, the quarterly CONTINUUM Magazine, and the Mabus Incarnate online forum.Mabus was conceptualized by Jeffery Pritchett, host of the Church of Mabus radio show and CEO of Mabus.The Mabus goal is threefold: to disseminate quality information regarding unexplained phenomenon by attracting professional and credible ufologists and paranormal researchers; to create a multimedia exchange and archive in the forms of podcasts, print-on-demand magazine, member blogs, vlogs, live interviews, discussion boards, original articles, and syndicated feeds; and to build a web-based community of enlightened individuals who support full disclosure of sightings and experiences.

The Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room.
Book Signing Event- Tuesday, 10/6/15, 7:00-8:30 PM

The Crazy Wisdom  Bookstore & Tea Room is located on 114 South Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan between Washington & Huron. The store is one of the largest and well-known bookstores in Michigan, established in March, 1982. Crazy Wisdom offers 200 book categories, from Acupuncture to Zen, Affirmations to Yoga. They also carry gifts, cards, jewelry, crafts, art, music, incense, ritual Items, candles, aromatherapy, body tools & yoga supplies, reflecting the best selection of merchandise available to nurture Body, Mind and Spirit. In addition, the bookstore also hosts the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room,  a great place to dine, relax, unstress and enjoy a great cup of tea; the Tea Room serves over 100 varieties of tea, coffee and coffee specialty drinks, appetizers, entrees, dips, delectable desserts and treats.

A Room of One's Own Bookstore
315 W. Gorham St Madison WI 53703
P: (608) 257-7888

Book Signing Event:  Thursday, October 8, 2015, 6:00 -7:30 PM

A Room of One's Own is located in the beautiful city of Madison, Wisconsin near the University of Wisconsin campus. The Room is an independent, local bookstore that offers a wide selection of current and classic fiction, nonfiction, periodicals, graphic novels, local interest titles, gifts, greeting cards, and t-shirts. The store also has strong children's and young adult, women's studies and LGBT fiction and nonfiction sections.The Room is also proud to be a central part of Madison's women's community and it provides an attractive meeting place, event forum, and safe space for members of this community as well as for visiting authors.

JLS

H. P. LOVECRAFT &THE BLACK MAGICKAL TRADITION can be PRE-ORDERED now on AMAZON or at BARNES &NOBLE.
AMAZON 
BARNES & NOBLE.

A full description of the book, along with other pertinent information, can be found on my website:
www.johnlsteadman.com.

I have some events coming in the autumn which might be of interest.

The Church of Mabus 
Radio Interview- Friday, 9/4/15 7:00 PM Eastern Time
The Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room.
Book Signing Event- Tuesday, 10/6/15, 7:00-8:30 PM

Continuing my exploration of different issues associated with H. P. Lovecraft, many fans of horror and fantasy fiction find it rather odd that Lovecraft was a self-professed materialist and an atheist.  These readers often wonder why Lovecraft felt inclined to create a pantheon of gods and goddesses since a “real” atheist wouldn’t commonly do such a thing.  After all, atheists are not supposed to believe in gods or goddesses.

It is true, of course, that Lovecraft identified himself as a “mechanistic materialist”, by which he meant that he was a believer in the doctrine that nothing exists apart from matter and that all the facts of existence and experience can be explained in reference to the laws of material substances.  Since spiritual beings such as gods or goddesses are immaterial, Lovecraft denied their existence.  In this sense, he was, at least philosophically, an atheist.  But Lovecraft also acknowledged that humans have an incomplete and limited knowledge of reality and thus, he tended to keep an open mind on the issue of spirituality, accepting the premise that there might be alternate levels of being that “supplement” rather than contradict the laws of material substances. Consequently, Lovecraft was closer in his thinking to agnosticism rather than to pure atheism.

There are two other things that should be considered in this context.  First, Lovecraft’s mechanistic, materialist side represented only one aspect of his complex psyche; another, more important aspect to Lovecraft was his deep, abiding respect for dreams and the dreamscape.  Lovecraft was an avid dreamer all of this life and he was both fascinated and frightened by what he encountered in his dreams. Secondly, Lovecraft had always been drawn to weird themes and weird literature since his earliest childhood days and his fascination with the weird ultimately led him to creative composition. And when he created, elements of both the materialistic and the dreaming aspects of Lovecraft’s psyche were invariably represented in his work.

Thus, Lovecraft didn’t deliberately go about constructing gods and goddesses; his pantheon of entities naturally arose as his writing and dream life intensified.  And, interestingly enough, his extra-terrestrial entities reflect his scientific approach to the cosmos.  In many of the stories and poems, the Great Old Ones are depicted as actual extra-terrestrial entities and not really gods or goddesses at all; they are demythologized, as S. T. Joshi refers to it.  In other stories and poems, when the Great Old Ones are presented as Gods and Goddesses, Lovecraft gives us very sophisticated entities, entities that conform, as much as possible, to descriptions of the Quantum Universe. 

JLS

H. P. LOVECRAFT &THE BLACK MAGICKAL TRADITION can be PRE-ORDERED now on AMAZON or at BARNES &NOBLE.
AMAZON 
BARNES & NOBLE.
A full description of the book, along with other pertinent information, can be found on my website: www.johnlsteadman.com.

I have some events coming in the autumn which might be of interest.

The Church of Mabus 

Radio Interview- Friday, 9/4/15 7:00 PM Eastern Time

Mabus is an online multimedia conglomerate which focuses on researching and reporting on supernatural, paranormal, and unexplained phenomenon. Operating since 2001, Mabus has evolved from a simple web-community of paranormal and UFO enthusiasts into a multi-site and multi-medium news network. Mabus consists of the Church of Mabus radio show on the Paranormal UFO Radio Network, the quarterly CONTINUUM Magazine, and the Mabus Incarnate online forum.Mabus was conceptualized by Jeffery Pritchett, host of the Church of Mabus radio show and CEO of Mabus.The Mabus goal is threefold: to disseminate quality information regarding unexplained phenomenon by attracting professional and credible ufologists and paranormal researchers; to create a multimedia exchange and archive in the forms of podcasts, print-on-demand magazine, member blogs, vlogs, live interviews, discussion boards, original articles, and syndicated feeds; and to build a web-based community of enlightened individuals who support full disclosure of sightings and experiences.

The Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room.

Book Signing Event- Tuesday, 10/6/15, 7:00-8:30 PM

The Crazy Wisdom  Bookstore & Tea Room is located on 114 South Main Street in Ann Arbor, Michigan between Washington & Huron.The store is one of the largest and well-known bookstores in Michigan, established in March, 1982.Crazy Wisdom offers 200 book categories, from Acupuncture to Zen, Affirmations to Yoga. They also carry gifts, cards, jewelry, crafts, art, music, incense, ritual Items, candles, aromatherapy, body tools & yoga supplies, reflecting the best selection of merchandise available to nurture Body, Mind and Spirit.In addition, the bookstore also hosts the Crazy Wisdom Tea Room,  a great place to dine, relax, unstress and enjoy a great cup of tea; the Tea Room serves over 100 varieties of tea, coffee and coffee specialty drinks, appetizers, entrees, dips, delectable desserts and treats.

    
JLS

H. P. LOVECRAFT &THE BLACK MAGICKAL TRADITION can be PRE-ORDERED now on AMAZON or at BARNES &NOBLE.
AMAZON 
BARNES & NOBLE.
A full description of the book, along with other pertinent information, can be found on my website: www.johnlsteadman.com.   
JLS

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!

My first book, H. P. Lovecraft and the Black Magickal Tradition, is to be published on September 1, 2015 by Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.  A full description of the book, along with other pertinent information, can be found on my website: www.johnlsteadman.com.  

The primary purpose of this blog is to promote my book and to keep potential readers and interested parties aware of my activities in this regard. My publishers and I are in the process of setting up interviews and book reviews; I will post the actual dates of these events, as well as all information about them, as soon as it becomes available. Also, as the publication date draws closer, I am planning an extensive series of author visits at various bookstores throughout Michigan, all of which will likely take place during the autumn months of 2015.The dates of these events will be given here, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.

I have a secondary purpose in writing this blog which is, in many ways, as equally important as the first. I want to indulge myself freely in discussing, elaborating on and clarifying key issues and topics associated with the subject matter in my book. By doing this, I suppose I will be promoting my book as well  in terms of generating discussion and interest (hopefully, at least), but my intent will mainly be to articulate my views, my thoughts, and my insights about H. P. Lovecraft, Lovecraft scholarship and western occultism in general.

Initially, one very important issue is the difference between white magick and black magick. In H. P. Lovecraft and the Black Magickal Tradition, Lovecraft is associated specifically with the practice of black magick, as opposed to white magick.  The term “black magick” has unpleasant connotations in the minds of some readers, who perceive this type of magick as being evil, or at least, morally reprehensible.  Conversely, many readers assume that “white magick” is good magick.  But there isn’t any viable reason why mere colors should be associated with such concepts as good or evil.  Similarly, there isn’t any justification for associating light or darkness with good or evil. Such dichotomies as light and darkness, or white and black, are free from moral imperatives; they can, if the magickal practitioner so desires, represent different routes taken to achieve spiritual or psychological results. Indeed, determining whether or not a person or an action is “evil” depends solely on the person or the action itself when judged in terms of behavior or effects.  Certainly, a black magickian can be described as good if he or she acts ethically, while a white magickian can be considered evil if his or hers actions are harmful to others.  In Chapter 1 of my book, black magick is defined simply as magic performed for the purposes of gaining knowledge and/ or power, as opposed to white magick, which is centered on the goal of spiritual attainment.  In Lovecraft’s works, his view of the magickian is definitely black, but not necessarily evil.  Lovecraft’s magickal practitioners perform their craft either to gain knowledge or power; the fact that some of these practitioners end up becoming evil is largely beside the point.  For example, Joseph Curwen, in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (1927), performs necromancy to raise the spirits of dead persons; this activity is not inherently evil.  However, Curwen also commits wholesale murder; this, of course, classifies him as an evil man. 

Two prominent magickal practitioners have elaborated on the black/white dichotomy in magick and tried to widen the traditional views of magick by arguing that magickal practice should embrace the whole spectrum of colors.  The late Isaac Bonewits, founder of Ar nDraiocht Fein, the largest neopagain Druid organization in the world, in Real Magic (1993), Chapter Five, “Black Magic, White Magic, and Living Color,” argues that magickal practice can be defined to correspond to the psychic energies fields , or so-called auras, that are presumed to surround the human body. Bonewits’ system of correspondences introduces a variety of different “types” of magick: red magic, orange magic, yellow magic, green magic, blue magic, indigo magic, purple magic, ultraviolet magic (which he further identifies with traditional black magick), and brown magic.  But Bonewits himself rightly admits that magick, in itself, has no color and that his system is merely a series of associational devices.  As we examine the different types, it becomes apparent that such a classification is an unnecessary complication and elaboration, since each type of magick can be placed into the two categories that I identified in the previous paragraph.  Red magic, for example, involves blessings and curses; this is, obviously, magick performed for knowledge or power.  Indigo magic, on the other hand, is performed to control the weather, or to astral travel; again, this is magick performed for knowledge or power.  Blue magic, unlike the others, focuses on religion and spirituality in part, and thus, this type of magick could be interpreted as white magick.  After perusing all of the different types of magic articulated by Bonewits, it quickly becomes clear that such an elaboration is not necessary at all; the black/white dichotomy, as defined previously, is sufficient.

Peter J. Carroll, author of Liber Null & Psychonaut (1987) and Liber Kaos (1992), and Chancellor of Arcanorium College and Past Grandmaster of IOT Pact, posits a similar system in Liber Kaos, Part 2: The Psychonomicon, Chapter 4: Eight Magics.  Here, Carroll raises the issue of auric energy fields, just as Bonewits did, but then he sensibly drops this issue, seeing that auric fields are largely irrelevant to magickal practice, and argues instead that there are eight different types of “magics”, as he calls them, which can be attributed to the seven classical planets, plus Uranus, and which signify emotional states.  Carroll’s list is certainly creative: he gives us octarine magic (an instinctive drive toward magic); black magic (destruction and entropy), blue magic (material wealth); red magic (combat and aggression); yellow magic (changes to the ego or personality; illumination); green magic (love magic); orange magic (wit and intellect); and purple magic (sex magic).  All of these categories, however, can be placed into either the white or black categories and thus, Carroll’s system is, like Bonewits’ system, an unnecessary elaboration.  Yellow magick is clearly white magick, while the other seven colors are focused on black magick, i.e. on power, knowledge, or a combination of the two.

JLS