Rebels & Devils: The Psychology of Liberation
Conceived and Edited by Christopher S. Hyatt, Ph.D.
This book! This fucking book! Over the course of the past four days, I feel as if my head has been peeled wide open and my mind has been fucked six ways to Sunday. An almost euphorically bewildering and an unexpected lobotomy of concept, theory, application, association and general practicalities involved in the magnificently unstructured structuring within the various schools of rebellion. This book contains a collection of essays, articles, poems and interviews from some of the biggest, brightest and most advanced minds in the world of free thinkers and occultists today (and yesterday in some cases.) As I am sitting here in my office, preparing to write this review, cup of coffee in hand and a bowl of a nice sativa sitting on the table in front of me, I can't help but feel thankful for having the opportunity to read this book, I'll get into that later though.
I was born into an institute of life that just required rebellion; having found punk rock and early stages of metal liberation at any early age, the concept of going my own way has always been my accepted norm. When I took a seat in my front yard on Friday afternoon, book in hand and bottle of wine in tow, I was not in any way prepared for the journey I was about to take. Spanning the course of 400+ pages and clear over 40 different submissions, Rebels & Devils is not directed at the general documentation and/or glorification of rebellion, but rather a startling collection of for the most part, charges steeped heavily in recognizing, understanding and committing to the higher self. Brilliantly broken down and reassembled by the late Christopher S. Hyatt, the coordinated 5 sections of this book flow with a magnitude of pure genius that left me both enthralled and strengthened and at the same time exhausted and torn to bits.
Part I - Prescription for Rebellion:
Following a trio of pieces in the suit of a prologue, introduction and forward, we are basically prepped for what lies ahead. From the get go, it is obvious that this is not a layman's collection of inspiration and hallmark thoughts, but instead a venom filled and heated debate within the core structure of every human being. Without warning, terms and conceptual understandings of such terminology surrounding slavery on a singular, retro personal level are presented. An almost controversial and trapping snare laid out before the reader, ensuring that enduring sense of follow through. With an initial cross section of authors and enlightened beings including the likes of William S. Burroughs, James Wasserman, Aleister Crowley, Jack Parsons, Austin Osman Spare, Oshso and Israel Regardie, amongst a few others, we are welcomed into the world of rebellion and ushered right up to the altar of these rebels and devils. A stunning piece by Diana Rose Hartmann details a truly chilling account of a feminine view of the subject at hand. She shines a gorgeous light on the Holy Whore, magnifying her power and existent statement in sexuality and form. Left me thinking for the remainder of the evening. The first section was rounded out with an article written by the great Richard Kaczynski, Ph.D and some of his projections surrounding Crowley and the like, even winding things down by drawing attention to a book by the very much underrated Robert Svoboda, Aghora: At the Left Hand of God.
Part II - The World of Chaos:
The seven pieces that make up this second segment of the book take a dramatic leap deep into the intellectual mind from the flowing rivers of thought displayed through the first 180 pages. Phil Hine starts things off on a rather heavy note, commenting on Chaos Magick in response to it's cultural significance. Through the likes of Robert F Williams Jr, Peter J. Caroll, Dave Lee and one of my personal favorite musicians, Ian Read, we as readers, are slapped in the face with a reality that despite the haziness of complete comprehension, is sitting right bellow our noses. The overtones of elitism and intellectual fodder are constantly backed up with structurally solid evidence relating to their described approach. In the transcribed interview of Ian Read, Phil Hine leads the magician/musician through a series of baseline questions regarding Read's stance on Chaos Magick and his various projections of Will in action. In remarking on the elitist substructure of the true occultist groups such as the IOT/The Pact, it becomes even more bloody obvious that these individuals do not only have a honed craft of magick and self empowerment, but a gifted sense of wisdom and knowledge, far beyond understanding. The arrogance is ripe and somewhat soothing in it's perplexing and jagged nature. I'm not even pretending Peter J. Caroll is easy to understand, much less comprehend, but after rereading his submission on Chaoist Models of the Mind a good half dozen times in a row, I felt the energy of the words manifesting into channels of further thought. A definite study into Chaos Magick is to take place soon...
Part III - VoodooMan:
S. Jason Black and Christopher S. Hyatt share a sinister and somewhat Raiders of the Lost Arc-influenced comic piece that is not only captivating in it gruesome occult tones, but heavily creative in presentation. Telling a tale of retribution and a back handed look at revenge, the story's hero is faced with a bloody twist of fate, allowing the recourse of self struggle to conquer the presumption in others, trading the soul of the weak for a new plot. The art is crass at times and the story line a bit far stretched in such a short passage, but nonetheless I was captivated, turning page after page in total awe. By just simply recognizing the embodiment of the infinite, we are expressing an at least interest in searching the boundless extents there of, if not to eventually conquer this stage. Is the light in the conversation with our HGA? Is the projection in the comprehension of Chaos Magick? Is this all to say that the similarities in perspective realities are just figments of our imaginations?
Part IV - Struggles:
I picked up where I had left off the night before, undeniably a little hung over from the Cabernet grapes that had permeated my bloodstream the previous evening. At this point, it has been mentioned quite a few times that there is much to be said about the necessity of psychotherapy. Heralding and taking pot shots at the theories behind Freud, Jung, Reich etc, the wisdom behind such illuminated figures as Regardie insist that a true entrancement of psychotherapy is mandatory. I can't help but be reminded of the elitist sentiments that keep popping up throughout this book, and my own experience in the arrogant projections of personal energy pulling and tugging at my arms and legs. I took a look into what was financially needed in order to commit myself to a 4 year course in Reichian therapy and it's quite disgusting and out of my reach, currently, but I do believe that to be a point worth meditating upon. It's that elite nature that brought this book to my mailbox to begin with, that mutual understanding and relation I had with the subject at hand and a proclivity to get as far down the rabbit hole as I can. Maybe just to realize that I have barely skimmed the surface. At this point in my studies though, I have been fortunate enough to discover one of the simplest truths behind this elitist form of complete rebellion is in being able to laugh at yourself. The reason the "scenes" within the occult realm are so small in numbers and commitment to the constant is foreign is because of the absolute absurdity of it all, right? Of course I am right, but let it be said that the farther I go, the more I able to understand just how clearly magnificent these absurdities of self truly are. Floyd Smith contributed a wonderful piece of poetic prose entitled The Pearl of Great Price, I ran a photocopy and taped it next to the toilet in my bathroom. It's been very cute to hear my 9 year old reading it and attempting to put the pieces together in her head while in the midst of a BM.
Part V - Reprogramming The Self:
This was undeniably the most challenging section of this book. Opening with a rather advanced look at our brain software by the immensely gifted brain of Robert Anton Wilson and flowing right into another mind-fuck of a conceptual expression, this time by the guru Timothy Leary called Twenty-Two Alternatives to Involuntary Death, my head was spinning circles around my body. It's becoming ever so apparent that the concept of understanding is not only brave and boisterously egotist, but a down right deception of a weaker man's mind. These essays and section's remaining contributions by the likes of Joseph C. Lisiewski, Ph.D, Jim Goldiner, Wasserman, Dr. Jack S. Willis and a handful of others, reclaim the existence of that necessity for expansion. Maybe I am giving myself too much credit here or rather allowing myself to feel a part of something that I am just being introduced to, but in the grand scheme of the Great Work, I do feel that the audacity of the conjuration to be acknowledging in the un-society society of fraternal magicians, regardless of methodology used. For I can't help but be reminded, over and over again, that the end result is not a direct reaction of the paths walked in order to get there. I guess that is just a simplified pigeonhole view of Chaos Magick, but nonetheless I can't recall it being explained in any greater of comprehensible detail, than this book presents. I'd still be a fool to assume I received anywhere near the bulk of this chapter though, I consider it to be something I will be returning to when the spark ignites said fire of knowledge. That's going to be another day though...
Part VI - The Beginning
The book winds down with the inclusion of two final contributions. The first of which I can undoubtedly say that I was more excited to read than just about any other submission in this book, a piece entitled Thee Splinter Test by Genesis P-Orridge. I will never forget the night my wife and I went to the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco to see a reunited performance by the greatest art-fuck-experimental band in history, Throbbing Gristle. As the four of them took the stage, all the house lights were turned on in the venue and they proceeded to bless us with an aural assault unlike anything we had ever experienced. I was boggled for years as to why they performed their ritual that evening without the cover of darkness, and now maybe I can say that after reading her (at the point of publication she was still a he) submission, that I understand or at least I can put the wonder behind me respectfully. Following, as well as closing the tomb with an Edwin Drummond piece called Caressing the Body of Liberty, I am reminded once again, like another nail in the coffin, that I have no idea, I have been living a lie, I taught myself wrong, they taught me wrong, no it's my fault, they don't know any better, but someone did no better at some point, right? Right? Sometimes the simplest of concepts can be decreed in just a basic combination of phonetics, that regardless of the mental capacity of the individual being addressed, all can fall in line. It's the notion that things can be different; that the essence of truth is rooted in going against the programs and filters they present us with; it's the recognition that there is something inside of me, a similar and yet entirely different something that is inside of my wife and kids, absurdly stronger than any god story or confined religious belief. We are meant to figure something out, something greater than the bullshit, but maybe that's the wrong view as well. Maybe...
...
It is now Tuesday morning. I began writing this review yesterday, actually I completed and deleted two versions of it already and once I work up the nerve to read this expression over, it too may join it's predecessors in the trash. I put myself in a deliberate state of emptiness prior to reading this book, as if to be able to approach things in a more comparative nature, I dove in looking to receive. Now listen, I am not an idiot, I know that building up the mental vacuum to the preset of intake, not quite knowing that there is even anything to be received in the first place, is quite a dangerous presumptive move. So whatever brought about these feelings of positive anticipation and anxiety are possible just the subconscious triggers felt behind the various individual energies involved herein. Regardless of the reason, I felt honored that this book fell into my lap and I look forward to venturing down the many pathways and schools of thought, belief, and magick in application and explanation that this collection lead me to. So mote it be.
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