Colin Wilson RIP

[Paolo]

I am very saddened to have heard that Colin Wilson died yesterday. He was a massive influence in my early years and a prolific writer which touched on so many themes of interest to us all here.

Wilson reviewed Kenneth Grant's "Hekate's Fountain" in the Skoob review in the article "Tentacles out of Time". He also wrote a number of Lovecraftian mythos stories which I am sure are familiar to many.

A fantastic writer and philosopher who will be much missed.



Paolo

[Marc]

Colin Wilson was a pillar in the occult community and his books were the foundation for many people who got involved in occultism. May his journey be fruitful.

[hamal]

So long old friend, safe journey.

[Nalyd Khezr Bey]

This is some sad news. I've always loved Wilson's occult trilogy The Occult, Mysteries and Beyond the Occult as well as his creative tongue-in-cheek input in the Turner/Hay Necronomicon and The R'lyeh Text (IMO those represent some of his coolest writing). Wilson had great insight into the subjects he tackled whether it was serial killers, Atlantis or poltergeists.

[Aleph]

I haven't scratched the surface of CW's galactic opus and doubt I ever will - where the f*** are you supposed to begin??!! I found his introductory studies on Gurdjieff, Steiner and Ouspensky insightful and engaging, unhindered by conventions that otherwise distance author from subject, and I always recommend them as primers. I thought his "Super Consciousness" a wonderful synthesis of ideas germane put into motion with breathtaking ease. While I tend to differ from some of his conclusions, he unites these philosophies in a thrilling narrative. I also read "The Magician from Siberia" years ago (I wonder where my copy now is...) which I suspect is very different from his other fiction. He also wrote some scintillating reviews on the works of a late friend. RIP

[Michael Staley]

I first read The Outsider in the early 1970s, on the recommenation of a friend, and loved it; subsequently I worked through his back catalogue. I was very taken with his fiction, my favourite of which is The Philosophers' Stone; I also liked his earlier fiction, such as Ritual in the Dark and The Glass Cage, and later The Man Without a Shadow and God of the Labyrinth.

I was very taken with The Occult. His brief but excellent study of Gurdjieff, The War Against Sleep, cut straight to the heart of the matter. On the other hand, I was disappointed by his study of Crowley.

I recall a very appreciative review of The Magical Revival in the magazine Books and Bookmen in the early 1970s, and the subsequent review in the Skoob Occult Review of Hecate's Fountain, again very appreciative.

I also very much enjoyed his study of Maslow, whose work on Peak Experiences he tied in with his own work on 'Faculty X', a preoccupation of Wilson's which is the fundamental vision at the core of all his work.

[sandow]

Very sad news indeed. Two weeks ago, I was reading his "Alien Dawn" book on UFOs, and wondered what he was becoming...My favorite remains his "Philosopher's Stone": simultaneously a philosophical essay on Faculty X and a lovecraftian horror story. Brilliant.

[hamal]

Gosh the telegraph does not spare the whip in their obituary of Colin:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/10504201/Colin-Wilson-obituary.html

It seems un-necessarily harsh.