A Farewell and an Introduction

[stephen]

I have decided that it is time to change my avatar, the only thing that has been stopping me is the fact that once you do this it changes/replaces the image on all previous posts. which is a shame really, so here is one for the record:                                         

                                          

It is THE SENTINEL by Clark Ashton Smith (1893-1961) and one of his best artworks in my opinion. He is better known for his tales of weird fiction, some of which are truly 'initiated'. I owe him a debt for providing me with a key element in my own magical initiation. And here is the sentinel's replacement... aha! if you can add more than one attachment in a post I don't know how to do it.






 

[stephen]

And here is The Sentinel's replacement - GENERAL ANATHEMA AND MALEDICTION a Magical Stele (1955) by Austin Osman Spare, sometimes known by the name of "Forces of the Sigils" -


                            _

I thought this was more in keeping for the times!

[Deleted]

Colour-wise but also content-wise and formally I see :

- The warmth of lions and deserts spiked with a "roentgen gaze" of a magickian (Spare)

vs.

- the unutterable non-atomic fact of magickal imagination that travels thru death not wetting a feather (CAS)...
...I think I like the CAS avatar better but, as you said, I guess it has to do with the times.
CAS is one of the mysteries of this world, the gentleman genius from Zothique who decided to embrace Buddhism's.

[stephen]

I am pleased that you agree in identifying the Mephistophelian Mage as a self-portrait of Spare.

Had to look up "roentgen gaze" in my Concise Oxford Dictionary, shall we say an "X-ray gaze" to keep it simple?

The Wikipedia entry on CAS quotes him as saying of his writing:

"My own conscious ideal has been to delude the reader into accepting an impossibility, or series of impossibilities, by means of a sort of verbal black magic, in the achievement of which I make use of prose-rhythm, metaphor, simile, tone-color, counter-point, and other stylistic resources, like a sort of incantation."

(Source: a letter to HPL quoted in "Introduction to Tales of Zothique" by Will Murray).

Well it works for me.

[Deleted]

"Tales of Zothique"? Is the book still in print?

I'll have to check it out.

As is usually the case, I am more of a HPL afficionado, but Clark Ashton Smith truly impresses me with his sculptures and paintings,

and the fact that he learned French just so he could translate Baudelaire, and the fact that he used to pick fruits and do other menial

jobs for a living - all so he could be free of conditions that would hurt his life in art and impair his ability of raising the immortal and

magnificent tower of Z-oth.

Writers, artists in general, are even more interesting than their art, it was a pleasure to hear CAS describe his

methodology, esp, the refference to black magick.





























































































































































































































































































































































default "qliphoth ".

I click "edit prophile" but when the page opens and I try the various alternatives seemingly at my disposal all that happens is the

same elongated narrow window will pop up and that's it, it does nothing, it can't, in the upper right corner there is an x that serves

to close the window and that's the only option I am left with.

Stephen, would you be so kind and perhaps contact someone that could help me resolve this problem of mine?

I thank you in advance.

[Gregory Peters]

Jan 15, 2021 20:17:21 GMT stephen said:

And here is The Sentinel's replacement - GENERAL ANATHEMA AND MALEDICTION a Magical Stele (1955) by Austin Osman Spare, sometimes known by the name of "Forces of the Sigils" -


                            _View Attachment

I thought this was more in keeping for the times!

Parting is such sweet sorrow... A farewell then to Sentinel, even as the waves covered Atlantis and Klarkash-Ton sank entombed beneath the cold dark waves.

Anyway I like the new choice a lot, very fitting indeed.

[Gregory Peters]

Also, on a slightly related note. this podcast is doing a great job covering interesting correspondence by Lovecraft www.hplhs.org/voluminous.php

[stephen]

Hi Zothyrianus,

Only just seen your last post. You seem to be having trouble with your account in general - your last post showed up in blue text and there was a huge gap between the beginning and the end of your post, some text may have gone missing.

I would message you, but the way things are you might not receive it. When I select 'edit profile' I get the option to change avatar and then the option to upload a file or a link and then the procedure is fairly straightforward. There are other options along the top of the box, some of which I have only just looked at for the first time.

You should find one there called Settings, if you click on that and scroll down, the last option is to delete account and it states that all your posts will remain. You could try that and set up an account from scratch again. If you cannot see any of this when you click 'edit profile' I am not sure what to advise. I will send you a test message and I shall message Gregory.

Regards - Stephen.

[williamxiii]

Jan 18, 2021 16:45:33 GMT Gregory Peters said:

Also, on a slightly related note. this podcast is doing a great job covering interesting correspondence by Lovecraft www.hplhs.org/voluminous.php

thanks for this!  The site design is beautiful and the production values impressive.