Tuesday, August 8, 2017

A Few Books To Read

"Life is Breath and Movement"-Eugen Sandow c. 1895.


Thought I'd get back into posting by recommending a few books that seem to express some core concepts of 19th century magic, occultism and society.

Let's start with scandal, Spirits, and Politics. These adventures are centered around the remarkable Victoria Woodhull. The go-to for this topic is-

"Other Powers" by Barbara Goldsmith. (n.b.-Your great-great-great Grandmas's Spiritualism was more enthusiastic, informed and socially contentious than you might have thought.)

Some of Ms. Woodhull's contemporary priestesses took the wisdom from the East (i.e., Downtown Chicago) and moved it out West, to the US Coastal states. They established cities, centers of worship, groups, and  had fascinating lives that are now largely forgotten or rewritten. Here are a few of their stories-

"Prophetic Sisterhood: Liberal Women Ministers of the Frontier, 1880-1930". Cynthia Grant Tucker.

Continuing to music, this book is by one of our living God-Priest drummers.  Join in a search to document the deepest, most moving rhythms that express life and dance.-

"Songcatchers: In Search of The World's Music" Mickey Hart, with K.M. Kostval.

Bringing the topic back to an embodied Victorian spirituality, I offer-

"Power Through Repose" Annie Payson Call. This book can be viewed as a rewrite of Genevieve Stebbins' works on Delsarte Physical Culture as seen through a New Thought and or Hermetic perspective. Ms. Call had a few ideas some folks would now disagree with. All the more reason to download this small gem from Archive.org and study it.

More later.