The Hermetic Library Anthology Album - Magick, Music and Ritual 5

The Hermetic Library Anthology Album

Magick, Music and Ritual 5

Fall 2012 / Album

Released: Nov 6, 2012

For full artist profiles and more, please head to Magick, Music and Ritual 5 at the Hermetic Library site.

This fifth album from the Hermetic Library Anthology Project is being released on Samhain in Fall 2012, at 15° Scorpio. This fifth issue completes the first full year of releases, one on all four quarters in 2012. Magick, Music and Ritual 5 brings together 16 tracks by 14 artists with over 2 hours of music which spans 2 physical CDs.

Two parts of this playlist seem to have developed for me a ritual structure, or at least a passage through liminality. The first part is an arrival which is also the departure from normal place and time and the second part is a departure from a place of imagination but also a return to world, having perhaps changed ourselves and world in the meantime. Beginning with a two-part track that develops from a mostly unadorned oud playing a lament and then unfolds in the second track to reveal a heavily processed and altered dirge; thus the circle of the ritual is cast. We move further into liminal place and time with a series of tracks leading deeper into the unknown, offering a self-reflection with mysterious overtones. This is an unfolding descent into a metaphorical and allegorical darkness that paradoxically reveals us to ourselves. The ritual progresses to a lacuna between parts, a space where in ritual one might do a specific working. You may decide each time you listen to take advantage of this place and time between parts to interact with this playlist by enacting your own work here in the space prepared by you and these artists. The second part of the playlist lifts us back through an ascent that returns us, not ourselves the same nor to the same world from which we departed but to see with new eyes a place slightly different than before. We have polished our vessel through travel into the self and have become better prepared to share our specific gifts with the world. Like the long delayed return of Odysseus, we are entering a season of increasing darkness from which light is inevitably liberated.

This cover for this issue was designed and illustrated by Valerie Herron. When I think of the top heaviness of antlers, I actually think of the looming ominous canopy of fall trees in the dark with their skeleton arms and fingers sloughing off leafy skin. I also think of the way that the tree of life looms large above the single point at Malkuth, such a long, tall and precarious spectral ladder to the stars … a place, perhaps, where the dark romance of both old school esotericism and new American Gothic meet.

Please join the Hermetic Library in promoting these artists who have contributed their work to this benefit anthology album project. Please also spread the word about these anthology albums to people you think may be interested in the work of artists who combine magick, music and ritual.

Release Notes

The Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com has an overall vision of Archiving, Engaging and Encouraging the living Esoteric Tradition. I started the benefit anthology project to help promote newer works in the Esoteric Tradition to the audience of the Hermetic Library and beyond. The anthology project also further raises awareness about the corpus and culture of magick and ritual.

The Fall 2012 anthology, though it is the 5th, actually marks the completion of the first full and complete cycle of anthology albums, four albums released quarterly in 2012. This past year the anthology project has developed from the spark of an idea into an ongoing project, and I hope that momentum continues into the next year. The overall project has continued to grow and develop and the entire year of anthologies makes for quite an impressive showcase for numerous and diverse artists and tracks inspired by the Esoteric Tradition.

I have discovered and been introduced to many new artists through this journey, and developed ongoing relationships with many who continue to participate in both the audio pool and the anthology project. As I’ve gone back to listen through the entire catalog of anthology albums, I am heartened and excited that we have all created together something pretty phenomenal. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to be part of this project and to have such wonderful people join me in the work, the work of creation and participation which is an interaction between artists and audience. That seems like something worth celebrating to me!

This album also marks the first where a guest artist has done the artwork and design. I was contacted by Valerie Herron about contributing to the anthology project, and this design is the result. I think this is a natural progression for the project, and look forward to not only future contributions by Valerie but also to developing more opportunities for artists in other media than audio to participate as well in future issues.

I encourage you to check out the Hermetic Library at Hermetic.com, if you aren’t already familiar with it, as that’s the reason this project exists and may also offer inspiration to you. The site was started in 1996 and has ever since consistently been an extremely popular resource for students and researchers interested in the Esoteric Tradition. You may also wish to check out other posts at the Hermetic Library blog and the Twitter and Facebook reflections to see how the library engages people in a living Esoteric Tradition. 

— John Griogair Bell

Production by John Griogair Bell 

Artwork and Design by Valerie Herron 

Mastering by SickTanicK of SKR 

All songs used with permission. All rights reserved.