In an age of mass production and the destruction of human creativity, CVLT Nation tries to be a beacon for people who want to be creative and support each others’ creativity, whether in music, art, film, literature or any other format. Aeon Sophia Press is an Amsterdam-based publishing house that has recently released their first publication entitled Blood From Heaven, a work of occult/magick fiction by Priestess of the Temple of Babalon E.J. Alvey, a beautifully bound hardcover in gold-stamped scarlet cloth, and they will be releasing their second publication, Whisperings from the Void by Patrick John Larabee, for pre-order May 14th, 2012. Aeon Sophia Press is dedicated to spreading knowledge and ideas about the occult and chaos/black magick, and aims to publish these esoteric writings as limited edition, hand-made and illustrated hardcovers. They aim to publish works that focus on Sigil magick, Sex magick, Thelema, Chaos magick, Luciferian philosophy, Lillith, Hekate, Black magick, Satanism and other occult practices and philosophies. It’s awesome to see a publishing house emerge to specialize in such obscure subject matter, but also to support the reemergence of quality hard copy literature. These are not books that you can read on your Kindle or iPad, these are collectable tomes that were painstakingly created by passionate writers and Aeon Sophia Press’ driving force, Johann Boomsma. Boomsma has been very active in the Holland punk/hardcore underground music scene since the 90s, and has translated the DIY approach to life he learned as a teenager into his dream of publishing occult literature. I love featuring people like Boomsma and their projects on CVLT Nation, because our readers are so awesome and time and again have showed their support for creative people. After the jump check out some info about each release as well as images of Blood From Heaven…
READ MORE…

Michael W. Ford is known in black metal circles for his contributions within a sect called Black Funeral, one of the pioneering bands from the United States. He also happens to have currents of dark energy spurring from his every fibre, and he spends his time writing books on Left Hand Path Gnosticism, Magick, Witchcraft, Ritual Workings, Olden Mythology, Astral Vamprism, and Lycanthropy. He has obviously found his niche in the dark underworld of literature. All of his writings have been released through an occult collective site luciferianapotheca

His tome entitled The Book Of The Witch Moon caught my minds eye when I was seeking for texts and practices of mental vampirism and lycanthropy. Half of the book is devoted to these concepts along with folkloric stories of werewolves, belief, and the mind on the astral plane which Ford captures with impeccable brevity yet perfect understanding and practicality. The other half is traditional left hand path esoterica, which I don’t prescribe to but will focus on the former here… Mental vampirism is an external practice/output towards others, manipulated in such a way as to aid the individual obtain something in the waking life from others. By meeting with the vampire spirit in the astral plane where reality can be shaped according to desire and will, one procures special traits possessed of the vampire; cunning, power, empathy, seerlike visions, stealth. All of these became vectors for the mortal personality. Through ritual work, sigils, yoga and meditation, the altered states of thought can be achieved, and it is directly here that the mundane realities become abstract.

Find out what goes on in his mind here

READ MORE…

My favorite issues of Juxtapoz have always been the ones that feature dark, weird and disturbing artwork – but there are always a lot of pages I skip through to get to my favorite parts. It turns out, someone has created my perfect magazine, and it’s called Fire Mass. Fire Mass is dedicated to the dark arts and folklores, and features many of the artists we’ve covered on CVLT Nation and many, many more that I have to cover. The issues are in glorious full color, all except the Shadowplay issue, which is in equally glorious black and white, and they are serious eye candy for the appreciator of twisted imagery. They also feature stories, poems, interviews and all kinds of magickal things that you want in your world just to make it a little bit creepier. The next issue of Fire Mass will be released very soon, and for now you can go to their store HERE and purchase hard copies, and you can also get free digital downloads of all their issues, which I am subsisting on right now until I can get the hard copies. The zines are 8.5″ x 11″ and anywhere from 64 to 80 pages, and from the pictures they look like they are beautiful to hold. Check out a few preview pages after the jump, and this is a call for support for Fire Mass – these are the kind of publications that we need to keep around!
READ MORE…

This tome of black metal. I think it deserves to be known. For those unfamiliar with the murky depths of the black metal underground, one comes upon certain prolific individuals and circles of information wherein a wellspring of black energy comes out from. Infamroth ov Throne of Katarsis is one of these individuals. He is also a prominent member of Myrkraverk, and operates a small label entitled Daudings Gjenklang. This is the zine crafted for the latter’s bands, as well as some other sinistral sects dispersed across Europe. Contained within the photocopied and handwritten pages are the black speech ov; Tomhet, Prest, Frostskogr, Hinsides, Vemod & Aetergap Prod. dispersed with grainy photographs that don’t resemble the bands in person at all. (a sign of quality), and a compilation of reviews ov Mare, Dodsengel, Cultes Des Ghoules, Prest, Vemod, Panphage and other initiates. This is completely done by him, and was a heavy inspiration for my own zine, Die Hard, in concept and aesthetics. If you are an avid reader, or lust for knowledge of these elusive acts, this would be worth your money, your time, and probably some other things. The essence of Daudings Skript is bare bones, the questions are straight forward and insightful, something lacking for zine quality. I have enclosed photos of some of the pages, if you can’t read them and are still inclined with interest, there is a reason, maybe this is for you.

Look at them through here

READ MORE…

I’m not an avid follower of metaphysical satanism such as the Temple of The Black Light or cultic sects of the black flame, though I came across this tome some time ago and finally decided to peer into it. I approached this book more as anthropology study than one of a doctrine or sacred book of myth. Thus I only was interested in the first half of the book entitled The Argentinian Cult of Senor La Muerte. This section is entirely true and based on several retellings, evidence, current practices and totems still alive today. It recalls the arcane rituals by the Argentian cult who are comprised of hundreds of thousands of members. The object of the adoration is the grim scythe bearer whom they called Senor La Muerte, represented as a skeleton clothed in black. The intentions revolving around these practitioners use special invocations to cast magic or transfer positive or negative energies to themselves and unto others. Such as cursing the dwelling place of enemies, preventing sickness, attraction, money and status, or deflective hexes. As man evolved it was evident that they developed a sense of spirituality*. I use this word to mean a subjective spirituality and not a fixed one. To them, the immense magical working of their master of death had powers to instill all of their wishes if the respect and rituals were carried out in accordance.

Read the rest of review through here READ MORE…

I received this short but truly interesting zine, which is a collaboration between the writings of Paul Waggener & photography of Danielle ‘Metalographer’. Interspersed with a healthy dose of inspirational quotes from naturalists, authors, and philosophers. The concept of Rewild is an resurgent atavism of the feral spirit in man. It is about replenishing what lies inside telling us to wander, and is kept locked away by modern causality, materialism, fear, routine, or conformity. We as a species have tarnished our ego, and are taught from young age to not stand out too much, follow a career, and have our own “identity”. This identity is only a pseudo recognition of what we think we have chosen ourselves. For the one who retains any form of feral instinct at all, this literature nourishes the seeds needed to grow it. I will paraphrase the first collection of thoughts from this piece which sets the tone for the zine itself.

“The increase in mass urbanization worldwide has provoked studies that are proving conclusively a corresponding increase in psychosis, depression, and general mental illness. This occurs because of the combining effects of poverty, crime, drug use, overcrowding, pollution, dissolving family structure, and all the anxieties and negative properties that these have on the individual. Urbanization and so called “human progress” has really been a long, systematized domestication, so that you would shut your mouth and go along with the program in order to make a small percentage of the world’s population wealthy while your spirit and dreams atrophy and die, along with the green world around you”

Read the rest of the feature after the jump!
READ MORE…

I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t have an appreciation for art of all kinds, but it was being into the punk scene that made realize that there were so many ways to express oneself on an artistic vibe. I saw this taking place all around me, whether on flyers or in fanzines, which were also the lifelines for our scene, because this was a form of cross-country communication for us. Out of all this, the do-it-yourself motto became a way of life which gave young people the spark they needed to start their own publishing houses, creating fanzines using the medium of print. That is what this post is all about – from the radlands of the Midwest comes SISTINE PRESS, started and run by Dusty Neal. He has released many killer zines and books since the beginning of this publishing house. SISTINE PRESS really focuses on quality with their publications. Then there is the art – Dusty has the right vibe for the darkside, and you will never get bored looking at one of his books or zines. CVLT Nation would like to share with you two books from SISTINE PRESS: OVVERKILL (step into the occult mind) & ESOTERICA (enter a world where blackness shines dark). After the jump, focus your mind’s eye on the ghosts of the wastes…

READ MORE…

This tome has been the ridicule of some and received dark praise from others. My own notion of the book lies somewhere in between. Hideous Gnosis, subtitled ‘Black Metal Theory’ has a scholarly type approach to the writing style, and does become quite verbose at times but provokes many interesting questions and explanations behind the ideological and aesthetical side of this far too often black and white and causal subgenre. The book itself is written by several authors, so a varying degree of writing style are present. Chapters deal with extensive and varying subject not strictly based on the music but the influence and culture that it occupies. I found interest reading the portions titled ‘The Light That Illuminates Itself, The Dark That Soils Itself’. It impugns what most black metallers might already hold as truth, and opens opinions to be re-evaluated, for those of nature and the absolute. All imagery is tastefully put into the pages, and since i have a reverence for art, it was cool to see something there while pouring over the text. I thought the piece about reflecting on the politics in some black metal unbiased and rather left to voice the ideology of certain members in the underground scene, prominently, Famine of Peste Noire & Toxik Harmst of Diapsiquir. Taken from a perspective standpoint you will realize that the views of such members are posited in conspiracy with their own experiences, future, and influences and thus their meaning of anything is subjective. While most of it makes rational sense, and is relevant to them at the point in time to which it was said, it shall be noticed that one specific mode of thought is never constant, which is quite possibly the purpose of the book in it’s entirety. I personally cannot relate to the world on one level, and can’t limit my expression or ideas in such a confined way as to follow something, i create my own purpose and celebrate my individual. If you realize this already within yourself, this will serve as a psychological view of the writings as a means to further your own knowledge. And if you are still in the dark with who you are, you might then take from it what you need, like a tool to carve your own path.

Read the rest of the review through here READ MORE…

Writer: Davey Bales

Pete Helmkamp is a true warrior of life, shedding his vocal and bass talents in the past for Revenge and Kerasphorus. Two war metal bands that blaze a blasphemic path of nuclear destruction in the face of the modern death metal scene. The latter disbanded a short time ago. What some might not know about Helmkamp is that he has written two books, or rather collections of ideological aphorisms designed for the strong and iron willed. He calls it the “philosophy of ascendance”, and it tends to fall in line with similar ideas and stances posed by other iconical writers like Nietzsche and even Hitler. His first tome is entitled The Conqueror Manifesto, and is somewhat of a more vast scope of information in which his second book offers. From an interview i had read with him, he explains the purpose of infiltrating this will of ascending, and creating an elite, and evolving from the ills of modern man.

Hear some war metal torture and then read about his interesting ideas here

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

READ MORE…