The Moon and Serpent Bumper E-book of Magic
Author: Alan Moore, Steve MooreArtist: Steve Parkhouse, Rick Veitch, Kevin O’Neill, Ben Wickey, John CoulthartWriter: Prime Shelf ProductionsPublication Date: October 2024
I feel we’ve all had the expertise that actuality feels unreal. In moments of misery, and even typically nice pleasure, we have to remind ourselves that what’s in entrance of us does in actual fact exist. “Pinch me, I’m dreaming.” Whether or not we really feel as if we’re in a dream or a nightmare, the dissonance between our materials existence and our self consciousness of those circumstances implies a relatively unstable pressure between the world as it’s, and the world of the thoughts.
The connection between the world and our consciousness, between the thoughts and our our bodies, has been speculated about because the daybreak of consciousness itself and the beginnings of a philosophy that might problematize that relationship. It’s a tough factor to string the needle between the world and the world of the thoughts with out getting misplaced in how precisely one necessitates the opposite.
Nevertheless, it’s precisely these points that Alan Moore, Steve Moore and their gallery of inventive collaborators are trying to work by means of in The Moon and Serpent Bumper E-book of Magic. This tome was years within the making, evidenced by the truth that Steve Moore, a mentor and shut buddy of Alan Moore, died in 2014 and artist Kevin O’Neill, additionally featured right here, died in 2022. The contents of the Bumper E-book are due to this fact the analysis and painstaking life’s work of a really proficient group of individuals making an attempt to analyze Magic and its relationship to consciousness.
To be clear, The Moon and Serpent Bumper E-book of Magic shouldn’t be a graphic novel. The guide is proclaimed a “grimoire of the occult sciences,” which means that its contents are usually not strictly a story that somebody ought to anticipate to learn by means of in a single sitting. Whereas there are comics contained herein, they serve the bigger ambition of the guide to be a historical past and sensible information to magic, and what Steve and Alan Moore (Moore2) name the “science of consciousness.” The studying expertise ought to due to this fact be extra akin to absorbing a couple of pages of principle, ruminating on its which means for nonetheless lengthy it takes to sit down proper with you, after which continuing to workout routines you possibly can attempt at house or illustrated tales in regards to the historical past of magic to assist contextualize the speculation. That is much less a graphic novel, and extra a graphical textual content guide or graphical philosophical treatise.
Thus, with the intention to perceive this textual content, I feel it’s finest to method the guide like philosophy. A mentor of mine as soon as instructed me “Each philosophical textual content is a solution to a query or an answer to an issue. What’s the query? What’s the issue?” Thus, in these phrases, we have to first perceive what precisely the questions and issues are that Moore2 appear to be wrestling with.
Fortunate for us, Moore2 present these inquiries to us very early within the guide:
“How are we to find this important and presumably legendary realm of the thoughts?
“How can we discover the possibly non-existent doorway that, if it was ever actually there, has since been papered over by an age of cause?”
“Even when we should always encounter such an entrance into magical expertise, how will we acknowledge a spot so unfamiliar?”
“What are we alleged to do with magic, as soon as we’ve discovered it?”
It’s from right here that the Bumper E-book takes us on a journey to know not solely the place these questions come from however what one would possibly achieve from attempting to reply them. On the finish of the day, this isn’t actually about having a concrete reply in scientific phrases. However relatively, growing a system or methodology of thought that helps us pose these questions within the first place. The world and our minds are usually not one thing to be taken without any consideration, for it’s only by means of the thoughts that we will grant the world exists. Thus, what energy lurks behind our mysterious consciousness?
How are we to find this important and presumably legendary realm of the thoughts?
Moore2 are not any stranger to skepticism and, to their credit score, the Bumper E-book shouldn’t be one thing that takes its conclusions without any consideration however as a substitute needs to make a selected argument primarily based on the proof that it has collected. Thus, the “query” or “drawback” of this textual content is based on the dissonance between our aware experiences and the character of the world at massive; these moments we spoke of on the high of this overview the place it appears as if what we consider to be true and what’s true seem like in battle.
The Bumper E-book opens with a comic book illustrated by Steve Parkhouse, after which one other by Rick Veitch. The primary resembles the opening scene of 2001: A Area Odyssey the place the straightforward urges of nature are disrupted by the creation of one thing past our, on the time, cognitive skill to completely comprehend. Actuality is remodeled by one thing that appears to contradict it, or no less than break us away from immersion on the planet. That pressure, as mentioned within the second comedian, finally ends up being the thought of story. Tales are basically about illustration. Thus, Moore2 write “Illustration alone distinguished people from different animals, permitting entry to a conceptual world the place all phenomena, together with thoughts itself, inevitably appeared magical.” This early declare of a separation between the thoughts which grasps, and the conceptual world that we’re to understand resembles a classical type of dualism. It’s much like Plato’s accounts of the representations of ideas on the planet, and the Types that we are trying to characterize. However not like Plato, Moore2 do to not me learn like dualists as a lot as they do Phenomenologists.
How can we discover the possibly non-existent doorway that, if it was ever actually there, has since been papered over by an age of cause?
The flexibility to characterize, or the mechanics that present entry to a conceptual world that makes artwork and magic attainable, is positioned in our personal thoughts and the interpretation of the world it perceives. They posit right here an “space of consciousness that offers us entry to what has been known as the magical expertise,” part of the thoughts that “we don’t, in regular circumstances, have full entry to.” Phenomenology, for its half, primarily focuses on how subjective engagement with objects inside our view permit us to then instantiate the existence of the broader world, piece by piece. Or, as Moore2 put right here: “Not solely is the thoughts the supply of each earthly artefact however it is usually the only real means by which a human being is related to actuality. Unable to expertise the universe instantly we depend on our perceptions, as interpreted by consciousness, to construct the world round ourselves second by second.” That is as a lot a technique as it’s an argument, the place the power to be an excellent Phenomenologist or Shaman or Magician rests on how one can observe the method of transcendental discount by “bracketing” what you understand and constructing from it a wider understanding of ideas that animate the world at massive. As soon as we now have the power to do that, we will then start the work of making a world that may not appear actual to others. At the very least not till they take these steps with us.
Even when we should always encounter such an entrance into magical expertise, how will we acknowledge a spot so unfamiliar?
The closest expression of magic, and the manifestation of the magical realm, we now have is artwork. “All artwork is due to this fact magical at its inception, whereas magic is the artwork itself.” That is true not solely due to its skill to create illustration, however as a result of it reveals our personal consciousness to us. As one will discover whereas studying the Bumper E-book, Moore2 can’t appear to precise the concepts of magic with out utilizing the units of story. And this isn’t an issue or limitation as a lot as it’s a proof of idea. “…to ensure that creativeness to conceive of this elusive insubstantial territory it’s needed to make use of metaphor, as useful a device of magic as it’s of poetry. This maybe means that artwork and magic might have many attributes in widespread and will even, finally, be the identical factor.”
One other method of understanding that is that I had a really exhausting time understanding this guide, in actual fact I wasn’t even positive if I favored it very a lot as I used to be studying it. As I’ve stated, this can be a textbook relatively than a graphic novel, or no less than that’s how I used to be in a position to perceive it. However within the act of writing in regards to the Bumper E-book, within the skill to take the phrases and piece collectively a bigger framework that matches with my expertise and my skill to create, your entire grimoire felt as if it unlocked for me. At that second, I felt like a magician as a result of this overview “…as soon as accomplished, is [my] first willed, aware act of magic.” That is additionally why I say one shouldn’t sit down and browse this guide in a single sitting. Slightly, take the time to maneuver away from it, contemplate its contents, follow its rituals and discover use for it in your skill to navigate the world. Solely then is its fullest energy realized.
Magic as illustration and artwork as illustration sharing a situation, or attributes in widespread like metaphor, illustrate to the reader that it’s not merely about perceiving the guide as it’s in entrance of you, however constructing upon in methods which are distinctive to you and your magical realm of consciousness.
What are we alleged to do with magic, as soon as we’ve discovered it?
That is all to say one ought to method the Bumper E-book, and all philosophical work, with an open thoughts. Once more, as my mentor used to say, “in the event you like what you learn, learn it once more. When you don’t like what you learn, learn it once more.” We could also be eager on letting our instincts drive our perception in what we see, or to steer us away from conceptual work that simply doesn’t sit proper, no matter that may imply. However in reality, magic and storytelling share the situation of effort. One should put within the work, whether or not by means of writing or re-reading, to know what’s in entrance us.
The powers Moore2 communicate of are usually not bestowed upon us, however relatively are the results of our vital and unselfish engagement with the fabric put earlier than us. As soon as we develop these expertise, we now have the power to train our consciousness in methods which are transformative of our experiences and the world at massive. However we shouldn’t put the cart earlier than the horse, we shouldn’t open this guide considering we want solely arrive on the conclusion to perform our goals. This isn’t a “how you can” information of any type. It’s, like all artwork, an instance and never a blueprint. The last word purpose ought to all the time be higher self understanding, and reverence for the ability of our consciousness that types our world view. Or, as Moore2 put it one final time. “Whether or not an artist or magician, take note of the voice of the inner world earlier than that of the outer. Free your self from low materials intention by committing to a type of magical expression which calls for we follow the Artwork for the Artwork’s sake, relatively than our personal.”
The Moon and Serpent Bumper E-book of Magic shouldn’t be a straightforward factor to learn, neither is it a straightforward factor to jot down about or respect. I’d think about that people who find themselves extra inclined to debate Moore2’s concepts of magic, or the way it squares with Alan Moore’s anarchic political tendencies, would possibly discover one thing notably enriching right here. Nevertheless, for the remainder of us, that is at finest an fascinating expertise, an opportunity to dive right into a richer psychology than we may be accustomed to. For that cause, I feel it’s price studying. You probably have the curiosity in dissecting the work of the writers with this information, or you probably have the persistence to use these rituals to your self, there’s one thing great to be discovered right here.
The Moon and Serpent Bumper E-book of Magic is accessible now.
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