Here’s a quick round-up of everything I’ve written on this blog in 2022:

On magical praxis:

• Overcoming obstacles in ritual magick: suspending disbelief
  I’ve received a lot of positive feedback about this one from some of my Chaos Magick friends.
• The Rite of Banishing: An antidote to unproductive delusions
  An overview of how I do banishing rituals and in what circumstances I’ve found them helpful.
• On “closed practices”
  A dash of politics as well as praxis, what with the cultural appropriation angle discussed here.
• How does magick “work” – and why might Satanic denominations clash over it?
  An argument that if atheistic Satanists actually took the time to understand what theistic Satanists do magick-wise, they might not find as much to object to as they initially imagine.

Other metaphysical stuff:

• “Gods” vs. “demons”: what do these terms mean?
  A consideration of secular perspectives, spiritual practitioner perspectives, and what the entities themselves think.
• On “past lives” and the possibility of reincarnation
  Wondering why I go by the name “Othaos”? There’s a hint in this entry.

On Satanic ethos more generally:

• On New Years resolutions
  It’s that time of year again, folks!
• The lost art of suspending judgment
  i.e. Why I hate idiots who beak off about how terrible some book is based solely on what their friends think of it.
• Satanism without the Satan: just politics, or something more?
  This entry has the dubious distinction of being this year’s most-hated as far as the Twitter reactions went.  The fallout proved an enlightening experience on the “wow, really glad to have abandoned my previous Satanic denominational affiliation now” front, though…
• Honor in Tenebrous Satanism
  Contains the longest Nine Keys excerpt of any entries I’ve written so far, so if you’re interested in my book, be sure to check it out!

A couple sources of inspiration…

• “The great sower descends…”
  Reflections on Mgla’s “With Hearts Toward None II”
• The dark Sufism of “The Black Path”
  I read a Martinet Press book so that you don’t have to.  It was actually pretty good, though!

…and a couple more personal entries

• Another progress update on Nine Keys publication (May 2022)
  Including a random plug for Graeber & Wengow’s The Dawn of Everything, because I liked that book a lot.
• Alterations to unproductive Twitter usage
  “I therefore hope we can just disagree like adults and not start Satanic jihad over it.”
  No such fallout to date, though, so hopefully that trend continues.

Lastly, a quick update:

Certainly there have been some bright spots this year, foremost being that my ever-ongoing string of synchronicities involving a certain black metal band has now wound up connecting me with an unexpectedly excellent consort.  In areas impacting my productivity, though, this has not been the best year for me.  Between having surgery, being ill no less than four times, and assorted work-related disruptions, many things have not gone as smoothly as I would have liked.

Nonetheless, on Xmas day I finished approving all changes that emerged out of the professional editing of Nine Keys of Abyssal Darkness.  The main things still remaining to do are largely in such areas as formatting, cover design, and other such pre-publication errands.  I also have a certain amount of additional work to do now in rendering past blog entries consistent with stylistic changes I’ve made to the book – something I’ll be posting updates about on my social media as things proceed in the next while.

As I discovered during this last year, it is perilous to predict a release date when one hasn’t written a book before and hence lacks a full grasp of what all is involved.  At minimum though, I do badly want to get to where I would be able to announce a release date by August 2023, if not before.

As always, thanks to everyone who has supported me on this blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter as my journey continues…