Every aficionado of Occult literature will be pleased to hear that E.A. Koetting, one of the most prominent occult authors of today will be re-releasing his latest book "Evoking Eternity". This book, just like all of his previous works is sold out and out of print. When any of them appears on ebay they can go for over $200. No surprise then, that the new release of his book is a welcomed news in all book collecting circles, not only Occult ones.
In the expectation of the upcoming edition of "Evoking Eternity" we asked E.A. Koetting for an interview to find out more about him and the new book:
Q: Let me start by asking when did you first get interested in Occult / Paranormal?
E.A.Koetting: I know that it sounds cheesy, but I’ve always been interested in the occult. When I was five and was learning my telephone number for kindergarten, my method of remembrance was to form a rhythmic chant of the numbers, and recite them over and over in that cadence. I threw my “magic blanket” around my shoulders like a cape, held a long toy in my hands like a wand, and chanted away, imagining that the incantation was bringing to life some strange surges from beyond. This is silly, but it’s fun to remember. Bear in mind, however, that as a child I watched absolutely NO television, and I was being taught to read not through the pages of Harry Potter or Twilight, but from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Again at eight years old I sat in the entryway with a few large legos - the kind that you give very small children so they don’t choke on them – spread out before me. I was sitting with legs folded, my left arm stretched out, trying with all of the might of an eight year old to clear my mind and form a connection with the blocks. My little sister came upon me and, horrified, asked what I was doing, and my answer was that once my mind was clear, the blocks would levitate. I wasn’t able to explain the physics, or the metaphysics, behind this claim, but it seemed perfectly valid at the time. Throughout my childhood I was accompanied by figures who would only show themselves when I was alone, or when I was awake and everyone else was asleep. They would attempt to draw me out of my body, and I remember the stretching and pulling of spatial and temporal awareness and the discomfort that that brought. There weren’t any real moments in my life when I said, “Wow, check this out!” but it was more like, “oh, that’s what that was.”
I definitely had those great moments of realizing that perhaps I was not insane: playing with an ouija board for the first time; coming into contact as a pre-teen with older kids who claimed to be “witches”; actually performing my first by-the-book ritual at fifteen years old; performing a ritual of evocation where the spirit actually materialized. Yeah, these were all milestones, not necessarily in my initiation into the world of the unknown, but more to understanding the world that I was already living in.
Q: Most people interested in Occult and Paranormal have some "most memorable" occult / paranormal event that they witnessed. Could you share yours?
E.A.Koetting: Oh wow, my life has been packed with those moments. Off the top of my head, my memory is drawn to the evocation of the Demonic King Paimon, from the Goetia. I recall this story in Evoking Eternity as well. I was 18 or 19 years old, and had been struggling for at least a few years with the art of scrying into a black-backed mirror. I would sit for hours every day gazing into the mirror. I would see the surface of it fill with some mysterious, white fog, and then nothing. I was sure that I was causing damage to my eyes, I spent so much time staring into the damn mirror! I had successfully performed evocations, having the spirit materialize in quite a substantial manner, and more importantly with the result of the evocation being manifested after short time, but like most magicians, I longed for the open-eyed contact with the spirit. Out of necessity one day I threw a ritual of evocation together, tossed the candles in place, scribbled Paimon’s sigil on a piece of paper, set out my scrying mirror, and lit the incense. I gazed at the sigil in the Triangle of Manifestation, then into the fog-filled mirror, then back at the sigil. Before I finished the spoken conjuration, however, I heard a thunderous voice shouting, “Who are you to summon me!” or something to that effect, and looked down into the mirror to see in terrifying clarity King Paimon’s hideous face. That was a certain breakthrough for me – the moment when the games stopped and the real work began.
Q: Staying with that event - did it change your perception or view of life and priorities?
E.A.Koetting: It changed my perception for sure. Like I said, I had performed several successful evocations, and I had been seriously, deeply into the Left Hand Path of the occult for at least a few years, but it was at that point when it all solidified. I’ve noticed with people who dabble in the occult that they’ll have some sort of breakthrough experience like this one, or something of greater or lesser magnitude, and that is the point when they will either abandon the practice altogether or they will become fanatics. I, obviously, chose the latter path. That moment provided the vindication of all that I recognized to be real as well as the fuel to uncover worlds upon worlds beyond that simple vision. And from that moment, especially in the act of constraint following Paimon’s verbal assault, it became quite clear that I had tied myself to those other worlds, and they to me.
Q: What was the first Occult / Paranormal book you have read?
E.A.Koetting: The Encylopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. I came across this in my school library over lunch one day, and I was fascinated. I was a good Mormon boy at that time – I mean, I was the model Christian kid, passing sacrament, collecting tithes and fast offerings, visiting the ill and the non-attendant – so at thirteen or fourteen years old, I literally had to sneak into the library to read this book. It detailed medieval witchcraft, as told through the eyes of the inquisition, complete with photocopies of pacts with the devil, paintings of witches copulating with imps, stake-burnings and lesbian orgies. I was just blown away. I obviously couldn’t check the book out, so I would take my lunches in the library, which was usual for me anyways, and if there were any pages that I had to read in more depth, I’d put a dime into the photocopier and hide the printed pages in one of my school books.
But that’s not really real witchcraft, not in any practical way. But it was a primer. The first book I remember owning dealing with the occult was A Grimoire of Shadows by Ed Fitch. It took the idea of elemental magick and put it in a methodical context, where I could sit and work through these meditations and rituals. It was extremely basic, looking through that book now, but it served a very nice function in my development.
Q: What is your favorite Occult / Paranormal book and which is your favorite non-occult one?
E.A.Koetting: You know, my personal library has gotten pretty thin this last decade. The more that I learned from my own experiences, the more obsolete so many books seemed to become. That was perhaps the greatest impetus for me to write books on the occult and spirituality: there seemed to be this void of real, useable information, and nobody seemed to be stepping up to fill that void with anything substantial. I have a few Julius Evola books that I find myself poring through, specifically The Yoga of Power, an amazing look at the Shiva/Shakti current and its Left Hand Path applications. Aside from Evola and the obvious Crowley cornerstones, everything else on my bookcase are grimoires for reference.
As far as non-occult books, I enjoy Dean Koontz for light, fun reading, although in just about every one of his books, about two thirds into the book, there is a definite 20 page lull. I’ll find myself “cheating” by skipping over those 20 pages and then piecing them together later. I feel ashamed every time I do that too, like Mr. Koontz deserves my full attention. I’ll also read scriptural texts quite a bit: the Popul Vu; the Bhagavad Gita; Enuma Elish; the Bible, of course. This is all review, of course, it’s not like I’m reading books with twisting plots or anything, but there really is something to being able to read one or two verses, and then sit with those verses for the next few hours meditating on them and really digesting them.
Q: People who are just beginning their involvement in magick and occult frequently wonder what is the best way to start. So, I am sure that many would be interested to hear from you - what would you recommend to someone who is just beginning with Occult / Magick?
E.A.Koetting: Look, the first thing to get out of the way is that none of this is complicated. It’s all very simple. It’s so simple that our minds just can’t handle it, so they clutter the whole matter up to give the mind something to grab on to. But here is the whole thing, laid out: we exist in a manifold reality, layers on top of layers that are all interwoven, with our own selves at the center of this web of existence. Forces, energies, entities, and powers are active around us at all times, and these rituals that we’ll perform, or these meditations or mantras or prayers or whatever your method of connecting is, all this does is momentarily allows us to recognize and interact with these other worlds. If you want to immerse yourself in spirituality, you have to step into the water. I tell everyone who asks me, “What can I do?” to do something daily to bring yourself into that awareness and participation with the spiritual reality around you. I meditate every day, sometimes for an hour or more, or sometimes for ten minutes while my coffee is brewing in the morning. If you are performing some sort of devotion, do that devotion each day, or that ritual, watchtower calling, evocation, invocation, Soul Travel – just put yourself there every single day and you’ll notice a momentum that moves you into your own Ascent like a Juggernaut just rolling over every would-be obstacle in your path.
And then, you really have to make spirituality a practical thing. I’ve said several times in my books and engagements that just flying to heaven isn’t enough – you then have to pull heaven to earth, sometimes in a fiery crash if need be. Look at your life and at what is missing or at what could be just a bit better, and then search the grimoires and search your own intuition for the formula to manifest what you desire. Then, plug yourself into it. That’s the most amazing thing about the occult sciences specifically: you don’t have to have faith in it or believe in it in order for it to work; if you come at it correctly, it is a system. If you pull this level, that arm will swing and the ball will drop into the cup. Just plug yourself into the system, and it works!
Q: Your upcoming book "Evoking Eternity" is the part of the "Left Hand Path" series of books. How would you define the "Left Hand Path" i.e. what does that term mean to you and what attracted you to it?
E.A.Koetting: The Left Hand Path is really the spiritual path of the forbidden. You can look at the surface and say that the Left Hand Path is that which is evil, dark, nefarious, or even sinister and predatory – which are aspects of some forms of Left Hand Path practice – but that is just a small corner of that world. All of my books, I think, follow a similar pattern: terms are defined for the usefulness of the text as a whole; some background is given; basic, cornerstone practices are taught which can be worked through and mastered; these practices build up to a crescendo where the reader finds that he or she is literally working the impossible, doing that which very few are capable of; and then, I believe, each book tapers off by issuing direct challenges pertinent to the matter at hand. This isn’t a pattern of which I have been consciously aware during the writing process, but more one that in reflection and retrospect is pretty clear. Through this process, if you’re actually working through the book, it is my absolute goal to smoothly yet quickly guide you over some of the most jagged spiritual terrain and set you upon a peak whereon you can look out and say, “wow, how did I even get here?” And then, in the midst of your bewilderment, the challenges are issued. It’s really a process of annihilating all obstacles to any necessary spiritual action, whether those obstacles be external or internal.
Evoking Eternity is a great example of this, because while it is not sinister or dark at all, especially in comparison with my earlier works of Baneful Magick or Works of Darkness. It does, however, fit wonderfully into the above definition of the Left Hand Path, as two-thirds through the book, you will be performing rituals that every occult writer and mentor has admonished against, for fear of the safety or sanity of the Operator or the resilience of the veil between the worlds. We really are ripping that veil down, though, tearing the vestments right off of the angels and demons to reveal the naked power of Eternity.
So, being that which is forbidden, the Left Hand Path attracted me because it seemed to be the place wherein the most answers would be found. Most everything else seemed to be a front, a distraction from the forbidden, a way to keep people from the truth and the keys to power. There seemed to be a very low ceiling in place as long as I was chanting to the goddess or praying in the name of Jesus. As soon as I began to recognize myself as my only chance for exaltation, and realized that in order to get there I was have to travel through perdition, all of the doors just opened up for me.
Q: What would you say is the destination of the "Left Hand Path"?
E.A.Koetting: That’s getting kind of cloudy, as I try to peer into the future, because it seems like the smoke and mirrors act that has worked so well for the past few thousand years is fading fast, and we are moving ferociously towards some sort of revolution, worldwide, so when that which is forbidden is no longer forbidden, it would be safe to say that new taboos would naturally fall into place, and we would have to push the envelope even farther, resulting in yet another worldwide, or galaxy-wide, revolution in a few thousand years.
Q: Staying with your upcoming release - "Evoking Eternity" - how would you summarize it and which chapter(s) in it would you especially point out?
E.A.Koetting: Evoking Eternity starts off pretty strong. Rather than getting into enumerations of the various types of evocations and the theories behind all of them, I just dig into the meat of the matter right away. Evocation, like any other type of ritual, is a system that operates, well, systematically. If you understand that system and the principles by which it operates, you are guaranteed success every time. To that end, Evoking Eternity begins by disclosing the Elementary Principles of Evocation. If you just took that one, initial chapter, and went no further in the book, you could perform a successful evocation without issue. Only the first five chapters really discuss evocation as a basic practice. I don’t play around or mince words or add fluff here… I just give you the information as it is, in its fullness and nudity, and I don’t try to garb it in the dogmas or hundred-year-old traditions. This is a system, a science, and an art, and so I lay out the system, I provide the contextual base for the science, and I show you how to use the brush to begin a masterpiece. After the fifth chapter, the whole matter gets to be really fun, because that’s where we start to strip away the restrictions that have been placed on evocation, and challenge ourselves to push beyond the boundaries of what has been accepted as sane or rational. Right away, instructions and rituals are given for evocation with multiple Operators, simultaneous evocations of several entities, evoking literal legions of spirits, and gradually eradicating every admonition issued concerning the subject. It’s intense, but it’s also very needed.
Now, Evoking Eternity was released in a very limited edition by Ixaxaar Publications, and that release fulfilled the terms of our publishing agreement. I am now in collusion with some of the best book-makers on the market deciding exactly how we want this to be re-presented and drawing up the plans for the whole thing. A release date as well as ordering instructions will be available at www.eternalascentpublications.com shortly.
Q: Anything you would like to tell the readers as a closing word?
E.A.Koetting: Just dive in, really. There are things that you can never know until you experience them, and that is the summation of all of the works of Ascent. You just have to push your fear aside and jump into the water. Some people get eaten alive… others become Gods.
www.eternalascentpublications.com
© Copyright: OccultCenter.com
source: http://www.occultcenter.com/2010/10/interview_with_e_a_koetting/
No comments:
Post a Comment