October at From The Forests of Arduinna
Everything I wrote this month, and a note on "sorrow lights"
It’s the last day of October, and also the last light day of the year in the northern half of the world.
The Gaelic name for tomorrow is Samhain, meaning either “summer’s end” (contested) or more likely “gathering.” In the Catholic calendar tomorrow is All Saint’s Day (Toussaints in French).
There are several local customs in this part of the Ardennes regarding the dead, obvious hold-overs from the ancestral customs of the Celtic Treveri and the Germanic Franks who populated Arduinna’s Forests. Tonight it’s traditional to light a Trauliicht, a hollowed-out beetroot with a lamp within in. Its name translates as the “sorrow light,” and its purpose is to keep the wandering souls of the dead far from the thresholds of the living.
Celtic peoples have been lighting these lanterns for a very, very long time. The jack-o-lantern is the newer Gaelic Celtic version of the mainland trauliicht, and of course the American pumpkin version is the newest version of them all.
In a couple of days I’ll publish “The Forests of the Dead,” an essay discussing more of these traditions and the peculiar matter of what to do with people once they’ve died.
And speaking of dying, this month’s poll is related to that. See the end of this post.
General news
The Secret of Crossings, which is a collection of my best essays from the past three years, can be pre-ordered here.
Also, I’m told that the release information for my next book, Here Be Monsters, will be made public soon-ish. I’ll of course let you know when that happens.
The video of my discussion with Edward Butler for Indica is now posted, also. That’s here.
And I’ve several upcoming appearances in the next few months, including on the Sacred Sons podcast. More info on those coming soon.
What I wrote this month
After two months of less frequent writing, I’m back to my regular and very frequent output. I also appeared on several media events.
2 October: The Werewolf (paid)
This is the final excerpt of the manuscript for Here Be Monsters to be posted for paid subscribers here. This one is on fascism, “bare life,” and the problems of leftist ideological abandoment.
4 October: Interview on the Thoth-Hermes Podcast (free)
This was one of two appearances in October. The Thoth-Hermes Podcast is an interview series featuring influential occultists. Though I don’t really think of myself as one (more an esotericist, I guess, it was definitely an honor to be featured.
7 October: The Imaginal Gate (free)
The magical traditions within monotheisms aren’t usually something we think about, despite the fact that magic absolutely features strongly in all of them. In this essay I discuss the occult Islamic concept of the Imaginal, which I find to be much more descriptive of my own experiences than Christian or Jewish concepts.
10 October: Identity is How Capitalism Intends to Perpetuate Itself (free)
Are we at “peak woke?” Nah. We’re just now seeing many more leftists finally understand that identity politics isn’t revolutionary at all, but rather merely a product of capitalist alienation.
11 October: Why I Am Not A Family Abolitionist (free)
Compact holds the distinction of being the very first journal I’ve ever felt interested in enough to submit an essay to. This is a review of Sophie Lewis’s most recent utopian socialist ravings, and also a personal account of how I realised family is a deeply beautiful thing.
My absolute favorite response to this essay was from someone who said “I found your piece on Sophie Lewis moving as well as persuasive - it's rare to read someone who can write theory from the heart as well as the head.”
I hope when I die that’s exactly the sort of thing I am remembered for.
21 October: Not Peace, But A Sword (free)
I’ve been experimenting with a format of essay writing where you write two different essays at the same time and make them meet together. I wanted to write and essay about my trip to the ancient history museum in Trier, and also an essay about the strikes in France and the larger economic nightmare Europe is starting to go through. So I wrote both at the same time in the same essay, because anyway everything is connected.
24 October: Letter from From The Forests of Arduinna (free)
This month’s letter has a lot of updates in it, including an announcement about a book club starting in January. Also, I discuss Diwali, the festival of lights.
25 October: Recipe: Gulab Jamun (free)
This will probably be a recurring series. I realised I get really caught up in writing theory and esoteric stuff and forget that it’s okay to write about all the other passions in my life. One of those is cooking, and this is a recipe for the best dessert in the world.
27 October: Announcing The Re/al/ign (free)
The RE/AL/IGN is my new audio and video series launching in November. I’m quite thrilled to start this. Read that post for information on how to listen and watch.
28 October: The Mysteria, part one (paid)
Speaking of series, this is a new essay series on political religion inspired by some comment exchanges with Paul Kingsnorth in an earlier essay this month. The title is the plural of Mysterium, which originally referred to intiatory “mystery cults” and was later used in theology to describe two types of experiences with the divine (tremblum and fascinans).
This essay is specifically about the matter of priests, priesthoods, and the secularization of these and other theological concepts into government. And also about the time one of the most famous anti-feminist Christian crusaders in the world gave me an award.
This month’s poll
Funeral customs vary across the world, but there are certain historical and political forces which have shaped them and made some of them illegal in places. That’s one of the topics of my upcoming essay, “The Forests of the Dead.”
This month’s question is about what you’d prefer to have happen once you die.
as someone form the British isles, i have inherently understood that my eyes belong to the crows. thanks for including our ancient traditional sky burial in the poll.
My husband and I wanted to be root balls together, it was something verified when he proposed. Seeing as he died first and suddenly and root ball wasn't an option after the autopsy when he was at the mortuary, I went with cremation. This was the most affordable option, of two options. As we didn't have our own land at the time to bury him on, much less the proper climate to assure success with any tree that he may be planted with. There's a great deal of restrictions of the that come with natural burials. Turns out these hip burial methods are not common choice amongst your standard mortuary. Most of his body is scattered in a wild place of ours after keeping him in our home for a year. A small portion remains in our house. And though cremation is not the most nourishing way to give back to the earth, it's what I choose for myself so that I may return with him in a similar form when the time comes. Thank you musing on this topic- I look forward to reading the upcoming essay. 🙏