Lots of tasty news to share with you, so apologies for the Phantasmaphilic potpourri:
First off, my darling husband, Matthew Freeman, has a workshop of his new theatre piece, in the great expanse of space there is nothing to see but More, More, More, which will be opening next week. He has written and directed it, and it's a sort of avant garde language piece, very poetic and harrowing. I keep referring to it as his Thom Yorke play. Performances are Thurs Sept 29th, Fri Sept 30th, and Sat Oct 1st, all at 8pm for $10 admission, at the Brick Theater in Williamsburg:
Secondly, the newest episode of The Midnight Archive is up, and it features my frequent collaborator and friend, Mitch Horowitz, giving a brief sampling of the Occult New York Walking Tour we do here in NYC:
We are indeed planning more tours, and I'll keep you posted about them here. In the meantime, you can check out Mitch in person at Observatory on Friday, October 21st, giving an illustrated lecture on the brilliant esotericist, Manly P. Hall:
Manly P. Hall and The Secret Teachings of All Ages
A Talk and Visual Presentation by Mitch Horowitz
Date: Friday, October 21st
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8
Presented by: Phantasmaphile
It is one of the strangest and most beguiling books of the twentieth century: The Secret Teachings of All Ages. Privately printed in 1928 by a 27-year-old occult scholar named Manly P. Hall
Who was the young and preternaturally gifted author of this massive and impactful work? And what were the circumstances behind the early genius of Hall, a man with little conventional schooling who went on to become the most influential occult voice of the last century? In this vibrant and intellectually lively evening, author Mitch Horowitz (Occult America) – who has written widely about Hall’s life and published the recent “reader’s edition” of The Secret Teachings of All Ages
Horowitz dissects the unusual career of Hall and explores his legendary status on the West Coast occult scene for most of the twentieth century. From Hall’s art-deco headquarters in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park neighborhood, the arcane scholar not only helped reignite the academic study of esoterica but made an impact on figures as diffuse as Bela Lugosi and Ronald Reagan (who actually quoted from Hall in his speeches). Horowitz also explores the circumstances surrounding Hall’s 1990 death, which is marked by persistent rumors of foul play. Finally, Horowitz considers the wide-ranging influence of The Secret Teachings of All Ages, including the book’s strengths and weaknesses, enduring mysteries, and seismically powerful, yet underappreciated, impact.
***Books will be available for purchase and signing
Mitch Horowitz is the editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin and the author of Occult America (Bantam), which The Washington Post Book World called: “Fascinating…a serious, wide-ranging study of all the magical, mystical, and spiritual movements that have arisen and influenced American history in often-surprising ways.” Horowitz has written on alternative spiritual topics for The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, CNBC.com, Boing Boing, and The Washington Post, where he recently explored the relationship between Manly P. Hall and Ronald Reagan. In 2003, Horowitz published the “reader’s edition” of The Secret Teachings of All Ages. He leads Observatory’s popular Occult New York Walking Tours and has discussed alternative spirituality on CBS Sunday Morning, Dateline NBC, and All Things Considered. Horowitz is currently writing a history of the positive-thinking movement, to be published by Crown. Visit him online at: www.MitchHorowitz.com.
Magic is in the air...!
How did I miss this! Aside from Weird Al Yankovic, Manly P. Hall was one of my first girlhood crushes. Seriously! I grew out of it though. Oddly enough, I am still madly in love with Weird Al.
Posted by: mlle ghoul | September 23, 2011 at 11:55 PM