A New Year, a New Project

2011 didn't quite live up to my expectations, though I really have no reason to complain. Eleven months ago, I was brought face to face with my own mortality, and although I have certainly moved well clear of that precipice, I have not progressed as far towards health as I was hoping. I certainly did not get everything done that I was hoping to achieve.

So I've got high expectations from 2012, and whatever else it turns out to be, it will certainly be busy. For starters, I will be attending PantheaCon next month and presenting two workshops, unlike last year, where I spent that particular weekend in hospital. I've got several other trips planned through the year too, not least another visit to the fine Pagan folk in North Carolina. But that is not my big new project...

The really exciting news is that I am working on a new book, and I've decided to involve others in my process. The new book will be called "Enchantment: The Witches' Art of Manipulation Through Gesture, Gaze and Glamour". It will be a practical manual on techniques like the Witches' Eye (or "Evil Eye"), Jedi mind trickes (or putting the 'fluence on people), and creating illusions in order to get people to do what you need them to. Unlike all of my previous writings, this book will be completely devoid of cultural or religious  context, being the pure theory and practice involved in this very old-school form of witchcraft. That way, you can add your own cultural/religious context to it.

But the really exciting thing is that I decided to set up a study group to work through the material, to make sure I am thorough in my explanations and demonstrations. At first, this was just going to be a local group, but whern I mentioned that on FaceBook, I got a lot of responses from people who are out of town, wishing they lived close enough to participate.

Well, the outcome of that was that I decided to video the study group here in Los Angeles, and share it on a DVD with groups elsewhere, and then get everyone to discuss it online together. So far, there are groups in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Florida, Tennessee, Pensylvania, North Carolina, Long Beach California, and perhaps San Diego too. Which means I'm going to get a ton of feedback on both the techniques and the background material, which means that the book is going to be something very special. Personally, I can't wait to read it...