The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic
Encyclopedia
The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic is an upcoming hardcover
work by Alan Moore
and Steve Moore
(no family relation to each other). Both men have written comics
and together co-founded the private magical order known as The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels
. The book is listed as "a future release" from Top Shelf Productions
.
of the occult
sciences," containing "profusely illustrated instructional essays" on theories of magic from c. 150AD to the present of the Moon & Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels sect, of whom Alan Moore is a dedicated follower. Indeed, both Moores are described by publisher Top Shelf Productions
as the "current proprietors" of the group of occult performers, of whom Alan Moore is a particularly prominent member, alongside former Bauhaus
bassist David J
. The "Moon and Serpent" group have released a number of spoken word
CD releases of their occult
"workings"/performances.
, Melinda Gebbie
, José Villarrubia
and John Coulthart
, with more to be confirmed.
Among the essays the book will include is "Adventures in Thinking," a dissertation detailing "how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved." The tongue-in-cheek
tone of the tome will also include "a number of 'Rainy Day' activity pages" suggesting "lively and entertaining things-to-do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of spirits, deities, dead people and infernal entities from the pit." This will likely incorporate a "bestiary of demons and gods and other things that you might be lucky or unfortunate enough to bump into."
The two Moores - unrelated, but long-term friends - will also pen "lengthy theses revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent."
journal since its earliest days, the paranormal
, occult
and magic
itself being extremely familiar areas covered by that publication. This section, tentatively entitled "Old Moore's Lives of the Great Enchanters" is described by A. Moore as around "fifty-two full pages.. laid out a bit like the old Ripley's Believe it or Not, where you've got five panels with captions" describing the illustrations. These "great enchanters" will cover key individuals in the history of magic beginning with the alleged "first representation of a magician" - "the Dancing Sorcerer from the Trois Freres cave in France."
Other notable individuals will include "the Persian Magi and Zarathustra" ("after the Stone Age
shamanic period... the first record of actual magic") and various other real, fictional and debatable individuals including "King Solomon, Circe
, Medea
... Apollonius of Tyana
[and] Merlin
... the first white magician." Coverage will also be given to those individuals who "almost certainly existed, like Roger Bacon
and people like that." Kevin O'Neill (co-creator with A. Moore of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
) is set to illustrate a "seven or eight-page life of Alexander... done in a Radio Fun
style... detail[ling] the life of Alexander of Abonuteichos who was the creator of Glycon," Alan's "patron deity."
for a similar cornucopia of bonus materials) "a lavishly decorated decadent pulp
tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form", "a full set of this sinister and deathless cult's never-before-seen Tarot cards" (illustrated by José Villarrubia
), "a fold-out Kabalistic
board game" and "a pop-up Theatre of Marvels that serves as both a Renaissance memory theatre and a handy portable shrine." This latter (theatre) is being designed by Moore's wife, the artist Melinda Gebbie
.
's UK publication Fortean Times, Alan Moore is no stranger to the world of magic. A self-proclaimed practicising magician (and self-professed worshipper of Roman glove puppet god Glycon
), Moore's ouvre includes several diversions into the realms of the magickal, including his America's Best Comics series Promethea
, both a general meditation on magic in comics form and a specific guide to the 22 Major Arcana
Tarot
cards (issue #12), the Sephiroth (issue #14) and the entire Hermetic Qabalah
(issues #13-25). Promethea featured appearances from such individuals as Dr. John Dee
, Aleister Crowley
, Austin Osman Spare
and Jack Parsons, all of whom are likely to be covered in the Bumper Book of Magic.
Indeed, it has been suggested that much of A. Moore's recent output has to a greater or lesser extent been designed as magical rituals:
Hardcover
A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...
work by Alan Moore
Alan Moore
Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
and Steve Moore
Steve Moore (comics)
Steve Moore is a British comics writer.Moore is credited with showing acclaimed writer Alan Moore , then a struggling cartoonist, how to write comic scripts...
(no family relation to each other). Both men have written comics
Comic book creator
A comic book creator is someone who creates a comic book or graphic novel.The production of a comic book by one of the major comic book companies in the U.S...
and together co-founded the private magical order known as The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels
The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels
The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels is the name of a group of occultists and performers including writer and magician Alan Moore, Bauhaus member David J, and musician Tim Perkins, who perform occult "workings" consisting of prose poetry set to music. Several of these "workings"...
. The book is listed as "a future release" from Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. The company is based in Marietta, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and New York City, New York....
.
Scope
The book is intended to be "a clear and practical grimoireGrimoire
A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Such books typically include instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination and also how to summon or invoke supernatural entities such as angels, spirits, and demons...
of the occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
sciences," containing "profusely illustrated instructional essays" on theories of magic from c. 150AD to the present of the Moon & Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels sect, of whom Alan Moore is a dedicated follower. Indeed, both Moores are described by publisher Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions
Top Shelf Productions is an American publishing company founded in 1997, owned and operated by Chris Staros and Brett Warnock and a small staff. The company is based in Marietta, Georgia, Portland, Oregon, and New York City, New York....
as the "current proprietors" of the group of occult performers, of whom Alan Moore is a particularly prominent member, alongside former Bauhaus
Bauhaus (band)
Bauhaus was an English rock band formed in Northampton in 1978. The group consisted of Peter Murphy , Daniel Ash , Kevin Haskins and David J . The band was originally Bauhaus 1919 before they dropped the numerical portion within a year of formation...
bassist David J
David J
David John Haskins , better known as David J, is a British alternative rock musician. He was the bassist for the gothic rock band Bauhaus and Love and Rockets....
. The "Moon and Serpent" group have released a number of spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
CD releases of their occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
"workings"/performances.
Contents
Confirmed illustrators include a number of (Alan) Moore's frequent collaborators, namely Kevin O'NeillKevin O'Neill (comics)
Kevin O'Neill is an English comic book illustrator best known as the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law , and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen .-Early career:...
, Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie is an American comics artist and writer, probably best known for Lost Girls, the three-volume graphic novel she produced in collaboration with writer Alan Moore, published by Top Shelf.-Biography:...
, José Villarrubia
José Villarrubia
José Antonio Villarrubia Jiménez-Momediano – known professionally as José Villarrubia – is a Spanish artist and art teacher who has done considerable work in the American comic book industry, particularly as a colorist....
and John Coulthart
John Coulthart
John Coulthart is a British graphic artist, illustrator, author and designer who has produced book covers and illustrations, CD covers and posters...
, with more to be confirmed.
Among the essays the book will include is "Adventures in Thinking," a dissertation detailing "how entry into the world of magic may be readily achieved." The tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
tone of the tome will also include "a number of 'Rainy Day' activity pages" suggesting "lively and entertaining things-to-do once the magical state has been attained, including such popular pastimes as divination, etheric travel and the conjuring of a colourful multitude of spirits, deities, dead people and infernal entities from the pit." This will likely incorporate a "bestiary of demons and gods and other things that you might be lucky or unfortunate enough to bump into."
The two Moores - unrelated, but long-term friends - will also pen "lengthy theses revealing the ultimate meaning of both the Moon and the Serpent."
The Great Enchanters
The book will present a "history of magic from the last ice-age to the present day, told in a series of easy-to-absorb pictorial biographies of fifty great enchanters," an area in which both Moores are readily familiar, Alan having been a practicing magician for a number of years, and Steve having contributed to the Fortean TimesFortean Times
Fortean Times is a British monthly magazine devoted to the anomalous phenomena popularised by Charles Fort. Previously published by John Brown Publishing and then I Feel Good Publishing , it is now published by Dennis Publishing Ltd. As of December 2010, its circulation was approximately 18,000...
journal since its earliest days, the paranormal
Paranormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
, occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
and magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
itself being extremely familiar areas covered by that publication. This section, tentatively entitled "Old Moore's Lives of the Great Enchanters" is described by A. Moore as around "fifty-two full pages.. laid out a bit like the old Ripley's Believe it or Not, where you've got five panels with captions" describing the illustrations. These "great enchanters" will cover key individuals in the history of magic beginning with the alleged "first representation of a magician" - "the Dancing Sorcerer from the Trois Freres cave in France."
Other notable individuals will include "the Persian Magi and Zarathustra" ("after the Stone Age
Stone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
shamanic period... the first record of actual magic") and various other real, fictional and debatable individuals including "King Solomon, Circe
Circe
In Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...
, Medea
Medea
Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
... Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher from the town of Tyana in the Roman province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor. Little is certainly known about him...
[and] Merlin
Merlin
Merlin is a legendary figure best known as the wizard featured in the Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written c. 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures...
... the first white magician." Coverage will also be given to those individuals who "almost certainly existed, like Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon, O.F.M. , also known as Doctor Mirabilis , was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods...
and people like that." Kevin O'Neill (co-creator with A. Moore of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, publication of which began in 1999. The series spans two six-issue limited series and a graphic novel from the America's Best Comics imprint of Wildstorm/DC, and a third miniseries...
) is set to illustrate a "seven or eight-page life of Alexander... done in a Radio Fun
Radio Fun
Radio Fun was a British comic paper that ran from 15 October 1938 to 18 February 1961, when it became the first out of twelve titles to merge with Buster. By this time it had been renamed to Radio Fun and Adventure...
style... detail[ling] the life of Alexander of Abonuteichos who was the creator of Glycon," Alan's "patron deity."
Extraneous materials
In addition to the hefty - a projected 320 pages - book itself, a "full range of entertainments will be provided" in addition, including (in typical Moorean fashion - see his 2007 Black DossierThe League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in the comic book series The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill. It was the last volume of the series to be published by DC Comics. Although the third book to be...
for a similar cornucopia of bonus materials) "a lavishly decorated decadent pulp
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
tale of occult adventure recounted in the serial form", "a full set of this sinister and deathless cult's never-before-seen Tarot cards" (illustrated by José Villarrubia
José Villarrubia
José Antonio Villarrubia Jiménez-Momediano – known professionally as José Villarrubia – is a Spanish artist and art teacher who has done considerable work in the American comic book industry, particularly as a colorist....
), "a fold-out Kabalistic
Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition...
board game" and "a pop-up Theatre of Marvels that serves as both a Renaissance memory theatre and a handy portable shrine." This latter (theatre) is being designed by Moore's wife, the artist Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie
Melinda Gebbie is an American comics artist and writer, probably best known for Lost Girls, the three-volume graphic novel she produced in collaboration with writer Alan Moore, published by Top Shelf.-Biography:...
.
Similar Moorean works
In additional to Steve Moore's lengthy association with Bob RickardBob Rickard
Robert "Bob" J M Rickard is the founder and editor of the UK magazine Fortean Times: The Journal of Strange Phenomena, which debuted in 1973 under its original title The News. The magazines express purpose is to continue the documentary work of Charles Fort on the strange, anomalous and unexplained...
's UK publication Fortean Times, Alan Moore is no stranger to the world of magic. A self-proclaimed practicising magician (and self-professed worshipper of Roman glove puppet god Glycon
Glycon
Glycon was a snake god, according to the satirist Lucian, who provides the only literary reference to the deity. Lucian claimed Glycon was created in the mid-2nd century by the Greek prophet Alexander of Abonutichus...
), Moore's ouvre includes several diversions into the realms of the magickal, including his America's Best Comics series Promethea
Promethea
Promethea is a comic book series created by Alan Moore, J. H. Williams III and Mick Gray, published by America's Best Comics/WildStorm....
, both a general meditation on magic in comics form and a specific guide to the 22 Major Arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
Tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
cards (issue #12), the Sephiroth (issue #14) and the entire Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah
Hermetic Qabalah is a Western esoteric and mystical tradition...
(issues #13-25). Promethea featured appearances from such individuals as Dr. John Dee
John Dee (mathematician)
John Dee was an English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination and Hermetic philosophy....
, Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare
Austin Osman Spare was an English artist who developed idiosyncratic magical techniques including automatic writing, automatic drawing and sigilization based on his theories of the relationship between the conscious and unconscious self...
and Jack Parsons, all of whom are likely to be covered in the Bumper Book of Magic.
Indeed, it has been suggested that much of A. Moore's recent output has to a greater or lesser extent been designed as magical rituals: