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christianity
July 2008 
V For Vendetta Author A Practicing Esoteric Magician?
Bill
...a firm believer in magic as a "science of consciousness." "I am what Harry Potter grew up into," he said, "and it's not a pretty sight."
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/12/movies/12itzk.html?_r=1&adxnnl=0&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1142129407-tQD0P8MXmESYUr8R8Bv+fg&pagewanted=all
From the article:
"V for Vendetta" (illustrated by David Lloyd), published in America in 1988-89, about an enigmatic freedom fighter opposing a totalitarian British regime - Mr. Moore helped prove that graphic novels could be a vehicle for sophisticated storytelling. "Alan was one of the first writers of our generation, of great courage and great literary skill," said Paul Levitz, the president and publisher of DC Comics. "You could watch him stretching the boundaries of the medium."
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Today, he resides in the sort of home that every gothic adolescent dreams of, one furnished with a library of rare books, antique gold-adorned wands and a painting of the mystical Enochian tables used by Dr. John Dee, the court astrologer of Queen Elizabeth I. He shuns comic-book conventions, never travels outside England and is a firm believer in magic as a "science of consciousness." "I am what Harry Potter grew up into," he said, "and it's not a pretty sight."
Actually, he more closely resembles the boy-wizard's half-giant friend Hagrid, with his bushy, feral beard and intense gaze, but those closest to Mr. Moore say his intimidating exterior is deceptive. "Because he looks like a wild man, people assume that he must be one," said the artist Melinda Gebbie, Mr. Moore's fiancée and longtime collaborator. "He's frightening to people because he doesn't seem to take the carrot, and he's fighting to maintain an integrity that they don't understand."
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Here's my comment:
Western "Magic" is one of those wierd topics that is certain to strike a nerve in almost everyone. This is because we are the inheritors of a society in which alternative mystical and knowledge systems were mercilessly hunted down and exterminated by the religious authorities, which were in most cases the Catholic Church, altho after the Reformation the Protestant churches continued the practice. So, for us here in the west, "Magic" is almost always disreputable.
Curiously enough, many modern westerners have no problem with, for example, Tantra, or, as another example, various flavors of Sufism. We tend to see these mystical systems as some of the finest examples of the mystical thougt and art of their regions. What we don't know is that, in their areas and in their times, Tantras and many types of Sufism were regarded with as much disgust, and persecuted just as much, as "Magic" was here in the west.
Magic is the Tantra of the west. It's a system to stimulate and release creativity and transcendent experiences, a mental technology for creating genius. It's broken and fragmentary, the product of a history of savage repression, but it's also rather beautiful.
It's interesting to see a reference to it in the news.
Access: Public
Hi Bill,
“…for us here in the west, ‘Magic’ is almost always disreputable.
…”
Too true. Within a year after we first met someone I know quite well told her then best friend (both Scandanavians) something or another that let her know she was doing Rune Work. Her friend (who had no problems with Buddhist friends) was majorly scandalized, spoke to the wife’s ex. about it, and that was that for what had been a seemingly very close friendship.
K.
i liked “V for Vendetta” a good deal. Generally i enjoy dystopian stories such as 1984 and The Matrix.
On the subject of magic: I don't believe it exists. I was taught (as a Christian) to regard it as a bad, supernatural, dangerous undertaking.
Ironically, i love the idea of magic.
there are many definitions for it. in the west supernatural power is drawn from nature, the external. in the east it is drawn from the interior, the soul's energy - ki or chi
either way: i like how Eoin Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl series defines it: energy.
Pure energy that can be manipulated for evil or good (White vs. Black magic)
of the books i read, most are fantasy fiction, with elves wizards, dragons, etc. and include the Bartimaeus Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Eragon among other things.
i guess, i like, Artemis Fowl, boy genius, am young enough to be enchanted by magic, and old enough to understand the its gravity, the implications of its power (if only it were real)