A Book of Satyrs

by Austin Osman Spare

Austin Osman Spare was an artist, philosopher and occult magician. Like Aleister Crowley with whom he had a brief association, Spare was a genius in his own time unappreciated and vilified by a society that could little understand him. His was the inspiration that led to the formation of the 'Illuminates of Thanateros' (IOT) in England in the late 1970’s and the practice of what is now known as Chaos Magic. The Book of Satyrs is a collection of Spare's black and white art, formatted for the Amazon Kindle.

Genres: Art, Occult, Philosophy

44 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1907

About the author

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. His artistic work is characterized by skilled draughtsmanship exhibiting a complete mastery of the use of the line[1], and often employs monstrous or fantastic magical and sexual imagery.

Some of Spare's techniques, particularly the use of sigils and the creation of an "alphabet of desire" were adopted, adapted and popularized by Peter J. Carroll in the work Liber Null & Psychonaut . Carroll and other writers such as Ray Sherwin are seen as key figures in the emergence of some of Spare's ideas and techniques as a part of a magical movement loosely referred to as Chaos magic.

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting images.

[Shaun Phelps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the publisher missed an opportunity not provident more historical context. I'm not overly familiar with Spare's life or times, so much of the satyr is lost on me. The print quality is lacking, which takes away from a lot of the more subtle lines Overall I'd say this is for Spare enthusiasts only. I would have gone after it regardless, so I'm glad for a copy. Definitely lacking the written depth of Earth, still some interesting work to ponder.

[חָכְמָה · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wallace's commentary is either genius or delusional. We can be sure that it was fun.