Generation Hex (Paperback)

~ Jason Louv (Editor) "It felt like falling out of the world..." (more)
Key Phrases: ritualist standing, ophidian body, psychedelic ritual, Fox News, Holy Guardian Angel, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Generation Hex reasserts the essential place of magic in our interaction with the universe. -- Genesis P-Orridge, cultural engineer

This book kicks major ass! -- Phil Hine, author Condensed Chaos

Your invitation to the party that might just bring the house down. -- Grant Morrison, author The Invisibles and The Filth

Product Description

Generation Hex is a collection of essays, both practical and autobiographical, which explore the overwhelming levels of interest in magic and shamanism in youth culture.

The book is a collective portrait of initiation, and what it means to rediscover the dizzying heights, primal terrors and recursive ironies of the magical landscape in a world that has largely forgotten its connection to spirit. It is also a practical grimoire for engaging with the psychic and occult undercurrents of the world, and a template for an emergent shamanic Ultraculture.

Generation Hex assembles some of the brightest magical talents of the current youth generation, who ask not only what magic is and what place it holds in the Twenty-First Century, but also how it feels to engage with magic.

Within the anthology’s pages, editor Jason Louv situates the current moment as the emergence of a new magical culture, describes his experiences as a shamanic apprentice in the foothills of Mount Everest and blueprints the alchemical wedding of magic and genetics;

Christian Sedman shows what happens when the onslaught of magical initiation collides with the life of an American high school student;

Scott Treleaven lists the benefits and pitfalls of instigating international sex magic rituals for fun and profit; Stephen Grasso unveils the occult landscape teeming beneath the modern urban area, and proclaims the role of the modern shaman in our thoroughly troubled world;

Rachel Haywire describes her years of travel through the lunatic psychic underground of millennial America and her coming-of-age both as a young woman and a chaos magician;

James Curcio tackles the mythic structures of the modern world, and shows the duty of the modern magician as one who is able to create meaning in a cultural void;

Angelina Fabbro explores the processes of ritual magic from the hard language of cognitive science and physics, showing just what’s going on at both the quantum level and in the body of the magician within the temple space; Elijah discloses the process of attaining to the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel, the central goal of magic, and outlines the skills that must be mastered by the budding magician;

Shaun Frenté escorts the reader into the world of Disco Discordia, and shows just what can happen when hundreds of revelers break through into group magical consciousness;

George Holochwost describes the vicious interplay of the Fool and the Magus;

Micki Pellerano examines the role that entheogens play in the process of magical initiation, and discusses the social need for "other level" experience;

Atman and Simon Forrester describe the ins and outs of high-octane group psychedelic ritual magic;

and Chris Arkenberg discusses what it’s like to conduct a guerrilla attempt to enlighten a malevolent corporation.

Generation Hex is an ongoing networking point, developed to both initiate and continue a morphogenetic dialogue—"where to evolve next?"—which has been continuous since the beginning, but is currently in need of direct and immediate attention.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: The Disinformation Company (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932857206
• ISBN-13: 978-1932857207
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #519,173 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Post-Chaos Magic(k), December 22, 2005

By	K. J. Walsh "Child Ov Light" (Vic, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a kind of post-chaos magic text this book works well. Stephen Grasso's essays in particular are oustanding, documenting the dynamic progession of someone from within the chaos scene towards something both more pragmatically effective and personally fulfilling.

That being said, there is an equal amount of nonsense in GH. Practically every essay contains a reference to drug use as a magical tool. There's no doubt certain substances have their place in occult works, but if you read this book cold you'd tend to think they were necessary - no thanks!

Jason Louv clearly has some very noble ideals - much required in present occulture - however, there is an obvious question mark over some of the contributors in this text and their ability to inspire the next generation.

All things considered, this is a book that should be part of the contemporary magician's library, if only as a reference point to the real 'movers and shakers' in the selected reading section. Not that there isn't some vibrant magical creatures in this book - there are - but this tends to be balanced by the odd delusionary LSD tract expressing some ill-defined magical endowment.

I seriously look forward to the release of Grasso's forthcoming book.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration in difficult times, November 22, 2005

By	Klinton Finley (Laramie, WY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you're looking for a book with a mind shattering new magical paradigm, this is not that book. It is also not a handbook for beginning magicians. This is the book you're looking for if you're a magician in need of fresh inspiration in a bleak and self-destructive society.

If you've established a magical practice but are wondering "OK, I'm a magician, now what?" or feel there's just "something" missing from your practice, this book is for you. If these essays have an overarching theme, it's what it feels like to be a magician.

One of the criticisms leveled at this book is that there is a lack of diversity in voices. I have to agree. Despite many of the contributors saying "I'm not a chaos magician," most of the essays in this book come from a Western, chaos-influenced perspective. The majority of the contributors are male, and all but one lives in North America.

The problem with anthologies is always consistency. There were a few articles that I just did not like. But Stephen Grasso's essays, and Chris Arkenberg's article "My Love War with Fox News" are worth the price of admission on their own.

I'm hesitant to recommend this book to beginners, though I think with some work even the most basic beginner would take something away from this book. I recommend this book to all practicing magicians. Even if you think your practice is fine the way it is, I suspect you'll find something of value in this collection.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars blew my mind, November 5, 2005

By	K. mckay "ms. k" (new york, new york) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

if you don't know anything about magic, read this book. if you do know a thing or two, read this book. if the whole idea makes you laugh, or freaks you out, please read this book! i have been around these ideas for awhile but reading this actually was the catalyst that inspired me to pick up this path on my own. i like some essays more than others, but all in all, it is a profound, exciting, beautiful collection, that leaves me feeling very hopeful about this generation.