It has been quite some time since What Magic is This? has had the chance to talk about one of the most important figures of High Strangeness in the last 100 years. Robert Anton Wilson was a phenomenon unlike any other, but he had a very particular mixture of influences all of which came through in his worldviews and his work. Discussing with Doug why Bob is still a fellow worth knowing and reading, is the one person who started Doug down this very particular path of Magic. We are beyond delighted to finally welcome to the Podcast the counterculture éminence grise- Richard Metzger!
Richard Metzger was a founder of the enormously influential Disinformation website all the way back in 1996 as well as host of the Channel 4 TV series Disinformation. He has edited a couple books including Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick & the Occult. Since 2009 he has been the driving force behind the music and counterculture website Dangerous Minds.net. Richard has recently put in a tonne of work on Magick Show: A Masterclass in Modern Occultism, a multimedia project which interviewed over 50 popular Occultists and Magicians. Richard can be found on Instagram and click the pic below to find out more about Magick Show!
Show Notes and Book Recommendations
- If you haven’t read the Cosmic Trigger Trilogy, you best rectify this oversight sharpish – Part I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati • Part II: Down to Earth • Part III: My Life After Death
- The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson & Robert Shea
- Chapel Perilous: The Life and Thought Crimes of Robert Anton Wilson by Gabriel Kennedy
- Neurologic by Timothy Leary
- Introduction to Timothy Leary’s 8 Circuit Model of Consciousness
- High Weirdness: Drugs, Esoterica, and Visionary Experience in the Seventies by Erik Davis
- SMI2LE: The Futurist Thought of Timothy Leary
- I Have America Surrounded: The Life of Timothy Leary by John Higgs – This is a spectacular Biography of Tim Leary
- Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson
- The High Priest and the Great Beast: Timothy Leary’s Belief That He Was a ‘Continuation’ of Aleister Crowley
- The Eye in the Triangle: An Interpretation of Aleister Crowley by Israel Regardie
- Lion of Light: Robert Anton Wilson on Aleister Crowley
- Book of Lies by Aleister Crowley
- Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult by Richard B. Spence
- In Search of Higher Intelligence: The Daemonic Muse(s) of Aleister Crowley, Timothy Leary, and Robert Anton Wilson by Matt Cardin – A Click will download this excellent Essay
- Masks of the Illuminati by Robert Anton Wilson – Probably my favourite fiction book by Bob Wilson
- Wilson and I, by Richard Metzger
- F For Fake
- Robert Anton Wilson Explains Everything
- My previous episode on Robert Anton Wilson
- My Previous Episodes on Aleister Crowley – His Life & Ideas • The Myth and the New Aeon • My Beastly Thoughts
What Magic is This? 