“The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out / When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi / Troubles my sight … “
—WB Yeats, “The Second Coming”
Announcing Spiritus Mundi: Writings Borne From the Occult. This strange book is a compendium of writings generated via occult means; whether the ideas were airborne, unconscious, or carried over from some other layer of reality is yours to decide. Spiritus Mundi started as an online literary magazine, a vertical of Cunning Folk, and as a series of occult workshops. Every so often writers were given unusual occult prompts, where they’d need to go away and scry into water, consult tarot cards, or search for synchronicities. The resulting works, from emerging and established writers, felt authentic and non-contrived. Allegories slipped out naturally, without force, because they existed in this murky realm of the unconscious, or whatever moniker we wish to use for it.
Cunning Folk editor Elizabeth Kim edited this book and wrote introductory essays to each chapter, giving a brief overview of the different techniques employed by writers, because without context it’s hard to many of the stories, essays and poems. But given the time constrictions and theme, these introductory essays were in a way also channelled and written via an automatic process. More could certainly be said but strange conclusions were sometimes drawn. The title comes from WB Yeats’ poem “The Second Coming". The poet conceived of the Spiritus Mundi as the source of poetic inspiration. The book is beautifully illustrated by Cunning Folk art director Kaitlynn Copithorne and features original occult-derived writings from the following authors:
Jen Campbell
CAConrad
Leon Craig
Ella Duffy
Yasmina Floyer
Emma Glass
Nikita Gill
Pam Grossman
Camilla Grudova
Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
Naomi Ishiguro
Callum James
Wanjikũ Wa Ngũgĩ
Leone Ross
Alice Slater
Rebecca Tamás
Sharlene Teo
Stephanie Victoire
The book is out on August 22nd in the UK and the US, and will soon be available to pre-order direct from the publisher, Liminal 11 (more details soon, watch this page!) and all good bookshops.