Reviews of Fosforos

Discussion on books, journals and articles by the Star of Azazel.
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Nefastos
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Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Nefastos »

It is a rare honor for a writer to have his book reviewed even when it's not even made yet, but recently I've had that honor. The eagle eyes of brother Aquila spotted a review of Fosforos' translated version in the following blog:

Black Albion

The title of this fine article is "Satanic Mummery & Other Moronology". I like that. The mummery part brings to mind the preserved remains of the famous initiate-kings of Egypt, and indeed the labyrinth that protects their tombs or initiation chambers in the pyramids is the symbol I have used many times myself when describing this particular work: Fosforos isn't a book, it's a labyrinth. Filled with traps to the unwary, curses for the profaners, countless twists and turns, and seemingly empty dead-ends. And about the second part of the naming, I assume the writer must be entitling it after his own criticism, that being signed by mr. Joseph Moran. In the busy internet world, typos are easy to forgive.

So far, so fine. But when I started to read the criticism itself, I was taken by surprise. Mr Moran writes:

Granted the books author; Johannes Nefastos, whom I believe is part of the "metal music" scene alongside his occult writing career, has injected some interesting concepts about death, necromancy and demonology, but the foundation of his satanic philosophy appears to be the same paper-thin ego-adoration that is the hallmark of the unintentionally hilarious "Church of Satan" founded by ex-circus performer Anton Lavey in the 1960s.


I must confess that this is a puzzling revelation, for I have a vivid recollection about myself writing exactly in the opposite way in Fosforos, i.e., renouncing the LaVeyan Satanism altogether:

Fosforos wrote:Likewise, we discard brutish egoism like that of LaVey and the Church of Satan which are not philosophy but only a way to express ignorance of the laws of the soul and spirit. The pseudo-Christianity of the church and the so-called Satanism of the hedonists are nothing but two blind eyes horrified of each other, oblivious of their own ignorance.


So here I can't but to take under consideration if my critic's "astral reading" of the forthcoming book have been somewhat lacking in detail or - God forbid - even misleading.

But as my respected critic says:

Now I'll confess I may well buy this book for my collection, but only as a comparative volume and collectors item. The days when I would actually bother to take the content of the book seriously are long gone.


I am greateful for mr Moran's indirect monetary assistance of my work, and hope many more readers - nay, collectors - for my books. May the mummified remains of the Philosophy of Oneness be plundered and trod upon for, as Paracelsus said, one can't make mummy dust without breaking a couple of mummies.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Heith
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Heith »

Heathen Harvest's Fosforos review here:

http://heathenharvest.org/2014/03/01/fo ... -nefastos/
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Nefastos
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Nefastos »

Heith wrote:Heathen Harvest's Fosforos review


I'm glad that came out, although I can't fully shake a feeling that the reviewer hadn't exactly read the book but only leafed through it. Still, it's light years better - and more flattering, which I appreciate - than Black Albion's bizarre hypothetical preview. It's not that there are errors per se, but Heathen Harvest's review has chosen extremely limited point of view.

By the way, discussion in this forum has been so sober & neutral (apart from my own sarcasm) that I removed from my last post the request to refrain commenting the reviews here.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Sebomai
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Sebomai »

I'd just like to say here, that while they won't be the work of a professional reviewer, Amazon reviews for both Fosforos and the CoL are coming soon from someone who has read both more times than he can count. That'd be me, in case that was too subtle. ;)
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Insanus
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Insanus »

If I'd write a review of Fosforos it'd probably be longer than the book itself, but rather than doing that, I decided to join the Brotherhood of circus, metal music & plastic mummies.

-

I've been fighting to understand Pentagrammaton for some months & learning a lot from it, but there's one part of one sentence that always puzzles (maybe rather horrifies) me so much it makes me think it's one of the most important things of Fosforos as a whole, at least for myself. It's not the first time this happens with the mentioned book. I don't know how it's translated, but it's in chapter 1, the page before last. It reads about "...what separates it from the all & shows it to soul is LOVE...".

Even though we are talking about very abstract levels of existence & with satanists, that separating love remains a fascinating mystery to me & it's a thing a worshiper has to understand. It's not so much that it's intellectually hard to grasp. Solve & coagula et cetera, but this little part of sentence seems to make Love the blasphemy of all blasphemies, & even the mark of Cain & simply the intensity of that is hard to understand to my little heart.
I've written about Love as the source of all evil (in the abstract sense) myself & in the book of thoth, Crowley writes "Love is the greatest & most deadly of illusions" & the theme is to be found in many many teachings. But it's so very difficult. The view is so beautiful, but so terrifying at the same time. Like fra.obnoxion called Satan compassion in the most demanding sense of the word.
It's one of these things you can't talk about except by whispering 3 AM...like Love should be.

I have a weird feeling that most critics didn't notice that one or if they did, it was part of the content they haven't been able to take seriously in years, which is a very saddening thing.
Jumalan synnit ovat kourallinen hiekkaa ihmisen valtameressä
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Heith
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Heith »

orn wrote: Therefore, reading this word, I need contact with Fra Obnoxion directly, in PM,
please contact me.
Fra obnoxion does not participate or read on this forum. If you wish conversation with him (or any other member) it is best that you write to them yourself.
Havet
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Havet »

Fra Nefastos - Have you ever been interviewed yourself? I think book reviews provide a good preview to whats in store but the bigger attraction is getting inside the mind of the author. Is this something you'd consider?
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Nefastos
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Nefastos »

Havet wrote:Have you ever been interviewed yourself?

I don't remember that there would had been any interviews about Fosforos or any other of my books per se. There are some Finnish interviews in different formats concerning my ideas in the Star of Azazel &c, but in English I think that all have been some small interviews in the black metal music genre & about it.

Havet wrote:Is this something you'd consider?

It depends. I have turned down some requests because my temperament is such that I do not enjoy public appearances overmuch, although I have done some compromises. (I think that the possibility of adding information is basically always a good thing, more so in the kind of ethico-philosophical or -religious work we do in the brotherhood.) Interviews by e-mail demand very little time & energy, so those are easiest by far to give.
Faust: "Lo contempla. / Ei muove in tortuosa spire / e s'avvicina lento alla nostra volta. / Oh! se non erro, / orme di foco imprime al suol!"
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Heith
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Re: Reviews of Fosforos

Post by Heith »

A screen cap of a reader's review on goodreads.
Fosforos review.png
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