jprussell | (Reply)

From:

Forgot to say: I do see a lot to like about Peterson. Barely started 12 Rules for Life, intend to take a not-so-short look at Maps of Meaning to decide whether I should read all of it someday, know mostly his class videos - man, he used to be HAPPY.

"I've been chugging through the archive since your recommendation, (...) and yeah, that's gonna have to get integrated into my thinking about aesthetics."

I'm pretty sure that's a serious contender for nicest thing that could be said to me. Thank you. (And here I don't see/mean "nice" as an insult!)

Regarding JMG's commentariat - there's the obvious factor that it disproportionately has people who began occultism thanks to him (but that includes me, and I got some familiarity with a substantial number of authors not particularly linked to him), but, if I may: I at least 99% believe JMG when he says he doesn't want a cult and took (partially working) measures against it, but there's definitely a non-0 amount of echoing going on (unavoidable with someone who did so much, I'm pretty sure). I seldom mention other occult books on Magic Monday, even about subjects that are asked about specifically, for lack of qualification.

The Humoral Herbal is great - I need to get me some pots (it's not only herbalism, of course). I was about to ask you whether you'd read The Nature of Order. Thanks for confirming I didn't miss something *big* about wrathofgnon. King IV definitely's had his screw-ups, but he does seem to me to go in the right direction.

I got the ESR article link from your article already, in case I hadn't already read him; what I don't remember is whether I first read Dancing With The Gods before or after a large amount of Archdruid Report - not sure what I'd have thought before (JMG's history of ideas was *well* within the things I thought I could evaluate myself, and I think more closely linked to his occultism than ESR's to his hacking). And it's just the one article and the FAQ - should I go ask him to write an occult book?