Clive Barker: Books of the Art
Is anyone else familiar with this series of books? It began with The Great and Secret Show, followed by Everville, and the third installment is rumored to be in the works.
There are many occult references in this series, especially the first book, and while I'm sure some were fabricated for the fiction, much of it resonates with what I've learned in my own studies.
Here is the quote that opens the first book:
"Memory, prophecy and fantasy -
the past, the future and
the dreaming moment between -
are all one country
living one immortal day.
To know that is Wisdom.
To use it is the Art."
Some of his other books like Imajica and Weaveworld touch on similar ideas. I'll need to dig through the book some more to follow up with examples, but in the meantime, I'm starting this thread to see who else has noticed these themes in his work...and, more importantly, what can we learn from them?
I personally find that some of the most profound 'magickal' texts are literary works (at least that's what works for me) and these books seem so explicitly magickal that it would be do well to study them.
Opinions? Reactions?
