The Search for Abraxas

«Our god is named Abraxas and he is both god and the devil at the same time. You will find in him both the world of light and of shadows. Abraxas is not opposed to any of your thoughts or to any of your dreams but he will abandon you if you become normal and unapproachable. He will abandon you and look for another pot in which to cook his thoughts.» — el epígrafe que el libro pone al frente del volumen, atribuido a Hermann Hesse: Abraxas como dios y demonio a la vez, en quien conviven el mundo de la luz y el de las sombras, y que abandona a quien se vuelve normal.

«Our identification of Abraxas as a key god was right on target, for my Ph.D studies of the Graeco-Egyptian papyri have confirmed that what was once, 40 years ago, a symbol of transformation for us, now turns out to be one of the most important gods related to magic.» — Skinner, en la introducción de 2016, sostiene que su doctorado sobre los papiros greco-egipcios da la razón a la elección de Abraxas que los dos autores hicieron cuarenta años antes.

«The Graeco-Egyptian papyri (PGM) are the oldest and most extensive detailed instructions for the practice of magic in the West, dating from the first four centuries AD. They are also the root of much that came later like the grimoires.» — Skinner fija los papiros greco-egipcios como el juego de instrucciones de magia más antiguo y extenso de Occidente, de los cuatro primeros siglos de nuestra era, y como raíz de los grimorios posteriores.

«The core of these papyri (the so-called 'Theban library') is a collection of methods and magical techniques made or collected by just one practicing magician.» — Skinner atribuye el núcleo de esos papiros, la llamada biblioteca tebana, a la colecta de un solo mago practicante.

«Although Egypt was always famous for magic, it took Greek genius to organise it into an ordered and (dare I say it) scientific form.» — Skinner separa la fama mágica de Egipto del trabajo de ordenación, que adjudica al genio griego.

«Just as the Greek genius Euclid (who lived in Alexandria) systemised the whole world of plane geometry circa 300 BCE, so the Greek speaking magicians» — Skinner compara la sistematización de la magia con la de la geometría plana por Euclides hacia el 300 a. C.; la frase se corta en el límite de plana y sigue en la siguiente con *responsible for the PGM organised magic into 40+ procedures and techniques*.

«Prior to my work, the true structure of this magic was hidden from those researchers who relied solely on a range of English translations, by a number of scholars who, failing to value the scientific precision of Greek magical terminology, uniformly translated these many Greek technical words simply as 'spell' or 'charm'.» — Skinner objeta a los traductores al inglés de los papiros haber vertido como *spell* o *charm* un vocabulario técnico griego que él lee como preciso.

«Indeed the English vocabulary for both magic and geometry is pitifully small compared to the detailed and precise vocabulary of the ancient Greeks.» — Skinner mide el vocabulario inglés de la magia y de la geometría contra el griego antiguo y lo halla pobre.

«I think it is true that when one takes that initial step into the Mystery traditions there is no going back, and there are themes hinted at in The Search for Abraxas that would become pivotal to both of us in our various» — Drury, en la introducción de 2013, sostiene que del primer paso dentro de las tradiciones mistéricas no se vuelve; la frase se corta en el límite de plana y sigue con *lines of research*.

«A key element in what we finally came up with relates to the imagery associated with the Gnostic deity Abraxas - a god associated with Time and Eternity, whose symbols are found on many ancient Middle Eastern amulets and talismans.» — Drury nombra el elemento que da título al libro: Abraxas como deidad gnóstica del Tiempo y la Eternidad, cuyos símbolos están en amuletos y talismanes del Medio Oriente antiguo.

«had both been fascinated by the idea that the figure of Abraxas appeared to represent the polarities of both good and evil. To this extent, the transcendent Gnostic god was emblematic of the very nature of human potential itself.» — Drury adjudica a Carl Jung y a Hermann Hesse la lectura de Abraxas como figura que reúne el bien y el mal, y de ahí la toma por emblema de lo que el hombre puede llegar a ser; el tramo arranca después de los dos nombres, que la frase da antes.

«magic is essentially about altered states of awareness that can lead alternatively towards cosmic transcendence and spiritual integration or towards dark alienation and» — Drury enuncia la tesis del libro sobre la magia: estados alterados de consciencia que llevan tanto a la trascendencia como a la alienación; la frase se corta en el límite de plana y sigue con *even evil - and these dimensions are all part of the human equation*.

«Our book is structured in very much the same way: it is divided into The World of Light', The World of Shadows' and 'The World of Dreams' and concludes with a philosophical overview that addresses 'the search for Abraxas' itself.» — Drury deriva la estructura del libro de esa tesis: los tres mundos y el balance filosófico final; la capa de texto pierde la comilla de apertura en los dos primeros títulos.

«his book is about levels of consciousness, and Western Man's pursuit of the Ultimate Level. There are many doctrines and methods leading to this Reality. We deal here with less familiar Paths leading to that exalted state of Being, which we have designated Abraxas, because we find it meaningful. There are many other names we could have chosen.» — el Prologue, sin firma y en primera persona del plural, declara la materia del libro y el porqué del nombre: Abraxas por significativo, no por necesario; la capa de texto pierde la capitular y deja *his book* donde el libro imprime *This book*.

«Mystics come from the same country and recognise one another.» — el epígrafe que encabeza la Sección I, The World of Light, atribuido a Saint-Martin.

«In 1882 an anonymous book named OAHSPE, A Kosman Bible was published in New York. It was subsequently revealed in a letter to the Editor of The Banner of Light, a Boston periodical, that its author was a dentist named Dr. John Ballou Newbrough and that the book had been written, mostly in the dark, through the agency of automatic writing.» — Drury abre el capítulo Modern Revivals con la salida anónima del OAHSPE en Nueva York en 1882 y la revelación posterior de su autor y de su modo de escritura.

«Newbrough claimed indeed that the book was written not by himself but through 'some other intelligence' using him as a vehicle.» — Drury consigna la atribución que el propio Newbrough hacía: no suya, sino de otra inteligencia que lo usaba de vehículo.

«His interest in spiritualism was long standing. When he was a boy his father felt obliged to discourage his clairvoyant and clairaudient leanings, and when at college, Newbrough had allowed himself to be mesmerised bv a visiting lecturer. Later on, Newbrough discovered that when he sat in circles at seances and calmed his mind, his hands would 'fly off into tantrums' producing messages reading in all directions.» — Drury traza el fondo espiritista de Newbrough, de las inclinaciones clarividentes de niño a las manos que se le disparaban en las sesiones; la capa de texto imprime *bv* donde el libro dice *by*.

«After examining over 200 cases of mediumship, he became convinced that spiritualistic phenomena were 'angelic' in nature and he himself began to 'crave for the light of heaven'.» — Drury cuenta que Newbrough examinó más de doscientos casos de mediumnidad y salió convencido del carácter angélico del fenómeno.

«Consequently Newbrough decided to 'purify' himself, in order to attract the light. He did this by abstaining from meat, fish, milk, and butter, and by critically repenting of his misdeeds.» — Drury detalla la purificación con que Newbrough buscó atraer la luz: sin carne, pescado, leche ni mantequilla, y con arrepentimiento.

«Newbrough now found himself able to see and hear the angels who had formerly revealed their presence only by controlling his fingertips in trance. He was 'instructed' to obtain a typewriter and struggled to master it.» — Drury consigna el paso siguiente: la instrucción de conseguir una máquina de escribir.

«One morning the light struck both my hands on the back, and they went for the typewriter for some fifteen minutes, very rigorously. I was told not to read what was printed, and I had worked myself into such a religious fear of losing this new power that I obeyed reverently. The next morning, also before sunrise, the same power came and wrote (or rather printed). Again I laid the matter away very religiously, saying little about it to anybody. One morning I accidentally (seemed accidental to me) looked out of the window and beheld the line of light that rested on my hands extending» — la voz de Newbrough, citada por Drury: la escritura a máquina bajo la luz, la prohibición de leer lo impreso y la línea de luz sobre las manos; el tramo se corta en el límite de plana y sigue en la siguiente.

«heavenward like a telegraph wire towards the sky. Over my head were three pairs of hands, fully materialised; behind me stood another angel, with her hands on my shoulders. My looking did not disturb the scene; my hands kept right on, printing ... printing."» — la continuación del relato de Newbrough: tres pares de manos materializadas sobre la cabeza y un ángel detrás con las manos en los hombros; el tramo arranca donde lo dejó el corte de plana.

«For fifty weeks this continued, every morning half an hour or so before sunrise, and then it ceased, and I was told to read and publish the book OAH5PE. The peculiar drawings in OAHSPE were made with pencil in the same way."» — Newbrough, citado por Drury, fija en cincuenta semanas el dictado y extiende el mismo modo a los dibujos del libro; la capa de texto imprime *OAH5PE* en la primera ocurrencia.

«OAHSPE, which is one of the most remarkable neo-religious books ever published, is some 900 pages in length. It contains, among other things, details of the skills and qualities of spiritual rulers of Earth during different ages in history, and a map of the lost continent of Pan situated in the Pacific between Australia and South America. It describes also, in very lyrical language, magnificent fiery space-vehicles which angels use for cosmic travel.» — Drury describe el contenido del OAHSPE: gobernantes espirituales de la Tierra por edades, el continente perdido de Pan en el Pacífico y los vehículos ígneos de los ángeles.

«Less fortunately, perhaps, it contains many religious and mythological 'condemnations'. Osiris, for example, is described as a 'false god' and the modern movements Swedenborgism, Mormonism and Shakerism are all regarded as "attempts at false godheads (having) their origin in the lower heavens."» — Drury consigna el reverso del mismo libro: Osiris por falso dios y el swedenborgismo, el mormonismo y el shakerismo por intentos de falsa divinidad.

«The institutions of Christianity, Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Mohammedanism are described as being inspired by false deities which OAHSPE names respectively as: Looeamong, Kabalactes, Ennochissa, arid Thoth. However there is no criticism of Jesus as such (his 'real' name is Joshu), Buddha (called in OAHSPE, 'Sakaya') nor 'Brahma'. Mohammed is not mentioned.» — Drury enumera los cuatro nombres con que el OAHSPE designa a las deidades falsas de las grandes instituciones religiosas y consigna a quiénes deja fuera de la censura; la capa de texto imprime *arid* donde el libro dice *and*.

«OAHSPE was only one of a number of religious innovations in a period of American and European history that saw the emergence of the scientific method and the shattering of many 'fundamentalist' Christian concepts.» — Drury encuadra el OAHSPE en una serie de innovaciones religiosas contemporáneas del método científico y del desmoronamiento del fundamentalismo bíblico.

«When it became clear that the world had not indeed been created in the year 4004 B.C. as Bishop Ussher had declared, and that the seven days of Creation were not literal ones, one reaction in the United States was to produce new, and sometimes incredible, versions of the 'Sacred Truth' as the old one appeared to crumble.» — Drury adjudica esas innovaciones a la caída de la cronología de Ussher y de los siete días literales de la Creación.

«We observe the growth of Mormonism, which in many ways parallels OAHSPE in its 'angelic' origins; the Jehovah's Witnesses of Charles Russell, who stated that non-adherents of his sect, including 'heathen Christians', would not survive Armageddon; and the Christian Scientists of Mary Baker Eddy, who attempted in a certain way to reconcile Christianity with both science and spiritual healing techniques.» — Drury pone junto al OAHSPE el mormonismo por su origen angélico, los Testigos de Jehová de Charles Russell y la Ciencia Cristiana de Mary Baker Eddy.

«And even before On the Origin of Species and Lyell's treatises on geology which indicated that the Creation was not instantaneous but a long, gradual process, we see that in the United States there were spasmodic outbursts of religious preaching that the world was soon to end and a new religious age about to dawn.» — Drury fecha antes de Darwin y de Lyell los brotes de predicación estadounidense sobre el fin del mundo.

«Harriet Livermore, daughter of a congressman from Massachusetts, expressed her belief that Christ was shortly to begin a 1,000 year reign over the Twelve Tribes of Israel.» — Drury consigna la espera de Harriet Livermore: un reinado de mil años de Cristo sobre las Doce Tribus.

«More famous, perhaps, was William Miller whose millenarian teachings culminated in the modern Seventh Day Adventist sect. He estimated that the end of the world would occur in 1834, and then when this proved incorrect despite the fact that it had been calculated by five independent methods, 1843 was set as the new date.» — Drury cuenta las dos fechas de William Miller para el fin del mundo, la segunda tras fallar la primera pese a los cinco métodos de cálculo.

«Regrettably, this too was an error. Miller sank into despondency and disbelief, leaving the movement which had caused considerable hysteria and mob excitement and won 50,000 adherents.» — Drury consigna el saldo del millerismo: histeria, cincuenta mil adherentes y el abandono del propio Miller; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota.

«Another organisation which has experienced various turns of fortune, faced a great deal of criticism, yet counted some notable followers, including D. H. Lawrence and painters Mondrian and Kandinsky, is the Theosophical Society. Founded in New York in 1875 by the Russian, Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Henry Olcott, this movement attempted not so much to revive Christianity as to fuse into a new teaching the strands of truth common to all the great religions.» — Drury presenta la Sociedad Teosófica, fundada en Nueva York en 1875 por Blavatsky y Olcott, y le adjudica el propósito de fundir en una enseñanza nueva lo común a todas las religiones, no el de revivir el cristianismo.

«The name 'Theosophy' means literally 'Divine Wisdom'; the Society's motto was "There is no religion higher than truth."» — Drury traduce el nombre y cita el lema de la Sociedad.

«Madame Blavatsky outlines her ideas most succinctly in her book The Key to Theosophy first published in 1889. She says here that one of the chief aims was to "reconcile all religious sects and nations under a common system of» — Drury remite a The Key to Theosophy de 1889 para el propósito declarado de reconciliar las sectas y las naciones; el tramo se corta en el límite de plana y sigue con *ethics based on eternal verities*.

«All the world's religions contained a basic truth, asserted Madame Blavatsky, because the "Wisdom Religion was one in antiquity."» — la razón que Drury atribuye a Blavatsky para ese propósito: que la Religión de Sabiduría fue una sola en la antigüedad.

«H. P. B., as she was known to her disciples, personally smoked a pipe, was notably pagan in her religious preferences and believed that she received exclusive sacred messages from a Tibetan 'Master' named Koot Hoomi by means of the postal service.» — Drury consigna sin armonizar los rasgos que se le achacan a Blavatsky: la pipa, la preferencia pagana y los mensajes del Maestro tibetano Koot Hoomi llegados por correo.

«On some occasions she also indulged in trickery during spiritualistic seances in order to prove to her more gullible following that there was adequate proof of the inner realm of Spirit.» — Drury consigna también el engaño en sesiones espiritistas que se le atribuye.

«Section III - Tlie World of Dreams» — el índice de la tercera edición nombra así la sección tercera; la capa de texto lee *Tlie* donde el libro imprime *The*.

«I have first to record my debt to my co-author, Nevill Drury. We met while we were both doing our Arts degree at Sydney University.» — Skinner abre la introducción a la tercera edición nombrando la deuda con su coautor y el sitio donde se conocieron.

«Inner space became even more fascinating than outer space, and I launched and edited one of the new psychedelic magazines. Chaos, for which Nevill did much of the artwork. In turn Nevill introduced me to the rock music of that era, and incidentally some very good parties, and I introduced him to the Qabalah and magic.» — Skinner cuenta el reparto de oficios entre los dos: él dirigía una revista psicodélica para la que Drury hacía la ilustración, y a cambio le enseñó la cábala y la magia; la capa de texto pone punto donde el libro imprime coma en *magazines. Chaos*.

«Nevill passed away in October 2013, after an incredibly productive life in the worlds of magic, art and music.» — Skinner fecha la muerte de Drury en octubre de 2013, es decir después de la segunda edición y antes de esta.

«Further to the actual production of this book, as Nevill mentions in his introduction, he offered the idea to the publisher Neville Armstrong. Probably with the objective of getting rid of the eager young author in front of him, Neville Armstrong said that if we could deliver a final manuscript within a month he would accept it for publication.» — Skinner cuenta la génesis editorial: Drury llevó la idea a Neville Armstrong, que puso como condición entregar el manuscrito en un mes.

«We both liked a challenge, so Nevill returned to Sydney immediately and we started writing. Indeed we did make the deadline (all laboriously handwritten and then typed on a portable typewriter) and airmailed the manuscript back to London.» — Skinner declara que cumplieron el plazo escribiendo a mano y mecanografiando en una portátil, y que mandaron el manuscrito por correo aéreo a Londres.

«It is also very satisfying to see that Nevill and I saw the brilliance of Austin Osman Spare's work, both as magic and as art, long before he became a popular resource for works on sigil magic and Chaos magic theory.» — Skinner reclama para los dos la anticipación sobre Austin Osman Spare, antes de que fuera material corriente de la magia de sigilos y de la magia del caos.

«I have taken the liberty of marking which chapters were written by Nevill and which by me, and this indeed became an indication of our later respective career paths: Nevill's in magic, music, shamanism and art, and mine in practical magic, Qabalah, grimoires. Gnosticism and eventually Graeco-Egyptian magic.» — Skinner declara que las iniciales del índice son suyas y las lee como anuncio de las dos carreras; la capa de texto pone punto donde el libro imprime coma en *grimoires. Gnosticism*.

«Three very rough sketches by Austin Osman Spare have been dropped from this edition as they seemed out of place next to his more considered work.» — Skinner declara qué quitó esta edición: tres bocetos de Spare que juzgó fuera de lugar.

«More than 40 years have now passed since the release of The Search for Abraxas - a book which Stephen Skinner and I both look back on with a certain fondness because it was our first publication.» — Drury abre la introducción a la segunda edición: cuarenta años después, el libro sigue siendo para los dos su primera publicación.

«The book obviously reflects some of the predictable weaknesses associated with youthful exuberance - we were both in our mid-twenties when the book was released.» — Drury declara el límite de la obra por la edad de sus autores, a mitad de la veintena cuando salió.

«However we were unaware until the book was actually in its production phase that the publisher, London-based Neville Spearman, had invited the well known British novelist and occult writer Colin Wilson to contribute an introduction.» — Drury cuenta que la introducción de Wilson la encargó el editor Neville Spearman sin que los autores lo supieran hasta la fase de producción.

«We were delighted that Wilson described the book as "the manifesto of a new generation" for this was generous praise and we were certainly not expecting it. Wilson concluded with these remarks - "What will spring from it remains to be seen"» — Drury recoge las dos frases de Wilson que quedaron pegadas al libro: el manifiesto de una nueva generación, y la pregunta por lo que de él saldría.

«In my case, I continue to be fascinated by the connection between magical thought and visionary art - whether we are talking about the potent states of magical consciousness explored by such artists as Austin Osman Spare or Rosaleen Norton, or the more mythic forms of visionary art produced by Surrealists like Max Ernst, Wifredo Lam and Wolfgang Paalen.» — Drury declara su propio hilo: la unión entre pensamiento mágico y arte visionario, de Spare y Rosaleen Norton a los surrealistas.

«Following publication of The Search for Abraxas, Stephen branched off into numerous other esoteric activities including specialised work on geomancy, Crowleyan Thelema and practical magic, in due course co-authoring a major publication with Francis King titled Techniques of High Magic and editing various works by Aleister Crowley.» — Drury traza la carrera de Skinner después del libro: geomancia, thelema crowleyana, magia práctica, el volumen con Francis King y la edición de Crowley.

«Turning his attention to the Orient, he also produced several books on jeng-shui - he was the first person to write on this subject for a Western audience - and he became one of the first publishers to specialise in producing quality facsimile reprints of important magical texts, like Dr. Meric Casaubon's 1659 edition of Dr. John Dee's spiritual diaries and Henry Cornelius Agrippa's Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy.» — Drury sigue con la otra mitad de esa carrera: el feng shui, que la capa de texto imprime *jeng-shui*, y los facsímiles de la edición de Casaubon de los diarios de John Dee y del Cuarto Libro atribuido a Agrippa.

«Stephen and I first met each other at Sydney University in 1968 and indeed it was he who first introduced me to the study of the Qabalah, a subject which has inspired me ever since.» — Drury fecha el encuentro en 1968 y adjudica a Skinner su entrada a la cábala.

«In 1970, while working as a school teacher in rural New South Wales, I happened upon the first edition of a new part-work publication titled Man, Myth and Magic and was immediately struck by its dramatic cover image which featured a painting of a supernatural entity by Austin Spare.» — Drury cuenta el arranque de la investigación: la portada de Man, Myth and Magic con una pintura de Spare.

«At this stage there was no substantial information on him of any kind, with the exception of a very brief essay by Kenneth and Steffi Grant, published in 1961 as one of the Carfax Monographs» — Drury consigna el estado de la bibliografía sobre Spare en 1970: nada salvo un ensayo breve de Kenneth y Steffi Grant de 1961; el tramo se corta antes de la llamada de nota.

«In 1971, while based in London, I obtained a reader's ticket to the British Museum and was able to read Spare's self-published books first-hand.» — Drury declara de dónde salió su material: los libros que Spare se editó a sí mismo, leídos en el Museo Británico.

«Excited by the scope of Spare's vision, I decided to seek out London publishers who might be interested in his art and ideas, and I eventually found my way to the office of occult publisher Neville Spearman Armstrong in Whitfield Street, not far from the Museum.» — Drury cuenta cómo llegó al editor Neville Spearman Armstrong buscando quién publicara sobre Spare.

«I wasn't really surprised that Neville Armstrong quickly warmed to the idea of a book describing the magical imagery of Austin Spare because the artworks themselves were so remarkable, but it was equally clear that such a book would also have to be broader in scope.» — Drury explica por qué el libro no quedó en una monografía sobre Spare: el editor pidió alcance más amplio.

«I returned to Australia and after co-opting Stephen as my co-author we decided together to produce a book that would explore some of the major themes in the Western esoteric tradition and the philosophies and cosmologies underpinning them.» — Drury fija el encargo que los dos se dieron: recorrer los temas mayores de la tradición esotérica occidental y las cosmologías que los sostienen.

«Colin Wilson has described this book as a 'manifesto' and I suppose in a sense it is - although as far as I can remember we did not start out to produce a tract that was purely polemical.» — Drury acepta a medias la palabra de Wilson y niega el propósito polémico.

«As co-authors of this reissued work Stephen and I both hope that new readers will find much that is worthwhile in the pages that follow, despite the fact that in several of its key themes The Search for Abraxas has been overtaken by more recent scholarship and research.» — Drury declara que en varios de sus temas la obra quedó atrás respecto de la investigación posterior.

«One thing is clear, however: neither Stephen or I could have had any inkling whatsoever in 1972 - when The Search for Abraxas was first published - that Austin Spare would eventually be acknowledged as one of the key figures in the Western magical tradition and one of its most original thinkers, as well as becoming a seminal influence on contemporary Chaos magick.» — Drury consigna lo que no podían prever en 1972: que Spare acabaría contado entre las figuras centrales de la tradición mágica occidental y entre las fuentes de la magia del caos.

«Hopefully our book has contributed to this recognition by providing the first detailed commentary on this important visionary artist.» — Drury reclama para el libro el primer comentario detallado sobre Spare.

«It is difficult to maintain a sense of historical perspective about your own epoch. Too much is happening; there are too many trends and events and intellectual fashions, and you can never be sure which of them will appear important in a hundred years time.» — Colin Wilson abre la introducción de 1972 con la dificultad de juzgar la propia época.

«But it has been borne in upon me recently that a pretty spectacular change really has taken place in the past 10 or 15 years - as total and unexpected as some of the great climatic changes of the Pleistocene.» — Wilson fecha en los diez o quince años anteriores un cambio que compara con los grandes cambios climáticos del Pleistoceno.

«When I was writing my first book, at the age of 23 (in 1955), both Europe and America were in the middle of a phase of 'political consciousness'. Most of the intelligent young people were concerned about the Bomb and germ warfare, and a few were even then concerned about overpopulation and pollution of the environment.» — Wilson sitúa 1955 y su primer libro en una fase de consciencia política, con la bomba, la guerra bacteriológica y ya la superpoblación como asuntos de la juventud culta.

«I felt completely out of it, since politics interested me less than poetry, music and religion. This was not a reasoned attitude; it was purely instinctive.» — Wilson declara su ajenidad a esa política y la da por instintiva, no razonada.

«I labelled the problem 'the Bombard effect', after the Frenchman Alain Bombard, who sailed a rubber dinghy across the Atlantic in the early '50s, living entirely on plankton and the juices squeezed from fishes.» — Wilson nombra el efecto Bombard por el francés que cruzó el Atlántico en bote neumático alimentándose de plancton y jugo de pescado.

«This, I felt, was the problem that destroyed Shelley and Novalis and Holderlin and Van Gogh. They had experienced states of mind in which life suddenly became infinitely interesting, in which a tree became a torch of green flame and a night sky a whirlpool of pure vitality. Then they were asked to return to 'ordinary consciousness' and the boundless mediocrity of our commercial civilisation.» — Wilson aplica el efecto a Shelley, Novalis, Hölderlin y Van Gogh, que la capa de texto imprime *Holderlin*: haber conocido estados en que la vida se vuelve infinitamente interesante y tener que volver a la consciencia ordinaria.

«Then, round about 1966 or '67, the change began. For example, to the amazement of his English and American publishers, the novels of Hermann Hesse began to sell in huge quantities.» — Wilson fija hacia 1966 o 1967 el punto de giro y lo mide por las ventas de Hermann Hesse.

«Oddly enough, the philosophical position of these leftists was often curiously pessimistic. They were inclined to accept Freud's disheartening view of human nature: that culture is man's attempt» — Wilson lee pesimismo en la posición filosófica de esa izquierda literaria y se lo adjudica a la visión freudiana de la cultura; el troceo reemite la marca de plana en el límite de chunk y corta ahí la frase, que sigue con *to compensate for the dark forces of the libido, and that the fundamental striving of life is towards death*.

«When Genet compared society to a brothel for perverts, they cheered; when Ionesco and Beckett said that life was meaningless anyway, they nodded sadly.» — Wilson recoge las dos adhesiones que atribuye a ese medio: Genet comparando la sociedad con un burdel de pervertidos y la declaración de sinsentido de Ionesco y Beckett.

«What seems to have happened is that the beatnik movement, started in America by Kerouac and Ginsberg as a drop-out revolt against bourgeois respectability and the American Dream, outgrew its original anti-intellectualism - the cult of Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, James Dean - and began to set up a pantheon of intellectual idols that included figures as disparate as Marcuse and Tolkien.» — Wilson traza el giro desde el movimiento beat de Kerouac y Ginsberg hasta un panteón de ídolos intelectuales.

«The faces on the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper LP include Aleister Crowley, Jung, Poe, and Aldous Huxley.» — Wilson toma la portada del Sergeant Pepper como medida del cambio: Crowley, Jung, Poe y Huxley entre las caras.

«And Aldous Huxley who was the real founder of the psychedelic cult with his 1953 book on mescaline.» — Wilson adjudica a Huxley la fundación del culto psicodélico por su libro sobre la mescalina.

«But Jung, with his obscure German syntax, and Crowley, that Dionysian Kabbalist who was mistakenly labelled a Satanist - how on Earth did they manage to seep into the consciousnesses of the pop enthusiasts?» — Wilson se pregunta cómo llegaron Jung y Crowley al público del pop, y de paso llama a Crowley cabalista dionisiaco mal rotulado de satanista.