Can a Thelemite truly be compassionate when Liber AL declares that “compassion is the vice of kings”?
COMPASSION IS THE VICE OF KINGS
Pity, Cruelty, and the Sacrament of Suffering in Thelema
marcovisconti.substack.com
Marco Visconti
@marcovisconti.org
News, Books & Magick ➡️ https://www.marcovisconti.org Author, Occult Researcher & Alchemy Enthusiast
Can a Thelemite truly be compassionate when Liber AL declares that “compassion is the vice of kings”?
COMPASSION IS THE VICE OF KINGS
Pity, Cruelty, and the Sacrament of Suffering in Thelema
marcovisconti.substack.com
The withering of the year has come early. The land tells its distress in brittle grass bleached as bone, tells it in paths made of furious dust. It screams to us through drought cicatrix of cracked earth. We walk a territory of trauma. We should expect ghosts. – #DAKilroy
48 — Ordinary Primate. The Restored Manuscript. cadence 72 · vigil 19 · lexicon 50 · polish 89 · drift 12 · chorus 55 Six lines read off all 1,663 of my posts. A percentile among 77 accounts, not an AI detector. https://b.mino.mobi/palm/?u=marcovisconti.org
I am currently being berated in the comment section of my popular Instagram reel about Barbara Bush having nothing to do with Crowley by an ultra-queer Latino man who goes by "sailor_goon666" and insists I cannot speak English and that Crowley was connected to Epstein. How did we get here?
Mercury has now fully cleared its retrograde shadow in Cancer. We are now in relatively clear astrological territory until late October. Take a breath, move ahead with those contracts and decisions, and enjoy the temporary return of cosmic order.
Everybody hates influencers, right? And rightly so. Too bad this ongoing trend keeps spelling doom for everyone trying to work outside the boundaries of a job market that doesn't even truly exist anymore. Late-stage capitalism working exactly as intended.
The recession has finally hit the influencer economy
YouTube video by Ashley Embers
youtube.com
Do you still listen to podcasts as much as you did during the pandemic years? I used to hoover them up, now I only keep up with a couple .
My latest for Mere Thelema: www.merethelema.com/2026/08/02/w...
When Occultists Go Back to Church
As contemporary occultists increasingly turn to traditional Christianity for ritual and community, Marco Visconti warns against letting aesthetic appeal blind us to the political dangers of religio…
merethelema.com
I have been shouting it from the roofs for a while already. Because if it’s bad for journalists, imagine how bad it must be for people in niche interests. Every single time an established “voice” joins a platform it doesn’t help widening the audience: it cannibalises the little that’s left.
The Real Reason that Substack is Collapsing
The Subscription Model Has Maxed Out
open.substack.com
No work will be done in Hookland today. It's the Puck Fairs. Epic bouts of storytelling, drinking, love-making and other funs of the fair. #Lughnasadh
The Cup Raised in the Harvest Fire.
TAROT OF THE MONTH
August 2026 e.v. - The Cup Raised in the Harvest Fire
marcovisconti.substack.com
“Pub culture is dying! 🤬” One pint of Level Head at The Plough in Museum Street: £ 8.25 🤷🏻♂️
Simon Young explores Victorian schoolboys "raising the devil". One for @cultauthor.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/britishm...
Why Victorian Men Confessed to Raising the Devil
Victorian boys drew rings and sacrificed cats to raise the Devil, then cheerfully confessed it all, decades later. Children as the originators of folklore.
open.substack.com
I write for myself and in doing that and refusing to pander to the middle class and the market, I am writing for the marginalised, the bruised and the weary. And as one of those folk, I can tell you, we bloody well need some re-enchantment.
After decades of being expected to accept whatever narratives and practices American authors invented wholesale and passed off as Italian witchcraft, we finally have the definitive guide to the real thing. Well done, @drangelapuca.bsky.social
For it is St. Lazarus Eve or as we Hooklanders call it, Pale Harvest Eve. It is a night when the dead twitch and the living worry about restless spirits. Some say it is like most nights in the county, but this is more than a little unfair. – #CLNolan
"Crowley is a clown, get over it and read Iamblichus instead." I feel like Iamblichus became the go-to name for a generation of petulant children who never had a life outside of the internet. Crowley, at least, taught us to actually go out in the world and EXPERIENCE things.
I just received a notification that a Kickstarter project I backed 5 years ago, which I completely forgot about, will ship in September. Better late than never, right?
What can Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey teach us about ego death and spiritual attainment? In my latest Substack, I explore the deep parallels between Thelema’s Nemo and Odysseus becoming No Man: open.substack.com/pub/marcovis...
NOBODY CROSSES THE ABYSS
What The Odyssey Teaches Us About Ego Death, Hubris, and Spiritual Attainment
open.substack.com
I have often talked about psychogeography over the last few years. In his latest video, an audio recording of an event at the (now gone) Wanstead Tap, my friend John Rogers and the legendary Iain Sinclair explain what it really is.
What is Psychogeography? | Iain Sinclair & John Rogers [audio + subtitles]
YouTube video by John Rogers
youtube.com
Fellow authors, be cautious of a current email scam. I received a message from someone claiming to be Syima Aslam, Founder & Director of the Bradford Literature Festival.
For those wanting a signed copy of the book, a Right To Reside card or to buy from one the best esoteric bookshops around, here is the promised link to Hookland at @treadwells-books.bsky.social. www.treadwells-london.com/product-page...
Hookland Fragments Volume One - David Southwell | Treadwells
Discover the Fortean mysteries and folkloric history of Hookland, England's lost county. Created by David Southwell and documented extensively on social media for many years, the fictional Hookland ha...
treadwells-london.com
I have about 11 business emails waiting to be sent for the past two weeks, and I must wait another 24 hours for Mercury Retrograde to finally be over...
✨ Book Review: The Holy Year of Thelema ✨ 🔎 tabi.org.uk/2026/07/book...
Book Review: The Holy Year of Thelema
Author: Maevius Lynn Publisher: Llewellyn Publication Date: May 2026 (US) / June 2026 (UK) RRP: US $24.99 / UK £17.99 ISBN: 9780738779355 Reviewed by: Marco Visconti I should begin with a disclosur…
tabi.org.uk
Overheard at the airport: “Nolan could have found a better name than ‘Mentor’ for Telemachus’ mentor figure!” 50 years of defunding education led to this. This is the world gave to us by Ronald Reagan and Margareth Thatcher.
Still enjoying my holiday in Italy, but already planning my next Substack, titled “Against the Thelemic Magisterium”. I feel it’s time to make a fundamental break with the status quo.