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Update
May 8, 2019 4:38:49 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 8, 2019 4:38:49 GMT
In case anyone isn't yet up to speed, the "Abrahadabra Academy" is no more. The same can be said for "membership" of the Abrahadabra Institute, which since the death of the previous administrator nearly a year ago has been - in so far as this forum and the website are concerned - in the hands of magisters from the original Abrahadabra team from the 2000s. Among us, though not present here, are the pioneers of Mutational Alchemy, co-founders (along with m1thr0s) of the original Abrahadabra Institute, people most of you have never heard of.
In keeping with the open source spirit of the original Abrahadabra Institute, I have moved "members-only" threads relevant to Mutational Alchemy here to the public "non-members" area.
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Update
May 10, 2019 12:20:47 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 10, 2019 12:20:47 GMT
From what I've read, to become a Mutational Alchemist, one must go through the 3 years of study in the program and become initiated in person. The only way to gain the title of Mutational Alchemist is to have the Magister Ouroboros deliver the truth of MA from mouth to ear, as is Hermetic tradition. With the abrupt passing of the co-founding Magister Ouroboros, it can only be the long-time followers of MA that can answer some of these questions, if at all. Currently, I'm in the process of backing up everything I can from the main site, as well as every other venue m1thr0s and Izi used by using archive.org. I also have several backups of the MAT book from its most up-to-date version, if anyone's interested in the link to that. I'm also a little curious as to what the status/conditions are for moving forward, and if everything can be recompiled/re-released. I'm guessing this would be dependent on whether the torch was passed again before Izi's passing, and whether that person has enough info to actually move forward. If any help is needed in this regard, my life has freed up tremendously at the most ironic of times. From everything I've gathered, it appears there's quite a lot that has yet to be released. The previous administrator's ambition to create what amounts to a Mutational Alchemy version of the OTO and A∴A∴ was hers alone and had nothing whatsoever to do with the original goals and activities of the Abrahadabra Institute. In that respect, there is no "torch" to pass on. The purpose of the Abrahadabra Institute is to research and develop Mutational Alchemy as an advanced branch of theoretical Hermetics, and to do so as an open source magical technology, not as some modern mystery cult selling mystical snake oil. The best way you can contribute to that purpose is to post whatever content you have gathered from internet archives here. It will save us having to do it ourselves and we will then later publish it on the website, which will return to being strictly a repository for MA content once it comes back online. Any content you have gathered from the current website, including the link to the book, would also be welcome here while the site is offline.
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Update
May 10, 2019 15:09:17 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 10, 2019 15:09:17 GMT
Also: we will soon be joined by one of the two persons besides m1thr0s who initially developed Mutational Alchemy, the only surviving authorities on its origins and development following the death of m1thr0s in December 2016. I will leave it to him to introduce himself.
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Update
May 11, 2019 17:47:57 GMT
Post by Aliii on May 11, 2019 17:47:57 GMT
I will check all my bookmarks wherever I found anything online where m1thr0s posted. Curious to see what the person you mentioned above has to say as well.
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Update
May 11, 2019 18:00:35 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 11, 2019 18:00:35 GMT
I will check all my bookmarks wherever I found anything online where m1thr0s posted. Thanks. The website is currently in the process of coming back online with a new server, so you should hopefully be able to access it sometime soonish.
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Update
May 13, 2019 14:50:38 GMT
Post by Nuur on May 13, 2019 14:50:38 GMT
Excellent news. I will dig through my old materials and see what remains, before sharing it. I had thought to leave this all behind, considering the trajectory things had taken. But I will cautiously approach once again. Looking forward to speaking with you all.
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Update
May 13, 2019 15:46:49 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 13, 2019 15:46:49 GMT
Excellent news. I will dig through my old materials and see what remains, before sharing it. I had thought to leave this all behind, considering the trajectory things had taken. But I will cautiously approach once again. Looking forward to speaking with you all. Thanks. We deeply appreciate any such contributions. The website, once back online, will become strictly a repository for material directly relevant to MA. That is to say, posts on the website that do not fit that criteria will be removed. Meanwhile this forum will be a place to discuss that MA content. For that reason I have moved the vast bulk of this forum's threads, most of which had nothing to do with MA, out of view of both members and non-members areas. A few of those removed threads may be MA-relevant, but are pending review by Magister Wooddragon (the only magister here with the authority to do so) to ascertain their validity. Note: no thread removed from view has been deleted. Same goes for any posts we end up removing from the website.
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Update
May 13, 2019 23:16:05 GMT
Post by drazirnfir on May 13, 2019 23:16:05 GMT
I backed up quite a few things and added notecards with info for graphics where relevant a while ago. There's a few copies of the MAT book in there from the most recent update. The book and several articles were exported in open-document format, readable in most writer programs like Word. I had issues downloading PDF format. This is by no means everything, but some of the more important/relevant bits are in there. If there's anything specific worth documenting for my personal/public backup, please link if possible. www.filedropper.com/mutationalalchemytidraliso/drazirnfir/draodan/steelwiz I'll try sticking to this account since it has most forum access.
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Update
May 14, 2019 5:35:45 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 14, 2019 5:35:45 GMT
That's wonderful, draz. Many thanks.
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Update
May 15, 2019 4:08:19 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 15, 2019 4:08:19 GMT
A general guideline when reading MA material is to focus on the tech while putting to one side any statements not directly related to that tech. This is particularly true of anything posted by the previous administrator; we're not going to get into any detailed account of the subject as there are grieving families involved, but it should be understood that she was a genuinely deluded individual. For instance, in the case of the Mutational Alchemy Tarot, her contribution was the artwork, while its design and its correspondences were the work of m1thr0s and others. As such, the backstory presented in the MAT book's introduction is largely fantasy. For this reason pretty much any MA-related content posted by her, especially anything posted later than the death of m1thr0s in December 2016, is subject to review.
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Update
May 15, 2019 14:31:17 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 15, 2019 14:31:17 GMT
On the subject of the Western Tradition, many scholarly advances in our understanding of that tradition have only very recently been made, in no small part as a direct result of the publication of Ronald Hutton's The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford University Press, 1999), which pulled the rug out from under many contemporary delusions and misconceptions among magicians concerning the history of Western magic and encouraged more serious scholarly research of the subject. 20th century magic in the West is overwhelmingly derived from the so-called late 19th century "revival" among an English speaking elite, who had barely more than a couple of pamphlet-sized excerpts from ancient magical texts as source materials to work with, compared with the current situation where we have a huge and ever-expanding library of source texts which Victorians could only have imagined in their wildest dreams, as exemplified by the website www.esotericarchives.com/For an updated and detailed study of the history of the Western Tradition I would recommend the following works by Jake Stratton-Kent: Geosophia: the Argo of Magic (Scarlet Impriny, 2010) The Testament of Cyprian the Mage (Scarlet Imprint, 2016)
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Update
May 16, 2019 6:20:46 GMT
Post by drazirnfir on May 16, 2019 6:20:46 GMT
Thanks for the information and updates. I'll look into those books and get back to this more on Monday. I've got a busy week/weekend and there's a lot to digest, as you've enlightened me on several suspicions I've had regarding many of my own experiences in the journey thus far. Regardless, I definitely don't plan to go anywhere and hope for the best in MA resurfacing more. In reference to the MA tech, I suppose you mean the actual maths and systems utilizing I-Ching and its correlations?
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Update
May 16, 2019 6:30:05 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 16, 2019 6:30:05 GMT
Actually I kind of mean ignore statements that aren't directly relevant, such as asides criticising this that and the other approach, system or tradition. Some material is peppered with such asides, and the previous administrator was in the habit of throwing unnecessary sweeping generalisations of the sort into the mix. They rarely stand up to any scrutiny.
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Update
May 16, 2019 7:46:26 GMT
Post by drazirnfir on May 16, 2019 7:46:26 GMT
Understandable. In most degrees it's easy to understand what's a bias and what's relevant information. In regards to forum posts, I look back in a charming sort of manner at the personality of it all. For further work, I'd definitely agree in skipping over the biases and taking some things with a pinch of salt. There's a lot to go through, and magick being what it is makes it a fascinating job. I appreciate the quick replies and honest answers.
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Update
May 16, 2019 9:04:25 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 16, 2019 9:04:25 GMT
You're welcome.
Also if anyone is wondering what happened to tetragrammaton, strawberry, peter, ophidianshadow, matbot, kona and amazon (and in all likelihood anyone else who dropped off the radar 11 months ago), turns out they were all the previous administrator's alts.
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Update
May 16, 2019 13:49:44 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 16, 2019 13:49:44 GMT
An informed overview of the history of Hermeticism.
The Glitch Bottle podcast is one worth subscribing to.
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Update
May 16, 2019 18:44:39 GMT
Post by Nuur on May 16, 2019 18:44:39 GMT
Do we still have access to the original Book of Mirrors?
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Update
May 17, 2019 1:16:24 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 17, 2019 1:16:24 GMT
I've posted a link to an archive of the original Abrahadabra site's Table of Contents which gives access to MA material from 2007, including the constituent parts of the BOM. If there's anything missing from the BOM on that list or from among the files drazirnfir shared, then I'm afraid you'll have to wait for the website to come back online. All we had on this forum was a link to the website.
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Update
May 17, 2019 14:18:11 GMT
Post by Nuur on May 17, 2019 14:18:11 GMT
Ah, I missed that link. Thank you for your reply. I know that Izi had a live version of the BOM hosted, she had shared the link at one point with the members. However, the link is gone now from the discord. The archived version seems complete and thankfully the zip from drazirnfir is quite extensive. More had been saved than I imagined.
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Update
May 22, 2019 18:07:19 GMT
Post by Aliii on May 22, 2019 18:07:19 GMT
A general guideline when reading MA material is to focus on the tech while putting to one side any statements not directly related to that tech. This is particularly true of anything posted by the previous administrator; we're not going to get into any detailed account of the subject as there are grieving families involved, but it should be understood that she was a genuinely deluded individual. For instance, in the case of the Mutational Alchemy Tarot, her contribution was the artwork, while its design and its correspondences were the work of m1thr0s and others. As such, the backstory presented in the MAT book's introduction is largely fantasy. For this reason pretty much any MA-related content posted by her, especially anything posted later than the death of m1thr0s in December 2016, is subject to review. So I take it the book Intro will not be re-posted on here. Or will it be re-written? I realize this question may be premature, but I was hoping to re-read it for myself to try and ascertain what parts wd be true and which fantasy. I wish I had printed it out. And btw, thanks again for opening MA up for those of us who didn't want the Star Trek pin, nor to be scrutinized by the former MO
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Update
May 23, 2019 1:11:33 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 23, 2019 1:11:33 GMT
The MAT book with its introduction is among the files drazirnfir shared. There is as yet no edited version. An edited version may ditch the fantastical autobiographical elements, give proper credit where credit is due, and above all focus on the deck. Alternatively it may insert an explanatory foreword, add some footnotes, and restrict edits to typos and so forth. In either case, the images of each card would be added.
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Update
May 23, 2019 1:44:26 GMT
Post by Aliii on May 23, 2019 1:44:26 GMT
That sounds great! I was looking at your posts of the cards on here fm the book, and forgot about that file ...
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Update
May 23, 2019 20:07:57 GMT
Post by drazirnfir on May 23, 2019 20:07:57 GMT
Afaik, the original copy of the book had the pictures for each card (or at least they attempted to add them), but were removed due to glitches/file size. If copies of the original artwork is still available (beyond what I have backed up myself), I'd love a set for backup and to see if I can print my own personal copy deck. Iirc, this is the site that was used for printing: www.makeplayingcards.com/promotional/custom-game-cards.html
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Update
May 23, 2019 23:46:39 GMT
Post by Susurrator on May 23, 2019 23:46:39 GMT
One of the magisters has a complete set used to create a prototype deck, but many cards were revised before the official deck was released.
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Update
May 26, 2019 2:32:18 GMT
Post by drazirnfir on May 26, 2019 2:32:18 GMT
I'll write up an email to the printing company in the afternoon tomorrow to see if they still have the original in backup somewhere. (Or maybe someone more affiliated would be more appropriate?) The prototypes in their own regard are worthwhile saving, but I'd be especially fascinated in getting a 2nd/backup of the original full-release.
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Update
May 27, 2019 19:18:43 GMT
Post by Aliii on May 27, 2019 19:18:43 GMT
I'll write up an email to the printing company in the afternoon tomorrow to see if they still have the original in backup somewhere. (Or maybe someone more affiliated would be more appropriate?) The prototypes in their own regard are worthwhile saving, but I'd be especially fascinated in getting a 2nd/backup of the original full-release. The edition I own was printed in China. Izi mentioned them in the intro pages of the deck.
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Update
May 27, 2019 22:31:42 GMT
Post by Saxarba on May 27, 2019 22:31:42 GMT
I backed up quite a few things and added notecards with info for graphics where relevant a while ago. There's a few copies of the MAT book in there from the most recent update. The book and several articles were exported in open-document format, readable in most writer programs like Word. I had issues downloading PDF format. This is by no means everything, but some of the more important/relevant bits are in there. If there's anything specific worth documenting for my personal/public backup, please link if possible. www.filedropper.com/mutationalalchemytidraliso/drazirnfir/draodan/steelwiz I'll try sticking to this account since it has most forum access. That link doesn't appear to work.
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Update
Jun 7, 2019 3:52:28 GMT
Post by drazirnfir on Jun 7, 2019 3:52:28 GMT
Apologies, life's been incredibly busy recently. Does anyone have a recommendation for a better/more permanent file hosting site?
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Update
Jun 8, 2019 0:01:58 GMT
Post by Saxarba on Jun 8, 2019 0:01:58 GMT
Apologies, life's been incredibly busy recently. Does anyone have a recommendation for a better/more permanent file hosting site? You could always upload it to your google drive (if you have a google account that is) and make the file public or semi-public (hidden but accessible to anyone with the link). Google provides 15 gigabytes of free cloud storage.
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Update
Jun 14, 2019 5:47:52 GMT
Post by drazirnfir on Jun 14, 2019 5:47:52 GMT
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