The Witching-Other
"The Witching-Other" Peter Hamilton-Giles
The history of occult literature is one of retelling the same tales over and over. From folkloric story narratives to endlessly copied grimoires of practical instruction the occult tends to hold onto its past like a precious garb, one that it feels is necessary to its cause, yet may be wholly superfluous.
In that history there are rare jewels of original thought, works that, instead of recycling old claims and rituals, push the narrative of occult scholarship and thinking forward. Authors who, in their own quest for understanding, ask questions that are original and attempt answers that do not draw from the well of previous ideology.
Peter Hamilton-Giles is an author, academic, and musician whose previous works "The Baron Citadel" and "The Afflicted Mirror" on Three Hands Press explore his researches into Haitian magic and introduce concepts he will eventually explore in his latest work, which is altogether something different.
"The Witching-Other" has few predecessors in occult literature to draw easy comparisons. It is a work of philosophical inquiry, not an history, nor a collection of folklore, not a set of practical instructions. Instead is is a mature work of occult philosophy that explores the relationship a practitioner has to the nature of the "witch", that cultural image that is so firmly engrained in the visual and linguistic paradigm of 21st century western culture.
"Witching appears, in this light, to be a performative act whose primary focus is on achieving, or, at least facilitating a particular outcome." - PH-G
Hamilton-Giles seeks to question the epistemological currents that have shaped what he refers to as the "aesthetic witch" that, as our first exposure to the idea of the "witch" is in may ways the primary foci of common interest in the witch's path.
This "aesthetic witch" transcends the linear path of time. Where in our present we have access to the myriad facets of the witch as seen through history, we may focus on a particular set of variables or vectors that make up, to us, the concept of the witch. This internalize image of the witch becomes the "witching-other".
Hamilton-Giles is clearly influenced by 20th century French philosophers Ricouer and Bachelard, using their works to outline a hermeneutic approach to understanding the witching other. This phenomenological approach to the beyond is something that has long been missing from occult discourse.
In the Witching-Other the concept of the dream image and Chumbley's thoughts in that direction are repeated throughout. The witch is presented as an 'other', something the practitioner strives toward a unification with, but is separated from by the implicit language used to define the witch experientially.
"What sets the practitioner apart from other is the ability to cogitate existence and the thrust of continuity by incorporating coordinates deriving from beyond the physical veil." - PH-G
"The Witching-Other" is a profound work in the best way, one I will find myself reading again in the near future as I come to its questions from different angles in an attempt to suss out its ideas in full. Hamilton-Giles is a philosopher witch, bringing an English temperament to an otherwise unexplored terrain of existential occult inquiry.
The binding is a beautifully shaped object, dark green cloth with an impression to the front boards, a letterpress style dust wrapper with both gold and red metallic inks. Orangish coloured woodgrain like front papers and internal paper that is a smooth light cream, all topped by a frontispiece by Carolyn Hamilton-Giles and excellent design by Joseph Uccello.
A word of caution; this is not an introductory text for beginner witches. This is an advanced work suitable for those who are willing to look beyond the ceremony to the underlying structures of craft practice. A work for grownup witches willing to expend thought and time toward understanding what it means to be a witch.
Get your copy directly from Peter & Carolyn's Atramentous Press here:
"The Witching-Other" Peter Hamilton-Giles