Occult Features of Anarchism: With Attention to the Conspiracy of Kings and the Conspiracy of the Peoples (Kairos) Paperback – Illustrated, February 1, 2019

Incredible. Lagalisse was able to articulate so much in such a straight-forward and generous way. I highly suggest this book as one of the richest texts I have read in a long time.

Initially I was interested in exploring Occultism and its connection with Politics (a long-time area of personal interest), but one of the extra rewards of reading this brilliant work of scholarship was the author's look at, basically, who's allowed to talk and who isn't.The author weaves a magical tapestry looking at such diverse voices as Lacan and Levi-Strauss (names with whom anyone who ventured near a graduate level seminar on Critical Theory in the 1980's is painfully aware) on to people like Helena Blavatsky and David Icke as well as a host of scholars and critics along the way with whom I, as a "lay reader" was not familiar.A page turning wild ride, the author constantly blows your mind on one page and then provides a healing salve a page or two later. I thought this book was totally badass . . . 5 Stars

One gets the feeling that this is, despite its veneer of (academic) sophistication, a rather shallow or possibly naive view of history. The author writes as if preaching to the choir, which is understandable I suppose given the subject matter. Somehow I don't think she imagined anyone from the moderate bourgeoisie reading this piece. Nonetheless I spent much of my youth in the trenches of the "street theater" and so I'm familiar with this style of saturnalia. This is about the strain of anarchism that runs throughout the hermetic/heretic and revolutionary or avant-garde tradition in society. I don't think she quotes Paradise Lost anywhere in here but really she should have. Satan surely must be smiling at all these magicians and bomb throwers imagining "the paradise of heaven would be manifest on the earth through the works of men not God - indeed, [here the ultimate heresy] men *as* God[.]" (pp. 79-80, emphasis as italics in the original) This is really the problem with all this utopian thought, and really my problem with most progressives, let alone anarchists. This is funny because I used to be an anarchist. I totally understand the thin line between politics and terror, between utopia and hate. The author takes great pains to separate herself and the other anarchists from "Marxists", as if this somehow absolves them of all the 20th Century massacres wrought in the name of “levelling”. Still there is a lot of fun information here so I can't completely throw it in the dustbin. It seems funny that she doesn't imagine a third or middle course of thought here, namely that conspiracy theories of all sorts, whether it comes from the populist right, the activist left, or even the academic social system, are all wrong. The idea that any cabal can entirely steer society is fairly outmoded in my book, but still she offers the idea of competing pyramids, which I suppose is accurate in a sense. Still, communication is a process outside the control of any individual, and society is so far as I can tell, not much different. And the irony of an avant-garde having to lead the charge, a group of dedicated revolutionaries to carry the flag, an elite vanguard as "levelling project" - this is truly funny. The means ARE the ends, I think she meant to say, except still she can't escape the pyramid of power. This is the thing, that politics is conspiracy yes, but there is a unity of the paradox here between "power/opposition" and you can't escape that anymore than you can escape society. If you project politics onto everything, that is all you will see. The idea that anarchists are any different than kings is funny too.

Good introductory work on the subject of pagan influences and influenced anarchism. However, should also be subtitled “an Anarchist defense of The Masonic order. I could see the right wing conspiracy theorists and main streamers latching onto this.

The book reads as a dry academic essay. I was hoping for a more palatable and fun read as I was excited about the intersection of occultism and anarchism. The feminism and critical theory is not my bag at all. I wanted to read about magick and the philosophy of freedom, not problematized masculinity. I should have read the description better.

This is an absolute maverick book brilliantly researched and written. It unpacks so much crucial history and connects a lot of threads together. Easily one of the best non-fiction books of the last decade hands down. Should be in every public library.

Not a very long read but certainly jam packed with an interesting history on anarchism and it’s occult roots.

Excellent book filling a long ignored gap in the story of radical politics. Concise, precise and accurate. An enjoyable and informative read and it stimulates many further thoughts for study.