Deep Diving into the Occult

For years I’ve been hiding a dark lamp of hidden knowing from public view for fear of being misunderstood. Thanks to the encouragement of my peers, this is set to change. On Sunday June 10, 2018, 4pm, I’m giving a forty minute talk at Continuum: Melbourne’s Speculative Fiction Convention on Representations of the Occult in Fiction, and I’m giving that talk from a particular standpoint. It’s one of deep understanding from the point of view of both an occult practitioner and a scholar of Western Esotericism.

Neither of these things make me an expert in this vast field, other than perhaps in my tiny little quarter of it. Whole books have been written on defining Western Esotericism alone and identifying the various currents. As for representations of the occult in fiction, this is another vast topic worthy of a PhD and I’ll only have time to touch on a few examples and open up a conversation, one that reaches into the unknown, the inexplicable mysteries of life, and leaves us pondering the ancient wisdom tradition that arises out of that place.
The talk has me dwelling on how I represent the occult in my own writing. All my novels to date contain an occult theme, one in particular, A Perfect Square , a dark mystery that explores various approaches to drawing on occult knowledge in the creation of art. As for my other novels: Asylum‘s plot is driven by a palm reader’s prophecy, the backstory of The Drago Tree is laced with childish occult dabblings, The Cabin Sessions is overshadowed by a Blood Moon harbinger of doom, and The Legacy of Old Gran Parks concerns a supernatural curse. So I guess it’s about time I started talking publicly about this stuff!
I’m a very private individual and I’m easily overwhelmed by crowds. For those reasons, I’ve never been to any sort of convention, and certainly not given a talk of this kind ever in my life. It’s a privilege and I will be giving it my best shot. If you are going to the Continuum convention, I hope to see you there.

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