Book Review: Magic, Mysticism & The Molecule.

[NOTE: This is a larger version of a review I prepared for the Amazon web page]

If you're of the squeamish type when it comes to Fortean phenomena, and by 'squeamish' meaning you cringe if your Ufological carrots ever touch your cryptozoological peas on your dinner plate, then this probably isn't the right book for you.

If, by the other hand, you're open-minded enough to critically examine the many commonalities found in the realm of what are popularly referred to as 'paranormal phenomena'; then you'll probably find this book, written by young journalist & researcher Micah A. Hanks, succulently mixed in all its varied ingredients as a fine gumbo stew.

What Magic, Mysticism & the Molecule was set to undertake is no small task by any means: making a thorough and comprehensible review of all the different techniques & disciplines used throughout human history, in order to contact sentient intelligences 'from beyond'; for it would take a rather cynic mentality to deny the fact that mankind has a longstanding obsession with it's apparent isolation.

In this era we're using the tools of science to probe the electromagnetic frequencies in search for other civilizations that might share our galactic neighborhood —the ONLY method endorsed by mainstream science, since any notion of possible visitation happening today or in the past is anathema to the edifice of Academia; but even before the invention of radioastronomy, many humans have attempted contact with 'superior beings' in search for knowledge, power or enlightenment.

Whether these entities were members of the angelic legions communicating with famous magician John Dee through 'scrying stones' & the Enochian language, or the modern-era 'Space Brothers' who also happened to favor the same psychic channels developed by the Spiritualist movement in the late XIXth century, many people have tried to find 'doorways' into the unseen metaphysical worlds, said to be inhabited with transhuman intelligences by both ancient and modern mythic traditions.

In the first part of the book, Micah reviews the occult arts practiced by the mages and wizards of ancient Western lore, that were later resurfaced thanks to the Spiritualist revival brought about by characters like Madame Blavatsky & the infamous Aleister Crowley; who was so particularly obsessed with opening a gateway through the very fabric of our reality with rituals of drug consumption and sexual magic, that the resemblance of the Lam entity he claimed to have contacted, and the popular description of the aliens known as the grays, should give us some pause —the fact that one of his most devoted students, Jack Parsons, also happened to be one of the fathers of modern rocketry science AND was conducting magic experiments of his own with Ron L. Hubbard (who later founded Scientology!) right by the time when the modern era of flying saucers was about to start is also equally suggestive...

But the contact with other intelligences can also be accomplished by the exploration of inner space, and that's exactly what's covered in the 2nd part of the book, devoted to Mysticism and the varied spiritual disciplines practiced in the East and the West.

Studying the meditative techniques used by Indian yogis for thousands of years, and the spontaneous ecstatic experiences of Christian mystics like St. Therese, Micah almost seems to suggest that the human Microcosm is not only an archetypical reflection of the 'material' Macrocosm... but they might even be one and the same.

It's not a question then of pleading the alien to come down to Earth with his spaceship, but of US elevating our consciousness in order to perceive a higher strata of reality.

And those higher levels of existence can also be explored with the aid of fascinating —but potentially dangerous— "spiritual technologies", which are now the center of such levels of persecution and condemnation as to rival the witch hunts of medieval times.

The technologies I'm referring are of course the hallucinogenic compounds found on entheogenic (literally, 'God-releasing´) plants that had been used by shamanic cultures long before they were black-listed by government agencies with soup-letter names.

This, the subject of the third and final part of the book, should not be seen nevertheless as an apology of the indiscriminate use of such compounds for mere recreational use; Micah neither endorses nor approves experimentation with such substances —something he didn't even try himself, for the sake of keeping a proper journalistic objectivity— he merely sticks in his role of reporter and allows the reader to make an informed opinion —one Hunter S. Thompson is more than enough.

Besides, what's the need of risking one's life or liberty seeking illegal drugs, when our OWN brain is capable of naturally produce the most powerful psychoactive compound known to man? Dimethiltryptamine (DMT), modernly referred to as the 'spirit molecule'  thanks to the ground-breaking work conducted by Dr. Rick Strassman in the 1990s, receives much of Micah's attention in the last pages of the book.

Could this elegantly simple chemical molecule be the key to the 'doors of our perception', sought by wizards, mystics and channelers throughout history? And if so, is there a way in which we could induce a more potent release of endogenous DMT? In the last chapter of the book, Micah links two seemingly disparate historical figures , Nikola Tesla & H.P. Lovecraft, in order to explore the possible effects of electromagnetic fields in inducing an altered state in the human brain —states that could even possibly enhance our senses to glimpse presences that may exist all around us, as many of us have nervously entertained after reading one of Lovecraft's horror stories late at night.

Reading Magic, Mysticism & The Molecule is not only highly informative in its clear presentation of evidence, but it will also surprise you with many entertaining —and spooky!— personal anecdotes in which Micah describes the personal journey he & some of his friends went through, during the research of the material. Rest assured this is not a dry read, and Micah excels in explaining the most arcane subjects in a comprehensible manner accessible to any layman.

My favorite part is definitely where Micah explores the psychomanteum, originally devised by Dr. Raymond Moody —of NDE research fame— and which involves the use of a mirror placed in front of the subject, in order to provoke some sort of mystical experience that allows closure to people who have suffered the death of a loved one [Be warned: this part of the book may not be appropriate for late-night reading!].

And, to be fair and objective, there are some things I would have liked to be included in the book. One is some mentioning of Timothy Leary, since he's not only credited with being one of the fathers of the 60's counterculture; but more importantly, because he himself felt he was continuing the work Aleister Crowley left unfinished —to have explored more into the coincidences between Leary & Crowley would have been a great addition.

I also think the book would have benefited from adding a few images here and there; for example, when Micah describes the sessions with the psychomanteum, a visual person like myself could really use a drawing or two that helped illustrate exactly the characteristics of this device (maybe in later editions?).

Nevertheless, this is one little jewel of a book that should be considered in the collection of any serious student of high-strangeness. After finishing it, you'll end yourself coming to the realization that the best tool we could use to come in contact with alien intelligences —devas, ghosts, angels, ETs... labels are fleeting and in constant evolution— has always been right in front of our eyes —or rather, behind our eyes: our own mind.

But that same tool is to this day still poorly understood, and the dangers of tampering with it are many and not to be taken lightly. The seemingly endless possibilities that the Universe offers might be too much to cope for our feeble psyches; and perhaps, as Micah writes, "this is the goal of the "sentient others" we encounter from time to time: to attempt to bring us bits and pieces, one at a time, so that we may learn from them."