ATUA : Voices from La Société Voudon Gnostique

by David Beth (Editor), Craig Williams, Ariock Van de Voorde

Edited by David Beth, ATUA is the public vehicle through which the members of the S.V.G. make selected manifestations of their magico-gnostic research and experience available to an informed audience. This first volume of the anthology features essays, artwork, and prose and aims to provide insight and inspiration to practitioners on a similar spiritual path. ATUA is a direct result of an intense symbiotic exchange of shamanic sorcerers with the powerful Gods of Esoteric Voudon. Unique in its content and composition, it may serve as a direct link to the inner worlds of Les Mystères.

Contributors include: David Beth, Craig Williams, Vadge Moore, Hagen von Tulien, Dolorosa, Jónas Sen, Jessica Grote, Roberto Migliussi, Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule, Shannon Esmeralda, Peter Dyde, Ariock Van de Voorde, M.W. Burson, Marc Aurelio Pozzi, Alan Kostrencic. This book is accompanied by a free audio CD supplement which contains material from David Beth, Jónas Sen, Chthonic Force, Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule and Lightning Path.

200 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 2011

Reviews

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with any anthology, there will be ones that resonate more with an individual. Overall, this is a pretty damn good collection. There's some great artwork, especially the stuff by the amazing Dolorosa and Hagen Von Tulien. The quality of articles is great too and it is something that will serve as a reference to my VG studies in the future when I am further along in them.

[Pieter-Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a proper 'folder' of the S.V.G.
But more than an introduction to the paradigm and the praxis of this group, it also offers some valuable metaphysical insights, which wouldn't be found anywhere else than in this volume. That in itself makes it a unique work.
The S.V.G. clearly is an initiatic organization, because a lot of what is said is clearly a tantalizing glimpse of the vast knowledge the group undoubtedly has to offer within its inner circles.
I think the main difference between Voudon Gnosis and regular Voodoo is the integralism that lies at its core. With the German author David Beth as a student of the work of Klages and other German idealists, we get the notion of being taken for a ride by the Lwa, but not losing one's individual consciousness. This differs grealty from the exoteric version, which has priests losing their literal and figurative minds when the Lwa enter and speak. This makes Voudon Gnosis more than just an import from Haiti and an escapist fantasy for and by westerners, but something that helps Voodoo enter a new spiritual age, in which individual consciousness requires more than just (extra) individuation and also doesn't benefit from reactionary trends to disregard its existence as a whole.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am somewhat irritated by the comment below that "this is the most comprehensive book on kaballah". Well, far from it, but neither does it need it to be nor does it want it to be. The subtitle tells it pretty clearly: What we have here is a publication of the SVG. The journal as such never continued further than this issue, while the SVG is still alive and thriving. As such, this is an interesting testimony out of the early days of a pretty elusive group, following a heretical interpretation of Bertiaux Voudon Gnosis.

[Jordan Fitzgerald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must own for any person wishing to understand the adverse side of the Tree of Life or the kaballah that permeates the doctrine of Michael Bertiaux. It is probably the most comprehensive book on kaballah that one can currently buy on the market. This is one of my top 10 favorite. If you don't own it; get it as it is a limited print through Fulgur. It is going to become exponentially more expensive in the coming years I grantee it.

[Daniel Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential and initiatic