Back in 2021, Strange Exiles was born as a podcast and essay project. I wanted to explore ideas — no matter how strange or far out. I wanted to unpack identity — how we relate to ourselves, and the world. And I wanted to interrogate ideology — the structuring beliefs that underpin the way we see things, and how we act.
Since then, I’ve interviewed more than 30 people about their life, work and ideas. It’s been an amazing ride! Now, it’s time to bring all of the show’s initial two seasons — 24 episodes in total — over to Substack, exclusively for subscribers.
A look back at Episode 2, with Ian ‘Cat’ Vincent
Episode 2 originally came out in January of 2021. It was a conversation with author and practicing magician Ian ‘Cat’ Vincent. Cat’s an old friend, someone I published back when I ran a short fiction blog called Weaponizer between 2007 and 2012.
Cat went on to write for Fortean Times, and became an expert on topics such as ‘combat magic’ and curse-breaking, chaos magic, the enduring legacy of Robert Anton Wilson, and the cultural significance of Slenderman. He’s also an outspoken advocate for the rights of disabled people, and can often be found pottering around the edges of the shared fictional universe known as Hookland.
We talked about all these things and more over the course of our conversation, and Cat recommended an absolute avalanche of books, websites and significant magical pioneers for you to look into.
This episode proved popular both with those in the know about modern magic and ritual practice, and those who had no idea it existed. While some listeners may have come away from the episode with their doubts, several people got in touch to find out more — hopefully Cat’s list below will provide some starting points for further exploration.
For my own part, beyond a little dabble with sigil magic, and learning transcendental meditation, the kind of imaginative work with archetypes, rituals and texts that Cat describes remain a fascinating enigma for me. I do believe, wholeheartedly, that the practices he describes can have a significant positive effect in someone’s life (or indeed a negative effect — here be monsters).
Like anything we invest with belief, from religion to political ideology, it can achieve specific ends for many who get involved. And I like Cat’s eventual conclusion — that dogma is the only true danger in speculative belief systems.
Magic(k), ritual and archetypes: Recommendations from Ian ‘Cat’ Vincent
This is a massive list, so I’ll keep to brief descriptions, and let you do your own exploring! You can always hit up Cat on BlueSky with requests for more recommendations or information if you need to (he’s very generous like that).
Aiden Wachter’s Six Ways was described by Cat as one of the best entry-level books for approaching or entering into practical magic. Grant Morrison’s Pop Magic is a short manifesto on the kind of chaos magic practiced and popularised by Grant in his seminal 1990s comics opus The Invisibles, which itself drew heavily on the work of Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson, Austin Osman Spare and Aleisteir Crowley (more on some of these figures below). Originally published in 2008 by DISINFO, the manifesto is widely available as a PDF, and very accessible.
Straying from practical magic to superheroes (as we did many times in Episode 2), Grant’s spectacular, hypercolour, glee-powered love letter to spandex-wearers, Supergods is also recommended by Cat, although we picked some holes in the theory. It’s a deliriously joyful book to read, regardless - full of wonder and awe about human potential. On the same topic, Cat also recommends Christopher Knowles’ book Our Gods Wear Spandex.
I’ll also add a recommendation for Grant’s brilliantly mad speech from Disinfocon 2000, on broadly the same topics, with some brilliant interventions on how magic(k)al thinking can counteract capitalist consumerism.
The first appearance of Cat’s personal loa and archetypal magical accomplice (never call him a pal) John ‘Hellblazer’ Constantine is in Saga of the Swamp Thing: Book Three, written by Alan Moore, and the Fag-Smoking One’s adventures continue in multiple media formats throughout the multiverse and all spiritual and Satanic planes.
Alan Garner’s Elidor is a classic piece of YA fiction, which Cat cited as an early example of a book about magic with a working-class set of characters and situations, one that pre-dated his love of big JC. It’s a terrific book, the kind of childrens’ book that doesn’t get written anymore, amongst the churn und drang of a thousand thousand iterations of Hunger Games-lite - an idea done best in the Battle Royale manga in the first place.
Cat and I discussed Robert Anton Wilson in a couple of places - the great founder and originator of Discordianism is perhaps known best for his sprawling, allegorical, satirical magical opus The Illuminatus Trilogy. Absurd, intricate and often ridiculous, it’s nonetheless the perfect introducton to RAW’s theories and ideas, and an absolute must-read. Weirdly, I read it almost side-by-side about twenty years ago with both The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown, and Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Three very different writers attacking a lot of the same subject material… RAW got there first though (and arguably did it best).
You can find out more about the stage version of Cosmic Trigger, which Cat was involved in performing - their site even has a few excerpts, or you could always read the book.
Go and check out the band behind ‘Hexit’ - the anti-Brexit ritual Cat described in our chat - The Indelicates. Their politicised punk is arty, weird and eye-catching, not to mention packed with riffs.
Looking back a bit farther into the roots of modern magic, Cat recommended Colin Wilson’s The Occult as a book that introduced him to the history of magic (as well as getting him through some tough teenage times). Cat also mentioned Kenneth Grant, adept of Aleister Crowley, and a one of the most influential English occultists in his own right (if not the most influential). He is the author of The Tree of Life and The Golden Dawn, among many other volumes.
Cat also recommends looking into the work and writing of Austin Osman Spare, a magician and largely neglected English painter whose work and life deserve a whole podcast to themselves. Later in life, he was befriended by Kenneth Grant, who championed his art and writing. He is often cited as the originator of the ritual practices that would become ‘chaos magic’ almost half a century after his death.
For modern chaos magic’s history, and its beginnings in the UK in the work of the Illuminates of Thanateros, have a dig into the work of Peter J. Carroll and Phil Hine (who now writes about the discipline of Tantra on his blog). Cat also recommends you read anything at all by John Higgs, who has written about various significant figures in magic and culture, from RAW and Timothy Leary to the KLF.
Cat also recommended two books by Gareth Rees - the first is Unofficial Britain, the second is Car Park Life. Both explore the border territories and liminal spaces outwith the mainstream, brightly-lit Britain we think we inhabit.
These recommendations spun out of our conversation about Hookland - a massively multiplayer, fictional, online-and-in-real-life collaborative work that explores an alternative Britain through books, film, music, visual art and social media posts. It’s masterminded by David Southwell, a legendary cult author who has written extensively on crime, conspiracy and culture.
Finally, a quick shout out coming from my own complete nerdery and unquestioned subservience to the dread god DisMarvel - do yourself a favour and read Jonathan Hickman’s House of X / Powers of X. It’s truly an elevation of the X-Men mythos, and after a few weeks reading about magic(k) of various kinds, a dip into this run will show you how densely-layered symbolism, intertextuality and the death and resurrection of mythic, archetypal characters can be used to tell a story which is both about magic, and told using magickal techniques. It’s a masterpiece, even if you’re putting more money in the pockets of The Mouse by reading it!
More Redux episodes to come!
Thanks for joining me for a recap of our second episode, which is now back where it belongs — exclusively on Substack! As always, thanks to the composer of the Strange Exiles theme, Asthmatic Astronaut of This Is Not Pop.
Redux Episodes 3-24 will follow in your inbox and in your feed over the next few months, along with new episodes. Here’s our latest, with horror author and archaeologist Steve Toase:
See you soon… until then, take care of each other.
-Bram, Glasgow, January 2025
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