Paganarchy Press

Seani Scullion aka Seani Fool - the founder of Paganarchy Press and weaver of Liber Malorum is off to Haiti!

To find out why he is going, and follow his work over there please visit A Fool In Haiti. Please also look at his current list of sponsors, and please consider becoming a sponsor yoursel if in any way possible.

During his time away, sales of Liber Malorum will not take place via this website and you are directed to purchase your copy from other online sources...

Over on Facebook I was asked what are the 15 books that have most shaped who I am today. I filled it in there and have decided to repost it here onto my public blog. These are the books that have most monumentally changed the way I think and feel about the world at large (not in order):

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Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law.

Oh dear. I just had word that my first real occult teacher has passed to the other side and so I thought I'd write a few words to honour him, and my memory of my time under his tutelage.

Barry Salkilld, known as Frater C.D. was the founding member and Imperator (leader) of the Order of the Golden Phoenix, which was abbreviated into O.P.A. being the initials of the Latin name of the Order. Barry was a very headstrong man, down-to-earth yet noble to the point of being a damned annoying bastard at times.

I first came to the O.P.A. at age 21 on recommendation by a member of my family when I wanted to start investigating the unseen forces that existed in the world. I had been brought up vaguely Jewish but a strong curious mind soon had me testing and exploring other religious systems and traditions. It only took a couple of phone calls and soon I was off to the venue in Summer Hill known to me then only as The Abbey.

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The teasing hand hovers over the face,
Like a new galaxy spinning and twirling in space;
A new star is excited, about to be born,
Waiting to shine on its very first dawn.

Hovering star bright, twinkling at night,
Star holds its breath with all of its might,
And then the star bursts... light fills the dark
When the hand lands, it might leave a mark.

Feel mine lover's soft skin under my hand,
Watch gentle waves lick licking the sand;

I'm so full of love and yet feel all alone,
Hearing the wind and her high whispy tone;

I see in the sea the moon's sweet smile,
Teasing me; Dancing; and yet all the while...

...the smooth soft skin I feel flow through my hand
Is goddess Earth living in beach white sand.

Hmmm, have been offline for several days and need to vent some hot air. and cold air too, no doubt. and i'm sure there's fresh air in the mix; cool, intoxicating freshly fresh air.

i changed yesterday. i awoke in the morning the type of person who does not have any tattoos. i went to bed last night as the type of person who has a tattoo. getting it put on is a bit like a violent wand session. the wand was set to high and without the eroticism. well, i'm sure there are some erotic tattoo rituals but mine was from Inka, the tattoo shop in Brighton. tattoo pics will probably be uploaded soon. i love it!

i am poly. one of the last 'General BDSM' topic threads on my favourite website was entitled something like "would you cure your kink if you could?"... there's a big part of me that would like to cure my polyness. i'm really happy with my kinks, fetishes and capabilities. but polyness is a bit tougher. i guess being brought up in a large family where so many couples aspired to long term monogamy has programmed me to desire this in some way. and the thought of having a single partner-in-crime really is appealing sometimes. but it is not me. to pursue that would not be true to myself. and it didn't work out for anyone in my family either...

In the past 2 weeks i moved house, finished an IT contract in Bristol, exited a relationship and a theatre course i was doing came to a close. A very powerful time full of crossroad symbology and potential. A perfect time for a trip back to oz to visit friends, family, exes.

what is the plural of ex? exes? exs? can we create language as we go along? what is there to stop us?

the lady on my arm is a fool, a faerie, a minion of Eris (the Greek goddess of Chaos and all things random) and she looks really fucking hot in her stripey tights. stripey tights do it for me every time. that's a hint if you're going to date me.

dating. she is very beautiful this green-eyed wonder. beautiful, wise, fun-loving, intelligent, well-read, married, poly, left-handed. does she have stripey tights? only time will tell. but that's on the back-burner. oz first.

i have a new hard limit: i don't want to get involved with people addicted to emotion-stablising medications. from my outside perspective, i can only imagine that these things really restrict the depth a person can go to. BDSM, especially SM, is, for me, a powerful journey undertaken by various souls to discover more and more about the selves. don't these medications stop that voyage? don't they stop the uncovering and the revealing? i can only imagine that they limit the journey that is possible, and can't really stomach the thought of really journeying with someone who limits their journey in this way. real emotion is where the real power is. yet i guess i will remain open-minded about this to some degree. i love to be proved wrong. does loving to be proven wrong make me less of a dom? Ha!

My dommes include: the sea, the wind and the woods. Mistress Nicotina also has on-and-off control of me from time to time, but from her I try to escape. She sure is a all-pervading domme innit! Creeping up from behind, wanting me to kiss her, to sit on my face so that others may smell her sex on my breath. She comes to me when I least expect it and asks of me, "just one kiss?" but I know she wants more than that. She wants me body and soul. Can't we just be friends????

BDSM-wise: rape-play, fighting whilst fucking, resistance, interrogation and above all-else: defiance does it for me more and more. i am so much more into overpowering a defiant faerie using my mind, my body and my will than using ropes or other constraining devices. but i know these tools too have their place in this world.

oh, are you still here? i can't believe you read this far through all my random musings. big hugs to you! send me a 'hello' x x Sean

When John Denver first sang Shanghai Breezes, and I quote:

And the moon and the stars are the same ones you see

it's the same old sun up in the sky

And your voice in my ear is like heaven to me

like the breezes here in old Shanghai

he must have been staying on the outskirts of town. It is sad to say that because of the constant smog, there are no visible stars and I can't see the moon either. On Sunday, when she was full, there was not a speck of lunar love above this city due to the constant blanket of grey. I have come down with a nasty lurgy which is really quite sad as it really is dilapidating to the point that I can't muster the energy to get out there and explore during my spare time. gutted.

Well the good news is that my local area (west shanghai) is really wonderfully friendly, with loads of delicious food places and smiley people. I have learnt kung fu, and about 8 other chinese words.

My throat feels like some uber-domme (lady pinque?) has stuffed a handful of vacuum cleaner dust down it! congested and full of grey matter. I hope it'll clear out pretty smartly! My free time here is really limited what with a heavy work schedule.

Hopefully my lungs and throat will be clear tomorrow, just like the breezes here in old shanghai.

xx Sean

Update 1/May/2008: There will be another round of auditions in late June. Phone the number below if you are interested in working with the Nomadic Academy of Fools, or come see us in Brighton. I'll announce the details shortly.

People who know me personally will know I'm a part of the Nomadic Academy of Fools. Auditions for next year are taking place next week and so applications close this week.

See the attached email for more details and to get involved:

Applications for Jonathan Kay's Nomadic Academy of Fools closes this Friday 25th April

After a highly successful first year, applications are now being invited for the year beginning September 2008. For more information on the application process please go to www.jonathankay.co.uk and to apply please download and complete the form on the Nomadic Academy page.

NAF is a travelling centre of creativity with a unique approach to developing an invigorating and concentrated training that explores the relationship between the performer and the audience for people who have already developed a body of professional work in which they have regular contact with the audience and who are interested in developing and crafting this relationship.

The Academy is run by the Jonathan Kay, who draws from a tremendous range of skills and experience, but more importantly with an unparalleled enthusiasm, passion and commitment to the value of this work and its impact on the performer's work.

PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE CHANGED OUR NUMBER. FOR ENQUIRES PLEASE CALL JOYCE ON 01903 501 262

I have had a truly amazing year in the academy learning the art and science of the Fool. It's very challenging exploring some of the darker recesses of my inner world - and often exposing them to an audience. JK's Fooling system is a kind of cross between shamanism, improvised theatre, self-exploration and appreciation for the many archetypal forces that are with each of us all the time. The audience (both inner and outer) are perpetually of prime importance.

If this sounds interesting to you, please give Joyce a call on the number above.

The controversial legislation banning "extreme porn" will become law on May 9th, but there is still time to stop it. This law would stop me and my lover taking photos or films of ourselves in some of our favourite erotic positions - with a prison sentence of up to THREE years for possession of said photos. This new legislation makes no difference between consenting adults filming the BDSM fun, and actual acts of violence which is already illegal.

But there is movement and a growing wave of people opposing this thought-crime legislation. MPs and Lords are being lobbied and I urge you all to write to your MP to help put some sense back into this thing.

Full info on the Backlash UK website.

Watch Deborah Hyde from Backlash speak out the new legislation on youtube:

I was asked by a good friend why Liber Malorum is not yet on Amazon. This is what I told her.

The full story is this:

I was using lulu.com at first, before I registered for an ISBN and stuff, and I still use lulu for their lovely hardcover versions but they have nothing to do with my distribution to amazon.

I went to a local printer in cardiff and organised my print run of 1000. they cost me about 4 quid each. expenses add up to about 2 quid each so i called my cost price 6 quid.

i though, hey, i will need to make it double that price. [I assumed that it would cost that much to organise everything] so i put the RRP on to £12 quid. BIG MISTAKE!!! i hadn't done my research. as you might know, amazon (and many large chains) require a 60% discount on books... plus they expect me to pay for postage. effectively if i had my book on amazon i would be losing about 3 quid per copy!!! i registered Liber Malorum on Amazon and had to immediately withdraw because of this. [This is why it still says "temporarily out of stock"].

so in another window, i hooked up with a distributor AK Press. AK told me that Amazon were great to do business with, once it was set up and they were great at dealing with small independent presses and distributors. AK told me i should change the RRP to something manageable otherwise i would never get on Amazon - and i should do it sooner rather than later because it would be harder to change later. i figured out what was the minimum i could have the RRP for - it is now £14.99 (which coincidentally adds up to 23). that covers costs and i still make a few pennies if i end up posting books to amazon myself via royal mail. [As a side effect of this, the book is for sale at many different outlets all at different prices. happy bargain hunting!]

But amazon hasn't (yet) accepted the price change. well amazon said they will accept it, and they said my price change is being processed, but that was over a month ago, and they are a very hard organisation to talk to. i'm still waiting for the RRP to change on the site, and then i (or my distributor) can finally start placing books there. meanwhile, we are all waiting to see what happens and hopefully the amazon behemoth will finally get it together.

phew!

with that in mind, if you have any ideas i would love love love to hear them! i don't expect you to stand on your head or anything drastic! but feel free to if you think it will help

and are you doing distribution at the moment? if you are able to help me get Liber Malorum out there, either via distribution or clever ideas or contacts at amazon or friends in the spirit world then that would be really appreciated. all pointers and tips are very very graciously welcomed!

love and apples (and probably some chocolate blessings too) from sean

(ps - i will post this on my blog coz others might be wondering just the same thing you asked)

x x x

Yesterday was fantastic - I'm spending the Easter few days in and around Brighton, and when I heard that the White Owl posse was hosting a sweat lodge, I went along. I've had a sweat with this crew before, and it was intense. This time around, I went in feeling much more grounded and managed to hold my ground even during the most vicious and hot rounds.

For anyone who hasn't been to a sweat lodge, it is a kind of ceremonial sauna in which there are several rounds of ceremonial sweating. Basically rocks are heated on the fire, brought in to the blessed enclosed space and then splashed with water. It can get very hot in there! The more grounded I'm feeling, the more bearable the heat is though it is always a challenge in one way or another.

Yesterday's lodge was incredibly beautiful and cleansing. It's as if so many of my angsts and bothers are stored in my pores and there's nothing like a good old sweat to banish them. It's like a wicked magical cleansing and purifying ceremonial and I am feeling fantastic now! So next time you give me a call and I invite you to come get sweaty, you'll know what I'm talking about.

Sweaty hugs to all from Sean

I'm really surprised to see something like this in the Jerusalem Post:

The Palestinian Authority is planning to mark Israel's 60th anniversary by calling on all Palestinians living abroad to converge on Israel by land, sea and air.

The plan, drawn by Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah operative and Deputy Minister for Prisoners' Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, states that the Palestinians have decided to implement United Nations Resolution 194 regarding the refugees.

Article 11 of the resolution, which was passed in December 1948, says that "refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible."

The initiative is the first of its kind and is clearly aimed at embarrassing Israel during the anniversary celebrations by highlighting the issue of the "right of return" for the refugees.

I'm sure this will be embarrassing for the Zionist movement. It's turn the old Zionist call of the "Right of Return" to Israel on its head. And why wouldn't the Palestinians also have the right to live in the land where they grew up eh?

The rest of the article is over on the Jerusalem Post.

Sean

I've had a few sleepless nights this year, largely inspired by the excitement of having my book released, but also doing loads of geeky things such as clearing out DBs, upgrading servers and wiping drives.

One of the funny things going on now is the vast number of online booksellers claiming to sell Liber Malorum when it's blatantly impossible because they haven't got any! When I started PagAnarchy Press, I ordered 1000 prints of the book, 920 of which are yet to be distributed as I've still got them with me!

I think Nielsen Bookdata has something to do with it. As the ISBN propagates through the Bookdata network, retailers must automatically draw down that information and pass it on to their customers in order to make sales. I even saw one site advertising the book at a discount rate. Presumably they're gonna be asking me for that same discount? Who knows?

Another thing I notice is that some of the sites trying to sell Liber Malorum include Amazon in the UK, Germany, Japan and Canada, but strangely, the book hasn't yet appeared on the US site, amazon.com

A lot of people out there are writing and asking me where they can get the book - thanks for the encouragement! I'll let you know which retailers take it on as soon as I know.

And I've just decided I'm gonna start a new category on this blog about the book industry. [TaDa - here it is!] As I learn more about it, I'm sure that info will be useful to others out there.

xxx Sean

After several years of writing, editing, re-writing and re-editing, finally the book I've been working on is available! Initially, it's only on lulu.com but it will be in other places and in stores soon. Such an exciting day! Hope everyone reading this is feeling great!

You can see what I've done by clicking LIBER MALORUM: Children Of The Apple

Lots of love and apples to all of you xxxx Sean

Well there is a new love in my life. Wonderful! A beautiful sparkly pixie that I have been really good friends with for 2 years or more has ventured in and we danced the sacred dance, and spent the day on a magic beach in Devon. Wow! And here I was feeling forlorn about love lost and suddenly life feels so exciting again! No names yet, it is early days. Watch this space...

Why does it take so long to get over a broken heart? Surely it should be much easier than this. Why is it that when the brain knows so clearly that an ex is bad news and fucked up, that the heart simply can't hear that information? The heart simply ignores all common sense and logic and holds on to a ridiculous glimmer of hope. No wonder so many people ignore their hearts, ignore their spirits and turn into agents of greyface.

hmmm, 5 months since i last wrote? i haven't been on any direct actions and that was one of the main reasons for starting this blog.

But - watch this space - my book will be available soon. That is my big action for the year. keep your eyes out for it. It features some really wonderful authors, contributors, cameos and guests.

Love, Sean

A number of my friends and crew have asked me why I haven't blogged in ages, and here's a few of the reasons:

* I haven't been going on actions for about six months...

* I have completed the 1st draft of my book. I have been living in rural Surrey, on a farm for many months getting the book finished. Most of my spare time went into the book and not the blog.

* I started the blog as an attempt to share my life, inspired by people like Artemisia, who makes her life public. To be honest and make my life public is a form of activism. A few things appeared in my life that I couldn't be honest about with the world.

* I have been out of the fetish scene, the clown scene and the pagan scene as I weaved my book, which is about the fetish scene, the clown scene and the pagan scene.

* Spent several months, mostly whilst weaving the book in a celibacy/healing ritual using the CTG banishing (Eris/Eros/Iris/Pan), vipassana techniques and loads of sweat lodges. The celibacy is now over, I have been going to more fetish clubs in london, and I have some exciting and beautiful new people to play with. Lovely! Though I still have a space in my chest for the faerie who stole my heart.

* I am currently aiming for a beltaine book launch - speaking of which, I better get back to it!

xxx sean

Ooo errr,

Just found this video of a rather nutty rebel clown on a mission to find a fairy at the Shambala Festival in 2005.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUgod3BJzc0

A good mate of mine Cath Connolly is an amazing puppeteer - with a friend of hers she has produced this amazingly funny vid.

check it now

Usually the Fool's dark side is the malicious clown, the buffoon or sinister trickster who plays trickery tricks on people that can, on occasion, end up with the people being hurt. Most people certainly learn a lot from encountering the dark jester! SHe has many occult tricks up hir sleeve to outwit the unaware; to awaken the sleepy or poke fun at authority. The objective of the dark jester is not to hurt, but to ridicule in order to teach. Speaking the plain truth, devoid of attachment can often hurt whoever you're talking about.

But that's not what this rant is about. This rant is about the dark emotional inside of the fool. As SHe moves about the world encountering people, delighting them, tricking them and having fun with them, the fool also falls in love very easily. As easily as stepping off a cliff. Trusting in the universe and believing it will all be fine in the end. For a fool falling in love is as easy as dancing in the rain. Can you do that?

Well I danced in the rain and fell off the cliff - I fell in love with completely the wrong person - and now my darkness is churning churning churning with the bitter pain of being heart-broken... once again... so soon after sushi... Love hits hard, but falling off this cliff and feeling the rush of the earth as it zooms up towards me is even harder.

Oh to be rid of the Fool and to be a normal conservative straight-man like most of the people in the world. Oh if only my life would be simple and boring. If only I didn't care about the world. If only if only if only. I would have one partner, female, and I would have my life and future mapped out before me. I wouldn't think about climate change, corporate greed or the right to express myself. I'd probably watch sport, read the mainstream press and wank over the next release of whatever programming language is hot this week. I wouldn't fall in love because I would hardly even be aware of my emotions except when somebody hit a home run or scored a goal. I would block all emotions out and never ever cry. Never cry. Never.

But no... That's not me. I'm crying now see.

Instead I tread the crooked and windy path of the Fool. As well as joyful peaks, I must also learn to explore the emotional darkest pits. As well as the full celebration of life and lust, I have to fully feel the power of despair and anguish. And right now I must learn to deal with the intense pain and anguish of heart-break. A lesson hard to learn and a pain hard to embrace time after time ... after time ... after time ... after time ... after time ... after time ...

"You can walk a step ahead of me,
but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm following you"
- Sahara Piksie

Here's a secret: This fool's power lies in experiencing the emotional world within and without as much as possible; living with a willingness to express all joy and pain when it arises; and living life to it's full potential by singing and dancing to imagined love songs in the rain. Now there's the fools challenge - can you do that?

[Disclaimer: I have tried to make light of last week's experience in Strathclyde Police cells but this in no way reflects the serious torment I, and my fellow G8 protestor detainees experienced. I wrote the following as my clown whilst actually in the cells and the act of writing was therapeutic for me during an intensely dehumanising experience.]

On the weekend of July 8th through July 11th, I was a very lucky clown as I was invited to the Strathclyde Police Slumber Party! I got the invitation because I hugged a fairy during a street parade. "Oh What Joy" I thought to my little clown self, excitedly anticipating party food, party games and new friends!

We did indeed play many games. I think the favourite was "Wake Up Everybody! Wake Up!" We really liked that game so much that we played it about 70 times over the weekend... Every hour on the hour "Wake Up Everybody!" It was great!

Another game we played was called "Please Sir, Can I have some more?" We played that a lot too. Whenever we wanted a glass of water or a sheet of toilet paper we played this exciting game.

All weekend we played party games and we even played tricks on each other. They played a lot of tricks on me. One trick they liked to play was "Dinner Time"... This trick involved telling me it was "Dinner Time" but instead of bringing me dinner, they brought "gloopy poopy". A very clever trick I thought. Of course, I knew it was a party trick and I didn't eat it.

When I was a young clown I onced played a trick on my clown friend. This trick involved hiding my friends clothes behind the washing machine when he was in the bath. My friend had to look for a whole 10 minutes before he found his trousers!! I think the Strathclyde police liked this trick too because they took Dr Kramer's clothes off him (except his underwear). They hid his clothes so well that he didn't get to find them the whole time we were at the slumber party!

Speaking of hiding things, one of the favourite games was "hide and seek"...Everyone played this game really well! In fact I didn't see any of the other guests at the slumber party for the whole 3 days I was there!

I must say, there were a couple of things that I didn't understand that are different from a normal slumber party. For example when my cousin had his party we all slept in the same room. But at Strathclyde Police slumber party we each had to sleep in our own room! They have a very big house you see... My room was called "Isolation Unit C, Cell 5."

Also, I wish they had told us to bring our own sheets and pillows because they didn't have any of their own but they did give me a feral duvet... Hmm, come to think of it they didn�t have any beds either. Hey maybe they had furniture too, but I didn�t see that either! Oh they do hide things ever so well.

It was a fun slumber party and I can still hear the policeman's voice saying "Wake Up Everybody! Wake Up!" ringing in my ears. I shall write to them and my solicitor friends and tell them about what a fun slumber party it was and how they could make it more fun the next time.

Bye For Now!

Major Hassles