Category Archives: hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based)

Joseph Laycock: Religious Dimensions of the Otherkin Community

February 29th, 2012 | Posted in hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), Joseph Laycock, Otherkin

Joseph Laycock has written a new article that explores the Otherkin. “We Are Spirits of Another Sort: Ontological Rebellion and Religious Dimensions of the Otherkin Community” By Joseph P. Laycock, PhD Nova Religio – The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions February 2012, Vol. 15, No. 3, Pages 65-90 Purchase Article: http://www.jstor.org/pss/10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.65 Abstract: Otherkin are […]

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Donald Tyson: The Dream World of H. P. Lovecraft

March 21st, 2011 | Posted in H. P. Lovecraft, horror, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), occult, occulture, Western esotericism

H.P. Lovecraft is one of the most influential writers on contemporary horror. As such, he has been the focus of a number of biographies, including H. P. Lovecraft: A Life by S. T. Joshi (Necronomicon press, 1996), and the documentary Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown, directed by Frank Woodward. More recently, a new biography has […]

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Chapter on Matrixism in Forthcoming Handbook of Hyper-Real Spiritualities

November 18th, 2010 | Posted in Adam Possamai, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), Jediism, Matrixism

I recently heard from Adam Possamai, editor of the Handbook of Hyper-Real Spiritualities (Brill, forthcoming), that my essay on Matrixism was accepted. It is titled “’A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries’: Matrixism, New Mythologies, and Symbolic Pilgrimages.” I am privileged to be a part of a number of top-notch contributors on […]

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Teen Werewolves: From the Silver Screen to America’s Schools

May 30th, 2010 | Posted in hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), Otherkin, werewolf

I came across an interesting item at the science fiction website io9 with a post titled “Teens pretending to be werewolves.” You will see the news report out of San Antonio, Texas accompanying this post that describes a group of teens who identify with werewolves and gather in groups they call packs. When I came […]

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The Church of Jediism and Religious Conflict in the Workplace

March 21st, 2010 | Posted in Adam Possamai, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), Jediism, pop culture, science fiction

While catching up on various blogs and websites dealing with the fantastic in the blogosphere I came across a news item at SF Gospel. It touched on a conflict between a religious group and an employer on appropriate attire in the workplace. What sets this conflict apart from others that have taken place in the […]

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HBO’s True Blood: Viral Marketing and Fact-Fiction Reversals

June 14th, 2009 | Posted in hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), True Blood, vampire

A recent article in religion dispatches, “True Blood: When Marketing Goes For the Jugular,” by Joseph Laycock, author of Vampires Today: The Truth About Modern Vampires (Praeger, 2009), describes an interesting scenario where the lines between horror fiction and popular culture were blurred, and for some, obliterated. Laycock discusses the hit HBO series True Blood, […]

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CSI: Astro Quest Parody and Homage

April 17th, 2009 | Posted in Astro Quest, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), science fiction, Star Trek

Last night’s episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled “A Space Oddity,” provided another example of why it is one of the best programs on television, and why CSI is the best of the three programs in the CSI franchise. Unlike CSI: Miami and CSI: New York, CSI incorporates a spectrum of approaches to crime […]

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The Otherkin: Fantastic Texts, Pop Culture, and Neo-Religiosity

September 17th, 2008 | Posted in Adam Possamai, cultures, fantasy, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), Jediism, Matrixism, myths, Neo-Paganism, occulture, Otherkin, pop culture

At times the lines between fact and fiction are blurred when it comes to the fantastic in popular culture and identification with the various characters and creatures that inhabit it. At times the lines are not so much blurred as they are dissolved. Christopher Partridge speaks of “fact-fiction reversals” that exist, and that as a result […]

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Adam Possamai: Jediism, Matrixism and “Hyper-Real” Spiritualities

October 31st, 2007 | Posted in Adam Possamai, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), Jediism, Matrixism

It is no surprise to readers of this blog that I have a great personal interest in the enjoyment and exploration of the fantastic in literature, film, and television, and that I believe these forms of contemporary mythos also provide us with important tools and forms for spiritual expression and exploration as well. In my […]

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