Is there something inherently magical about poetry? Spells: 21st-Century Occult Poetry argues forcefully in the affirmative. Yes, there is power in the naming of things. Yes, the rhythms and repetitions of poetry are akin to incantations.
An anthology edited by Sarah Shin and Rebecca Tamás, Spells is the first publication of the new esoteric press Ignota Books, which “publishes at the intersection of technology, myth-making and magic”. (Ignota's other publications are a 2019 diary “filled with historically significant magical and sacred dates from around the world”, and a print edition of the academic paper that first devised Bitcoin.) As Shin and Tamás insist in the book's promotional materials: “Spells are poems; poetry is spelling.”
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