The Witching-Other
Explorations & Meditations on the Existential Witch
by Peter Hamilton-Giles
To propose there is something ‘other’ to the witch might seem counter-intuitive, especially so since conjugating the witch into witching suggests particular agentive actions and decisions have already been made about the topic. One where the action of witching is then further hyphenated with the other must then result in increasing this level of obfuscation to new heights. Yet in Peter Hamilton-Giles’ most explorative book to date he suggests by explicating The Witching-Other, a wholly new and more profound way for understanding the witch is revealed, one which opens up the possibility for establishing an altogether more intimate and innovative relationship. This has the potential to liberate the witch icon from the shackles of history and practitioner narratives, and because of this Hamilton-Giles has preferred to concentrate on metaphysical absences than physical presences. Why this is an important re-directive proposition is that it allows individuals to move towards creating an identity which does not necessarily rely on historical location or accounts alone, but rather looks to the person’s ability to unfix or unsettle the taken for granted so as to discover progressive ways for developing a new rationale about the witch.
The Witching-Other concentrates on how witchcraft, and in particular the archetypal Witch, are used as conduits for understanding that which remains remote to us. Historical records and the workings of practitioners are inordinately connected to what is available. This book contends that what we read, see, experience only takes us so far when trying to comprehend the witch, and that there is something else dwelling beyond the veil, a daemonic intelligence compelling us to approach the witch with an already pre-scribed fascination. Accordingly, the Witching-Other appears as the absence of what is considered to be present. This sense of absence resonates with the associated silences contained within narratives, or the lack in descriptive quality, but once realised the witch becomes something more than the category to which she or he has been assigned.
Empowering the attributes of witchcraft, this explorative journey takes the reader down a path of reflection which leads to endorsing the contingency of the metaphysical and it is through this process that The Witching-Other becomes the quintessential emanation of Otherness. How we then relate the witch to ourselves is one where the grounds for engagement are exposed to scrutiny. From this position Hamilton-Giles proposes that any undertaking to know more must involve the candidate grasping the extent of division between being in the world and that of the Other. As a metaphysical emanation the Witching-Other encapsulates all that cannot be contained or limited by definition. In this way, the witch becomes more than a witch, while witching or similar agentive practices become more than a conjuration. Instead by acknowledging the Witching-Other the practitioner and researcher alike are confronted by unfathomable opportunities for expanding the way they come to know about the witch.
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
The Witching-Other: Explorations and Reflections on the Existential Witch
CHAPTER 2
Esoteric Hermeneutics and the Witching-Other
CHAPTER 3
Imagining the Witch
CHAPTER 4
The Opening
Bibliography
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Illustrated by Carolyn Hamilton-Giles.
Standard Hardcover Edition - Limited to 891 copies
160 pages. Forest green cloth-bound hardcover with embossing to front cover. Evergreen colourset dust jacket with red and gold foil block to front, back and spine. Head and tail bands, Napura endpapers bordering 100 gram munken cream paper, green ribbon bookmark.
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Press, reviews, endorsements
“The history of occult literature is one of retelling the same tales over and over. From folkloric story narratives to endlessly copied grimoires of practical instruction the occult tends to hold onto its past like a precious garb, one that it feels is necessary to its cause, yet may be wholly superfluous.
In that history there are rare jewels of original thought, works that, instead of recycling old claims and rituals, push the narrative of occult scholarship and thinking forward. Authors who, in their own quest for understanding, ask questions that are original and attempt answers that do not draw from the well of previous ideology…
The Witching-Other has few predecessors in occult literature to draw easy comparisons. It is a work of philosophical inquiry, not an history, nor a collection of folklore, not a set of practical instructions. Instead is is a mature work of occult philosophy that explores the relationship a practitioner has to the nature of the “witch”, that cultural image that is so firmly engrained in the visual and linguistic paradigm of 21st century western culture…
The Witching-Other is a profound work in the best way, one I will find myself reading again in the near future as I come to its questions from different angles in an attempt to suss out its ideas in full. Hamilton-Giles is a philosopher witch, bringing an English temperament to an otherwise unexplored terrain of existential occult inquiry.”
The Skeptical Occultist - read the full review here
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About the Author
Peter Hamilton-Giles is an author and researcher of the esoteric, academically trained in anthropology and religious studies his primary interest is in occult philosophy. He is co-founder of the Dragons’ Column along with Andrew Chumbley. His first book was The Afflicted Mirror published by Three Hands Press in 2013, this was followed by The Baron Citadel also published by Three Hands Press in 2015, since then he has written many books for Atramentous Press, his first was The Witching-Other published in 2017 which was followed by Standing at the Crossroads in 2018. He is currently working on the long anticipated follow up to the Dragon Book of Essex (A. D. Chumbley, 2014), the Book of the Black Dragon Series. His primary interests are in Phenomenology and Hermeneutics and how these apply to an occult context.
About the Artist
Carolyn Hamilton-Giles is a self-taught artist and has had her work featured in a number of Three Hands Press titles, these include the journal Clavis, The Baron Citadel, Witch-Ikon, The Witching-Other, as well as being included in a THP art exhibition in Los Angeles in 2011. Using techniques such as automatic drawing and trance induced separation, Carolyn has created a unique form of art that has included creating covers for Atramentous Press books.
