Tinnitus Retraining, FM Radio Static, The International Necronautical Society & Aleister Crowley

Probably the least trivial error to have found its way into the “Rorschach Audio” book appears on page 182, which should recommend that tinnitus sufferers should “not seek out excessive quiet”, but that they should instead try to “search for and create gently noisy environments”, by, for instance, (when preparing for sleep) “playing very quiet FM radio static or gentle white noise in the bedroom at night”. The correction here is the addition of the term “FM”, as FM radio static is more smoothly continuous and less troubled by interference, whereas AM static is much more prone to the kind of atmospheric electrical noise which may produce abrupt, unexpected sounds and possibly therefore wake-up listeners at night. Apologies for the mistake.

Also in relation to the same book, one point that’s been raised a couple of times now is the issue of whether or not the man who described himself as “The Great Beast 666” was (as the book says, on page 105) a “Satanist”? It goes without saying that the less than one half of one sentence that “Rorschach Audio” dedicates to Aleister Crowley could never really do justice to the broad sweep of any individual’s life, nonetheless, the following quotes should put the issue in perspective…

“I was not content to believe in a personal devil and serve him, in the ordinary sense of the word. I wanted to get hold of him personally and become his Chief of Staff” – The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, chapter 5, 1929

“I bind my blood in Satan, All that lieth betwixt my hands, To thee, the Beast, and thy control, I pledge me; body, mind and soul” – Aleister Crowley, Satanic Extracts

Another (small) error of omission that’s emerged is that a reference (on page 121) to a publication describing EVP research by Konstantin Raudive and Friedrich Jürgenson as work of (quote) “the scientist”, should be sourced as referring to page 3 of the “Calling All Agents” pamphlet by Tom McCarthy, published by The International Necronautical Society and Vargas Organisation (with funding from The Arts Council) in 2003. The pamphlet also documents contributions to the INS project from Jane Lewty, Heath Bunting, John Cussans, Zinovy Zinik, Manu Luksch, Mukul Patel and Cerith Wyn Evans. Even though much of the INS project was clearly intended to be tongue-in-cheek, nonetheless their booklet reveals underlying assumptions, and (as referred to on page 95 of the “Rorschach Audio” book) the sleevenotes to the Sub Rosa record label’s “Konstantin Raudive” CD also refer to the eponymous EVP researcher as “the Baltic scientist Konstantin Raudive” (emphasis added), but (as the book shows) there is nothing remotely “scientific” about any of the research conducted by Raudive or Jürgenson.