Infernal Geometry - bibliography notes
21 June 2020
When I originally prepared the bibliography for Infernal Geometry and the Left-Hand Path, I included notes about many of the works explaining their significance to Angular Magic and the book in general. I find this sort of annotation to be useful, because many times it’s not obvious why a particular book is cited, or easy to determine which other books should be more or less important to read as supplementary material. The Temple of Set’s reading list (an older version of which can be found Dr. Aquino’s two volume set The Temple of Set) gives short descriptions of all works...
read moreGrailstone
20 January 2020
Flegetanis the heathen saw With his own eyes in the constellations things He was shy to talk about, Hidden mysteries that trembling revealed it: He said that there was a thing called the Grail, Whose name he had read clearly in the constellations. Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival
read moreThe Polarian Method
09 September 2019
The Polarian Method — as codified by Dr. Stephen Edred Flowers — is a primary tool for the recreation of traditional systems. (See his essay “How to Be a Heathen” for an example of the type of work from which this Method arose.)
read moreBio From an Upcoming Conference
01 June 2018
Toby Chappell is a musician and writer currently residing in Georgia. He has been enamored with the esoteric and the strange for as long as he can remember, pursuing these as gateways into unraveling the mysteries of existence and self-awareness.
read moreYour First Thought Is Rarely Your Best
19 February 2018
https://fs.blog/2018/02/first-thought-not-best-thought/
read moreThe Origins of My path
05 February 2018
My path to the Temple of Set could be summed up as: Teenage metalhead in the Deep South discovers Satanism, and imagines his favorite bands are really in league with the Prince of Darkness. Later finds out that for 99.99% of them it’s just a marketing gimmick, but thinks there might be something to this Satan thing anyway. Eventually discovers the truth is much deeper and stranger than he ever imagined.
read moreWords Run Amok
09 September 2014
[Note: This is an old post (ca. 2014) which is nonetheless resonant with my goals for this blog, so I’m republishing it here.]
read moreRegrouping
08 February 2014
I woke up one morning, took an unbiased look around my room, and realized that you’d be hard pressed to recognize me as much of a minimalist based on its appearance alone.
read moreEyes of Ligeia Remanifests
07 December 2013
After a 6+ year hiatus, I’ve began making new music that I intend to release as Eyes of Ligeia, continuing somewhat in the atmospheric doom (with touches of black metal) style of 2004’s What the Moon Brings. (Excellent reviews of that CD can be read at http://doom-metal.com/reviews.php?album=623 and http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Eyes_of_Ligeia/What_the_Moon_Brings/44661/). To this style I am adding some of the electro-acoustic ambience from my Misdreamt project which has been where most of my musical output has come from the last 2-3 years (more at http://misdreamt.bandcamp.com).
read moreConnected?
30 June 2013
On July 2, the new Misdreamt CD, Apophenia -or- The Final Static That Can Never Be Removed, will be released digitally (via Bandcamp), and in a limited edition hand-drawn CD version. There will be a more widely available physical release soon after.
read moreA Long Absence
06 March 2013
It has been quite a while since I’ve posted… and during that time I’ve spent a lot of time struggling to maintain the simpler, less cluttered life I had finally attained.
read morePerformance at HoneyWine Hollow House Concert
02 August 2012
HoneyWine Holllow is hosting their second annual house concert, featuring Toby Chappell (guitar, composer), Lucy Ralston (double bass), Anthony Barrese (piano, composer), Alison Moore (clarinet), and Elizebeth Tong (bassoon).
read moreThe Sound of One Bag Traveling
12 June 2012
I’m currently on a business trip in Boston, arriving Monday afternoon and leaving Saturday afternoon.
read moreNot Averse, Just Wary
21 February 2012
I have finally bottomed out for now on the number of possessions and attachments that I feel I actually need.
read morePickman's Model
28 December 2011
Over the last year, my efforts to transform my living spaces have been a reflection of my own path of change pushed on me from both within and beyond myself. During this time, I was literally living in a side room in a friend’s basement, with the rest of my possessions stored in the main basement. I have since shed the vast majority of what I moved into her house with (inspired by, but transcending, preparing to move somewhere else a month ago). I took that impulse of “Why do I have all this stuff?” everyone has at such times,...
read moreNearing a Milestone
22 November 2011
Over the last month, since I decided to move and began to cull my physical possessions in earnest, I have given away or sold about 90% of my possessions in terms of number of items (CDs, DVDs, and books inflate that overall number quite a bit, of course).
read moreA Problem of Privilege
14 November 2011
The need for trimming down the unnecessary possessions in life is a problem of privilege. The notion that one can, and more importantly has the opportunity to, accumulate too much stuff is only really possible in a consumerist society. But, not everyone within such a society has to hold the same values and goals.
read moreTrimming Down - Not Just For Home Anymore
06 November 2011
As I’ve worked to shed my life of the unnecessary (especially in terms of physical objects), I’ve been wrestling with how to apply that outside the space that is easiest for me to control (my living space).
read moreWhat To Leave When Tearing Everything Down
18 October 2011
This is a new experiment for me: I’ve blogged before, rather sporadically, about my various musical exploits ( http://motiondemon.blogspot.com ), but have always done it in fits and starts (usually around the time a show or CD come out, when I expect to have some new visitors).
read moreSeeing the Forest for the Trees
18 October 2011
I first began to be seriously interested in shedding the unnecessary ‘things’ in my life when moving last November. I was moving somewhere temporary, of unknown duration, after splitting with my wife. A couple of boxes at a time, over the next several months I packed up and moved the things I had accumulated over the last 18 years since initially moving away from my parents, and most of the boxes ended up in the basement where I was staying. Unexamined, unfiltered, unprocessed, unvetted.
read moreMusical Consolidation
18 September 2011
I have made the tentative decision to retire the Saturnin Sektor moniker and fold that project into Misdreamt as the catchall for my musical explorations.
read moreAftermath of the First Misdreamt Performance
12 September 2011
Friday night’s Misdreamt show went really well… the crowd was, how should I say, sparser than expected (possibly a casualty of the first bit of exceptionally comfortable evening weather in Atlanta in quite some time). But, the music seemed to go over extremely well and I’m sure this will be the foundation for further performances, and this proof of concept showed that the combination of film and live music (prerecorded electronics, live guitar) works very well.
read moreMisdreamt First Performance
11 April 2011
The first official live performance for Misdreamt will take place on September 9, 2011 at Kavarna Coffeehouse in Decatur, GA. This performance will be part of the City Skies electronic music series, and will be the opening performance for their Fall ‘11 schedule.
read morePerformance of "Faust" (1926) Soundtrack
20 February 2011
I will be performing a new original soundtrack for the 1926 silent film Faust (directed by F.W. Murnau of Nosferatu fame). The performance will take place at the German Cultural Center at Colony Square in Atlanta on March 5th.
read moreMy Fifteen Most Significant Albums
29 August 2010
There is a meme floating around the interwebs (and the Facebooks) about listing 15 personally significant albums (and optionally the reason[s] for choosing them). There have been a number of albums which have completely changed my idea of what music could/should be, and here is a glimpse into how my tastes have changed over the years. These are not necessarily still my favorite albums, but they all still show up in various ways in either the music I create or listen to.
read morePerformance of "The Bone Season"
11 May 2008
“The Bone Season” will be part of a sound diffusion recital by Adam Scott Neal at the Sonic Arts Research Center in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The audience will be completed enveloped by the vast 40.6 surround sound system, and some may even live to tell about it.
read more