Occult

Unto Arcadia: A Living Future

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In 2023 I encountered the Hexorian movement.  If you’re not familiar with it (and you may not be) it’s from the freeform “Chaos” magic school, focusing on the idea of a god of cities, Hexorius.  A diety of the undercurrents and foundations, Hexorius had a powerful effect on those involved in the movement – suggesting not something created but something deeper and primal.

I took to these ideas because it’s apparent that cities are living things, and because of my own interest in genius loci.  However, the Hexorians also followed other dieties, other faces of Hexorius or a Power behind all of them.  One was Valdas, the god that took on those who explored the city, but most fascinating to me was Arcadia.

Arcadia was a deity or ideal of a City To Be.  A sorcerous solarpunk future, where man, magic, and nature were in balance, a place for everyone.  She was a roadmap, a goal – and a goddess at the same time.  A living future.

Though Hexorian magic and practices appealed to me based on previous experience, this issue resonated hard with me, and I wanted to explore what it says here.

Utopian dreams are nothing new to humanity – nor is their failure.  Someone is always trying to build a utopia, and someone always has a plan, hoping to build a bright future on failed ones.  In some cases, utopia seems to involve getting rid of a lot of people who don’t fit the blueprint.  Other ideas of utopia live only as abstract plans, turning into something else when released into reality.

The idea of Arcadia a future regarded as alive, an idea I approve of as noted in my other writings.  Arcadia isn’t a blueprint or an outline, but a goal of a future that was organic, balanced, a living thing, a god.  It’s something you form a relationship with, not follow a checklist.

Be our practices mystical or not, the idea that the future is alive is critical to our own survival.  We’re not going to hammer the future we want into place – the world and all in it are alive and complex, and nothing we do will change that.*  We have to form a relationship with the future in order to have the one we want – or have one at all.


The future has to be treated as a living thing just to acknowledge the sheer size of it all and how connected it is to everything.  To think of it in mechanical ways is to miss this.

It’s not much of a leap to regard the future as a god.  Perhaps, from a mystical point of view, a very rational approach.  As I note – again and a gain – I find the idea of a god to be useful if nothing else.  The universe is big and compex.

(Of course, in this interlinked world, it’s not that hard to imagine a future as literally alive, manifesting through us.)

Thus in my daily observations, I sometimes close by saying “Unto Arcadia.”  A way to acknowledge the living future we can aim for.  Because our future, no matter how you think of it, will be like a living thing.

In fact, if we don’t recognize an organic future, we might not have one.  Arcadia may be our only choice.

Unto Arcadia.

– Xenofact

* Well, if humanity wipes itself and all life on Earth out we might change it.  But that’s not a future of survival for us.

For some Hexorian resources please refer to:

  • https://dkmu.org/ – The web page of the originators of Hexorian work, the DKMU.
  • #OpGrimoire – A grimoire of Hexorian work, containing some of the resources on the DKMU website.

Magical Experiment: The Spirit of Bookstores

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Having decided to share some of my esoteric experiments, I wanted to share a fun and practical one – contacting the spirit of bookstores.

Let me reiterate my previous statements about gods, spirits, and the like.  They are a useful concept that lets us interact with the universe by acknowledging its complexity, living nature, and complex systems.  I do believe there is “something there” but know that like any relationship some of it is what I bring to the situation.

Now with that said, let me move on to my experiment!

I love bookstores and especially love used bookstores.  Many is the time I’ve found some life-changing book or wondrous weird tome that sent my life in better and more interesting directions.  Most bookstores have a kind of magic, anyway, so why not work some real magic with them?

Inspired by Patrick Dunn’s “Divine Magic” and previous experience, I decided to form relationships with spirits of bookstores I was fond of.  They had provided me useful books, so why not reach out to them in a more personal way and form a relationship!

The path I followed was simple:

  1. Take a coin as a gift.  I prefer quarters.
  2. Enter the store and wander around.  Speak to the store mentally, thanking it, acknowledging it, and saying you want to develop your relationship.  You may also acknowledge relevant literature/writing gods.
  3. Leave the coin in some out of the way place.  I slipped it behind some books or down a shelf.  Note this gift and state your goal to build and grow a friendship.
  4. Visit the store when you can and simply talk to it.  Tell it’s what up, ask how it’s doing.  Bookstores are rife with synchronicity potential, and you may find answers appearing in covers, displays, and more.  Speak to the store and see what happens to come up or catch your eye.
  5. Support the store when you can.  Buy something, sell your books there, clean up a disordered shelf.  This is a relationship.
  6. See what happens at the store, what books you find, and what messages seem to appear.

So what happened in my experiments!

Bookstore One – A used bookstore I’m fond of.  After the invocation I’ve had several interesting synchronicities/communications but also found some very rare books.  We’re talking books I’ve never seen sold off, one of them extremely rare.  The store has been a great source of books for other projects and for walking around having “conversations via synchronicities.”

Bookstore Two – A used bookstore I like, but I never felt we “clicked.”  I decided to visit and walk around, chatting with the store’s spirit and hoping to connect.  I stepped outside a bit, and suddenly saw a poster for a book that fit one of my other projects.  Dashing inside I discovered not just the book but a load of other relevant material I hadn’t appreciated.  Since then we’ve just “felt” more connected.  The store has it’s own focus, it seems.

Bookstore Three – Yet another used bookstore that I had some great findings at.  This relationship feels pretty chill, and it’s a great place to walk around, have a mental conversation, and ride synchronicities.  This store seems to be good at “ask what you what, you can find something.”

Bookstore Four – A corporate bookstore.  When I did the ritual it felt very confined, afraid, restrained.  I walked around during the ritual chatting with it – and ended up with a shelf staring at a book I’d been wanting to get (and not a common one).  I had the sensation of someone glad for the attention.

Now of course some of what went on was clearly my interpretation – as in any relationship.  The unusual books I found were very appropriate to my works and in most cases, very rare and unlikely.  The synchronistic “conversations” were usually insightful.  My take is “something was definitely up.”

If you try this experiment – and I hope you do, bookstores are wondrous – some advice:

Do not force conversations.  Talk to the spirit of the store and see what response comes up in synchronicities, books you find, or those moments something “happens.”

Be a friend and partner.  Respect the store, buy from it, sell books at it, etc.  It’s a relationship.

I hope you do decide to try these experiments.  Let me know – who knows what we might try in the future?