DATURA: AN ANTHOLOGY OF ESOTERIC POESIS ed. Ruby Sara

Datura: Explorations in Esoteric Poesis is an elegant collection comprising the work of 26 leading poets from the occult and pagan communities, accompanied by six essays on the agony and ecstasy of the creative process.

The lady of moth and moon unfurls her shy and deadly petals. These navigators of the midnight sea – occultists and poets and devotees seeking after that which seduces them – are familiar with the dream of intoxication that follows her scent. She is the woman in the song, the night-blooming narcotic, gorgeous and strange. She is the horned blossom, the guardian of the threshold, the keeper of madness.

This collection includes recognised major poets, we are indebted in particular to Penelope Shuttle for her contribution and that of Peter Redgrove. From triadic rubaiyat to sestina, acrostic, lyric, free verse and praise hymn this is poetry in full flower.

Datura contains modern published poets alongside new writers whose work shows them strong enough to keep such company. This is a literate and narcotic text which will inspire both ritual practice and further incursions into living poetry.

Ruby Sara writes: ‘for me there truly is no difference on a metaphysical level between poetry and magick – they are the same movement, and you cannot have true magick without poetry (or true poetry without magick). Poetry is the language of magick, it is magick given voice and form. On a practical level, the human voice is a critical instrument in various manner of spellcraft, as is language … history bears this out thoroughly I think… and in my experience, spellcraft is hugely enhanced by applying to it the music and rhythm and articulate beauty of invocative, resonant poetry.’