Adam and Pooka discuss Algernon Blackwood’s fiction, his occult interests, his fascination with nature, and what his stories can teach Mage: The Ascension Storytellers about the sublime, supernatural uncertainty, spirits, Correspondence, Awakening, and psychological horror.
Show Notes
- Mage 20 SRD
- Blackwood, the Golden Dawn, and psychical research
- Why “The Willows” remains influential weird fiction
- The sublime as a tool for Mage
- Correspondence and “A Victim of Higher Space”
- Magical instruments in “A Psychical Invasion”
- Hermetic magic in “Smith: An Episode in a Lodging House”
- Reincarnation and “Ancient Sorceries”
- Psychic vampirism and “The Transfer”
- Sleepers encountering the supernatural
- Playing Awakening instead of relegating it to backstory
- Using wilderness settings in Mage and “The Wendigo”
- Psychological horror without Nephandi or cosmic monsters
- Mystical isolation, obsession, and chantries
- Using Sphere perceptions to generate story hooks
- Why Blackwood may feel especially appropriate for Mage: The Ascension (Second Edition)
A note on the 1910 wilderness novella
The episode discusses Blackwood’s use of material drawn from Algonquin-speaking Indigenous cultures while distinguishing his Edwardian weird fiction from the living traditions he transformed.
📄 Transcript of Reality Deviants Book Club: Algernon Blackwood
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