I picked up Richard Ward’s Echoes from the Primal Grimoire: Kenneth Grant, H.P. Lovecraft and Magical Reality in the Quantum Universe (published by Von Zos) from Treadwells Bookshop just the other day, so unfortunately haven’t yet had a proper look at it. I was acquainted with Richard many years ago, and was aware of his interest in Lovecraftian occultism; he was also a participant in Andrew Collins’ psychic questing activities (Collins is perhaps better known today for his involvement in the alternative archaeology scene). I’m not sure how well-known psychic questing is outside of the UK, where Collins’ The Black Alchemist - the supposedly true account of Collins and his associates’ attempts to psychically combat a powerful black magician bent on evoking dark forces, culminating in the ‘Great Storm of 1987’ (when the UK was hit by a hurricance) - was something of a minor hit (as well as stirring up some controversy in the occult scene). In any case, The Black Alchemist is a cracking read, and has a bit of a Lovecraftian feel to it. I also recall one occasion when Richard intimated that his involvment in psychic questing had, in fact, led in a Lovecraftian/Cthulhu Mythos-inflected direction; somewhat ominously, he refused to say anymore regarding the matter - and if an account of those events exist it has, as far as I am aware, yet to see print.
On a final note: whilst I’ve yet to read Richard’s monograph in its entirety, a brief scan of some of the early sections has, nonetheless, indicated that the historic influence of a certain hidden occult sodality continues to resonate into the present.
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