Reviews & Accolades for Arcanum
Peter Hamilton-Giles
Author of The Baron Citadel, The Witching-Other, Standing at the Crossroads and The Black Dragon Series.
Daniel Yates has cut a niche for himself through his use of the eye and the camera. An occultist and existentialist with the aesthetic appeal of one who sees where others fail, places Yates at the very pinnacle of expressive modern esoteric art forms. He surmounts the vagaries of mundanity by applying an eviscerating scythe and thereby is able to read through the eye of the lens the augury of the fallen and the hidden track beneath.
Peter Mark Adams
Author of Game of Saturn and Mystai
An intriguing & enigmatic work that defies conventional categorisation creating fresh perspectives on the meaning of 'the esoteric' even as it pushes the boundaries of one's awareness into accommodating a richer, deeper perception of reality .... highly recommended. Arcanum is unique.
Frater Acher
Author of the Holy Daimon trilogy, Goetic Atavism, Clavis Goetica and Trutmezzer
With Arcanum Anathema Publishing have accomplished precisely that: a release that comes across so smooth and silken it will make an unassuming treasure wherever you choose to place it in your house. So I humbly suggest you get your own copy – and yet that you do not push it into the tight ranks of your crowded magical library. Instead, let it lie openly. Let it lie patiently, touched by nightlight and touched by daylight. For one day you will find yourself (or a friend?) sitting right next to it. A cup of coffee in your lap, a cigarette in your hand, really thinking of nothing, when you follow the momentary impulse to pick it up and to open the mouth of this small marvel.
Suzanne Read
Hearth of Albion
A beautiful, fascinating series of images and accompanying text that illustrates a singular viewpoint and one that illuminates and informs the seeker to open their own eyes to see just what surrounds them..
An unusual concept, a book of images illuminating the hidden ‘otherness’ that is present all around us, both fascinating as a series of stunning images, but also enthralling as you are drawn into exploring layer upon layer of meaning and understanding for yourself… Daniel is a photographer of some repute, with a unique eye and excellent technical skills that when harnessed to his understanding and viewpoint reveals much that many of us miss in the world around us. It is a most definite call to explore, to slow down and truly look with eyes wide open, to see all that is to be seen rather than remaining within the mundane world that the unaware inhabit, and when the accompanying text is also considered then the keys to another awareness are within grasp of any prepared to see it for themselves…
The foreword by Martin Duffy enhances the content, giving pause to the reader and explanation as to how to approach the images, enhancing the experience and ensuring that we do not approach the work without some thought and without being receptive to what is included within.
Enthralling images, produced as ever to the highest quality by Anathema Publishing, high quality photographic paper, fantastic binding – at least on the Ethereal edition that I have – and a wonderful silvered embossing on the front cover mean that this book is not only a thing of beauty inside, but also outside…. A true gem of a book to be visited and revisited…
Dimo Vasilev
I knew that upon opening this book I would feel some level of resonance within it, but I was so much more deeply immersed within this book. I have decided to include a picture taken by me of my favourite image from the book which is Manifestation of the Host. Ahead of time I will let you know, this is not your average book of magick, it does not have spells from what I saw, and does not have any specific instructions on magickal procedure. Instead, it presents us with the challenge to look both within and outside of ourselves, to glimpse the environment in which we live in and glimpse the inherent otherness which lies all around us. The authors photography skills are out of this world, I am not too sure if I’ve ever seen more stunning images found within a book before.
I believe the book is also extremely well put together, having Martin Duffy (author of Effigy) write the foreword considering his background in magickal images when we see it, it almost feels like a no brainer. Martins forward in its own right is very fantastic, as is the art featured by David Herrerías whose striking images bring further life to my personal favourite chapter “The Masks of Misrule”.
Now let us be honest here, perhaps the average person may look at this book and think “there are no spells or any magick, why should I buy it?” And my answer to that would be, that this book challenges us to experience, it challenges us to forget what it is we think we know about the world around us and how it can be captured. The veil is thin, and potentially growing thinner, Daniel Yates in my opinion is a very generous person to give us a small fragment of what his reality may very much look like, while also at the same time urging us to shift our perception and hone in deeper into that which lies hidden either in meadow or by street light. Nothing like this book exists in my opinion, I think if we all removed our “selves” from certain preconceived notions we have about the world that we live in we would be able to discover so much more. I think if you have open eyes that this book does exactly what the author intended, it opens the gates for us into a world which may be all together foreign or alien to us. In my opinion this book is perfect, it is what it was intended to be.
For those that are open to absorbing information in a non-straightforward way, and even to those who may be seeking quality images for meditation, I recommend this book wholeheartedly. A final note I would like to add is I love (if I saw correctly) the concept of opposition displayed in the book, which is something very deeply rooted within the Sabbatic Craft, there is a significance of the images that might per chance be missed by those of a different magickal current, but it doesn’t take away from the captivating images or the lessons this piece may have to teach us. A book of very few words, and very many pictures, the pictures speak for themselves, and though there are not as many words as your average occult book or spell book I believe the author says more in few word than some do in many when it comes to the concept of “magick”
10/10
Side note: Specifically, I have the Ethereal edition hardcover and it adds a deeper artistry to the book. It is very sturdy, opens very easily and I love the material (Lustrous Buckram Book cloth).
Tarn Nemorensis
If you haven't grabbed Daniel Yates’ Arcanum yet, you might want to consider it. This is one of my favourite purchases from last year. It's a visual exploration of different occult ideas, philosophies and concepts, seen through the lens of a camera and the nib of a pen.
For me it's a visionary grimoire, with the secrets of the works themselves hidden in the layers, and with every re-study of this tome I gain new insights and discover something as old as the earth and yet revelatory. I love to use it within my workings, as well use it for meditation and trance work.