Toby Chappell
@semiurgist.bsky.social
Linguist, semiotician, contemplator of the dust. Author: "The Languages of Magic" (out now!).
https://www.innertraditions.com/the-languages-of-magic
https://semiurgist.com
We are the signmakers ~ We are the dreamers of dreams.
https://www.innertraditions.com/the-languages-of-magic
https://semiurgist.com
We are the signmakers ~ We are the dreamers of dreams.
"Yet so long as we live in time, the ghost of the murdered past will always fill the present with a profound uneasiness." - Santayana
October 30, 2025 at 3:35 AM
"Yet so long as we live in time, the ghost of the murdered past will always fill the present with a profound uneasiness." - Santayana
I love it when a philosopher goes straight for the throat in the opening sentence: "The main purpose of this paper is to show that there is no such thing possible as an ethical philosophy dogmatically made up in advance." (William James,"The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life")
October 12, 2025 at 8:04 PM
I love it when a philosopher goes straight for the throat in the opening sentence: "The main purpose of this paper is to show that there is no such thing possible as an ethical philosophy dogmatically made up in advance." (William James,"The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life")
The audiobook edition of my latest book, _The Languages of Magic_, is out today! Available pretty much anywhere you get your audiobooks.
September 9, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The audiobook edition of my latest book, _The Languages of Magic_, is out today! Available pretty much anywhere you get your audiobooks.
Reposted by Toby Chappell
Book review by Dave Lee
The Languages of Magic: Transform Reality through Words, Magical Symbols and Sigils, by Toby Chappell
This is an unusual book. Toby Chappell, whose background includes academic studies in philosophy and linguistics, introduces arcane ideas fr...
chaotopia-dave.blogspot.com
June 27, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Book review by Dave Lee
Reposted by Toby Chappell
My review of Toby Chappell's The Languages of Magic, chaotopia-dave.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...
The Languages of Magic: Transform Reality through Words, Magical Symbols and Sigils, by Toby Chappell
This is an unusual book. Toby Chappell, whose background includes academic studies in philosophy and linguistics, introduces arcane ideas fr...
chaotopia-dave.blogspot.com
June 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
My review of Toby Chappell's The Languages of Magic, chaotopia-dave.blogspot.com/2025/06/the-...
Men many times fancy that they act from reason when the reasons they attribute to themselves are but excuses which unconscious instinct invents for the teasing 'whys' of the ego. The extent of this self-delusion is such as to render philosophical rationalism a farce. -C.S. Peirce
June 13, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Men many times fancy that they act from reason when the reasons they attribute to themselves are but excuses which unconscious instinct invents for the teasing 'whys' of the ego. The extent of this self-delusion is such as to render philosophical rationalism a farce. -C.S. Peirce
Very proud of this interview. Informed by approaches from anthropology, linguistics, and semiotics, my book explores magic as a type of communication. This is why I prefer "semiurgy", as it avoids the baggage that "magic" has accumulated over the years in popular awareness. youtu.be/HzlhRleyUF0
The Languages of Magic: Linguistics, Lovecraft, and Language Virus with Toby Chappell
YouTube video by Hermitix Podcast
youtu.be
June 4, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Very proud of this interview. Informed by approaches from anthropology, linguistics, and semiotics, my book explores magic as a type of communication. This is why I prefer "semiurgy", as it avoids the baggage that "magic" has accumulated over the years in popular awareness. youtu.be/HzlhRleyUF0
"When we think, then, we ourselves, as we are at that moment, appear as a sign". - C.S. Peirce
May 21, 2025 at 2:50 AM
"When we think, then, we ourselves, as we are at that moment, appear as a sign". - C.S. Peirce
Ran across this in Cambridge (MA) today. This could get interesting... 1970s Russia had some unique takes on both semiotics and linguistics
May 6, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Ran across this in Cambridge (MA) today. This could get interesting... 1970s Russia had some unique takes on both semiotics and linguistics
Had a great conversation with the hosts of Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio last week, talking about my new book on linguistics, semiotics, and ancient+modern magic (link for book in bio). www.youtube.com/live/CCSknVM...
#linguistics #semiotics #semiurgy
#linguistics #semiotics #semiurgy
Changing Reality Through Magic Words, Sigils & Symbols
YouTube video by Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio
www.youtube.com
April 15, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Had a great conversation with the hosts of Aeon Byte Gnostic Radio last week, talking about my new book on linguistics, semiotics, and ancient+modern magic (link for book in bio). www.youtube.com/live/CCSknVM...
#linguistics #semiotics #semiurgy
#linguistics #semiotics #semiurgy
How have you defied the meaninglessness of the universe today?
April 10, 2025 at 4:33 PM
How have you defied the meaninglessness of the universe today?
Release day is finally here! 📖 Do you have your copy of _The Languages of Magic_ yet? Available from all the usual suspects, both online and brick-and-mortar... (the benefits of having a very widely distributed publisher!) 📚
April 8, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Release day is finally here! 📖 Do you have your copy of _The Languages of Magic_ yet? Available from all the usual suspects, both online and brick-and-mortar... (the benefits of having a very widely distributed publisher!) 📚
Reposted by Toby Chappell
One of the defining sicknesses of our current age is that we compulsively consume -- both media and materia -- without even being fully present in the act of consumption itself
March 18, 2025 at 7:22 PM
One of the defining sicknesses of our current age is that we compulsively consume -- both media and materia -- without even being fully present in the act of consumption itself
Precisely. They are designed solely as recombination machines; their rigid inbuilt goal is to produce cohesive structure, not coherent truth
March 24, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Precisely. They are designed solely as recombination machines; their rigid inbuilt goal is to produce cohesive structure, not coherent truth
One of the defining sicknesses of our current age is that we compulsively consume -- both media and materia -- without even being fully present in the act of consumption itself
March 18, 2025 at 7:22 PM
One of the defining sicknesses of our current age is that we compulsively consume -- both media and materia -- without even being fully present in the act of consumption itself
In my forthcoming book _The Languages of Magic_, I expand on Austin's "performative utterances" and Wittgenstein's "language games"-- both are critical to semiurgy as we affect reality through words and the actions they carry/embody. Link in profile.
March 6, 2025 at 5:57 AM
In my forthcoming book _The Languages of Magic_, I expand on Austin's "performative utterances" and Wittgenstein's "language games"-- both are critical to semiurgy as we affect reality through words and the actions they carry/embody. Link in profile.
So these showed up today... April 8 is the official release date. Preorder wherever you buy your books, or directly from Inner Traditions (mainstream brick&mortar bookstore chains should have it in stock too after release, if that's your jam)
March 3, 2025 at 11:55 PM
So these showed up today... April 8 is the official release date. Preorder wherever you buy your books, or directly from Inner Traditions (mainstream brick&mortar bookstore chains should have it in stock too after release, if that's your jam)
When you start to really get the philosophical rabbit holes you've committed to digging into.... Others would say they'd really like to talk to a therapist right now; I say things like "I really wish I had a Fichte scholar to bounce this off of right now." 😂
March 3, 2025 at 3:32 AM
When you start to really get the philosophical rabbit holes you've committed to digging into.... Others would say they'd really like to talk to a therapist right now; I say things like "I really wish I had a Fichte scholar to bounce this off of right now." 😂
The trees that forcefully soar end up burned by lightning, chopped down, or uprooted. Returned to the ground, they come back up in another form. (Battaile)
March 1, 2025 at 5:06 PM
The trees that forcefully soar end up burned by lightning, chopped down, or uprooted. Returned to the ground, they come back up in another form. (Battaile)
Great talk at UGA today from philosopher @philosophermoss.bsky.social ! I had already read the piece he shared (prologue to the Priest/Gabriel book "Everything and Nothing"), but the comments and discussion after opened some new angles of understanding for it.
February 27, 2025 at 1:48 AM
Great talk at UGA today from philosopher @philosophermoss.bsky.social ! I had already read the piece he shared (prologue to the Priest/Gabriel book "Everything and Nothing"), but the comments and discussion after opened some new angles of understanding for it.
Baudrillard's "semiurgy" recognizes that ones who create the signs also create the lens that is always between perceptions and their underlying reality. I explore the implications of this in my new book _The Languages of Magic_, coming April 8. Link in profile.
February 23, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Baudrillard's "semiurgy" recognizes that ones who create the signs also create the lens that is always between perceptions and their underlying reality. I explore the implications of this in my new book _The Languages of Magic_, coming April 8. Link in profile.
What do the Greek Magical Papryi, curse tablets, and Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, and have in common? They all work with an implicit model that magic is a form of communication with the unmanifest. My new book _The Languages of Magic_ looks at these connections and more. 1/
February 21, 2025 at 11:43 PM
What do the Greek Magical Papryi, curse tablets, and Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, and have in common? They all work with an implicit model that magic is a form of communication with the unmanifest. My new book _The Languages of Magic_ looks at these connections and more. 1/
Reposted by Toby Chappell
@leilataylor.bsky.social's new book 'Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread' is out now via repeaterbooks.com ! Join her at Barrows Intense Tasting Room in NYC tonight for a free launch party with Morbid Anatomy! www.morbidanatomy.org/events-ticke...
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February 12, 2025 at 12:31 PM
@leilataylor.bsky.social's new book 'Sick Houses: Haunted Homes and the Architecture of Dread' is out now via repeaterbooks.com ! Join her at Barrows Intense Tasting Room in NYC tonight for a free launch party with Morbid Anatomy! www.morbidanatomy.org/events-ticke...
Reposted by Toby Chappell
I just published a new photo book: More Americans
amzn.to/3WZDwTf
With his intuitive gaze steering towards the netherworlds of an America that contains equal parts dream and nightmare, Swedish author/photographer Carl Abrahamsson captures a dissolved civilization in stark images.
amzn.to/3WZDwTf
With his intuitive gaze steering towards the netherworlds of an America that contains equal parts dream and nightmare, Swedish author/photographer Carl Abrahamsson captures a dissolved civilization in stark images.
February 12, 2025 at 12:44 PM
I just published a new photo book: More Americans
amzn.to/3WZDwTf
With his intuitive gaze steering towards the netherworlds of an America that contains equal parts dream and nightmare, Swedish author/photographer Carl Abrahamsson captures a dissolved civilization in stark images.
amzn.to/3WZDwTf
With his intuitive gaze steering towards the netherworlds of an America that contains equal parts dream and nightmare, Swedish author/photographer Carl Abrahamsson captures a dissolved civilization in stark images.
At UGA, I've noticed that all the soda fountains and machines only have Mr. Pibb and never Dr. Pepper. This complete exclusion of Dr. Pepper from academia now has me wondering whether his degree really came from an accredited institution...
February 3, 2025 at 12:45 AM
At UGA, I've noticed that all the soda fountains and machines only have Mr. Pibb and never Dr. Pepper. This complete exclusion of Dr. Pepper from academia now has me wondering whether his degree really came from an accredited institution...