Newsletter

ODIR Newsletter #1: The Ideas of March

Welcome to the first edition of the ODIR Newsletter, which is meant to be a more-or-less monthly publication, wherein we highlight not only stuff from the ODIR website, but also interesting and relevant news from friends and others.

We live in a world commandeered by the social media giants. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and what have you control what we see, hear and read. Visibility is hidden behind paywalls and the erratic whims of social media platforms, who on a moment’s notice can censor content and make us invisible. They feed us scraps from the table in order to retain their cartel on information and communication.

Undeniably, social media platforms bring the comfortability of having everything on one platform – but as we have seen, that means also total control and its abuse.

The ODIR Newsletter is a small but hopefully not entirely wasted effort to distribute information outside of these social media giants and their networks. Going forward, I hope to grow the Newsletter into a valuable, curated source of information to keep you updated on what’s going on in the underground, whether it be about music or occulture.

With that purpose in mind, I urge you all to let us know about news relating to your projects, endeavours and activities. Please send them to us via social media, the website’s contact form or, if you have it, my email.

From the cold wastes of winter,
J.

Highlights from ODIR

Reading suggestions

  • A classic of social anthropology and research into archaic myths, J.G. Frazer’s The Golden Bough is a heavy and somewhat arduous book to wade through, even in the ca. 900 page Canongate Classics edition I read. I shudder at the thought of the full 12 volume edition! But, and though the core concept of the Dying God as agrarian myth being at the core of mankind’s mythology on a global scale has been discredited, it is such a widely influential and quoted book that for those looking to dive deep, this is an essential read. And Frazer does uncover an impressive array of similar traditions, rituals, myths and mythological entities from all across the globe that The Golden Bough provides ample food for thought for all perennialists and universalists.
  • On a tangent from perennialism, Mark Sedgwick’s Traditionalism is a well-written and informative overview of the philosophical school so widely influential to all neofolk and martial industrial music. It’s no substitute for reading Evola, Guénon et al., but a fine introduction to a complex philosophy.
  • Sticking to traditional forms, Kirsti Runavik’s newly released Pohjoiset riimut is one of the better Finnish expositions on esoteric runology, providing a rather wide-ranging and comprehensive overview on runes and traditional nordic esoteric cosmology.
  • For the Finns, Pekka Siitoin’s legendary Musta magia I osa, published under the thin pseudonym of Peter Siitoin, is a must-read if you have the tiniest inkling of esoteric interest. Tracing the history of devil worship back some 50 000 years, the book certainly presents a novel depiction of vaguely familiar esoteric cosmology. It also includes useful spells for a plethora of purposes, such as increasing both sexual and drinking prowess. The facsimile edition is still available from an antiquarian in Turku: https://www.antikvariaatti.net/tuotteet/788976
  • Yukio Mishima’s Death In Midsummer contains what in my opinion is an absolute pinnacle among his fiction, and one of the finest short stories of all time: Patriotism. If one wonders why Mishima is held in such high regard by many, look no further.

From our friends

  • Finnish Misantropia Records have announced their first releases for 2026: Hellboozer Union’s self-titled mini-CD, Waeltaja’s Centuries Of Sorrow and Omega Monolith, as well as Dieux Des Cimetières’ Mercy & Severity
  • Considering Dieux Des Cimetières is yours truly’s project, Mercy & Severity deserves its own entry. Expect around 45 minutes of esoteric neoclassical and martial industrial continuing in, and expanding on the musical direction of Säkeitä esoteerisesta Euroopasta.
  • Finnish black metal act Annihilatus (with ties to Nightside) will release their third full-length album Exterminate on March 3rd via Bestial Burst.
  • Konstantin Tuonihovi’s Rihmastosignaali/The Mycelium Signal podcast published another episode in their more free-form The Mycelium Signal series. The conversation with Rev. Matron Thorn covers a wide variety of esoteric topics well worth sacrificing two hours of your life to: https://tuonenportti.fi/the-mycelium-forum-matron-thorn/
  • ..and for the Finns only, another short episode with Tomi Antila: https://tuonenportti.fi/erikoisjakso-kuopan-tulilla-vieraana-tomi-antila/

Miscellania

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