The Hermetic Library is actively seeking to preserve and make accessible archives of occult ’zines and other ephemera as cultural artifacts of the living Western Esoteric Tradition.
Are you the publisher of or contributer to an occult ’zine?
Do you have a collection of issues from an occult ’zine or archive of ephemera?
The Hermetic Library would very much like to help preserve and make accessible the important cultural artifacts of the living Western Esoteric Tradition that are represented by occult ’zines and ephemera. The library can help catalog and preserve both physical and digital, both scholarly and creative materials from the last century of enthusiastic and exuberant esotericism in order to make sure that these are not lost, hidden or forgotten.
Examples of the kind of preservation work that has already been done can be seen specifically in the online archives of The International, Caduceus but also generally across the whole of the collection. So much more can be done. Will you help us be of service?
Physical Preservation
Digital Preservation
Transcription
Cataloging
Online Presentation
and more!
Send email to The Hermetic Library to discuss temporary or permanent donations of your materials for preservation or to help us get in touch with creators, contributors and collectors via
Collaborative ’Zine & Ephemera Indexing
The Serapeion Project at The Hermeneuticon is an extension of The Serapeion Project: Occult ’Zine and Ephemera Preservation. This index is a way for the wider community of students and researchers to find what exists already being preserved, and to help coordinate the preservation of materials not yet online.
Do you know of an occult 'zine or ephemera collection, online or not? Log in to the Hermeneuticon wiki and add it to the index!
- The Serapeion Project at the Hermeneuticon wiki
- All project pages
- Collections
- Items
Readings elsewhere
Preservation of esoteric materials
Occult ’zines as cultural artifacts by Psyche
Preservation in general
Pass It On, At Your Library
Preservation Week, American Library Association
Taking Care, Smithsonian Museum Consveration Institute.
Journals
While not occult ’zines, you may be interested in these currently issuing journals
Abraxas: An International Journal of Esoteric Studies
ATUA: Voices from La Societe Voudon Gnostique
Esoterica: The Journal of Esoteric Studies
Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism
Why “Serapeion”?
After the burning of the main Library of Alexandria, the Serapeion, the temple of Serapis, became the primary location of scrolls and served as a place of learning. It was in the Serapeion that Hypatia taught. It is to the notion of preservation of materials in spite of difficulty, to the spirit of learning from these preserved materials that the project name is a reference.