I May Be Wrong by Björn Natthiko Lindeblad

Signed and hand numbered by author. Limited to 199 copies only.
Author's edition, printed in Thailand.

A book on a single magician has not been made for many years, which is a nod to an exceptionally talented young magician, Ajarn Apichai.

The Thai Occult 1 book is the story of The Thai Occult practices, with a particular focus on the Lanna region. The Thai Occult 2 book provides a view of the regional variations, and The Thai Occult 3 looks at the Creation of Magic itself by focussing on the work of one Ajarn. We chose Ajarn Apichai for this task, because of the sheer quantity of Wicha he carries within him. This book looks at the effect an expanse of knowledge can have on a single magician, because of the combinations of magic he can draw upon depending on the task at hand. The world of magic that resides within Ajarn Apichai can be viewed as being as deep as the magic in the country itself. While this is the case with many Thai magicians, Ajarn was chosen because of the way he views Thai magic, and the way he uses the knowledge.When creating this book, the first task was to interview Ajarn Apichai about the creation of magic itself, and then how he uses the Supernatural Materials available to him. This book is not just a case of ‘the Thais use this’, it is an attempt to explain the sources of these materials, and the specific reasons for usage. Following that, we look at his function as an Ajarn and the Kruba Ajarns he studied under.

The difference between this book and the Tamboon Edition of 100 books to raise money for Temple Building is that it contains an extra 30 pages as we translated the kata book of Ajarn Apicjai’s current Master. Luang Phor Charuay holds the lineage knowledge of Luang Pu Suk, and this book introduces the first level of knowledge to any Thai person interested in studying with him.

Limited hardback edition

T. Lobsang Rampa’s autobiography, The Third Eye was an international bestseller in 1956, but the author had to face some awkward questions from critics. There were two possibilities; either he really was a Tibetan lama whose third eye had been physically opened (and who could reveal secrets of levitation, invisibility, gilded extraterrestrials, giant temple cats, etc), or he was really the eccentric son of a plumber from Plympton in Devon.

Rampa would explain himself by discussing transmigration, and over the next quarter of a century (and in another eighteen books) he would reveal the secrets of the human aura, astral travel, UFOs, life on Venus, and the hollow Earth (and hollow Moon), among many other alternative, New Age ideas. For Rampa, there was no wild, left-field belief that was not true.

R.B. Russell has written the first definitive biography of Rampa (also known as Cyril Henry Hoskin). The identity of Rampa may have been conclusively debunked by anybody who knew anything about Tibet, Buddhism, or basic scientific principles, but he would always claim that everything he wrote was true, and until his death in 1980 he doesn’t ever seem to have come out of character.

Russell’s biography of Rampa is accompanied in this volume by three further studies of alternative belief systems that have fascinated him over the years.

Following the biography of Rampa, Russell writes about the Millenarian church, the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, who believed their leader was Christ and immortal, and that the world would end in 2000. (Spoiler alert: we are still here, and nobody has seen the leader for several years.)

A further essay is a brief look at one of the Church of Scientology’s techniques for recruiting members, the Oxford Capacity Analysis test. Russell argues that the test is based on a series of small, apparently innocuous lies, but he shows that they are indicative of Scientology’s complete disregard for honesty or integrity.

The final essay looks at the Temple of Psychic Youth, the knowing attempt by Genesis P-Orridge to create a modern cult. Was it exploitative and manipulative, or simply an ironic experiment? And how did it backfire when the 1980s tabloids created the Satanic Panic?

The painting on the boards of this book is by Les Edwards. It was first published on the cover of As It Was!, T. Lobsang Rampa, Corgi, 1976.