The fifth annual EsoZone Portland event will be held this weekend at p:ear, Friday evening November 18th and Saturday November 19th (see the website for schedule and location information).

EsoZone is festival celebrating alternative culture and thought. It follows a hybrid unconference/conference model, meaning that in addition to pre-programmed content, participants can propose their own sessions to share their own ideas, projects and skills with the group.

This years presentations include:

• Tom Henderson, author of the forthcoming book Punk Rock Mathematics, on illusory nature of self.
• Eric Schiller of Beyond Growth on “digital hipsterism” and the rise of anti-intellectualism in social media.
• Yoga for Slackers lead by Loren mccRory.
• Grant Writing for Artists and Other Alien Beings lead by Amanda Sledz.
• Anarcho-Sewing lead by Jillian Ordes-Finley.

Plus music and performances, and whatever sessions are proposed by this year’s participants.

Outsider Art • Discordia • SubGenius
The Occult • Satanism • Conspiracy Analysis
Life Extension • Intelligence Enhancement
Space Migration • Psychedelic Futurism
Consciousness Expansion • R/evolutionary Living
Renegade Metaphysics • Radical Psychotherapy
Aliens • Neo-Shamanism • Temporary Autonomous Zones
Body Modification • Alternative Sexuality • Fringe Culture
Human-Dolphin Communication • DIY Media
Cybernetics and Systems Theory • Pranks
Atheism • Zen • Martial Arts • Recession Hacking

There will also be performances by artists such as Cult of Zir and Ogo Eion and Psychetect in the evenings.

If you want to support us, it’s not too late to donate or buy a t-shirt. Or, show up and spend money with our sponsors!

And don’t forget, after EsoZone on Saturday the one and Ivan Stang will perform along with a variety of other SubGenius at the Cyclone of Slack.

Can’t make it to Esozone? Astral Project!

For the purposes of this working, I have chosen to locate the EZOSONE Astral Temple (EZTRAL) inside of an orb of liquid metal, floating in the molten viscous fluid in the very center of the Earth.

Within this orb, on the horizontal axis, circumscribing the perimiter are four sphinxes, marking the quarters, facing in toward the center of the temple. Above the center of the temple is an octagonal window, thru which the night sky can be seen. In the center of the floor is an octagonal pool of black fluid, upon which we will skry the vision.

Floating above this pool is a seed pod, about the size of a basketball. Its composition is a hybrid of organic and cybernetic materials. This sentient seed could be viewed as a chaosphere, upon/into which we will be focusing our intentions and interpretations of what the ESOZONE phenomenon means, what it will foster, how it will evolve, why it exists.

The first Esozone could be iconographically described as a key, which unlocked the gateway to a more practical and interpersonally direct understanding of our modern version of the esoteric community, which until then largely existed in the virtual realms. The second, a pyramid, which allowed us to climb to meet the sky, bringing us to the understanding that the stars of this EZ phenomenon are none other than ourselves.

This year, the meaning is as much a mystery as the previous two, but the intent has evolved into a free assembly of modern esoterics connected on the virtual and organic levels, a hope for the phenomenon to spread to other locales, an uncertainty of what kind of information will be presented, by whom, and for what purposes. It is up to us, ours for the making and taking, right here and now, free of charge, open to all.

Therefore, charge this cyber-ganic EZTRAL seed with your unique intentions for the future of this far-reaching community of free individuals, and contemplate in the pool below on the manifested information which the group’s effort transmits back to you. At the ritual’s peak, we will lift the seed to the sky, and focus our intent upon it with an intensity which will heighten to the point that it explodes, sending forth genetic copies of itself outward to the far reaches of this planet, in the hopes that these seeds will find fertility, and manifest in future ESOZONE festivals in other places, linking back to our efforts here at “Headquarters,” and blossom into a cornucopia of previously unseen communal fruit.

And have a happy harvest season, while you’re at it.