Alamantra, Author at The Bohemian Star

Kama Sutra

Contemporary media and entertainment have largely reduced the Kama Sutra to a catalog of elaborate sexual positions, but the classical text is concerned with the art of desire and the disciplines attending pleasure. It informs aesthetics, psychology, and the power to shape intimacy and culture. Far from a mere manual, it offers a disciplined vision of conscious pleasure that refines perception, deepens connection, and contributes to a balanced life.

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February 28, 2026

✨Cosmik Debris

Mumbo Jumbo: The Curious History of Magical Words

Magic words like Abracadabra, Hocus Pocus, and Mumbo Jumbo sound playful today—but their histories are layered with ritual, translation, performance, and cultural transformation. Explore how their meaning has shifted through ritual, stagecraft, and cultural power.

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February 27, 2026

The Gospel of Will

The Chariot’s Journey: Pattern, Will, and the Soul

The soul is not a thing but a trajectory: a living current of Will and pattern manifesting through body, mind, and time. Thelema’s Charioting dissolves the creaking “I” into ecstatic motion…

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February 26, 2026

The Gospel of Will

P.B. RANDOLPH, EULIS!, AND HOW ESOTERIC WISDOM TRAVELS

Eulis! (1874) by Paschal Beverly Randolph is one of the earliest modern texts to treat the erotic act as sacramental and operative. This article traces how his ideas moved through the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor and into later occult orders — and how esoteric wisdom actually travels.

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February 25, 2026

The Gospel of Will

Rabelais in the Rose: Tracing the Gargantuan Spirit in Shakespeare’s World

In the sprawling garden of Renaissance literature, two figures stand as great, luminaries: François Rabelais and William Shakespeare. Though separated by language, time & geography, the spirits in their writing seem to recognize each other on the path of human folly and wisdom. Their works teem with fools and kings,…

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February 25, 2026

The Gospel of Will

Poliphilo’s Dream of Will:

In 1499, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili presented Renaissance readers with a dream of ruins, beauty, and sacred architecture. At its center stands Thelemia—will personified—guiding Poliphilo at the moment he chooses his path. This essay examines the philology, symbolism, and lasting significance of that decisive scene.

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February 23, 2026

The House at Place PigalleApril 22, 2026
A building once stood at 1 Place Pigalle whose history mirrors the restless evolution of the neighborhood itself. It passed from atelier to spectacle: transformed into the themed restaurant l’Abbaye de Thélème (a knowing nod to François Rabelais and his rule “Fay ce que vouldras” – Do what thou wilt). During the First World War it served as a meeting place for the French League for Women’s Rights and hosted charity sales for soldiers. In the years that followed, it emerged as a vital hub for the Black American jazz community in Paris, before shifting again under the German Occupation into the circus-themed nightclub Le Chapiteau. In its final incarnation, it became the exotic striptease venue Les Naturistes. Along the way, it bore several other names—Restaurant Albert, La Noce, Chez O’dett, Le Coup de Patte—each reflecting a different moment in the building’s life as well as the city around it.
The Prophets of MontmartreMarch 20, 2026
Montmartre stands above Paris as a place where myth, blood, and vision converge. Once sacred ground, later a crucible of revolution and bohemian life, it became the stage for Les Nabis—artists who rejected imitation in favor of color, symbol, and inner meaning. Their work marked a turning point, where art no longer reflected the world, but reimagined it.