Goêtic Common Sense is a 70 page text about the goês, who were sort of outcast-sorcerers in ancient greece.
In it, the author attempts to use the goês as a contrast to western ceremonial magick. Whereas modern traditions are focused on going from old text -> ritual -> gnosis, Frater Acher suggests that we can learn from the goês in order to do the opposite.
Begin with the present moment, and the living networks that you are embedded in, and work your way backwards - or don't! and just stay in the present moment without feeling the need to write everything down.
Somehow, there is not a single reference to Deleuze, though I would say this is essentially a bridge text between a rhizomatic and animist way of experiencing the world.
My favorite parts were his insistence that we sort of don't need to know anything about the lives of the goês in order to deduce what their practice might have been like - much in the way that you can understand the craft of a painter from his tools, we can understand the craft of the goês from the artifice of their work: namely, spirits and thresholds.
The entire thing felt like a guide to working with current-gen AI's. You can't just show up and expect to get something divine and beautiful from a tiny prompt, at least not yet. You need to meet the models where they are and mutually craft a vision of what you would like to create if you have any hope of making something grand.
Most people don't really do this, and that is why we have so much center-distribution slop on the internet. If you ask for a "personal portfolio website" without discussing your intentions first with the model, you are going to get the platonic middle of a portfolio website, and I can't say I blame the model for doing this! Even if we train the models to have a beautiful center-distribution, almost immediately we will associate that aesthetic with laziness, and the skills I am illustrating here will once more be important.
The book also dives into something resonant with Whitehead's process philosophy, encouraging the aspiring goêtic-adept to perceive the world in terms of events instead of objects. When you do this, you can look around and notice what is alive in a space instead of what is merely present. I found this to be a useful description of how you can navigate valence with Alexander Technique. If you are focused only on being aware of objects as you extend your awareness throughout the world, I imagine you are going to feel overwhelmed by the weight. Alternatively, if you focus your awareness on events, I think you can expand your sense-perceptions to great heights without becoming overwhelmed.
There is something annoying I could say here about managing a bunch of agentic threads at once, but I think I'll pass for now.
I'd definitely suggest reading this if you find yourself in want of an alternative framework for sense-making when it comes to ritual, particularly if you are drawn (as I am) to a more animist spiritual awareness.
Here is the link to where you can read: https://theomagica.com/goetic-common-sense
Enjoy!