Vintage Grant Morrison in an interview with A. David Lewis at PWCW:
GM: Yeah! Because it’s the obvious, isn’t it? Again, this isn’t a mystical concept, because I’m not a mystical person sometimes. I got into magic to see if it was real. If someone says, “Ok, a demon will appear if you do this spell,” I just say, “Bullshit.” So, I did this spell, and then the demon appeared. So I had to revise my vision of what the world was and how it worked. Again, that’s another element of magic for me, trying to figure out, why do these things happen—what are we doing to our nervous systems to make us believe a demon has entered the room? It became to me about the actual “nuts and bolts” of it, not the fantastic thing or the mystic thing or the names of angels. I became interested in what’s actually going on.
PWCW: But you tried it out, and a demon did appear?
GM: Yeah!
PWCW: Wow.
Where is this Demon now?
Inside Dick Cheney?
Having heard/read of other instances where Grant seems to believe in supernatural beings/occurances, it’s interesting to see him here attribute it to a process of the nervous system.
By “spell” he probably means heroin.
Less heroin and more a psychedelic I would think…
I prefer the interview where Morrison bragged about pulling a Moore by invoking Metron– an experience which would appear to have been both the backbone of both the mystical initiation experienced in ‘Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle’ and the ivory-white redesign of Metron currently starring in ‘Final Crisis’:
http://www.arthurmag.com/magpie/?p=1644
The attribution of magic to weird firings w/in the CNS isn’t particularly original to Morrison… It’s most famously known in Crowley & Jung and was ref’d quite heavily throughout Moore’s ‘Promethea’.
All of which makes me wonder: if the Mozzer can invoke Metron (scientific curiosity with a psychedelic ticket to ride), what’s to stop one of us from trying to call up Morrison’s fictional analogue of Austin Osman Spare, Mad Tom? Aside from common sense and a penchant for sleeping in less than squalid surroundings…
Wow. I wish he’d take his experiences and document them so a lay person like me could read them. I could read about Morrison’s experiences for a good long time. In conversation and interview he’s very stream of thought so havign it as a structured story would be a tremendous read. Alan Moore’s been talking about doing his own book on magic and I’m really looking forward to that.
I don’t remember where the interview was (TCJ?) but I remember Morrison recounting how he conjured the spirit of John Lennon to write a passage in the Invisibles, I think it was- mostly it involved associating things with Lennon such as the number 9 and Sandalwood incense while listening to his music under the influence.
Are you sure that wasn’t just the peyote, Grant?
I’d be more impressed if you could somehow “magic” FINAL CRISIS and “Batman: R.I.P.” into coherent, engaging stories.
If nothing else the man thinks in very unusual and interesting ways. Go read the interview before snapping off a “Grant’s a kook” remark and I guarantee you’ll at least have looked at the world a little differently by the time your done.
Read it. It’s a cute thought, though it strikes as just another in the vein of “I want to feel connected to everything”. Still a kook to me, and not that unusual actually. But hey, well articulated for this sort of thing.
Re: Davison’s “coherent, engaging stories”:
The new tales may not be engaging, but has Grant really EVER offered “coherence?” I always thought his trend away from coherence was part of his appeal for his fans.
He also had a chat with Superman. Or said he did. Think it was in San Diego. Possibly at Dick’s.
Wonder if he could conjure up Zenith and find out when those books are gonna get out of the warehouse. That would be useful.
Superman, though, was an actual chap in a well-made suit, who spoke to Morrison as if he really were The Man of Steel.
Or possibly “was.”
That’s not so much invoking a spirit as indulging a looney.
Or possibly “loonie.”
I tried that Lennon thing, but he was busy throwing cups at Noel Gallagher. So Musical Youth turned up, instead. Some of them weren’t even dead.
THEY’RE STILL LIVING WITH ME.
//Oo/\
I’m sure that Grant would say that the demon was “an actual chap” and maybe Lennon, too.
But we already know that Morrison is a fictional character, so there ya go.
Hopefully the Machine Elves showed up to deal with Morrison’s Singularity Demon.
I remember Grant once referred to Superman as a asshole in Doom Patrol #50 .
I’ve never fully forgiven him for that.
~
Coat
There was a picture of the superman chap so we know he was real.
What would happen if you tried to conjure…YOURSELF!
Would you astrally project into the pentagram?