I have been reading about creative illness these days, and remembered a couple old posts about sf writer, Philip K Dick and occultist, Aleister Crowley.

I don’t think Dick’s episode was a creative illness so much as a bizarre psychic time travel phenomena but it’s still interesting to explore. A quick scan of Dick’s astrological transits show that at the onset of his illness, sun had just entered Pisces and transiting Saturn was moving into to conjunct Mars, the apex of a natal kite formation involving Neptune, Jupiter and a sun-Mars-Saturn stellium in Sagittarius. During that year, Saturn transited through his 4th house, while Jupiter through his 12th.

More on Crowley’s transits after the link.

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Original Title: Philip K Dick’s schizophrenic fugue
Original Post Date: May 22, 2006 @ 3:45 pm

philip k dick by r crumb

The Religious Experience of Philip K Dick by R. Crumb

What is interesting about this account is that Dick is clearly in total possession by the unconscious, but he manages to keep his ego in tact – for an entire year! A most impressive feat if you ask me.

FYI: Philip K. Dick was a very popular sci-fi writer whose books have been adapted into popular films like Bladerunner. Robert Crumb is a prolific illustrator of underground, independent comics.

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