In 1999, approximately 12 years ago, Gnosis Magazine ceased publishing. I’d been a subscriber to Gnosis for maybe three or four years by that point and had bought, and still own, several of its back issues. I still go back over them occasionally. I was in my almost mid-20s at the time, apparently just young enough to think starting a web 'zine to fill the vacuum left by Gnosis’s disappearance to be a good idea. It took a year or so for us to get going, but ten years after that, and here we are, still going strong.

In that time we’ve had 21 issues (let’s not forget our issue number 0!) covering, well, a lot. We’ve had rituals (and will have two more in this issue, plus some kabbalistic meditation techniques), art work, poetry and, of course, lots and lots of articles. We’ve also had the pleasure of both announcing new books of interest to the Western Esoteric community and reviewing them. I mean, who doesn’t like books?

Also in the last ten years we’ve seen the editorial staff change faces a few times. Contributors have come and gone as well and the nature of our articles has undergone a bit of a transformation. We have, for instance, perhaps some of the most cutting-edge research on Enochiana around these days (if I do say so myself). We’re also beginning to see some blending of Jewish kabbalistic and Neoplatonic thought along with the more familiar forms of esotericism. So, after all this time, the Journal is still here. Despite occasionally looking back and saying to myself “what the hell was I thinking?” I have greatly enjoyed my time with the Journal. I expect I will enjoy the next ten years as well.

Finally, in a somewhat unusual move for us, we have the next four issue topics scheduled! The second half of 2011 will bring us astrological magic. This is an interesting and important topic, as anyone familiar with magical practices from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance, or the important Picatrix will know. 2012 brings with it an issue on demonology, which is only fair as we’ve already given the angels an issue. Ending 2012 will be the Apocalypse! By which I mean an issue on various Big Endings found in the Western mysteries. Assuming we all survive the end of the Mayan calendar (I know, I know, it’s cyclical, not linear) we’ll then have an issue on Platonism, which includes not only the original Platonic philosophers but also Gnosticism, Hermeticism and Neoplatonism in their Antique, early Modern and Modern incarnations. If you have an interest in and knowledge of any of these subjects I encourage you to submit a paper. I promise I won’t bite.

On behalf of the Journal’s editors and contributors I’d like to thank you all for these last ten years. Without your readership we’d have spent the last decade talking to ourselves.

-Jeffrey S. Kupperman
Publisher, Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition
21 February, 2011