Eclectic, Esoteric Postal Potlatch

When I was editing the pages for Thelema Coast to Coast for addition to the collection I found myself gandering at the Postcards page and thinking that might be something fun and interesting to do, you know, before the US postal system collapses or is defunded by congress. Why not fiddle merrily to pass the time while the system fails?

Here’s the simplest explanation of what I’m thinking: If people send me things then I’ll send them things. What arrives and what is sent would be up to those involved. I would never sell or reveal the participant list, but would use addresses of participants to merely to send occasional envelopes or packages as part of announced Postal Potlatch events. There would be two ways to get on the participant list, but this would be completely open to individuals, music groups, publishers, and so on:

• First, and simplest, is to send something in; For those sending things in, something reciprocal would be sent in return, so include a SASE I can fill with equivalent but different things.
• Second, and really great, is to become a supporter of the library. For one-time supporters, depending on how much postage their donation reasonably allowed beyond helping with hosting the site, other expenses, & c., I will send a package as part of the next announced Postal Potlatch event. For supporters who subscribe, I will also occasionally and irregularly send something else fun from the supplies donated and gathered. (Being a subscribing supporter also includes other great benefits, such as gratis codes for digital downloads of new Hermetic Library Albums!)

Really the variety of interesting tchotchkes people send in is limited pretty much only by their imaginations and my ability to post those imaginations back to others. Let’s turn my office into an homage to what Archee McPhee’s would be if they were dabbling in the dark and esoteric arts!

So, one who is participating might variously send in and get things in return like:

bookmarks
stickers
mix tapes
CDs
used books
rituals, poetry, essays
booklets, brochures, flyers
…!?

I’m not looking to have sent to me or to resend things that evoke the black helicopters, SWAT teams or HAZMAT teams; but, just about anything else that the postal system will deliver could be part of this.

A quick note about participation for those outside the US postal system:

I'm happy to accept items from anywhere that arrive at any time to add to the cache of things that I can send to people. Feel free to send anything you like that fits the theme, um … within reasonable limits, of course! And, I'm certainly willing to try to ship things to people who are international from the US, but honestly I've had rotten luck trying to ship anthology CDs internationally and so, unfortunately, can't be sure that anything I send will actually arrive.

If you're outside the US Postal system, send something in to add to the cache and also include sufficient postage with which to send you something in return. Or, the second way to participate is to become a supporter or subscribing supporter of the library; which means that, in addition to helping to keep the library online and so forth, I'll use a portion of your donation to send something to you, based on what I can reasonably afford to ship, as well as send you a download code for the next anthology album, and so forth.

So, either way, for those outside the US Postal System, consider what postal rates are to ship things between the US and your country, and if you are still interested, you are welcome to participate!

What do you think? Send me an email with comments or questions via the librarian alias. Or, better, why not go ahead an send me things via post which I can send to other people and then send me an email letting me know you’ve got something you’re contributing? If you’re really looking to help make this happen, why not sent me things to distribute and also become a supporter of the library and give me your postal address in the comments field so I can send things to you?

For the current postal address where you can send things, if you want to participate; or where, you know, you can send stuff even if you don’t want to get something in return, check the library's contact page.

Feel free to send emails with any thoughts, but consider sharing postal packages with interesting or random esoteric things to get this going. Let’s have some fun!

Follow related posts on the library blog via Eclectic, Esoteric Postal Potlatch

Send email to the Hermetic Library to discuss the Postal Potlatch by contacting the Librarian.