This page sets out, as plainly as the editors can manage, what kind of thing the archive is and how its contents should be taken.
What is fictional
Apocalypse Cult is presented as an archive with a history, a staff and a collection. That frame is a work of fiction.
- The editors and contributors named on the site are invented.
- The authors, translators, publishers, presses and collectives credited in the library are invented, and so are the works attributed to them. The texts were written for the archive.
- The religious movements, fellowships and societies described in case files, in the calendar of failed prophecies and in the library are invented.
- The places, newspapers, persons and incidents in the cabinet of curiosities, including every strange dispatch, are invented.
- The conspiracy theories cataloged as folklore were composed as harmless teaching examples and are not reports of anything believed elsewhere.
- The artists and artworks in the grotesque gallery are invented, and the plates were made for the site.
Any resemblance between these and actual persons, living or dead, or actual organizations, publications, places or events, is coincidental and unintended.
What is not fictional
The subjects are real. Postmodern and transgressive philosophy, philosophical pessimism, nihilism, the theory of expenditure, Hermeticism, alchemy, Gnosticism, the grimoire literature, Satanism, the left-hand path, chaos magic, spiritualism, Theosophy, the study of new religious movements, the occult cinema of the 1960s, the art scandals of the post-war decades, medieval book curses, cabinets of curiosities, zine culture, mail art and the bootleg records cut on X-ray film all exist, and each has a serious scholarly literature.
The essays, primers and field guides in the philosophy and occult rooms are intended as accurate, general introductions to those subjects. They are written in good faith, from the common ground of that literature, and they try to distinguish what is established from what is disputed. They refer to historical texts and traditions by their usual names. They deliberately do not name living persons or present-day organizations.
Accuracy
The editors have tried to be correct and will have failed in places. The entries are introductions, not authorities. They simplify, they summarize positions that fill whole books, and they reflect the judgment of the people who wrote them. Readers who intend to rely on a point should confirm it against specialist sources. Nothing here should be cited as primary evidence for a historical claim.
No endorsement
The archive describes beliefs, practices and arguments. It does not endorse them. An account of what a tradition teaches is not a statement that the teaching is true, and the presence of a text in the library is not a recommendation of its views.
Not instruction
Entries on magical, esoteric and religious practice are historical and descriptive. They are not manuals, and nothing in them is offered as a procedure to be followed. The archive does not publish instructions for harming any person or animal and does not condone such harm under any description.
Not professional advice
Nothing on this site is medical, psychological, legal, financial or pastoral advice.
Some entries touch on pessimism, despair, grief and the experience of leaving a controlling group. They are essays, written for general readers. They are not a substitute for professional care. If you are in distress, or are concerned for your safety or someone else's, please contact a doctor, a qualified counselor or your local emergency service.
Mature themes
The archive is written for adult readers. Its subjects include death, decline, transgression and adversarial religion, and parts of it are darkly comic. Discretion is advised.
Changes
The archive is revised without notice. Entries are corrected, expanded, moved and occasionally withdrawn. The date beneath an entry's title shows when it was published and, where applicable, when it was last revised. A revision date is also shown when a reference to a later entry has been added.