John Eberly
The Shotgun Hermeticism of John Eberly
Born in El Paso, Texas, John Eberly entered the Wichita, KS scene in the mid-1980’s as the singer/songwriter for legendary metal-punk rock band The Mumbles. Being an extraordinarily active artist in those years, Eberly gained an international reputation as an underground cartoonist, producing scads of comix, zines, and Xerox publications under the umbrella of Mumbles Publications (see “John E.” profile in Comics Journal # 96). He has exhibited his drawings, paintings and collages in solo and group shows around the world. In 2014 John produced a major exhibit of paintings completed over the last decade. He continues to draw and paint, since January 2015 he has finished a series of some of his favorite author’s portraits including portraits of Franz Kafka, W.G. Sebald, William Burroughs (who John met back in 1987), Jean Genet, Geoff Dyer, and Michel Houellebecq.
Other than writing and performing with The Mumbles, Eberly has written hundreds of songs and performed and recorded solo and with many other groups and artists including The Enemies, The Ignored Shopkeepers, Sun Puppy, The Cutthroats, The Beef Twinkies, The Eberly Brothers, Dreamachine, The Angry Fuzz, The Embarrassment, Bucket, PAX, 626, The Skeletones, The New Embarrassment Singers, John Eberly’s Imagination (Band), The John Eberly Band (aka JEB), The Unprofessionals, John E & His Imaginary Friends, The Terrible Twos, The Pills, Doc Wor Mirran (w/Jello Biafra), Sticks & Stones, and currently The Excuses.
Moving to the Hutchinson, KS area in the early 1990’s to raise a family and teach Art History at the local community college, John E. remains active in the arts and humanities, working as director for both the Reno County Cultural Commission, and the Hutchinson Art Center. 2004 saw the publication of John’s non-fiction book Al-Kimia: The Mystical Islamic Essence of the Sacred Art of Alchemy (Sophia Perennis), alongside the release of his acclaimed solo cd Imagination (TopTone Records).
John has published many essays on Sufism, Alchemy, and related topics… published in various journals including Caduceus, Abignus, Ariadne’s Web, Sufi Journal, and Esoterica among others. A potent sampling of his “eclectic hermetic” essays are to be found at the Hermetic Library. His short stories, fragments, and poems can also be found published in many places on and off-line. He practices non-dual awareness and has recently returned to working laboratory Alchemy. Recently he has completed a play, The Harvest King, focusing on a man experiencing Alzheimer’s disease, it’s effects upon the individual, his family and friends. The play is still “in play” and not yet staged… He continues to work with non-profits in the arts and humanities, as well as the homeless, the disabled, and the aging communities.
Essays
Santiago De Compostella: An Inner Journey
Maha Ati: Natural Liberation Through Primordial Awareness
Ramana Maharshi and “Self-Enquiry”
Some Notes on Juniper, Cedar, and Pine Trees; and the Circulatum Minus
Reviews
The Conversions by Harry Mathews
Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner
From a Basement on a Hill by Elliott Smith
At Swin-Two-Birds by Flann O‘Brien
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
See Also
The “Arabic” Parts of the Original Rosicrucian Documents, Caduceus, Vol 2 No 2
We Can Build You: The Homunculus in Alchemical Tradition, Caduceus, Vol 3 No 1
Elsewhere