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=                         John_Michael_Greer                         =
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                            Introduction
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John Michael Greer (born 1962) is an American writer and druid who
writes on ecological overshoot, ecological economics, appropriate
technology, oil depletion, societal collapse, ecocentrism, pantheism,
and the occult.


                      Early life and education
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Greer was born in Bremerton, Washington and was raised in the Seattle
area. He is an initiate in Freemasonry and the Hermetic Order of the
Golden Dawn.


                              Writing
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In a 2005 abstract, called 'How Civilizations Fall: A Theory of
Catabolic Collapse', he wrote an ecological model of collapse in which
production fails to meet maintenance requirements for existing
capital. Philosopher of science Jerome Ravetz summarized Greer's
theory in his 2006 book chapter, titled "When Communication Fails: A
Study of Failures of Global Systems." Ravetz wrote:

A simple but powerful model of 'catabolic collapse', a
self-reinforcing cycle of contraction converting most capital to
waste, has been produced by John Michael Greer (Greer 2005). His
activity in the 'contemporary nature spirituality movement' in Oregon
has not prevented him from producing a model in the best economic
style. His key variables are resources, capital, waste and production;
crisis occurs when production fails to meet maintenance requirements
for existing capital. The continuing degradation of the
infrastructure, particularly in the USA, provides evidence for his
approach. He claims that he can account for key features of historical
collapse, and suggests parallels between successional processes in
non-human ecosystems and collapse phenomena in human societies.

In 'The King in Orange' (2021), Greer analyses the contemporary
American political landscape through class analysis and occult
practices. Focusing on the election and opposition to Donald Trump as
president of the United States, Greer predicts a continuing
combination of magic and politics from the various class factions of
the country. He criticised the public magical workings of liberal
occultists, arguing that political magic should be kept secret to
prevent opposing magicians from tampering with the working.

Greer has written many novels, including a series of eleven fantasy
novels based on the worlds created by H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu
Mythos entitled "The Weird of Hali".


                             Reception
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Writing in 'The Futurist' magazine, Rick Docksai declared that Greer's
book 'The Ecotechnic Future' is "as realistic a portrayal of the end
of civilization as one is likely to find." It was also positively
reviewed in 'Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries' and was
recommended in the industry journal 'Energy Policy'. The
'International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability' referred to his
book 'The Wealth of Nature' as "challeng[ing] the paradigms that
underlie the complex system of wealth distribution we know as
economics."

His book 'The New Encyclopedia of the Occult' was selected as a
reference text in 2005 by 'American Libraries' and noted by 'Booklist'
and 'Publishers Weekly'.


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Original Article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Greer