Mike Magee (journalist)

Mike Magee
Mike Magee
Born	December 7, 1949
Occupation	Journalist
Nationality	Great Britain

Mike Magee (born December 7, 1949–) is a British journalist. He co-founded The Register in 1994, which he left in 2001 to found another well known technology news website, The Inquirer.

Biography

Early life

Michael (Mike) Vaughan Magee, born December 7, 1949 in Aberdeen, Scotland

Career

Mike Magee is one of the more colourful members of the IT community. He worked for VNU Business Publications on PC Dealer before becoming involved with that organisation's initial attempts at placing IT news on the Internet -- the VNU Newswire. He left the Newswire to pioneer what was to become the UK's first Internet based IT tabloid, The Register which he founded with John Lettice in 1994. It started as a news letter with Magee specialising in writing about computer chips, and John Lettice, who mostly covered software.

"We realised the chip industry was worth about $200bn a year then, and we were down the pub one day and said, ‘Why don't we do a newsletter because we can and this is a big, big market, and nobody else seems to be doing much about it.'"[1]

The Register was irreverent and in most cases outright rude about the PR culture that fed the IT press at the time. It attracted a following among IT professionals and investment.

In December 2000 Magee suffered a heart attack and when he returned from hospital posted to a Silicon Investor message board that he had a disagreed with the way the Register was going [2]. He wondered if he should start the whole project over. He quit to form a 'back to basics' version called the Inquirer The expansion of this project was delayed as in September 2001 he had a heart bypass operation. Unlike 'the Register' which had substantial capital investment The Inquirer received little in the way of financing, but still managed to make a profit. It was also unique in that Magee was the only full-time employee. Tthe entire magazine was based on freelance submissions and staff and its advertising was outsourced.

In 2001, Magee was named as one of the top 100 people to influence on the development and growth of e-commerce and the internet in the UK over the last 10yrs in the e-consultancy's 'Internet Decade' awards. [3] In 2006 Magee had an argument with his former bosses at VNU Business Publications over their alleged use of a web layout similar to that of The Inquirer. The meeting went a little differently from what many predicted and laid the groundwork for Magee to sell the Inquirer to VNU Business Publications later that year. Magee remains as the editor of the Inquirer

Tantra and the Occult

During the 1960's Magee experimented with the occult teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Kenneth Grant's "Typhonian"

branch of the Ordo Templi Orientis.

In 1971 he started an occult fanzine called Azoth, and in 1973 in conjunction with David Hall, and his girlfriend Janet Bailey, started a more ambitious six monthly magazine called SOTHiS.

In 1973, he had a lucid dream while on holiday involving the Indian goddess Kali which left him with a keen wish to learn more about the Indian traditions. After various mystical experiences he became interested in the tantrik tradition.

In 1977, he went to India and met with an English tantrik guru called HH Shri Gurudev Mahendranath (1911-1992) who was a guru (some say the last guru) of the Uttarakaula Tantric Order of northern India. Mahendranath gave him the title of a guru and a charter to form a group of students. Later this was to become a nucleus for the "Arcane Magical Order of the Knights of Shambhala" (AMOOKOS) This group was highly influential, particularly in the way it bought Tantrik teachings to the West. [4]. In the UK it had about 500 members.

In 1980, Mahendranath claimed, despite some evidence, that he had not ever given Magee the right to form AMOOKOS and the group fragmented. Magee went on to do his own thing concentrating more on Tantra [5]. He has also provided translations for Tantra website Shiva Shakti Mandalam.

Marriage and family

He married Jan Bailey in a civil ceremony at Edgware Registry Office in 1978. There were two witnesses, one of whom was pulled in from the street. His son, Tamlin Magee, occasionally also writes articles for The Inquirer.

Notes

Mitchell, Chris. (February 15, 2000) Evening Standard. Paradise for pranksters In the net.
Business Wire (June 19, 2006) VNU Business Media Europe Expands Reach of Its Online Portfolio with the European Roll out of the Inquirer.
Hamm, Steve. (August 30, 2006) Business Week Online The Battery Recall: A Win for the Web Credit blogs and new media for keeping the heat on about flaming laptop batteries -- and helping to push Dell and Apple into action. Section: Top News.

Published Works

Editor: The Cipher MSS of the Golden Dawn, Azoth Publishing 1973

Tantra Magick, Mandrake Press, Oxford 1990 ISBN 1 86992 811 3

Tantrik Astrology, Mandrake Press, Oxford 1989 ISBN 1 86992 806 7

Translations

Kaulajnananirnya of the School of Matsyendranath, Prachya Prakashan, Varanasi 1986

Vamakeshvarimatam, Prachya Prakashan, Varanasi 1986

Matrikabhedatantram, Indological Book House, Delhi, 1986

Kaulopanishad, Worldwide Tantra Series 1995

Ganapati Upanishad, Worldwide Tantra Series 1995

Dhvajadi Prasna, Worldwide Tantra Series 1995

Yoni Tantra, Worldwide Tantra Series, 1995

Jnanasankalini Tantra, Worldwide Tantra Series 1995

Magic of Kali, Worldwide Tantra Series 1995

Todala Tantra, Worldwide Tantra Series 1995

Web Site

www.shivashakti.com - 1996 to present

Software

Astral Windows for the Acorn Atom, BBC Micro, and Microsoft Windows

Some citations

Vijayanagara Voices - [6]

Clear Blogging: How people blogging are changing the world - [7]

The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religions - [8]

The Yoga Tradition: its history, literature, philosophy and practice - [9]

The Forceful Yoga - [10]

Hatha Yoga: Its context, theory and practice - [11]

The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Mediaeval India, David Gordon White, ISBN 0 226 89499 1

Tantra: The Path of Ecstasy, by Georg Feuerstein, ISBN 157 062304X, 1998

Cults of the Shadow, Kenneth Grant, 1975, Muller ISBN 0 584 10058 9

Nightside of Eden, Kenneth Grant, 1977, Muller ISBN 0 584 10206 2

Outside the Circles of Time, Kenneth Grant, 1980 ISBN 0 584 10468 5, citation and artwork

External links

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