{{Short description|British journalist (1949–2024)}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Michael Magee | image_size = | caption = British technology journalist | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1949|12|07}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2024|08|11|1949|12|07}} | death_place = Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK | known_for = Technology journalism, occultism, and tantra | occupation = Journalist and writer | spouse = {{marriage|Jan Bailey|1978|end=div}} | children = Tamlin Magee | module = {{Infobox writer |embed=yes | pseudonym = | name = Mike Magee | image = | imagesize = | caption = Founder of AMOOKOS and influential occultist | birth_place = | death_place = | period = 1960s to 2024 | genre = | subject = Tantra and occultism | movement = | influences = | influenced = | signature = | website = {{URL|https://www.shivashakti.com}} }} }}
'''Michael Magee''' (7 December 1949 – 11 August 2024) was a British journalist. He is credited with introducing a tabloid-style approach to the coverage of technology news, as a founder of ''The Register'' and later ''The Inquirer''.<ref name="guardian"/><ref name="businessweek">Hamm, Steve. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061117134501/http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2006/tc20060830_642667.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology The Battery Recall: A Win for the Web] in ''BusinessWeek'', 30 August 2006</ref> In 2009 the ''Daily Telegraph'' placed Magee 35 in its list of Top 50 most influential Britons in technology.<ref name=DT>{{Cite news|date=2009-09-23|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/6221732/The-50-most-influential-Britons-in-technology-part-one.html|title=The 50 most influential Britons in technology: part one.|quote= Mike Magee #35 Founder, The Register and The Inquirer|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref> Magee was also a prominent proponent of occultism and tantra.
==Technology journalism career==
Magee worked for VNU Business Publications on ''PC Dealer'' before working at their IT news venture VNU Newswire. He left the Newswire and co-founded ''The Register'', the UK's first Internet-based IT tabloid, with John Lettice in 1994. In the newsletter, Magee focused on computer chip reporting, and Lettice covered software.<ref name=Mageek>{{Cite web | last = Farrell | first = Nick | title = Mageek Special Mike Magee Denies Allegations | accessdate = 24 May 2010 | url = http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1042142/asdfasdfsad | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090710051814/http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1042142/asdfasdfsad | url-status = unfit | archive-date = 10 July 2009 }}</ref>
''The Register'' used the slogan "Biting the Hand That Feeds IT" to reflect its iconoclastic attitude, attracting a following among IT professionals and investors.
In December 2000, Magee suffered a heart attack. When he returned to work, he stated publicly that he disagreed with the editorial direction of ''The Register''. He left to found ''The Inquirer'' to reflect the original editorial philosophy. Unlike ''The Register'', which had substantial capital investment, ''The Inquirer'' received little financing, but still managed to make a profit. Magee was the only full-time employee. The entire magazine was based on freelance submissions, and staff and its advertising were outsourced.<ref>{{Cite web | title = About us - The Inquirer | accessdate = 14 February 2010 | url = http://www.theinquirer.net/static/aboutus | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081212013013/http://www.theinquirer.net/static/aboutus | url-status = unfit | archive-date = 12 December 2008 }}</ref>
In 2006 Magee met with VNU leaders over their alleged use of a web layout similar to that of ''The Inquirer''. Magee sold ''The Inquirer'' to VNU later that year.<ref name="guardian">Johnson, Bobbie. [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2006/jan/26/news.business VNU buys into tabloid news] in ''The Guardian'', 26 January 2006</ref> Magee remained as editor of ''The Inquirer'' until February 2008, when he left to pursue other publishing ventures including ''TechEye''.<ref name="TechEye">{{cite web|url=http://www.techeye.net|title=TechEye}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | title = VNU eMedia Inc. | accessdate = 24 March 2010 | url = http://www.vnuemedia.com/emedia_news.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20020204183933/http://www.vnuemedia.com/emedia_news.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 4 February 2002 }}</ref>
In 2008, Magee, established the ''IT Examiner,'' an information technology news website based in Bangalore, India.<ref name="Gazette">{{cite news |last=McNally |first=Paul |date=17 June 2008 |title=IT news guru Mike Magee launches Indian website |url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=41386&c=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622221633/https://pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=41386&c=1 |archive-date=22 June 2008 |accessdate=4 March 2009 |work=Press Gazette}}</ref> It was financially backed by Chinese company Metaplume, with the aim of capitalising on the growth of India's burgeoning IT industry.<ref name="Gazette" /> In 2009, Metaplume terminated all the staff and the site was shut down.<ref>{{cite news |date=24 March 2009 |title=IT Examiner, The News go |url=http://volesoft.com/2009/03/24/it-examiner-the-news-go/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327135924/https://volesoft.com/2009/03/24/it-examiner-the-news-go/ |archive-date=27 March 2009 |work=Mad Mike Magee's Musings}}</ref>
He joined Fudzilla as Editor-at-Large in July 2016.<ref>{{Cite web | title = FUD Zilla | accessdate = 5 July 2016 | url = http://www.fudzilla.com/news/41033-mike-magee-joins-fudzilla }}</ref>
==Occultism and tantra==
During the 1960s 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 a small occult magazine called ''Azoth'', and in 1973 in conjunction with David Hall, and his girlfriend Janet Bailey, started a more ambitious six monthly magazine called ''SOTHiS''. Around this time, he had a lucid dream involving the Indian goddess Kali while on holiday, which left him with a keen wish to learn more about the Indian traditions.<ref name="Mageek" /><ref>{{Cite web |title = Mike Magee 7 December 1949 – 11 August 2024 |url = https://enfolding.org/mike-magee-7-december-1949-11-august-2024/ }}</ref>
In 1978, he went to India and met with an English tantrik guru (and former student of Aleister Crowley) called HH Shri Gurudev Mahendranath (1911–1992) who was a guru of the Uttarakaula Tantric Order of northern India. Mahendranath gave Magee the title of a guru and a charter to form a group of students. Magee took the tantrik name of Lokanath.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Magee | first = Mike | title = Mahendranathi (Western) Tradition | accessdate = 30 July 2009 | url = http://www.shivashakti.com/mahend.htm }}</ref> 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 brought Tantrik teachings to the West. In the UK it had about 500 members.<ref>{{Cite web | title = The Llewellyn Encyclopedia and Glossary: AMOOKOS | accessdate = 30 July 2009 | url = http://www.llewellynencyclopedia.com/term/AMOOKOS }}</ref>
In 1990, Mahendranath claimed, despite some evidence to the contrary, that he had not ever given Magee the right to form AMOOKOS, and the group fragmented. From that point onwards, Magee concentrated on providing translations for Tantra website Shiva Shakti Mandalam.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Magee | first = Mike | title = Shiva Shakti Mandalam: Tantrik Home Page | accessdate = 30 July 2009 | url = http://www.shivashakti.com/ }}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Magee married Jan Bailey in a civil ceremony in 1978. They later separated, and he lived in Oxford until his death. His son, Tamlin Magee, has written for ''The Inquirer'' and as news editor on ''TechEye''.<ref name="TechEye"/><ref>{{Cite web| last = Magee| first = Tamlin| title = Google threatens to release its own OS| accessdate = 21 September 2009| url = http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1433017/google-threatens-release-os| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090711063448/http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1433017/google-threatens-release-os| url-status = unfit| archive-date = 11 July 2009}}</ref>
Magee died on 11 August 2024, at the age of 74.<ref>{{Cite web| last = Nick| first = Farrell| title = Mike Mageek is dead| accessdate = 12 August 2024| url = https://www.fudzilla.com/news/59503-mike-mageek-is-dead}}</ref>
==Published works== *Editor: ''The Cipher MSS of the Golden Dawn'', Azoth Publishing 1973 *''Tantrik Astrology'', Mandrake Press, Oxford 1989 {{ISBN|1-869928-06-7}} *''Tantra Magick'', Mandrake Press, Oxford 1990 {{ISBN|1-869928-11-3}} *''Yakṣiṇī Magic'', Twisted Trunk Press, London 2020 {{ISBN|1-916236-6-18}} *''Kali Magic'', Twisted Trunk Books, London 2022 {{ISBN|1-916236-6-26}}
;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 *Magic of Kali, Worldwide Tantra Series 1995
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090212154950/http://volesoft.com/ Mad Mike Magee's Musings (archived copy)] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090307061349/http://www.itexaminer.com/ IT Examiner (archived copy)] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20180527113559/https://techeye.net/ TechEye (archived copy)]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Magee, Mike}} Category:1949 births Category:2024 deaths Category:British male journalists Category:British technology writers Category:British technology journalists Category:Occult writers Category:Occultists Category:Translators Category:Tantra Category:Mass media people from Oxford