Considering how many occult conferences have taken place in the UK so far this year, I’ve been unfortunately too busy to commit to all but the most recent Welshpool event organised by Gary St Michael Nottingham and Lesley Ann Jackson. Although the change of scenery at Gregynog Hall last year was novel departure, it was not without issues, and it was a welcome return to the more convenient location of Welshpool town hall (for me at least) for a day featuring eight excellent speakers, and the usual host of fantastic book sellers. It was a weekend sadly overshadowed by the passing of Gordon White, and whilst I’d spoken to friends online, the catharsis of talking in person with fellow Rune Soup alumni was immense. It was an interesting emotional state to be in, and I spent a lot of the day wondering what Gordon would have made of the various talks. For the most part I think he would have enjoyed it, seeing as elements of his Star.Ships thesis and various other currents of his thoughts glittered through a handful of the lectures.

Gary St Michael Nottingham - Creating Talismans

Host Gary kicked things off with a whistle-stop tour exploring the practical process of creating planetary talismans, showcasing facsimile examples of the famous Llanyblodwel charm, and discussing the various considerations of materia, inscription and timing in their construction. The magical community is extremely lucky to have someone of Gary’s experience and expertise on hand, and it was especially good to hear him conclude his talk reminiscing warmly on his mentor Roz Booth and the impact she had on his journey into practicing magic.

Dr Julia Phillips - Madeline Montalban the Magus of St Giles

Following Gary, Dr Julia Philips’s presentation on Madeline Montalban and her Order of the Morning Star was fantastic, and it was a real treat to see some examples of Montalban’s pleasingly septuary course material for the first time. I feel like this talk set the thematic tone for the day, curated perhaps unconsciously as a celebration of the lesser celebrated ancestors of 20th century occultism. The talk surprisingly featured a photo of Mike Howard I’d never seen before, and it was lovely to put another face to the name of a person who helped me out so much with my preliminary Snowshill work.

Sorita D’Este - A Very Suspicious History of Witchcraft

After a brief break for coffee, Sorita D’Este presented a talk about interrogating the narrative provenances of various Neo-pagan materia and ideas, which included mention of a book called Witches Still Live by Theda Kenyon which piqued my interest. Published in 1924, this book detailed contemporary practices taking place in London boroughs. Intriguingly this is around the same time Cecil Williamson was performing school charity work in the east end, Kenyon’s claims potentially supporting his own recollections during this period. Sadly, much of the final the content was outpaced by the clock, with the conclusion a rapid skip through the main points. It was a good talk which had obviously had a lot of effort go into it, so it was a shame that some of the extensive research wasn’t fully articulated.

Alex Sumner - The Theory and Practice of Scrying

After a brief coffee break, Alex Sumner took to the stage to discuss scrying, which included a rapid history of the development of the practice (bonus points for PGM mentions) before launching into some audience participation to scry the Mercurial planetary glyph, this conveniently taking place within the hour of the said planet. It’s always a relief to hear other practitioners pronounce barbarous words / letter strings the same way you do, and though I’m not a fan of being ambushed by audience participation, it was informative and entertaining. I’d certainly not counted on a meeting a Mercurial spirit manifesting as something similar to a grumpier Columbo; but if you’ve met with Mercurial spirits before, peculiarity is a feature not a bug. Presently looking into the gematria of the name that was given - updates if ID checks out.

Breaking for lunch, time was spent catching up with friends, buying (and more unusually selling) some books. I was kindly gifted a rather large photocopied file of Heydon’s Theomagia by Gary, which was gratefully received - some may wonder if he was trying to tell me something. It was also a joy to briefly meet Philip Heselton, whose long out-of-print work on Capell-Bann is now in the process of thankfully being republished. In addition to a brief chat and thanking him for his work, I had the dubious honour of disposing one of his vegetable samosas. Make of that what you will, but I live to be useful.

Alan Thorogood - Say No to Enochian

Fortified with caffeine and cake, Alan Thorogood’s talk kicked off the afternoon. He argued some excellent points regarding complications behind the term Enochian and shared some examples with his own explorations more aligned to Logaeath and recorded works of Dee, Kelly, et al rather than one based on the legacy of Golden Dawn techniques. I particularly enjoyed his inspired use of the Ars Notaria to jailbreak the rather intimidating letter squares used in this practice.

Andy Mercer - The Devil’s Master

Changing the pace a little, Andy Mercer delivered a fantastic talk on James ‘Cunning’ Murrell and George Pickingill, comprehensively dismantling the alarmingly unchecked fabrications of freelance folklorist Eric Maple. Despite suffering a cold, it was a joy to sit through, Andy’s talk skilfully threading several original sources, cunningly articulating what can be a difficult narrative to follow, and debunking the mountain of misinformation that continues to hang from poor Pickingill’s slooping shoulders.

Melissa Seims - The Coven of Atho

Prior to the penultimate talk, the Custodia Borealis project was introduced by Melissa Seims and Darren Hill, which aims to eventually create a bricks and mortar museum to preserve the material history of magic in the north of England. Gary and Lesley presented them with a cheque towards this endeavour, and I very much hope this project succeeds in its aims. Personally, the highlight of the day was Melissa’s talk on the Coven of Atho. Perhaps it was because it followed on from Andy’s talk featuring unreliable narrators (of whom I have a soft spot for) or maybe I’m just a sucker for mid-stake soap opera drama. Regardless of either explanation, the joyful way Melissa enthusiastically delivered her talk was a mid-afternoon pick-up that a large americano was struggling to acheive. It was a shock to learn that in 1961, Ray Howard purchased a mill in Crantock, Cornwall, with evidence that his Coven of Atho practices took place there. I was also previously unaware of how much of Howard’s Atho material appeared in Doreen Valiente’s later work, so it was a no-brainer to pick up a copy of Melissa’s latest book dedicated to the tale.

Ian Freer - The Babylonian Origins of the Tree of Life

Concluding the day, Ian Freer offered a fascinating discussion regarding the Mesopotamian origins of both the Biblical, and the Kabbalistic tree of life. Whilst this certainly isn’t my wheelhouse, Ian made a compelling case based on comparative lapidary, botany, artistic and textual evidence, examining work such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, canonical and apocryphal Biblical sources and other mythic narratives to provide what appears to be a strong argument for his ideas. This is an area I hope to explore in the future, and will be picking up a copy of his book when I find time to read it. Until then, I’ll just have to lurk on his substack.

In conclusion, a really good day. My only personal gripe would be to suggest cutting the number of speakers from eight to a max of six or seven, if only to curtail the end-of-day fatigue that kicks in after 4pm. This would usually (in most cases) mean more time at the pub afterwards - but sadly I had to make a dash back to Chester straight afterwards. I also overheard a few people grumbling about the talks being weighted toward historical personages and history rather than magical practice, but I’ve always felt that those types of talks are best suited to more intimate workshops with fewer people. It’s a difficult thing trying to cater for everyone, and I feel that for the greater part, it was achieved very successfully. Thanks again to both Gary, Lesley, all the speakers and those who made this day such an excellent event. Very much looking forwards to 2027, hopefully with the foresight to finally remember to pack a cushion to counter the uncharitable upholstery of the chairs!

The world is a little dimmer today. Gordon White, the forever 27 year old pirate magician has journeyed beyond the western horizon. His impact on the magical community cannot be underestimated, and the intellectual void he leaves is abyssal. He was, without doubt, one of the most influential thinkers and practitioners of the 21st century and his work has been the catalyst for a host of others to find a collective home beneath the midnight-black banner of the weird kid. There has already been a cascade of memorials to him; testament to the broad reach and love of his Rune Soup project, and whilst I didn’t always agree with some of his perspectives, his impact on my own work has been immense. I have gifted more copies of Star.Ships and Ani.Mystic than any other book, and will continue to nail my own colours to the theses those twin masts represent.

Gordon’s work first came into my life through an interview he hosted with Julian Vayne and Nikki Wyrd back in 2014, and from that point the interviews he curated introduced me to some of the most exciting people in contemporary magical practice. The show served as a powerful vector for “the best of new and old ideas for living in this world”, providing a platform for a diverse ensemble of voices to explore a multitude of subjects with intelligence and wit. His writing on the nascent Rune Soup blog was as informative as it was entertaining and I always enjoyed catching up with his prodigious output. When the RSPM membership was created in 2016, I jumped straight in, devouring each course as they were created. Aside from the profound learnings these excellently collated and delivered courses provided, they often had unforeseen consequences, with one course memorably causing a temporary global scarcity of St Cyprian statues.

By 2017 the network he created online would find a crew of like-minded weirdos meeting in person on a bright summer day in Chester. Getting to talk and explore actual magical practice in the real world was ground-breaking for me, and members of that crew would go onto form not only the Moelyci Project, but the core of an ongoing magically operant cell that is as committed in its work as it is eclectic. His clarion call to find the others will be a loved and lasting inheritance. Gordon personally helped me with research for my own work, and was a kind and patient listener to my many questions. I very much doubt I’d be custodian of the Chester Occult Society if it were not for his rhizomatic approach to community, or the contagious sense of curiosity he engendered.

From a practical magical perspective, Gordon’s presence, and now legacy is considerable, and I expect his work will be referred to for decades to come. Aside from being one of many practitioners who gifted the fire, I will forever smile when I think of a handful of the works he directly (and successfully) inspired. From fruit-machining planetary hours, incorporating robofish sigils and launching them via skating, invoking Agathos Daimon during the fever pitch crescendo of Jubilee Street at a Nick Cave gig in Ireland, to conjuring a treasure hunting spirit which would be part of a long magical campaign to be completely debt-free by 40. All of this within the context of the re-establishment of an animist, inspirited world; both human and non human, living and dead. Whilst there were thoughts and avenues he pursued I didn’t follow, I cannot deny that he hasn’t made my world (and that of many others) a larger and more exciting place to be.

Following the 2020 Avenging Angels event in London, I decided to paint up a limited edition sculpt of Gandalf the Grey for him. The model was painted several times and I could never get it quite right. It was only finished it at the end of last year, and I had been intending to send it to him when he returned home from his current trip to Peru. I’m saddened this will never reach him now, but it will be a fond and bittersweet reminder of the traveller and the treasures he bequeathes. My love and condolences go out to all those he leaves behind, his family and friends and the wider world he brought together.

Journey well you weird kid. You will be incredibly missed.

“From what had gone before it was clear that this was to be no picnic.” - The Narrator

Whilst the previous two essays have concerned the establishment of context, the final two parts explore the minutia of Rocky Horror as being reflective of both Greco-Roman mythology and their mystery traditions. In this penultimate essay, as well as a great deal of comparison of the characters of three Greco-Roman gods, and that of Frank-N-Furter, there will also be, like the performance itself, a gloss of Freudian pop-culture analysis applied to support the various conclusions reached. It must be stated that links between Frank-N-Furter and the Freudian concept of the Id is long established, but for those wanting to interrogate these ideas in more depth will be well served by Nicole N. Schlutz’s essay Marginalized Philosophy: Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Unseen Influence.(1)

“It’s not easy having a good time.” - Dr Frank-N-Furter

Of the three figures explored in this essay, the aspects embodied by Chronos the Titan are arguably the most present in Frank-N-Furter. Chronos is controlling, domineering figure ruling over the golden age of the gods, He is unyielding, stubborn, and perpetually aware that his own children will eventually usurp him. This dangerous dance between both paternalism and fear is directly paralleled by Frank-N-Furter; his right bicep emblazoned with the tattooed script BOSS and his melancholic confiding to his domestics before the last act that “my children turn on me.” This lack of control is the root of Frank-N-Furter’s fears, driving him to create his “beautiful creature” that he naively believes will deliver the paradise destined to be his. Sadly, his creature very quickly begins to question the relationship, culminating in his reflective RHS dialogue with Janet in which he confesses “a feeling of foreboding” before having sex with her in the laboratory. These unforeseen consequences are mirrored in Hesiod’s Theogeny, with Chronos’s castration of his father Uranus inadvertently creating Aphrodite, born from the white foam created by the discarded testes.

It is important to note that Frank-N-Furter’s relationship with his lovers is very much encompassed by the proverb “do as I say, not as I do.” He requires complete control over what he regards as his “children” a term that betrays a underlying thread of pedagogy, and a theme that has been identified by Zachary Lamm. Exploring the idea of Frank-N-Furter as teacher, Lamm explains “Frank may hijack his cast for the floor show using the medusa ray, but once on stage the whole lot not only indulges in pleasures formally taboo, but express the debt they owe to Frank for liberating them from cultural constraints.”(2) This idea of transactional pedagogy is a structural crux, reflected in the fateful trip Brad and Janet make to visit “the man who began it” to thank their former tutor Dr. Everett Scott for his part in their engagement. However, this knowledge comes at a price; that the relational dynamics of Frank-N-Furter’s world begin and end with him. This is perhaps illustrated most strikingly, during the dinner scene, where like Chronos, Frank-N-Furter also literally eats one of his children.

In a Freudian sense, this aspect of Frank-N-Furter can be compared to the superego, the component of the psyche Freud describes as being responsible for structural and moral boundaries. Curry wonderfully summerises this aspect, stating “He takes no prisoners — it’s his world and you just happen to live in it.”(3) This is also supported by the criminologist, who dryly describes Frank-N-Furter as “a man of little morals, and some persuasion”. It is obvious that Frank-N-Furter is operating within his own moral framework which accounts little for those beneath him, his own self-confidence titanic in scale until the last.

“They’re probably foreigners with ways different than our own.” - Brad Majors

Of the three component mythological characters that make up Frank-N-Furter personality, Dionysus shines as the example with an attested and historically recognised mystery cult. For readers wishing to explore this more deeply, I would recommend Peter Mark Adam’s extensive work Mystai concerning the Dionysian frescos and ritual language of the Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii.(4) Dionysus also maps strongly to Frank-N-Furter’s outward expressions of sexuality, with many examples in ancient literature supporting Dionysus indulging in crossdressing. Seneca the Eldar provides a wonderfully lyrical description describing “dainty Bacchus (Dionysos) does not blush to sprinkle with perfume his flowing locks, nor in his soft hand to brandish the slender thrysus, when with mincing gait he trails his robe gay with barbaric gold.”(5) Though this transvestism is often framed as a survival mechanism to avoid the predations of Hera, there are frequent enough mentions of his effeminacy to strongly suggest that Dionysus fulfilled a role as a queer interlocutor in the ancient world. Like Dionysus, Frank-N-Furter’s entourage of “unconventional conventionalists” softly echo the wildness of Dionysus’s Maenads, driving their motorcycles recklessly fast towards the castle in the rain and dancing and collapsing to the point of exhaustion at the conclusion of the rauceous Time Warp. Of all of Frank-N-Furter’s followers, the tragic Columbia embodies this Maenad spirit most strongly, being love-drunk in his thrall, dependent on both his intoxicating presence and the pharmacopeia he provides.(6) Columbia’s devotion to Frank-N-Furter is total, and even after her dramatic and sincere denouncement of him before the floorshow, she is still singled out by Riff Raff as a performative example of the destructive power of his laser gun.

Themes of foreignness and otherness are liberally played with throughout Rocky Horror, none more so than in the character of Frank-N-Furter. In this particular sense, we see the Dionysian mantle worn most plainly; Dionysus being well known by his epithet of the foreign god. There are other subtle hints aside from Frank-N-Furter’s obvious moral and sexual foreignness scattered throughout the film, perhaps the most disturbing being the pink triangle emblazoned on his medical gown. Whilst not directly stated, the implication is that he and Dr (VON!) Scott have a previous, and possibly much darker relationship. This suggested geographical and geopolitical link is further supported by the 4711 tattoo located on Frank-N-Furter’s upper right thigh, the name of a famous cologne originating in Germany.

Returning to Dionysus, his other famous epithet as the god who comes refers to his role as inspirer of epiphanies. As well as being the catalyst of sexual epiphany to a host of characters within the work(7) Frank-N-Furter himself is not alone in receiving divine inspiration, describing perhaps the ultimate epiphany in dramatic style,

“It was strange the way it happened. Suddenly...you get a break! All of the pieces seem to fit into place. What a sucker you’ve been, what a fool. The answer was there all the time. It took a small accident to make it happen. And that is how I discovered the secret. That elusive ingredient, that...spark that is the breath of life...yes, I have that knowledge! I hold the key to life... ITSELF!”

This aspect of Frank-N-Furter corresponds roughly to Freud’s concept of the ego, this function being responsible for balancing the requirements of the structure-enforcing superego with the raw instinctive desires of the id. However, in true god-like fashion, Frank-N-Furter finds a way to subvert the strictures of reality around him to create the world he wants to live in; regardless of the feelings and needs of those who surround him. This ascension to creator is the perhaps the last straw for Magenta and Riff-Raff. Whilst we never learn exactly why the Transylvanians are on Earth, Riff-Raff’s sudden interruption of the floorshow commandingly hints “Your mission is a failure, your lifestyle’s too extreme.” The audience is left to guess what this mission was, the only clues to its shape being that Frank-N-Furter’s actions have transgressed even the alien morality of his fellow Transylvanians.

Interestingly, there is a potential Orphic connection here. There have been drafts of potential sequels that have eluded to either Frank-N-Furter being revived following his death (Rocky Horror Shows His Heels) or indeed, Janet potentially carrying his offspring (Rocky Horror: The Second Coming) which included a song named Frankie Phoenix. This has never been released, but has been alluded to, also being named I’m not Dead Yet, which contains the lyrics,

“I was born to dance the Daddy, and to sing songs of regret. Whilst others play with memories of things they can’t forget. But out of change comes further change, and it gets better yet. There has to be a future now, I know I’m not dead yet.”

This hints at a survival, and possible development in Frank-N-Furter’s character. However rewarding (and comically dark) it may be to consider the role of Frank-N-Furter being extended to psychopomp, this remains a thrilling, yet unverifiable cul-de-sac of enquiry.

“I’m a wild and an untamed thing” - Dr Frank-N-Furter

The figure of Pan boasts a varied lineage, but it is generally accepted he is pre-Olympian in origin, hailing from the wild, mountainous landscapes of Arcadia, and that his father was Hermes. Explorations into the mythological minutia of his background are too deep for this article, but those wishing to pursue this line of inquiry would do well to consult Ruck’s work on the subject. Pan is associated with the spring, arguably the lustiest season, reflected in Frank-N-Furter’s tactile physicality and his obsession with birthing his “beautiful creature.” Yet, none of the action of the plot takes place in the sunlight typically linked to imagery of the vernal season, instead taking place indoors within Frank-N-Furter’s castle. This nocturnal backdrop perhaps betrays the nightside of Pan; revealing unbridled, and excessively libidinous tendencies. This is supported by Ruck, who reflects on Pan’s chthonic links to other deities;

“Pan too, like Autolykos-Siyphos, represents the chthonic aspect of Apollo....Pan looked like a satyr with the ears, horns and tail of a goat: and like a satyr he was also ithypallic, incredibly lecherous and even boasted to have slept with every maenad that ever was.”(8)

Continuing the theme of sins of the flesh, the very form of the goat-footed god was liberally used within Roman cultic practice, and it will come as no surprise that the archeological record supports this sense of lusty abandonment, with cloven-footed phallic imagery being a common motif, “Figurines as well as pendents could also be made more visually striking by adding wings, legs or other body parts to the phallus. This links phalli, and probably the idea of sexual appetite to wild animals and something out of control. In Roman art generally, it was not unusual to see a disembodied phallus walking with a pair of hind legs which also had a mammalian phallus between them.”(9)

It is intriguing to note that like Dionysus, Pan surrounds himself with a retinue of followers; the Paniskoi. This cadre of replica Frank-N-Furters is mirrored in the final floorshow scene. Not content with creating Rocky, Frank-N-Furter also externalises himself in the bodies of Brad, Janet and Columbia, transforming them all into a stocking and suspender-ed Transylvanian chorus line. The following orgiastic pool scene is the culmination of several plot-lines within the work, completing the sexual initiations of Brad and Janet and seemingly reconciling Frank-N-Furter’s previously strained relationships with Rocky and Columbia. Though Frank-N-Furter orchestrates this scenario through deception and coercion, his echoing siren call of “don’t dream it, be it” re-enchants his children. Once within the pool, all appears forgiven and all appear to be equal; the group participating in a foaming watery kaos from which they emerge Venusian-like in post-coital rapture to collectively state in the second verse “We’re a wild and an untamed thing”, ecstatically dancing clad in sympathy with their initiator.

However, this orgasmic bliss cannot last. In a final tragic reflection, Frank-N-Furter, much like Pan dies. Dating to around 100AD, the legend is told by Pseudo-Plutarch of a sailor being told to declare the news by a disembodied voice that “the great god Pan is dead” to next port he reaches.(10) This pronouncement, much like Janet’s own horrified realisation of the death of Frank-N-Furter (and let’s not forget poor Columbia and Rocky) is met with much distress. Yet, Pan, being connected with the spring and the effervescent energy it generates can only be dead so long. Likewise, though Frank-N-Furter’s passing leaves his guests and audience “lost in time and space”, he will boldly return with every rendition of Sweet Transvestite.

Concluding this tripartite Freudian analysis, it can be argued that this final god is reflective of the id component of Frank-N-Furter, concerning the primary driving force in his life, the pleasure principle. Freud describes the id as the “great reservoir of libido”(11) , and whilst it is clear that Frank-N-Furter is both a passive and active sexual being, his erotic drives lead ultimately only to the satisfaction of his own desires. He has the capacity to create new life, but chooses to do so for his own pleasures. He is willing to be the initiator of sexual freedom, but only if those initiates remain his playthings. Despite the pool scene flattening the social and sexual hierarchy between Frank-N-Furter and his coterie, this is done exclusively on his own terms; he remains a jealous God.

It is clear that O’Brien was familiar with Freudian thought, with several references being made throughout his work. Perhaps the most obvious of these occurs in Shock Treatment within the song Look What I Did to My Id, where the staff of Denton TV’s Faith Factory show masquerade as mental health professionals; “We may look like we’re phony medics But we took our look from a book by Frederick’s Oh, look what I did to my Id - Id!” The presence of the pleasure principle is playfully woven into these lyrics, riffing on both camp medical fetishism and Fredericks, a Hollywood-based lingerie designer. Returning to the RHS and RHPS. there are also hints that O’Brien playfully hints to the ideas of Frederick Nietzsche, the penultimate song Superheros arguably being a commentary on the idea of the übermensch, an idea supported by the Criminologist’s parting existential refrain,

“And crawling on the planet’s face, some insects called the human race. Lost in time, and lost in space. And meaning.”

It is abundantly clear that Frank-N-Furter is a character “out of time, out of space”, his excesses belonging within the realms of cosmic Greco-Roman tragedy. His apparent lack of morals do not belong in this age and follow at best, the internal logic of a god, or at worst that of a charismatic sociopath. There is also much scope to describe Frank-N-Furter as a Nietzschean character, particularly when considering Nietzsche’s ideas of Apollonian and Dionysian dynamics, but this is beyond the scope if this series and (more importantly) the capacity of the author to do so at present. Though we end with the knowledge that “darkness has conquered Brad and Janet”, the final lilting words from O’Brien as he sings out the reprise of Science Fiction / Double Feature hint at our inevitable return to Frank-N-Furter’s castle.

“I want to go, oh, oh, oh To the late night Double feature picture show.”

This is where we will again find ourselves in the concluding part of this series, examining the cultus of Rocky itself and its ongoing impact upon popular culture.

References

(1) Schultz, Nicole N - Marginalized Philosophy: Rocky Horror Picture Show and the Unseen Influence - https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/24697d1b-a95e-4044-b02c-deed31854ab1/content - Accessed 17/01/2026.

(2) Lamm, Zachary - Reading Rocky Horror - The Queer Pedagogy of Dr. Frank-n-Furter p201 - Palgrave MacMillian 2008

(3) https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2025-09-25/tim-curry-rocky-horror-picture-show-50th-anniversary-roxy-theatre-lou-adler?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_Los_Angeles_Times_Entertainment&fbclid=IwY2xjawNGNnNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETBCUDVrcFJKUjgwNjkweFZMAR49opupzuLrcOzSxLluJQSF79Ql1M9SdInEoaZr0UreZ7zzKvBByVugsh7UaA_aem_0V5fUUj0myBnAGiFk0z5vg

(4) Adams, Peter Mark Mystai - Scarlet Imprint 2017

(5) https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/DionysosGod.html - Accessed 17/10/2025

(6) This drug is referred to as “the spray” explicitly in RHS and “a certain dope” in both RHS and RHPS. It is assumed it is alien in origin, or perhaps just nitrous oxide or poppers.

(7) Frank takes the virginity of both Brad and Janet, Rocky, and presumably previously seduced Eddie and Columbia.

(8) Ruck, Carl The World of Classical Myth; Gods and Goddesses, heroines and heroes - Carolina Academic Press 1994 p132

(9) Parker, Adam Magic in Roman Britain Amberley Publishing 2025 p15

(10) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_(god)#%22The_great_god_Pan_is_dead%22 - Accessed 12/12/2025

(11) https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.12243/page/37/ - Accessed 06/02/2026

Following a brief introduction, the book opens with a complete translation of the text itself in both modern English and German, pursued on black wings by an accompanying facsimile of the original manuscript with the ensuing substantial commentaries by Dr Cummins and Johnson forming the meat of the work. As translator, Johnson’s essay introduces the figure of the Stammgeist - the spirit of a deceased person tied to a specific location. What follows is an eloquent exploration of the history and nature of ghosts and their role in magical practice, highlighting the changing attitudes in regard to conceptions of purgatory during the Reformation, and how magical practitioners adapted to these celestial and chthonic shifts. Having provided the context for the translation, the operative nature of the text is considered in depth by Dr Cummins, who sequentially analyses the materia and means of approaching the text as a practical working book. Due to the partial nature of the work, there is a good deal of comparison across similar texts to aid in a sympathetic reconstruction. This in itself is a strong introduction to similar, more expansive works and provides the reader with plenty of inspiration to both comprehend and commune with the material. Particular highlights of this essay include commentary on the dramatis personae of the spirits called upon, which features some familiar names within Faustiana, as well as solid no-nonsense advice for any prospective necromancer.

Whilst most grimoires and books of magic deal in what is often jokingly reduced to getting paid and laid, the Raven not only concerns itself with the former acquisitory element of treasure hunting, but also with the latter techniques of laying - ghosts that is. This is where I personally feel the greatest value in this tome lies. It is remarkably forward thinking in regards to approaching the restless dead from charitable directions, aiming to solve hauntings through compassion, communication and compromise. Problematic hauntings are not seen from a simplistic binary position, on the contrary, the Raven encourages a relational response to the once corporeal souls who require empathy and assistance to navigate their post-mortem predicaments. In a world where contemporary conversations concerning the dead are as clear as the poor night-vision footage presented in the majority of ghost hunting media, the Raven offers a bright spark of genuine humanity and salvific empathy against the usual juvenile hysteria. Corvids are well known for their proclivity for shining objects, but as Dr Al reminds us, the raven is also a carrion bird. Despite not being a self-contained or indeed a complete grimoiric system, the dual aspects of this midnight-plumed passerine wonderfully overlap to the themes of this book. Though fragmentary like the broken links of a silver chain, the contents offer both inspiration and intrigue for those who have yet to work with such material, and method and mystery for those with some experience.

(1) - My advice to young occultists - Jake Stratton-Kent - Patreon post 05/05/2022

To celebrate the woody anniversary of possibly my most materially beneficial magical working, I thought I’d unearth this piece from an old blog whilst I’m polishing the concluding two sections of the Rocky Horror - An Ongoing Initiation series. These have been slightly delayed because Tim Curry dropped an autobiography seemingly out of nowhere, and it’d be amiss to continue without having read it.

The following article documents the creation of three Jupiter talismans, one each for my partner and I, and the other to be shared by the RSPM UK Omphalos working group. I’m extremely happy and proud that these talismans have been successful in their designed purpose, and I continue to find this fact encouraging, as despite engaging sincerely with this kind of work, I am aware that I’m often slightly ham-fisted and occasionally ill-prepared. Thankfully, I’ve found that continuing to do what Jake Stratton-Kent referred to as mis labores genuinely helps to smooth out any rough roads in this regards; my practice is not one of grandiose rites, but small, daily and constant interaction.

Since this working, I have experimented with various other talismanic items, but this one remains one of my favourite and most quantifiable. Thanks again to Sian Sibley for providing the timing information, and I hope that my slapdash efforts encourage others to give something like this a go too.

Blue Peter does Jupiter Talismans

Having read the biography of the famous 17th century astrologer William Lilly last year, I was struck not only by his expertise at interpreting the heavens, but his animated correspondence with equally famous antiquarian and magician Elias Ashmole. Ashmole (aside from being quite the hypochondriac) occupied a considerable portion of his time experimenting with planetary talismans.

“The first sigils Ashmole experimented with were designed to drive various vermin – flies, fleas, caterpillars and toads – from the lodgings he and Lady Mainwaring were then staying in. Using lead, Saturn’s material, Elias cast them during a meeting in the heavens of Saturn and Mars (which occurred in July that year). He was very impressed with his charms, moulded in the actual shape of flies, fleas, caterpillars and toads and enjoyed telling his friends of their efficacy.”(1)

Having worked in the shallow end of the planetary magic pool for some time and with excellent astrological conditions, I decided to have a go at making some Jupiter talismans. Naturally, I waited until the very last day Jupiter was in was in Sagittarius to do so. Thankfully, the procedure went remarkably smoothly and the results have been so far positive with a generous lift of required material gains, coming seemingly out of the blue. Here’s a brief run down of the experiment which was done mostly on the fly.

Step 1 – Procure your materia.

In Agrippa for dummies, we learn that all planetary talismans have to be based on a material sympathetic to that planet. One of the metals Agrippa mentions that Jupiter is associated with is tin. Sadly, I had no tin, but I did have an old pewter eggcup that is mostly made of tin. That’ll do pig, that’ll do.

Step 2 – Shape your talisman.

Having selected the material, it was time to cut it down into something wearable. The idea of having a Jovian eggcup was tempting, but I didn’t want to go full Nathan Barley with planetary talismans yet. Sadly, the battered 19th century eggcup had to go. Thankfully, the soft nature of pewter made that job relatively easy. One unexpected bonus of this process was the manifestation of a small plinth for very tiny globes.

Step 3 – Palpate.

Although pewter is soft, it is sadly quite brittle, so the next step was to heat up the bulk of the material and slowly hammer it out into a sheet. Over the course of around an hour, the material was repeatedly heated and hammered, resulting in a flattened piece of workable metal.

Step 4 – Cutting.

Having successfully transformed the object back to a state of near-raw material, it was time to mark out the rough shape of the talismans. I had enough space to make three 1.5″ squares which were then cut out, de-burred and smoothed out. I also punched a small hole to enable them to be worn. However, it seems more fitting to put something like this in a wallet and they’ll slide nicely into any card pouch.

Aside from the satisfaction of successfully cutting these out and being pleasant to handle, I particularly like how the incised detail of the former eggcup can still be seen on the squares prior to inscribing them.

Step 5 – Inscribing and consecration.

This was the part I was least looking forward to. Although I consider myself passable at painting and drawing, inscribing isn’t something I’d had much experience of. Thankfully, I’d not planned to include anything more complex than the Jupiterian kamea, the geomantic symbol of Acquisitio and the planetary symbol for Jupiter; the latter being engraved during consecration. The consecration itself was performed in a Jupiterian hour on Sunday 21st December 2019 and consisted of the following,.

1. Charcoal lit and frankincense burnt. Hygromanteia daily prayer of Sunday read aloud (performed earlier that day, but repeated).

2. Jupiterian incense added to burning frankincense. First of the talismans was presented and held within the smoking incense whilst reciting the Orphic hymn to Jupiter.

3. Once the hymn was completed, the talisman was inscribed with the planetary symbol and left on a small pile of money.

4. This step was repeated for the following two talismans.

In all, the operation took about three hours, with the majority of that time spent carving the kameas. It’s an incredibly paired down version of other talisman creation methods I’ve read, but the results so far have been more than satisfactory. It feels a little check me out to divulge, but in the month after creating them, I’ve been given a significant pay-rise, acquired two expensive items that I’ve wanted for a long time for next to nothing and have been given a large amount of money towards the mortgage from a family member.

From a Chaotic perspective I can write this one off as a success. It’s nice to know that a thing works, especially as two of the talismans have been given away as gifts. It’s certainly been a more direct method of manifesting desired goods than sigils and I’m keen to try some other experiments soon too. I’m particularly interested to play with the idea of talismans created when planets are undignified – particularly whether creating an undignified Saturn talisman would have the effect of repelling her melancholic shadows. Sadly I may have to wait some time for that to come to fruition! In short, an interesting and productive way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

(1) – Catherine Blackledge - The Man Who Saw the Future – The 17th-Century Astrologer Who Changed the Course of the English Civil War - Watkins Books 2015 – pp96

“Be just and fear not” - Denton Episcopalian Church.

Whilst the main course of these essays is chiefly concerned with the Greco-Roman subtexts of Rocky Horror, it is surprising given the themes explored, and their context within western culture, that Christian overtures or imagery used within the production are not more predominant. This peculiarity is increased given the strange musical milieu that Rocky Horror emerged from. During the early 1970s, there were three musical productions on offer to the theatre-going public; Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), Godspell (1971) and The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus (1973) all featured narratives woven around the character of Jesus Christ. Movie adaptations of both Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell were released in 1973. O’Brien himself was a member of the 1972 Jesus Christ Superstar cast, playing various chorus roles and understudying for the part of Herod Antipas. It was during his time spent on this production that he met director Jim Sharman. The two would eventually go onto to work on RHS, delivering it to the small stage above the Royal Court known as the Theatre Upstairs, in 1973. Whilst Frank-N-Furter’s debatably messianic traits are discussed in the following essay, the vast majority of Biblical links within Rocky Horror are firmly rooted in Old Testament works.

Our primary link to the Old Testament can be found, quite aptly, during the opening credits to RHPS, wonderfully illuminated by the audience call and response; as Patricia Quinn’s disembodied lips zoom into focus, the audience is known to call out “God said, Let there be Lips. And there were Lips. And they were red. And they gave great head. Sing it lips!” Though tongues are firmly planted in cheeks for all of the call and responses during all live performances of RHS and RHPS, the use of Genesis 1:3 as a cultic interaction between audience and production carries profound weight which will be explored in the concluding part of this series. Further references from the Old Testament in RHPS are purely visual, (and not too abysmal) provided by copies of Michelangelo’s sculpture of David (1504) and a replica mosaic of Creation of Adam (1512) decorating the floor of the pool. The fact that Michelangelo made little secret of his same-sex desires suggests the inclusion of his work within RHPS was a conscious acknowledgement to a queer creative ancestry. This is further alluded to through the addition of red lipstick to the pair of mirrored David sculptures that flank Frank-N-Furter’s boudoir.

There is of course a direct lineage from Frank-N-Furter’s “hunting lodge for rich weirdos” to the cinematic spectacle that was the age of the Hollywood Biblical epic, that being the sheer campness and melodrama that spiced these productions. From Victor Mature’s role as Samson in Samson and Delilah (1949) to Vincent Price’s performance as Baka in The Ten Commandments (1959) the weight of religiosity is firmly shifted to that of superficial entertaining thrill, with dialogue and action conducted with a knowing wink.

Lastly, it can be argued that the character of the Old Testament God himself is also reflected in aspects of Frank-N-Furter’s personality; most notably his capricious temperament in which murderous wrath and jealous resentment stir restlessly beneath a near impervious veneer of charm. Frank-N-Furter’s internal logic will brook no external challenge and he is indeed a “jealous God”. It is interesting to note that although Frank-N-Furter is keen to furnish Brad and Janet with “a satanic mechanic” there remains more of the Old Testament God to his character than his adversary. Whilst there maybe similarities to the orgiastic pool scene and the languid eroticism of Jean Delville’s 1895 painting The Treasures of Satan, aside from his lack of morality, it can be debated that Frank-N-Furter retains far more commonality with the creator figure of Jehovah. To further understand this character, he will be considered in the context of those who have played him, before examining his Grecian antecedents.

“Let me show you around” - Dr Frank-N-Furter.

There is little doubt that despite a prodigious body of work, Frank-N-Furter is the most enduring character O’Brien has ever created. Brought to life initially on stage and later on screen by the incomparable Tim Curry, the spirit of Frank-N-Furter would also go on to mount many others. A Byronic character, inspired by O’Brien’s overbearing mother(1) and birthed amidst the mouldering windfall fruits of the summer of love, Frank-N-Furter remains, despite being (in sequential order) an unethical scientist, murderer, rapist and cannibal, a figurehead of the socially permissible transgression of heteronormative sexuality. His audience remains seemingly oblivious of his moral failings, all sins forgiven due to his infinite reserves of charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent.

Disarmed by the very fact that he wears his sexuality and his desires so sincerely, this vulnerability fortifies him; his celebration of libidinous excess which has been so brutally weaponised to shape societal norms paradoxically empowers him, and the audience acknowledges this both consciously and unconsciously. Born upon the cramped stage of the Royal Court’s attic Theatre Upstairs in June 1973, it would be a short two years before the play was adapted to film. Initially a commercial failure, the RHPS would go on to become an underground pop-culture phenomenon of cultic proportions. This aspect will be explored in the concluding essay, but for now, we turn our full attention to our “host and (sexual) Mephistopheles “(2)

The exhaustive physical and psychological impact of playing Frank-N-Furter was first noted by Curry, who stated in a 1975 interview that “Frank-N-Furter was such a strong character, he threatened to take over.”(3) Other actors are keen to state the transformational power experienced whilst in the role, Anthony Stewart Head confiding that,

“The exciting thing about acting is that you shouldn’t know what’s coming out of the actor’s mouth next – and I didn’t hold back. I just let whatever was going on inside of me come out in the character. That was life-changing for me as an actor. It made me realise that there’s nowhere that you can’t go. Friends would come to see me perform and later say that they hardly recognised me, I was so out of character. As an actor, that’s a huge compliment.”(4)

The liberatory permissiveness Frank-N-Furter gifts upon those who embody him is a double edged sword; both the actor and audience know how this will end. This fatalism is shadowed by Curry’s comments regarding the transformation prior to performance, “I sometimes feel a bit like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.” he grinned. “For instance, when I was playing Frank-N-Furter, it took me an hour and a half to put on the make-up, and as soon as the mascara started going on, I’d become really sarcastic and horrible. People would actually leave the dressing room.”(5) This act of “voluntary schizophrenia”(6) is both a blessing and burden, though for some the benefits seemingly outweigh the risks, summarised bluntly by Head that, “I’ve seldom found something as fulfilling as Frank.”(7)

This thanterotic potency is explored by Ken Hollings who describes what he terms the Purple Death in the first part of his Trash Trilogy, which provides a rich context for the worlds of the 1950s B-movies which inspired both Frank-N-Furter and the narrative ecosystem that Rocky Horror inhabits.

“Garish and enflamed the Purple Death is a technological infection that spreads itself so thickly across the entire decade. In their representation of nervous, libidinal drives, the underground film and the dirty movie are closely aligned. Each is involved with playing out the cinematic medium as an expression of sex and death. Each is an embodiment not of love but of a certain fascination with its absence; with lust and carnality mythically portrayed - both with and without irony at the same time.”(8)

Frank-N-Furter’s needs and his methods of satisfying them are as modern as they are timeless. The immediacy and reactiveness of his actions are reflected in our present culture of instant gratification; of porn without plot, of lust without love. He is an unapologetic fucker and we love him because he does not dream it. He epitomises the latin maxim esse quam videri - he is, rather than seeming to be, real. The yearning his audience feels for him and his uninhibited lifestyle is transduced by his dramatic terminus; Christ-like, the stage and screen deaths of Frank-N-Furter provide a moral, lawful and sexual catharsis, absolving and justifying the audience’s feelings and actions. It is no surprise then, given the perennial subjects of sex and death that underpin Rocky Horror, that nods to Biblical narrative and classical myth are liberally woven throughout both the stage and film productions.

Referring back to Holling’s Purple Death, and returning to the classical mythemes, Rocky Horror is arguably the Olympian summit of camp melodrama. Links to a classical lineage are found in songs such as The Sword of Damocles, the large statue of Atlas in Frank-N-Furter’s laboratory and the petrifying alien technology of the Medusa ray. However, it is the narrative sequence of Rocky Horror itself and the manner in which the audience engages with it that holds much deeper veins of classical inspiration, as does the character of Frank-N-Furter. In this sense, Frank-N-Furter cannot merely be said to be a theatrical character; he is arguably much better described as a gestalt archetype composed of three major components, each from Greco-Roman myth. Though not obvious transpositions, it can be disputed that the personality of Frank-N-Furter is an amalgam of Cronus the Titan, and the gods Dionysus and Pan, embodying in degrees their worst excesses. Like these mythic characters, his personal failings are accepted as an integral part of his mythos and are crucial to his wider narrative arc, all of which will be explored in the following essay.

References

(1) http://www.dominicwells.com/journalist/obrien/ - accessed 02/09/2025

(2) Jonathan Rosenbaum Sight and Sound Spring 1980

(3) Tim Curry interviewed by Mark Caldwell - 09:04 - accessed 03/09/2025

(4) https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jan/21/anthony-head-teenage-obsessions-rocky-horror-show-judi-dench - accessed 03/08/2025

(5) Tim Curry Jackie Magazine - June 1978

(6) Tim Curry interviewed by Mark Caldwell - 22:13 - accessed 03/09/2025

(7) https://www.timewarp.org.uk/transylvania/anthony92.htm - accessed 03/09/2025

(8) Ken Hollings Inferno Strange Attractor p18 2000

“It was great when it all began” - Columbia

The Rocky Horror Show, in both theatrical and movie formats have been an important part of my life since the age of nine. Knowing I was a big Meat Loaf fan, and with my ears ablaze with the early autumnal release of the 1993 Bat out of Hell II album, my Mum thought I’d appreciate the singer’s brief, but memorable role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I learned at a much later date that she knew nothing else about the film other than Meat Loaf’s fleeting appearances, leaving me alone to watch the tape. It was a transformational experience. I was utterly beguiled by the music, characters and camp horror visuals, frequently re-watching until the tape had to be returned to her friend. I’m quite certain a copy of the film ended up beneath the Christmas tree that year, as I recall desperately trying (and failing) to endear my friends to its virtues during school holidays between biscuit-fuelled games of Warhammer 40,000.

I soon became aware of the famous theatrical performances through the parents of school friends. I was especially excited as during this time, productions included actors and comedians I was familiar with such as Ade Edmondson, Tim McInnerny and Anthony Stewart Head. There was even a Red Dwarf episode that featured a ‘low’ version of the character Rimmer, who was dressed and acted a little like Dr. Frank-N-Furter.(1) However, despite these pop-culture links that fish-netted about me, I could never square my own feelings for the story with that of the interactive frivolity of the stage-show. Perhaps it is because I was initially exposed to Rocky Horror via the medium of film rather than theatre, I didn’t perceive it as a comic rock-opera in stockings. For me, unlike nearly everyone else I knew who were familiar with the dance steps to The Time Warp, Rocky Horror was a heart-rending melancholic tragedy of sexual excess and lost innocence.

This may sound precocious and perhaps unrealistic, but from an early age I was passionately immersed in both anything related to history and the dramatic works of Shakespeare. I was that child in the classroom who sat on the edge of his chair because the rest of the seat was taken up with books, and would frequently spend evenings re-watching VHS recordings of the 1992 series Shakespeares Animated Tales. Macbeth, Hamlet, The Tempest and A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream were particular favourites. In addition to this, and more crucially to Rocky Horror, I was also an enthusiastic onanist from earliest memories; in most cases, this would have been fairly normal if it weren’t for the tectonic burden of guilt bestowed upon the act by a combination of both Catholic infant, and later Church of England schooling. In many ways, the initial appeal of Frank-N-Furter was his utter lack of remorse in the pleasures of the flesh. My earliest conception of the narrative arc of Rocky Horror was perceiving it as O’Brien’s shared fantasy, concluding with the characters Brad and Janet crawling like shameful Edenic cast-offs in their post-orgasmic state; something my younger self heavily related to.

“Let the sun and light come streaming into my life” - Riff Raff

So far, so very personal. Yet, this deep involvement with the material has driven me to think very long and hard about the inspirations and dramatis personae that populate this performance. Whilst the themes of the following essays will reflect on the Greco-Roman mythic influences upon Rocky Horror and perceiving the work as an initiatic ritual experience, the focus of this prologue will provide some brief creative context, specifically in regard to O’Brien’s own relationship with his work. Indeed, Rocky Horror and to a lesser degree, Shock Treatment function as confessional platforms for O’Briens own development and conciliation; themes of sexual and gender non-conformity decorating lyrics within both Rocky Horror and its often overlooked step-child sequel. Whilst the following essays will concentrate predominately on the theatrical and cinematic versions of Rocky Horror, (abbreviated as RHS and RHPS when required respectfully) Shock Treatment (ST) will be referenced on occasion as it is set in the same universe and features some of the same characters and actors.

There is a strong argument that songs such as Sweet Transvestite, Rose Tint My World, Little Black Dress, and Breaking Out are all to a greater degree O’Brien voicing his personal experience of these subjects through theatre, which makes his own appearances in both productions as a secondary antagonist all the more intriguing. His complex relationships with Frank-N-Furter and Magenta in Rocky Horror and Janet, Brad and Nation in ST places him as a kind of meta-voyeur both within and without the productions; possibly a unique position within the art and one that potentially petrifies the mental states endured whilst developing and performing both. O’Brien has been open about his struggles with self-acceptance in the past, and whilst both RHS and RHPS have been cited as a supportive medium for others dealing with their own journeys of self-discovery, it is obvious that O’Brien himself has a very different, and very intimate relationship to the material.

The progression of O’Brien’s disclosures are linear; it is clear that whilst it is Frank-N-Furter singing “Whatever happened to Fay Wray? That delicate satin draped frame As it clung to her thigh, how I started to cry ‘Cause I wanted to be dressed just the same”, he is a mask giving voice to the desires of O’Brien. This mask further slips in ST when O’Brien’s character Dr. Cosmo McKinley confesses in song, “Ever since I was a little boy dressing up has always been my greatest joy but when it’s time to be discreet there’s one thing you just can’t beat and that’s a strapless backless classical little black dress.” Though these lyrics frame O’Brien’s interest in transvestism during this period, they foreshadow his overall discomfort as a cisgender male, an issue that would not be resolved until 2009;

“I’ve been fighting never belonging, never being male or female, and it got to the stage where I couldn’t deal with it any longer. To feel you don’t belong, to feel insane, to feel perverted and disgusting, you go fucking nuts. If society allowed you to grow up feeling it was normal to be what you are, there wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t think the term ‘transvestite’ or ‘transsexual’ would exist; you’d just be another human being.”(2)

The relationship O’Brien has with the work has changed over time, and it is clear that he has now transmuted these feelings to a point of personal reconciliation. Though his own conclusions on gender may conflict with the progressive thrust of the overall LGBTQ+ movement, they underline the subjective and individual nature of the value we place upon their embodied substance.

When dealing with such universal and complex subjects, it’s no wonder that beyond the B-movie references in the introductory Science Fiction Double Feature, larger, universal mythemes mutely lurk. At the age of 83, in a commercial sense O’Brien looks back on the legacy of Rocky Horror being the longest continually running film in cinematic history. Whilst some may sneer at the superficial schlock-horror values, the campness and hen-party hysterics, its longevity and cultic status points to deeper seams of wider cultural and perhaps spiritual values. Much time and ink has been spent considering Rocky Horror as a cultural spectacle and I hope this piece will lead others to consider the excellent Rocky Horror: From Concept To Cult (2002) and Reading Rocky Horror: The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Popular Culture (2008), both of which have been hugely helpful in creating these pieces. At the time of writing, O’Brien’s son, Linus has released the documentary Strange Journey detailing the genesis, impact and fruits of the work, which is a fascinating exploration of the phenomenon.

In honour of the 50th anniversary of the cinematic release, this is an attempt to finally codify a few thoughts that have been stewing for well over three decades concerning Rocky Horror and its cultus. Over the coming weeks, I would like, in the words of the Expert, Charles Gray “to take you on a very strange journey,...”

References

(1) Demons and Angels - Red Dwarf Season V, Episode V - Aired March 1992

(2) http://www.dominicwells.com/journalist/obrien/ - accessed 02/08/2025

The wonderful thing about this book is that Vic is writing intimately about subjects he knows inside-out. Music, Magic, and NLP is a very lean, instrumental tome which wastes little time in getting the reader to participate in the range of techniques offered. Departing from cut-up, the reader is soon introduced to methodologies such as tarot, intentions, journeying, and spirit work in order to create the frisson required to take their work in a new, rewarding direction. Music is treated as a living being with agency, this animistic re-framing really lends itself to the suggested engagements Vic ascribes and I feel this perspective will be an extremely useful key in which to enter those creative, liminal “flow-states” which are often so difficult to reach. If we realise that we meet creativity halfway as another being rather than travelling all the way to an imagined psychological state, the process becomes an awful lot less intimidating! There is a sustained fizzing playfulness that sets the tempo of this book, with practical exercises enthusiastically peppered throughout each chapter. In-fact, this is where my only criticism arises; the galloping pace means that you’ll likely be taken off in one direction of thought and action before you are able to fully finish a section! I cannot tell you the amount of times I was lost in thought mid-read, planning particular angles of approach towards a creative or magical endeavour. In this sense, the book achieves the primary title goal many times over. It is both a love-letter from Vic to his passion for, and relationship with music and an introduction to how the framework of this engagement with the muse is universal across all creative explorations. The testimonials that pre-load the main text should be evidence enough of Vic’s skill and authority concerning this subject. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear of this book becoming one of those texts that ends up doing the rounds in very high places, or is pictured in the pockets of industry insiders.

Physically, the book is an unassuming self-published paperback. The self-publishing industry has undergone quite a renaissance over the past decade, with the vast majority of this type of publication being as good (if not better) in print quality to standard offerings from well-established publishers. Music, Magic, and NLP is no exception and features well designed matte cover (with some rather good-looking folk hiding within it) as well soundly formatted text. My only gripe with some of the chapter titles is that they were often sourced from quotes which were repeated directly beneath them, but this is just my OCD. I’ve already recommended this book to several friends and plan to buy some additional copies as presents as it’s a genuinely useful firecracker. If you’re looking for a new, fresh angle of approach to any creative project or a primer on the importance of phrasing and repetition in magical practice, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick this up. Vic has walked this walk for a long time and we’re lucky to have him share his experiences in such an enthused, effervescent book.

May your roads be ever open – om gam ganapataye namaha!

Commenting in later life, Cecil Williamson remarked that he strayed away from creating exhibits that focused on the interests or "clever stuff of the high grade adepts"(1) after an underwhelming public reaction to the authentic Enochian Temple designed by Kenneth and Steffi Grant on the Isle of Man. The difficulty in translating contemporary, experimental traditions to a broad audience remains a tricky task for the present museum, for whom the greater percentage of visitors will be more comfortable with familiar, pop-cultural tropes of magic. The 2024 Arcanum Sanguinis: Occult Blood exhibit curated by Dr Whitefeather Hunter was a daring and difficult sell, marrying alchemy and the hard science of bio-engineering to explore the intersection of these within magical, sexual and menstrual mysteries. Though a fascinating exhibition, I personally don't think it succeeded as well as it should have, perhaps being hampered by the limited space and a general lack of presentational context for the theme. Crucially, Dr Hunter's exhibited work was displayed and framed as a developing work in progress and as such, the open-ended nature of the experiments had yet to coalesce into something conceptually tangible for the average visitor. For me, it felt like a play without a final act, which was a genuine shame as the work was viscerally fresh and raw.

This year's exhibition sidesteps this problem by focusing on the less intellectually ambitious, but no less fascinating subject of Alexandrian Wicca. Circle of the Wise: Alexandrian Wicca features a plethora of ritual paraphernalia loaned by Maxine Sanders, alongside original magazine articles and video footage exploring the material culture, development of, and to a lesser degree the eponymous creator of Alexandrian Wicca, and self-appointed King of the Witches Alex Sanders. I’m not personally interested in Wicca outside of its impact upon the history of western magic; it may well be “the only religion England has given the world”(2) but it has arguably become moribund, having lost its momentum following the 1999 publication of Prof Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon. However, like Gardner-variety Wicca it remains an approachable system to work within for those who choose to follow the path. Indeed, the debt owed to Wicca in a broad sense by modern occultism is deep, particularly in its role as catalyst for other movements to develop from it.

Structurally, the exhibition works wonderfully within the small space the museum has, all objects being accessible and well-presented. The boudoir drapery and intimate lighting reflect both the period concerned and lends itself to the sensationalist tone of the headlines that frame the walls. There's some real surprises too, with some beautiful hand-made ritual items; I was especially drawn to the Barret-inspired scrying stone mount which incorporated the directional winds, a unique perspex sistrum and portions of the famous and much documented modular ceremonial circle. There were also some dramatic and substantial ecclesiastical items such as brass candlesticks, a floor mounted crozier and a thurible that had been reputedly gifted to Sanders and repurposed by him from a local a convent. Indeed, the theme of gift-giving was prevalent throughout the exhibition with many objects displayed providing evidence of a flourishing gift economy between initiates during this period.

Alongside the previously mentioned stand-out pieces were examples of ritual jewellery, contemporary magazine articles and a looped video/audio track with edited footage from the 1970 shlocksploitation film The Legend of the Witches. Overall it's an excellent introductory exhibition, however I personally disappointed that timeline for the exhibition abruptly ends in the mid-70s. There appeared to be little supplemental material from the museum archives and no mention of any of the magical activities of either Alex or Maxine following their divorce in 1971. There are Alexandrian groups still going, as well as a dedicated research project and it would have been fruitful to have tied these elements in to celebrate what remains of the tradition and any legacy it has from a post-Sanders perspective.

Herein lies the difficulty the museum faces; it is far easier for the museum to present material that has happened, rather than is happening. Whilst I personally found the 2024 exhibition intellectually appealing, containing as it did wide contextual material ranging from the likes of Derek Jarman and Genesis P.Orridge to Paracelsus, the ongoing nature, and at times, unnecessarily sensationalist tone failed to maintain this curiosity beyond the curated space. In a strange reversal, the present exhibition is so chronologically contained that it hamstrings any inheritance the Alexandrian tradition may continue to provide, and inadvertently seals it in amber. Maxine may well be celebrated in song and continuing to practice in London, but this isn't information that is provided; nor are the voices of any other present, practicing Alexandrians heard.

Of course, one way to navigate this issue would be with an accompanying textual guide, expanding the space which the museum lacks. Another route may have been to have focused primarily on Maxine's personal involvement rather than that of Alex. Better still, tying in the exhibition to a conference like that of 2018 would be fantastic way of promoting Wicca in a post-Triumph way, providing both a way of networking, community building and information exchange for a tradition that clearly still exists. The demand for in-person conferences that facilitate these subjects is huge, and the museum is in the perfect position to offer these on an annual basis. Regardless of approach, any of these options would provide both greater context for the displays and deeper commentary on contemporaneous practice by those involved in it.

(1) - MoWM Document 396q

(2) - R.Hutton TotM vii 1999

There's something to be said for regularity. Having attended the Welsh Occult Conference held in Welshpool as both punter and presenter since 2019, it's been wonderful to feel the welcoming sense familiarity that Sian as custodian brought to the event. When Gary announced last year he was taking back the reins after a hiatus as a palliative carer, it was met with mixed emotions, especially considering the planned move of venues from Welshpool town hall to Gregynog Hall. I also felt for the stallholders when he announced that all bookstall plots would be free, which seemed a little unfair considering the plethora of usual herbalists and plant sellers that Welshpool hosted. Whilst my inner bibliophile strongly agrees with Gary regarding textual transmission being a crucial part of learning, I felt that his closing statements last year could have been handled with a little more tact, especially given the quality and utility of stalls such as Pretty Wild Plants and the apothecary In Lumine Lunae. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see some changes next year?

It was a difficult start to the day, and despite the Tudor-esque Gregynog Hall being both stately and bathed in the late spring morning light, technical issues meant that the conference didn't start until 10:30am. This was also compounded by the late cancellation of Dr Stephen Skinner, who was unfortunately too ill to attend. However, Gary and Lesley handled the slings and arrows of fortune with good cheer and kept all informed as to the developing situation. This initial delay wasn't a total loss as it provided plenty of time to catch up with familiar faces and lurk amongst the six bookstalls. As always, Midian had a fantastic selection of works and I was really chuffed to see the latest from Simon Callow and Rupert White on display. Avalonia, Hadean and Daemon Secondhand Books also had full stalls, alongside the Ligeia stand of rare zines and Cubic Stone material, as well as an additional second hand bookstall. From what I could see, the conference was at near capacity with plenty of people reconnecting and chatting. I spotted Denis Poisson from Foolish Fish who was busily interviewing folk, so I'm looking forward to hearing any coverage from his perspective too. It was during this time just before the conference kicked off, that I was presented with a box of Jake's miniatures that Misha had generously passed on via Lesley, which was a little emotional to say the least; I promise these little warriors will get some dice-rolling action Jake! Not long after this, workarounds were found for the technical issues and the event kicked off with a recorded lecture from Dr Stephen Skinner.

Dr Stephen Skinner - The Grimoire Primer

I can't say I didn't feel slightly uncomfortably listening to this as Dr Skinner sounded utterly exhausted throughout. Despite this, it was interesting to hear him talk about the basics of working with grimoires, and he highlighted a couple of salient points regarding verbalisation which cleared up a few personal loose ends for me. It was a genuine shame he was unable to make it and I very much hope he is making a swift recovery. Following Dr Skinner, we had one half of the organising team take the stage.

Gary St Michael Nottingham - The Alchemical World of Israel Regardie

I've only got to know Gary and his work in the past year or so, but have really enjoyed discovering what is a really wonderful repository of practical, embodied techniques. His deeply researched talk on Israel Regardie's lesser known involvement in alchemy, as well as his relationship with Frater Albertus and the Paracelsus Collage in Utah was woven with some fascinating personal anecdotes, which both grounded the fundamentals and practicalities of the arte with Gary's own personal experiments. This talk was far more inspirational than I expected it to be, and having finally picked up and read Gary's work on geomancy, I'm excited to have a play with constructing a Bardon-inspired Universal Fluid Condenser for future talismans. If I recall correctly, this talk generated the most questions too, which were handled with brevity and good humour.

Alex Sumner - Lockdown and the Abramelin Rite

I wasn't aware of Alex's work before the conference and it was refreshing to hear someone talk about working through the Abramelin process without machismo or ego that occasionally accompanies discussion of it. There were some wonderful touches in the presentation which highlighted the benefits and rewards of long-term, disciplined work, as well as the observation that the operation has future-proofed itself in regards to being elastic enough to allow for the adaptation or introduction of new word squares to cope with problems that don’t necessarily involve misplaced goats. Whilst it's not a rite I've any interest in performing, Alex's concise debunking of the sadly entrenched tropes that exist in both in popular culture and occulture surrounding this working certainly made it feel approachable, especially when this was contextualised by his relatable follow-up work following completion.

Carrie Kirkpatrick - World War Witches

Following a buffet lunch, we were treated to the documentary trailer World War Witches, a work in progress that details several examples of magical workings designed to counter the threat of Nazi invasion during WW2. The five minute trailer looked promising, and featured Paul Weston, Philip Heselton and Geraldine Beskin as talking heads along actors playing the parts of Dion Fortune, Aleister Crowley and Gerald Gardner. I'm excited to hear that Cecil Williamson's contributions get a mention too, so very much looking forwards to seeing what promises to be an interesting piece of work when completed. Carrie was presented with a donation from the conference towards the crowd funder for the documentary which I thought was a really nice touch from Gary and Lesley.

Elaine Bailey - Anna Kingsford, Mother of the Golden Dawn

It was a delight to see Elaine speaking again, as it was in 2018 at Boscastle the last time I'd heard her present. Her discussion on Anna Kingsford was fascinating and the talk followed a linear path through both Kingsford's life alongside the development of what would become known as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. There were some really interesting revelations regarding Kingsford's initial involvement in Spiritualism, apparently attending her first seance in 1867, which I thought was incredibly early. The rest of the talk comprehensively explored Kingsford's cosmological influences and experiences and it was a joy to see Elaine speak so animatedly on the subject. I later learned that on the following day, a fair crew of people visited Kingsford's burial place at St Nicholas's in Atcham and took flowers to the gravesite. Lovely stuff.

Anne Pyatt - The History and Legacy of the Order of the Cubic Stone

I was completely unaware of this order prior to the talk and Anne Pyatt's introduction detailing the creation, development and legacy of this working class, working group was riveting. Explaining how her parents Robert and Patricia Turner alongside Dave Edwards and Paul Curtis had created a magical order from the ground up in Wolverhampton that eventually had national reach was utterly fascinating. I was also pleasantly surprised that her father's written work hadn't escaped me as I discovered that I've read and still own his engaging book on Elizabethan Magic! This really was one of the standout talks of the day as it is clear that Pyatt is deeply committed to conserving and sharing the work of her parents. From what she has hinted, there is some very exciting correspondence in the archives which would be a researchers dream job to comb through, with letters from Colin Wilson, Gerald Yorke, and Cecil Williamson to name but a few. I’ll be keeping an eye on any developments regarding this as it's remarkable how a popular and well established magical order can almost fall through the cracks of history.

Geraldine Beskin - Annie Horniman Magician and Impressario

After a final break, Geraldine Beskin of Atlantis books took to the stage to treat us to another exploration of one of the more interesting characters associated with the Golden Dawn, Anna 'Tabby' Horniman. I wasn't surprised to discover that Beskin has been working on a book about Horniman, as although she had notes, they were infrequently consulted and her freewheeling, anecdotally charged presentation riotously bounced through Horniman's life. It was personally illuminating for Beskin to dive into Horniman's theatrical period as some of her correspondence is on display at the Ryland Library in Manchester. As soon as Beskin revealed that Horniman was responsible for the Manchester Gaiety Theatre and was an active presence there, this little mystery that has been sat in my head for the past few years was solved! This final presentation was a great example of sharing the life of a complex and often problematic character with honesty and dignity. Whilst Horniman was a difficult and often contradictory person, her financial power, sincere commitment to the arts and deep friendships with the likes of Mona Mathers, W.B.Yeats, and George Bernard Shaw made her a instrumental driving force not only behind the Golden Dawn, but the development of theatre in Britain and Ireland. A fantastic way to end the day.

These events whilst rich and rewarding, can be tiring for all involved. Finishing as late as it did meant that I sadly didn’t have any time for any post conference catching up, but aside from that I can’t judge too harshly. There was also a clear emphasis on the historical aspect of magical practice, which is vital and I’m all for. That said, I personally find it quite easy to extract insights gained in this format and translate them into theoretical or practical use; however, I feel that for some who may have attended this event as their first conference, may not have got as much from it as more seasoned practitioners. I’m very aware (having ran a successful club night with my partner for ten years) that you can’t please everyone and these are my own observations rather than formal critiques. That said, I feel the conference may have been more balanced with perhaps one more presentation on contemporary practice to complement the others . These difficulties aside, I feel like this was a success for Gary and Lesley who apparently already have next year’s line up organised. Whether or not it’ll be at Gregynog remains to be seen. I wish them all the best in regards to future conferences and will doubtless be there to drink as much coffee as humanly possible.

It's been over a decade since Steve Patterson set the benchmark for Williamson studies with his excellent Cecil Williamson’s Book of Witchcraft (2014), a work that reinstated the importance of Williamson in the 20th century occult revival and helped to introduce him to a new audience. Whilst Patterson's work was groundbreaking and provides much needed insight into Williamson's biography, magical beliefs and practices, it did not delve into the more granular detail of the plethora of attractions that Williamson and his family created and maintained. White has stepped into these murky waters with gusto and has revealed with the greatest clarity possible Williamson's cinematic and military career, as well the history of his multiple museum establishments. Not only that, White has also tracked the movement and narrative changes of several objects and displays, providing fresh perspectives on Williamson's motivations and interests as they developed from site to site. Included in the text is an abundance of selected letters, object cards and photos that superbly accompany and support the text. Following a linear structure, the book effectively guides the reader through the succession of Williamson's attractions and provides some real surprises along the way. Indeed, the reestablishment of this broader timeline provides ample evidence to question some of Williamson's previous assertions concerning meetings and the acquisition of objects from famous occultists, as well as hints as to different directions the museum may well have headed in.

Clocking in at nearly 280 pages, deeply researched and densely packed, readers are certainly getting a lot for their money. Like White's other publications, the text is well formatted, wonderfully readable, accompanied by fantastic images and extensively footnoted throughout. My only gripe with this book is that I personally believe it deserves better than the standard Amazon paperback treatment. Whilst the interior printing quality is acceptable, the binding and robustness of the cover leaves a little to be desired. If there are plans to re-release this in hardback format, I'd certainly leap at the chance to own another copy. This restoration of context in a more empirical sense is vital in providing a holistic perspective on a character who can be described in most cases as "a bit of a rogue."(1) For me at least, history, warts and all, is the bedrock which both informs and provides the raw materials from which I build my own practice. Empiricism may well excavate and describe the bones of the past, but it is folklore and mythology that animates the long-vanished breath. Whilst there is little in this book that describes Williamson's magical practice, it does reinforce the lifelong importance he placed upon it, and the sincerity of his engagement through the continuance of the museum and the spirits he worked with; as objective as this work is, it does nothing to diminish the sparkle of Williamson's eye and, as such, his legacy as showman, pellar and cunning man continues to shine.

1 - Prof.R.Hutton Museum of Witchcraft - A Magical History Published by The Occult Art Company 2011 p9

Much ink has been spent describing the life and legacy of Gerald Gardner. Yet, until this publication the chronology, nature, and subsequent legacy of Gardner's time on Man has largely been defined by (as Callow rightly points out) those with grudges held against him. This book is a long awaited and much required work of contextual ballast that provides a refreshingly balanced examination of the pre-existing social, historical and folk cultural conditions on the Island that provided the rich medium in which Gardner's nascent Wiccan movement developed. Not only that, but it also reassesses the relationship between Gardner and several important figures that orbited him. In particular, the reframing of his relationship with Cecil Williamson is startling, upending some of Williamson's later anecdotes that unfairly mischaracterised Gardner as "an unexpected and unwanted guest".Indeed, Callow presents a much more nuanced relationship between the two, and establishes a clear narrative of a declining relationship characterised by competing and conflicting visions of the museum that led towards personal and financial acrimony. Likewise, his examination of the passing of the museum from Gardner to Monique Wilson, and the traumatic events that led to the dispersal of the collection is empathetically addressed, providing for the first time in print, a cohesive chronicle of the museum on the Isle of Man from inception to closure.

Structured over fifteen chapters, Callow provides the reader with generally linear narrative which is wonderfully paced and offers some beautifully considered observations and turns of phrase. Masterfully adept at presenting granular historical details within wider social, political and cultural spheres, Callow has successfully provided some long needed clarity to this particular period; and this is where the book really shines. The premise and major argument of the thesis is excellently challenged and supported by a substantial amount of new research. Having now read it twice, I've certainly reevaluated some of my own opinions on Gardner! Physically, the hardback book is a high quality production, with first impressions on opening framed by the fantastically sumptuous endpapers. Readers are also spoilt by three full-colour sections that feature a plethora of previously unpublished images; the inclusion of this material especially illustrates the broader impact of the museum on the Isle of Man during its existence. The accompanying thematic bookmark is also a great piece of design, and although this is my first book from Rose Ankh Press, if they keep producing titles like this, it won't be the last.

My only criticisms of the work is that it often assumes a pre-established knowledge of the main figures mentioned; autobiographical details are for the most part, a light touch throughout. However, this brevity keeps the book moving along and is more than made up for by the rich new work on less well known figures such as Mona Douglas and Angus Macleod. Readers wanting to explore the personalities in this book in greater depth are generously served by a well-stocked bibliography. In the final chapters, there are some obvious typing errors and repeated lines of text which were sadly not picked up on edit before printing. Despite these issues, the work itself is an incredible and much needed piece of work which recontextualizes Gardner's time on Man as being instrumental to the gestation of "the only religion England gave to the World". (Hutton, Prof R. Triumph of the Moon 1999, p. vii) To conclude, I cannot recommend this book enough, and Callow deserves a significant amount of gratitude and praise for the quality of the research and analysis that has been shared.

If you’re thinking of picking a copy of this up, as always, I’d recommend buying directly from the publisher, which can be done below.

https://roseankhpublishing.com/products/prosperos-isle

Her presence in Chester should not exactly fill us with surprise. Due to its estuarine geography and location, Chester has long been considered a serious contender as a location for the capital of Roman Britain. The survival of its monumental stonework around the Northgate and the excavation of the famously enigmatic ‘oval building’ points to Chester being much more than a lonely fortified outpost. With Minerva being one third of the Capitoline Triad alongside none other than Jupiter and Juno, it is no great leap of the imagination to suggest that powered with colonial ambitions, her role as deific imperial herald was easily transplanted as a civilising influence from Rome to the developing Caer. Her location to the south of Chester on the banks of the river Dee tantalisingly hints at a possible romanisation of a pre-existing local Goddess; indeed it is difficult to talk about Minerva without talking also about the river. We have evidence of this practice elsewhere in Roman Britain, with the in the famous example of famous hot spring baths of Minerva-Sulis in Bath, dedicated to a hybridised version of Roman and Celtic god-forms. Roman Chester was recorded as being named Deva Victrix or simply just Deva, a brythonic expression which translates as ‘goddess’ and possibly also referring also to a pre-established name for the river itself, an idea supported by the Celtic studies scholar Sir John Rhys.(3) There is also an earlier reference from an archaeological article found in the Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard from 1877, which is worth quoting in full;

“the Dee in Welsh it is called Dyfrdwy, a word which analyses itself into Dyfr-dwy, whereof the first syllable is a wakening of D wf’r, water; but what is the other syllable? Two answers are given. It is sometimes crudely guessed to be the same as the Welsh da, black, which is phonetically impossible, and deserving of no further mention. The more popular etymology identifies it with Welsh dwy, the feminine of dau, two, and treats the entire name as meaning the water of two, that is of two rivers, and the two rivers supposed to form the Dee are pointed out in the neighbourhood of Bala. It would perhaps be no serious objection to this etymology, that Dyfrdwy would accordingly be a name which could be literally applied to almost all the rivers in the world, but a little fact suffices to dissolve a great deal of conjecture. The former offers itself in one of the ways in which Giraldus Cambrensis spells the name of the river, namely as Deverdoeu, where doeu is the same as the old Welsh doiu or duiu, the genitive of old Welsh diu, a god. It is not altogether unknown in its full form in later Welsh, as for instance in dwyw-ol (divine), now written and pronounced dwyfol, but more commonly duiu or dwyw is shortened into dwy as in meudwy (a hermit), literally servus dei: similarly an old name Giuas-duiu, which also means servus dei, appears later as Gwas-duy. So the phonology of Dyfrdwy is perfectly plain and simple, and the word would have to be regarded as meaning aqua dei, but for other evidence which makes me prefer treating dwy as here meaning goddess, whence Dyfrdwy would be aqua dece. Who was the goddess I do not know, but most probably she was a personification of the river. In later Welsh poetry the latter is personified under the name of Aerfen, which would seem to mean a war divinity, or simply war, and I have heard a tradition mentioned which indicates that in times when our ancestors and the English were at war the Dee had still some traces of its divinity preserved, as it seems to have been treated as the arbiter of victory and defeat: if the Dee ate away its eastern bank, it be- tokened defeat to the English, and vice versa, but what authority there is for such a tradition I cannot say, and I should be glad to learn whether there is any. Now, according to the rules of Welsh Phonology, old Welsh duiu, and later dwyw, stand for early Welsh dev or dric, which is the same whence the Romans had their Deva, and the English their Dee.”(4)

It’s important to note that this source is nearly 150 years old, and as a non-Welsh speaker, I cannot vouch for the veracity of any claims made considering etymology. That said, I’ve read similar claims which have not been commented upon, so for now, I will assume that this work is factually correct. However, any modern Welsh speakers should feel free to critique this passage! The teasing suggestion of a local, pre-Roman river goddess is intriguing, but unsurprising. It is worth noting that Aerfen shares some degree of crossover with Minerva’s more warlike epithets, her name meaning “renowned in battle”(5). There is a tradition that the goddess of the river had a shrine upstream at Glyndyfrdwy, and required three sacrifices a year to appease her, but I have found no evidence to prove this tradition predates Janet and Colin Bord’s 1985 ‘Sacred Waters’(6). This same information is repeated in K.M Sheard’s 2011 ‘Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Names’. Unhelpfully, neither of these sources provide any references for the majority of their entries, and as such cannot be relied upon. It is worth considering that the similarly named river Aeron in Cardiganshire reputedly takes her name from the goddess Agrona, a goddess associated with slaughter; yet this is contested by the famous grammarian William Owen Pughe who remarked in the early 19th century that it could also be translated as “queen of brightness”.(7) Pughe’s suggestion is given further weight when it is considered that the named Agrona is a hypothetical reconstruction of a proto-Celtic deity created by William J Watson in 1926!(8) Despite the often repeated confusion generated by Watson, the name Aerfen, still haunts the flowing narrative of the river. Sir John Rhys notes in his work ‘Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx’ that Llyn Tegid was once known as Llyn Aerfen(9) and further extends his analysis of the name; “Now Dyfrdwy stands for an older Dyfr-dwyf, which in Old Welsh was Dubr duiu, ‘the water of the divinity.’”(ibid) Overt links to slaughter can be mostly side-lined as either examples of 20th century macabre romanticisation or plain confusion; there is a rhyme for the river Dee in Aberdeenshire which may have been mistakenly transposed upon the Welsh river which shares its name.

‘Bloodthirsty Dee each year needs three’(10)

However, the 1877 anecdote of her banks divining success or failure in battle points to some Minerval quality as an “arbiter of victory and defeat”. This quality, reflected in medieval Welsh literature is also expressed in mysterious terms by the 12th century poet Llywarch ap Llywelyn.

“Nid kywiw a llwfyr dwfyr dyfyrdonwy Kereist oth uebyd gwryd garwy.“

“With a coward Dyfrdonwy water ill agrees:From thy boyhood hast thou loved Garwy’s valour.“(11)

It is clear from this passage that the river fulfils a particular function in the judgement of character; Llywarch ap Llywelyn offering us a glimpse of a perhaps ancient role using her other name, Dyfrdwy. It must be remembered that she is a tidal river whose height can rise and fall dramatically, particularly downstream. The dangers posed by her waters also extend upstream, the sweeping floodplains of the valleys she has sculpted testament to the dramatic expansions her body is capable of; the stormy deluges in the mountains making short work of transforming the landscape. This rapidly changing and potentially deadly aspect of her nature may explain the etymological echoes of this dangerous reputation. According to Rhys, the name Aerfen appears textually in medieval Welsh literature, claiming it is found in Giraldus’s ‘Itinerarium Kambriæ’. However, I’ve still to track down a translation of this latin manuscript, so deeper exploration and confirmation of this will have to wait. I strongly suspect that any shadows of her previous roles will be found in what remains of bardic literature from this period.

There are more recent stories that hint of her power to constrain spirits, as is attested by this ghostly tale originating from Llanfor, close to Bala. In the 18th Century, the church of St Mor and St Deiniol was plagued by an entity wearing a tricorn hat which required dealing with. There are a few versions of this story, but the basic shape is as follows;

“Mr. Roberts states that as the Spirit of darkness became more and more troublesome, it was determined to have him removed,two gentlemen skilled in divination were called to offer him to Llyn-y-Geulan-Goch. These men were procured and they entered the church in the afternoon and held a conversation with the Spirit, and in the end told him that they would call at such an hour of the night to remove him to his rest. But they were not punctual and when they entered they found him intractable, however, he was compelled to submit, and was driven out of the church in the form of a cock, and carried behind his vanquisher on horseback, and thrown into Llyn-y-Geulan-Goch.“(12)

This story is obviously told from a Christian perspective, and later includes a famous trope of condemning the spirit “to remain in the pool only until he counted all the sand in it.“(ibid) Other variations of the tale insist that the spirit is in-fact the Devil, which would perhaps confirm the power of the river to imprison maleficent beings. However, one of the conditions this spirit makes before its subjugation is that he “agreed to enter his prison on the condition that they (his captors) would lie on their faces towards the ground when he entered the river, this they did, and the Spirit with a splash jumped into the water.“(ibid) A lucky escape for the Devil in this case! The name Llyn-y-Geulan-Goch may also be a clue, translating roughly as ‘Red clot/bank lake’, a name that may harken back to an act that may have taken place in the past, marking out that location as being suitable for such work. Whether or not the tale of the spirits of Llanfor recall any older, specific power of the river to constrain bothersome spirits is a moot point. Rivers, lakes and all bodies of water inbetween have long been repositories for offerings, sacrifices and reflection; these tales only shore up a general, rather than particular role Dyfrdwy has.

It is more than likely that the name Aerfen pre-dates written records, yet without contextual evidence suggesting a direct identification with, or similar syncretisation to that of Minerva-Sulis, we’ll never know for sure if this was undoubtedly the case. My own personal experience of Minerva is distant at best. She has certainly never reached back despite semi-regular offerings of incense, litter pickings and recitations of modified Orphic hymns. Perhaps I’ve just not presently found a way to successfully engage with her, but addressing her as ‘Minerva-Aerfen’ or ‘Minerva-Deva’ seems a bit too bullish at this juncture to consider experimenting with. There is a definite dance between Minerva and the Dee, but it is much more complex and nuanced than the history of empires or the examination of etymology will allow. Returning to Minerva’s more classical roles, we have the following extract from the Chester Chronicle, which reports on Prof. Newstead’s archaeological digs in Edgar’s Field and around the shrine in 1924.

“Mr. W. J. Williams’ that with reference to the so-called Minerva figure, he had discovered that it was the practice to worship Minerva aa the patron goddess of city gates and the gates of fortresses. If, as thought, the projection of sandstone was left to carry a wooden bridge which crossed the river at that point, then the position of Minerva on that rook face, exactly under the fort which protected the bridge, would be peculiarly appropriate. Canon Thomas said Prof. Newstead was to be congratulated on his investigation of what was undoubtedly a Roman position of some kind. Mr. Williams pointed out that Dr. Stukeley, tho great antiquary of the 18th century, said he had seen a statue of Mithras in Chester.”(13)

It is fascinating that this extract mentions both Minerva’s role in defensive war and also highlights the discovery of a statue of Mithras. Mithras was a god beloved by the Roman military across the empire, so it follows that the XXth legion that garrisoned Chester would provide a cultic centre for his worship. It is likely Stukeley saw not a statue of Mithras, but one of Cautopates one of Mithras’s attendants which was discovered in a cellar in Whitefriars St.(14) Whilst this Mithriac diversion highlights the martial nature of Chester, any discussions of a possible Mithraeum in the city is (exciting as it may be) for another time.

Chester has long been a border town, with the river at various times being the traditional demarcation between England and Wales. In the Roman period, this binary division did not exist; the legions being instead surrounded several local tribes. The Cornovii occupied most of what is now Cheshire, the Brigantes held land to the north and the Deceangli and Ordovices inhabited the west. Unlike their northern neighbours, the Ordovices were not willing to adopt Roman rule and actively sought to challenge the power of the legions. However, by the time Chester was established in 70AD, the worst of the warfare was over, the last major threat being the uprising of Caratacus who was defeated 50AD. It is likely that the shrine itself was created at some point in the early 2nd century, post-dating these conflicts by over a century. Yet, even with Roman military domination established, the lack of a coherent indigenous resistance did not guarantee that the landscape was a safe place. Evidence for this are the multitude of smaller Roman forts that dot the landscape of Chester’s suburbs to the north and east, their ghosts still visible to aerial LiDAR photography. The south and west of Chester was also still a potentially dangerous area and with this in mind, the placement of her shrine just outside the city and across the river makes perfect sense. With legionary Chester now well established, the emphasis of her role of protector would shift towards that of commerce and craft with the development of what has been referred to as “an industrial suburb”(15) emerging along the stretch of Watling St just south of Chester. Despite this, the seductive thought of potential syncretisation occurring continues to gnaw. Without evidence, it might be too optimistic to imagine this shrine was ever dedicated to a syncretised Minerva and Aerfen. It is more likely that she remains Minerva Imperialis alone, one third of the Capitoline Triad placed specifically to invoke her role as protectress and later as patron of craft and commerce. In this light, it is fitting to consider the Orphic hymn to Athena, who she was commonly identified with.

Revered Pallas,

great Zeus bore by himself,

noble and blessed goddess,

brave in the din of war.

Renowned and cave-haunting,

spoken of and then ineffable,

your domain is

on wind-swept hilltops,

shaded mountains,

dells that charm your heart.

Arms please you, and you strike men’s souls

with frenzy,

O vigorous maiden.

O horrid-tempered one,

slayer of Gorgo, blessed mother of the arts,

you shun the bed of love

you bring madness to the wicked and prudence to the virtuous.

O impetuous one,

Male and female,

shrewd begetter of war,

she-dragon of many shapes,

frenzy-loving, illustrious, destroyer of the Phlegraian Giants,

driver of horses,

victorious Tritogeneia,

O goddess you free us of suffering,

day and night,

ever into the small hours.

Hear my prayer and give me

a full measure of peace,

of riches, and of health

accompanied by happy seasons,

O gray-eyed and inventive queen,

to whom many pray.(16)

The line that sings from this is of course “spoken of and then ineffable.” There have been many words spoken and written of Minerva in Chester and I’m certain they’ll be many more. Her continued presence in Edgar’s Field is a direct conduit to the earliest recorded point of the city’s history and a potential imperial gloss to an already established river goddess. I’m personally not convinced that there ever was a syncretic Minerva-Aerfen, though the desire to explore this continues to (much like Minerva in the bonce of Jupiter) scratch away. I’m more inclined to believe that although there are many similarities and a degree of crossover in roles, Minerva and Deva Aerfen are two distinct deities. However, their geographic entanglement speaks of something more subtle, which is likely best explored with silence and poetry. But let’s not forget that we are still in the days of Quinquatria and that perhaps the latter of those two options (along with a little divination!) may be the best way to celebrate Minerva’s plethora of incredible attributes. In some way I’d like to think that this exercise in navigating the knotty skeins of these narratives may also please she who delights in such things. These are not questions that can be adequately probed alone or ever fully resolved, so I’d be happy to discuss any other perspectives on this over a pint or two!

References

1 – https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMBZPH_Roman_Shrine_Park_Handbridge_Chester_Cheshire_England_UK – Accessed 20/03/2023. The story about the shrine being used for target practice seems to be anecdotal as there is no mention of this damage in the local press during the period of World War II.2 –

2 – https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000342/19300118/012/0012 – Accessed 20/03/2023. Chester Chronicle 18/01/1930 p12

3 – Sir John Rhys – Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx Volume 2 of 2 p442. Published by Adamant 2004

4 – https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3308546/3308552/54/ 18/09/1877- Accessed 20/03/2023. Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard 07/09/1877 p65 –

5 – Proinsias Mac Cana “Celtic Goddesses of Sovereignty” – Goddesses Who Rule – Edited by Elisabeth Bernard & Beverly Moon – Published by Oxford University Press – p90

6 – Janet and Colin Bord, Sacred Waters, Published by Granada 1985 – p124

7 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Aeron – Accessed 20/03/2023

8 – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agron%C4%81 – Accessed 21/03/2023

9 – Sir John Rhys – Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx Volume 2 of 2 p444. Published by Adamant 2004

10 – Henry Bett – English Myths and Traditions – Published by Batsford 1952 – p121

11 – Owen Jones, Iolo Morganwg, Willkiam Owen Pughe – The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales: Volume I – Poetry p302

12 – Elias Owen – ‘Welsh Folk-lore: a Collection of the Folk-tales and Legends of North Wales’ – Published by Legare Street Press 2021 – p162

13 – https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000157/19240308/142/0010 – Accessed 20/03/2023 – Cheshire Observer 08/03/1924 p10

14 – https://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display.php?page=cimrm831 – Accessed 21/03/2023

15 –

– Accessed 22/03/2023 – Time Team – The Big Roman Dig 2005

16 – Apostolos N. Athanassakis & Benjamin M. Wolkow – The Orphic Hymns in Translation – Published by John Hopkins University Press 2013 p28

The talk was tailored for the audience, but the main thrust of the book holds out - that Cecil Williamson’s involvement in operative, spirit led magic was sincere and lifelong and the primary reasons for his changing of the narratives of the Snowshill objects once in his custodianship was rooted in these beliefs and practices. The collection remains as dangerous as he once describes it, but not because “it was owned by an especially dangerous black magician”, but because the collection is the best example of not only his collecting and curating habits, but his magical practices too. The collection is both an invitation and catalyst into the world of objects-as-persons and animism, and this is where its vital potency remains.

I’m also excited to share that the book Especially Dangerous - The Snowshill Collection will now be published by Hadean Press with a release date towards the end of the year. Very much looking forwards to sharing this story with a wider audience, but also to working on one of the several other projects that have been competing for brain space!

The first experiments leading up to the Epiphany of 2020 concerned their materia, most notably the construction of the famous Three Kings Chalk, long associated with demarcating the thresholds of those properties under their protection. Ever since first discovering this practice, it’s been a fun game to spot their initials in a variety of places; these are most found on church porches and private dwellings, but the oddest one so far was on a garage door in deepest Cornwall. As Cecil Williamson famously states “it still goes on today.” Though a sincere attempt, the chalk produced was unfortunately too soft to use once the various stages of the working had been followed. As to not waste the effort, the material was re-ground and suspended in beeswax - creating a possible world first of Three Kings Crayons. In following their example, these were given away as gifts and whilst not as effective in marking doorways as opaquely as their chalk counterparts, they do thankfully have other uses! My own work around for this is to store an ordinary piece of chalk blessed in their name alongside them, which is then used to mark their initials on the bricks next to our front door. I’m happy to say this has been a successful working. It is proven.

Since 2020, this practice of chalking the threshold was the extent of my involvement with the Kings. However, this plateau has recently been overcome. For the past four years I’ve been saving Christmas cracker crowns for an experimental working roughly based on a pre-existing example given in Dr Cummins’s book. This example, though accessible and easily achieved, lacked a familial and contextual element I personally felt was required for what I wanted from the working, and unable to curb my inner 90s chaos child, (and embarrassingly poetic inclinations) I carefully saved each crown produced by cracker-snap pulls from the last four Christmas dinners. Each were stored in my wallet, fittingly snug against a Jupiter talisman. Why paper crowns? Well, mainly because of my long obsession with painter, philosopher and hesitant mystic Robert Lenkiewicz. The below piece of work has lived in my head for the past twenty years, and whilst my selection of four crowns (three for the Kings, one for me) aren’t quite the towering, starched litmus-paper edifices in Lenkiewicz’s work, they still carry both the symbolic weight of the object, and its temporal nature perfectly.

Referring to Lenkiewicz’s full title of the piece, the expression Magi-Fool’s Hats evokes both Lenkiewicz’s love of esotericism and in-jokes. Whilst it’s clear neither Lenkiewicz or Mary are directly representative of any of the Biblical Magi, his magisterial handling of colour and tone, as well as his then burgeoning occult library hint towards Lenkiewicz’s soft identification as being in league of sorts with the interests of the Kings. His passion for occult philosophy often leapt directly into his work, notably blossoming into the most famous of his large murals next door to his studio on the Barbican in Plymouth. Less subtly, a series of earlier paintings, likely commissioned by Williamson between the late 1960s and early 1970s and still on display at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic,(1) included words and images lifted directly from one of his three examples of Scott’s Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584, 1651 and 1665 editions respectively).(2)

However, it is his hyphenated addition of Fool’s which interests me personally, which is significant in relation to the beginning of a new journey with the Kings. Lenkiewicz possessed a deep understanding of the wider European cultural significance of the fool, going as far to create a persona in this mould, the Pnoob, whose characteristic pout consciously confronts the viewer in many of his self-portraits. Indeed, during the mid 1970s even had a gallery named The Fool in Plymouth.(3) How much he considered this alongside the role of the Fool in the major arcana is unknown, but I suspect it was not unfamiliar territory for him. I’ve long prepared for the shift from working for others to working for myself and the symbology of the paper crown and Lenkiewicz’s titular Magi-Fool became anchor points for a very personal working to help facilitate this; the beginning of a journey in the establishment of self-sovereignty, blessed and overseen by the wisest of travellers.

Preparations for this particular Epiphany also corresponded with several synchronistically related events, specifically to do with unexpected and kingly gifts, both material and otherwise. It also coincided with the working debut of a beautifully crafted Caput Draconis circlet. Having ritually prepared for the operation, the verdant string was wrapped three times around the offering plate, on which the chalk, the three crowns (gold, silver and purple), three pieces of Turkish Delight (full of eastern promise) and a cup of sweet wine lined in gold leaf was placed. A small ritual took place, fumigated with frankincense, myrrh mixed with a little ash collected from Advent church services. This culminated with me placing a red paper crown on my own head, which felt like a more formal introduction to the Three Kings than previous workings. Again, in an unsurprising twist of serendipity, I only realised my child self wore a red crown in the photo days after the ritual had been completed. To conclude, I petitioned for assistance and guidance for the year ahead, which promises to provide a number of dramatic changes in both work and play. I also asked what they required of me, to which the immediate response was the rather profound returned question, “What do you bring to the Nativity?” I have yet to answer, and will spend the next year pondering that question.

Aside from the obvious question to resolve, my plans for next year will feature the construction of the actual crown as instructed, as well as the gathering and consecration of Dreikönigswasser, which has been a huge oversight on my part. I do hope that if the good doctor does ever read this, he’ll forgive me for my experimental tendencies! The crooked path I’ve travelled has been illuminated by many stars of inspiration and has been a slow-burning courtship of sorts; a seedling relationship that I sincerely hope will grow into a mutually beneficial one. Though unorthodox, it has been a sincere engagement which has already opened roads I was both prepared and unprepared for. Salve los Reyes Magos! May your skies be clear and may the roads you tread be bathed in starlight.

References

(1) The paintings Witch with Foetus (MoWM 469), Witch with Demon (MoWM 411) and Initiation (MoWM 1167)

(2) Witchcraft & the Occult: Selected Books from the Collection of the Late Robert Lenkiewicz - Sotherby's Auction Catalogue - (2003) p101-102

(3) Lenkiewicz: The Life - Mark D. Prince - (2021) - p217

Bibliography

A Book of the Magi: Lore, Prayers, and Spellcraft of the Three Holy Kings - Dr Alexander Cummins - Revelore Press 2018

Moot is not a word I like. I feel like meeting with the others deserves a term that doesn’t reek like the kitbag of a LARPer following a particularly sweaty weekend. Inhabiting an inspirited universe and sharing conversation with people who share or orbit similar perspectives is a precious thing, and whilst I appreciate the theatrical use of archaisms as much as anyone, moot for me crosses a threshold beyond which often lies the disappointment of the ersatz. That said, it’s not an expression that seems to be going away so I’ll refrain from complaining too much about it. Particularly as I’ve been the accidental custodian of one for over two years now.

Out of curiosity, in 2021 I attended a said gathering in Chester. It was very different to previous similar events I’d been to, with a formal, neo-pagan opening and question-driven discussion driven by the hostess. To her credit, she ran the event sincerely and spoke eloquently, allowing space for everyone to contribute and for ideas to be expressed. However, I wasn’t convinced the arrangement would have any longevity in this form; due to the venue capacity, booking was mandatory, the structure overly formal, and there was little organic conversation outside of the designated theme. My initial impressions were that it was profoundly un-chaotic and at times despite best intentions, inadvertently awkward.

However, the variety of perspectives and genuine interest in magical ideas present was strong enough to encourage me to continue attending. Over the next few months good conversations and ideas were discussed and despite the previously mentioned formalities, it became something I looked forward to. In June 2022 the original hostess suddenly dropped the event due to other commitments and I was asked by the venue which hosted to step in to maintain it, which I have done ever since. One of my first actions was to change the name of the gathering to the Chester Occult Society, which though imperfect, certainly describes the function of the group holistically. One thing I didn’t want to change was the day and time of the event; maintaining the second Thursday monthly meetings under the auspices of Jupiter; the great benefic continuing to providing a generously Jovian atmosphere to the proceedings.

Two years on, the monthly gathering continues to attract good attendance from people from a variety of magical backgrounds and has increased its online membership to now over 200 individuals. We’ve moved venues, which has been bittersweet; exchanging the Carolean-ceilings and fig-shaded garden of Suzie’s on Bridge St for the more chthonic surroundings of the Cellar Bar on City Rd. However, this new location is slightly larger, and due to a previously established relationship, provides the space for free, increasing accessibility. This venue is also the home of the club night Last Rites my partner and I run, which has been the focus of nearly a decade of pre-event Venusian magical workings. It’s wonderful to know that the benevolence of Puella is further engrained into the fabric of the location through our monthly conversations, and I trust that her ongoing patronage will further the interconnectivity of our nighttide conclaves.

The past two years have featured experienced guest presenters, covering topics as broad as soul-midwifery to ancestral healing practices. We’ve also hosted local academics who have spoken on localised witchcraft histories and the impact of local historical characters on the wider national stage. This combination of practitioner and academic is one I’m keen to pursue as I personally want to provide the best quality information and resources possible to the society. This approach has further broadened into wider occulture, with a recent mini film festival focusing on the work of Kenneth Anger. However, despite these special events, I’m also keen to place heavy emphasis on regular conversations that cover practical magical advice, which is what the monthly gatherings focus on. At the request of attendees, I’ve also created a bi-monthly Drinks & Divination evening which has been a wonderful way of providing a comfortable setting for those new or nervous about performing in-person divination. We’ve had some great nights throwing cards, casting geomancy charts as well as exploring other fortune-telling techniques and this event may well become popular enough to be a monthly fixture in the future.

As you’d imagine, the interests of the regulars attending is vastly disparate, though not enough to prevent some group workings for those interested. Alongside the regular divination sessions, we’ve performed a group PGM dream incubation working, and a successful group invocation of the Jupiterian spirit Hismael. There are also emergent plans to create a grimoire working group, tackling the late JSK’s Sworn and Secret Grimoire (2021). The latter I’m particularly looking forward to, as my own experience with grimoire workings has been spartan to say the least. Approaching the subject with a small, dedicated group will hopefully be a great way to exchange notes, best practice and experiences with the wider membership of the society going forward.

I’ve made it clear from the start, that despite steering this event, I do not own it. I genuinely desire decentralised and organic conversation to flow, and am more than happy to take on suggestions on topics of discussion. I’m especially keen for the group to suggest practical workings for the future. The increase in the online membership does not move me as despite good growth. I’m sure we’ll only ever have a floating group of about 10 to 20 people who will actually be interested enough to meet once a month; even less that will actually attend. However, for these few people, one of the main functions I want it to perform is to be a nexus for them to meet and share enthusiasms and skills with others so the evening fosters genuine, rhizomatic relationships. So far, the feedback and critique has been really productive, and is crucially important. If these meetings are to have any longevity beyond me, they need to be community driven. I’ve no plans to run this for a prolonged period of time and my only desire is to maintain and build the community, hopefully directing it towards becoming a self-sustaining ecosystem. Hopelessly optimistic? Perhaps. But optimism is a spell, and one which is frequently rewarding.

In a wider context, we’re lucky that we’ve several similar events happening locally, with Wyrd Gatherings in Wrexham and Y Mieni Hirion in Llanfairfechan. There is also the haunted permaculture Moelyci project in Bethesda and The Companie of the Rose and Cross in Shropshire, providing further opportunities to meet the others and to engage in the work. Further afield, it’s fortunate thing to be inspired by Sian’s South Walian Dragonoak, Sef and Halo’s Bristol-based Star Club and Dr. Plimer’s Black Lodge gatherings on the Isle of Wight, all being particularly powerful examples of quality, community driven groups. As the world continues to become more unpredictable, meetings such as this are going to become increasingly important; the internet has been a blessing in many ways, but the fostering relationships outside of its crushing superficiality is now more crucial than ever.

To conclude, the others are out there and it’s a joy and privilege to create these relationships, regardless of how deep they run or how long they last. If the Chester Occult Society can be a benefit to just a handful of people, pointing them in the direction of interesting, relevant and quality magical material and the means to enact it, it’ll be wonderful thing. And, as always, I remain hopeful that someone will eventually provide a better word than moot to meet under.

Answers on postcards eh?

It's no secret that I'm a long time admirer of Gordon White's work. His pre-Runesoup Find the Others interviews with the likes of Julian Vayne, JSK and a host of others were some of the first introductions I had to the work of critically important contemporary practitioners. When RSPM was launched, I jumped at the chance to join and have been a been a member ever since. It's provided excellent foundations to my own comprehension of the metaphysics and philosophy of practical magic and has been one of the primary catalysts for performing experimental work. Indeed, my first sigil to find the others has generated a genuinely wonderful circle of friends who are all doing incredible things. Without attempting to sound like too much of a sycophant, I'm indebted to all the time and effort Gordon puts into the membership courses. That said, I'm not full alignment with some of his ideas, nor always interested in every course that has been offered. When the Fortunes Fools project was initially announced, I was convinced I’d be sitting it out; I was already happy with both regular tarot and playing card reading. What could another system have to offer?

For context, the Fortunes Fools project was the participatory creation of a Lenormand oracle deck of 36 cards by the membership. It features the classic visual structures and vocabulary of the original, but with a collaborative, contemporary refresh. The Lenormand deck was reputedly devised by Madame Lenormand, fortune teller to the great, good, and not so good of pre and post-revolutionary France. Though in all likelihood, a post-mortem attributed marketing device, it is wonderfully argued by White that the Lenormand deck as a project is orchestrated by this card-slinger extraordinaire from beyond the grave; an idea that continues to delight me. My knowledge of these cards was nearly non-existent beforehand and I lazily shrugged off any interest in the project. This was primarily rooted to my own issues with oracle decks.

You see, I passionately dislike oracle decks.

To clarify, the melodrama of the statement concerns a certain type of oracle deck, extending also to novelty tarot decks. This is of course, based on my own profoundly personal sense of aesthetics which is at best reasonably well considered and at worst, contradictory and outright waspish. I find it impossible to take seriously themed decks in the vein of the Underwater Halloween Steampunk Fae Tarot deck or the Captain Birdseye Healing Moon Angel Oracle cards. I'm aware I'm a massive arsehole in this sense and it's certainly my problem. I've sat long with the acidic churning of physical revulsion these decks generate and it boils down to this; I desire that magic (and by extension divination) to be taken seriously. These acts are sacred, transformative processes that are crucial to scraping the scales of myopia from the eyes of the western world. To dress this in the cheap garb of cynical, crass commercialism or twee aesthetics is to de-fang, de-claw and neuter something liberating and wild. The seriousness I require isn’t without joy - I know that you can get these systems to work perfectly well. Magic is bigger than my own personal view on how things should appear - and thank goodness for that! I know this. It still doesn't stop me from feeling at a gut level that they do a shocking disservice to the doing as well as the being. This was my position as Fortunes Fools sailed over the horizon and into my life with a cargo that unexpectedly engaged my curiosity.

The perspective shift which the project opened with (and was key to helping me re-frame oracle decks as something potentially useful) was the separation of divination from fortune telling. This soft taxonomic shift dividing the archetypal drama of the Major Arcana from the quiet, more worldly contents of the Lenormand has been incredibly productive in breaking some of my more calcified thoughts on the subject, introducing me to a world of subtitles to both practices. Whilst this perspective change is not as simple as choosing to use/see macrocosmic and microcosmic views, it certainly serves as a broad brush. A large part of divination I didn’t get before this project was knowing the right questions to ask the right system; an issue thankfully no longer un-tackled. The utility of this wonderful Lenormand deck has ruptured the dam of oracle hostility to a great degree, so who knows, perhaps in a year's time I'll be throwing multiple readings of the Celtic Pokémon Yiff Tarot or something. Stranger things have happened.

Despite my almost concrete assumptions that I wouldn't find this project interesting, the initial presentation exploring the first card of the deck (The Rider) hooked me with a combination of explosively sexy history, contemporary re-contextualisation and to top it off, a re-evaluation of the Lenormand deck as an approachably animist system. I was hooked. The deck developed over a series of months with dialogues and design shared as a series of live-streams in collaboration between Gordon, the artist Colin Alexander and the Runesoup membership. Each of these 36 events focused on a separate card which was a deep dive into the origins and meanings of imagery and how they could be improved to suit the requirements of the animist epistemic Runesoup has been developing for some time. The artwork for the cards is engaging and (once acclimatised) satisfactorily obvious when it comes to reading. There is a wonderful continuity of visual language and character threaded throughout the deck, which really emphasises the subtle relationships between them. In this sense, the deck feels like an ecosystem that you're invited to become part of and that activates in the doing of fortune telling.

One of the big visual points attracting me to the Lenormand system was the use of card suit insets on each of the 36 cards, allowing another level of interpretation alongside the images. Far from adding confusion to a reading, this multiple layering of meanings helps to clarify and contextualise the process of fortune telling in a much more poetic way, which (for me at least) add signposts in order to navigate the askance, cantish logic at the heart of all fortune telling systems. This universality is reflected in the book which accompanies the deck, which is far from a Lenormand-only guide and essentially one of the best primers on the subject I've yet read. A distant echo from the usual little white books you find with similar decks!

Although tarot / oracle cards aren't my go-to divinatory system (geomancy still holds my heart in that regard) the Fortunes Fools cards have been easily the most used recently, due to their extremely painful, to the point readings. Getting to know a new system has also given me a deeper appreciation for the flow-through process of reading too; from the formation of the question to the choice of spread. I've never played with anything lager than a nine card spread before, and being able to sit with a Grande Tableau and not feel entirely lost is a huge confidence boost. It really is a wonderful system to chat with once you calibrate for it reading everything to filth. Perhaps that's why I like it. It's like a drag version of Olivia Godfrey with a scalpel, but she's kinda your friend. My only criticism for the deck and accompanying book is purely (and predictably) aesthetic.

Whilst the artwork is excellent in the majority of cases, there are a few images which could have done with slightly more polish. However, my biggest issue with the book is the formatting; each is page practically suffocated with text which isn't the best reading experience considering how useful the actual content is. The paper and manufacture quality also isn't as high as I'd expect, but I'm so used to handling premium end books and cards now that I can write this off as a me problem. There's a sense of stumbling at the finish line with this project to some degree, but considering the nightmare state of supply-chains at the mid-to-tail end of covid it's a wonder that it manifested as well as it did at all. I’d genuinely love to see a reissue of both the book and the cards at some point as it deserves the fancy treatment.

Has this made me change my mind in regards to oracle decks? Undoubtedly, in heaped servings of humble pie no-less. The first reading I had told me in no uncertain terms that overcoming my squeamishness in this regard was key to getting the most out of the deck. It's a work in progress and I'm certainly not as snooty as I previously was. I've always appreciated a sense of polyvalence when it comes to divination; Lenormand shrinks the grandiose scale of the Tarot and reduces its themes to that of the domestic and everyday without loosing the nuances or scope for interpretation. It's been a delight to use at the Chester Occult Society bi-monthly Drinks and Divination nights alongside my other well travelled and battered cards, and has proved itself a useful co-pilot for decisions elsewhere too. But has it changed my mind on novelty decks?

No. Not an iota. 

The Underwater Halloween Steampunk Fae Tarot, Captain Birdseye Healing Moon Angel Oracle and Celtic Pokémon Yiff Tarot as well as the exclusive, limited edition Oracular Cheshire Cheese Wizard Buffet are all currently under development . Watch this space for shameless racketeering soon.

We continued to visit, drink and make informal offerings, crow work, in short - to do the usual. I personally decided that if a relationship was going to be formed, it would be at the pace of the field itself, in the inhale and exhale of the days and seasons. The field has been generous enough to offer us several routes to this, the most direct being autumn evenings spent picking Psilocybe Semilanceata before the first frosts set in. This fruiting body has been a conspirator in a multitude of ways, and has been a wonderful way to quite literally take the field with us elsewhere. One particularly rewarding geo-cultural exchange was between the field and Minster Woods above Boscastle. The woods seethed with stillness as we sat, admiring the peculiar flatness of its depths. It was if we were awaiting a play in a toy theatre, the anticipation building as the orchestral movements in the leaves warmed towards performance, but sadly Oberon, Titania or Puck made no appearance. Returning to the Good Field itself, my partner has formed a much deeper connection, spending far more time there than I. He frequently finds Jay feathers, plumage from the most enigmatic of the corvids before his footfalls. The words of naturalist Matthew Oates hang heavily over these occurrences; "the finding of a Jay feather is to be accepted by nature and one must wear it in his hat."(1) Each one of these shimmering wisps is a blessing, and when the right hat is found I’m sure they’ll be a pronounced feature.

I'd mentioned in the previous post that the field is locally known as the Pageant Field, but the full reasoning for this title had eluded me until recently. I was surprised to discover the field has not only just been a hostess to us, but to many thousands before us. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the spectacle of the civic pageant had a moment. Throughout the country, a fever of "pageantitis"(2) took hold, reaching a peak in around 1907. Chester is no stranger to large civic events; traditions of the midsummer and midwinter parades, as well as the famous mystery plays continue to this day. However, the scale of this particular example of pageantitis, funded by subscriptions and donations was far more substantial. Marketed as a display of local and national history and taking the form of short plays accompanied by chorus and instrumentation, Chester staged its first pageant of this kind in 1910, involving a substantial cast. Estimates record up to 3500 performers alone, and an audience of 70000 visitors over the week the event took place. The narrative scenes of Merrie England obviously had a wide romantic appeal to the crowds who poured in from as far as Liverpool and Manchester. Considering Chester had a population of around 50000 during this period, reveals the extent the feverish popularity of these productions possessed. The whispers of Psilocybe had clearly been trying to tell me something that day in Minster Woods.

Although events took place in the city, the main focus was in the Pageant Field itself, with the spectacle divided into eight distinct acts, each showcasing a particular mythohistorical event in Chester's history, spanning the arrival of the Romans to the English Civil War. Postcards and photos from the event present a very different landscape in the field to the one today, the grass being much shorter and the islands of scrubby briar entirely absent. Sets can be discerned in the treelines, and maypoles, preaching crosses and other theatrical points of interest dot the landscape. These images feature what are presumably the most dramatic scenes visitors witnessed and present the main protagonists of the cast. There are images of the presiding spirit of the pageant, Deva Fluvius, the personification of the river herself, as well as the Roman general Agricola, and King Edgar accompanied by a train of pliant monarchs. There is much more to be said of Afon Dyfrdwy’s role in bestowing and reneging sovereignty, but that is for another time. The overall tone of the pageant was as expected, given the context of the time, largely prideful and jingoistic, the consciousness of the nation inflamed by the achievements of Empire. This is most clearly showcased by the imaginative exchange between Agricola and a native Briton highlighting the embodied nobility of the indigenous conquered. On such myths are the characters of nations built and broken.

Indeed, it is this mythic engagement that intrigues me. Driven by grief following Jake Stratton Kent's death in January 2023, I took to the field at night, offering and consuming a bottle of wine whilst reading his words aloud within the preciencts of the burial mound. His words from the previously shared quote from Geosophia featured heavily and rang out across what became an organic amphitheatre. I wondered at the time if these tobacco scented readings were regarded by anything in the vicinity. The discovery of the 1910 pageant in the months that followed may support something along that line of thinking.

Engagement with the field has not been linear, but in sporadic nods and askance gestures. Despite the centuries of cultivation, it retains a wildness, and courting it is a poetic pursuit. No single named member of the mighty dead has come forward from the mound, but it is certainly a locus for interaction with the genius loci of the place. Yet, there was something in the act that night, as wine was splashed to the directions, Jake’s words yelled to the cloud-cuddled stars and this is, (at least at present) the most fruitful line of entanglement, framed by another of Jake's wonderful quotes;

“Magicians are cultural engineers, regardless of their sphere of operation; they ‘manage myths’ to shape events. Such mythical concepts as the afterlife or spirit world are their natural and familiar territory. Working relations with spirits and the development of counter-mythology are rational and productive activities.” (3)

It's is Jake's last sentence that continues to chime. Now, more than ever, the requirement for timeless stories that are deeper than the algorithmic churn of filtered, flashcard pap is desperate. Sincere engagement with places like the Good Field can help provide that, though this skin in the game attachment has a painful price. Recently, one of the six Douglas Firs crowning the mound was hacked to death. The news and the visual impact of this struck us more than I expected, and for several evenings I visited the site alone armed with a car-lock hoping to catch whoever committed the butchery. It was a righteous, but undignified martial response. Plans were made for a working of destructive revenge, but when we arrived at the appointed hour, the desire left us. Hollowed out by sadness, an appeal was instead made to Nemesis, and a deposit of materials hidden as a barbed charm against further acts of vandalism. Nemesis has a history in Chester, and we trust this appeal will deliver unseen justice to those responsible. I'd like to think that this was a better way of dealing with unknown vandals; a more "rational and productive" means of working with the mythic. Other inspirations and colluders to this work include the likes of Cecil Williamson, Robert Lenkiewicz and Doc Shiels, all intimately attuned to absorbing a mythic current in their distinct approaches to presentation, art and performance.

I remain undecided as what to do with the fallen tree and I'm concerned that the resinous wood will soon become a target for teenage lighters. Yet, these are the emotional perils of engaging with living spaces. It may not have been as prestigious as the Holy Thorn of Wearyall Hill, the Eastnor Oak or even Sycamore Gap, but the loss of its shade and presence is heavily felt. We have however, saved a handful of cones, and hope to propagate some seedlings over the coming year. It’ll be interesting to see if they have anything to say about the land and its occupants that nurtured their parent tree.

To end on a more optimistic note, we return to the clumsy ragwort twists that graced the cellar. Their crumpled forms to be burnt on the field, ashes interred within candles dedicated to Puella, the most gracious of hostesses who is the patron of our near decade-deep club night. This dance between land, spirit and ritualised action has drawn us onto the edge of the field's legendarium; no longer conveying the jingoistic nationalism of 1910, but a “counter-mythology” based on the joy of mingling minds and bodies to the driving basslines of post-punk, goth and industrial music. The ghosts of 1910 may not dance the same steps as us, but we do share a good deal of the same myths. In this spirt, our next evening beneath the stars of the Good Field may see us warmed and illuminated by the flames of fir wood. Perhaps this fiery release, in conjunction with the spirits of the place can tell us more about the power of myth, narrative and how we can shape better lives by telling better stories.

References

(1) Matthew Oates - In Pursuit of Butterflies - 2015 Bloomsbury

(2) Various Authors - Restaging the Past - Historical Pageants, Culture and Society in Modern Britain - 2020 - UCL Press

(3) Jake Stratton Kent - Testament of Cyprian the Mage - Volume II - 2014 - Scarlet Imprint

One of the few mercies that Covid bestowed upon us was what would become known as the Good Field. Although my partner and I were familiar with the shoulder of woodland that sits west of the Dee Valley and spills southwards from Chester to Eccleston, the Good Field became the focal point of fire-lit, evening meetings with friends. In previous years, access to the field had been limited due to a multitude of grazing horses which don’t make for ideal picnic guests. However, with their sudden disappearance, exploration of this parcel of land become possible and, for the duration of the plague, the Good Field was a source of dependable, peaceful escape.

We were later informed by our next door neighbour that this field was also locally known as ‘The Pageant Field’ and was used for community celebrations and gatherings. The 1836-51 tithe maps does not record this name, instead referring to it as ‘Low Hill’ (plot 199). Other adjoining plots share similar names, being “Low Hill Field’ (plot 195) and another ‘Low Hill’ (plot 194), all of which were originally hay fields. Aside from the panorama of mature woodland that surrounds it, the most distinguishing features of the Good Field are the mellow undulations of medieval furrows and two substantial copses of standard and copper beech trees. Scouring a succession of tithe maps, these copses have been there since at least 1875; however, the most interesting feature may be even older.

Roughly in the centre of the field is a small rise, surmounted by six Douglas Firs. This hump is composed of small sandstone boulders and is surrounded to the east by a shallow trench that defines its outline. I recall being intrigued by this feature when I first noticed it, but discounted rough similarities in footprint to sites such as Bryn Celli Ddu, and supposed the location was more likely a collective deposit for any loose sandstone boulders and pebbles that were dredged up by the plough and furrow field system.

Despite this, I still had niggling thoughts. I’d not long finished reading Alfred Watkins’ The Long Straight Track (1925) and the idea of ancient roadways connected by manmade geographical features continued to rattle in my mind. In spite of this, I didn’t pursue the idea due to the lack of comparable ancient burial sites in the local area. This small, stony rise became did however become the preferred site for campfire beers under the wheeling western sky, and any further thoughts of its origins were put by the wayside.

Until now.

Following an interesting conversation with another neighbour, the following information was gifted to me, granting a re-entry into possibly fruitful exploration. The proceeding quote was produced by the Historic Environment Records and concerns the earthwork rise,.

“The Low Field – the HER No. 11211/2 – possible Barrow –

Description: Oral communication to the HER W.Bawn 05/09/2019. A mound like earthwork located in ‘The Low Field’ as named on the tithe map and apportionment c1840. The ridge and furrow earthworks in this field carefully skirt around this feature. Because of its name the ‘low field’ and the shape of the feature, it may be a prehistoric burial mound.

The earthwork is located in a plot called ‘low hill’.

Unless and until archaeologists dig into it, it has to be described as ‘possible’. I’ve also had Peter Carrington look at it and he agrees with Rob Edwards of HER.

Obviously this needs to be interrogated further. Tantalisingly, present day lidar imagery looking from west directly east show the rise (centre left) with the plough furrows clearly parting to accommodate this feature. Though I’m still not ready to fully jump onto the burial mound theory, it is fascinating to imagine we have a potentially ancient mortuary monument on our doorstep.

Even if this isn’t the case, the local area possesses an embarrassment of riches concerning old burial sites; Handbridge is literally built on a large Roman funerary landscape and boasts extensive Victorian and Edwardian cemeteries which flank Overleigh Road. Yet the idea of something far older is still exciting, mainly as it chimes with one of my favourite Jake Stratton-Kent quotes;

“The magician looks about them and sees the magical potential in all things. Has this river no nymph, this mound no hero, this mountain no god? Perhaps under no name known today, but the magician is – like a second Adam – replete with the Power of Naming. Many locations have magical uses or associations, awaiting our use of mythic language. If say, a prehistoric burial mound is associated with no name known now, then ask your spirits which one of them or their companions and allies dwells there. What matter if no-one called the resident by this name before? Names change, but the ancient magic continues regardless. This extends to new places as much as old or rural ones; to any place with meaning for you. Reclaim the landscape, reinvest it with power and significance; be aware of the innate power and significance inherent in every place.”(JSK Geosophia Volume 1 p47)

This re-engagement with spirits of the landscape is eternally inspiring and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t pursue this route in the first place when my suspicions were first aroused. This is a potent reminder to take seriously the idea that landscape can be engaged with in this manner and that it does not necessarily always require the heavy sedimentation of historic records to make it some kind of true. The issue I have is that whilst I’ve talked the talk of animism and engagement, the words have often come quicker than the embodied practice. It’s obviously an ongoing work to fully appreciate and apprehend an animate universe and I realise that these shifts in perception will not happen concurrently. It’s just a disappointment to have had those suspicions whilst being magically operant, and to not have acted upon them.

So what next? Firstly, to act on Jake’s words. The Good Field certainly has a spirit ecology that is palpable, and engaging with the overall genus loci is the obvious primary step. Whether this is done through the local dead, the spirits of the land itself or a combination of both will be a matter of experimentation. Magically, any further work will be entirely based on this first contact so it’s hard to say what shape that further work will take. Also, pursuing less occulted avenues, we’ve the excellent Poulton Research Project close by which may be able to provide evidence and context for other prehistoric burials in the area. Here’s to the ongoing friendship with the spirits of this inspiring and most excellent field.