Programme

“... [A]strology is of critical importance in the development of western magic; it is also the basis of much of the symbolism of the grimoires.” from Jake Stratton-Kent’s masterpiece Geosophia (I:244)

JSK drew our attention to the fact that the system of planetary hours, was in his experience essential to the practice of goetic magick. The 24 hour clock etc was as he well knew an Egyptian innovation. To understand the full implications one would do well to know something of the Egyptian magick of the sky and especially their Star Clocks.

For this talk Mogg Morgan will expand on this topic. In Egypt we can say, in terms of astronomy there are three major periods of development. The earliest accessible to us in texts starts from the 9th dynasty, which is about 2150bce. A significant moment. This is after the great pyramid age, only because there are very few surviving astronomical texts from then, but we can assume there would have been same. The second age is is found in the famous Ramesside monuments, such as the Osirieon and the related tombs. The third is the Ptolemaic period when foreign influence become dominant, the introduction of the famous zodiac we all know and love, and the final assimilation of Egyptian concepts into the mix. Also time when Nubian kings ruled egypt for several centuries and may have reformed the whole system on mystical lines, with decanal rites and mystery cults.

So let go back to the first period … and focus on this most important concept that of the decan. This were features in the sky used to measure time and space. Originally these were gods, but in later times, demons, or perhaps there was never such a clear line betwixt the two? Hence the Demonic Calendar.

Mogg Morgan is a former member of the OTO, a founder of the Oxford Golden Dawn Occult Society and a Zonule holder of east/west Tantrik order AMOOKOS. His daytime job is CEO of innovative ‘new edge’ publisher Mandrake of Oxford, Recently described as a ‘respected literary catalyst’, he is responsible for the discovery of many new authors, including his friend and mentor Jan Fries. He was a Wellcome research student at Oxford, where his teacher was the late Professor B K Matilal, a widely respected expert on South Asian rational thought. He has published several books and articles, including, 'Isis in India'; 'Ayurveda: Medicine of the Gods'; 'The English Mahatma (a Tankhem novel)'; as (‘Katon Shual’) a book on 'Sexual Magick'.

Geraldine will be speaking on the subject of Annie Horniman and the Golden Dawn, a key figure in the 19th Century Hermetic Order which led to many of the Traditions currently at work in the UK Occult community.

Geraldine Beskin and her daughter Bali Beskin own The Atlantis Bookshop in London. She has a great interest in the Western Mysteries and witchcraft, Tarot, Crowley, Spare and the Victorian members of the Golden Dawn are her particular areas of study. Geraldine curated her first of five Austin Osman Spare exhibitions in 1986 and sometimes takes something from her collection into Atlantis for others to enjoy too.

Following the Morning Star from Cherry Tree Lane to Brean Down with Mary, Milly and Morgan: Discovering Women’s New Magical Genealogies Within the British Occult Scene 1910-30s Through the Work of P.L. Travers (Mary Poppins) and Dion Fortune (The Sea Priestess).

Dr. Terry’s lecture will explore intriguing connections between P.L. Travers’ Mary Poppins (1934) and Dion Fortune’s The Sea Priestess (1935) and the career of an important but little-known woman of the occult (introduced in this lecture), who has a lasting influence on children’s education today.

Sue offers a new understanding of two classic magical novels through women’s friendships and genealogies within the British occult scene of the 1910s - 30s. Sue will share some discoveries from her original PhD research into the Stella Matutina (‘The Morning Star’, successor to The Order of the Golden Dawn), P.L. Travers’ Theosophy and Rudolph Steiner’s schools - and what she uncovered by poking around in local history. Flying under Mary Poppins’ enchanted umbrella, we’ll take a wild ride from occult circles in London, to Dion Fortune’s visionary West Country and to Wales, overseas to the Antipodes and to the in-between zones of myth and magical imagination. Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

Dr. Sue Terry has recently completed her PhD at the University of Surrey, researching women’s empowerment through occultism in fiction by Mary Butts, Florence Farr, Sylvia Townsend Warner and P.L. Travers.  Sue had the bright idea that created the brilliant Magickal Women Conference 2019; she was Director, speaker and host of Magickal Women events until January 2023. Sue co-presents with Caroline Wise the very successful annual Florence Farr and the Magical Imagination Conference in London, and runs Owl House Seminars, ‘Literature and the Weird’, online and in-person courses. Sue has appeared on podcasts Some Other Sphere and Rejected Religion; her work on occult feminist author Mary Butts has been published in English Studies journal (2024). She is currently working on a book on British fantasy author Alan Garner.

Phil Rayner has been beating metal in submission for 30 years, and can often be found at re-enactment events with his forge. He has been arguing with the Gods for longer, with moderate success. When not otherwise occupied, he can be found practising methods of combat that are several hundred years out of date.

Further details to follow.

In Comics, Cults and Occult artist Jason Atomic talks about the occult roots of the comic book and, more specifically, how this medium has been used and abused over the years by some of the world’s most notorious religious cults. Special attention will be paid to harbingers of doom like, end times cults, such as The Process Church Of The Final Judgement, The Children Of God & Aum Shinrikyo. Atomic, a lifelong comic collector, will share examples of these and more cult comics from his personal archive and tell how this countercultural obsession led into the creation of his own Satanic Mojo Comix. This is a revised an updated version of a talk previously given at Treadwells Occult Bookshop and Helgi’s Bar in London in 2019. It will be accompanied by a full colour zine produced for the occasion.

Jason Atomic is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, curator and performer based in the UK. He is a founder of the Satanic Flea Market and publisher of the underground anthology title, Satanic Mojo Comix and the Samoco Mojozine. He has artwork on display and in the collections of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, The Satanic Temple’s Salem Gallery & The Buckland Museum Of Witchcraft And Magick and once set an unofficial world land/speed record for portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery. Having left London during the pandemic lockdown, Atomic currently resides in an Oxfordshire market town with his muse Manko and a 3-legged cat called Picasso.