‘Holy Nights at Anthroposophy NYC’

     
Anthroposophy NYC has released its calendar for its Holy Nights celebrations. The Anthroposophical Society of New York City is located at 138 West 15th Street in Manhattan. From the publicity:

Twelve Holy Nights

The end of December and beginning of January bring an ancient time of the year more recently known as the Twelve Nights of Christmas. Anthroposophists observe them as the Twelve Holy Nights, though with Christmas eve and Epiphany/Three Kings Day (January 6) they occupy fourteen days of the calendar.

Courtesy Anthroposophy NYC

Rudolf Steiner’s research showed this time of year to be a kind of opening in which meditative or contemplative consciousness might experience the year ahead from a higher standpoint. For a quarter century, Anthroposophy NYC has hosted evenings of short programs, singing, refreshments, and community across these Holy Nights. All evenings take place at 7 p.m., except for a Sunday potluck and festival on January 3 at four o’clock. The dates are listed below with the presenter and the topic she or he is working with. Two wonderful evenings are crafts evenings.

All the evenings are free with donations much appreciated, along with seasonal refreshments brought by you (beverages are provided). Every program evening also needs some help, starting at 6 p.m., to open up, tend to the tree and the roses, set up refreshments, greet arrivals, clean up, and close up. Please contact Phoebe Alexander to offer help.

A beautiful new art exhibit, “Color: In and Out of Form,” with works by Sara Parrilli and Laura Summer, is open.

And remember, the Rudolf Steiner Bookstore has its holiday sale (15 percent off) through January 6!

Friday, December 25

Christmas Day

No program, branch closed.

Saturday, December 26 at 7 p.m.

Phoebe Alexander: Catching Light

Beeswax Stained Glass (art/craft)

Sunday, December 27 at 7 p.m.

John Beck: “Caterpillar Soup

and the Miracle of Change”

Monday, December 28 at 7 p.m.

Cliff Venho: “Christian Morgenstern,

That the Earth May Become a Sun”

Tuesday, December 29 at 7 p.m.

Sylvia Mandel, Carlos Cadena,

and Giorgi Khatiashvili:

Healing with Sound and Color.

Wednesday, December 30 at 7 p.m.

Laura Tucker and Vincent Roppolo:

Christmas Poetry Workshop

Thursday, December 31 at 7 p.m.

New Year’s Eve: “What a Year!”

Led by Walter Alexander and John Beck.

Friday, January 1 at 7 p.m.

New Year’s Day

“A Janus Event: Looking Forward and Back”

(art with Joyce Reilly)

Saturday, January 2 at 7 p.m.

“Window Stars for Three Kings”

(paper craft with Kelly Beekman)

Sunday, January 3 at 7 p.m.

Three Kings/Epiphany Festival

and pot-luck

(poets, singers, musicians needed).

Monday, January 4 at 7 p.m.

Tom Roepke:

“Knowing Ourselves, Knowing Each Other”

Tuesday, January 5 at 7 p.m.

Fred Dennehy: “The Inklings”

Wednesday, January 6 at 7 p.m.

Epiphany/Three Kings Day

Walter Alexander: “The Moment of Recognition”

     

‘It’s Oscar night!’

     

Oscar Alleyne

This just in: Oscar Alleyne will be our keynote speaker at The Masonic Society’s banquet at Masonic Week on Saturday, February 13 in Virginia.

Masonic Week program here.

Masonic Week hotel reservations here.

Masonic Week dinner reservations and attendance registration here.

With a reorganization of the Masonic Week schedule being introduced this time, The Masonic Society’s banquet is the only official dinner on the Masonic Week calendar for the Saturday night, so I hope to see you there.
     

‘Lecture: As Above, So Below’

     
Bruce Lee Webb, co-author of the book As Above, So Below: Art of the American Fraternal Society, 1850-1930, will appear at Morbid Anatomy next month to present a lecture on the subject of the material culture of fraternal orders. (He is in town for his exhibit at Metropolitan Pavilion.) From the publicity:

As Above, So Below: Art

of the American Fraternal Society, 1850-1930

Illustrated Lecture with Bruce Lee Webb

and Lynne Adele

Wednesday, January 20 at 8 p.m.

Admission: $8—tickets here

Morbid Anatomy Museum

424 Third Avenue, Brooklyn

Featuring more than 200 outstanding objects and historical photographs from the collection of co-author Bruce Lee Webb and his wife Julie, augmented by key examples gathered from other important private and public collections, the newly released book As Above, So Below (University of Texas Press) provides the first comprehensive survey of the rich vein of art created during the Golden Age of the American fraternal society.

By the turn of the twentieth century, an estimated 70,000 local lodges affiliated with hundreds of distinct American fraternal societies claimed a combined 5.5 million members. It has been estimated that at least 20 percent of the American adult male population belonged to one or more fraternal orders, including the two largest groups, the Freemasons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The esoteric knowledge, visual symbols, and moral teachings revealed to lodge brothers during secret rituals inspired an abundant and expressive body of objects that form an important, but largely overlooked and often misunderstood, facet of American visual culture. Co-authors Lynne Adele and Bruce Lee Webb will introduce the audience to fraternal societies and explore the functions and meanings of some of their favorite objects, selecting from paintings and banners, costumes and ceremonial regalia, ritual objects, and an array of idiosyncratic objects that represent a grassroots response to fraternalism. As Above, So Below will be available for purchase at the museum, and the authors will be on hand to answer questions and sign books following their talk.

Lynne Adele, an independent art historian, has specialized in the work of self-taught artists for more than 25 years. She has a lengthy art museum and commercial art gallery background, has curated exhibitions, lectured widely, and written and contributed to numerous exhibition catalogs, books, and journals on American folk art. Her exhibition catalog Spirited Journeys: Self-Taught Texas Artists of the Twentieth Century (1997) has become a standard reference in the field. She lives in Maryville, Tennessee.

Bruce Lee Webb has been a collector and dealer of fraternal objects for more than 25 years. He is a Scottish Rite Mason, Royal Arch Mason, Cryptic Mason, and Knight Templar; he is also an Odd Fellow, and is a Royal Purple member of the Odd Fellows Encampment. He has been initiated into the Order of the Eastern Star, Rebekah, and Knights of Pythias. With his wife, Julie, he founded Webb Gallery in Waxahachie, Texas, in 1987, specializing in the work of self-taught and folk artists.

Tickets are non-refundable unless the event is canceled.
     

‘Masonic Week 2016 registration is open’

     

Ease your worried minds. Hotel registration and meals reservations for Masonic Week 2016 are now open. Click here and scroll down to get started. The program for the multi-day event is here. (Separate websites.)

The meal reservations form is here.

The February festivities will take place at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.

     

‘Two interlaced deltas enclosing a protractor’

     

I searched through The Magpie photo archives hoping to find a shot of an Assistant Grand Lecturer wearing the apron of his office to illustrate this excerpt from the new issue of The Empire State Mason Magazine, and found Yves! Anyway, in the back of the book, Bro. Richard Kessler, the Right Worshipful Grand Lecturer, has a regular column titled, appropriately, “From the Grand Lecturer,” where this time he addresses three common questions. The first is: “Does the insignia on the Assistant Grand Lecturer apron have any significance in our ritual?”

Before I transcribe his answer, let me try to explain the design of the apron of the Very Worshipful brethren who wear it: No purple or gold, but a blue trim around a white background upon which lie a black equilateral triangle interlaced with a white equilateral triangle, forming a six-point star, within which is a protractor with its straight edge horizontal and its curved side above. Got it?

RW Kessler’s reply:

It does. The following is the symbology which has been used by Grand Lecturers in our jurisdiction: The Seal of Solomon or Shield of David is a hexagonal figure consisting of two interlaced triangles. The creates a six-pointed star. Upon it was inscribed one of the sacred names of God, from which inscription it was to derive its talismanic powers. These powers were reputed to be very extensive. It was called the Sacred Delta by the Ancients and was known as the symbol of the Great Architect of the Universe and also as the element of important ceremonies.

Magpie file photo

VW Bro. Yves Etienne
at Shakespeare 750
on September 2, 2010.

The interlocking triangles, or deltas, enclosing the protractor designate the Grand Lecturer or Assistant Grand Lecturer and are explained as follows: The two triangles, one white and the other black, interlacing, exemplify the mingling of opposing forces in nature: darkness and light, falsehood and truth, ignorance and wisdom, evil and good. They also are symbolic of the union of the body and soul. The protractor in the center of the two triangles is a symbol of wisdom and truth, and is emblematic of precision and perfection, which we hope for, both in our ritual and our lives. The emblem symbolizes one endowed with knowledge, who strives to overcome ignorance with wisdom, speak truth, and bring Masonic Light to the Craft.


If I’m not mistaken, this apron design and the office of Very Worshipful Assistant Grand Lecturer were devised in the 1990s with the goal of imparting to the brethren not only ritual instruction, but also the meanings of ritual elements and symbols. In 2015 the focus has been the Entered Apprentice Degree, and the results are conversations about the meaning of Masonry. Imagine that. The first time I saw one of these aprons, I assumed it was the apron of some crazy lodge at Masonic Hall that provided its brethren Masonic instruction with alchemical or other esoteric influences. You see all kinds of aprons at Masonic Hall.
     

‘Masonic Lodges in Constantinople (Not Istanbul)’

     
As I’ve noted here and there over the years on The Magpie, I very much enjoy finding on other blogs that typically have nothing to do with Freemasonry interesting posts that are entirely about Freemasonry and, on Monday, the Adrian Harrington book dealer blog gratified that itch in a most interesting way.

Mr. Harrington has been in the book trade in London for 45 years; in fact, three generations of his family now operate the business. Click here to see the website, and be sure to visit the Occult & Esoterica listings.

The blog post in question shares a rare document that came to the dealer inadvertently. He explains:

Letterhead of the Greek lodge. © James Murray 2015

Working with rare and valuable books has a tendency to make the extraordinary seem rather ordinary. You start to wonder how certain agglomerations of leather, cloth, paper, and ink can be worth so much. These doubts are cast aside, however, when confronted with something that makes a personal connection with you. The truth is that books, letters, and diaries provide the most direct links between individuals from the past and those living in the present. Although it is the messages they transmit which are invaluable, surely paper and ink are no less valuable as tangible markers of history than art or architecture?

It is with these thoughts in mind that I encounter a fascinating letter, pulled from a mass of moldering legal documents. It is a personal missive, possibly wrapped up in a bundle of paperwork by accident, and now in my hands entirely by chance.

The letter in question. © James Murray 2015

Read all about it, and see more photos, here.

Sapuncakis Köşkü. © James Murray 2012

     

‘Masonic Knowledge next March’

     
The Pennsylvania Academy of Masonic Knowledge has announced the program for its March 19, 2016 session at Elizabethtown. From the publicity:

Registration is required. Please see the Grand Lodge website for registration information.

The Masonic Roundtable

A weekly Hangout of Masons

from across the country.

Tuesdays at 10/9C.

The Masonic Roundtable is a weekly panel of Masons from around the United States who discuss the latest and greatest in Masonic news, events, scholarship, and happenings.

Jon T. Ruark
Bro. Jon Ruark is a Past Master of The Patriot Lodge No. 1957 in Fairfax, Virginia. His love of technology and gadgets led him to start The Masonic Roundtable as a Hangout on Air. His Masonic interests lean toward the esoteric and philosophical aspect. He lives in Virginia with his wife, three children, a dog named Copernicus, and two cats; Tesla and Edison.

Jason Richards
Bro. Jason Richards is an officer in Acacia Lodge No. 16 in Clifton, VA, where he was raised in 2012. A historian by trade, his favorite Masonic topics include the history of American Freemasonry, the socio-cultural impact of Freemasonry, and the evolution of Freemasonry since the early 1900s. He is the writer of the Masonic blog The 2-Foot Ruler: Masonry in Plain Language. He lives in Virginia with his wife, cats, and ever-expanding collection of bow ties.

Juan Sepúlveda
Bro. Juan ‘One’ Sepúlveda is a member of Eola Lodge No. 207 F. &AM in Orlando, Florida. He is a professional artist and shortly after becoming a Freemason, he decided to develop a collection of Masonic Art and Custom Masonic Aprons. It was a natural progression to his creative work, since he is passionate for history, Masonic education and allegorical teachings. Today, Juan’s artwork is part of private and corporate collections in the United States, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Australia. Juan Sepúlveda is the host of The Winding Stairs Freemasonry Podcast and is a public speaker who specializes in the topics of Art, Freemasonry, and the art of self-improvement.

Nick Johnson
Bro. Nick Johnson is best known as the lead blogger at the Millennial Freemason blog. A lover of codes, symbols, esoteric craziness, and “secret” stuff, he became interested in Freemasonry and its symbols as a young man. With the help of his grandfather, Bro. Nick joined Corinthian Lodge No. 67 in Farmington, Minnesota in the spring of 2006 and served as Master in 2010. He is also a Past High Priest of Corinthian Chapter No. 33, RAM; Deputy Master of Northfield Council No. 12, R&SM; and Generalissimo of Faribault Commandery No. 8. He’s also involved in AMD, Knight Masons, and the Sovereign College. He lives in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area with his wife and kids, and some cats.

Robert Johnson
Bro. Robert Johnson is a Freemason in the First North-East District of Illinois, and is the Senior Warden of Waukegan Lodge No. 78. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council, Knights Templar, AMD and the Scottish Rite (32º). Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts Whence Came You?, a weekly podcast (internet radio program) which focuses on Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on the fraternity, and will write original Masonic papers from time to time. He is the managing editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog as well. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is also working on three books, all of which are Masonic in nature. Also, he does not have any cats.
     

‘Grand Master Mason’s Choice single malt’

     
The fun side of Freemasonry offers a variety of activities and goods that complement the serious aspects of practicing the Craft—sometimes these things mix—and now I see how the Grand Lodge of Scotland has announced the release of a Scotch whisky under its own name for us to enjoy at Festive Board or in the home. The press release is a bit confusing (70 cl is about 2 ounces shy of the 750 ml bottles to which we Americans have grown accustomed, and the claim of 46 proof is, thankfully, an error—the spirit is 92 proof; they mean 46 percent alcohol by volume), but here it is:

Grand Lodge of Scotland Whisky

The Grand Lodge of Scotland has launched its own Single Scotch Malt Whisky named: The Grand Master Mason’s Choice.

Specially selected and produced by the Isle of Arran Distilleries for the Grand Lodge of Scotland, this is robust 46% proof (sic) single malt of character.

The 70cl bottle comes boxed and uses the Grand Lodge tartan as its main design theme. The label on the reverse of the bottle bears the following message:

The Grand Master Mason’s Choice

The Grand Lodge of Scotland has had the pleasure of representing Freemasons working under the Scottish Constitution since 1736.

Freemasonry is one of the world’s oldest secular fraternal societies and originated in Scotland. Below we explain Freemasonry as it exists under the Grand Lodge of Scotland which is the corporate body governing Freemasonry in Scotland and Scottish Masonic Lodges in many other parts of the world.

Freemasonry is a society of men concerned with moral and spiritual values. Its members are taught its precepts by a series of ritual dramas. These remain substantially the same form used in Scottish Stonemasons’ Lodges and use Scottish Stonemasons’ customs and tools as allegorical guides.

The essential qualification for admission into and continued membership is a belief in a Supreme Being. Membership is open to men of any race, color, or religion who can fulfill this essential qualification, and who are of good repute.

For many years Freemasons have followed three great principles:

Brotherly Love

Every true Freemason will show tolerance and respect for the opinions of others and behave with kindness and understanding to his fellow creatures.
Relief

Relief

Freemasons are taught to practice charity and to care, not only for their own, but also for the community as a whole, both by charitable giving, voluntary efforts, and works as individuals.

Truth

Freemasons strive for truth, requiring high moral standards, and aiming to achieve them in their own lives.

The cost for a bottle of Grand Master Mason’s Choice is £40 [about US$61 as I type this]. We will ascertain the age and post the details. Apologies for the omission.

At this time this whisky is only available from the Grand Lodge shop within Freemasons’ Hall (after 10 a.m. due to Scottish licensing laws), but arrangements are in hand to allow for it to be shipped worldwide. Details will be posted on this page as soon as they are available.

In Scotland in is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under the age of 18 years - Section 110 of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005.


So there it is. If you had trouble locating Old Masters, an 80 proof blended whisky with the Square and Compasses on its label, take heart because it wasn’t that great anyway. It was okay, no better or worse than Johnnie Red or Dewar’s, and it cost around fifty bucks per bottle. I’m hoping someone at Masonic Week will have a dram of this to share.
     

‘Occult Humanities Conference to return to NYU’

     
Phantasmaphile and New York University will conspire again to host the Occult Humanities Conference next February.

Pam Grossman and Jesse Bransford will welcome you at the university’s Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions, located at 34 Stuyvesant Street in Manhattan, February 5 through 7, for a weekend of lectures, performances, and art exhibits exploring “Contemporary Art and Scholarship on the Esoteric Traditions.”

Click here for the schedule, and click here to buy tickets.

From the publicity:


The 2016 Occult Humanities Conference is a weekend conference to be held in New York City on February 5-7, 2016. The conference will present a wide array of voices active in the cultural landscape who are specifically addressing the occult tradition through research, scholarship and artistic practice.

The arts and humanities at present are acutely interested in subjects related to the occult tradition. The tradition represents a rich and varied visual culture that displays a complex set of relations at once culturally specific and global in their transmission. Roughly defined, the occult tradition represents a series of culturally syncretic belief systems with related and overlapping visual histories. Though there are as many ways into this material as there are cultural—and personal—perspectives, universal occult concerns often include a belief in some sort of magic; a longing to connect with an immaterial or trans-personal realm; and a striving for inner-knowledge, refinement of the self, and transformation of one’s consciousness, if not one’s physical circumstances.

Intensely marginalized throughout most historical periods, these traditions persist and represent an “underground” perspective that periodically exerts a strong influence on structures of dissent, utopianism and social change. Though history is marked with several so-called “Occult Revivals,” the contemporary digital age is a perfect confluence of several factors that make this moment prime for a re-examination of all of the esoteric traditions. While the information age has allowed for easier access to previously obscure writings, imagery, and social contexts, it alternately elicits a deep desire for sensorial experiences and meaning-making when one steps away from the screen.

The presenters at the OHC represent a rich and expanding community of international artists and academics from multiple disciplines across the humanities who share an exuberance and excitement for how the occult traditions interface with their fields of study as well as the culture at large. The small scale of this conference (approximately 100 attendees) will give ticket holders an intimate look at the presenters and their views.
This year’s conference coincides with the exhibition “Language of the Birds: Occult and Art” on display at 80 WSE Gallery, the art gallery of NYU’s Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions, curated by Pam Grossman.

There will be an onsite exhibition of prints from Carl Jung’s The Red Book, courtesy of DigitalFusion.

Books and editions from a variety of vendors will be available for sale throughout the duration of the conference. Vendors include Inner Traditions, Ouroboros Press, Wonderella Printed, and more.

MEMES OR SCHEMES
If we consider a consciously magical approach to art in contemporary culture, should we be fascinated by memes of potential or paranoid about manipulative schemes? History shows us that more than anything else, it is culture that defines how “posterity” will regard a certain area or region. Logically, this would extend to our times too, then. In transcending the causal and rational approaches to human existence (economy, politics, science, etc.), we find that our culture is increasingly infused with magical approaches, not only in thematics but also in attitude and content. How will this shape our immediate future and, beyond, how will later generations regard our phase of experimentation?

Carl Abrahamsson (b. 1966) is a writer, publisher, and filmmaker based in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been writing about occultural people, phenomena, tendencies and movements since the late 1980s. He is a lecturer at art institutions, colleges, and universities, and is the editor and publisher of the annual journal The Fenris Wolf, which contains material from the vital intersection between art and esotericism.

Dionysus Stardust: Theater, Masks,

and the Spectacle of Rock and Roll

Peter Bebergal, author of Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll, will discuss the relationship between theater, ritual, and popular music, with a look at the influence of ancient religious practice, turn of the century art, and occult lodge rites on the performance and culture of rock. From Robert Plant’s Dionysian swagger to Bowie’s alchemical transformations, Bebergal will reveal the gods under the masks of rock’s most arresting moments.

Peter Bebergal writes widely on the speculative and slightly fringe. His essays and reviews have appeared in NewYorker.com, The Times Literary Supplement, Boing Boing, The Believer, and The Quietus. He is the author of Season of the Witch: How the Occult Saved Rock and Roll, Too Much to Dream: A Psychedelic American Boyhood, The Faith Between Us: A Jew and a Catholic Search for the Meaning of God (with Scott Korb). Bebergal studied religion and culture at Harvard Divinity School, and lives in Cambridge.

Swallowing the Stone

with the Brothers McKenna:

Psychedelics, Alchemy,

and Media at La Chorrera

The “Experiment at La Chorrera,” which Terence and Dennis McKenna performed in the Columbian jungle in 1971, and which became the core of Terence’s True Hallucinations, stands as one of the most storied trips in the annals of modern psychedelia. As an exploration of what Wouter Hanegraaff calls “entheogenic esotericism,” this talk will unpack the various threads of alchemy, science fiction, and media theory that formed the matrix for the protocols, phenomenology, and after-the-fact interpretations of the McKenna’s unparalleled encounter with high weirdness.

Erik Davis is an author, podcaster, award-winning journalist, and lecturer based in San Francisco. He is the author, most recently, of Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica (Yeti, 2010). He also wrote The Visionary State: A Journey through California’s Spiritual Landscape (Chronicle, 2006), Led Zeppelin IV (33 1/3, 2005) and TechGnosis: Myth, Magic, and Mysticism in the Age of Information (Crown, 1998), which has been translated into five languages and recently reissued with a new afterword by North Atlantic Books. His essays on music, technoculture, psychedelics, and esoterica have appeared in dozens of books, including A Rose Veiled in Black: Art and Arcana of Our Lady Babalon (Three Hands, 2015), Zig Zag Zen (Synergetic, 2015), Rave Culture and Religion (Routledge, 2009), and AfterBurn: Reflections on Burning Μan (University of New Mexico Press, 2005). Davis has contributed to scores of publications, including Aeon, Bookforum, Wired, Salon, Slate, the LA Weekly, and the Village Voice. He has been interviewed by CNN, the BBC, Wisconsin public radio, and the New York Times, and explores the “cultures of consciousness” on his weekly podcast Expanding Mind. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, and recently earned his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Rice University.

Delphic Oracle - Saturday Evening Performance

Christiana Key began classical violin training on her fifth birthday, followed by piano and opera a few years later. During those formative years, she was also active in community theatre, as an actor and costume designer, and started a bespoke evening and holiday gown label for her young friends’ parties. She was accepted into the University of North Florida as a double music major in Performance Violin and Voice at 16 years old, though she left two years later to pursue her interests in punk, rock, electronic, and experimental music, first moving to London, then settling down in New York City. She began recording original compositions in her bedroom in 2006 and joined Cult of Youth in 2009, and Zola Jesus in 2012 as a touring member.

During her time in New York and as part of Cult of Youth, she met several occultists who introduced her to different and innovative ways of fusing music and magick, and through that, Delphic Oracle was born. Christiana saw there was a lack in both the accessibility of experimental magical music and the (powerful) intentions of mainstream pop and hip-hop. Delphic Oracle aims to fuse the power of magickal intent and the power of sound, and additionally, the power of spectacle into every performance. Each performance is based on astrological vibrations, current events, popular culture, and the audience's subtle emotional dynamics felt before and during the show. The intentions behind each show can range from self-love to financial stability to gratitude to wisdom, and are represented by obvious things such as the songs' timbre, lyric matter, and costume choice, down minute details such as color and number of candles, types of metals and wands used, and the planetary and elemental correspondences of the homemade incenses burned during the performance.

Delphic Oracle has self-released one EP, “Watching the Fern,” and a cassette through Popnihil, “Mirrors/Crows/Echoes.” She performs solo using only a sampler, violin, drum pad, and vocal microphone. She now lives in St. Augustine, Florida, and after a year’s forced-hiatus from touring, she is working on a full-length album to be released fall 2016.

Bohemian Occult Subculture in Britain’s 1890s: How Artists, Actors, and Writers Made the Golden Dawn

The Order of the Golden Dawn is an icon for modern occultists: it is the late Victorian ceremonial magic organization which created the template for subsequent occult magic. Western mysteries, Kabbalah, Celtic mysticism, and even Wicca would follow forms it developed in its 25 short years, c.1885-1925. It was an occult renaissance, sudden and powerful.

Historians stress the first founders’ connection with Freemasonry, giving the impression that it was a club of old establishment men with gray suits and gray beards. Their rites and study course were, one imagines, equally boring and patriarchal. But in fact, the Golden Dawn core group were a bunch of young creatives - friends working in creative collaboration, inspired by the mysterious. They were the kind of people who, if they lived today, would perhaps hang out at Observatory.

The women, first. One was a polyamorous working actress who wrote for feminist magazines. Another was a feisty trust-fund girl who staged avant-garde plays with her friends. A third was gorgeous Swedish art student who liked older men and doing portraits. The guys: a very cute poet from Irish parentage; a bright researcher with no money and a bad temper; and a rich kid who did a lot of drugs and a lot of boyfriends. They were all bright, feisty, achievers; by old age each had made real impact in their chosen fields. Together they made art, made ritual, did meditations, hung out, had romances, had breakups, studied old texts, and tried to reach into something beyond normal human experience. As we see them anew via this illustrated presentation, it is hoped we can see the Order of the Golden Dawn anew.

Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington is the founder and managing director of the legendary Treadwell’s of London, a bookshop and events center for the British pagan and esoteric community. She is co-editor of the Abraxas International Journal of Esoteric Studies. A former assistant professor of History, she feels passionately that esotericism is an important strand in Western culture, to be addressed, studied, celebrated—and, of course, practiced.

John Augustus Knapp and His Circle

Perhaps most famous for his watercolor illustrations that populate Manly P. Hall’s esoteric encyclopedia The Secret Teachings of All Ages (1928) and his illustrations for John Uri Lloyd’s curious novel Etidorhpa (1895), J. Augustus Knapp was an illustrator at the center of a circle of the most influential members of the American Occult Revival. I will discuss Knapp’s personal occult interests and beliefs and his circle of friends and collaborators.

A Curtis G. Lloyd Fellow at the Lloyd Library and Museum, Ken Henson is the author and illustrator of the treatise Alchemy and Astral Projection: Ecstatic Trance in the Hermetic Tradition (LLM, 2014), the illustrated novella/grimoire HIGH GRAVITY: Werewolves, Ghosts, and Magick Most Black (Oneiric Imprint, 2015), and the illustrator of Blue Jay Slayer (Aurora Press, 2015), which is a collaboration with poet Matt Hart. He also recently collaborated with the Philosophical Research Society to restore and reissue Manly P. Hall and John Augustus Knapp’s Revised New Art Tarot. Ken’s writings and art have been published in periodicals such as Abraxas, Clavis Journal, and The Gnostic Journal, and he has presented at the Esoteric Book Conference, SCIENTIAE, Babalon Rising, and the Left Hand Path Conference. He is an Associate Professor and the Head of Illustration at the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Ohio where he teaches studio courses and Art and the Occult.

Blues Magic

References to witchcraft, and magic spells appear frequently in the lyrics of popular songs, but, in general, these references are metaphoric. For example, when Frank Sinatra sings about “that sly come-hither stare” in his classic “Witchcraft,” few listeners think that the subject of that song is actually practicing dark arts.

A prominent exception exists in blues and its descendant, rhythm and blues (R&B), whose lyrics are permeated with references to actual magical practices. Magic is alive in the blues; very specifically the magical practices that first arose in the African-American communities of the southern United States, the traditions of Hoodoo and Conjure. Blues is the crossroads where music and magic meet:
• Blues songs praise and excoriate Conjure women and Hoodoo doctors.
• Songs document historical magical practitioners, like the Seven Sisters of New Orleans or Caroline Dye, the seer of Newport, Arkansas.
• Blues lyrics are studded with mention of magical practices such as mojo hands, John the Conqueror roots, hotfoot powder, and the fidelity-enforcing Nation Sack.
• An occult aura surrounds some musicians, too: reminiscent of the legend of Faust, blues stars Robert Johnson and Tommie Johnson were both reputed to have met the devil at the crossroads, so that they could barter their souls in exchange for spectacular musical prowess and success.

During this talk, we'll explore the musical genre, as well as the specific magical practices celebrated within its songs.

Judika Illes is a native New Yorker and an independent scholar and researcher. She is the author of eight books devoted to spiritual traditions, witchcraft, and the magical arts including the Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells, the Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, as well as the forthcoming The Weiser Book of Forgotten and Fantastic Tales. In her younger days, Judika hosted The Low Budget Blues Show on WRSU-FM.

An Invisible Art: Maya Deren and Experiments with Absence

Experimental filmmaker Maya Deren traveled to Haiti four different times with the ultimate aim of making a film that would compare children’s games, Balinese dances, and the rituals practiced for Voudoun that she had gone there to film. In the process, her work began to focus on generating connections through which what is seen and what is unseen might traffic. She gives precedence to that which is accomplished through suggestion or association rather than through causal links, and takes pains to represent that which seems not to be present but is actually simply not visible. Such strategies underline Deren’s obsessions, including how to access inaccessible states of being and present them cinematically. The work that comes out of her Haitian experience draws on energies related to the incomplete, missing, or desired but absent object that she labored to represent.

Sarah Keller is Assistant Professor of Art and Cinema Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. She co-edited the collection Jean Epstein: Critical Essays and New Translations (Amsterdam University Press, 2012), and her book Maya Deren: Incomplete Control (Columbia University Press, 2014) examines the role of unfinished cinematic works by focusing on the Maya Deren oeuvre. Keller’s current project, Cinephilia/Cinephobia, focuses on the history and theory of love and anxiety in the cinema.

Lykanthea - Opening Performance

Lykanthea is Lakshmi Ramgopal, a solo electronic musician from Chicago, IL. With lyrics rooted in ancient mythologies, a haunting voice smoked in cave-like reverb and the gauzy drone of synths, Lykanthea writes the soundtrack of thresholds. Drawing on a decade of Carnatic vocal training, Ramgopal "sings hymns of the ancients in a tale that breaks against oppressive hands to expressions and emotions that emerge from behind the veil" (IMPOSE). Her sound is ritual chanting for the electronic age.

Ramgopal began writing and performing as Lykanthea while pursuing a doctorate in Classics at the University of Chicago. She found herself drawn to the narrative of legacy and rebirth in ancient Sumerian texts about the goddess Inanna. While isolated on an uninhabited Greek island in 2013, she began writing lyrics, collecting field recordings, and laying down the soundscapes that became her debut Migration. The EP was released in July 2014 digitally and on cassette to local acclaim, with the initial physical run selling out in months.

A fixture in Chicago’s dark fashion and witch house scene, Ramgopal’s passion for atmosphere and texture has made her music an inspiration for collaborators. Her music has been featured in promotional videos for Velvit and Vespere Vintage, and her style was praised by dark fashion blog FAIIINT and Culture Magazine. She also collaborated with Hvnter Gvtherer to release a capsule collection of jewelry inspired by Migration’s lyrics. While living in Italy earlier this year as a winner of the prestigious Rome Prize, Ramgopal has performed across Europe, including Leipzig’s Wave Gotik Treffen. She also partnered up with sound artist Paula Matthusen for the sound installation “Prex Gemina” for exhibition in Rome and worked with Austrian artist Krist Mort on the video for “Parturition.”

Lykanthea has been featured in Noisey, IMPOSE, MTV Iggy, Culture Magazine, No Fear of Pop, Warren Ellis’ SPEKTRMODULE podcast, Chicago Reader, Largehearted Boy and Artribune.

Art, Technology, and the Mysterious Imagery of C.G Jung’s Red Book

In 2007, Jung’s Red Book was released from the family vault for the first time in decades and given to Hugh Milstein from DigitalFusion to evaluate and archive for future generations. This behind the scenes journey into how The Red Book was digitally captured begins in 2002 and will provide insights into the technology, process, and care undertaken in Zürich during the photographic process. Hugh will reveal the technological transformations that have occurred in the last 12 years, allowing this masterwork to be printed with amazing clarity as fine art prints. He will share conversations with Massimiliano Gioni from the Venice Biennale, where The Red Book and fine art print reproductions were exhibited in the world famous art show, making a transformative historical statement about Jung’s art into a modern reality. Hugh will also share in-depth closeups of the masterwork, revealing mystic imagery and hidden themes that were hand crafted by Jung.

Hugh Milstein, co-founder and President of DigitalFusion. DigitalFusion is a leading Creative Services company headquartered in Los Angeles. With a base in photography, and an expansion into motion, DigitalFusion is a cutting edge provider to major publications and entertainment outlets worldwide. Hugh’s expertise in image making led him to be name to the “100 Most Important People in Photography” by American Photographer. Hugh continues to design and develop new image styles and services that appear on digital newsstands, moving billboards, iPads, and mobile devices.

The Tarot and its Gifts

When I asked the Shining Tribe Tarot what it wanted to talk about at the conference, I received three cards about receiving gifts and being willing to join with the cards to utilize them. In the Gift of Trees (Queen of Wands) two snakes wind around a tree, so that the three figures, snakes and tree, form the caduceus of Hermes. Between them, the snakes hold up the alchemical Philosopher’s Stone of transformation. In the Gift of Birds (Queen of Swords), a shaman wears a bird-headed helmet and carries a feathered shield and a banner with a bird on it. However, a flute falls from the sky, and in order to play this Gift (many people believe that flutes originally were inspired by bird songs) he will have to drop the shield and banner and take off the helmet. Finally, in the Two of Rivers (Two of Cups), a dark and light fish swim head to tail, forming the famous yin-yang symbol (the card is a tribute to the I Ching). The message is clear: in order to truly work (and create) with the Tarot, whether for readings, story telling, or spiritual discovery, we need to meet it as a partner, open up to its gifts, and merge with it.

Rachel Pollack is the author of 36 books of fiction and non-fiction, including two award-winning novels, a poetry collection, a translation (with David Vine) of Sophocles’s Oidipous Tyrannos (Oedipus Rex) and a series of books about Tarot that have become known around the world. Rachel has taught and lectured in the U.S. Canada, Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and China. Rachel has designed and drawn The Shining Tribe Tarot, and recently worked with artist Robert Place to create The Burning Serpent Oracle. Her work has been translated into 14 languages. Her most recent book is a novel, The Child Eater. Until her recent retirement, Rachel was a senior faculty member of Goddard College’s MFA in Writing program. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

The Forms of Hidden Things: Surrealism Through the Mirror of Magic

Artists, like alchemists, employ matter to reveal its transformative properties as magic and metaphor. Celia Rabinovitch, artist, author, and pioneer in the field of art and religion, uncovers surrealist art as a special form of knowledge related to insight and imagination. In The Forms of Hidden Things: Surrealism Through the Mirror of Magic, she investigates the Swiss American artist, Kurt Seligmann (1900-62) who immigrated to the USA in 1938, becoming the acknowledged expert on magic in surrealism. A decade later his book, Through the Mirror of Magic, (New York: Pantheon, 1948) was welcomed into the effervescent cultural mix that included Joseph Campbell, Wallace Stevens, Carl Jung, and others. Neglected until recently, Seligmann’s art has come to the fore, while the recognition of his book in the history of religions was constant. Celia shows how Seligmann’s magical imagination arises from his personal history and experiences as well as his occult research. She illuminates how his understanding of Jewish mysticism informs his art and defines his identity, while remaining hidden from others and even from himself.

Celia Rabinovitch (Ph.D. History of Religions, McGill, Montreal; MFA, Painting, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an artist and writer and professor whose work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Her book, Surrealism and the Sacred: Power, Eros, and the Occult in Modern Art, is cited in new approaches to art, literature, and spirituality, and considered an authority in the field. Using cultural anthropology, the history of religions, and art history she uncovers a history of hidden knowledge that includes magic and the imagination. She has written for Artweek, The Dictionary of Art, American Ceramics, C Magazine, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, and contributed chapters to The Spiritual Image in Modern Art, ed. Katherine Regier, and was interviewed by Louis E Bourgeois, ed., in Complete with Missing Parts: Interviews with the Avant-garde. Her atmospheric paintings have been exhibited at The Florence Biennale; Galerie Mourati, Vienna; University of California; California Institute of Integral Studies; the Winnipeg Art Gallery; the Beck Center Museum, Cleveland, and published in Cerise Press: A Journal of Literature, Arts and Culture (2012), with awards for her art from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Millay Colony for the Arts, New York. She has held teaching and director appointments at the University of Colorado-Denver, California College of Art, the San Francisco Art Institute, and at Stanford University. As a Visiting Artist at Syracuse University she co-chaired the graduate program in painting, and was Program Director for Fine Arts and Graphic Design at the University of California, Berkeley (1992-2002). Currently she is professor at the University of Manitoba (on leave) and Director of Research at the Seligmann Center for the Arts, NY.


Janaka Stucky - Saturday Evening Poetry Reading

Janaka Stucky is the author of The Truth Is We Are Perfect (2015), the first title from Jack White’s new publishing imprint, Third Man Books. He is also the Publisher of award-winning indie press, Black Ocean. Janaka’s poems are at once incantatory, mystic, epigrammatic, and spiritual. His meditative sensibilities and minimalist style create ritualized poems acting as spells-transcribed to be read aloud and performed in the service of realizing that which we seek to become. His influences draw on his Vedantic upbringing, as well as interests in Gnosticism and 20th century magickal traditions. His poems have appeared in such journals as Denver Quarterly, Fence and North American Review, and his articles have been published by The Huffington Post and The Poetry Foundation. He is a two-time National Haiku Champion and in 2010 he was voted “Boston’s Best Poet” in the Boston Phoenix.

Picture Yourself in a Burning Building

Artist Scott Treleaven talks about the furtive role of mysticism, occultism and theories of consciousness in historical abstractionism and his own work.

Scott Treleaven (born Canada, 1972) is a painter and filmmaker. He has written extensively about the intersection of art, mysticism, sexuality and marginal culture, and his influential ’90s underground publications are included in the book In Numbers: Serial Publications by Artists Since 1955. Recent solo shows include Invisible-Exports, New York, and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco. Group exhibitions include Contemporary Art Museum Houston, ICA Philadelphia, Palais de Tokyo (Paris), and the British Film Institute.