Occult Mysteries In Conway Hall
On Saturday 10th April 1999 we went to Conway Hall in Red Lion Square, London to attend "A symposium of real magick and global ritualism - incorporating the international symposium of thelemic magick , hosted by the Oxford Golden Dawn Occult Society". The conference addressed itself to "Golden Dawn or Crowley people, sethians, hyperdelics, graphic novelists, voodooists, modern primitives or post porn modernists".
MC for the day was the writer Ramsay Dukes; there were six speakers, starting at 2pm.
First up was Cris Monastre, an American woman from an LA group of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, speaking of her reminiscences of Israel Regardie during his time in America. At the end of her lecture she professed to wishing to gather a working group in London, with an active Temple and Vault of the Initiate.
Anthropologist Chrys Livings delivered a paper entitled "Queen, Colony and the Art of War" which covered subjects as diverse as spelling and cursing, kung fu and the symbolism of honey bees. Chrys has spoken at previous Thelemic conferences and at Lancaster University last October speaking on "Skin-switching... Shamanism and Lycanthropy".
During a break the group Voodoo Vinyl played drum and bass records, claiming that D&B was a throughly indigenous British folk idiom, likening it to Native American chanting! Stuart spoke of his research into high frequency 'subliminal' strobe lights, which he hoped someday to use in conjunction with music in a club setting. Unfortunately, he was unable to demonstrate his groundbreaking equipment due to regulations that would require us all to sign medical disclaimers.
The author Gerald Suster, who has written biographies of both Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie (Crowley's Apprentice) waxed lyric on the work and life experiences of the author Arthur Machen. With reference to literary works and biographical details Suster, in his lively and engaging style, examined Machen's hints that his visionary imagery was inspired by a 'process', which Machen then refused to define. Suster suggested that, among other things, this 'process' was a creative altered state of consciousness brought about by prolonged and christian-guilt-laden masturbation. I really should get down to some Arthur Machen.
Dave Lee - a self-confessed chaos magician spoke on personal, socio-historical and magical uses of psychedelics. He emphasised the cyclic nature of social movements, likening the ebb and flow in the historical usage of hallucinogens in the twentieth century to the eleven year sun-spot cycle. Refering to Neuro Linguistic Programming, he claimed the present (NOW) moment as historic, seminal, the seed of a new social consciousness, laying down a "reality anchor" for all those present. Sometime in the future, maybe, somebody will say That Real Magick conference in London in 1999, that was the start of it all, the source of this current, this movement, that is blossoming now.
Dr Tuppy Owens of the Sexual Freedom Coalition gave a presentation on... sexual freedom, freely illustrated with slides, mainly of Robert Mapplethorpe photographs. Her assistant, aided by a volunteer from the audience, demonstrated healthy SM bondage practice, the correct use of the cane, and two types of cat o' nine tails. The volunteer, after each switch and trash, was heard to cry out "Thank you Mistress", much to everybody's pleasure and delight.
The graphic novelist - Allan Moore gave a brilliant, dramatic reading of a piece called "Snakes and Ladders", accompanied by music, lighting, incense, bells and performers. Words were woven around evocations of tarot cards, the history of The Conway Hall and Red Lion Square, biograhical details, scientific fact, astronomical speculation, astrological mythology, personal observation, cosmic perspectives and anti-millennial madnesses. A swirling eclectic pattern of ideas and sound, intonation and meaning, "A primordial soup, alphabet soup, without the alphabet" to misquote Moore's piece from memory. The stage image was striking with clever use of shadow to bring out the contrast between darkness and light. Side-lighting of shafts of red and blue light from the wings caught objects in sudden glare, cast huge undulating shadows across the back wall of the stage. Apart from this the stage was largely lit only by candles, one of which was on a table, very close to Moore's face as he recited, catching his pale skin in its circle of white light. A single point of clear constant brightness in dark veiled shadows. As the piece reached its climax an actress playing the Moon, standing at the top of a ladder, sipping parafin from a wineglass, began breathing great rolling wafts of flame across the stage. Bursts of fire-eater illumination flashed the stage in sudden orange light, figures, shapes, images leapt forward from the gloom astonished, then plunged back again into red and blue shadows as the flame died away. This wasn't just a reading, this was theatre, was magic, was ritual, what a treat!
The event ended around 9.30 with a closing ritual invocation of the Egyptian deity Horus.