Semmens, Jason. The Witch of the West or the Strange and Wonderful History of Thomasine Blight. Plymouth, 2004, £3.99. (review)

Cornwall certainly holds an important place in Britain's esoteric history and culture, and in terms of witchcraft, Cornwall has a particularly 'witchy' reputation. Local legends of standing stones and other landscape features suggest a history of witches' night meetings, Cornwall is the home of the Museum of Witchcraft, and today the territory hosts a vibrant Pagan community and receives Pagan spiritual tourism from around the globe. There are witches, pellars and cunning folk who were captured in legend by Cornish folklorists such as Robert Hunt and William Bottrell, but what of the stories behind the legends? It is doubtful that Cornwall was historically any more witchy than other place in Britain, but the idea that Cornwall is perhaps a more suitable conduit for supernatural activity has certainly helped to establish quite a reputation for this western peninsula. There have been quite a few small books addressing witchcraft in Cornwall but the majority has been written to suit a popular or tourist interest in the topic. Despite the incredible interest in witchcraft in Cornwall, there have been very few rigorous and unbiased studies of actual historical Cornish witchcraft traditions.

Finally, some of the history surrounding legendary Cornish witches and witchcraft practices is starting to emerge. Jason Semmens' valuable contribution The Witch of the West: or the Strange and Wonderful History of Thomasine Blight is a microhistory and biography of the Cornish Cunning Woman more popularly known as Tammy Blee. This book is truly a step forward in research about Cornish witchcraft traditions. Semmens, who hails from the Camborne area of Cornwall, is certainly no stranger to the material. Currently a documentation officer for a museum in South Wales, Semmens holds an MA in Witchcraft and Literature from the University of Exeter, and was previously a curator for the vast witchcraft related holdings in the private library of the late Robert Lenciewicz. In The Witch of the West, Semmens provides a detailed account of Blight's life and work in Cornwall in the mid nineteenth century, drawing upon archival material, newspaper accounts and early folklore research.

We learn that Blight was born Thomasine Williams in Gwennap, a mining town near Redruth in 1793, and had two marriages. It's likely that she practiced her trade in conjuring in Redruth market at first, and then later took private clients in her home after her reputation had been established. Her trade consisted of finding lost objects, taking spells off of ill wished livestock, keeping people from being bewitched, and telling fortunes. Blight was a keen strategist, moving to Helston after her first husband's death, to expand her trade and opportunities, and was often able to manipulate local gossip and personality conflicts to her advantage. Semmens portrays Blight as a resourceful and independent woman who was cunning in many senses of the word, defying the common stereotype of such people as being simple and superstitious. Blight was certainly a dynamic personality, and well known as a local character which ensured that a number of her escapades and encounters were chronicled by well known Cornish folklore collectors of the nineteenth century, William Bottrell and Robert Hunt. Yet despite her contribution to our understanding of popular beliefs of the past, we must remember that Blight was a shrewd, individualist business woman who was thriving off of her wits in an often harsh economic and social climate.

Perhaps the most important contribution of this volume, however, is that it places Cornish witchcraft and Cornish conjurors in a historical context. Cornish witchcraft is moving out of legend and speculation into the realm of history and ethnography. These were real people, who had motivations and good reasons for taking up this trade. Almost more importantly, we learn about the people who became her clients and what they believed. The stories, especially those of ill wishing, healing sick animals and securing a good harvest, are similar to stories of witchcraft worldwide and we find almost identical practices in Ireland and Africa.

This microhistory and biography is an excellent contribution and a great companion piece to wider studies of witchcraft and folk belief such as Owen Davies' book Cunning Folk: Popular Magic in English History. Of course it has special relevance for anyone specifically interested in Cornish folklore or the supernatural in Cornwall, which is generally a pretty hot topic.

Amy Hale

Rock, Ice Perdurabo

The next issue of Rock and Ice an U.S. publication, covering the world of rock climbing and mountaineering, has an article about Crowley, the leading climber of his day, who went on to fame that far outstripped and overshadowed his climbing.

The article paints Crowley as a pioneering climber and visionary who was little recognized during his time. Today, his routes are still feared as being dangerous, and are seldom climbed. The article doesn't much go into the accident. It covers it, but doesn't dwell on it as especially pivotal. I think most climbers will be shocked by Crowley's climbing skills, but equally shocked by the other, other side of him. The occult is still quite frightening for most people. With your knowledge, you will probably think the article is a cursory treatment, and that it presents nothing new, but for our small climbing audience who knows little if anything about Crowley, it will be a wealth of information and I'm sure, very well read.

* * *

Carlos Atanes is working for his feature “FAQ” and the continuation of “Perdurabo”, his movie about Aleister Crowley, now you can see the Perdurabo First Part TRAILER at http://www.carlosatanes.com

In the spirit of 100 Years of Thelema and upon this Equinox of the Gods, the first issue of SILVER STAR, a new, free, on-line and extremely eclectic magickal journal at: http://www.horusmaat.com/silverstar

Voodoo Queen

The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau

'The forty-four cemeteries of New Orleans lend themselves to mystery, ghost stories and occult tourism. Local citizens call them 'cities of the dead'. First time visitors receive a surreal shock - ancient ruins, marble monuments and tall crypts celebrate death and refuse to sterilize, deny or make it merely a medical fact Against the skyline, angels, crosses and statues of grieving mothers make the aura of decomposition exquisite. Mile after mile of tombs resemble houses, small mansions or places of worship - neighborhoods where another branch of the family lives . . . The Creole citizens of New Orleans came to be infatuated with tales of open graves, gruesome deaths and skeletons or ghosts who lead independent lives along the avenues of the cities of the dead. . . (p. 94)

This new biography by Martha Ward is published by University of Mississippi Press, at approx 20 UK pounds (ISBN 1-57806-629-8). Beneath the dull gray cover lurks a colorful hardback documenting the history of the New Orleans Voodoo clan of Marie Laveau and her eponymous daughter. Marie I, born in 1801 died 1881, is buried in the famous New Orleans Tomb which every year is visited by many thousands of pilgrims. She and her daughter lived extraordinary lives, spanning the purchase Louisiana by the fledgling USA, the civil war, the decline and suppression of Voodoo and the rise of segregation.

Its unlikely that any earlier author had as much freedom to research the subject, using original documentary material, her own intuition and the extensive archive of oral history compiled during the years of the depression by the Federal Writer's Project. Marie Laveau's magick is clearly neither wholly black nor white - she was charismatic enticing her second racially white husband to declare himself black despite the vicious race laws of the time. Time and time again her actions emerge as not quite what they seem - the accusation that she owned slaves changes significance when the author's painstaking research exposes how she and her husband manipulated the law to resist slavery and secure a kind of freedom to anyone in their orbit.

Her daughter (also Marie Laveau) at first resisted but later embraced Voodoo. 'she liked parties, she loved the attention men paid to her striking good looks. She danced the Bamboula and the Calinda in Congo square on Sunday afternoon. There each time she ran into Jim Alexander (Dr Jim not Dr John??) a voodoo practitioner and respected two-headed doctor of Hoodoo, he confronted her; he told her that she radiated power. He offered to initiate her, to be her mentor, to take her through the door to the spirits. She turned him down time after time, because "she would rather dance than make love". One night however ' a great rattlesnake entered her bedroom and spoke to her.' p110.

Some say that in 1999 she returned to a St John's Eve Voodoo gathering on Bayou St John - hopefully she will return. Highly recommended book [Mogg]

Now That’s What I Call Chaos Magick
Greg Humphries Julian Vayne

12.99 1sbn 1869928741 188pp

(with foreword by Dave Lee)

Now That’s What I Call Chaos Magick gives the beginner and experienced practitioner alike a modern, 21st century view into the powerful and often misunderstood magical current called ‘Chaos Magick’. Written in a clear and easily accessible style it examines the theory behind many techniques used in magical, artistic, religious and scientific systems of thought; then links and applies them towards desired goals. Separated into two volumes the book can be used by the reader as a workbook with rituals, techniques and exercises to be followed, as a window into contemporary magical thought at the turn of the century or simply as a rollercoaster of a good read! However you choose to use it, ts book will leave you feeling positive, inspired and ready to apply any of the methods presented to your own life.

‘we cannot recommend this book to anybody who is frightened of magic, of self-discovery or of adventure; to anybody who wants ritual experiences that are absolutely risk-free and have a guaranteed result; to anybody whose concept of ceremony depends on the provision of scripts for all participants, carefully typed out and enclosed in polythene wrappers; to anybody who believes that magical practices should follow set traditions, without mixing ideas from different ages or cultures; to anybody who believes that human beings are firmly subordinated to deities and must do their will; and to anybody whose favourite words of condemnation for others are ‘irresponsible’ or ‘self-indulgent’. Above all, I cannot recommend it to anybody without a sense of humour. Anybody else should love it: it provides an experience of ritual that is energetic, fresh, investigative, exciting and fun, in a completely individual way.’ – Ronald Hutton.

Julian will be spoeaking at the IOT convention in August (see below)

Coolton Ascent: Rebecca Cunningham (Review)

ISBN 0954261623: 380 pages blujahbooks@...

The Sethian,

By Billie Walker John
Ignotus Press, 2003 (£9.99)

Thats a welcome reprint with additional material of Walker-John's monograph on the Egyptian god of confusion and demonic initiation - Seth. Its one that as a publisher I would very much have liked to done myself. In fact I wrote to Billie Walker-John when i first read the material in a little known occult magazine called Twenty-two. What I didn't know was that Billie was dying and would not live to finish off the project - that was left to the hands of Melusine Draco, who added an introduction by Alan Richardson, Walker-John's co-author on an earlier project The Inner Guide to Egypt. Draco has done a fine job although its a shame some of the pictures were omited and there is no bibliography. The book has more to say on egyptian history than it does on Sethian magick, for example some of the correspondences seem wrong to me - ie surely, despite Kenneth Grant's theorising, everyone now knows that Sothis is associated with Isis rather than Seth, whose star, if any, is Mercury, his constellation Ursa Major? The associations with S.O.L. will probably not impress many. But these quibbles aside, i'd say, for anyone interested in a subject largely dealt with in expensive academic tomes, this is a handy introduction to some of the main aspects of the cult.

[Mogg]

Hekau at Bath Omphalos

At the next meeting of Bath Omphalos on 14 August - i've been asked to fill in for a speaker who cancelled - topic:

General Introduction to Egyptian Magick. 14th August
Mogg Morgan has spent many years studying and participating in the cult of the ‘Hidden God’, an entity known by various names depending where in the world you look. In Egypt he is known in the outer as Seth, some of whose inner secrets have been steadily revealed by or to the author in various books and lectures such as Tankhem: meditations of Seth magick or (as Katon Shual) Sexual Magick. But what is the relationship of the Hidden God Seth to the more general foundations of Egyptian Magick – so-called Hekau, how does he fit in and how much of the ancient magical material of the so-called ‘primitve path’ survives in later magical lore? Thats the same talk i did for Amanda's PF moot in Oxford in case you're interested. so thats at:
Batheaston Scout Hall, Batheaston, Bath
starting at 7.30
contact omphalospaganmoot@...

Groups

Bath Omphalos, a Moot for LHP magicos in Bath area. For more details contact omphalospaganmoot@.... Essentially a discussion group at the moment, open to all. The first speaker meeting is

Conferences

Tesseract: The Side Unseen

A conference for magical practitioners.

An altered space created as a forum to stimulate and share ideas, perspectives and techniques, from traditional to postmodern magic.

September 4 5, 2004. Lancaster University Conference Centre

Like the Hydra, the Occult Underground is a many-headed beast. The Tesseract Projekt plans to present a conference that will allow practitioners from a wide array of traditions, schools, paths and approaches to benefit from a mature sharing of experiences. Based in Lancaster a small northern city with a pleasantly surprising amount of history and culture, the weekend will consist of a day of talks, lectures and workshops on the Saturday, followed by an evening of relaxed socialising and insidious plotting. On the Sunday there will be a chance to spend time at some noted, mysterious and hidden sacred sites in the area, guided by local folk.

All are welcome. At this first event we can guarantee something of interest for magicians (of chaos and hermetic persuasions!), witches, Thelemites Setians...and all those with a passion for magical places and landscape, be they druids, heathens or modern antiquarians.

Confirmed speakers so far:
Rufus Harrington
Nathaniel Harris
Jaq D. Hawkins
Ian McNicol
Mogg Morgan

Tickets - £15 (£20 on door) Send cheque payable to 'Tesseract Projekt' and an SAE to: Tesseract Projekt 61 Park Road Lancaster LA1 3EJ

For further information visit our web site: www.tesseract.org.uk Or contact us: gimp@... and ask to sign up to our information list.

Illuminates of Thanateros
CHAOS CONTINUUM SEMINARS 2004

Moulton College Northamptonshire

Seminar leaders include:
Susan Leybourne
Ramsey Dukes / Lionel Snell
Ian Read
Ingrid Fischer
Dave Lee
Julian Vayne
Stuart Verity
Frater Alloy (IOTA)

PRICES Prices are in Pounds. (Euro at €1.5: £1 - this is a guide, get your own exchange rate) Seminars: Two nights full board double/single room £111/€170 (until 10/06/04), £ 141/€212 (until 10/07/04) Day ticket (no meals included) £23.00 Booking is now open: Send cheques made out to P.R. Mastin If transferring money from abroad please contact us by e-mail via the website for bank details. Contact via website at: www.illuminates.org/iot-uk Send us an e-mail - we get them!

Spirit of Peace

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spiritofpeace2k/

"How wonderful! a garden in the fire.
My heart transmutes itself to all forms;
A meadow for wild gazelles,
a monastery for Christian monks,
a temple for Pagan gods,
the kabba for Muslim pilgrims
Tablets for the Jewish Law,
and pages for the Quran.
I proclaim the religion of Love,
and wherever it carries me,
this is my creed and faith".
-by Ibn Arabi, (Sufi poet: 1165-1240).

Spirit of Peace conference IV Saturday 18th September, 2004, 10:30am-10pm. Friends Meetings House, St. Giles, Oxford. The 4rd Spirit of Peace conference is on 18th September to mark the United Nations Global Cease-Fire Day. This one-day charity event consists of talks and workshops form mystical and esoteric traditions from around the world. FFI email Payam: nabarz@...

Provisional Programme:
SPEAKERS:
Jane Clark on "Following the Religion of Love: The tradition of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi".
Caitlin Matthews on "Ancestral Healing".
Shahin Bekhradnia on "Zoroastrianism".
+more speakers to follow.
WORKSHOP:
Lesley Harris "Finding the divine within".
WORLD MUSIC:
Andy Gilpin "French bagpipes".
Skeleton Crew: European Medival Folk Music.
Finale with "Oxford Drum Troupe" West African polyrthmic rhytms at its finest.
Ticket price £10 advance, £12 on door. contact Mike: mikehuds@...
Tel: 01865 863340.

Witchcraft Conference

The conference is at Ludlow, south Shropshire, on sat 18th sept 2004 from 11am (sharp) until 5pm. The speakers who have confirmed so far are, Philip Heselton on Gerald Gardner and the Witchcraft Revival, Mark Olly on Knights Templar and Gnosticism, Andrew Chumbley (Magister of the Cultus Sabbati) speaking on Chaldean Theurgy, Paul Deveraux on Earth Mysteries, and Steve Pollington on Leechcraft (early English plant-lore and charms). There will be several secondhand occult book stalls there. The price of a ticket is £8 and stalls are £15. This is the first conference here and hopefully it will be repeated next year. Tickets from Verdelet, PO Box 58, Craven Arms, SY7 8WG. Cheques/po pay Verdelet. The advertising for this event is still going out and so far demand has been encouraging, as there is limited seating for this conference those who are interested are advised to buy their tickets sooner rather than later to avoid dissapointment. http://www.paganfed.demon.co.uk