Steve Von Till's "If I should fall to the field"

Review Steve Von Till's "If I should fall to the field" Neurot Recordings 2002

I have long struggled with how one goes about expressing spiritual, religious or magical impulses via the vocabulary of the words and tune format that makes up so much of modern music. So often when seeking to verbalise our experience of "the path" or "the Work", we can so easily be reduced to cheeseyness and cliche`

Since the release of 1996's seminal "Through Silver in Blood", I have awaited each audio release from Neurosis with the same kind of anticipation reserved (in some quarters) to the books of Kenneth Grant. These San Franciscan Noise merchants have specialised in creating huge sonic sounscapes that work the "quiet, loud, quiet, very loud" dynamic to the enth degree.

After having been frankly blown away by 2004's "Eye of the Storm" and their 2003 collaboration with ex-Swans vocalist Jarboe, I decided to visit the solo efforts of Steve Von Till (who shares vocals/guitar duties within the Neurosis line-up).

"If I should fall..." is Von Till's second solo outing and could probably be placed within the wider "Folk Noir" camp. The arrangements are sparse but resonant- generally acoustic guitar and voice. Von Till's vocal style is the marriage of a whisky soaked Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave.

Although not overtly branding themselves as a "Pagan" or "Heathen" the sensibilities that inform such a pathway never seem far from the surface. In interview Mr. Von Till and his bandmates have referred to the importance of ancestral awareness, and how the lack of such an awareness contributes to our cultures' sense of dislocation. Throughout the album there is a sense of the artist's spiritual tradition as being the bedrock that informs his experience of life and the progress of time:

"She sang softly
Of those who were gone.
As she poured whiskey
On the stone near the hearth."
-The Wild Hunt

The mood of the album is dark and quiet. I guess for some people that this might sound a tad depressing, but like most lovers of dark flavours (whether musically or spiritually), I find it both moving and cathartic. Highly recommended.

Treadwells Lectures

ENOCHIAN MAGIC JOHN DEE 27 January. Thursday. 7.30 pm Mystery speaker discusses John Dee's angelic magic, Dee's life, and angelic magic in the Renaissance. Also, how angelic magic has been practised nowadays in Britain. £5.00.

RAMSEY DUKES speaks on DEMONS Thursday 10 February, 7.30-9.30 pm This well-known philosopher, occultist, humourist and radical thinker presents some of his thoughts on the notion of 'demons'. This is his last talk in Britain before he moves abroad, so advance booking suggested as a sell-out is likely. SEX MAGIC: Foucault, Witchcraft, and Boundaries of Desire Tuesday 15 February 7.30-9.50 pm

MICHAEL STALEY SPEAKS: THINGS TYPHONIAN Wednesday, 2 March. 7.30-9.30. £5.00 Long-term member of the Typhonian OTO Michael Staley this evening talks us through his current thoughts on Crowley, Thelema, Grant and Spare: in particular he explores a thesis that there is a cyclically-recurring 'inner tradition' of which these figures are a relatively recent manifestation.

Cthulhu Garage SaleExotic

The Esoteric Order of Dagon seems to be having a big clearout of its Manifestos, Publications, Official Internal Documents, Documents which circulated amongst members. All non human life is there - viz:

a) Manifestos which defined the nature of the Order
Anon, Church of the Stary Wisdom Lodge, E.O.D. 1pp sheet giving agenda of this grouping Fine Order No. 200235 £8

Anon, Manifesto of the Cyprus Swamp Lodge, Esoteric Order of Dagon, E.O.D. not dated. 1pp Large format F Order No. 99131 £8

Anon, The Miskatonic Society, (E.O.D.) Not Dated Single large format sheet of tinted paper printed on both sides, giving mythos of and information concerning this grouping within Esoteric Order of Dagon Fine Order No. 200412 £8

Soror Azenath, Esoteric Order of Dagon, The Call, Not Dated 1pp publicity flier announcing Esoteric Order of Dagon F Order No. 99104 £8

Various, Statement of the Yaddith Lodge, Vernal Equinox 1993, Esoteric Order of Dagon Single large sheet signed by three directors of the Lodge, also giving their mundane names. The bried message is of some political significance as it mentions the period of silence and stated that the Yaddith Lodge is the only genuine and active Lodge of the Esoteric Order of Dagon, who its members are are how they will appoint officers of the Order when the period of silence ceases. Very scarce Fine Order No. 200416 £12

Various, The Yaddith Lodge Manifesto, Yaddith Lodge E.O.D. 1992 Card covered booklet 19pp Excerpts frpom letters and articles which describe the activities of an Inner Temple of Esoteric Order of Dagon, with atmospheric photographs of som of its members. The intent of the publication is to make the existence of this grouping known beyond its initiates. Very scarce. Card of covers torn along spine up to lower staple, otherwise. VG Order No. 200418 £25

Frater Zkauba XXIII, An Introduction to the Esoteric Order of Dagon, E.O.D. 1993 Single large format sheet printed on one side, gives history of the Order and some information concerning current changes. One can discern politics in this document which is of some significance in the history of the Order VG Order No. 98094 £8

and

As a result of research on the O.T.O. Phenomenon, several of the protagonists regard PR Koenig as some kind of repulsive slime that had trickled out of a sewer and filthied their manicured thelemic lives.

Go to http://home.sunrise.ch/prkoenig/whatsnew.htm and find also:

Also 68 new pictures and fac-similes via Pictures and Documents: protagonists of the Fraternitas Saturni the E.G.C and the F.R.A., sexmagical drawings, documents from the early days of the O.T.O., the XI°, some FBI-files, Metzgers' O.T.O., William W. Webb's pornography, and many more.

Jack and Jill Party in Russia: faked XI° charters with a faked signature. Meanwhile, Breeze has chanced the meaning of the XI°: Under Crowley it was an "inscrutable" degree while under Breeze is alleged to say it has become a "technical" degree. The difference is big enough to produce another bulk of confusion. Reuss' and Crowley's role-model for their so-called Gnostic Mass, or Liber XV: The Tridentine Mass/Rite and Two new Gnostic Texts by the founders of the Gnostic Catholic Church

Sybarite Among the Shadows Richard McNeff

dylan thomas, aleister crowley and victor neuburg caught in a surrealist web

What if the Beast returned and you were not sure if he were the best or worst thing that had ever happened to you?

It is June 1936, and DylanThomas surprises Victor Neuburg, his former editor, with a visit. Dylan has had a sinister encounter in a West End pub. This launches an adventure whose backdrops are the Surrealist Exhibition, the pubs of Fitzrovia and clubs of Soho, and whose characters, some of the most celebrated of the period. The foreground is a fatal reunion. In walking again in the shadow of the Beast, however, Neuburg not only has to confront the actual demons of his past, but also Aleister Crowley's current links with MI5 and the plot that would change history.

If Jesus had Peter, Aleister Crowley had Victor Neuburg. A quarter of a century after the end of a partnership that saw them share hallucinogens in Victoria Street and invoke the most fearsome demon of the Cabbala in the Algerian desert, they are reunited through the agencies of Dylan Thomas - Neuburg's protégée. Against the backdrop of bohemian London of the Thirties, Neuburg walks again in the shadow of the Beast.

He is not alone. Many are connected to Crowley; some famous like Augustus John and Tom Driberg; some less so like Brilliant Chang, the drug king of Chinatown, and the mysterious captain who visits the Beast. It is the latter's cryptic instructions that lead them to a nightclub in Soho and the table of Edward and Wallis Simpson.

Neuburg has to confront a past that is much more with him than he has realised. However, the demon he has to exorcise is the same that fills the present with omens of war. Finally, he may be free of it, but the world never. Crowley, meanwhile, hopes to make his fortune from his work for MI5. All climaxes by the Thames at dawn - Neuburg's exorcism, the dedication of the Book of the Law, and the plot that would change history.

Richard McNeff was born in London. He is a published poet and short story writer who has worked internationally in education and the art world. Early contact with associates of the Beast sparked his interest in Crowley.

Forteana: 'Dangerous Dave' in Inverisk Churchyard

Here is a little development here in the Lothians, where Musselborough does feel like a district of Edinburgh.

A colleague at work had mentioned to me that while, as a teenager, during the late 1980s, he would play around the graveyard surrounding St. Michael's Church, close to the plush homes of Inveresk Village, and a few times he'd seen the engraved writing on one of gravestones seem to momentarily not be the English he was used to seeing, but Latin, then change to English again mysteriously, right in front of him. He eventually mentioned this to his mates, whereupon two of them corresponded with this, they'd seen the same gravestone change to English from Latin. My colleague then drew a map of the graveyard, asking me to keep his name out of the picture if I went any further with this, and so I eventually trekked up to the crest of the hill upon which the church is situated, which therefore would be a very cold location.

Whilst padding slowly by the gravestones, contemplating their age - the Reverend John Murdoch had died in 1868, in whose memory the extra-large stone has been erected - a well-dressed woman appeared to be using the cemetery as a short-cut through to the area of expensive housing, and I stopped her, in an inevitably gauche manner, and quickly stated my reason for visiting the locale.

She very immediately corresponded, informing me: "Oh, yes, lots of people have seen that. Lots of people have seen strange things in this graveyard." I felt quite surprised at a rich bod agreeing so, and therefore decided to phone the local newspaper and ask if a little article might be placed there. They went much further than I expected, however. At an appointed time, an attractive blonde professional freelance photographer turned up in the graveyard to photograph me standing by the stone in question. It was a blazing sunny day, despite winter coming on here in Scotland, and she took loads of shots with expensive equipment, commenting on how good a model she thought I was. Yeh, well, that's what the art students think that I pose for occasionally, I ventured. Yeh, you really are good. In fact I think you're the best subject I've photographed, she enthused.

I didn't go into the paranormal through anything but curiousity, however my path seems to have been strewn with such complements.

Anyway, all I next knew was a few workmates coming into work (a railway depot) exclaiming "Yir famous, Davie!" in broad Scottish accents. I asked them what they meant and the answer was:

"Yir oan the front page i' the Musselborough News. I'll bring a copy in fir ye the mourn." ('The mourn' is a local way of conveying 'tomorrow', a heavily mutated version of "the mornin'".) And so Peter did, then friends were asking for copies, etc., family.

But anyway, what's going on with this stone? Romans had occupied the top of that hill as a military vantage point, having cleared off all the rubbish first (huts, natives, and whatnot.), and one of the most frequently seen bunch of ghosts is within the grounds of a disused rope-making factory, a large number of the local Musselborough people have seen what appears to be a troop of Roman soldiers within the walls of that factory, appearing from nowhere. It can only be that the engraving's strange change upon that stone relates to the ancient Roman presence, but it gives us a very odd phenomenon to theorise about. One would like a scientific Newtonian/Einsteinian clue as to why a ghost happens, however this haunted gravestone just makes it all seem even weirder, truly defying logic.

AND I GOT A RESPONSE!

Housewife Louise Mercer noticed the article, and had recently taken lots of photos using a digital camera within the grounds of the Inveresk Cemetery, up there to enjoy herself with her husband and her two children. And when she uploaded the snaps into her computer, she gaped at the screen, because there were images of lots of things which neither she nor her family had seen with their collective naked eyeballs. I will see if I can send the strangest one to you.....there. Eet eez done. With the help of Chus, the attractive girl from La Rioja, in this internet cafe....

It is the clearest shot to see that something strange has been caught, but the clarity of the image varies from computer to computer, and experts like Chus tell me you can lighten the image and things, play around with it....but that almost sharply square attache case-like part, with a square halo around it, is very weird. Better stop here.

David Moncoeur
who has two websites: 'dangerousdave' and ' www.cottingleyfairies.com'

Magus: The Invisible Life of Elias Ashmole
Tobias Churton, 2004, Signal Publishing.

'Elias Ashmole is a particularly striking case of someone who did well out of the Restoration through his flair at 'remembering' a largely apocryphal golden Stuart past before the civil war. His lasting fame and 'name' rest (in the title of the Ashmolean Museum) upon his dubious acquisition of another man's lifetime collection of rarities, and his subseqent gifting of them to the University of Oxford' Lisa Jardine (2002) On a Grander Scale , her biography of Sir Christopher Wren, quoted by Tobias Churton.

The above quote from Jardine provides the raison d'être for Churton's less eloquent but arguable more informed study of the life and impact of the famous antiqiarian Elias Ashmole. The house that Elias built as a repository of one of the world's' first museum, is still Oxford's small but wonderful treasurehouse of scientific history. Recent work to extend the basement turned up Ashmole's alchemical laboratory complete with instruments and human and animal remains. The main exhibit is now devided between the Bodleian library, and the founders room of the new Ashmolean in Broad Street - surely one of the world great museums. Tradescant's original collection of curiousities is still on display - along with the only known portrait of John Dee and one of Ashmole himself, along with the gold chain presented to him by a Swedish monarch in gratitude for his monumental History of the Order of the Garter. It is said that the actual chain is missing a few links, a sure sign of the frequent ebbs and flows in the forturnes of the old magus.

Churton's excellent redaction of the life is only made possible by the five volume compilation of Ashmoles's diaries, autobiographies and related notes published by OUP in 1966. The author, Conrad Hermann Hubertus Maria Apollinaris (Kurt) Josten (Pheeww! you don't get names like these very often these days) solved Ashmole's cipher and was thus able to do the work. Awarded an honorary DLitt by the university for his troubles, after his retirement as curator of the science museum , he become curator emeritus.

Which all goes to show that Jardine has probably got it wrong and Ashmole was no Ashmole and does deserve his fifteen minutes of fame. If you need more persuasion read Churton's book. Perhaps aimed more at the museum bookshop than the serious contemporary magi, it does nevertheless contain some gems, especially concerning his struggles to remake himself after the defeat of the royalist cause (hurrah) during the protectorate of Cromwell (booo). Ashmole tells how he "went to Maidstone assizes to heare the Witches tryed, and tooke Mr Tradescant with me." The six witches were hanged, accused of bewitching nine children, a man and a woman and £500 worth of cattle lost and corn at sea by witchcraft.'

Or account of his relationshp with otherwise puritan ministers who nevertheless had a perchant for 'sorcery'. Mrs John Pordage, whom he was amazed to see 'Clothed all in white Lawne, from the crown of the head to the sole of the Foot, and a white rod in her hand. She was hailing as a prophetess by those dancing country dances about her 'making strange noises". Explaining that they were rejoicing because they had 'overcome the Devil.' Dr Pordage then appeared 'all in black velvet' and pressed everyone to join in.'

or even the more intimate touches of Ashmole's struggles to find a wife or love or was it both? It's difficult to see whether his failures were down to a lack of good looks or the necessary finances : 'I dreamt in the morning that I put my hand into Mrs Marche's placket (slip) and then to her next petticoat and then to her third and then to her smock, and then pulled it up, and with very little struggling felt her bare cun(?) - well who hasn't had a dream like that??

This is a lively picture of the times. I could have had more information on the magical work but I learnt a hell of a lot from this densely illustrated and well made book. If you've an interest in the times then buy it. - mogg

DESCENT TO THE GODDESS

(Memories of the Grand Banishment.)

Dis-enchanted i lay on the Island of Love.
Memories of flames and triumphs,
Scorching, twisted bones...
Sober, wide awake, wiser for the pain,
I shall darn small blessings
on the tattered rags of our dreams.

I loathe you, the Righteous,
That baptized your crippleness: Virtue-
Your bodies, rigid in their self -imposed stocks-
Iron hips, Hearts of stone-
Having forsaken the magik of touch
From the depth of your frozen despair
You shoot arrows of Contempt.

Surely you must be right,
And She must be Banished.
She of the swaying hips with Her girdle of Charms,
Her soft flesh, which answers the caress of the Winds,
Her playful inviting eyes...
Shame!
Shame on She that helps us remember
Snakes rising in glorious sunsets,
Arched bodies, shivering, ecstatic,
Triumphant moans amist soft red rose petals,
The endless shimering of wet nights!

Ignore her, blank Her out, -
She might yet just vanish like some bad dream,
Melt away into the arid, remote desert
of your sensorial deprivation-
Banished!
Her feet bleeding upon the Thorns of Judgment,
Her silk robes soiled, tattered, ripped,
She rages!
She does not look so proud now-
Hardly a threat!- as,confused by the standards
Of your senseless crusades,
She sings softly to herself
Meaningless lullabies of Love.

Her Children are still-born.
Tears of crystal, long dried and sullied,
Have clouded her Vision.
The implacable Sun of your endless days
Forever has parched Her Waters-
In Her dead eyes,- a ghostly mirage-
Long gone cities of dreams...

I saw her, delicately shelling a golden green scarab
With her long translucent fingers,
Kneeling in the dust as to some altar,
Clad in her mantle of Derision...
She re-members not who She was,
As, triumphant, you erect over her Chastised Body
An Empire of Deadened Senses, of Disciplined Flesh,
Which you named: Moral Order!-
And I raged!

At Dawn, the wind blew at my feet
The tattered remnants of Her Shimmering Veils...
And I wept.

Brigitte Ariel

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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

Witchcraft seminar - review

Gale force winds whipped around the battlements, rain lashed the windows. Marion Green was heard to say, 'if you really want to understand the elements go into the carpark.' Well that didn't really come out right but we knew what she meant.

Many were there to hear what turned out to be Maxine Sanders engaging description of the genesis of the Alexandrian movement. But first - in heavy chiaroscuro, choking clouds of incense rose from half a dozen censors, then Ralph Harvey's voice cut through the gloom - a voice straight from the hammer house of horror and long john silver - WITCHCRAFT!!!!! - the OOOOOLLLLLLLLDDDDDD religion.

Lots of hocum and wiccan foundation myth, of course, but all done with great panache and a final crescendo of passion that had many, myself included, in tears.

Was it that or Diane Firmin's earlier amazing talk about the magick of cats, where the speaker conjured a pathetic image of the witches on the gibbet, the family pet hanging and sharing their fate to the last. Its a very sad image that - and in the news this week it was confirmed -

LONDON, England (AP) -- A Scottish township plans to mark Halloween by officially pardoning 81 people -- and their cats -- executed centuries ago for being witches.

Well what a wonderful conference - perhaps the last to be held at that spooky venue - above is just a smattering of the many excellent speakers - some maybe a bit worse for wear from the demon drink on the evening before but otherwise as good as . . .

Star of the show i'd say the very understated but thought provoking piece from JSM editor Dave Evans which can be viewed at:

Well done Adrian and everyone involved

Omphalos

Bath is to play host to a Magickal Fair from the 25th of April to the 1st of May, 2005. This event is basically about having a platform to express magickal creativity. Part of this involves the creation of a magickal picture book. A key word is being sent to magicians from diverse cultural, geograpical and philosophical perspectives... This word will be interpreted and illustrated in either one image or a triptych. These examples of a linking of a collective magickal unconscious will then be assembled (in a simplistic format) and sold at the fair.

We cannot give any financial recompense for this, just a chance to be involved in something interesting and a copy of the resultant magazine. The deadline for submissions is the end of January. We'll need your name, the name you use to sign your work ,and a contact address...

The key word is Omphalos.

If you are interested in contributing and want further details please contact me at charlottejane2002@... Many thanks, and look forward to hearing from you! Charlotte