Omphalos The 131 Club Magickal Film Festival (review)

Omphalos The 131 Club Magickal Film Festival (review)

Surrounded as we occultists often are by 'tinkling vapidities' and the spawn of photoshop - it would be easy to forget how truly cutting edge magical cinema can be. What better way could there be to spend ones sunday but in the company of their satanic majesties? It was a very rich and productive day in the company of some real black-sky thinkers, both on and off the screen.

I arrived just in time to catch the end of film critic Levanah Morgan's introduction to the lost experimental works of Maya Deren. Deren is rightly famous as the maker of a groundbreaking documentary about Haitian Voodoo, into whose folds she eventually disappeared - before dying in a fit of rage. We sat in reverential silence as these luminous apparitions of the surreal captivated everyone there - which was no mean trick considering the actual soundtrack was lost. The experience was greatly enhanced by the loan of some state of the art projection equipment from the local film charity - which meant that even VHS copies were projected with a clarity rarely seen these days apart from in the very best arthouse cinemas. So it was a real surprise to experience Kenneth Anger's Lucifier Rising a perennial of many of good occult gathering - but this time as never seen before. Well I already feel totally renewed and its not even lunch time!

After a short break we saw two films by a contemporary film maker which showed how vibrant the art still is. Marc Aitkin warmed us up with a his previous work Do Angels Cut themselves Shaving an homage to post Crowley Victor Neuberg, addicted and strungout but still blessed by the occasional kiss of the yogini. This was followed by his new work inspired by his own spiritual journey from christian to thelemite - via the Abbey of Thelema - worth it just to see that handheld camera crawling through the window into the still just beating heart of Crowley' s Cefalu.

I must admit I took a break during the showing of James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle, a 1958 film directed by Richard Quine, where Hollywood actually got right for a change. Its a great film - so good that it gets played in our house almost every month - so I had a good excuse to eat my second sandwich.

I returned for Yinke Selley's "Dragon Dreaming, Dragon Rising" and "Happiness Tends to Infinity". Dragon Dreaming, Dragon Rising is a film of meditation and exploration into the ancient myth of St George and its roots in land, spirit, and psyche. A visual, rhythmic and poetic journey into the dragons archetypal and energetic meaning, which was another little gem which would almost anyone with a pagan heart would enjoy. There are loads more but by now I was flagging and had space in my little brain for one more which for me was the real star of the day, Gavin Baddeley's The Devil's Disciples. Gavin is a self styled satanist, which as he explained so eloquently in the film is really a form of post-rennaissance radical atheism. Really excellent piece of work covering all the main facts about the cult of satan in popular musick, as documented in his book 'Lucifer Rising' - which I've not yet read but will make a point of now doing. I never realised he was such a fan of schlock horror satanic sinema - very entertaining - and exactly where did you get that soft-core version of To the Devil a Daughter - we all want a copy now!

Well done Charlotte and the whole team for such a stimulating ride - I can wait for the next one.

Check out http://www.omphalos.org.uk/ Gavin Baddeley will be talking in the flesh sometime soon. - mogg.

Postscript

Omphalos final meeting of 2006 featured Elayne Hoskin's from the SW film archives with an exploration of Magic and Tradition in the South West. We saw some amazing footage of Padstow's May Day Celebrations from the 1930's, 1950's and 1970's as well as an interview with that old rogue Cecil Williamson, deceased former owner of the Boscastle Witchcraft museum. It was a remarkable afternoon and an amazing revelation of just some of the gems lurking in obscure vaults. Thanks you Charlotte for so much fun during your tenure at Omphalos.

The Key to Solomon's Key: Secrets of magic and masonry
by Lon Milo Duquette, £12.99, isbn 1888729147

Now I have to say this isn't the sort of area I'm normally interested in at all but as soon as I started to read this book I just couldn't put it down. It is written with a clarity and intelligence one rarely encounters in books covering this subject area. Duquette uses archaeological evidence, reasonable and informed speculation in a manner rare indeed amongst semi-popular books dealing with controversial aspects of biblical history.

When was first asked to review this book I thought it might be yet another version of that well known magickal grimoire The Key of Solomon of which there appear to be so many of late. But to my delight and not a little relief I found this not to be the case.

The first chapter of the book is titled 'I confess, I'm a Freemason' and it is in many ways the mysteries of freemasonry and their connection, mythic or historic, with the Knights Templars that provides the central theme of the book.

In his youth the author was a member of the 'Order of DeMolay' a Masonic organisation for young men between the ages twelve and twenty one, a sort of youth section of freemasonry. It was while a member of this organisation that his interest in such matters was first sparked. DeMolay it should be noted was apparently the last Grand master of the Knights Templar.

One of the first questions addressed in the book is the supposed lie at the heart of the church's teachings. Did this goad the Masons to make the leap from religious to mystical point of view and so become an order with a mystery tradition at its heart? Did they possess a truth so dangerous that it could only be passed on in secret among themselves? Was it a secret that both liberated them from religious slavery and also gave them, for a time at least, some leverage over the Catholic Church?

So what was this secret I can almost hear you screaming out? Ha! well dear reader I wouldn't want to spoil that discovery and couldn't do it justice in such a short review, so you will just have to read the book!

Duquette points out how Freemasonry is full of clues to what the secret was/is, might have been. He suggests that it is this tradition of mystical liberation that Freemasons have inherited from the Templars even if they failed to preserved the secret itself. But then again maybe it is the effect of the discovery that is more important than the secret itself?

The final section of the book gives excerpts from The Goetia, The Lesser key of Solomon or Clavicula Solomonis Regis including the list of the seventy-two traditional spirits with their attributes and abilities together with their magickal seals. Here the author connects this liberation mysticism born or maybe rediscovered by the Knights Templar or Pauvres Chevaliers du Temple to the so-called Solomonic grimoires. Could the clue be in their name and or their foundation myths? Recommended - Jack Daw

8pm - at the Devereux Public House, 20 Devereux Court, off Essex Street, Strand, London WC2, near Temple Underground)

(Check for updates on http://www.pflondon.org) (Talking Stick began at The Plough on 14th February 1990, moving through the years to The Marquis Cornwallis, The Dog Trumpet, the Black Horse to the Princess Louise, there becoming Secret Chiefs on 15th March 2000. Now at the Devereux)

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Treadwells

Here's a selection of talks at Treadwells. Full descriptions of all events are to be found now on website, http:www.treadwells-london.com

The Southwark Mysteries

23 November (Thurs) John Constable 7:15 for 7:30 start £8.00

This evening is the anniversary performance of the Southwark Mysteries, an epic cycle of poems and mystery plays which have been performed in Shakespeare's Globe, Southwark Cathedral and at many festivals. When it first appeared it took London by storm, and tonight John Constable performs it once again. In large part the Southwark Mysteries celebrate a character called ‘The Goose’ - the spirit of a medieval prostitute, licensed by the church yet buried in the unconsecrated Cross Bones graveyard. John Constable aka John Crow John Constable is a playwright, poet and performer. He is the author and playwright who also directs community dramas, holds storytelling workshops and leads unusual guided walks. Website: www.gooseandcrow.co.uk (film-clips) and www.into.org.uk/SouthwarkMysteries. Please book in advance for this Treadwell’s performance.

Nosce Te Ipsum : Lorraine Clarke

The Dean and Faculty for the Creative and Cultural Industries request the pleasure of your company at the opening reception of an exhibition of installation and mixed media works by Lorraine Clarke exploring the link between Magic, Medicine and Religion.

private view Tuesday 14 November 2006 6:00 - 9:00pm Performance by David Medalla Adam Nankervis 8:00pm

exhibition 15 November - 21 December 2006, 9:30am - 5:30pm Monday - Saturday

Art Design Gallery College Lane Hatfield, AL10 9AB. 01707 285376 info.uhgalleries@...

Coach transport at £7 per person is available on a 'first-come-first-served' basis for the PV evening, departing 6:00pm from York Way (next to St. Pancras Station). The coach will depart the gallery at 9:00pm for the return journey to St Pancras. Please send a cheque (of appropriate value) "payable to Euroart Studios Limited" to: Nigel Young, Euroart Studios, Unit 22F, 784/788 High Road, Tottenham, London, N17 0DA. Please also include your e-mail address as confirmation of your booking will be notified by e-mail.

Travel Information: UHG is adjacent the A1M junction 3. Frequent WAGN trains depart from London Moorgate (40 mins) or Kings Cross (25 mins) to Hatfield. The gallery is a short bus ride from the station, bus numbers 603 or 341. nayoung@... Tel: 07802 502136 www.euroart.co.uk

CATHARSIS - POETRY AND HEALING

The literary vocabulary is peppered with metaphors of food and eating. We talk of 'good taste', 'to savour something' or of 'food for thought'. In this article I hope to show that this use of language is not accidental and in fact leads us to the heart of poetry. The contention that the mental feelings of enjoyment are indebted to bodily or physiological feelings may be difficult for some people to accept. We are inclined to draw a strict dividing line between mind and body; but this has not always been so, nor need it be in the future.

Aristotle in his Poetics speaks of 'Catharsis' which is also a medical term meaning cleansing or purging; a crucial component of the medical practice of his time. Aristotle was a physician as well as a philosopher and in the system of healing he practiced, which was based upon the Humours, Catharsis would have brought the sick person back to a state of psycho-somatic equipoise or isonomia

The similarities between Greek ideas and those of ancient Indian aesthetics are so striking that it is highly probably that they derive from a common source.

The oldest system of Indian medicine is called Ayurvedic, which is a compound of two words, 'ayur' meaning longevity and 'veda' meaning knowledge [anglicised spelling]. The main textual sources of Ayurveda go back to about the beginning of the present era. Many of its ideas are much older and derive from a very creative period in Indian culture at around the sixth century BCE. Ayurveda views the world rather like a vast organism, in which all the parts are interconnected. The essence of this organism is a constantly changing liquid called 'rasa', and so one analyses all its various parts by the sense of taste, which in Sanskrit is the same word - 'rasa'. This homonym has a number of interesting and related meanings, including sap, liquid, essence, elixir, serum, chyle, mercury, semen, taste, feeling, and sentiment. Therefore the sense of taste is the connecting link between an individual and the larger whole; an idea that has very wide implications in art and culture. In this system there are said to be six varieties of taste: Sweet, Sour, Saline, Pungent, Bitter and Astringent.

Crowley first day cover

Here's fun. It looks as if Mr Crowley is about to appear on a UK 1st class stamp. On 9 January, the Post Office issues six stamps celebrating The Beatles, each depicting one of their album covers. One of the two 1st class stamps is of the Sgt Pepper album, which shows The Beatles surrounded by a collage of other famous figures - including Mae West, Lenny Bruce, Jung, Poe, Stockhausen, Fred Astaire, H.G. Wells, Marilyn Monroe, Stan Laurel - and AC.

At least this gives acolytes the chance to really lick the backside of the Great Beast!

- Mark from Wormwood Magazine

Groups Meetups

Conferences Gatherings

PF Wessex April 07 Speakers: Maxine Sanders; Mogg Morgan, entertainment: Inkubus Sukubus; Wolfshead Vixen Morris. More to be announced.