Mandrake Speaks Newsletter

Contents

• Obituary of Christopher Hyatt by Lon Duquette

• Fire Child, The Life and Magic of Maxine Sanders ‘Witch Queen’
• Notes on Ardanari
• Headless by 6 Comm
• The Sixth Sense (review)
• Lectures Talks
• Groups Meetups
• Conferences & Exhibitions (click to view) IOT Conference (London); Thelemic Symposium (Oxford)

Fire Child, The Life and Magic of Maxine Sanders ‘Witch Queen’

by Maxine Sanders

An appreciative tribute for the release of Fire Child by Mogg

‘Maxine just told me that she can no longer remember what is in her book; and when she looks at the extract from the opening chapter of her book we’ve put on the Amazon site, she says "God, did I write that?" "Yeah, you did!" I say to her, remembering that authors are often so close to their own work, they forget what's it like.

I first met Maxine some years ago at a Pagan Federation Conference in London through my wife who was a past member of the 'Temple of the Corn King'. Maxine was a bit of a legendary presence although not then part of my own particular magical journey. Even so I have a treasured copy of her earlier book Maxine the Witch Queen. I particularly like the 1970s cover which I showed as part of a lecture on occult publishing at that conference.

These days I'm happy to self-identify as a Pagan because I think it covers a multitude of sins. Interestingly Maxine says that she is a witch and not a Pagan. Of course the rumour mill has it that Maxine has returned to the Catholic church, for Catholic Church, read 'Liberal Catholic' - one of many organisation that benefited from Maxine's support all the way through the heady days of the 'Witch Queen' and 'Witch King'. All this is documented in this spiffing new biography.

I enjoyed Maxine's earlier "biography", despite it being not quite my style of magic. Before that I'd been more drawn if anything to the Alex Sanders side of the equation. There is/was a kind of orthodoxy amongst the Pagan world, that it was all Alex's show really. Maxine was not seen as important compared with the 'Svengali' Alex. But was she really just a pawn in his hands?

When I met Maxine, Alex was already dead. I knew that because I was offered some of his magical record to publish, nothing came of that apart from the odd death threat! So I definitely knew Alex was dead and I really didn't know what Maxine was doing.

Having read Maxine's earlier biography, I thought that her story could do with a new appraisal of her life and work. Occult books in the 1970s had to stick to certain conventions. There are things that they had to do which were important at the time. Thirty-five years or so later, things have moved on quite a bit and there is room for hindsight, re-appraisal, or for saying things that could not be said back then, and we all know what they are.

I don’t know how it came about but the task fell into my lap. It was a task I was very glad to take on. My vision was that, yes, the stuff that was in the earlier biographies was great, but it needed more. It needed the missing bits reinstated. It would all benefit from some hindsight, wisdom and context.

Maxine is definitely a bit of a dark horse. Kim and I travelled to her wonderful hideaway in deepest Snowdonia, one of my very favourite parts of Wales. The story of how she fetched up on the slopes of mount Snowdon, is told in great, often heartbreaking detail in Fire Child. Her home is an occultist's dream; a substantial stone cottage full of books, in a magical Welsh landscape. In every corner one glimpses a piece of furniture once used in the rituals. Maxine's beautiful whippet, Bilbo, guards some stunning regalia, magical swords, lots of fascinating things really.

At the top of the stairs sits a big chest full to the brim with photographs. I spent a whole very pleasurable afternoon going through every single one. Over a drink I asked how the new writing was going, "Have you actually written anything?"

Maxine replies with typical understatement "Oh well, I’ve written a little bit." When we got started, it all just flowed. Maxine turned out to be a natural writer. Maybe that was a potential she wasn’t aware of. If that's so then there's my role as publisher, which we might say is under the aegis of Hermes - the communicator. It’s magick too, setting people in motion. I acted as a sounding board, letting Maxine know how much I was enjoying what I read. That's the way I do it anyways - for me its all about whether I enjoy the story, if it moves me. If it does then I keep saying "I like that, tell me more".

There are lots of fantastic, wonderful episodes in this book Fire Child. There are also some real heartbreakers. Some things only briefly sketched in the earlier books are finally resolved. What first struck me was the personal cost back then somebody such as Maxine pays for revealing what they believe. She entered the world of magick in her teens, back then in the 1960s it was risky to stick your head over the parapet.

The earlier books spoke some about the way the police and media hounded Maxine in particular after that first schlock horror headline in a local rag. In the new book Fire Child you learn things that the publisher of the earlier editions would not have wanted the author to say. They were cut because they were just too painful, just too real. People were just beginning to realise that the police could be real pigs, but just how bad they could be will horrify some I'm sure. All the more extraordinary that someone can come through something like that as strong and as committed as Maxine undoubtedly was/is.

As a publisher I don't really believe in censorship, my instinct has always been to put more in, not cut. I want witchcraft warts and all.

Towards the end of Fire Child there is another very moving passage where Maxine talks about the bitter sweet legacy of her relationship with Alex. She speaks candidly of how the work continued, even though she went through some deep personal traumas, and descending into darkness and personal hell, which included heavy drinking.

And just when you think it cannot get any worse, then it gets worse. The things that land on Maxine's plate could really drag a lesser person down. But all the way is Maxine's wonderful voice, through the good times and the bad.

You'll read the book and you think "Wow! What an incredible journey!" And that journey isn’t over!

Even though this book is about Maxine, it is of course also about Alex, and he comes through BIG! You get the whole story about Alex, from the sublime ... to the ridiculous. For example the point at which Alex confesses to Maxine about his homosexuality, something that she probably long guessed. When 'Paul' left the coven to marry he also left a long standing and secret relationship with Alex.

As Nigel Bourne reminded us at the recent launch, Alex subsisted on a diet of chip butties. Alex was a typical northern bloke of the time, and it's this in my opinion, and not his suppressed homosexuality that explains his often overforgiveable lapses in care. For example he never even bothered to visit Maxine when she was hospitalised during Maya's birth, but yes he also took the opportunity for a non stop sex party! Before this we see Alex in turmoil, tears in his eyes, confessing to Maxine that his life is ruined and the final indignity "He’s even taken the chip pan with him!"

So we all have a lot of good jokes about Alex. Let’s not underestimated the power of humour and jokes. As Maxine tells you in Fire Child, Alex was a charlatan and a magus. In the old model, he was the Wise Man and the Fool. Both things really shine out from the book.

It is a real shame that Alex isn’t in the flesh to see this done. When you read Fire Child you see a different side to Alex, you really do. I think that if he had been alive, Alex would have been so very proud of the appearance of Fire Child. I had a few strange dreams about Alex while working on this book. So I suspect, wherever he is now he is going to be pretty happy about all this.

In Fire Child Maxine reveals some very painful truths. It is a controversial memoir; there is much here to provoke and make people talk. Maxine has squared the circle, coming through with a powerful sense of joy that Alex existed and that together they did the things that they did. So I am telling you, when you read this book, you are really going in for one hell of a trip.

*Fire Child : The life Magic of Maxine Sanders 'Witch Queen' * by Maxine Sanders * *Publication date: November 2007* *Format: Special Hardback Edition* *ISBN 978-1-869928-97-1* *Price: £19.99/US$40 * (Trade Paperback: 978-1-869928-780 £12.99)

*'This is one of the most important books ever published on modern paganism: a full and candid autobiography by one of its most influential, and charismatic figures.'
- Professor Ronald Hutton author of The Triumph of the Moon

One of the world's most influential and respected witches, Maxine first caught worldwide public attention while married to the celebrated - and controversial – ‘King of the Witches’, Alex Sanders. A highly respected Priestess of the Sacred Mysteries, in her role of teacher she has encouraged, enabled and inspired students of the Priesthood to take on the conscious mantle of their spiritual potential.

In this long awaited autobiography Maxine reflects on her life and magical experiences spanning Modern Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Gods and Goddesses, Seasonal rituals, Sabbats, Ceremonial magic, Kabbalah and The Sacred Magic of the Angels. This is a unique, poignant and often humorous memoir of an extraordinary life, by a rare, courageous and inspiring woman.

The Sanders were leading figures of the 1960s occult revival. The atmosphere of the era was vibrant with experimental creativity, and London the capital of the psychedelic music scene and fashion. Alex and Maxine were much sought after teachers of the Arts Magical, and initiated many spiritual aspirants into the Mysteries, when the Craft was still secretive and difficult to access for those seeking initiation. The Sanders popularised their own tradition widely known as Alexandrian witchcraft. Here many of the rumours regarding Alex and Maxine are either confirmed, verified and clarified, or denied; the real facts being far more interesting and humorous than those spread by jealous hearts or hearsay.

For thirty-five years, Maxine lived in Notting Hill Gate, London, where she was High Priestess of many training covens. Five years ago, she exchanged her life as a City witch for the remote Welsh countryside. Today, when she is not traveling or giving talks, Maxine practices the Art Magical and celebrates the Craft’s rituals in the mountains. Maxine practices her Magics alone; she has retired from the work of teaching, believing this is better performed by younger priesthood. Her vocation as a Priestess includes talking to audiences who wish to listen and counseling those who are in need of kindness, truth and hope.

www.maxinesanders.co.uk

Notes on Ardanari (by Mogg Morgan aka Sahajanath)

Feedback please to the www.myspace.com/amookos

A modern cult of Ardanari draws upon its ancient manifestations but differ in many important respects. For example the historical Kaulas worshipped a Goddess possessed of special abilities including the ability to produce an androgynous elixir or 'goddess semen'. The experts say that Ardanari was viewed as androgynous in a different way and that this does not include the production of male and female seed or both semen and menstrual blood. see (White 2003 : 278)

The modern cult would be more flexible in its mythology - but is still able to draw inspiration from older sources for the idea that the male and female adepts can be the source of a (if not the) androgynous elixir. Inspiration for this could be drawn from the Tantrik kingship rites of Bali and Java - medieval centres of the Ardanari cult:

'An Old Javanese court poem, the Smara'Dahana ("The Burning of Kama"), translated and commented by C. Hooykaas, ends on the following verses:

Such is her loveliness, moving and sweet,
to be compared with mead in a chalice;
together with her as his principal spouse
did Smara come down to earth;
King and Queen as Ardhanaresvan
continuously on the jewel lion-throne;
King Kamesvara in [the] lotus' inner part,
having as sakti the eight goddesses after their arrival.45

This poem is in fact a reference to the Indonesian royal consecration, which was Tantric.Hooykaas explicates this verse on the basis of Balinese Saiva ritual, in which Ardhanaresvan is praised in the following terms:
"Hence a rain of nectar pours down, therefore on all the limbs and junc-
tions, born from the meeting of husband and wife, this is proclaimed to be
the 'real life.'"46

Here, the king and his queen, husband and wife, embody the divine pair Siva and Uma, who together are called amrti'karam, the "making of nectar, holy water." It is at this moment in the ritual, in which nectar or holy water is said to descend from the sky to earth, that the water in the vessel before the priest becomes transformed into holy water.47

This is the central mystery of Balinese Hindu religion. On the one hand, this consecration ritual transforms a man into a king: whereas as a boy, the king may have had an ordinary name like Ayam Vuruk, the Young Cock, following his "abhiseka" he is given the official name of Kamesvara. On the other hand, it transforms him and his spouse into the central deities of the Tantric mandala, vivifying the world with the nectar of their union:

In the moment of their consecration, the newly consecrated King Kamesvara and his spouse are identified with Siva and Uma bestowing the nectar of their supreme bliss upon humanity.48 The mandala is completed by the array of women that surround the royal couple: the king, together with his spouse, as Ardhanaresvan, are said to be seated in the padma'guhya, the hidden recess of the lotus, where they are surrounded by their eight Saktis, perhaps the king's lesser queens.49 However, as we noted in the previous chapter, the lotus and its heart are, in Tantric parlance, none other than the female sexual organ, and certain Kaula groups represented the Sri Cakra as a yoni surrounded by eight lesser yonis.50' (White 2003 : 135)

Thus we read in
Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit:

'Ardhanarishvara "The Lord Whose Half Is Woman" represents a transgendered being created by the union of the Hindu deities shiva (male) and shakti (female). Ardhanarishvara, above all, speaks to the totality that lies beyond duality. In Chinese Taoism (or Daoism), this concept is symbolized by the coming together of YIN AND yang in the Tao (or Dao). Like the Greek god Hermes, Ardhanarishvara is associated with communication; the intermediate being often serves to mediate between women and men, mortals and deities, and between other entities. For this reason, Ardhanarishvara is said to dwell in the chakra (sacred center of the human body) of the throat. In tantra, this chakra is also sometimes associated with oral intercourse, linking the deity not only to androgyny but also to homoeroticism. In the past, Ardhanarishvara was served by gender variant, cross- (or mixed-) dressing, priests.

Alain Danielou* writes, "The hermaphrodite, the homosexual, and the transvestite have a symbolic value and are considered privileged beings, images of the Ardhanarishvara. In this connection, they play a special part in magical and Tantric rites." To devotees, Ardhanarishvara, like Ganesha - Shiva's non-biological son and a companion of Ardhanarishvara - brings prosperity. In artistic depictions, Ardhanarishvarais typically shown with the left half of his body being female and the right half, male. The female (Shakti, or parvati, or Uma) half is usually garbed in red and often holds a lotus, while the male half (Shiva) wears a tiger skin or an ascetic's cloth around the waist. The skin of the female half is tan, while that of the male half is light blue. His/her gaze is pensive, serene; his/her pose sensuous, inviting. The cult of Ardhanarishvara appears to have reached a pinnacle during the tenth through the twelfth centuries and again in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when he-she became a popular subject in sculpture and painting.

*Danielou, Alain (1907-1994) French musicologist, writer, translator, musician (especially of the vina), dancer, and sportsman known especially for his works on Hindu music, mythology, religion, and mysticism, which include Hindu Polytheism (1964), The Ragas of Northern Indian Music (1968), Shiva and Dionysus (1982), and While the Gods Play (1987). Inspired by a deeply religious mother, at age four he constructed a sanctuary in the woods with images of the Virgin Mary and small crosses. His attraction to the sacred eventually led him to explore other spiritual traditions, particularly Hinduism, and to view eroticism as a bridge to enlightenment. He described his first homosexual experience in beatific terms - he felt suddenly "infused with light." "In that moment of intense pleasure, a god of sensuousness, happiness, and light was revealed to me - that god of love whom mystics [of ancient Greek religion, Sufism, Christianity, and Tantra] write about, the god of Jalal al-Din RUMI and Saadi, of Saint John of the Cross [San Juan de la Cruz] and Saint Theresa of Avila [Santa Teresa de Avila], of Dionysian and Tantric rites."

In the 1930s and 1940s, with his lover Raymond Burnier, Danielou immersed himself in Hinduism, visiting, photographing, and writing about many otherwise neglected Hindu temples. In Fools of God (1988), one of his works which depicts the interrelationship of homoeroticism and the sacred, Danielou describes the erotico-spiritual dimension of the lives of certain sadhus(Hindu ascetics). For these, he insists, "the repression ofs ex is out of the question. The path of complete abstinence is considered impossible in the age of strife in which we live . . . The man who wishes to conquer heaven and earth must cultivate both sexual and mental energies and at length learn to channel the one into the other." While some sadhus have female companions, others, for reasons including the desire to avoid fatherhood, have male companions Danielou confirms that "relations between person same sex are . .. very widely practiced." Observing"this connection between homosexuality and spiritual life, and the sacred view of this kind of relationship, are well known in all religions," "Sex allows the pupil-teacher relationship to achieve fullness in which the flowering of the body leads to ennoblement of the soul."

see also

david white the alchemical body
david white, the kiss of the yogini
Sahajanath's Tantra Sadhana

website: O Grand Bucca, both Dark and Fair, divine androgyne, be in all heartsand on the tip of every tongue. For your time has come again as it does with the beginning of each moment! http://www.geocities.com/cronnekdhu/Traditional_Cornish_Witchcraft.htm

"Headless" & Let the Moon Speak by Patrick L 6 <omm

One of the pleasures of Myspace and Facebook is that all sorts of people from ones past resurface after years of absence. The musick section on mine is getting particularly interesting. So I was really pleased when Patrick from 6<omm made contact and accepted my little book on Ayurvedic medicine in exchange for his recent double album. This album is compiled from material written and recorded between 1985-2005. Patrick does all the instrumentation and vocals. Patrick has a big booming voice and he make good use of that. "You might have to play it a bit before you can find something to listen too." he says. Which means it is quite dreamy and ambient so I really like it - especially the 'Let the Moon Speak" CD. Plans are afoot to reissue, rerecord the album "Fruits of Yggdrasil" which he recorded with heathen runester Freya Aswyn many moons ago - so I've a feeling this year is going to be fun. Copies can still be got via the www. hagshadow.net/6comm website. [Mogg]

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Christopher S. Hyatt (Obituary by Lon Duquette)

Alan R. Miller (aka Ph.D.), author, publisher and esoteric pop psychologist died February 9th at his home in Scottsdale Arizona, His wife, Linda and his son, Michael were with him. He was 64. He had been battling cancer and other health concerns for some time. Alan was my lodge brother in the OTO, my career mentor, writing partner (for four titles), and for 20 years a close family friend.

His biographical information and litany of written works is now everywhere on the internet, so there’s no need for me to repeat all that in this short comment. I would simply like to share my thoughts and, in particular, address the statement by one commentator that Alan was a “blowhard.”

That one amused me very much because Alan was indeed a blowhard. He could blow as loud and unexpectedly as the Pacific gale that once capsized his sailboat. His temprement was rough and he was quick to anger. He could aim that mighty wind against friends, colleagues, business associates, and foes real or imagined. To say he could be a difficult friend to have would be an immense understatement. At the same time he was as kind and generous a friend as anyone would care to enjoy. He was also, to the esoteric community, a national treasure. He was not only generous with his time and resources, he was generous with himself.

I was forty years old when Alan Miller handed me a writing career. (Something he did for others as well). For two years I sat five days a week with him and learned the discipline of writing. During that time he fed me a healthy lunch and paid me $1,332 (666 x 2) a month for the privilege. In the meantime I got to rub elbows with the likes of Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, and (of course) Christopher S. Hyatt. The four titles we co-authored in 1990 & 1991 are still in print and I still get my royalties.

Yes, Alan blew hard. He blew hard against the forces of hypocrisy, ignorance, superstition, tyranny and oppression. He supported a score of esoteric personalities and causes. In the late 70s he befriended Israel Regardie, and managed his finances and investments assuring him a comfortable retirement in Sedona Arizona. He also assured that Regardie would finally be paid for his landmark work with the Golden Dawn material – payment that a previous publisher had shamefully refused to honor.

Alan Miller also blew hard in defense of individuals and institutions that for one reason or another found themselves enmeshed in litigation for the sake of their spiritual and intellectual liberties. Few knew it, but Alan Miller was the closest thing the esoteric communities had to an ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union).

Foremost among his most recent contributions to the Royal Art was his donation of tens of thousands of dollars to repair, preserve and restore to museum gallery standards Frieda Harris’ 78 watercolor masterpieces we know today as the Thoth Tarot.

Alan Miller proudly bore the title of “Blow Hard.” I will miss him very much. Whether you know it or not, because of his years of behind the scenes support and influence in the magical and literary communities, I guarantee that you will miss him too.

Lon Milo DuQuette

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