Mandrake Speaks Newsletter

• Thelemic Symposium (review)

• Mandrake Book of the Month: Bright From The Well: Northern Tales in the Modern World by Dave Lee

• Notelets from the Colours of Chaos

• Tuba Veneris

• ~ EGRE~GORE ~

• Lectures Talks

• Groups Meetups

• Conferences & Exhibitions (click to view)

Notes from the Colours of Chaos
London, Conway Hall, 6th September 2008

Kite: Colours of Wealth Magick (www.geocities.com/kaitwm625/)

Usually thought of as 'wealth consciousness'. Kite pointed to the large pennant held from the balcony at the end of the hall, one with a chaosphere in different colours. He pointed to 4 of its colours – blue, orange, red and black. Each colour represents something:

Blue power: be grateful for what you have, e.g., 'I have health.' Having plenty is having health and some wealth.

Orange power: mercurial force. Salesman use this energy – putting their mental faculties to get what they need.

Red power: warlike force. Being prepared – planning. Like a warrior.

Black power: death power. A mentor. The thought of ceasing. Othalaz in the Elder Futhark. It is not restricted to oneself, or one's sphere of influence.
Inheritances. Keepsakes. A house. Permanence. Ancestry.

Note: take a look at his website, noted above. Really excellent source of condensed magickal knowledge, full of practical concepts.
Kite has done a lot of experimental work with magick, as can be seen from his website, and is willing to share.

Mary Hoptroff: Codes to the Power of Heart – a Shamanic Perspective
Shamanism and the Navajo tradition are mentioned to be in this speakers experience.

Power is a quiet, centered thing. It is heartfelt, held concentrated, working on inner alignment.

Four shields: from the 4 directions, and incorporating seeing, emotion, visualization, thinking.

North Shield: the adult. The responsible one.

South Shield: the child. Very fluid. To be able to blend with

East Shield: passion, sexuality, spirit. Expansion.

West Shield: places we have been and everything we have been. Everything we have ever been in physical form. It is about remembering. And both human and non-human energetic DNA.

Peter Mastin: Life Sculpting
Peter is section head of the IOT in Britain. What does parapsychology say about the structure of the universe? Peter was trained as a scientist. Thought about it for 10 years. 2nd part of a book he is writing, Occcult Experiments in the Home concentrates on 'what do magicians think?'. Basically stimulating lateral thought. He discussed the setting up of The Arcanorium College – online lectures and resources. Cutting Edge thinktank in magick: http://www.arcanoriaumcollege.com . They have a huge online library. They charge £1 per week to keep out the timewasters. An interesting series of schools constitute the College – its worth a look on the site, and the whole concept of a magickal college (a real life Hogwarts) is intriguing.

Dave Lee: Multiple Selves
Spirits are related to things you want in life. Each spirit can be drawn on a square card.
They are not selves.

There is another type of self that are objectives of selfhood. They are not fully conscious.
They are trapped in self reference – an example is Choronzon. They can be seen as donor selves.

The idea of multiple time lines is presented. Another type can be thought of as a soul life.
Ended relationships can produce this, where part of yourself is attached to the idea of someone.
All these multiple time lines can be thought of as soul loss.

Soror Res: When Worlds Collide: the Biosphere, Noosphere and Chaosphere
The World as a Sphere – the layers of it don't have to be like onion layers.
They can occupy the same spatial location, like cars, passengers and roads.

Geosphere- Planet's rocks Each of these can be seen as a tetrahedron, e.g., art, science,
Biosphere – Planet's Lifeforms religion, magick
Noosphere – Memes and Ideas

Interesting concept, but don't know how to apply this practically.

Duncan Barford: White Hair and Brown Pants – when Magick turns Paranormal
Samuel Saul (1936-1941) – the British Equivalent of J.B. Rhine.
Wesley Carrington – the K object increasing the number of hits. H links one object to another. A ritual is a K object.
So magick or the paranormal is a violation of cause and effect.

Julian Vayne: Two Worlds and In-Between: the Changing Concepts & Use of Space in Modern Magick
Julian provided a lighthearted, and indeed very funny look why we were there,
what we hoped to get out of the conference, the reason we practice magick at all,
and some concepts on the use of space in present day magick, comparing with historical practice.

Susan Leybourne: Sex, Magick and Getting What You Want
Blue in the aura is devotional- so things will be attracted to it. It tends to be spiritual.
Looking over the shoulder (your left side) is often a place to put your intention, where the energy can sit.
You can use a magickal mirror – imagery to look at it. So put the image of what you want in that area, and direct intent to it.

The Great Work = Enlightenment

Susan mentions some of her sex magick work but not in detail, and mentions her partner.
There are a number of practical facts, but my notes focus on the shoulder technique which
points to something that can be experimented with personally.

Alan Chapman: Magic with a K: How to Spell Correctly
Alan Chapman is a magician and writer. He has appeared in the Fortean Times and Chaos International, and regularly contributes to the website www.thebaptistshead.co.uk. He has written 3 books – the third will be available this autumn: Advanced Magick for Beginners. He traced the general history of magick in the West and Middle East from ancient times until now, concluding that we are facing the rot of postmodernism, and discussed how we can try to change that without getting bogged down in the dogma of the last (20th) century. In some ways his moral conclusions would seem to stand in opposition to Chaos Magick, but CM is wide enough, and flexible enough to take into account contradicting views within itself.

The Evening Presented a series of Rituals done in Chaos Magick, i.e. Chaos Magick Style.
(These notes are from the personal perspective of one of the participants:)

The evening session was pure chaos - literally. You both would have loved it. part of me is convinced it's barking,
the other part of me is convinced it works.

There was several different mini-rituals, with an opening and closing piece.
No 'Lords of the Watchtowers' malarchy... as expected...

The room was cleared out, a mini altar set up and a mega Ganesh was up on stage.
Low level red/orange lighting. Bare feet (mostly).
A very amazing atmosphere of power/anticipation/?anarchy. Strobe lighting was used at key moments.

First session was a healing work using Ganesh and red balloons. Invoking Ganesh using a lengthy series of praise terms. Taking a red balloon, blowing it up, writing on it some aspect of our lives we want shot of/overcome, and then getting someone else to burst it, releasing the negativity. Felt like a huge weight had been lifted off me when this happened. Lots of laughter to close the ritual (weird when it first happened but once I realised what was going on it made sense). This was done after each of the rituals to close down before moving on to the next one.

2nd one was a healing session using remote symbolism and invoking Kawa Pohr, visualising a beach with someone you want to send healing to on the shore. Under water a pyramid with green walls and purple edges and a sphere on top. As a heartbeat-type of music was played to a 'mnum mnum' sound, visualising this glowing/brightening/pulsating and filling with energy then the energy bursting out of the top, the sphere rolling out of the sea and enveloping the person you want healed (Prisoner style) then going up to the altar, taking a photo of the symbol there and sending to the person.

When we started this it felt like rubbish but then I found there really was a huge vortex of power building up
and then having visualised it being used for the person, actually sending the symbol - physicalised it and directed it on a different plane. This was the symbol:
3rd one was a colour working of using 8 colours and card correspondences…to integrate and harmonise the colours of magick within ourselves.

Colours: red- emperor, orange –magus, yellow-sun, green-empress, blue-wheel of fortune, purple-lovers, black-death, octarine (a magenta colour but supposedly a combo of all the other colours Terry Pratchett style… which would make it a muddybrown/grey) – High Priestess/Art

Formed 8 different groups, each one holding a colour card card, reading out all the positive qualities of the card, creating energy by touch, sound will, intent, moving on to the next card etc and building up a huge power source. But blown a bit by singing a version of Cilla Black's 'Sing a Rainbow' which I thought was far too fluffy but there you go…directing the spare energy after towards one of the banners hung up round the room.

To the tune of Sing a Rainbow :

All the Colours of Chaos

Red
And yellow
And black
And green
Orange
And purple
And blue
(And octarine)
We can choyofaque
Choyofaque
Choyofaque too

Give them all a Spin
Discover them within they'll see you right
Night and day

We can choyofaque
Do it all with glee

Red and...
(Fra Soror, 2008)

Last one was the most interesting, a combo of ouija board, magick and mystery…..
Office type swivel chair in centre, woman seated on it drawing down Erys, lady of chaos, into her. Non-vowel alphabetic structure placed on the floor in huge circle round:

B C Ch D F S Sh T Th G R Z V H Q Y X W J P N M L K

Cords from chair out to edges of circle. Erys was invoked into everyone holding the cords, and these were pulled, with Erys directing the chair to move to different letters, while the woman was seated in it. The resulting letters picked were:

J G Ch S C C D G K J W J

So pretty barbaric! Apparently no vowels used to stop people second guessing words and unconsciously moving the chair to fit expected word forms…
inviting chaos to take over instead which it did.

[Lawrence]

~ EGRE~GORE ~

* Morgen of Lyonesse to the Sunset Bound. *

~ Ariel ~

Tendrils of Magick seep from the Internet
Twenty-four-seven, night and day.
Tantalising ectoplasmic tentacles
Like phosphorescent fern tree fingers
Unfurl languorously, penetrate my slumber;
Log-on, and I, the little cyber Match-Girl,
With precious few matches left,
Like Rapaccini’s daughter under her Datura,
Inhaling their otherworldly scent,
Hooked by indefinable longings
For unnameable things, become restless
As alien amorphous etheric Shades
Poke my dreams, probe my flesh,
Crafted by Will of disembodied strangers:
My faceless hierophantic Brothers,
With Pantagruelian appetite
Exuberantly roam in Cyberspace,
Where the Laws of Gravity don’t apply?

In the dull confinements of a prosaic existence,
A gem-like kaleidoscope of astral corollas,
Pervasive phantasmagorical Emanations
Seductively stretch, entwine, caress,
Tantalise and uproot. And I,
Thoroughly modern Moonchild,
Mesmerised, entranced by their convolutions,
Forgetting for a time both Nature and Nurture,
Melt, merge, dissolve,
Swept by this Great Tide

Psychic waves, tangible as the scent
Of blood and roses,
The acrid smell of burned wicks,
The spice of leather upon flesh,
A heady Open Source Psychotropic Draught
Bleeds from the Internet.
Ectoplasmic gales blow by numbers,
Relentlessly rocking my boat.
No matter how tight I will have myself
Tied in solitary confinement
To the rickety mast of my banal shipwreck,
They prevail: for the whole is greater
Than the sum of its part.

Their pervading vapours penetrate the stranglehold,
Rousing herds of long- repressed, shackled heraldic beasts,
Sleuth of primeval impulses,
Shoals of feral, unspeakable instincts.
In the disquieting twilight of a Dawn
That never quite breaks into day,
I beg the Shongmaw mend my broken heart;
But he doesn’t come. Instead,
Bilge water oozes, bitter as my tears,
Droves of addictive yearnings, like Golems, unleashed,
Hack at my safety net, the wilderness of brambles
Where I slept, murky chalice of Air, Water, Earth:
A Swamp awaiting the kiss of Fire.

My hand, languid, rests upon cool metal of laptop,
Carmine peonies in a broken blue vase slowly die,
Yesterday: engorged, tight and tumescent,
Shedding a lush carpet upon the dusty floor,
Their slow fall, like a clock, at first disquieted
The precarious comfort of my little Abyss.
Now, greedily, I bury my face
In their faintly scented petals,
Hungry for their soft, moist, cool pink caress
As the Occult Cyber peep-show twirls,
Night and day: Novelty-shop memetic Arcanas
Spell swirling neoteric Mayas over Gaia:
Death-Posture! Nimble reptilian fingers
Breathe life into a writhing theatre of Mandrake Servitors,
Conjure a Typhonian Pick-and-Mix
Of sharp sygilised Urban Myths;
Exalted, they arise like Baron Samedi
From the fertile graveyards of Pop Counter-Culture.

A kaleidoscope of foxy Masks, cloaked
In voluptuous shreds of bewildering Paradigms,
Dance in the Shadow of the Tree:
Papa Legba waltzes with Eris,
Cthulhu tangos with Madonna,
O! Ancient Mother - Tara: Mercy!
The Universe: a swirling Street Carnival;
Utterance of forbidden names in raucous fractals
Rips shrouds of diaphanous feathers, revealing
Glimpses of cryptic Temenos.
Polyamorous hermaphroditic Heroes
With heterochromic irises seek
The Chemycal Wedding at the Torture Garden,
Prometheus! Rise: I wanna live forever,
You know Al-ad-Insane was a junkie,
Ohm Namah Shivaya: Dionysus is on DMT,
And all the Spheres blur, veils upon veils,
Ouranian thunderbolts tear down
The controlled equilibrium of my precarious Tower:
My ancient Lions flee!
How I long for the Red Chamber,
The birch, the Cup and the Liknon!
I hide my lantern under a bushel:
I will run away with the Old Gods
Upon the wing of an Owl.
Do not unplug your computer -
It will turn off automatically.

© ~ARIEL ~ Kernow ~ June 2008 ~

Thelemic Symposium (Review)

Conversation of the local female denizens of symposium venue, as overheard in public bar . . . "I haven't had a good sh*g for ages . . . maybe I'll go to the orgy . .. " Not that there was an orgy - not in the common understanding of the word at least - but you know how folk are. Later during the Gnostic Mass there was a forced entry via the security door - luckily not too disruptive but I suppose in such a packed day the sort of thing you might expect. The culprit, later expelled, returned in the early hours to burgle the place and is currently, so they say, awaiting her majesty's pleasure. It was the only cloud on an otherwise great day.

There was much harrumphing about the change of venue from the grand but tiny Oxford Town Hall, where if I remember rightly, the porters at the last event bumbled into the late Andrew Chumbley's workshop and told everyone to wind it up. Well it was the fourth hour and they'd only just cast the circle - again all hearsay. So a new slightly larger venue was in order, with en suite bar, car park and indeed nature just a step away.

Peter Grey, took the stage together with his partner and delivered a paean to the goddess Babalon as reviewed elsewhere in this august newsletter and that really got us going. A good start, followed by Mike Magee of AMOOKOS, or perhaps formerly, as he filled us in on how he was expelled from the order he'd help found. Coincidently, the last time Mike spoke in Oxford was at the first Symposium back in 1986? The topic of his talk was "Factions, Fictions and Functions" which was all about the negative side of magical orders. (There's more background to this in my own "Tantra Sadhana" a chapter called "When your guru goes gaga") . This time he gave a short but informative discussion of the main elements of the Kaula magick so beloved in AMOOKOS. In the flood of correspondence I've had since the effect - not sure why me - I was just making the tea afterall - someone remarked how happy they were to see Mike again, being as what he is so charismatic.

By this time, Melissa Harrington's transport has screeched into the grassy carpark and after a suitable interval, reinforced with tea and one of Kym's inch thick sandwiches - she took the stage, returning to the theme of her talk of ten years ago on Thelema and the feminine. It was a masterly performance. The intervening years have seen many changes, marriage and parenthood - estrangement from the Caliphate OTO (bit of a pattern) and a serious reframing of her attitude to Thelema, Babalon and what to her eyes now is its first, totally flawed prophet. Her talk was a counterpoint to Peter Grey, whose book she both roundly praised but also cast at least one jaundiced eye - wondering whether the image of a whore was ever really anything more than a male sexual fantasy. She highlighted the huge caesura between Crowley's devotion to his goddess and his complete contempt for her earthly incarnations. It's difficult to imagine Crowley cutting the toenails of the mother of his children when she was too pregnant to do it for herself.

Another break, more tea and food, more buzz and camaraderie. Now Charlotte from Bath Omphalos, accompanied by a film show from defibulator images, spoke of her own work with dangerous, blood thirsty spirits. Which all prompted a rather interesting discussion on the theme of self harm and the strange dialectic in which it stands with some extreme forms of magical consciousness. Her spooky slide film show was full of images from Oxford Pitt Rivers Museum, which closes on 1st January for a twelve month refit along with the stupendous Ashmolean Museum - so get your fix now.

Next up was Jake Stratton Kent who regaled us with an investigation into the Grimoire Verum and other necrotic texts that have come down to us in our long and noble history. His talk was very academic although there was much emphasis was on matters practical as he fielded many interesting questions from the floor such as "is it dangerous"; "do you deal with the boss" etc. (As in all walks of life, one tends to have more dealings with the foot soldiers than the managing director.

Finally, we came to David Beth on the topic of Voodoo Gnosis, the syncretized synthesis of voodoo put together by Michael Bertiaux and the Couleuvre Noire and published in various editions of The Voodoo Gnostic Workbook.. He spoke well but it was complex stuff and in the end it did rather boil down to whether one either understood or related to the ideas of Michael Bertiaux, which many obviously did. My ears pricked up at the mention of occult technology, I'd heard of those wyrd machines made from twisted wire and cardboard tubes with which these practitioners commune with denizens of others dimensions. So more of a post modern view of Voodoo than strictly revivalist.

So on the whole a good day - several times I wondered at the failure to mention the elephant in the room, which for me is the authentic voice of the ancient Egyptians who sometimes seems as silenced in modern occult discourse now as it was at the at the beginning of the Christian ice age. But our day was not yet done - still to come was a Gnostic Mass. I finally found out what the strange man with swivelling eyes and Sherlock Holmes costume was up to. Actually I missed the Mass, but someone who was there said it was "both the most ridiculous and coolest thing he had ever seen". There was much knob twiddling after the Mass and many people left before the social really got into its swing - which was a shame as it was good fun. My correspondent says: "thank you for facilitating my public dancing debut at the Canal Club. Was it the congenial atmosphere engendered by an alliance of like-minded people? Perhaps the sun in Libra, moon in Sagittarius configuration astrologically? Maybe the unknown ingredients of the EGA Eucharist - extolling the raised glass, the presence of a naked lady or just that the world was ready for such a spectacle "... And I must also thank all the people who came to the Symposium, especially the audience - you were intelligent, engaged, urbane and great fun to be with. Roll on next year - [Mogg]

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Tuba Veneris:

The first English translation of The Consecrated Little Book of Black Venus (also known as Tuba Veneris), translated by Teresa Burns and Nancy Turner and illustrated by Jeffrey S. Kupperman and DARLENE, with contributions by Vincent Bridges and Phil Legard. The text is attributed to Dr. John Dee but veers from his better-known Enochian work. It appears to be a traditional grimoire which instructs the magician in the proper preparations and tools needed to summon the six spirits ruled by Venus, but in fact may be a connection back to the benandanti witch cult and forward to Dee and Kelley's angelic workings.

These days with so many faux grimoires doing the rounds, thought I'd better at least check some of the sources to make sure the provenance is sound,
and there are indeed two photocopies of this in the York Collection at the Warburg, London. Not too sure when it was acquired but thus far thus good. So what's on offer is a nicely done facsimili edition of the original 37 page grimoire, ascribed to the Elizabethan sorcerer John Dee and supposedly handwritten in Latin although unpublished. The editors offer a good translation of same together with a long, informative monograph discussing various aspects of the manuscript's history and meaning. The main thrust of this is to try, using a variety of occultural reasoning, to connect Dee's work to a modern proccupation with "The Black Goddess " etc. The reader must judge for themself how successfully the editors are.

I sought out my friend the Cunning Man Jack Daw, always a mine of information on the wyrder byways of magick, [actually I must confess I always thought Tuba Veneris was something in which one might safely bathe] So I asked him, rather tentatively, whether it was possible to tear the horn off of a living bull, this being part of the preparations for the rite? Taurus is ruled by Venus afterall! Spluttering into his umpteenth cup of tea - he told me it wasn't. So what's all that about then. And he told me that an important aspect of the grimoire is entertainment. They were in a sense the coffee-table books of their day. As well as interesting magical experiments, there was often a whole section on wonders, supposedly connected to the magick in hand - althought these were often little more than an excuse to indulge in a bit of tall storyfying. Hence one famous spell for courage requires the mage to pluck the hairs from a wolf's scrotum! I got the picture straight ways - come and look at this 'ere magick book i just bought at great expence - I never done the rite - but I know a man who has etc., etc., Come to think of it - things haven't changed that much.

Of course this wouldn't exhaust the grimoires entire meaning but it is as well to bear that in mind when reading. Given that we see in the modern world where grimoires are concerned its a question of read one, do one, write one - things may not have been so very different in the umpteen centuries between the times of John Dee, it putative author and our own. This special hand bound edition which is currently available for $189US. The publishers are aware this is a premium price and are working on an affordable standard hardcover version for the end of year. [Mogg]

copies: www.waningmoon.com

BOOK LAUNCH!

Dave Lee will be launching his new book, Bright From The Well - Northern
Tales in the Modern World at:

Rare and Racy bookshop,
166 Devonshire St., Sheffield 3,
2pm on Saturday 29th November 2008.
There will be readings from Dave's book plus a performance of WATERFALL
GALDOR by singing group WASUME.

Race Racy Bookshop

-------------------------------------------

Bright from the Well
Northern Tales in the Modern World

By Dave Lee

978-1869928-84-1
£10.99, 166pp

We change and develop ‘the past’ with narrative, and we create ‘the future’
by re-mixing the stored elements in order to continue it onwards.

All the verbal tenses cluster around the same mighty place, the same source of narrative and mythic significance.
The people had a name for this place: the Well of Urdhr, Anglo-Saxon wyrd, one of three Norns of fate,
Urdhr, Verdhandi and Skuld, who cluster around the Well. These Norns are mighty beings,
beyond and above the gods, in the sense that they are eternal and know the fates,
the rise and fall of the gods themselves. They are watchers of the Well and helpers to the Tree.
The Tree, which contains all the worlds in present time, all the branches of the Now, is nourished at its roots by the Well’s waters.

'Bright From the Well' consists of five stories plus five essays and a rune-poem.
The stories revolve around themes from Norse myth - the marriage of Frey and Gerd, the story of
how Gullveig-Heidh reveals her powers to the gods, a modern take on the social-origins myth Rig's Tale,
Loki attending a pagan pub moot and the Ragnarok seen through the eyes of an ancient shaman.
The essays include examination of the Norse creation or origins story, of the
magician in or against the world and a chaoist's magical experiences looked at from the standpoint of Northern magic.'

Dave Lee coaches breathwork, writes fiction and non-fiction, blends incenses and oils, creates music and collage.

His previous books include "Chaotopia!"

http://www.mandrake.uk.net/9781869928841.jpg

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The Apophenion (Review)

- A Chaos Magic Paradigm
by Peter J Carroll
isbn 978-1869928-650 / £10.99 / $22

Reviewed by Julian Vayne

Framed as the outpouring of insight generated by the novel Goddess 'Apophenia', Pete Carroll's new work is a real gem. Coming from a science background, this is his attempt to create a falisfiable model of why the universe looks the way it does, and just why magick can operate successfully.

In the inimitable Carrollian style we have come to know and love, our author sets out to demolish the edifices of being, consciousness, causality, the big-bang and more. In toppling these ontological Titans Pete discovers a universe of panpsychism and intense meaning. If nothing else this agrees with my own views and is therefore a Good Thing. Pursuing this process through the scientific style of exploration means that quantum physics, special relativity et al show up pretty frequently in the text. If you buy this book expecting lists of planetary correspondence and ritual-by-numbers instructions you're going to be disappointed. However this doesn't mean that this is all physics and no esoterica. Rather the point is that the reading of the universe that the author presents is suffused with magick. (Nevertheless there are some reassuring illustrations of occult entities and one explicit ritual – a rather lovely evocation of the Goddess Apophenia herself).

My reaction in reading this book was one of excitement. The suggestions that Pete advances tickle the mind delightfully. Certainly this isn't Liber Null. It's not a manual of techniques but instead concentrates on theory, yet that doesn't make for a dull read. The theorisation presented here can light the touch paper of a hundred disciplines: cosmology and magick for sure but also Fortean studies, ethnography and especially neuro-biology.

Algebra explodes across the appendices of the book scattering the non-mathematicians towards the Epilogue where things are nicely rounded off in laypersons terms. The truth may well be that we live in vorticitating hypersphere with three dimensional time that, as the author beautifully asserts, "...invites us to become apprentice gods." The very fact that I can now say 'vorticitating hypersphere' and know what that means is a testament to the authors explicatory powers.

The final and perhaps most wonderful thing about The Apophenian is how it demonstrates the development and maturation of Pete Carroll's earlier writing. If nothing else this stands as a testament to the work of an individual (or perhaps conspiracy of selves!) who's magick really does seem to work.

Eight chaospheres out of a possible eight!

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