Hello folks, happy March. I hope this first sixth of 2020 has been as good to you as it could be. I am mostly delighted about the arrival my new book, An Excellent Booke of the Arte of Magicke, a collaboration with my friend and colleague Phil Legard on a sixteenth-century grimoire and scrying record of conjuring spirits, receiving magical texts, and learning from dead magicians. It was published by Scarlet Imprint and they have done a characteristically amazing job. I've recently been on a couple podcasts talking about it to Gordon White of Rune Soup, Cooper Wilhelm of Witchhassle, and Alexander Eth of Glitch Bottle. I am so pleased for this material to be getting into the hands and practices of magical practitioners.
In brief, March sees me returning to Salem, Massachusetts to discuss sorcerous tattooing and fire magic, as well as popping over to the UK to talk devils and the dead and see pals at a symposium dedicated to a black magic saint, before scuttling over to New Orleans for a whole necromancy conference. Life eh.
So, firstly, I will be speaking on Sorcery for Tattoos on Thursday 5th March at Witch City Ink. This is the re-scheduled class from January - anyone who bought tickets to that should have already been emailed to remind you your tickets are still valid! I'm looking forward to discussing aspects of sorcerous tattooing and other workings and ideas of embodied image magics with this community of magical practitioners, artists, and enthusiasts.
Then, on Saturday 7th March, I begin a very exciting collaboration with The Cauldron Black to deliver the first instalment of my new five-part webinar series, Advanced Elemental Magic for Beginners. This series will be running once a month, webcasting and recorded in front a live witch-shop audience at The Cauldron Black. Folks can come to the live recording or they can purchase tickets to watch online and receive the recording. I'm excited to be combining my love of travelling to deliver talks, with getting this material out to a wider audience who might not be able to get to the Witch City.
I'm very pleased that this month affords the opportunity to return to the chalky shores of Albion, both to see family and get some sorcery cooking. On Thursday 19th March I will be teaming up with my Radio Free Golgotha co-host Jesse Hathway Diaz to deliver some short papers on spiritwork and folk necromancy at Treadwell's Books for A Night With the Spirits. My paper, 'Turbulent Spirits: Devils and the Dead in Early Modern Necromancy', will examine folkloric devils, grimoire demons, and spirits who disguise themselves as the dearly departed dead; while in his talk, 'Hallowed Bones, Restless Dead: Saint Necromancy in Iberia and the New World', Jesse will be looking at the necromancy embedded within saint veneration and sorcery. It's always great to speak at Treadwell's, and I'm especially happy to effectively be bringing an RFG roadshow to London!
Then later that weekend I am attending the Saint Cyprian Symposium, where I am excited to see some good friends, as well as hopefully meet some penpals for the first time, and of course enjoy some fascinating lectures and discussion on the Good Sorcerer Saint of nigromancers and grimoirists.
Then at the end of the month it's back across the seas to glorious New Orleans for the International Necromancy Consortium's first conference, at which I will be speaking on early modern European traditions and practices of necromancy: especially around dream incubation, graveyard etiquette, and ritual tools. I am very pleased to be spoiled for necromantic convocations this month, and INC's inaugural 2020 event promises to be a marvellous collection of practitioners sharing information and perspectives.
As a result of this travel, my schedule for readings and coaching is a little more fraught than usual, but I am taking limited bookings if you would like to reach out. Likewise, I will be out-of-office and unable to take on certain talismanic projects by mid-March, so if you're considering commissioning something, really do reach out now!
I hope the shift from the dancing Fishes of Pisces to the emboldened Ram of Aries does you well, and I hope to see you on the road perhaps. To marching onwards!