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SECRET CHIEFS
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Talks given at The Devereux.
(Wednesday, 1st October, 2008 – Monday, 19th December, 2011)
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Wednesday, 1st October, 2008 – Steve Ash
“Working With The Great Old Ones”
Steve Ash is an active occultist and philosopher working in many traditions, perhaps better known as a founder of the Dionysian Underground, but tonight he will be speaking as the UK Magister for the Eldritch Esoteric Order of Dagon. His topic will be working with the Great Old Ones. Are they evil or have they just had a bad press?
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Wednesday, 15th October, 2008 – Geraldine Beskin
“Aleister Crowley”
Aleister Crowley was THE magician of the last century. Added to that, he led a life of great and splendid excess. This talk presumes a rough knowledge of the highs and lows of his life and centres on him as a Mason, Spy and Bohemian. Geraldine Beskin has been interested in the man and his magick for an embarrassingly long time. She co-owns The Atlantis Bookshop where Crowley shopped, chilled out and his “777” was published.
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Wednesday, 29th October, 2008 – Carrie Kirkpatrick
“Hecate Rising”
Carrie Kirkpatrick introduces a film of a ritual held by herself and friends in Queens Woods at Samhain in 2006. Join us as we journey with the Unseely Fey deep into the woods at dusk to meet the witches from Macbeth as they circle their cauldron. Who will they conjure up on this night when the veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest? Be prepared to party with the Baron and the dead as we celebrate this time of death, of endings and of new beginnings.
(Warning to the fluffy: This film contains references to Voodoo and elements of Darkness!!)
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Wednesday, 12th November, 2008 – Fred Lamond
“The Bricket Wood Coven”
Fred Lamond will be talking about the early days of the Bricket Wood coven, into which he was initiated on February Eve 1957. He will mention inter alia Gerald Gardner’s personality, some other coven members, ritual practice, attitude to the mores of the time, and some remarkable spells. There will then be a general discussion on the question: Is the greater moderation of today’s Wiccan covens a sign of greater maturity? Or is something being lost? How much of a Nature religion is today’s Wicca?
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Wednesday, 26th November, 2008 – Jeremy Harte
“Time Has Wings: Supernatural Lapse Of Time In Faerie”
Caught in a fairy dance, the young man lost all sense of time. But when the magic moment ended, he fell out of the ring into a distant century where he had no home. Was it all a cruel trick played by the secret people, or the fatal side-effect of a brush with the Otherworld? Who’s afraid of trance and vision? What is the price of eternity? Jeremy has been researching the Other Crowd for many years, and won the Folklore Society prize for his book “Explore Fairy Traditions”.
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Wednesday, 10th December, 2008 – SATURNALIA!
After all the magical work we have done this year, it’s time to let our hair down and to put on our dancing and singing shoes. Yes, it’s your chance to entertain us with your favourite party piece in an evening where talent doesn’t count, only your willingness to embarrass yourself for our delectation and for fabulous prizes! Each performer enters the Mystick Lotterie to select next year’s Secret Chiefs of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth.
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Wednesday, 7th January, 2009 – Gary Lachman
“Politics And The Occult”
Gary Lachman was one of the founder members of Blondie but, since his move to the UK, has become a writer on occult themes in both books and newspapers. His books include “Turn Off Your Mind…The Dark Side Of The Age Of Aquarius” and “A Secret History Of Consciousness”. Just published is his “Politics And The Occult: The Right, The Left And The Radically Unseen” which looks at fascism and the occult, focussing on European alchemical/hermetic scholars like Julius Evola and Rene Schwaller De Lubicz, and the historian of religious experience, Mircea Eliade, among others. Tonight he looks at the darker political side of 20th century occultism.
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Wednesday, 21st January, 2009 – Rig Svenson
“The Magical Practices Of Seiður”
Rig Svenson is one of the growing number of reformers who has attempted to put the record straight on the futhark runes as well as heathenry. His current work, “The Little Bones Women” takes a close-up look at a little known historical magical practice known as *Seiður”. Rig’s work on the runes is exemplary and based always on authenticity as close as the records will allow.
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Wednesday, 4th February, 2009 – Jeannette Ellis
“Channelling and the Horned God: The Oldest Of Gods Returns”
When a small still voice whispers in your ear, is it the truth? Is it a God or the Collective Unconscious? Who is the Witches’ Horned God and how old is He? Jeanette has been a Witch for 22 years. On opening a jewellers’, she designed and made her own range of Pagan jewellery. She runs The Raven and The Rose Coven and organises The Beltane/Halloween Bash. She also runs a gianting team, carrying her giant The Morrigan, with the Raven Drummers and dancers around the country. Her book “Forbidden Rites” is due to be published before the Beltane Bash.
(Tonight, the Rick Gibson Memorial Award will be presented for the best talk of 2008.)
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Wednesday, 18th February, 2009 – Gareth J. Medway
“The Pagan Origins Of Heraldry”
Gareth is a Priest of Themis and a historian of occultism. Tonight, he looks at coats of arms, so familiar to us from so many old (and some new) buildings, headed notepaper and even the uniforms of the “better” schools that we seldom give them a thought. He will argue that, though it suddenly became popular in the wake of the First Crusade, the painting of shields with special emblems goes back to the earliest European culture and has more than purely artistic significance.
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Wednesday, 4th March, 2009 – Mogg Morgan
“Moon Magic In Egypt”
The importance of lunar mysteries in Ancient Egypt is often downplayed or even denied. Mogg has, over several books, revealed much new material on this topic. What began as an exploration of the Myth of Horus & Seth as waxing and waning moon, expanded to include a secret key to the Ancient Egyptian Magical Religion.
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Wednesday, 18th March, 2009 – Chris Crowley
“The Ballad of Gimel Truc: The Life & Death of a Breton Witch”
Gimel Truc was a man acclaimed as a healer and witch. His fortunes changed when a plague struck his village. This served to transform him from hero and saviour, to villain, outcast and scapegoat. He was ultimately condemned to die a horrific death; as his neighbours sought to apportion blame. Chris Crowley (VP of the Pagan Federation) through his own original research, unravels the tale of Gimel Truc. He explores the witchcraft scene of the Early Modern Period, the beliefs that were current then and the way that the Ballad of Gimel Truc still has relevance today.
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Wednesday, 1st April, 2009 – Jack Gale
“Something a Little Bit Different ….”
For April Fools’ Day, we offer an evening’s entertainment, with songs, prose, poems, strangeness, and fun from a veteran occultist of various inclinations, evoking, amongst others, subterranean “darkers”, German soldiers, parakeets, androgynes, a ghostly bus, and a Goddess with a Painted Face ….
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Wednesday, 15th April, 2009 – Ken Rees
“The Forgotten Mage: Bishop Leadbeater – His Personal And Cosmic Mythologies”
Somewhat under-rated today, Charles Webster Leadbeater contributed much to the Theosophical Society, New-Age thinking and the esoteric field in general. The concepts he emphasised are still with us today, as are institutions such as Co-Masonry and the Liberal Catholic Church. Ken looks at the career of this colourful character, comments on the controversies which surrounded him and evaluates his legacy.
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Wednesday, 29th April, 2009 – Ode Bitola
“GODs, Self And Destiny In The Cuban Aspect Of Yoruba Divination”
The Yoruba system of ifa divination is the major underlying system of divination in the Cuban Lukumi system. Ode Bitola will speak from the position of a Priest and Diviner in this system and will explain how divination is the lynchpin of what is commonly (or even vulgarly) known as Santeria.
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Wednesday, 13th May, 2009 – Geraldine Beskin
“Beating The Bounds”
Beating the Bounds. What is there to know? Surely it is just going around the Parish and one of those archaic customs that hardly anyone does any more? It is more complex than that, with ancient reasons for being practised. Beating the bounds involves intense rivalry, politically correct violence against children and defines centuries-old districts for good reasons. Geraldine Beskin is from The Atlantis Bookshop.
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Wednesday, 27th May, 2009 – Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince
“The Bad Samaritan: The Remarkable Significance Of Simon Magus, The Second Most Hated Man In The History Of Christianity”
Condemned by the early Christians as a devilish sex magician and worshipped as a god by others, astonishingly Simon Magus has much to teach us about both Jesus himself and the religion founded in his name. But just why were the early Christians so afraid of Simon? Why did they feel they had to stress that he ‘was not the Christ’? And what secrets about Jesus can we deduce from investigating the Magus? Lynn and Clive, in 20 years as co-authors, have written (among others) the seminal ‘Templar Revelation’ (1997), which Dan Brown acknowledged gave him the ‘Big Idea’ for ‘The Da Vinci Code’. As a result, they have cameo appearances in the movie.
Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince Official Website
picknettprince.com
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Wednesday, 10th June, 2009 – Becky Lale
“Sacred Herbs And Magic Mushrooms”
Becky (a Wiccan priestess and ritual magician, with a background in law and politics, well versed in ethnobotany and herbology) guides us through the world of entheogens (“creates god within”): psychoactive plants used in spiritual/religious contexts, particularly the Seers’ Sage (salvia divinorum – as used by Mazatec shamans, from the mountain cloud forest of Oaxaca, Mexico) and the Fly Agaric (amanita muscaria – the famous toadstool, well known to fairies, Siberian shamans, classical heroes, and biblical prophets)….
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Wednesday, 24th June, 2009 – Colin Price
“The Esoteric Properties of Light”
The terms light and darkness are used to describe man’s perception at various levels of consciousness. The common place use in the physical world and the use for intellectual understanding or the lack of it are just a beginning as we attempt to delve more deeply into the esoteric and metaphysical worlds of spirit and divinity. After death, consciousness and memory are also aspects which are considered. Colin Price spent 34 years in Scientific Research and has been a lifetime student of theology, and also theosophy for the past twenty years.
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Wednesday, 8th July, 2009 – Drewyd Galdron
“The 13 Bad Wolves : A Neuro-diverse Mystery”
Bad Wolves are ever-present in our mythologies, from Fenrir of Norse legend, to Germanic agricultural folklore’s Rye Wolf, since demonised by the church. But are they just misunderstood? Pagan Federation London’s new Events Publicity Officer, a Unitarian Druid, a veteran of many pagan groups, Drewyd will explain how, by their reputation and their third-gender nature, his 13 Bad Wolves reflect so much of his personality and his coping with a learning disability (being ‘Neuro-diverse’). In showing how he manifested his most prominent totem, we may learn of the Mystery that is our own chaotic, unpredictable, and misjudged aspects….
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Wednesday, 22nd July, 2009 – Kumar Devadasan
“An Introduction to the Chakras and their Origins in Tantra”
Exploring the nature of Tantra, its right and left hand paths, the part played by the chakras, their association with meridian points, addressing some misconceptions, and an introduction to the Sri Yantra (“representation of the Goddess”). Kumar was initiated into Tantra yoga in 1978, having started his structured spiritual journey in 1973 under a Sannyassin, who was a disciple of Shiva Nanda, from the Saraswati line of sages in the Himalayas.
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Wednesday, 5th August, 2009 – Alison Rockbrand-MacIntosh
“Mythos and Sorcery of the Black Sun”
A look at the imagery of the Black Sun through religious and secular art, mythology, alchemy, and literature, as well as its implications in devotional and ecstatic traditions such as Tantra, and how the Black Sun may be used, and is used in modern Sorcery. Alison Rockbrand-MacIntosh is a researcher into esoteric transmission through art at the Rose Bruford College, and is the director of Travesty Theatre.
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Wednesday, 19th August, 2009 – ” Mystical Songs and Eerie Ballads ”
Come join us this late summer evening around the spiritual campfire, where troubadours and balladeers (Seldiy Bate, Jack Gale, and others) regale us with mysterious songs and the poignant stories behind them, evoking sacred sites, duelling magicians, strange monsters, ghostly riders, lost lovers, otherworldly journeys, and more….
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Wednesday, 2nd September, 2009 – Andrew Rea
“Healing”
Andrew, Wiccan priest and psychogogue (“leader of spirit into realm of healing”), will share a technique he learned as a child, and developed throughout his life, for spiritual/physical healing on several levels, including interview, empathy, meditation, summoning and projecting energy, and both aura and hands-on massage.
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Wednesday, 16th September, 2009 – David Farrant
“In the Shadow of the Highgate Vampire”
David Farrant is a veteran psychic investigator, the first volume of whose autobiography, “In the Shadow of the Highgate Vampire”, was published in March. Tonight he talks about his early life, and how he first became involved in the whole mysterious subject of esotericism and the occult, with digressions on his personal life and difficulties with getting the book published. He will go on to explain how his investigations into strange happenings at Highgate Cemetery led to serious trouble with the police, and hence to world-wide notoriety.
The Official David Farrant Website
davidfarrant.org
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Wednesday, 30th September, 2009 – Tam Campbell
“Eight Wiccan Virtues and the Charge of the Goddess”
Tam Campbell, veteran Wiccan High Priest with over 30 years’ experience, guides us through the ethical view expressed in the Eight Wiccan Virtues, as laid out in the Goddess Charge, which also includes instructions on both worship and conduct within and without the Circle. These virtues are Mirth & Reverence, Honour & Humility, Beauty & Strength, Power & Compassion, in paired opposites which are perceived as balancing each other.
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Wednesday, 14th October, 2009 – John Constable
“The Act of Surrender”
John Constable (also known as John Crow) is a writer and urban shaman, author of ‘The Southwark Mysteries’ and ‘Secret Bankside’, and caretaker of the Cross Bones Graveyard Portal. This talk explores the importance of “getting out of the way” in channelling and other magical works, and how the path of spiritual liberation ultimately demands that we are “free from ourselves”. As is his wont, John conducts us on a guided journey, illuminated with performances of his poems and songs received from The Goose and other native spirits.
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Wednesday, 28th October, 2009 – Patsy Langley
“Ghosts and Legends”
Patsy Langley and her partner, Ricky Sorenti, have a new book in progress (to be published early 2010) appraising the ghosts and legends of Middlesex, tales both ancient and modern, some of which she speaks on tonight, including the usual haunted pubs, manor houses, and heaths, as well as odd stories of alien sightings, UFOs, ley lines, and vampires….
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Wednesday, 11th November, 2009 – Gareth J. Medway
“Undecidability”
In the 1930s, the mathematician Kurt Godel showed that there are some theorems which, although they might be true, can never be proven. Gareth Medway, a historian of occultism, says that he has concluded the same about such questions as the origin of the Tarot pack, the identity of the original Rosicrucians, and the start of the modern witchcraft revival.
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Wednesday, 25th November, 2009 – Carrie Kirkpatrick
“Girona – A City of Secrets”
Carrie Kirkpatrick, of Divine Productions, was recently informed by email from Controversial TV that “after a few meetings with the people at the top” her films, including the one to be shown here tonight on the fascinating Spanish city of Girona, rich in Cabbalistic and other mystical history, cannot be shown by them any more “due to circumstances out of control”. Why? Email your conspiracy theory to info@divinetv.net and you could win a bottle of champagne – but beware, “they” might have an agent lurking, trying to distract/discourage you from coming up….
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Wednesday, 9th December, 2009 – SATURNALIA!
Welcome, dear friends, to another sparkling Saturnalia (ancient Roman festival of fun and role-swapping), where you are invited to share with us your songs, dances, jokes, and other merry acts – each performer enters the mystic lottery to choose next year’s Secret Chiefs of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth, and each sublime title comes with an incredible elemental totem, lovingly quested by the finest heroes….
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Monday, 4th January, 2010 – Various
“FOLKLORE, CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS”
Monday, 18th January, 2010 – Michael Bingas & Gareth Medway
“APOCALYPTIC PROPHECIES”
Monday, 1st February, 2010 – Jocelyn Chaplin
“MINOAN SOCIETY”
Monday, 15th February, 2010 – Adrian Hyde
“THE EVIDENCE FOR YETIS”
Monday, 1st March, 2010 – Francis Cameron
“PAGANS & OTHERS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE”
Also, the Rick Gibson Memorial Awards for best Secret Chiefs talks of 2009.
Monday, 15th March, 2010 – Andrew Soltau
“INTERACTIVE DESTINY”
Monday, 29th March, 2010 – Jocelyn Chaplin
“AVATAR – A MYTH FOR OUR TIME?”
Monday, 12th April, 2010 – Diana Allam
“FALLEN ANGELS – Sex, Drugs, Rock’n’Roll”
Monday, 26th April, 2010 – Michael Bingas
“MOTHERS OF THEOSOPHY – Helena Blavatsky, Katherine Tingley, Annie Besant”
Monday, 10th May, 2010 – Diana Allam
“FALLEN ANGELS 2 – This Time It’s Personal!”
Monday, 24th May, 2010 – Gareth Medway
“THE DEVIL AND THE FEMALE POPE – Origins Of The Tarot”
Monday, 7th June, 2010 – Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince
“THE EMPEROR’S NEW CLOTHES – How Being Bloody Minded Helped Us Uncover The Truth Behind Mysteries, Including The Turin Shroud And Rudolf Hess”
Monday, 21st June, 2010 – Kumar Devadasan
“SHIVA – Origins, Symbolism, Aspects”
Monday, 5th July, 2010 – Tam Campbell
“ANCIENT HOUSE BLESSINGS – Cunning Folk, Spirit Traps, Witch Bottles”
Monday, 19th July, 2010 – Luthaneal Adams
“THE WITCH QUEEN OF ENGLAND”
Monday, 2nd August, 2010 – Various
“DIVINATIONS”
Interactive – feel free to bring Tarot cards, Runes, Astrological charts, etc.
Monday, 16th August, 2010 – Philena Bruce
“SELF-HEALING TECHNIQUES FOR EVERYONE”
Tuesday, 31st August, 2010 – Paul Weston
“CROWLEY AND JUNG – A Look At The Common Ground Behind
The Book Of The Law And The Seven Sermons To The Dead”
Monday, 13th September, 2010 – John Hondros
“THE WITCHES’ NATURE – A Film About Sicilian Witchcraft & Wicca”
Monday, 27th September, 2010 – Hildegard Maier
“NEW THERAPY WITH BACH FLOWERS – Healing On A Deep Level”
Monday, 11th October, 2010 – Cilla Conway
“THE SHINING ONES – Devas And Elemental Magic.” Cilla Conway is an artist, a shamanic counsellor and Tarot consultant.
CILLA CONWAY WEBSITE
cillaconway.com
Monday, 25th October, 2010 – Rob Stephenson
“CADAVERS IN THE CLOISTERS – Medieval Death Rites”
Monday, 8th November, 2010 – Andrew Rea
“SPELLCASTING, CHARMS, AND ELVES – Lives Of Common People
In Anglo-Saxon Times” (Illustrated with speaker’s Anglo-Saxon poetry.)
Monday, 22nd November, 2010 – Hildegard Maier
“FRAU HOLLE – Only A Winter Goddess? And Who Is Father Christmas, Anyway?”
Monday, 6th December, 2010 – Tam Campbell
“ANDERIDA AND ANDRASTE”
Monday, 20th December, 2010 – SATURNALIA!
Sacred Songs, Holy Humour, Divine Dances, & Mystical Mummery – Starring You!
Monday, 17th January, 2011 – Michael Bingas
“THE DONNER PARTY – An Underworld Journey Through Winter And Hunger”
Monday, 31st January, 2011 – David Parry
“ODINISM AND THE PAGAN REVIVAL”
Monday, 14th February, 2011 – Ken Rees
“THE FORGOTTEN MAGUS – Anna Bonus Kingsford And The Hermetic Way”
Monday, 28th February, 2011 – Jocelyn Chaplin
“PERSEPHONE AND DIONYSUS – Greek Mysteries: Ancient, Modern, Postmodern”
Monday, 14th March, 2011 – Gareth Medway
“HOAXES – Suspected And Proven”
Monday, 28th March, 2011 – Simon Michel
“THE GODDESS TEMPLE AT KNOSSOS”
Monday, 11th April, 2011 – Caroline Wise
“THE GREEN LADY AND THE HORNED GODDESS – Finding Their Tracks
In History And The Land”
Monday, 9th May, 2011 – Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince
“THE FORBIDDEN UNIVERSE – The Occult Origins Of Science And The Search For The Mind of God”
Monday, 23rd May, 2011 – Hildegard Maier
“EASTER MONTH AND OSTARA – Is She Really An Anglo-Saxon Goddess,
Or Something Much More Exciting?”
Monday, 6th June, 2011 – Merlin
“STONEHENGE AND AVEBURY”
Monday, 20th June, 2011 – Drewyd Galdron
“FOOD AND MAGIC”
Monday, 4th July, 2011 – Michael Staley
“TRANSMITTING THE SACRED FIRE – Transformation And Identity In
Austin Osman Spare”
Monday, 18th July, 2011 – Keith Gulvin
“MEDWAY’S PAGAN PAST”
Monday, 1st August, 2011 – Richard Levy
“A RACE OF MAGICIANS – Judaic Pagan Magic”
Monday, 15th August, 2011 – David Farrant
“OUT OF THE SHADOWS – The Continuing Life And Times Of A
Psychic Investigator”
Monday, 12th September, 2011 – OTHERWORLDLY BALLADS
Thomas Rymer, Tam Lin, Constantine & Arete, The Maiden in the Underworld….
Monday, 26th September, 2011 – Paul Weston
“GOODBYE TO BERLIN, HELLO SGT. PEPPER – Aldous Huxley & Aleister Crowley”
Monday, 10th October, 2011 – Tam Campbell
“THE GOD OF DEATH – Aspects Of The Horned Lord”
Monday, 24th October, 2011 – Dave Mercer
“MODERN WICCA AND PAGANISM”
Monday, 7th November, 2011 – Diana Allam
“CHERUBIM AND THE APOCALYPSE – Personal Visions Of Angels
And The New Book Of The Law”
Monday, 21st November, 2011 – Cindy Stott
“THE MAGIC OF PLANTS”
Monday, 5th December, 2011 – Alison Rockbrand
“ESOTERIC THEATRE – Occult Performance From The Renaissance To The Present”
Monday, 19th December, 2011 – SATURNALIA!
Sacred Songs, Holy Humour, Divine Dances, & Mystical Mummery – Starring You!
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Secret Chiefs London 