Treadwells Events

If you are in the UK, and within striking distance of London, I hope you will join us for something that catches your fancy — if you are one of our many friends from abroad, we will keep you posted about recorded talks and downloads via our website’s news page. Do stay in touch, regardless and (as always) book in advance for any and all events you wish to attend.

With best wishes,
Christina and Kathy

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Treadwell’s Events
34 Tavistock Street, Covent Garden

BOOKING Please book in advance on info@treadwells-london.com. Tel. 0207 240 8906. Map on our website, http://www.treadwells-london.com. Note: all events start promptly and latecomers are not admitted. Wine is served from 7.00 pm on nights when the events commence at 7.30. All Treadwell’s evening talks are followed by a drinks party – you are invited to stay afterwards and join us.

Walking Tour: Magic & Paganism in the British Museum
11 July (Tuesday afternoon) Guided by Delianne Forget £6.00 3.00 pm – 4.30 pm
The British Museum has been called the magical centre of London – and with reason. This walking tour takes in its magical secrets and flourishing highlights, as you are introduced to its gods, goddesses, magical instruments, amulets, talismans, seals and fetish objects. It takes in not only European objects, but also Korea, South America and Africa, Tickets in advance from Treadwell’s Bookshop. Meeting point is at the museum.

Making Soap for Magic – Planetary Correspondences and Hands-on Practice
15 July (Saturday) Cunning Man & Hedgewitch Series — Rebecca B and Rebecca W. 12 noon to 6 pm £40.00
Village witches, or cunning folk, down the centuries practised various arts that have fallen out of general knowledge. Treadwell’s hosts workshops teaching these, hoping to encourage a general revival. This workshop teaches the making of soaps and herbal baths, both of which are central to folk medicine and folk magic. Rebecca Beattie and Rebecca Wood are Treadwell’s regulars who have a passionate love of their craft and a combined total of 20 years’ brewing experience. Price, payable in advance, includes all supplies, handouts, refreshments and the items you will make to take home.

Hypersigils and Personal Fiction Suits: A Chaos Magickal Day at the Outer Reaches
16 July (Sunday) 11 am – 5 pm £35.00 John Harrigan, Artistic Director of FoolishPeople Theatre Company
John Harrigan will take participants through the creation and delivery of a hypersigil, a powerful and experimental form of magick, most known from Grant Morrison (‘The Invisibles). A ‘hypersigil’ is an extended piece of artwork, be it a novel, song, dance etc, that is created as a sigil. The day will work on their creation and maximising their effectiveness. Participants will also be assisted in the creation of a fiction suit with which to experiment within the hyper-reality of the narrative of the personal artistic work that you create. By transforming various aspects of your fiction suit within the hypersigil you in turn work towards working with aspects of the individual personality. On the company: http://www.foolishpeople.com/

Walking Tour: Magicians, Wizards & Warlocks of London
16 July (Sunday Afternoon) 3 pm – 4.30 pm. Guided by Delianne Forget £6.00
This tour shows you the London of real magicians, past and present. Please see 6th July for the full description of this popular tour.

Elements of the Bardic Path: Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids
18 July (Tuesday) 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm. £10.00 on the night
OBOD in London presents Kevan Manwaring in a talk and workshop evening on the bardic path. The topics covered will include: Awen; the five elements; words and sound; the performance of poetry and stories. The night’s experiential components will consist of voice work, movement and visualisation. Note: this event is not hosted by Treadwell’s, so to put your name down email the organiser on bard@tallyessin.com.

The British Museum Tour: Magic & Pagan Gods
19 July (Wednesday Afternoon) Delianne Forget, via Treadwell’s 3 pm –4.30 pm £6.00.
See description above for earlier date. Tickets in advance at Treadwell’s as the meeting point is at the museum.

Real Vampires
20 July (Thursday) Dr Tina Rath 7.15 for 7.30 pm start £5.00
This evening’s talk looks at accounts of ‘real vampires.’ Dr Rath explains how few accounts there really are, then gives us a closer look at them. She will be looking at the accounts of Arnold Paole (or Paul), the vampire attested by three Austrian surgeons. Paole is possibly the most famous ‘real vampire’ ever (or was he?). Dr Rath will also be analysing the works of Augustin Calmet; the books of Dudley Wright; the writings of Montague Summers and A. Osborne Eaves (including stories of Countess Elga, the Irish Vampire Priest and The Vampyre of the Fens)…. Tina Rath’s doctorate from London University was on ‘The Vampire in Popular Fiction.’ She is the author of several vampire short stories, including ‘A Trick of the Dark’ (anthologised in Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror No 18 and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror) and also ‘Miss Massingberd and the Vampire’ which was first published in Woman’s Realm (something she is quite proud of…) She lectures widely on vampires and has appeared on radio and television (most notably with Anthony Head) to talk about them.

Creativity, Writing and Magic – Practical Writer’s Workshops
Next, 22 July (Saturday) With Louise Tondeur, novelist and hedgewitch, 2 pm to 6 pm £18.00 per day
Writing days with Louise Tondeur are full of practical exercises based in pagan magic: writing, focussed meditation, ceremony and visualisation. Louise Tondeur is uniquely well positioned to offer such a perspective: she is the author of two well-regarded novels, has taught creative writing and drama at Cambridge University and is now a lecturer at Roehampton. In her private life she is a solitary witch with a leaning towards planetary magic. Previous days have assisted: those who write ritual; those with writers’ bloc; and those starting out as new writers. Note: you won’t be asked to read your work aloud.

22nd July (Saturday): The broomstick and liminal spaces: This session is dedicated to the writers’ creation of space, setting and environment. The symbolism of liminal spaces is emblematically expressed in the witch’s broomstick, and it is the broomstick that forms the centre-piece of the day’s workings. Those attending are invited to bring a broomstick if they own one.
2nd September (Saturday): Demeter and the Autumn Equinox. This session is centred upon rhythm and sound in creative writing. As the day is held three weeks before the autumn equinox, the thematic workings will centre upon the Greek Goddess Demeter. Again, exercises and ritual working will aid in creative writing of all types, including fiction, poetry, ritual and invocation. Those attending are encouraged to bring a drum or rattle, as well as a small item to offer to Demeter.

The Re-Membering of Dionysos: Magic Through a Shattered Mirror
26 July (Wednesday) James Butler 7.15 for 7.30 pm start £5.00
This talk will present the Dionysian and ecstatic modes of consciousness as the vital core of magical experience, suggesting that the trajectory of magic in the western world in the twentieth century (from the Golden Dawn, to Thelema, Chaos Magick and witchcraft) is towards the Dionysian – the furious, the ecstatic and the subversive. The broad sweep of this movement is visible in the philosophical and artistic movements of the 20th century from Nietzsche onwards, through to philosophers like Gilles Deleuze and poets as diverse as Ginsberg and Eliot. This talk will examine the resurgence of the Dionysian in magic, and particularly its manifestation in witchcraft. It will consider how modern magic shies and hides from the intensity of the Dionysian, and how we might come to terms with the resurgent, atavistic and ecstatic power of Dionysos. “We do not even know of what a body is capable.” The limbs of Dionysos are scattered and dismembered, the question is: how should we re-unite them? James Butler is a practitioner of Western magic whose degree in philosophy and theology (University of London) whose writings have been published in a variety of publications and online media. He currently lives in London, though will soon be moving to Oxford to commence doctoral research on related topics.

Art Launch for Roland Spottiswood
28 July (Friday) 7.00 pm to 10.00 pm Free.
A remarkable Anglo-Irish painter with long interests in, and connections to, the Anglo-Irish tradition in occultism. Please join us to meet this extraordinary man and to spend and evening drinking in his work. Two of his pieces are currently displayed on http://www.treadwells-london.com/art.asp, showing one of his fondnesses – painting portraits of people in the form of a bookshelf expressing their life and personality.

Hoodoo: A Folk Magic Tradition and Its Historical Evolution
3 August (Thursday) Lisa Mead, Practitioner and Researcher 7.15 for 7.30 pm start £5.00
Hoodoo is an African-American system of folk magic, famed for its practical and direct approach: ‘come to me’ sprays; good luck powders, and money-drawing floor-washes. Its practitioners are called doctors, and its products – many of them herbal mixtures ritually prepared – are made with secret elements. Hoodoo’s history shows its hidden depths, and its roots lie in the fusion of immigrant and native lore in the Southern States of America. Lisa Mead was initiated into hoodoo by her Brooklyn godmother and is now a doctor in the tradition. She is of the Gullah people of the South Carolina islands of the USA. She now lives in London is writing a history of the tradition.

Witchcraft – An Esoteric Approach
5 August (Saturday) With Len Roberts 2pm – 5 pm (please arrive 1.45) £2.00
In this afternoon talk, a longterm practitioner of witchcraft shares a personal perspective on the witchcraft path, focusing on the aspects he feels are due more attention than they are sometimes given. One of these he would call ‘the esoteric path’, with its focus on the inner life, and the unspoken, the sense of mystery. The other lies in developing the relationship with the land, with its intuitive exploration of sacred places. The aim of the afternoon is for people interested in witchcraft to hear about the tradition from someone whose life within it has been committed to the magical, spiritual, inner life. Len Roberts is an Alexandrian initiate whose journey on this path started in London the early 1970s. He now lives in Sussex and works rather more quietly in smaller, more intimate contexts.

A Tour of Pagan London
5 August (Saturday Afternoon) 3 pm to 4.30 pm Guided by Delianne Forget
The vivid and engaging Delianne takes you round the ancient pagan sites of London. This tour lasts about an hour and a half, meets at a central Tube station, and is sure to widen your appreciation of London. Tickets £6.00 in advance from Treadwell’s. The meeting point will be a central London tube station.

Walking Tour: Magicians, Wizards & Warlocks of London
9 August (Wednesday evening) Guided by Delianne Forget 7 pm – 8.30 pm. £6.00
This tour shows you the London of real magicians, past and present. Please see 6th July for the full description of this popular tour. Starts from Treadwell’s Bookshop.

Walking Tour: Witchcraft and British Royalty
15 August (Tuesday evening)
Guided by Delianne Forget 7 pm – 8.30 pm. £6.00 tickets in advance.
The meeting point will be a central London tube station.

The Sex Life of Fairies
24 August (Thursday) Geof Downton, Founder of the Fairy Museum 7.15 for 7.30 pm start £5.00
This evening’s talk looks at sexual elements of fairy lore and fairy tales. It commences with their classical origins, then goes on to the Victorian and Edwardian use of fairies as soft porn. The final section explores the modern sexual abuse of fairies, from the misuse of language to Japanese Hentai. Geof Downton has been a student of myth and fairy lore for about 25 years; he has been collecting statues, images and books for some fifteen years. He founded fairymuseum.com three years ago to show off his collection. The quote to spark your interest: ‘Can you wonder that People of the Hills don’t care to be confused with that painty-winged, wand-waving, sugar-and-shake-your-head set of imposters? Butterfly wings indeed!” Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook’s Hill.

The Mabinogion: An Experiential Day on the Welsh Rhiannon
27 August (Saturday)
Not hosted by Treadwells – external registration. Presented by Hilde and Firetreee. For information and to register see http://www.firetree.net/pwyll. To book a place, email shaman@firetree.net, or ring Hilde on 07768-377-646.

Lovecraft, Cthulhu & Magic
31 August (Thursday) Dr Justin Woodman, Goldsmith’s College, University of London 7.30 pm £5.00
Critical perspectives and analysis of the mythos of the beings inhabiting HP Lovecraft’s fiction, and their second life in the chaos magic movement. More details soon.

Marie Laveau and New Orleans Voodoo
7 September (Thursday) Allison Brice 7.15 for 7.30 pm start £5.00
Who was Marie Laveau? For more than two centuries, her legacy has intrigued both the people of her native city, and foreigners alike. Each season, thousands of devotees visit her tomb in New Orleans, paying homage to her memory, and requesting her spiritual assistance and favour. Yet in actuality, the notorious Voodoo Queen of New Orleans was in fact two women: a mother and daughter pair of Creole priestess renowned for the assistance they provided to their communities, yet reviled and slandered by the sensational press of their day. New Orleans native and vodouisant Allison Brice explores the mysterious lives of both these enigmatic women, and the lasting impact that their legacy has had upon present day Louisiana Voodoo.