This illustrated lecture traces the appearance of the infamous magus Aleister Crowley in cinema, as both a character and an influence. Gary Parsons follows him from earliest flickering images portraying him, through the Hammer horror era, and right up to the avant-garde. Along the way we meet Kenneth Anger, The Devil Rides Out, and a smattering of European art house films. We promise an enlivening evening with the Great Beast, celluloid-style. Gary Parsons is a film maker and a graduate in film from Goldsmiths College London. He has been interviewed for both Dazed and Hero magazines. He has previously spoken on ‘Witchcraft Documentaries of the 1970s’ and we are delighted to welcome him back to Treadwell’s.
In 1920 Aleister Crowley and his magical partner Leah Hirsig established the Abbey of Thelema at Cefalù, in Sicily. Here they undertook taboo-breaking magical experiments, including rites involving eating faeces. This lecture reveals this previously-unexplored side of Crowley’s magic, telling a story which raises questions about taboo and purity in ceremonial magic, but equally — gender, ideals of womanhood and the idea of the Scarlet Woman. The workings probed the boundaries of selfhood, subjectivity and taboo, and insights can be drawn from Mary Douglas’ work on purity and taboo and Georges Bataille’s writing on the negative paths to mystical ecstasy.
Thursday 8 March 2017: Meeting Aleister Crowley & his Magick Evening Seminar at Treadwells, London – Marco Visconti Tonight is for people curious about the man, his philosophy and his magic…. Read more »
Treadwells Bookshop, London Friday 9 June Witchcraft Documentaries of the 1970s Lecture – Gary Parsons “Wicca rode on the countercultural sentiment of the late 60s onward. The 60s were a… Read more »
The London Working: Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June 2017 J Daniel Gunther presents: Self Beyond Self – The Holy Guardian Angel Blood in the Cup of Babalon – Across the… Read more »
Raymond Salvatore Harmon will speak on the history of witches ointments at the Wynd Museum in Hackney, London, on Tuesday 25 October 2016. He will talk about how these forms… Read more »
I have written elsewhere of my respect and admiration for the recently-published thesis by Patrick Everitt on the influence of peyote on the life and work of Aleister Crowley: The Cactus and… Read more »
Anyone lucky enough to be in Luxor this September is likely to be interested in this conference to be held over 5 days at the Mummification Museum. An interesting variety… Read more »
On the 4th of December 2015 e.v. in Skopje, Macedonia Henrik Bogdan, Associate Professor at the University of Gothenburg, will give a lecture on “Western Esotericism and Rituals of Initiation”…. Read more »
