#British Occultism

[vsthepomegranate]

Secret Rites (1971)

by Derek Ford

[piroshky]

Tarot cards by Mexican-British painter Leonora Carrington, 1955.

[occultesotericart]

The Archangel Michael

[majestativa]

The bouquet of wines and of blood, the perfume of honey and incense.

— Ithell Colquhoun, I Saw Water: An Occult Novel and Other Selected Writings, (2014)

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

"...ON SALE IN SEPTEMBER." -- THE CAPED CRUSADER MEETS THE INFERNAL OCCULT IN THE '80s.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on a DC Comics house ad for "Batman" Vol. 1 #426 & #427 (published August & September 1988, respectively), then promoting the "Batman: A Death in the Family" storyline.

PIC #2: Another horizontal DC house/print advertisement -- "Hellblazer" Vol. 1 (#'s 10-16, 1988-'89), introducing English artist Richard Piers Rayner on the John Constantine title.

Source: https://forum.sanctuary.fr/t/page-s-de-pub/185608/225.

[visardistofelphame]

A trigger warning for the content below. Suicide and abuse are lightly touched upon, so please keep that in mind when reading.

Here is the old article (if you need context)

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“Witchcraft is an old hag, dead and rotting. She sits on a pile of bones, and hides behind the graves of her elders. It is here where she lurks waiting for the right moment. Witchcraft hungers for youth, it hungers for you.”

It is said that the Craft has continued to survive, despite being ‘destroyed’ time and time again. No matter how many times it has been uprooted, it is a weed that will regrow. So why the visceral description? What is it about Witchcraft that invokes such violence and wrath within the imagination? Why link it to death? To cannibalism? To these things that are faux pas in our modern world?

Within the British traditions (as well as others I am certain), there was a push to change the viewpoint of what the Craft was to the general populace. The hope being to reveal it not as some boogeyman cult, but as a private faith as genuine and fulfilling as any other. The idea of acceptance and freedom was forefront, and it can be understandable why. Who doesn’t want those things? 

As a queer woman, I certainly crave acceptance and freedom. I imagine it's what we all want: to live as we will, unafraid of the threat of shame or assault. But what happens when societal mechanisms press down upon you? No one is specifically stopping you from living your life, free and happy. Yet, can anyone truly achieve those if we cannot even afford shelter and food? I can only speak from my understanding of the world, living within the USA. What was once the American Dream has transformed into a nightmare. The paralysis demon that is Despair and Dread, a future with no hope.

I sometimes wonder if my passion for the occult and (more specifically) witchcraft is an act of escapism? It's easy to understand why one would turn to the past for relief from the thought of what the future will bring. A bit of “Yeah, obviously” sort of thing. The idea of nostalgia isn’t new, whether it’s a longing for your childhood or for a history you were never a part of. I feel like it is a perfectly natural thing to experience. I know for me, it is less nostalgia for my childhood and more towards general history. 

I flocked to fairy tales, folktales, old Irish ballads, ghost stories, and was thrilled to learn history. I’ve always been fascinated by how people lived their lives, how the world once was. It seems natural that I would get caught up in the obscured parts of it, into the secret histories of the Occult. Though there was also a hidden side to my interests, an obsession with death. This is what led me to find Witchcraft. I know that not all are drawn to the Craft have experienced trauma in their life, but many I know have. I certainly have. Perhaps it is an aspect of the Craft being counter-culture, being quite attractive to those that are othered.

So what is my point? All I’ve described and talked about isn't revolutionary. These topics have all been discussed by far better writers than I. Yet, we each individually come to our own revelations and realizations about these things in our own time. It is the nature of the mystery, to be experienced. And for me, all this has brought me to the understanding that we aren’t any different from the peoples of the past. The struggles I’ve described have been universal, social society evolving alongside mankind. These feelings of a hopeless future, dread and despair? The only thing that’s different is the specific nuances: technology, our understanding of how the physical world operates, etc etc.

When writing the original piece, it was fueled by my feelings of anger and frustration, fueled by a spiteful hope - The acknowledgement that I will die, traditions die, movements die. Yet, death is part of a greater cycle and that such primal and universally human desires will never be gone for long. They can only be suppressed for so long, before boiling over. 

So I ask myself again, why did I write with such bloody description? I find the modern world to be oppressive when it comes to allowing the presence of healthy feminine rage. I was taught to be quiet and calm, only pleasing to others. The abuse and pain I had experienced was mere inconvenient to everyone else. It is a culmination of the many times that I had tried to end my own life, only to somehow still be alive and learn how to keep on living. A feeling of kinship to peoples long dead. 

Yet with all that said, who I am now is very different from who I was then. It's true of everyone and everything, we’re moments in time: always changing and always becoming. True of people and everything we have and will ever create. The revelation of my own understanding, both as a spiritual and physical creature. The even greater revelation that this is true for every person. 

“The very moment you step within the Sabbat these secrets are made possible. The witches are waiting there ready to teach and pass their secrets; however, are you ready to be dined upon by their wicked cannibalism? For when you are torn apart and thrown into the cauldron, the witch blood truly takes hold.”

I bring my entirety, whether I want to or not. The good and the bad, the love and hatred. No one is exempt from this. Things are not cookie cut perfectly as desired, everything is thrown in both good and bad. To a practice of those who have been othered, one cannot live in the fantasy that being othered prevents them from those same acts. We are all susceptible to misinformation, propaganda, bigotry and hate. The witches have a wicked cannibalism, they dine upon all of me. They dine upon all of those that seek this. And as I said before, “You are what you eat”

So to this diabolical nature, the untamed current of Witchcraft. No one group can ever hope to have ownership, despite some who have tried. No one controls when the witch cult rises and falls, it simply is and will continue to be. 

Please keep in mind that all this said, I do wish to note that all this is more towards the nature of Witchcraft as I understand it and have experienced it. The untamed nature is its own beast, so do not confuse it with the depths that is the well of magic. Even so, I know that the greatest mystery for any who explores these hidden paths: to know yourself.

Hope you all enjoyed going over an older article I had written back in 2018. My current practice has been heavily influenced from my dive into philosophy, so it's good to be able to write a think-piece like this. Nothing like a healthy dose of self analyzing to help get the creative juices flowing, though I hope that I'm not the only one~

[mfhunter]

[jareckiworld]

Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) — Scylla [oil on board, 1938]

[babschesterton]

doctor who and pagan sacrifice 🌙

[thesorcererpoet]

This is the book of Oberon, a working sorcerers grimoire from Elizabethan England.

A main part of my practice relies on old English folk magic, Bible magic and grimoire practices that were available here. This book represents a Cunning Man’s collection of excerpts from several different grimoires that had been compiled over time and used in a kind of modular fashion, depending on what was needed that day. It is packed full of amulets, charms, conjurations and rituals which reflect a lot of what the English tradition of magic was like at the time.

While I don’t think it is possible to practice like the cunning folk did, 500 odd years ago, I do think a very functional, modern day English magic practice can be put together using components and methods from these books. In fact this is how I have worked with this stuff for many years.

[vsthepomegranate]

Legend of the Witches (1970)

by Malcolm Leigh

[piroshky]

The Devil, Leonora Carrington, 1955.

[msclaritea]

Britain Lavender Mafia

In the British Lavender Mafia, those in a higher tier of society will usually strong-arm, trick or coerce new and younger artists in the industry, to take over their career, bleed them dry, pimp them out, and not just for sex. Sometimes, it may be for torture. They'll use the artists for everything, from getting attention for a project, asset collecting, and often, SPYING. Sometimes, the artist is SOLD as a child, to a wealthier family, according to Freemason laws. Yes. Freemasons buy and sell their children to each other. This is usually tied to Occult activity.

Special mention goes to Dakota Johnson for agreeing to spy on an old friend for Dorman in exchange for a part in a Kenneth Branagh film.

[majestativa]

What I experienced was in fact a desire for knowledge of the fundamentals of life, the unconscious, dreams and the soul’s intercarnate phases.

— Ithell Colquhoun, I Saw Water: An Occult Novel and Other Selected Writings, (2014)

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

DOCUMENTING THE "HEAVIEST BAND IN THE UNIVERSE" ON THEIR RETURN TRIP TO THE STATES.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on recently unearthed live shots of English stoner/DOOM metal band ELECTRIC WIZARD, during the band's second tour of the U.S.A., during their Portland and Chicago shows, c. June 2002.

EXTRA INFO: The black and white pic was taken on the WIZARD's tour bus (with Frank from SONS OF OTIS).

Source: www.reddit.com/r/doommetal/comments/1cetbip.

[thevideodungeon]

The City of the Dead/Horror Hotel (1960)

A movie that takes some very gothic horror concepts and puts them in a more modern setting. Overall decent occult horror tale with witches and cults and rituals that have an almost Lovecraftian feel to them given the premise of academic research leading to greater truths than expected. Just make sure to watch the original version, the US release—Horror Hotel—cuts out important dialogue that was deemed too inappropriate for delicate American ears.

6/10