Summer of Love

Scarlet Imprint present a veritable Summer of Love distilled into one brimful cup of intoxication, illumination and revelation.

Speakers, dancers, performance art, and ritual combine to create a truly magical happening in a secret, central and spectacular location from eleven until eleven.

This is a limited numbers ticket only event.

Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold author of Palo Mayombe: The Garden of Blood and Bones will be leaving behind the jungles of Brazil to make a rare UK appearance. He will be ritually opening the event, presenting and launching his new title for Scarlet Imprint: Pomba Gira & the Quimbanda of Mbumba Nzila.
(Pre-order and details of this title will be sent to our subscribers in July.)
ritual + presentation

Jake Stratton-Kent has been lured from the West Country to talk on ‘Familiar and Unfamiliar Spirits’. Exploring the Lares Compitales, Viales and Familiaris as the origin of the Verum spirit and Kimbanda Exu crossover. A tour de force, combining his work on the Grimorium Verum, the origins of magic as expressed in Geosophia and their flowering in the cults of the New World.
presentation

Peter Grey dissects one of the most notorious of the grimoire rituals, through Grand Grimoire, Red and Black Dragons, paring back the layers of artifice to a raw shamanic confrontation ‘In the skin of the Beast’. An exegesis with far reaching implications for grimoire magicians and their dealings with Lucifer.
presentation

Alkistis Dimech articulates the occult anatomy of the dancer, exploring the mysteries of concealment and revelation through the body. Physical praxis, cross-tradition research and an appetite for the carnal, trangressive and irrational have led her to reorient the body as the primal present and archaic source of knowing. In the ‘Mirror of Sacrifice’ the dancer encounters self as sacrifice, the act as divine epiphany, and the manifestation of Life in Death. Among the themes covered may be: imitation and doubling; witnessing & the dynamic of an audience; and a disclosure of some techniques to create what she calls ‘the lucid body’.
presentation + evening performance

Ulysses Black is not a name known to the occult community, despite having generated, under different guises, considerable interest through much sought after publications and artwork. As Ulysses Black he assails the issue of identity through performance art and ritual action. From influences such as Joseph Beuys and Hermann Nitsch as well as the Western Magical Tradition he plots a return to mythical Ithaca.
presentation + evening performance

Michael Azzato, a devotee of Babalon, will be peforming an Egyptian Sha’abi Dance.
evening performance

Nous will be on decks and effects, unfurling Ismaili Gnostic soundscapes in a storm of sonic heresy.
evening performance

Tickets:
A day and night event ticket costs £15
A day ticket costs £10

Tickets are available here: http://www.scarletimprint.com/summeroflove.htm

E-tickets will be sent out with the location details and directions.
This is a zero profit event run for the magical community.

Getting there:
Brighton is an hour from London by train from Victoria or London Bridge station.
Brighton train station is five minutes walk from the venue.
Trains return to London until late.

http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/

The Pool Valley bus station is a five minute walk from the venue.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/destinations/england/south/brighton/brighton-coach-station.aspx

Car share and accomodation offers and requests can be found on the Facebook event page.

About Brighton:
Brighton is the pleasure city of the Regency period and beyond. An artistic and bohemian idyll, the cremation place of Crowley, the ground zero of TOPY, queer, proud and vibrant. It abounds with bed and breakfasts, hostels and hotels for those who wish to stay overnight or make a weekend of it.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Myrrh, Frankincense and Pirate Gold

A review of the day of the Magi

Something has changed. A tangible sense of community is being felt with every new event, and Day of the Magi continued that momentum. Rather than a magickal scene riven and divided into cliques and petty politics, everything is entering into a molten state where we are united by what we share. The false tribal divisions of the past are being put aside as a new magic is articulated. As Jake Stratton-Kent points out, we are in the process of a magical revival in the West. So when we talk of a new magic here, and of the magical revolution, we are not entering into another post-modern collage, neither whimsy nor sci-fi, rather we are honestly acknowledging both what we have, and what we have lost.

We were fortunate to have Stephen Skinner lecture, as there is no doubt that Stephen is the most important magician that we have in our community, whose unstinting work in manuscript research and publication is of the utmost importance to all of us. We acknowledge our very public debt of gratitude to him and the work that he has gifted us with. The work being produced through Golden Hoardis essential if we are to understand where our magic has come from, and the personal commitment Stephen has made to unearthing this is staggering. We do not envy him the task of deciphering Dee’s handwriting and restoring order to the drenched, misbound, shuffled folios, of arguing with Russian officials to let him see Solomonic books, of keeping his pledges.Stephen spoke on the grimoire roots of Enochian magic, and the apocalyptic context of Dee and the Angelic transmissions. This is an important counterpoint to the idea that Dee’s work sprung from nowhere. This echoed many of the ideas I put forward in my essay Seeing Through Apocalypse in XVI. Stephen traced the entire history of magic through European history and, like Jake Stratton-Kent, emphaised the importance of Greek magic rather than the modern over emphasis of Cabbalah. He spoke of the steps of conjuration, of the shyness of spirits, of lost fay gates, of chinese sorcery and more.  It was a tour de force.There is certainly a difference of style between Jake, piratical and punkish, and Stephen’s measured confidence. But both these eminent magicians are telling the same story: There is gold in them thar grimoires…

Photo credit: Mrs Midian

However, they emphasise different points; Jake as a necromancer is furious on behalf of the dead. That the dead have been excised from our tradition must be rectified, and Jake speaks here for the people of the cemetery as few people do. Jake stands at the crossroads of both ancient Greece and the modern African diaspora religions. Stephen has plunged into the library stacks of Europe and the operative magical cultures of the Far East. Both give us much to consider as we stand at our own crossroads, understand what paths we are on and which we must take.

We are not starting with a blank slate to scrawl on, we are not engaged in self-help psychology or NLP. We are the inheritors of a long-standing spirit tradition, but one of broken transmissions. The excitement of our time is that we have the available material to ressurect Western magic, and with the connections being made at these gatherings, this is exactly what is happening. We spoke with witches, wiccans, pagans, druids, members of the Golden Dawn, IOT, OTO, ceremonial magicians and cunning folk not in the language of cult speak, but as individuals learning from each other.

We must also mention Mike Slater who spoke on Bristolian legends of exorcism, poltergeists, demonologists and cunning folk. Charlotte Rodgers explored some of the sanguine themes of her latest Mandrake book, The Bloody Sacrifice. David Cypher on Franz Bardon’s spagyrics and what sounded a lot like proto-chaos magic. Most of all our thanks to the organisers (special mention for Michelle Newitt and Phil Cunningham) and all who attended both locally and from across England and Wales who made the event what it was and what our magic is becoming.

We will further be hosting a Scarlet Imprint happening on Saturday August 20 in Brighton, more details to follow and we hope to see many of you there to continue this fertile dialogue.

The Argo of Magic

A new and extensive review posted for Geosophia at the Eyeless Owl blog:

“The word ‘goes’ relates to terms describing the act of lamenting at funeral rites; the mournful howling considered as a magical voice. These magical tones can guide the deceased to the underworld, and raise the dead. This is the root of the long connection of goetia with necromancy, which as come to be termed black magic.”

- from the Introduction to Geosophia, by Jake Stratton-Kent

There was a time when laws were given through Divine inspiration, and those who spoke them were raised to the level of the gods they served.  Perhaps the most familiar example of this in the Western culture is the reception of the tables of law given to Moses on Mount Sinai (or Horeb depending on the tradition), but this tradition exists in nearly every culture across the world. According to the scholar Peter Kingsley it was a common practice in the ancient world that such receptions were required to be heard in times of trouble. Whether it was disease, famine, or war, if someone came forward with a Divinely inspired revelation, irregardless of their social standing, that revelation was to be respected and given a fair hearing lest the society suffer further due to its neglect.

Such a practice has obvious problems for Imperial rule, or corporate oligarchy, and throughout history the role of the Prophet has never been without it’s attendant risks. When the ruling elite decides to ignore Divine decree those speaking with the voice of Divinity are quickly rounded up and sentenced to death, and the instruments and practices of cultivating Divine contact are fought with laws, taboos and mockery seeking to silence them. In the Western Tradition these practices have, since before the onset of the Roman Catholic Empire, faced this process of denigration. Starting with arguments against the folly of metaphysics by Greek and Roman rationalists, and continuing into laws against witchcraft and divination, these taboos have remained in place  in one form or another for millennium.

While there are many downsides to the cultural confusion of our time, there are also benefits to the disintegration of boundaries and cultural unity. Jake Stratton-Kent’s study of the grimoire tradition presents one of the most cohesive examples of these benefits in it’s exploration of the ancient goetic practice and its roots in pre-Greco-Roman traditions and the Mystery cults of the ancient world. His latest work, Geosophia – The Argo of Magic, is a 628 page survey of the history, practice and continuation of the Goetic tradition. It forms the second part of his Encyclopedia Goetia, which began with the publication of The Encyclopedia Goetica Volume One: The True Grimoire, both available in multiple editions from Scarlet Imprint.

Stratton-Kent shares the drive to reinvigorate and actualize the Western tradition that Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech, the proprietors of Scarlet Imprint, express in a previous interview hosted on The Eyeless Owl. He has spent nearly four decades studying the grimoire tradition first hand, both as a practitioner and scholar, and his expertise shines throughout the pages of Geosophia. While the book’s depth as a scholarly work is undeniable it contains no dry academic pretensions, it presents a vivid and living tradition.

“…the goal should be the acquisition of mastery of symbolic languages, in order to compose rites and texts for oneself. Misguided imitation of our predecessors, and purely retrospective approaches fall short of an attainment that, while devoutly wished for by many, is lost if this is not well understood.”

- from Geosophia, Jake Stratton-Kent

Despite it’s notoriety, the goetic tradition has  roots in practices that were once central to the health and cohesion of society.  Students of Philosophy inundated with the drudgery of the current academic interpretation of ancient thinkers will be surprised to find the names of Pythagoras and Empedocles along side John Dee and Edward Kelly as practitioners of the Art.

The role of the goes in ancient society was to be the mediator between worlds, similar to the shamanic practices found in Siberia, South America and Eurasia. What has fallen into disrepute when labeled as necromancy was once the auspicious role of ‘guide of souls’ in past cultures.

Given the ability to contact, and speak, with the recent and ancestral dead the goes was responsible for maintaining the integrity of the society through mediating the connections of past, present and future.  Moving further along the horizontal axis of existence they were also responsible for maintaining relationships with the elemental and natural spirits. On the vertical axis the goes was given the task of maintaining a relationship with the cthonic and celestial entities that came to be defined as demons or angels in the Christianized tradition of the classic grimoires.

“In short, what I advocate is forming a similar relationship to the spirits of our magical traditions to that of our counterparts in other cultures. This is quite simply the most substantial means of revitalizing western magic available; infinitely preferable to the despicable procedures of the Goetia of Solomon, which simply reflect the spirit-negative attitudes of an outdated theology.”

- from Geosophia, by Jake Stratton-Kent

While most of Geosophia covers the development of the Greco-Roman traditions and their influence on European grimoires, Stratton-Kent’s cross cultural conversations imbue the work with a deeper connective value.  The living Western tradition is in a state of flux, the majority of initiatic Orders are hesitant to acknowledge or embrace direct contact with the roots of practice, or have relegated much of it to rote routine or psychologized archetypal therapies.  As he points out this is not a viable option for those who truly want to connect with the goetic tradition.  In order to rediscover what lies at the root Stratton-Kent utilizes, but does not co-opt, the experiences of those who still follow traditions similar in nature to goetia, such as the African Traditional Religions and magical traditions such as Palo, Candoble, Voudon, and Hoodoo.

This cross cultural communication mirrors similar developments in the ancient goetic tradition. Greek religion went through many transitions as it moved into the Classical period that lead to the familiar state cults and Olympian pantheon that are the most familiar representations we hear about.  Stratton-Kent details the emergence of the Mystery cults focusing on Dionysus, Orpheus and Attis that coalesced during the decline of the state religion. Through the influence of Thracian, Etruscan and Phrygian rites and Mysteries, these sects served to reinvigorate traditions predating the classic period.

Rene Guenon indicates that in folk traditions one can find active strains of past practices, and Stratton-Kent uses this to successfully uncover the active beliefs of goetic practice by comparing the textual evidence of standard western sources, such as Agrippa, Dee and the various Renaissance grimoires, with living traditions such as Hoodoo.

Although this may seem odd at first, Hoodoo classics such as the 6th and 7th Books of Moses are nothing less than goetic miscellanies. Through observing, conversing and understanding how contemporary traditions utilize these texts, Stratton-Kent opens the true nature of the grimoire work.

“Magic is not a no-risk vocation…Madness or other disasters may threaten; even destroy the unprepared magician who loses the golden thread. However, as a notorious magician once said, an initiatory ordeal that has no risk of failure is not an ordeal.”

- from Geosophia, by Jake Stratton-Kent

Drawing from these traditions brings goetia out of the standard taboos of diabolical practice, but it also brings to the forefront misunderstandings and racist fears plaguing African Traditional Religions in the West. While Western magic has had it’s teeth pulled by the psychologizing effects of Carl Jung, and the pacification of New Age corruptions, blood still runs hot in the veins that Stratton-Kent taps in finding the roots of goetia. It is in balancing this fact with an equally powerful wisdom tradition that Geosophia truly emerges as a profound work.

Through focusing on the deeper connotations of the traditions he explores, Stratton-Kent is able to bring out the gnostic elements inherent in the grimoires. Pointing to the initiatory nature of the texts and rituals, he successfully demonstrates that beyond the surface exists profound examples of techniques and meditations for fostering a fluid and unified consciousness.

Stratton-Kent provides a thorough study of the mytho-poetic elements of the goetic tradition which, as he states in the introduction to Geosophia, provides the basis for a true relationship with the spirits and entities encountered in the work. There is no sword waving coercion here, the focus in on an interpersonal dialogue with existence, and follows the more reverent practices found in grimoires such as the Sworn Book of Honorius, where we find goetic rituals attuned to Divine Union and participation rather than the demon baiting and uncritically malefic atmosphere that attends many of the later grimoires.

Another interesting exploration that moves throughout the work is the relationship of the goetic tradition to the ancient metal working sects. For those interested in the current resurgence of alchemical exploration Geosophia provides a valuable overview of the ritual, cultural and mythological settings of ancient metal working and gives strong hints towards the true nature of the Great Work.

Just as the Argo carried Jason and his companions on their quest to find the Golden Fleece, Geosophia – The Argo of Magic recovers the hidden tradition of goetia. This is a goetia that lives and breathes with the spirits it connects to.

This review has been reproduced with permission from the original on the excellent Eyeless Owl blog here: http://theeyelessowl.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/argo_of_magic

Draco Edition

The Draco edition of Geosophia is hand bound in quarter veiny vellum.
The differences in the arterial patterns ensure that every copy is unique.

The spine is illumintated with divine lightning revealing the weighty coils of the serpent, guardian of cthonic knowledge, from whom the golden fleece has been stolen.
The boards are finished with a sumptuous double marbled gold, purple and black paper.
The edition is ribboned and presented in a slipcase to form a set with its companion The True Grimoire.

All 54 copies have been reserved.

It only remains for each copy to be signed by the author Jake Stratton-Kent.
We will then send the books by courier to their destinations.
All books will be sent out in Mid-March.

Our readers in the United States will be aware that Homeland Security is causing delays to all inbound parcel post, however, this is not impacting on courier services.

We look forward to sending out these beautiful books.

Our congratulations once again to Jake Stratton-Kent for having the vision to pursue the grimoires back to their roots and produce a book which transforms our understanding of what the Western Tradition actually means.

Geosophia free pdf sample

We would like to share the Introduction to Jake Stratton-Kent’s Geosophia as a pdf.
This extract showcases JSK’s formidable talent as scholar, writer and magician. An opening salvo in a major two volume work of epic scope.
It is our contention that Geosophia is a defining moment for the Western Magical Tradition, a text which asks us to fundamentally rethink our history. To seek an origin for our magic not simply in late Qabalah or the Golden Dawn and its offshoots, but in a far older strata which JSK convincingly argues has been transmitted to us through the Grimoires.

geosophia pdf

Wishing you all the best for 2011.

A year which promises radical change.

Ars Goetia

A selection of images from the launch of Geosophia for those who could not make it through the ice and snow. Jake Stratton-Kent will be giving further talks in the UK in the Spring for those that missed out. Geosophia will be recognised as a truly transformative book which redefines the way in which we approach and Work goetic magic.

Opening with Liber Pyramidos

A working Verum altar

Jake reads from the /rouge edition of Geosophia

Johnny Jakobsson of Diabolical fame was on electrifying form

We would especially like to thank the Swedish contingent for coming over, Mrs Midian for the photographs and of course Misha for organising the event.

The /rouge edition of Geosophia is available and we hope the standard hardback will be with us soon, despite the delay with our printer. We will both blog and email as soon as it is in stock.

Gathering Grimoires

The Grimoire Gathering in Clun was a good opportunity to hear some very different perspectives on the grimoires. Carrying on the tradition of the well respected Ludlow Esoteric Conference, this was a gathering for practitioners.  These events are always small affairs, but over a hundred people assembling  in this remote location is quite an achievement.

David Cypher spoke on the importance of Cornelius Agrippa, and although The Three Books of Occult Philosophy are not a grimoire, the ideas collated by Agrippa make this text one of the cornerstones of modern magic. Our own copy of Three Books is well thumbed, bookmarked and often consulted. It is, as David Cypher demonstrated, a key part of the education of any practical magician. With many students looking for ‘advanced magic books’ it is easy to neglect the fundamentals which Agrippa introduces.
David Rankine’s essay on Agrippa’s magic squares in Howlings is worth mentioning here for those who have not read it and wish to understand how the kameas and their sigils work.

The whole out of copyright text of The Three Books of Occult Philosophy can be found free online here: http://www.esotericarchives.com/agrippa/

Though we find the electronic form unwieldy, it is useful when researching.
We also recommend the Llewellyn version edited by Donald Tyson with extensive footnotes. Tyson also has substantial essays which appear in Howlings and Diabolical.

Our friend David Rankine of Golden Hoard spoke on the Key of Solomon, talking about its origins in the Greek Hygromanteia. Though we personally disagree with him over the use of angels to constrain demons, David as ever gave a strong performance covering a lot of ground and material. His enthusiasm and knowledge of the grimoires shone through. His work with Stephen Skinner in collating the MS of the grimoire tradition is one of the most important publishing endeavours in modern magical history.

We had been looking forward to seeing Jake Stratton-Kent again and he did not disappoint. On rollickingly good form Jake set out his argument that grimoire magic, seen through the lens of his extensive work with the Grimorium Verum, can be traced to the figure of the ancient Greek Goes. His thesis completely changes the way we see Western magic, rather than a reliance on late influences such as Qabalah, we can see a direct line from the grimoires to the spirit contact and necromancy of the chthonic world. Fizzing with energy and passion, Jake further laid out how this reconnection can take us into a new fusion of Western grimoire magic with the living traditions of the African Traditional Religions. It was a tour de force.

Geraldine Beskin of Atlantis rounded off the day with an entertaining  biography of Frederick Hockley.

We were pleased to meet more of our readers and friends in the flesh. It is always a pleasure.

We hope that this event will be repeated.

Jake will be speaking again in Bath this weekend and his new work Geosophia will soon be available for subscriber pre-order.

Geosophia: The Argo of Magic

It has been a long summer in the mountains for Scarlet Imprint, and now we are breaking our silence. The reason for our silence has been simple: Work.

We are preparing the latest manuscript from Jake Stratton-Kent for publication, the sequel, or perhaps that should be prequel, to The True Grimoire.

JSK has been receiving much deserved acclaim for the contribution that he has made to the grimoire tradition by making a working conjuror’s version of the Grimorium Verum available.  Rather than the obfuscation and grand sounding statements that characterise much occult writing, Jake has the clear and concise expression that come from his many years serving as a practicing necromancer dedicated to his art and the spirits. His essay in Diabolical is a benchmark, perhaps the clearest exposition of how to perform Goetic ritual that has ever made it into print.  His credentials are impressive, an interview and overview of his magical career can be found on our new authors page: http://www.scarletimprint.com/authors.htm

The next work in his Encyclopaedia Goetica series is soon to follow. This is a massive production of two weighty volumes that have deserved our full attention. With some flourish we can reveal that Geosophia: The Argo of Magic will be released this Autumn in both Scarlet Imprint and Bibliotheque Rouge editions.

The True Grimoire will also be appearing this Winter as a Bibliotheque Rouge edition, as the Scarlet Imprint Death’s Head Edition will sell out. Copies still available here

Geosophia is a very important text. Tracing the development of magic from the Greeks to the grimoires it lays bare the chthonic roots of ritual. By exposing the necromantic origins of much of modern magic we are able to reconnect with the source of our ritual tradition. There is a continuity of practice in the West which encompasses the pre-Olympian cults of Dionysus and Cybele, is found in the Greek Magical Papyri and Picatrix and flows into the grimoires. Rather than a muddle of superstition, the grimoire tradition is revealed as the living descendant of the ancient practices of the Goes. Both a scholarly and eminently practical work, Geosophia equips the modern grimoire magician with an arsenal of techniques and approaches that will transform their personal art. The mythic structure of Geosophia anchors  the practice of the modern necromancer in an indigenous yet eclectic history which transfuses the Western Magical Tradition with the same vitality that we find in the African diaspora religions. It is a remarkable descent into the Underworld, bringing forth new life.

A full description of Geosophia and pre-order details will be sent to our subscriber list in due course.
If you are not already on our email list you may join by sending an email to scarletimprint@gmail.com   with the subject line subscribe.

Grimoire Gathering 2010

Scarlet Imprint are pleased to announce that we are supporting the Grimoire Gathering 2010.
The event is taking place on Saturday September 11 2010 in Shropshire on the Welsh Borders.
We will be selling books and our author Jake Stratton-Kent will be speaking on The True Grimoire.

The full line up for the day is:

David Cypher on Agrippa & the Four Books of Occult Philosophy
David Rankine on The Key of Solomon
Jake Stratton-Kent on the Grimorium Verum
Geraldine Beskin on Frederick Hockley, Magician

This promises to be a serious event, given the credentials of the speakers and the heritage of the organisers.
If you are a committed student or practitioner in the grimoire tradition this is an essential event.

The website for the event is still under construction, but tickets are available online now at a very reasonable £10 a head.

http://grimoiregathering2010.yolasite.com/

Underworld Apothecary

For those working with the Grimorium Verum and in need of magickal supplies we can recommend the Underworld Apothercary, an online botanica run by Jake Stratton-Kent.
Virtual doors have just opened on this underworld, with all the inks, oils, washes and powders needed for hoodoo or grimoire practice.

It is often difficult to find these supplies, especially in England where botanicas are rare. It is also important to be able to trust the people who are preparing and working with the herbs and substances. We can think of no better person than JSK in this respect, given his unrivalled knowledge and continuous practice. This is a personal recommendation from Scarlet Imprint.

Jake Stratton-Kent is the most notorious necromancer in England, with 37 years of experience working in the grimoire tradition.

A profile of JSK, interviews and published works can be found here

His second volume of the Encyclopaedia Goetica is in preparation and will be published by Scarlet Imprint in 2010.

http://www.underworld-apothecary.com/