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| Photo courtesy Wholly Books |
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I was very fortunate during the late eighties and early
nineties to attend a number of conferences that provided a template for all
round excellence and how I would come to feel such gatherings should function.
A conference featuring occult, mystical, and paranormal
themes, should obviously first and foremost provide great presentations from
notable interesting people. Ideally they should not just be dry and academic.
Such subject matter can be alive and full of voltage, having strong and varied effects
on those that are exposed to it.
The early Fellowship of Isis conventions were extraordinary
gatherings. They would feature eclectic ceremonials presided over by diverse,
inspired, powerful, knowledgeable, experienced individuals, sometimes brought
together for some unique episode. These ritual procedures could be tangibly
felt to be creating a non-ordinary space. The later experiences of those
present, stretching out months into the future, involving dreams, visions,
synchronicities, new or enhanced interests, spoke eloquently of the potency
present. There were straight-forward lectures as well but their topics were
such as to gel with the total effect and likewise provide stimulus for the
aspirant. I consider that the FOI was an effective Inner Plane Mystery School
in those days and to attend the conventions was to cross a threshold and for
that step to be somehow registered. More could easily follow.
I used the term aspirant instead of attendee or delegate.
People who go to such events are unlikely to be just passive consumers,
information nerds. They are bringing something in themselves that is actively
seeking to interact with what’s on offer in some way. They don’t want to leave
as exactly the same person they were when they arrived.
Andrew Collins Psychic Questing conferences often led some
of those present to plug into the lecture material and have visions and dreams
of their own relating to it. More than a few over the years had most unusual
experiences whilst the presentations were occurring right in front of them. The
most notable example was when the story of the discovery of some of the fabled
Meonia swords set off a vison that ultimately led to the location of another
sword.
During the same period of time that I was experiencing those
great events, I was also increasingly under the influence of the Glastonbury
effect. This is fully expounded in my Avalonian
Aeon. Suffice it to say here that the archetype of pilgrimage, of the
transformational journey to sacred places, still functions in the modern world,
still serves a deep need, and the mystical capital of Britain is a magnet for
many. I have long said that the place is not just a museum, a relic of the
past. That which gave the place its allure is still functioning today with
considerable multi-faceted power.
It’s an obvious idea to try and combine all of this, to have
an inner plane inferno of a conference in Glastonbury featuring a vibey combo
of unique talents. The allure of a visit to the place would be amplified
considerably.
Over the last few years this process has begun. There has
been a regular sequence of conferences, at some of which I’ve spoken myself,
where the cast of characters, and that includes the presenters and audience
together, have increasingly gelled. Momentum was established.
The organisers have changed and now the Visible College,
steered by the energetic networking of Sef Salem, are presiding. My personal
experiences at the recent Autumn Session have convinced me that escape velocity
has now been attained. The checklist from my remembrance of conferences past
got thoroughly ticked. The convergence was like something out of my Avalonian Aeon.
The date of my lecture, October 5th, was not set by me but it
happened to be the very halfway point of my personal year as my birthday is
April 5th, so that was initially a pleasing indication of a decent day.
I lectured on the connections between Crowley’s Book of the Law and Jung’s Seven Sermons to the Dead. It’s a topic
featured in my Aleister Crowley and the
Aeon of Horus. I’ve spoken on it before on a number of occasions, including
Blog Talk Radio. When I heard it was going to be filmed for subsequent internet
viewing I felt it was worthwhile to get a good powerpoint presentation together
and this led to me giving it a lot of attention.
There was a personal Glastonbury story that I intended to
add. It involved myself and Andrew Collins putting an Abraxas figurine on the
altar in the Mary chapel in Glastonbury Abbey and me reciting some of Jung’s
words from the Seven Sermons. It was
a strongly heretical action that could easily have caused offence although none
was intended. It led into my discovery of Jung’s little-known visit to Glastonbury.
In the weeks leading up to the conference, whilst I was
preparing my visuals, my attention was also energised by some news from the
Abbey. An event was set up in October featuring a Henry VIII impersonator. I
felt that this to be in dubious taste considering the fate of the Abbey, and
particularly its last Abbot, who was horribly murdered on the Tor by Henry’s
hit-squad. I wrote to our local paper expressing my disquiet.
With only a few days to go before the conference, Sef
discovered that the venue was double-booked. He was extremely fortunate to be
able to get the George and Pilgrim function
room. I immediately knew what this meant. The building dates back to the last
days of the Abbey. Its function room sports a large portrait of Henry VIII.
On the Thursday before the conference, the Central Somerset Gazette featured the
Henry controversy, quoting extensively from the letter I had written. In nearly
twenty years of living here, after perhaps two-hundred public presentations and
three books written and published here, this was the most visible I have ever
been in this town.
So, on the exact halfway point of my year, watched very
closely by Henry VIII (his portrait was barely six feet away from me), I spoke,
last person on a two-day event, of my terrible Abbey Abraxas heresies whilst
being simultaneously the defender of the Abbey’s history and heritage. A
wonderful Jungian coincidence of opposites. The timing and convergence of
events was remarkable and clearly a manifestation of my mysterious True Will,
the star that I truly am.
That such spectacularly weird shit can manifest in a
Glastonbury occult conference I take to be a very good sign indeed. The machine
is switched on. The whole damn gathering was outstanding. All the presenters
shone. We have a film record to prove it. All of this clearly psyches us up nicely
for the next one. I’m going to be following through on my Gnostic revival theme
by lecturing on another old favorite of mine, the Babalon Working. I look
forward to next March and another equinoctial tide.
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