FoolishPeople

Future Selves And Summers On The Shore

There were fireworks that Fourth of July, bright lights in the night sky of her eyes. She was seventeen to my twenty one, but what’s three months between friends? There wasn’t much about her that wasn’t attractive really, but when she pressed her lips into mine it was the ring through her septum that had my attention; tiny, golden, perfect. She tasted like kine bud, and smelled like summer sweat making love to ripe mangoes. We had met the day before, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d known her for years. I don’t know, maybe it was the way she bit me - right where neck meets collar bone - that jogged the memory.

I was still feral at twelve. We used to meet up near this big rock that sat up above the parking lot of a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom  Hall. The top had a rimmed basin, semi circular bench carved out of stone for us by Mother Nature. We knew everyone those days, so I was kind of surprised to see someone I didn’t recognize sitting there when I arrived. No matter how hard I try I can never quite remember his face. What I actually remember most is the thick rich smell from his cigar. One of those really fat ones, smoked down to nearly a stub. The hood on his black sweatshirt was pulled up over his head, and he was sitting as though he had been waiting for me. He nodded greetings and launched into his story.

One of those perfect summer nights when your drunk is deep and clean, great pot, better company, and the location…He described that town the way musicians talk about their favorite guitar. Picture postcard perfect small town up on the north shore; the way he described it, from the way the docks swayed lazy on the bay to the smell of waffles cones and ice cream floating on the breeze, reminded me of the town my Grandmother lives in.“Sounds like Manchester by the Sea” I blurted out. He smiled like as if at an inside joke. “Yeah, man, you know the place huh?”

He had been introduced to the kid sister of his cousin’s best friend. She was up from Florida for the week. They had hit it off and this did not sit well with her big brother. Understandable, but compounded further by the fact that she was four very formative years younger than my new friend. His cousin attempted to keep a peace, but when the bottle of tequila came out they all learned one of life’s little truths: It’s virtually impossible to stay mad at a man who keeps you in free drinks. Stubbing out his cigar he said, “You know, my cousin asked me to steer clear of her. He was just trying to avoid hurt feelings and broken noses, but if I had listened, I’d have lost out on one of my favorite memories. Remember that kid.”

That was pretty much that. He headed off down the same path I had come up. No doubt it had been a great story but I forgot about the whole incident soon enough; until my twenty first summer anyway. When it all came back I couldn’t help but laugh. “Did I tickle you?” she asked. “No, it’s just that I suddenly remembered why you’re so familiar.” She looked at me, eyes full of questions. I gave her kisses instead of explanations and she seemed ok with that.

Those four days went down just like the story I’d been told nine years earlier. Her brother copped an attitude until we buried hatchets over a bottle of Cuervo. My cousin begged me to lay off just this once, and fortunately I didn’t listen. I drove her to the airport for her flight home to Florida. Saying our good byes she hugged me so tightly that I can still feel her brown arms around my waist. I knew then he had been right, those four days would be one of my all time favorite memories.

Memories are weird things though and I will cop to the fact that I’m still not entirely sure I didn’t just dream that cigar smoking motherfucker who had made sure with a brilliant narrative that I wouldn’t rob either one of us of some of the best nights of our life. I don’t take chances though, so lets just say I’m not a smoker but I carry a cigar; and in those times and spaces where time and space are not so certain I make sure to drop in on my past and keep the light on for my future selves.

Oh…and if you’re interested in just how exactly I do that, keep your eyes on this space.

“Cosmic Blast” Stimulating Mystical Experience Washes over Earth?

A most curious report is circulating in the Kremlin today, submitted by Colonel Boris Sokolov of the Ministry of Defense, one of Russia’s top UFO investigators, and wherein he states that ‘embedded’ within last months largest ever recorded Cosmic Blast was a ‘40 megahertz radio wave coded signal’ that could ‘stimulate’ the electromagnetic activity of religiously devout people by ‘substantially altering’ their brain frequencies.
The areas of the brain of devout followers of religion most likely to have ‘received’ this ‘cosmic message’, this report continues, had previously been identified by French Researchers from the University of Montreal, and who stated about their research:

“The main goal of the study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience. Rather than there being one spot that relates to mystical experiences, we’ve found a number of brain regions are involved. This does not diminish the meaning and value of such an experience and neither does it confirm or disconfirm the existence of God,” explained lead researcher of the study Dr Mario Beauregard. ”

Colonel Sokolov continues in his report by stating that this ‘cosmic message’ would be first ‘understood’ by the most devoted followers of religion as their brain frequencies are more attuned to the 40 megahertz radio wave and that these people would be, most likely, found in cults.

Now, and most curiously, following this ‘cosmic message’ blasted at our Earth, both the United States and European Union have launched near simultaneous crackdowns against their respective religious cults…

If true the above has to be one of the most interesting pieces of news I have heard in a long time, for many different reasons. JH

Found Via Signs of the Witness

Future Perfect Past Tense

When I look back over the stories that make up my life, sometimes it's like the chicken and the egg. You know, which came first? "Time is nonlinear." It's only three words and so easy to agree with intellectually, but the experience of it? Well, let me give you an example.

When I was just starting to grow up too fast, my best friend introduced me to my first love. For the better part of the bus ride home my friend told me about this girl. She was amazing and beautiful and he had no idea if she liked him at all, but he had to find out. I still remember his exact words, "You have experience with the ladies; you have to talk to her for me." To this day I have no idea how he came to such an astoundingly wrong conclusion, but because he was my best friend and because neither of us had read Cyrano de Bergerac, I agreed to do as he asked.

That afternoon was the kind of hot that only comes on the back of an Indian Summer. The sky was ready to rain green, and she was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Blonde hair and blue eyes; a cliché, I know, but she wore it well. When she spoke, it was all over for me. Her voice was deep, rough at the edges, utterly feminine, and made me quiver. After a while I pulled her aside to talk privately.

Swallowing my feelings for her, I readied myself to speak on my friend's behalf, but when I opened my mouth something peculiar happened. My vision blurred, like the air was humming and suddenly I was watching from the backseat. The conversation was short and sweet, and I was far more charming than any twelve year old boy has a right to be. She confessed that it was me she really liked, and asked her friend to deliver a close-but-no-cigar message to my friend. When he read it he didn't even look at me, he just got up and left.  I had gone to win her heart for him and kept it for myself instead. It was a betrayal and we both knew it. My sense of loyalty was outraged, but I was so disoriented all I could do was stand there with a dumb look on my face. One of the older kids came over, put a beer in my hand and said, "Don't worry, he'll get over it." I had never had a beer before, but I was positive it was exactly what I needed.

Now, I love a good cliché, so I don't mind telling you that I'll never forget that afternoon, but I will throw in a twist. I'll always remember that day because it's the first time I felt the hand of a Future Self moving me in a direction I had neither the social graces nor the experience to move in myself.

Running into a Future Self like that is both profound and unnervingly weird. What makes it weirder still for me is that in the narrative I've pieced together and called My Life, this event happens before I start working with time magick. The more you work with time, just how nonlinear it is really sinks in, and makes it very hard to say for sure who or what you really are. There's this strange feeling to it, like everything is totally predestined, but at the same time, feeling like you can do or change nearly anything. This contradiction and all the confusion it brings is enough to make anyone ask, "Why bother with time magick?" That's why I wanted to share this story in particular.

Eventually I patched things up with my friend, and though we still talk to this day, if I had never spoken with him again, that would have been okay. I had moments with that girl I wouldn't trade for anything. That slice of life we shared was so important to me that I reached out to myself across time to make sure it happened. This kind of thing can't happen in the 3d world with its linear concept of time, but because I've experienced it, I know there is more. Who doesn't want more, for themselves, their children, this planet? Yes, there is confusion; yes, things can go wrong, but because I want more; for and of the things I love, I push forward into this uncharted and un-chartable territory. No one said crashing the gates of Eden would be easy, but I promise you, it's worth it.

Tower Five - Klint Finley

Klint Finley lives in Portland, OR and is the organizer of Portland Occulture, executive director of Esozone, and the editor of Technoccult. When not chained to his computer he can be found riding his bike, dueling with his fellow Mu Ryu practitioners, and exposing his ignorance at pub trivia contests

Tower Five Right click to save.

Tower Six - Brenden J.G. "Bing" Simpson

"Brenden J.G. "Bing" Simpson was a Canadian presenter, writer, and musician whose career lasted from 1999 until his disappearance. He was especially famous for his work in the musical duo The Young Jungs. Jazz musician Phil Lectrum has described Simpson as being "the first hip white person born north of Infictive County."

Tower Six Right Click to save.

Oracle Interview with John Harrigan

Over a year ago, John Harrigan met his friend David Blank in the basement of Treadwell's Book Shop, having just completed his thirteen-month residency at the Horse Hospital, where he wrote, directed and performed in the 'Dark Nights of the Soul' Anthology of rituals; a powerful and emotional journey for everyone involved.

The interview, which explores John's approach to magick, weaponized art and society, and also discusses his views on archetypes, retroactive magick and time was published in David's Oracle Occult magazine in Issue 8: Blue Moon 2007.

David has kindly given us a PDF of the interview in its entirety, so is now available for download on FP.com.

Thank you to David once again for transcribing this incredible interview. No-one else could have produced such a close piece which captures the true essence of the Dark Nights Anthology.

You can keep updated on the latest issues of The Oracle Occult Magazine at: www.oracleoccult.com and www.myspace.com/oracleoccultmagazine

"Time becomes this big sheet, this landscape, that you exist within that is not linear and as you go further into that landscape it gets more complicated to explain what you are...Time to me is absolutely non-linear and things are happening now that are effecting my past that don't go through you as a creation, as a person, it's literally happening then and it effects you straight away in the future...We did a lot of work in Dark Nights, in cycle three, with a future-selves working, which is where we take people through a magickal ritual to experience, to meet, themselves in the future and this future self would talk to that person and give set information." John Harrigan, The Oracle Occult Magazine

Download John Harrigan - Oracle Interview.pdf Right Click to save.

The Book of Hate

Coming>2008 - Yiri T. Khol - John Harrigan

Dead Language - Photo Archive

A Photo archive is now live of FoolishPeople's run of Dead Language at the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

It contains photographs by Cecile Mella, Brian Jones and Yiri T. Khol.

FoolishPeople are in the process of preparing for next year.

Birth

Photo by Brian Jones.

Dead Language - The Times Top Five Events

Dead Language is featured in The Times top five events.

Dead Language - ICA - Opens this Thursday

Dead Language. Image: Simon Houghton

Platoons of the latest replicas of Banksy roam the landscape, led by General Clone Banksy, a talentless nobody who once found a sample of Banksy DNA on an empty spray can.

A rowdy gang of Tracey Emins wrestle half a dozen dazed Andy Warhols to the ground. It is the future and all forms of art are free, perfect replicas exist of every masterpiece ever created, copyright and ownership are meaningless, ideas are cheap and replicated ad infinitum.

Artists have realised that their own identity is the only thing they can own or control, so fans become clones of artists in order to spread their art/identity. One final piece of uncorrupted art remains, yet to be copied: a living story told by Neonate Muses.

Come and experience the living story and see how the world died with FoolishPeople's immersive, evolving performance in the ICA theatre.

The Membrane

As we head into the performance week I find myself humbled once again by the support FP has received. I want to thank you all. Everyone who has been a part of getting us to the ICA.

If you want things to change in regards to entertainment and Art, if you want to stop being fed utter shit, then we all need to stop passively consuming what is on offer at the local cinema or easily found within your comic shop or local Virgin store. 

FP is at a crucial stage and we need to show that their is an audience for our work. So I'm asking you to come along and witness what we have created. If you believe in what we are trying to accomplish then tell your friends about what you have discovered.  Help us break times hymen. If you want us to break through the membrane then maybe now is the time to support us with your own magick to give us that extra push.

And if your coming to see Dead Language, see you on the other side.

John Harrigan Interview - Alterati.

"When you learn how to write an article(tm), you are generally taught that you’re supposed to frame things for your audience with your lead. But in this case I would only be giving you a copy of a copy of a copy. When you’re posed with a performance like Dead Language, it doesn’t so much matter what your critique is. I don’t come away from this with any need to make sense of a plot or analyze the performance based on traditional criteria. I’m not thinking anything at all. Everything that happened was visceral, emotional, possibly subconscious. So what can I tell you? If you went to see a play, and it terrified you so much you pissed all over yourself and broke your leg trying to flee the building, would that be a “good” play?"

Desecration - Final Times

Photos from the final night of Desecration. Expect a photo album of images on FP later this week, along with after thoughts.

At the moment I need to heal all the cuts and bruises, literally had my back torn open last night, although other members of FP are in a much worse state than me.

Next up a week full of various interviews and casting for Dead Language.

Deluge

Is it possible to fall in love with a building. I believe so. Deluge has become my world and BenBen my home. The Galleries of Justice is a place of incredible power that through time has been home to terrible suffering. You can still feel it, if you allow yourself to pause as you wander the realm of Deluge. After the suffering and pain comes growth and learning. All you have to do is be willing to seek out the other-side of your demise.

What keeps us solid in those times when we are about to fall in the most terrible and awful manner, when something is trying to destroy us, to desecrate all we are. Is it the light inside us that protects our memory. Yes sometimes but more times than not its the darkness that resides in us all that keeps us solid, never allowing us to betray our beating hearts, to weaken or kneel before slavery or true Evil. Dragging our will to its feet kicking and screaming, as we beg to just relent and die.

The Demon that resides in us all is the darkness that will sustain us when everything else has left our sides. It will insure your ultimate survival.

Desecration is dedicated to the living memory of my Demon.

Desecration manifests this coming Tonight.

Desecration - Way In...

Just found a way in, after four days off the grid.

Preparations for Desecration are going well, sometimes too well. We've had at least one confirmed possession. Along with various other positive and strong biological reactions to the GLORY that is the Galleries of Justice.

I feel like I'm home, I could sleep in BenBen/ThePit.

FP, doing this one for the Demon.

Now that I have access again you should keep your wet little holes focused here (FoolishPeople.com) for updates on the journey towards the beginning of the manifestation of Desecration on the 6th of September.

Desecration will exist in the material realm for no longer than four days.

The gap closes on the 2nd of September after the last working. So its advisable to book early.

A clue, if you need to exist within the eye of the storm, then book your tickets for Friday the 7th of September. As we have something special in mind for this date.

Desecration is a Theatre of Ophidia and FoolishPeople production, it would be amiss of me to not mention that Desecration would not have ever even happened without the faith and insight of Martin Jeffrey the master mind behind Theatre of Ophidia and Fright Nights.

You still have time (retroactive time) to experience the various ripples of FoolishPeople's Dead Language at Esozone via the Internetz.

Phase II have a review of Dead Language for you.

Reflections again tomorrow around this time.

The Mytosis of "Art on the Inside, Blood on the Outside"

A very bright and intelligent Irreality discussion on the meaning behind the magickal statement "Art on the inside, Blood on the outside" from the Dead Language script.

As well as having various meanings which are pretty much nailed by the Art Engines/Participants; Samm Hain, Cubist Justin, Cobalt, Pop Jellyfish.

"Art on the Inside, Blood on the Outside" forms the one and only line of code that runs the Hyper Dimensional Noumenal Engine created during the Eden/Dead Language Working at esoZone.

Oregonian - Esozone Coverage

Oracle - Eight

The Oracle is an independent and contemporary occult magazine published in London, UK. It is non-sectarian and not connected with any particular occult organisation or path. It is a forum for the serious discussion and exploration of the occult in theory and practice.

The latest issue of The Oracle Occult Magazine, Oracle No. 8, will be available from the 28th July 2007 through leading occult bookshops (UK only) or online by e-mailing sales@oracleoccult.com

Oracle 8:

With a nod to the egregore - the Ouroboros who adorns the front cover in resplendent hue of earth & fire - we find ourselves entering through “the enamel blue brick Ishtar gate” as Peter Grey, author of ‘The Red Goddess’, introduces us to ‘BABALON – The Great Whore’.
From Babylon we journey to Hyperborea where David Beth (Sovereign Grand Master of the O.T.O.A/L.C.N. of Michael Bertiaux and Patriarch of the Ecclesia Gnostica Aeterna) communicates to us certain Mysteries concerning the Fraternitas Borealis, a mysterious magical and philosophical community whose work has never before been published.

Turning the page, taking a different path, we find ourselves face to face with Loki, as Mordant Carnival introduces us to Him, placing Him in historical and cultural context - with a uniquely accessible and at times playful prose style - before getting down to business with the hows and whys of dealing with Loki. Mordant’s approach to working with Loki was described to me by Stephen Grasso as Northern Voudou.

Returning to the metropolis we share a drink with David Blank, editor of the Oracle, as he discusses his personal practice as a sorcerer – The Feral Sorcerer weaving the spider’s web, spinning spells, quickening the witchblood.

Our journey ends as we find ourselves in the basement of Treadwell’s Books in Covent Garden, London, where David Blank interviews John Harrigan, Artistic Director of FoolishPeople. This interview, which took place over a three and a half hour period, explores John Harrigan’s approach to magick, art and society within context of ‘Dark Nights of The Soul’ - A thirteen-month magickal ritual in the form of a six-part anthology of plays.

The interview is a unique and in depth exposition of the Artistic Director of FoolishPeople – one of the most cutting edge and original ritual theatre companies currently extant. Their work continually pushes the boundaries of art and ritual theatre.

The Oracle invites you to enter through the gates and experience this journey for yourselves.

Oracle 8 - Contents:

BABALON - The Great Whore
by Peter Grey

Dreams of Hyperborea - Krist, Sun of God.
by David Beth

Hot Stuff - Working with Loki
by Mordant Carnival

Feral Sorcery
by David Blank

Dark Nights of The Soul
An Interview with John Harrigan of FoolishPeople

Plus Artwork by:
Mordant Carnival
Karlo Danilovic
Maryam Hashemi

---------------------------------------------

UK £3.50 / USA $9.00  (incl. P&P)

All other Overseas orders please enquire for prices.

e-mail: sales@oracleoccult.com

Website: www.myspace.com/oracleoccultmagazine

By Post:
BCM ORACLE PUBLISHING
LONDON 
WC1N 3XX

Desecration at Galleries of Justice - September 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th 2007

Inscription found within Father Lewis Wells Bible, Page 32
A Haunted Bloodline; the Wells Family: A Personal Portrait (Hardcover)

"One step, two steps, humble your history, quickly child, lest we idle and reveal the rawness of our hearts within the chapel of locks.

Shuffle softly into the Sinewy Tunnel. Please child, eyes averted from the Tetravalent, one socket sucked raw, red and dry.
Only one eye left.
 
Rather half the truth, than all a lie.

Step deep into his tide of darkness.
Feel the heat of the Suns first rays, here in Eden's deepest bowels. Kneel now dearest child, before his dusty throne.

All the mistrials of your life. All the misery of past blood.
Every angle of slotted worth. See, perhaps this is why we exist?

Look now child, as your truth is unveiled in this act of Desecration."

Deep down below the earth is the Deluge, birthplace of Desecration. Immeasurable darkness and ancient power: a primordial energy that has grown within the earth, since Eden’s first light.

The Desecration has fed upon the Wells family for over ten generations.

Now, Edward Wells, a fallen priest, part time escape artist, Magus and the blackest sheep that the Wells lineage has ever witnessed must enter into the realm of Deluge if he is to remove his family’s curse before Desecration is released upon humanity in a wave of decimation and suffering.

So who better to unlock the puzzle of Deluge than a down and out escape artist and natural born Sorcerer who combines all the mistakes of his family’s bloodline in one frail body?

Edward must traverse and survive every liars veil, Tetratravelent Goddess, Evil Turnkey, and King Demon of Deluge’s hyper dimensions to confront and learn why Desecration, a thing born in the first light of Eden wants to wipe his family from all of creation.

Dear Sir or Madam,

You are cordially invited to align with either Edward Wells or the entity Desecration in a magical pact, as you unlock the truth of the Demons that reside within your own family line.

Join Edward on his journey into the Deluge this coming September as you enter into the immense meta-narrative of Desecration within Nottingham’s infamous Galleries of Justice.

You are free to explore the entire manifestation, throughout the ritual in your own time, as you fall, forever deeper and closer to ultimate truth.

Theatre of Ophidia and FoolishPeople will redefine immersive magickal theatre as your will and intent are revealed via the various magical experiences offered within the realm of Deluge.

They deftly expose the hypocrisy of the "moral majority" by exposing the Demons within all our hearts and the awful outcomes that occur from never facing up to, or refusing to sit down and discuss who we really are with humanities closest living myths.

Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 0114 251 3232. "Desecration" runs from the 6th to the 9th September 2007

The Brave New World Order

Link: The Brave New World Order.

Ikipr

I'm very pleased to announce that I'm collaborating with the immensely talented Ikipr on Dead Language, his music has fed my own current for sometime now.

Ikipr is creating a soundtrack of Hyper-Dimensional music that is both sublime and powerful. His work on Dead Language beautifully complements the work FP have been manifesting within rehearsals, it adds another solid layer of Magick from a true master. 'Ikipr has been working in Music and Magick concurrently for the past nine years. His work attempts to create magickal states in harmonics. In this way he works through pre-established systems in a cross-discplinary fashion, however, to record this VIA waveforms requires a scholary chaos magick approach.

He runs the netlabel at aleph9 and attempts to work in the background of information oriented communities to fuel and aid the great work in any role which he may be able to fit.'

Witchcraft Experts Gather in Norway

More than 60 experts on witchcraft from across the world are gathering in a tiny Arctic town in northern Norway.

For three days in Vardo they will have discussions, lectures and the odd film show on ancient and modern sorcery.

The International Midnight Sun Witchcraft Conference is organised by Scandinavian and US universities. Organisers say persecution is a thing of the past in Europe, but in parts of Africa and Asia men, women and children are still accused of witchcraft. As in the past, experts say, victims are often singled out by their communities and made scapegoats for outbreaks of disease, bad weather or other misfortunes.

As well as touching on these issues, the Norwegian conference will also discuss Shamanism - a practice that centres on communication with the spiritual world, mostly through animal spirits. Some experts claim that Shamanism predates all other organised religions.

But beyond the scholars and believers attending this week's conference, witchcraft has recently gained a new and rather younger circle of enthusiasts, following the publication of the best-selling Harry Potter books - and films - one of which has its worldwide premiere today.

During a 17th-Century witch-hunt in Vardo, about 80 women were burnt at the stake. Reports from the time indicated they were accused of meeting with the devil at the nearby "witch mountain". During the 16th and 17th centuries it is estimated that up to 50,000 people were executed for alleged sorcery across Europe.

From the Ashes of Key23

Key23 is Dead! Long Live Key64!

After a long hiatus, Key23 has morphed in Key64, a leaner, meaner version of the occultural ezine that took the world by storm a few years ago. Key23 quite literally redefined the world of Internet occultism, breaking it out of the doldrums of Chaos Magic inanity too numerous to mention. Key64 will continue in that tradition by continuing to push the envelope not only magickally but politically, culturally and socially.

It is our great pleasure to announce that Key64 will be the official American distributor of the remaining Ten Towers. We look forward to further work with the Foolish People collective.

64!

Key64. Vol2 #1

Featuring!:

• Mordant Carnival tells you how not to end up in a tin foil hat!
• Trevor Blake on the invisible sky monster murder defense!
• Taylor Ellwood takes body language from the external to the internal!
• Lupa on Neon Genesis Evangelion and shamanism?
• Michael Szul asks difficult questions about ecology!
• Adam Lammiman gives instructions out of the Chapel Perilous!

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

EXPANDED Living the Myth by James Curcio!

Nick Pell on light, life, love and liberty!

The Return of the Enigmatic Padre Engo!

Introduction to Zoetics!

PostModern Gnosis!

Plus!

Klint Finley on the not-so-secret history of Key23!

Datamancer interviewed!

Donald Tyson reviewed!

Christopher Penczak personally insulted!

ONLY in the new Key64!

Theatre of Ophidia

Theatre of Ophidia have just launched their website, rather jealous of the beautiful logo. Theatre of Ophidia will be producing Desecration with FoolishPeople, for those of you that are paying attention.

Expect lots of very interesting projects to come from the Theatre of Ophidia.

'Desecration'

FoolishPeople in association with Theatre of Ophidia and Fright Nights are pleased to announce a new production ‘DESECRATION’ at Nottingham’s infamous Galleries of Justice, this coming September.

‘Desecration’ will redefine immersive theatre, as ritual performance and magickal art combine to reveal the secret truth of an ancient site of suffering and punishment. For centuries on the site of the Galleries of Justice, people were imprisoned, stripped of their civil liberties in the courtroom and brutally executed on the gallows on the front steps.

The production will last up to three and a half hours where the audience are free to roam the courtrooms, prisons and caves, following the narrative of each of the Gods, spirits and humans who inhabit the living myth of ‘Desecration.’

Written and directed by John Harrigan, performed by FoolishPeople and produced by Theatre of Ophidia and Fright Nights.

Fright Nights was the first company of its type to offer overnight ghost hunting experiences to the public and retains its reputation for haunted and unusual locations. Since 1999 there have been over 1000 overnight investigations, 400 field trips and 400 haunted weekends, as well as appearing and consulting on over 200 documentaries and television programs last year alone.

Theatre of Ophidia combines many currents into a mixture of theatre, art and occultism with which to be subliminally digested by the audience.

The combined expertise of Theatre of Ophidia, Fright Nights and FoolishPeople will enable the creation of unique magickal and immersive experiences unavailable anywhere else.

John Harrigan Interview - Guerrilla Zoo hijack the airwaves on ResonanceFM 104.4FM

Tune in > On Thursday 17th May on ResonanceFM (London’s only art radio station). From 7pm – 8pm, Guerrilla Zoo will be hijacking the airwaves in advance of ‘Spring Roll’ on Sat 19th May.

Featuring music from Fatima Spar und die Freedom Fries, Peyoti for President, Miso Soup, and more. Interviews with John Harrigan of FoolishPeople and infamous culture jammers The Space Hijackers. An exclusive live set from Fari Bradley, poetry from Inua ‘Phaze’ Ellams, competitions, giveaways and MORE!!!

Tune in > THIS Thursday! << 19:00 PM – 20:00 PM >>
ResonanceFM in London on 104.4 FM radio frequency or listen online at resonancefm.com

More on Bertiaux’s Voudon Gnostic System - David Beth

I'm really looking forward to David Beth's next talk at Treadwells next week, details are below. This event comes highly recommended.

This talk follows January’s sold-out overview of Michael Bertiaux’s Voudon Gnosis” or “Esoteric Voudon”, a syncretic gnostic sorcery grounded in Haitian voudon and shaped by various occult systems from Crowley to witchcraft to esoteric continental freemasonry. Tonight’s topics include: Nganga, master of the fetish; sexual magic, lycantrophy, esoteric time travel, occult art – “The Space Master” –a gateway. The speaker is almost uniquely qualified to unravel the threads of the system and to speak experientially from an insider’s perspective. David Beth (Tau Melchizedek) is the Sovereign Grand Master of the OTOA and LCN, a Gnostic patriarch and instrumental in shaping the current development of the system. A close friend and confidant of Bertiaux, David is also a university-educated historian born and raised in Africa, and has lived in Europe and the USA.

Note: This talk is not going to repeat anything from the lecture of January 2007, so it will be all new content and anybody who enjoyed the last event will surely have a good time at this one.

Treadwells
020 7240 8906
23 May 2007 (Wednesday)
£5
7.15 for 7.30pm start

FP Sigil - Painting - Yiri T. Kohl

Yiri T. Kohl - Shintarian

Feral Sorcery with David Blank - 2/5/07 The Secret Chiefs - Deveraux Public House

Feral Sorcery
By David Blank

The Secret Chiefs

2nd May (Meet from 7.30pm, talk starts at 8.30pm)

David Blank is the editor and publisher of the Oracle Occult Magazine, In tonight's talk he discusses his personal practice as a sorcerer.

He will explore various topics including the lair as a place of power, psychogeography, the spider's web and power points, animal fetishes and how the sorcerer engages with nature and the Spirits as part of the urban landscape.

The Secret Chiefs- Britains longest running pagan/occult talks forum. Location: Upstairs at the Deveraux public house, 20 Deveraux Court, off Essex Street, London WC2. (Nearest tube is Temple.)

I cannot recommend the above talk highly enough, David is one of the most knowledgeable practitioners I have had the pleasure to meet, David is also a witty and funny guy who can impart crucial information in the most pleasurable manner, you will be doing your self a gross injustice if you miss this talk.

Resonant Consciousness Theory?

A late Thursday Post. Sunday is the new Thursday? :))

My experience at T.I. has led me to some interesting conclusions about consciousness. The basic insight being if you give up identification with part of yourself something else will stake a claim. True some may say dissociation is dissociation but in my experience there was also something other in addition. This has led me to ask what exactly is identification and how can an outside entity hijack it?

The best model for me is resonance. If we take a panpsychist view, and say that all consciousness is a singular universal field of energy, containing an infinite number of resonating frequencies, then modulated wave forms in the field (instincts, desires, emotions, memories, thoughts) that were identified as part of a single being could thus be seen as resonating on the same frequency. It would follow that a biological body had its own base frequency (or narrow band of  frequencies) that gave that being an identity. At death those frequencies would drift and the psychic components separate out back into the universal field, unless they became attached to a similarly resonant base frequency, basically some other stable body of some form (the bulk of the field being beyond time and space, this would be experienced as seamless). Alternatively one can use pure will (seen here as the force the changes frequencies and modulates the wave) to hold the frequency and identity for a limited time.

However we can change in life and we can also mimic. So our base frequency is able to shift, either temporarily through an act of will or permanently as an evolving process. The fact that we can dissociate or split seems to mean we have more than one frequency within a base frequency range, much like a multiplex carrier wave. Perhaps if one frequency set shifts, or is shifted, out of our primary frequency range it is disidentified. Of course although disidentified it was still formerly part of us and will be again, and may still be in tune enough for us to have a partial awareness of it as something not quite us. Thus it becomes an unconscious or semi-conscious element of our being. Much of what Freud called the unconscious mind was probably formed in this way. The rest being primitive un-integrated instincts half way between our integrated self and the broader universal field. In Jungian terms re-integrating all this can be seen as narrowing of the frequency range and a sharpening of self into a new integrated whole.

It seems from other studies that close relationships are both formed from and form mutually resonant harmonies, in which waveforms are exchanged and both parties modified. The closest possible resonance between two beings is experienced as love.

Such resonance need not be total, but may be between different components of the related beings, a mental resonance may lead to a bond of like mindedness and exchange of ideas, a sexual instinct resonance may lead to a purely sexual attraction and so on. Empaths appear to have a very broad range of frequencies capable of resonance with many others. Does this mean then that an integrated person has no
empathy? Perhaps, but as their unconscious will have contained much material that once resonated with others their new self may exchange emotive empathy for a more conscious sympathy.   

Trance states appear to weaken the will and allow the frequencies to drift, one effect of which is spontaneous dissociation. This is often variable however and shifts between partial dissociation and full dissociation. If our ego goes to sleep in this state, or simply weakens, such dissociated states can dominate our activity. Or pre-dissociate states may do, that is repressed or unconscious elements of our psyche may come to the fore and take hold of us.

At TI however I was aware of something additional another intelligence or will had entered my mind. This was not merely just a dissociated part of myself it was something from outside. My only impression of it was as a pure will of enormous power, whose reason to exist was to tear apart and destroy. A pure energy of annihilation. Curiously however it appeared only able to manifest within be using a dissociate element of my being as a vehicle. One it itself could resonate with and form an identity with. Thus one part of me had two masters that night. In the resonance model this seems explicable as a parasitic virus being budding off the universal field, or travelling within it somehow, and finding a host in which to manifest. An ‘unoccupied’ dissociate part of us seems a tempting place to squat for such beings. One that also has a similar resonant frequency as their own. Such beings may range from a simple virus type to a more complex entity with its own psychic baggage that gets entangled with ours for good or ill. The good being the basis of theurgy if carried out correctly. Such a possession state is thus achieved by first mimicking an entity that will form the host unit for a similarly resonating parasite, then a trance state is achieved in which the host unit dissociates to a certain degree and take on a life of its own. Our more conscious self may thus exist in parallel still. This is where an outside entity may jump in and fuse with the similar host unit. It may also draw in other dissociate elements to build a more powerful complex. In my case I believe the alien role became partially dissociate in trance and attracted an aggressive, atavistic parasite to it, which in turn brought in deeper completely dissociate energies that resonated with the parasites destructive aggression. While at the same time bringing them to the surface and discharging them. With the end of the ritual the role dissipated and my normal consciousness returned. It thus remains a possibility that any undischarged unconscious energies could have sunk back down with elements of the parasites energy as it departed. This would explain the subsequent nightmares as the residual material was being purged from my mind and body.

Those familiar with certain occult techniques will recognise some of this. However I find this particular model to be very powerful in it explanatory force.

Retroactive Time in Ritual

I'm at the glorious and wonderful Treadwell's tomorrow after a week spent with the BBC delivering workshops for them, this will be a refreshing change of pace with which to end the week.

Tomorrow is on Retroactive Time In Ritual, please come down if your interested in taking part, we start at 11am and have a few places left. Full details in the right sidebar.

Terra Incognita - Mandrake Speaks Review

According to our sources the following review of Terra Incognita by author Nathaniel J Harris appears in the next Mandrake Speaks.

REVIEW- Terra Incognita – The Foolish People – 491 Gallery, East London, 31st March/April 1st.

This March ‘Skratte’ were lucky enough to be invited by the Masque Noir ritual performers to participate in the Foolish People’s event ‘Terra Incognita’ in our role as practicing witches. Having heard all kinds of intriguing things about the Foolish People we were keen to accept this invitation and so packed our bags and left our secret location in the deserts of Avon and headed up to East London’s 491 gallery, where the party and play were taking place.

Since our own role was to add power to the closing ritual, rather than as actors or musicians in this instance, our experience of the event was somewhat in between performer and observer. Thus we can tell you that the Foolish People were a great pleasure to work alongside and deserve heartfelt congratulations and recognition for the incredible amount of work that went into making this event happen. As audience, we offer these same congratulations in that we did indeed come away feeling like our heads had been turned inside out by about 1500 mics of L.S.D., despite the fact that we made the decision to remain completely sane and sober in order to know what we had really seen and what we had not. (We are glad that we did this, even though we are nevertheless still unsure as to exactly what we experienced at some points).

All the cast were brilliant. Every one of them possessed their own unique star quality, which under the (sometimes brutal) direction of Mr. Harrigan were truly allowed to shine forth. There were also some fine musicians to entertain us, some incidental and others a part of the story, who would be well worth the travel to experience all on their own.

So as not to ruin things for anyone should there ever be a chance to see a repeat performance, we will not tell you too much about the plot of the play and its unfoldings. What we will say is that the crew all made great use of the space available to them, with the audience following characters from room to room as the tale took them from one place to another- although as one spirit pointed out to us as we passed them on our way, “You don’t have to go with them, you know…” Since different parts of the play were often unfolding in different parts of the venue at the same time not everyone will have the whole picture as to what the plot is anyway. Since there was no stage to divide the actors from the audience, it was a lot more like entering a different dimension than it was going to see a play at any normal theatre. We found ourselves quite at home, surrounded by spirits/figments of the main characters fracturing psyche/heightened consciousness. At times we were not even sure as to whether we had been sucked into the play and become ‘symptoms’ of their unsanity ourselves. At other times, we were fairly certain that we had been- which was a more than unsettling experience.

Observing the audience itself as much as the play offered another level of entertainment. Particularly memorable was to have seen their reactions to the very first spirit manifestation, a genuinely dark and disturbing figure that appeared seemingly from nowhere- thanks to some very clever distraction techniques?- and the fear on the faces of those he approached and interacted with. I suspect that some of them went away with their perceptions of ‘reality’ permanently altered. In a good way. We hope.

The Masque Noir themselves had their own contained space, within which they worked a continuous ritual creating a vortex through which further manifestations may enter our dimension. This was achieved through their own adoption of spirit personas, acting ‘as if’ until entering a generally prelingual condition and displaying some truly phaerie like behaviour- or perhaps even the behaviour of poltergeist, since they were both creative, destructive, quiescent and excitable by turns. One spirit was so badly behaved that we were given no choice but to beat them into submission with our walking stick- the smashed pieces of which were then quickly stolen by other spirits and added to the collaged sigil representing the vortex. That we are not normally aggressive in this manner, and that the fellow whose poltergeist behaviour had so provoked us showed no bruising or harm once leaving trance, is testament to the extremely bizarre atmosphere of this event.

We would also like to congratulate the 491 Gallery itself for playing such wonderful hosts, and for having the courage to allow an event such as this to happen in the very home within which they live. It was a highly challenging event. Blessings upon them all.

Those who were not in attendance have truly missed out on a uniquely mind bending experience. Shame on you. Make sure you catch the next one.

For further information on the Foolish People visit;
http://www.myspace.com/foolishpeople
For the 491 Gallery visit;
http://www.myspace.com/491
SKRATTE are magical musicians whose work is dedicated to the re-enchantment of the world. For further information please visit;
http://www.myspace.com/urbanwitchcraft