Conway Hall, London
Saturday 10th April
A review of what took place
therein.......
By Frater
Algazel (Ineptus Maximus)
...And there I was, a strange little hall tucked
away in London. Milling about were creatures of the like I had
not seen before.... Indeed the vibes (maaaaan) were portentous
and pretentious....it must be a symposium of magick!
Being a relative new-comer to magickal practice
this was to be my first taste of the wider occult 'community'
and to say I was intrigued by what the day might hold was an
understatement of cataclysmic proportions.
The day did not begin in the best manner when
myself and my friend realized that the programme of events had
been twisted arse-over-tit from that which we received with
the tickets and as it now stood there were a couple of terribly
annoying clashes......hard decisions had to be made and so it
was that I found myself nervously awaiting the arrival of Phil
Hine for a 'Tantrum' workshop (pun alert!). It is always strangely
pleasing when people who's writings you respect look absolutely
nothing like the mental picture your subconscious has been carefully
and patiently building up. What can I say.....Phil Hine!!!!
Such is this mans reputation on the 'scene' that he had inspired
a terribly nice chap called Alex to travel all the way from
Norway for a half-hour Phil Hine workshop (and had his passport
stolen for his troubles previous to the Symposium).
Hine looked disarmingly normal (compared to some
of the daft twats walking around) and apart from mildly eccentric
hair and glasses you might well not realize that this guy dabbled
( !! ) in the magickal arts.. It's funny how people like Phil
Hine and Richard Bandler (co-founder of NLP) give off a certain
aura, you just know that you shouldn't fuck with this person
because they can do really scary stuff to your sanity in unimaginably
horrible ways....
Phil launched into some really interesting information
on which the practical exercise would be based. It concerned
various Indian myths in which one god/goddess or another would
expel from their nose (or some other orifice) a spirit that
was a manifestation of a desire or emotion. The idea of the
exercise was to manifest and recognize and accept all those
petty wants and desires in spirit form, (I had a feeling that
I would soon see the spirit of 'I need a smoke NOW!'). Phil
asked us all to enter a mediational state and then preceded
to guide us through the visualization. Once we had projected
these 'spirits' we were left to our own devices to see what
happened. I myself managed to let loose a few of my archetype/spirits/whatever
that have arisen at various times along with a couple of newbies
that intrigued me... It was interesting to see their interactions
with one another......but that is for another article!
The workshop ended with Phil coaxing us into having
a tantrum about something petty, which was quite hilarious and
left me 'buzzing' in that particularly 'stoned' kinda' way,
lord knows what an onlooker would have thought of us all stomping
the ground and demanding stuff from some invisible mother-entity
or whatever...!
Unfortunately I missed a couple of hours after
that to go hunt food (ended up in a fakkin' McDonalds! AARRggh!)
and check out the second hand book stores.
The next seminar I attended was a talk by Dave
Lee, another 'name' on the scene and author of 'Pandemonaeon'.
Titled 'The psychedelic Wizard' this seminar was about one of
my favourite subjects...drugs! It was all quite interesting,
particularly Dave's thoughts on the use of drugs in magickal
workings although I think perhaps his presentation style needs
a little boost (of course it might have had something to do
with his notes getting mixed up!).
This was followed by a couple of youngish mages
giving a talk on 'magick and musick' which was very interesting
indeed and revolved around a wonderful invention - 'disco-lights'
(he he) that flashed with the right intensity and frequency
to simulate the workings of Brion Gysin's Dreammachine. Unfortunately
a demonstration was not possible due to the usual concerns about
epilepsy and I was not around for the party at the end of the
day....doh!
After a break there followed perhaps my favourite
event of the day, a seminar on 'sexual Blossoming' by Dr. Tuppy
Owens from the Sexual freedom coalition. The Doctor was a wonderfully
ebullient lady who's enthusiasm for her subject was obvious.
On announcing that hardcore pornography was going to be shown
on the slide projector there was something akin to a cheer from
the audience and she proceeded to outline what the Coalition
does and what it stands for. Judging by her nature I would say
that sexual liberation is a must for everyone if the charisma
she exuded was anything to go by. The great thing was that there
was absolutely no sense of 'dirtiness' or selaciousness that
one might expect from this seminar, indeed it was proof that
even society's worst taboos can be dealt with in a healthy way
by mature and intelligent people with a good sense of humour.
The Doctor invited a friend of her's, a Wiccan
with a penchant for Domination, to take the stand. She was to
give a demonstration of a Dom/sub session....a spanking!!!!.
A volunteer was asked for from the audience but the 'back-up
plan', a man with superb side-burns, was so eager to take his
rightful place that no-one had opportunity to volunteer themselves!
The guy was obviously up for a spanking and it would have been
such a shame to have taken the opportunity from him. The Dominatrix
proceeded to demonstrate all kinds of fascinating implements
and techniques she uses in her D/s sessions and did so with
a similar ebullient relish that infused the atmosphere with
a feeling of 'fun'.... All in all a fantastic and entertaining
seminar!
Finally it was the turn of the legendary Alan
Moore, famed for his wonderful Watchmen, V For Vendetta and
Swamp thing comics (all HIGHLY recommended). There was much
waiting as the crew gamely tried to get a cantankerous and faulty
DAT machine to work and just when it all looked like it would
fall apart someone came up with a new machine.....we wait with
baited breath...... The curtains part and to reveal an atmospheric
and minimal set..... Without going into detail, Alan Moore read
a truly fantastic piece of prose that encompassed his passion
for Psychogeography and interwove so many threads (including
the life and times of Arthur Machen) that it had a very definite
effect on one's grey matter. As Moore brought the event of the
symposium itself into the story all assembled were mightily
amused by Moore's comedic take on it's attendees, 'Get yer Tattwa's
out for the lads!' indeed! Whilst reading, the words were illustrated
by a wonderfully graceful lady doing some interesting mime-work
with, amongst other things, a snake!! Unfortunately the DAT
tape was still not quite right and the ambient 'music' occasionally
cut-out but Moore's superb reading carried it all along at a
break- neck pace. Although he'd probably hate me for saying
this it would all have made a wonderful illustrated graphic
novel...... Alan managed to trip on his mic-cable at the end
but it somehow seemed to fit the elements of humour that had
been interwoven and raised a few chortles in the audience......
All-in-all it was a great day, only slightly
marred by the re-organization that had taken place, and I would
have liked to have seen more stands selling occult paraphernalia
although Atlantis Bookshop was there and I picked up a few tomes
I'd been looking for. Special mention must also go to the wonderful
Chthulu sculptures on sale (wish I had the money!). The sculptures
on sale were the ones you'll find in 'the pseudonomicon' by
Phil Hine. I was deeply disappointed that I couldn't attend
the mass of Horus and party that was to follow due to previous
engagements.......but I'm sure a good time was had by all. On
the strength of this Symposium I would certainly be inclined
to attend others like it and, if anything, some of the attendees
serve to remind you what happens when you take magick and oneself
a little too seriously (you know who you are.....nice cane mate!).
For relevant information:
Check out Phil's excellent site at:- www.phhine.ndirect.co.uk
Liberate yourself with the Sexual Freedom Coalition at:- www.sfc.org.uk
Email me at: davemeister23@yahoo.com
(please?...i am sad and lonely!)
