“During my life, I have had occasion to make my own little theories, and, what is perhaps more interesting, I have been able to test them.” – Roma Lister Roma Lister, like many of those in her circle (doctors, bohemians, dressmakers, diplomats, countesses, magistrates) were many-sided. They all had their working-day-world fixations and obligations. But…
THEATRE REVIEW: AWAKE AND ASLEEP The Magic, Language, and Society initiative is a new collaboration between The University of Surrey and Treadwell’s Bookshop. In a bid to make certain esoteric aspects of the humanities more accessible to wider audiences, the programme will run events at Treadwell’s, a nucleus of London’s contemporary magical scene. The inaugural…
ODD TRUTHS: THE WIZARD OF PENNSYLVANIA In his poem The Pennsylvania Pilgrim, John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) refers to a “weird” and wizard-like recluse who haunts the Wissahickon woodland: The inspiration for this romantic woodsman-magus was none other than Johannes Kelpius, a Transylvanian theologian and mystic who emigrated from Europe to Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1694 to establish a rural utopian community…
ODD TRUTHS: ROBBING THE SPIRITS OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY Not every magician was fortunate enough to get on the royal payroll in Stuart England. The unlucky ones often had to resort to subtle hustling to make a living; drifting from job to job, trading their magic for power and influence. A few of these spellcasters used the “Solomonic arts”…