The Space In-Between
It’s been a bit of a year
Happy New Year from Star Club! You might be wondering where the blog posts have been, or whether we shuttered for the Autumn. The truth is, on my birthday in early October events in the real world accelerated and I’ve hardly been able to stop and catch my breath, but we have been out and about. I thought I’d take the time in this liminal space between 2023 and 2024 to reflect and recap what’s been happening, and where we’re going next.
Autumnal Adventures
While my personal life and that of Soror O.F. was overtaken by helping a friend, we still went to events and ran Star Club throughout the Autumn. The first and second sessions of Cycle 4 have gone very well, and our Open Rituals have encompassed the magic of trees, a Mass of Babalon, our Samhain Descent of Inanna, and our Midwinter Bacchanal as listed in our recent newsletter found here.
In October we attended the Welsh Occult Conference in Cardiff, a hugely successful day and I intended to post a review in full, however the highlights included David Rankine’s talk on Solomonic ritual preparation and Dr Bob Plimer’s talk on the Thoth Tarot. All of the speakers were brilliant and engaging, but these lectures directly relate to 2 of the 8 Praxes we teach in Star Club, Divination and Conjuration, and I highly recommend their books.
David Rankine speaking at the Welsh Occult Conference in Cardiff
David spoke masterfully to the intention, preparation, and consecration of thought and equipment in the run up to magical practice, and used me as a prop - not how I thought I’d be standing in front of a conference again for the first time! - and it provoked discussion among the Star Club Members in attendance. Any ritual should be approached methodically and with all participants understanding their role. Nobody should be doing nothing as at the very least a focus of intention on the ritualist(s) performing the central praxis propels the ritual energetically. David calls this magical momentum and this is the core principle of the Star Club Framework, which you can learn in our Foundational Workshop offered before every Cycle begins, and is a pre-requisite to attending the Cycle - you can read Bob’s review of our teaching here. We bring together Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Chaos Magick, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming to create a series of actions which open ourselves and the space to push our intention through to the Universe and enchant real change in our lives.
David also pointed out that the Grimoires themselves are collections of individual magicians’ personal notes to remind them of the specifics they might forget, but we cannot know what they already learned and didn’t need to write down. There is always scope to add material and at Star Club we take such rituals and adapt them into the Framework to power our overall intentions as expressed in the Cycle Mantra and Affirmations. Another important aspect of magical work is to write one’s experiences of a ritual down before any discussion, and then pay attention to dreams and synchronicities where spirits are likely to communicate with you.
Display of the Thoth tarot card deck in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, Cornwall - credit Ethan Doyle White
In Bob’s lecture, he spoke to Perichoresis, the cosmic magical dance to activate the magical current, and how the Thoth tarot primes the user for divination similar to the Ancient Egyptian practices of scrying as Bob has spoken to Star Club about before. Bob also highlighted the use of the Trumpts to move through Ain to Kether to Malkuth on the Tree of Life, and that development through Katabasis and Anabasis is the key to achieving Gnosis. Star Club offers an Initiation to qualified Practitioners who have demonstrated their competence of the 8 Praxes and Framework which takes the Candidate through the same experiences.
The key part of Bob’s talk for me was when he spoke about developing an ontological perspective as a reference point to access magical techniques - or, how do you identify in relation to the Gods and the Universe? Bob outlined 5 archetypes to develop and grow through, and the way in which the Tarot represents the entire Cosmos and mind, body, and soul. An excellent technique for two cards was offered, that of placing two cards side by side with a gap, and then creating a new card drawn from both which bridges them. This leads to the development of intuition and a greater understanding and appreciation for the cards, and can produce exciting results.
In early November, Soror O.F. and I went to visit the exhibition of the Order of the Sun and Moon, St. Ives, including some of the astounding magicians I had the pleasure of working with years ago and am happy to remain friends with. The art is incredible and the foregrounding of Ithel Calhoun and other overlooked female artists and magicians is profoundly timely and important work. I’ll let the images speak for themselves, but if you have the chance in the future to see the work of Kate, Julian, and Greg, then you should take the opportunity.
Midwinter Magic
December was a packed month, and our first magical engagement was the launch party for Raven Records in Camden, run by our very own Ben Dean with his magical partner and fiancée Chloe. Sr O.F. and I travelled across for the evening and met a bunch of cool metal and magical cats, enjoyed some of the 0% spirits, and perused the vinyl. Ben was very open that the Star Club system has been key to bringing about the shop as a magical result, being a part of Cycle 1 before becoming an Initiate and Officer, and I enjoyed speaking to some of the attendees about our work and ethos. I highly recommend you stop by if in London, or check out their website here.
Our two Solstice rituals went off successfully, firstly closing the Mithraic Invocation of Sol Invictus cycle off with the first performance of the Rebirth ritual. Sol, wounded and weary from the exertions of the Autumn Equinox, makes his final orbit of the Earth and finds his rest before being renewed and coming back to light the ways again, under the watchful auspices of Mithras. One of our current Cycle-Members took the role of Sol and performed magnificently, partnering with a visiting magician playing Luna, and consecrated a sacrament for our ritual Eucharist. We concluded the day with feasting and merriment, happily reflecting on the year’s achievements.
Then on the 21st we were lucky to have the magnificent setting of Oxwick for our overnight Bacchanal, getting through 88 Orphic Hymns in Sara Mastros’s Grimoire and an entire pallet of firewood. There was plenty of fun had as we paced ourselves through the longest night, with one of our Initiates giving the Hymn to Eos as the dawn finally spread across the sky, and I hailed Thanatos from a man-made motte as the Sun edged over the horizon. Truly a magical night, and you’re all very welcome that we ensured the Sun came back again!
The Year Ahead
The next Open Ritual for Imbolc will take place on 27th January and will close out a year of our Cross-Quarter liturgy, which has been a great success and collaboration for me and Dr Halo! We’ve been excited to develop and share this magical praxis with Star Club Members and visitors, and hope to guide others through using these rituals to celebrate the turn of the year.
At the risk of repeating myself, here’s a reminder of mine and Halo’s upcoming appearances and events:
10th February, the Phoenix Club, Isle of Wight: Sef Salem presents the return of ‘The Path of the Rose’ - a transcendental series of pathworkings using the Greater Seals of the Archangels in the Grimoire of Armadel. Sef will be leading the first three of these visionary meditations following the morning session by Dr. Robert A. Plimer discussing these techniques of astral portals.
17-18th February, The Occult Conference, Glastonbury: Dr. Halo Quin will be sharing a talk on “Kinky Magic” – clearing some misconceptions and outlining some of the overlaps in the realms of BDSM and ritual– and a workshop on “Ritual with Rope - Self-bondage for magic”, offered in a gentle, queer friendly, safety-conscious style. Tickets still available!
Meanwhile Star Club Initiates will be hosting an information stall in the Conference market! Join us for an informal chat or a serious magical debate, and enjoy the atmosphere at this great two-day event. We’re looking forward to seeing you there.
March 23rd, Magick, Art, & Medicine Conference, Isle of Wight: Sef will present ‘The Mystical Mind: Introducing the Neuro-Gnostic Model’, a lecture expounding on this Model which creates an operational paradigm for interacting with the Universe, drawing on Morphic Field Theory and Animism along with neurological conceptions of the way our minds interact with reality. Tickets on sale here.
Star Club and I still have some other projects bubbling away, but I’ll leave it there for now. However you spent the Midwinter break, I hope you’re feeling refreshed and ready for more magical adventures to come.
Until next time.