Lecture - A Visible House There Standeth: Boleskine House Past Present and Future

Trustees Keith Readdy and Stewart Clelland will be speaking on Boleskine House’s history, present, and future.

About

Keith Readdy is an American born author and researcher on Aleister Crowley and Western esotericism, earning his bachelors in philosophy from the University of Central Florida and a masters at the University of Amsterdam's Center for the History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents. He owns and operates a property management and development business in London and has a passion for historic buildings. He is a co-founder of and currently serves as the trustee chairman for The Boleskine House Foundation.

Stewart Clelland is a teacher of philosophy and religious studies in and around the North East of Scotland. He holds a Masters Degree in Western Esotericism (University of Exeter), was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2021, and is a full member of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE). His research background is centred on esoteric spirituality and the practice of heterodox religious traditions with a particular interest in marginalised and persecuted religious communities, both historical and contemporary. Stewart’s work engages with religious studies specifically in the so-called Western esoteric tradition or Hermetic tradition in Masonic and Rosicrucian thought. He is the author of two books on eighteenth-century esoteric Freemasonry, as well as translating and publishing the lost poetry of Eliphas Levi. Stewart is a trustee of the Boleskine House Foundation and helps to forward the organisation's educational objectives.

The Boleskine House Foundation is is a registered charity in Scotland established to facilitate the restoration of Boleskine House with the charitable objectives of the preservation of arts, culture and heritage, the education of the public, the facilitation of recreational events to improve the quality of life for the general public, and to establish a sustainable future for the estate as a whole to enhance biodiversity and wildlife within the surrounding natural heritage.

Lecture - The Best of All Possible Wills

There is arguably no topic more central and fundamental to Thelema than the concept of Will. The word θέλημα (thelēma) itself, of course, derives from the verb θέλω (thelō), meaning ‘to will,’ ‘to wish,’ or ‘to desire.’ Nevertheless, central and fundamental as it may be, successfully doing “what thou wilt” is rarely straightforward. Indeed, it is often complex, arduous and even contentious (even by the standards of the famously 'congenial' broader Thelemic occultural community).

This presentation will examine the idea of Will in Thelema, both in theory and practice, and its relationship with other prominent philosophies, religions, and ideologies—with a particular focus on the personal reflections and insights gathered from the speaker's multifaceted perspective as a longtime scholar of (oc)cultural studies and an experienced practitioner of magic(k).

About

Cavan McLaughlin is a Senior Lecturer in Media Production at the University of the West of England (UWE), with research interests related to the role and function of occulture. Editor of the volume Trans- States: The Art of Crossing Over (2019), Cavan has also published on Crowley, esotericism and narrativity, open-source occultism, and contemporary occulture. Currently undertaking a PhD entitled ‘Occultural Production as Re-visionary Mythmaking’, they remain a practicing filmmaker, artist, and all-around creative media practitioner. As a media professional of over twenty years, Cavan has been involved in almost all aspects of audiovisual production, specialising in video art, music videos, and visual poetry. Cavan is the founder and Chair of Trans- States (trans-states.org); co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Monad: Journal of Transformative Practice (monadjournal.com); a trustee of the Research Network for the Study of Esoteric Practices (www.rensep.org); and, Vice-Chair of the South-West Association for the Study of Esotericism (SWASE). Cavan has a profound affection for cows, fungi, and rainbows.

Workshop - Egyptian Serpent Power (SOLD OUT)

Facilitated by the Morgan Witches Diti and Mogg. The former the founder of the first Thelemic symposium of the mid 1980s, the latter the creator of the innovative Aromamagick system. Aromagick is based on the Tantrik ideology of the Kalas, a concept first introduced to western occultism by the late departed Typhonian mage, Kenneth Grant. The workshop aims to place Thelemic magick firmly back within its ancient Egyptian roots. Workshop will be part lecture part experiential, and will offer a taster of some of the techniques from the Egyptian magick curriculum they have developed, including some of the techniques of ancient magick, the sacred crossroads, the magick of the sky and body, the serpent channels in the alchemical body, which contrary to received belief are the common basis of both Indian and Near Eastern praxis.

About

The pair are well known for their interest in contemporary folk survivals of pharaonic magick in things such as Egyptian Zar and this unusual technique will also be explained.