Berlin, November 3rd, I arrived in Germany to give a presentation at the Occulture Esoteric Conference held in East Berlin. When my cab drive, a charming Greek-born man named Napoleon, drove me by the entrance of the Anomalie Art Club, he expressed doubt that a conference was happening there. The neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg is one of the most transformed areas of Berlin, the counter culture scene of the ’80’s and ’90’s evolving into an arts and cafe scene, generating much local speculation. Indeed, this wasn’t your typical hotel convention venue, but rather an almost clubhouse type wooden entryway with the Occulture Berlin poster tacked nearby. He drove me to the nearby accommodations that had been arranged for me and I sorted myself for a few hours before heading back.
When I came back, Johanna at the check-in desk led me to Giorgia Gia, who had invited me to the conference. Giorgia turned out to be a stunning tall woman with long black hair and a lilting accent. She led me around the courtyard. The Anomalie Art Club is an arts compound with several buildings centered around a large courtyard, with an open cafe. Wandering around, I saw vendors selling artwork, essentials oils, talismans, tarot cards, altar artifacts and memorabilia.
After I confessing I only three hours of sleep, she said she too was sleep deprived, she had gone to bed at 6am. The conference was three days in and this was the last day. Giorgia led us to the cafe where a potent shot of ginger extract snapped us both to life.
My presentation, Sigils, Spells and Symbols in Tarot Mythology, was scheduled late in the afternoon. It was a power point presentation but I knew during this Mercury Retrograde, that technical mishaps were likely. Thank the gods for Constantine, the Technical Director assigned to me, for sure enough when it was time to link my computer to the projector, my laptop computer would not connect. Then the thumb drive stick I brought with me would not read in the computer already there. But Constantine used his own thumb drive to copy the powerpoint on my computer and it worked in the computer there. The retrograde tried its best but Constantine beat it! The lecture room had a very groovy set design in back of the speakers, a sort of simple mandala and the room was very dark. It was a full house and a very receptive crowd.
Sigils, Spells and Symbols in Tarot Mythology is somewhat of a specialized interest. I was pleased to see that even if the subject was familiar or new to the audience they were keen to follow along. I had mentioned there were many references and links to research that I would make available after the slide show and there was a fair stampede to the podium to pick up the lists I had brought, obviously not enough. I was fortunate enough to catch Geraldine Hudson’s talk ‘Where Does the Body End’ and David Bramwell’s interactive film, The Cult Of Water.
In my talk, I referenced Pamela Colman Smith, co-creator of the Smith Waite tarot deck and her use of her unusual signature as possible sigil. I brought along some copies of the first book in my series, Magician and Fool, which follows her path. I had requests for links for the book and questions for the release date of next two books, High Priestess and Empress and the next book, Emperor and Hierophant. (Watch this website space for news about the publication of all three books being published as a trilogy soon!) It was a delight to be included in this interesting and provocative ensemble. Thanks to Giorgia Gai for inviting me to Occulture Berlin 2019!
Here is a listing of the references and research covered in my talk: Sigils, Spells and Symbols in Tarot Mythology. I was chuffed that several friends sent on the news release of Salvador Dali’s tarot cards, referenced in my talk. Here is the blurb for the Dali tarot deck release:
In this listing of resources, you will find links for everything mentioned in my presentation, from Austin Osman Spare’s youtube videos to magical spell formulas.
Sigil Resources
- Samuel Mather’s Sigil Formula:
golden-dawn.com/eu/displaycontent.aspx?pageid=312-sigils-from-the-rose
- Austin Osman Spare’s video: The Bones Go Last Parts I & II:
ultraculture.org/blog/2017/05/01/austin-osman-spare/
- Grant Morrison Disinfo Convention 2000 on Chaos Magic & Sigil Magic:
youtube.com/watch?v=l-cxBuRU09w
- Gordon White’s Shoaling Sigils: runesoup.com
- Avery Hart’s Two Method Activation of Sigils: thetravelingwitch.com
- Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J. Carroll, 1987, 234 pages, Weiser books, kindle
- Hands On Chaos Magic by Andrieh Vitimus, 2009, 408 pages, Llewellyn Publications
Podcasts/Magical Spells
- Sasha Graham: sashagraham.com
- Avery Hart: thetravelingWitch.com
- Rebecca Szymczak, aka Cardsy B, Bad Ass Bitches Tarot:
Podcasts.apple.com/lb/podcast/badass-bitches-tarot-by-cardsy-b/id1415266589
- Tess Whitehurst, author of Life Is Magical:
tesswhitehurst.com/find-your-magic-with-this-tarot-spell/
Tarot Decks
Waite Smith – Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith
Thoth Deck – Aleister Crowley, Lady Freida Harris
Ethereal Visions – Matt Hughes
Johanna Gargiulo-Sherman – The Sacred Rose Tarot
Deviant Moon Tarot – Patrick Valenza
Bad Ass Bitches Tarot – Cardsy B
The Dark Woods & Haunted House Tarot – Sasha Graham
Universal Tarot – Salvadore Dali
Ghetto Tarot – Alice Meets
Mountain Tarot – Bea Nettles
The Relative Tarot – 2020 Carrie Paris
Akron Tarot – H.R. Giger
Tarot Revisioned – Leigh J McCloskey