Featured Zoom Lectures

Medieval Mermaids – a Zoom talk with Professor Sarah Peverley

This illustrated Zoom talk will explore the Medieval history of one of the most popular and long-lived of all the mythical creatures that humans have invented.

Count Stenbock: Decadent master of the macabre – a Zoom talk by James Machin

An introductory Zoom talk by James Machin on the decadent writer of strange tales, Count Stenbock – 'scholar, connoisseur, drunkard, poet, pervert, most charming of men'

The Dragon in the West: From Ancient Myth to Modern Legend – Professor Daniel Ogden

It brings the story forwards though Christian writings, medieval illustrated manuscripts, and the lives of dragon-duelling saints

Haunted Houses in the UK – Lena Heide-Brennand

This lecture is illustrated with stunning artwork of the haunted places, and packed with historical facts, legends, and anecdotes.

John Kruse – The Faes’ Anatomy

In this talk John Kruse will examine what we know about the anatomy and physiology of faery-kind

The Satanic Panic: Its Roots and Branches – Peg Aloi

This talk will explore a number of disparate but often related elements that converged to create the Satanic Panic of the 1980s-'90s, including Satanic themed horror films

Upcoming Zoom Lectures

The Magicians of the Golden Dawn – Professor Ronald Hutton – Zoom Lecture

The talk will take a fresh look at how the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded, who inspired and led it, and how its rituals were developed.

A Short Course in Old Norse Cursing – Prof Bernt Thorvaldsen

This lecture delves into the more shadowy side of Norse magic.

Supernatural Mystery Symposium: Dr. Raymond Buckland’s ‘Wide World of Spirit – Steven Intermill and Toni Rotonda

Steven Intermill, will explore Buckland's interest in Spiritualism and his summers spent in Lily Dale during his last years

History & Practice of Geomancy 3: Mastering Shield Charts – Prof Alexander Cummins

This class will also offer some training in the so-called “advanced” techniques of analysing geomantic shield charts

The Old Stones: A Field Guide to the Prehistoric places of Britain and Ireland – Andy Burnham

A highly illustrated and fast paced talk based around many of the themes, new discoveries and mysteries highlighted in our book The Old Stones

The Great God Pan – Robin Herne

This talk will reflect on the Victorian and Edwardian fascination with Pan and his appearance in the stories of Saki, Grahame, Benson, Machen and others.

History and Practice of Geomancy 4: Geomantic Spellcraft – Prof Alexander Cummins

This class will guide those new to geomancy and astrological magic through the options geomantic magic presents

Blodeuedd’s Tale – Steph Bradley

Tells the tale of the fourth branch of the Mabinogion from the perspective of the Flower Queen who became the Owl.

Dark Fairy Tales by Viktor Wynd on Zoom

This evening Mr. Wynd will tells some his favourite tales heard around the world, from nasty Germans chopping up people and eating them to disgusting, macabre and delightful tales

The Satanic Panic: Its Roots and Branches – Peg Aloi

This talk will explore a number of disparate but often related elements that converged to create the Satanic Panic of the 1980s-'90s, including Satanic themed horror films

Bedtime Stories: Stories of the Sun – Dawn Nelson

Join performance storyteller and author Dawn Nelson for folklore and stories to celebrate the launch of her new book 'Stories Of The Sun'

Supernatural Mystery Symposium: Spiritual Spectacles: Mother’s Work and the Shaker Era of Manifestations – Maria Molteni

This lecture will contextualize the Era of Manifestations, its overlap with Spiritualism, and some of Molteni’s responsive artwork as artist

Witch Marks – Prof. Marguerite Johnson

Detecting the so-called ‘witch’s mark’ or ‘devil’s mark’ was a means of proving someone was a witch.

Bedtime Stories: Spring Tides & Salty Tales – Giles Abbot

Spring Tides run high and so too do the stakes in this evening of thrilling tales from the British traditions of the Sea. Expect Mermaids, Sailors, Smugglers and Pirates.

Alchemical Illuminations: The Splendor Solis and Nicholas Flamel – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

The presentation continues with a focus on one of the most famous and splendidly illuminated texts of the Hermetic Renaissance

John Kruse – The Faes’ Anatomy

In this talk John Kruse will examine what we know about the anatomy and physiology of faery-kind

Supernatural Mystery Symposium: Ted Serios: The Mind’s Eye, with Emily Hauver

Ted Serios was purportedly able to document his inner thoughts on Polaroid film in a process called 'thoughtography.'

Bedtime Stories: These Woods More Free – Madeleine Grantham

In These Woods More Free’ when Robin Hood goes to London adventuring

The Haven-Finding Art: An Intellectual Adventure of Celestial Navigation – Robert Hicks

This illustrated presentation explores one of humankind’s greatest achievements—wayfinding by the sky

Supernatural Mystery Symposium: Séance: Spiritualism, Photography and the Search for Ectoplasm – Shannon Taggart

Shannon will share stories and pictures from twenty years of photographing mediumship, explaining how two decades of investigation developed

Season of the Witch: The Book of Goth – Cathi Unsworth

a panoramic view of the musical culture of the UK in the 1980s

Wilde and Pagan? – Robin Herne

This talk will combine an overview of Wilde’s life and philosophy peppered with readings from his poetry and prose to illustrate

“Art begins where life ends; beauty is sublimated reality:” Joséphin Péladan and the power of Symbolist art – Dr Sasha Chaitow

this talk focuses on his concept of the role of art and artists and their power to effect individual and social change according to his esoteric-aesthetic philosophy

Haunted Houses in the UK – Lena Heide-Brennand

This lecture is illustrated with stunning artwork of the haunted places, and packed with historical facts, legends, and anecdotes.

Supernatural Mystery Symposium: Music from Elsewhere – Doug Skinner

presents music attributed to non-human inspiration— tunes from fairies, trolls, trows, angels, spirits, and aliens, as well as music generated by channeling, visions, and dreams.

Birthing Bunnies (and other such things) – Prof. Marguerite Johnson

This lecture unpacks stories around women giving birth to animals, from rabbits to pigs.

Witchcraft During World War II – Julia Phillips

There is a popular belief that in the early days of World War II, a coven of witches gathered in the New Forest to conduct a ritual designed to repel the threat of a Nazi invasion

Supernatural Mystery Symposium: Publishing the Paranormal – Charles and Penelope Emmons

Charles and Penelope Emmons discuss their own adventures in publishing the paranormal in academic and other contexts and those of other researchers as well

17th Century Alchemy and the Rosicrucian Manifestos: Atalanta Fugiens and the Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

This session delves into the mysteries of perhaps the most extraordinary of all alchemical texts, the Atalanta Fugiens of Michael Maier.

Art of The Solomon Islands – Kevin Conru

In the art of the Solomons, there is a link between the visual and the practical.

Supernatural Mystery Symposium: Reclaiming Art – JF Martel

The book places art alongside languages and the biosphere as something endangered by the onslaught of predatory capitalism

Lewis Carroll and Surrealism – Mark Richards

This talk will demonstrate Carroll’s influence on the Surrealists, explore the remarkable mind of the author

Count Stenbock: Decadent master of the macabre – a Zoom talk by James Machin

An introductory Zoom talk by James Machin on the decadent writer of strange tales, Count Stenbock – 'scholar, connoisseur, drunkard, poet, pervert, most charming of men'

Medieval Mermaids – a Zoom talk with Professor Sarah Peverley

This illustrated Zoom talk will explore the Medieval history of one of the most popular and long-lived of all the mythical creatures that humans have invented.

Bodies Behaving Badly – From Vagina Dentata to Wandering Wombs – Prof. Marguerite Johnson – 6 part Lecture Series

In this special six-part series, Professor Marguerite Johnson takes us on an uncanny journey across time and space into the wilds of human imagination.

Hirsute Women – Prof. Marguerite Johnson

This lecture considers hair as a marker of monstrosity, beginning with ancient accounts of the hirsute women

Alchemy and Hermeticism in Elizabethan Poetry: Marlowe, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, and Milton – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

This session focuses on alchemical and hermetic themes in brief selections from poetry of the Elizabethan era and early decades

Brothers Zara and Raum: The Real Story of a Fake Buddhist Rosicrucian Order – Philip Deslippe

This talk will tell the history of Francis Ormsby, Lewis Colburn, and their group, the Ordo Magiaro.

“You Are to Do What We Say”: The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle and his Spirit Guide Pheneas – Michael W Homer

This presentation will use previously unpublished materials to explore the séances in which Pheneas appeared to Doyle’s home circle

Kitchen Kundalini – Xanthe Gresham

Plant lore and mythology have a tale for every malaise – including menopause and midlife crisis.

Painting British Folk Customs – Ben Edge

Join Ben Edge for this Zoom talk as he takes you into the heart of British Folklore and shares his own journey as an artist and gives insights into his creative practice

Greek Flower Power – Robin Herne

This botanical tour will look at some of these old tales and contemplate what they tell us about humanity, spirituality, sexuality

Alchemy shifting into the Enlightenment: Alexander Pope to Goethe – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

The cultural transformations of the Enlightenment, or Early-Modern Era, involved the psychologicizing of alchemical mythologies

Darkling Shadows & Midsummer Madness: The Weird Fiction of R Murray Gilchrist – Daniel Pietersen

In this talk, Gilchrist scholar Daniel Pietersen will use newly-unearthed details of the writer's life to explore this change in fortunes and why Gilchrist

Formidable Warrior Women: Tales of the Amazons in Antiquity – Connie Skibinski

This presentation examines a wide range of art and literature to trace changing attitudes towards these warrior women throughout Greece and Rome.

19th Century Alchemy in Literature: Nathaniel Hawthorne to W.B. Yeats – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

One of the secret undercurrents of the literature of the American Renaissance in the mid 19th century

‘Fiona Macleod’ (William Sharp) (1855-1905) and the Celtic Revival in Scotland by Dr Mark Williams

This talk weighs up Sharp’s deeply peculiar cultural achievement, probing the role that ‘Fiona’ played in his complex life.

An Animist Ethics – Robin Herne

This talk will draw on notions of personhood, reflect on changing laws from around the world as we reconsider our relationships with the non-human

Alchemy in the works of Thomas Mann and James Joyce – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

At the same time that renewed interest in alchemy and hermeticism was being explored in both Freudian and Jungian circles

Marvelous Births in Old Norse Myth and Saga – Bernt Ø. Thorvaldsen

In Old Norse culture, there is a number of stories about peculiar conceptions and births

Alchemy and Hermeticism in the works of Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky, and Hilma af Klint – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

The reduction to the fundamental elements of aesthetic composition—geometrical figures like the rectangle, square, circle

Mark of the Werewolf – Robin Herne

This talk explores a selection of such legends and the possible explanations for how those stories started – from medical and psychiatric explanations

The Dragon in the West: From Ancient Myth to Modern Legend – Professor Daniel Ogden

It brings the story forwards though Christian writings, medieval illustrated manuscripts, and the lives of dragon-duelling saints

Summoning The Spirits – Seance with Medium Patti Negri on Zoom

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Alchemy in the works of C.G. Jung and Hilda Doolittle (H.D.) – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

Jung’s engagement with alchemy began in the late 1920s and dominated his late work

Druids in medieval Irish sources by Dr Mark Williams

This talk sets out those sources, explaining why they are just as problematic—if not more so—than the classical accounts.

Alchemy in Art and Culture -12 Part Lecture Series – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

Perhaps the oldest and most enduring of all myths is the Nekyia: the descent to and return from the underworld.

Alchemy and Hermeticism in the work of Leonora Carrington – Prof Evans Lansing Smith

Leonora Carrington’s traumatic breakdown and incarceration in the Spanish asylum at Santander,

Reverend Robert Kirk’s “The Secret Commonwealth of Elves and Fairies” – Domhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart

In his talk, Dr Stiùbhart will introduce us to Kirk’s life and works, comparing the beliefs presented in the ‘Secret Commonwealth’

Past Lectures

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

The Spiritualism Symposium: The Moment of Revelation – Joscelyn Godwin, Ph.D

The Spiritualism Symposium by Shannon Taggart : The Moment of Revelation: Cases from New York's ‘Burned-Over District’ - Joscelyn Godwin

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit

Summoning the Spirits – Online Seance with Medium Patti Negri

Join psychic medium Patti Negri for an intimate online seance where each participant will have the chance to summon a specific spirit