The Chapel in Brompton Cemetery is once again hosting a series of talks, this year on the topic of alchemy and magic in London.
Six lectures are being held, with the funds from the £12 tickets contributing to the restoration of this Victorian graveyard.
All the tickets to each lecture can be bought here.
Saturday 4th June
1:00 to 3:00 pm
Historian Dr Glyn Parry and champion of fringe science Mark Pilkington investigate the deeply strange and magical lives of two alchemists for whom London itself was the laboratory.
Spell Books, Scryers and the Philosopher’s Stone
3:00 to 5:00 pm
Hear tales of alchemical magic and its secrets as folklorist George Hoyle and historian Owen Davies distill the essence of the grimoire, the philosoper’s stone and the elixir of eternal life into a potent narrative of sorcery in theory and practice.
7:00 pm
A a special and unique candlelit performance by one of the world’s foremost theremin players, the ‘alchemist of sound’ Lydia Kavina, as she performs a selection of themes inspired by magic and mystery.
Sunday 5th June
The Tarot Decks of Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare
1:00 to 3:00 pm
The tradition of divination using the 78 cards of the Tarot deck dates back to Protestant and Masonic sects in the 18th century. It later became an important part of the philosophy of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the 19th Century occult organisation which included Aleister Crowley, the so-called “wickedest man in the world”, as well as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle among its members. Golden Dawn had its own Tarot deck, apparently designed by one of its founders, S.L. MacGregor Mathers.
3:00 to 5:00 pm
Writer Philip Ball and Jungian historian Sonu Shamdasami conjure up the spirits of two of the most significant alchemical visionaries: Paracelsus and Jung. Separated in time by 400 years, but linked by their Swiss birth place, they wandered Europe in parallel explorations of psychic health, science and alchemical symbolism
Faust and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice
7:00 pm
A chance to hear these classic stories as you’ve never heard them before – in a graveyard. As dusk falls in Brompton cemetery the gatekeeper will guide you down a lantern lit path, picking your way through the tombstones until you reach the chapel. Find a pew by candlelight, fortify your spirits with a complimentary glass of Hendrick’s gin and listen to Giles Abbott performing a selection of tales of the occult including Goethe’s Faust and the Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Most surreal moment of my life, some 40-odd years ago was when I used to go past the Earl’s Court end of the Brompton Cemetery every day, and many evenings – and one evening, on my way out, I was in time to see a television being delivered to the cemetery….