Reminder: don’t forget to sign up for this year’s Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival!

As I scramble to finish putting my presentation and notes together (and trying to figure out how to fit three hours of content into two), it would be remiss of me to not forget to let all my good readers know that we’re just one week away from this year’s Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival, hosted by the good people at the Salem Summer Symposium!  Unlike last year, due to the obvious influence of the presiding Reign of the Lady of Crowns, this year’s event is going to be all-online, and the good people in Salem have done an amazing job putting this all together.  While we’ll all certainly miss being able to hang out in person and frolick with abandon across Salem in its myriad haunts and bars, this is still gonna be a time you don’t want to miss!

With thirty classes being offered this year from some of the best and brightest occultists, witches, and magicians out there—including one by yours truly, of course, on Greek alphabet divination and magic from 1 to 3 pm EDT on Saturday, August 15—you can sign up for the online classes individually, or with bulk rates per day or for the whole weekend.  What’s more, you’ll have access to the recordings of whatever classes you sign up for (or whichever days, or the whole weekend) through the rest of 2020, so if you can’t make the live class or if you have a schedule conflict between two amazing presenters, you can still take the class at your leisure.  (This is something I wish they did last year, since there were too many great things to be present for without mastering bilocation, but they’re investigating ways to do this in the future for both online-only and in-person classes, too.  The recording and accessing of recordings, I mean, not the bilocation.)

There’s still time to sign up, of course, so head on over to the events page and book your tickets today!  From decans to demons, qigong to qabbalah, Saturn to seidr, this is gonna be a festival you won’t forget soon!

Time to head to the Salem Summer Symposium!

Well, almost, at least.  I have a few more days to wrap things up at home before I make the drive up to New England.

But things are officially getting started tomorrow up in Salem, Massachusetts for the Salem Summer Symposium, a week-long festival for the exploration, celebration, and acceptance of magical and occult education, commerce, community, and activism held throughout the city.  The event is founded and organized by Jacqui Allouise-Roberge of the Cauldron Black, Matthew Venus of Spiritus Arcanum, and Justice the Wizard of Just This Wizard, and is their first major event of this type.  And I get to present and do readings there!

The SSS formally begins tomorrow on Saturday, August 3 with a number of shows, events, and other parties going on for the next few days, but the conference and presentation parts of the SSS begin on Thursday, August 8.   I’ll be presenting at two talks, both next week on Friday, August 9:

  • Double Trouble Geomancy Power Hour (1pm to 3pm), along with my colleague and good friend, the good Dr. Alexander Cummins.  Come on down for a two-hour introductory crash course in the wonderful divinatory art of geomancy! A thousand-year-old system of divination that started in the sands of old Arabia and the Sahara, this system of divination left a lasting impact on Western occulture and spiritual practices for hundreds of years. Undergoing a modern renaissance of its own, join Mr. Block and Dr. Cummins to learn about this system and to get answers to all your questions about the art for divination, magic, and all other spiritual concerns you might have!
  • Geomantic Divination and Theurgy (4pm to 6pm).  The divinatory art of geomancy is old, but for most of its history in the Western occult world, its practice was limited almost exclusively to divination—but there’s no reason why that should always be the case. In this lecture, geomancer extraordinaire Sam Block will talk not only about the divinatory aspect of geomancy for understanding the workings of the world but also how one might use the art of geomancy and its sixteen geomantic figures as foundations for building a spiritual practice of enlightenment of the soul and elevation of the spirit through prayers, rituals, and meditation.

In addition to these two talks, I’ll also be doing readings and consultations all day Saturday, August 10, generously hosted by the Cauldron Black, for anyone who would want them, whether by geomancy, grammatomancy, or my other preferred means.

But don’t just come up to see me!  There are also wonderful talks by Dr. Cummins on his own, including his own talk on geomantic magic (Saturday, August 10 at 10am to 12pm), and a whole slew of other luminaries and dignities besides on so many amazing and wonderful topics.  You can find the whole schedule of events on the SSS website here.  And don’t forget the movie screenings, welcome dinner, pub crawl, and other events going on!

If you haven’t yet, be sure to register soon and get your tickets before it’s too late!  If you have any questions, feel free to contact the SSS folk over on their website.

And, of course, I’ll be in Salem for myself and to meet up with good people, both old friends and new acquaintances besides, so here’s hoping for a wonderful trip for us all!

I just need to, yanno, get my bags packed, and also actually finish writing my presentation notes, so…I should get back to it.  In the meantime, we’ll go quiet on this blog for a bit while I’m out and about traveling and talking.  See you all soon!