Two of the UK’s leading chaos magicians compare techniques, share stories, and talk about magic today. Julian Vayne is an occultist over 35 years’ experience. His work is informed by chaos magic, and by lineages in Wicca and Tantra. A regular workshop leader and speaker, Julian is also a co-organizer of the psychedelic conference Breaking Convention, and he sits on the board of The Journal of Psychedelic Studies. Mark Vincent is a longstanding independent chaos magician. He has worked as a professional musician for 25 years and is also a clinical hypnotherapist with over 15 years' experience. He works extensively with the techniques that address subconscious blocks, motivation and core beliefs.

Marco Visconti's dynamic live lecture and Q&A introduces the mysterious but central figure in Aleister Crowley's system of Thelema. Babalon is also known as the Scarlet Woman, the Great Mother or the Mother of Abominations. He traces her roots in John Dee's Elizabethan magic, explores the Babalon workings of Jack Parsons, and considers her nature and her mysteries. Babalon is now found in modern occulture, with some equating her to Inanna, Ereshkigal or Hecate as a goddess of a new witchcraft. The Thelemic perspective counters this with a commitment to seeing her as a vector of transcendence, alien and beyond definition.

A unique Treadwell's author event: a conversation on secret cults, cathedral mysteries, hauntings and dreams, with acclaimed Scottish author David Keenan. Keenan’s new novel Monument Maker prompts this interview - it's an epic romance of eternal summer and a descent into history up to the present, where a secret initiatory cult is uncovered that has its roots in macabre experiments in cryptozoology in pre-war Europe. David will be speaking with our very own Carl Holmes. Ever since Carl read a battered copy of The Morning of the Magicians he has delighted in esoteric, occult and countercultural theory and practice. His wanderings through the Zoroastrian Towers of Silence in Iran, Crowley’s ruined Abbey of Thelema and the labyrinthine streets of London eventually led him to Treadwell’s where he works as our book buyer.

This lecture examines the old practice of hiding bunches of old clothing in building walls Protection? Magic? Archaeologist Wayne Perkin considers what people had hoped to achieve.

In this lecture, Christina Oakley Harrington introduces some of the core concepts of Gardnerian witchcraft, a closed religious tradition which is often a hot topic in pagan and occult circles.

In this entertaining and engaging lecture, Paul Bell guides us through the early history of Spiritualism, with special emphasis on London, and on the working class women empowered by the movement. The traditional history of Spiritualism states that it was born in the United States in 1848 with the Fox sisters; but in London ten years earlier, the Okey sisters had already peeled back the veil and communed with the dead in trance. As mediums, working class women in London and elsewhere entered the homes of the middle and upper classes and enraptured them, making for uncomfortable and fascinating negotiations of class, gender, and sometimes, even, sex.

Dr David Harrison’s lecture on goddess imagery in freemasonry, focussing on the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries

London's Victorian garden cemeteries have a remarkable allure, with their crumbling chapels, shady bowers, and Egyptian follies. In this lecture, Dr Romany Reagan celebrates them, while at the same time, considers them theoretically as sites of ritual. The talk discusses the complex host of people who use them: media-hungry occultists, mock satanists, 21st-century witches, as well as mourners and tourists. Practitioners and visitors alike search for the secular sublime in these graveyard landscapes. Dr Romany Reagan received her PhD from Royal Holloway, University of London in performing heritage, for work on North London's Abney Park cemetery. Further research took her into the occult literary heritage of Stoke Newington, ‘earth mystery’ psychogeography, and folklore. Publications include ‘Crossing Paths/Different Worlds in Abney Park Cemetery’, Ways to Wander (2015) and 'The Gendered Garden: Sexual Transgression of Women Walking Alone in Cemeteries', Death & the Maiden, 2017. Website: https://blackthornandstone.com/

Nails, scrapes of cloth, bodily fluids... All of these and more are found within Witch Bottles. This lectures explores the why, how and who of the fascinating history of these powerful folk charms. Wayne Perkins is an archaeologist with over twenty years of experience. He is currently researching medieval graffiti, ritual protection marks and ritual practices in the medieval buildings of the south-east of England.

This lecture is presented by Mark Smith, a popular Treadwell's teacher and independent chaos magician; he works extensively with the techniques developed for working with subconscious blocks, motivation and core beliefs. In this lecture he will explore the many facets that make up his unique blend of psychology and magic.

Scott Treleaven presents his autobiographical essay ‘Picture Yourself in a Burning Building’. In it the listener meets him in his various ages and phases: the child who sees the fairies, the teen who discovers his queerness, the young occult explorer who strives to find and lose himself. Over the course of forty minutes he takes us into his inner life and his outer experiences of the AIDS epidemic, 90s queer zine culture, phenomenology, Buddhist psychology and anarchism. Ultimately he questions whether or not - in an era of precarious irrationality - it might be time to put some old ghosts to rest. The presentation is illustrated with images of his art of the past twenty years.

This talk examines the Lucifer myth and the impact these stories have had on Western society. It’s a tricky tale that involves lies, legend, and history. We will partly unravel some of these mysteries by examining the original texts associated with Lucifer. Tina Anghelatos has a theology degree with a specialisation in ancient languages. She uses these languages to unlock biblical tales and their relationship with the Western mystery tradition.

Joséphin Péladan (Sâr Merodack, 1858-1918) was the enfant terrible of the French occult revival -- a symbolist artist, occultist and philosopherinfluenced by Platonism and Luciferian theology. Péladan's philosophical project was a plan for the salvation of humanity - this was to be done by an inner circle of artist-initiates who bombard the masses with uplifting symbol-laden art and would ignite a collective awakening. Human creativity would thus redeem the Fall of man and angels. The occult artist, in short, holds the key to salvation - an idea that is as radical as one can imagine today. Dr Sasha Chaitow is the acknowledge world expert on Péladan. An independent occult scholar and freelance lecturer, she has many publications to her name, including a forthcoming study of Péladan with Fulgur Press. She is also a painter with numerous solo exhibitions and an active art practice.

In this richly illustrated lecture based on her new book, "Atalanta Unveiled" (2020) Dr Sasha Chaitow traces this path through the structure and content of the Atalanta fugiens together with a number of Maier’s other works. She explores the coded mythical references in the images and provides evidence that the emblems need to be rearranged to decode Maier’s full message.