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Speaker Lineup

Keynote Speakers


Erik Davis, PhD

Independent scholar and author

Underground icon, independent scholar, author, award-winning journalist, sometimes podcaster, and popular speaker. (more…)

    Christine Ferguson, PhD

    Professor in English Studies

     Professor in English Studies in the Division of Literature and Languages at the University of Stirling. (more…)

      Lionel Snell aka Ramsey Dukes

      Contemporary magician and author

      Contemporary English magician, publisher and author on magic and philosophy, who publishes under many aliases, including, most famously, Ramsey Dukes.


        Speakers, Practitioners, Performers and Contributors


        SARAH COFLAN

        Independent Scholar

        Sarah Coflan is an independent scholar whose love and focus mostly lie in the way literature, film, and other art engage with the Underworld and shadow work. She earned her Masters of Arts degree at Goddard

          DANNY NEMU

          Author & Esoteric Practitioner

          Danny Nemu is interested in the regenerative powers of nature, both in terms of curing people and bringing degraded land back to life. After getting ill and getting better in the Amazon, he founded RAIN (Regenerative

            KASPER OPSTRUP, PhD

            Writer / Researcher

            Dr. Kasper Opstrup is a Copenhagen-based writer and researcher. Currently, he is connected to the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid as a researcher while writing on a book about the 20th century’s myths of the future.

            LARA LUNA BARTLEY

            Artist and Lecturer

            Lara Luna Bartley is an artist and PHD candidate at the University of the West of England's Digital Culture Research Centre (DCRC), focused on engaging audiences in debate about the monetary, banking, and financial system through

              ALEXANDER SMALL

              Artist

              Alexander Small's practice explores ideas of the Trickster as an archetype and how these are represented in visual culture. The trickster mythos includes characters such as Puck and Bugs Bunny with themes around these often including

              The Inner Space Exploration Unit

              Art Collective

              Judith Noble (attending in person) is Head of Academic Research and Associate Professor at Arts University Plymouth. Dominic Shepherd (attending in person) is a UK-based artist and associate professor of Fine Art at the Arts University Bournemouth. Evie

                KARIN VALIS

                Writer / Musician / Machine learning engineer

                Karin Valis is a Berlin-based writer, musician and machine learning engineer, with a deep passion for everything occult and weird. Her work focuses mainly on combining technology with the esoteric: projects such as ‘Tarot of the

                SIMON MAGUS, PhD

                Psychiatrist / University of Exeter

                Dr Simon Magus BSc (Hons) MB BS MA PhD is a psychiatrist with a special interest in Early Intervention Psychosis. He studied medicine in London at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School, now part

                  GILLIAN MCIVER

                  Associate Lecturer and Artist

                  Gillian McIver started her artistic journey by picking up a camera and shooting bands, and then progressed to underground cinema-making. After a spell at film school,

                  EMMA WATKINSON

                  Artist

                  Emma Watkinson is a Fantastic Realist contemporary fine art oil painter, originally from Dartmoor, now living in Sussex, U.K. Her inspiration comes from her explorations in consciousness and esoteric study.   She is

                  ADAM MALONE

                  Artist / Producer

                  Having previously worked as an Immersive Event Producer and Audio-Visual artist, Adam Malone's interest in immersive storytelling was inspired by his academic study of the Tarot. His dissertation for the MA in Myth, Cosmology, and the

                  COLE JAMES GRAHAM

                  PhD student, Ohio State University

                  Cole J. Graham is a dog enthusiast, an autistic trans man, and a PhD student in History of Art at the Ohio State University. Previous study has taken him to Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and

                  Stephen Godfrey

                  Photographer & Artist

                  Stephen Godfrey has been a professional photographer since 1989 and a practicing photographic artist since 2000, he has developed a dedicated skill set through his extensive work at the University of Northampton, where he

                  SCOTT JEFFERY, PhD

                  Lecturer in Sociology, University of Highlands & Islands

                  Dr Scott Jeffery is a lecturer, artist, and author of The Posthuman Body in Superhero Comics (2016). His latest publication, Difference, Repetition, and the Superhero Comic appeared in the collection Superheroes and Excess: A Philosophical Adventure

                  TOM BANGER

                  Writer, Artist, Cultural Disruptor

                  Tom Banger has lectured internationally and has been published in The Fenris Wolf, Rituals & Declarations, The Trapartisan Review and many other publications. He founded the Temple ov Psychick Youth North America in 1986. Over the

                  Kirsty Wagstaffe

                  Senior Lecturer and Artist

                  Kirsty Wagstaffe is a fine art practice-based PhD student at De Montford University,

                  YOSHE

                  Musician, dancer and academic

                  Yoshe is a musician, dancer, and academic. She completed an MPhil in music at the University of Cambridge specialising in online subcultures, which has informed her ongoing research into cyberfeminist activism. Having performed from a young

                  DEJA WHITEHOUSE, PhD

                  Independent scholar

                  Following a 25-year career in business analysis and training consultancy, Deja Whitehouse returned to academia in 2016, completing her PhD at the University of Bristol under the supervision of Professor Ronald Hutton in January 2020. Her

                    HEATHER D. FREEMAN

                    Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina

                    Heather D. Freeman is a Professor of Art - Digital Media in the Department of Art & Art History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She holds a BA in Fine Art and German

                    MICHAEL N. GODDARD, PhD

                    Reader in Film and Screen Media at Goldsmiths, University of London

                    Dr Michael N. Goddard, is Reader in Film and Screen Media at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has published widely on international cinema and audiovisual culture as well as cultural and media theory. He is also

                    ORRYELLE DEFENESTRATE-BASCULE

                    Artist / Occultist

                    Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule is an esoteric artist in many media, including painting, writing, sculpture, sound, film and performance art. He is the writer-director of Australian-originating Metamorphic Ritual Theatre Company who have presented many major original productions

                    SHANNON TAGGART

                    Artist and author

                    Shannon Taggart is an artist and author based in St. Paul, MN. Her photographs have been exhibited and featured internationally, including within the publications TIME, New York Times Magazine, Discover, and Newsweek. Her work has been

                    LEVIN HANDSCHUH

                    Artist and Director

                    Levin Handschuh is a theatre director from Hamburg, Germany, and specializes in performance art and opera. His works have been shown at Theater Bremen, the Gelsenkirchen Opera, Theater Hof and the Bavarian State Opera, as well

                    SONJA RENDTORFF

                    Artist / Filmmaker

                    Sonja Rendtorff is a Copenhagen-based artist and filmmaker. She graduated with an MFA from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in 2010. She has since been involved in filmmaking and has been an artist in residency

                      BEN JEANS HOUGHTON

                      Multidisciplinary artist

                      Ben Jeans Houghton's multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, installation, film, drawing, painting, writing & performance. Through these media he investigates magic; the art of transformation and its methodologies, technologies, agencies, and implications, through art-praxis, as-gnosis, informed by

                      JOHN-DAVID KELLEY

                      Astrologer / Astral Magician

                      John-David (JD) Kelley is a professional astrologer and enthusiastic astral magician with a background in anthropology and education. He is the chairperson of the Scottish Astrological Association, the president of the International Association of Astral Magicians,

                      FERDINANDO BUSCEMA

                      Magic Experience Designer

                      Ferdinando Buscema is a Magic Experience Designer — a professional trickster and an international specialist who designs “magical experiences”. With a background in mechanical engineering, humanistic psychology and hermetic traditions, Ferdinando has been chosen as a

                      JULIAN VAYNE

                      Independent Researcher / Occultist / Author

                      Julian Vayne is a British independent scholar and author with over three decades of experience within esoteric culture: from Druidry to Chaos Magic, from indigenous Shamanism through to Freemasonry and Witchcraft. Growing up in the Britain

                      LIBBY BOVE

                      Artist

                      Libby Bove is a multidisciplinary artist based in North Somerset. An unconventional home-school upbringing and an early adult life submerged in D.I.Y. culture, have helped to shape her eclectic creative practice. Bove’s artist’s practice began to

                      DANIELLA VALZ GEN

                      Poet / Artist / Card reader

                      Daniella Valz Gen is a poet, artist, and card reader. Their work explores the interstices between languages, cultures, and value systems with an emphasis on embodiment and ritual, through the mediums of performance, installation, conversation, and

                      a6rax1s (PETER DUCHEMIN, PHD)

                      Artist / Philosopher / Performer

                      a6rax1s (Peter Duchemin, PhD) This entity is describable as an eclectic scholar and artist who has explored issues related to magic, to the liminal threshold of practice and study (the emic/etic divide), and to how time

                      MELISSA ARTEMIS SHEMANNA

                      Artist

                      Melissa Artemis Shemanna is a visionary artist & art gallery curator, residing in an off-grid forest tree house studio in the Yarra Valley, Australia. Her paintings hold an evolutionary enquiry into deeper human and cosmological intelligence,

                      MOGG MORGAN

                      Independent Scholar / Publisher / Practitioner

                      Mogg Morgan is CEO of leading occultural publisher Mandrake and a respected literary catalyst. He is the holder of an advanced degree in Oriental Studies from the University of Oxford where he benefited from a Wellcome

                      NIKKI WYRD

                      Independent Researcher

                      Nikki Wyrd is a well-known figure in occulture, and has helped spread chaos magic techniques by crafting writings, publications, talks and workshops since 1990. She has attended and organized numerous rituals, residential meetings and public events,

                      AARON J. FRENCH

                      Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Erfurt

                      Aaron J. French is a Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Erfurt. I specialize in the history of science, modernity, Western esotericism, German Romanticism, and science and technology studies. My dissertation focused on “Disenchanting

                      JEFF HOWARD, PhD

                      Senior Lecturer, Falmouth University

                      Ludomancer, Technomage, Occult Game Designer. Dr. Jeff Howard is Senior Lecturer in Games at Falmouth University in Cornwall, where he specializes in occult, metal, and Gothic themes and mechanics. His theory and practice converge in his

                      HARPER FEIST

                      Esotericist / Scientist / Historian

                      Harper Feist is an esotericist, a scientist and a historian. She’s interested chiefly in magical innovations of late antiquity, and the use of these tools and methods today. She is involved in both the OTO (Ordo

                      BERND-CHRISTIAN OTTO, PhD

                      Scholar of religion, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg

                      Bernd-Christian Otto is a scholar of religion, currently situated at the university of Erlangen-Nürnberg. His research focuses on the history of magic, where he combines different methodologies such as conceptual history, discourse analysis, social theory, and

                        JOHN MOLETRESS

                        Performance Artist

                        John Moletress is a multi-disciplinary artist, educator and Founding Director of force/collision, an interdisciplinary performance ensemble. Their work has been seen within the US at The John F. Kennedy Center, Abrons Art Center, Basilica Hudson,

                        FREE FRAME

                        Independent researcher and co-founder of the Bohemia Alchemy Institute

                        Free Frame is a researcher of alchemy and magic in the Renaissance period in the former Kingdom of Bohemia. He co-founded the Bohemia Alchemy Institute and has created a library of alchemical and esoteric books in

                          SARA HANNANT

                          Artist and Photographer

                          Sara Hannant is an artist and photographer, my publications include Mummers, Maypoles and Milkmaids: A journey through the English Ritual Year (2011) and Of Shadows: One Hundred Objects from the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic (2016).

                          Please note: This is not a finalised line up, further minor changes to the programme are likely over the coming months and we reserve the right to make said changes without prior notification.

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