Today is the day my late friend Adrean Darce Brent chose as her birthday; she told me once that the process took long enough that she had more than one day that could be considered so, but having to choose she went with that date. She died before her last birthday which I didn’t find…
Author: katelaity
All-Purpose Writer & Arcane Artist
Swedenborg House: Elective Affinities
SWEDENBORG HOUSE, LONDON Taking inspiration from the term coined in early chemistry, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1809 novel, and a celebrated painting by René Magritte, Elective Affinities explores the mysterious connection between objects, ideas and inner experience. At its core lies the thought of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), whose philosophy of correspondences proposed a resonance between objects, places…
Þæs ofereode, þisses swa mæg
How to describe the feeling when you see loads of people sharing a meme about how far back can you understand English, which goes all the way back to Old English. People having fun and delighted to realise they can get through Middle English pretty easily, early Middle English somewhat and a bit of Old…
‘Stars & Screen’ Virtual Symposium
I’m pleased to be giving a presentation on the borderline between Gothic and Noir using the films Ivy and Bedelia at the Cinema & Media History Virtual Symposium, 16 May 2026. Good news: it’s online and free to attend this whole day of presentations on a wide variety of films starting at 10am Eastern Time…
Mold, Moss, and Fungus
I am always grateful when Carol Borden of The Cultural Gutter tells me I should check something out. She knows my tastes pretty well and when she said I had to see Rabbit Trap, I knew I would need to do so (see her write up at the link). It hits a lot of my…
Forecast Review!
MIDBROW 30 Artists Explore Divination Nadine Nelson’s installation for Forecast: Reading the Signs — running now in the upper gallery at the Institute Library through March 28 — is a sunny nook in the middle of the art show: two cozy chairs in the window, a snug table filled with intriguing objects, among them a deck of…
Hallucinations
I received an email requesting an essay I wrote in 2011. Not unusual: while publishers charge lots of money for academic journals, most of us are happy to give away copies for free of our own publications. Print journals used to give (maybe still do?) extra offset copies for precisely that purpose. What was odd,…
Forecast: Opening Day!
Today’s the day! Forecast opens at the Gallery Upstairs at The Institute Library. reception from 5-7pm. Fabulous art about divination and magic. Alas, I will not be able to be there due to the latest arctic blast, illness, and various Belle Ombre misfortunes (if you’re thinking about buying a 200+ year old house, consider carefully…
Dundee, Palestine, Crows, and the Tay
Begin as you mean to go on, as we always say, but it’s often easier said than done. As I listen to Jim Reid sing of ‘Grizzel Jaffray’ from his Emfae Dundee CD it’s easy to feel too far from the comforts of Scotland. It doesn’t help that it remains arctic in New York with…
Forecast: Art Show
I could not be more pleased to be part of FORECAST: READING THE SIGNS at the Gallery Upstairs at the Institute Library in New Haven. What a great theme — you know how much I love systems of divination! It will feature terrific works by gal pals Stephanie Johnson AKA The Queen of Everything, Jennifer…