Today is the last day of the FORECAST exhibit, which has apparently been very popular. The Institute seems very happy with it. To close out the run, there will be tarot readings, performances, and a talk by me — as well as the last chance to catch all the art. I’ll be talking about the…
Tag: history of magic
L’Affaire des Poisons (1955)
Content caution for apparently genuine harm of toads, alas. Alas, despite an early appearance by the Tarot deck Marseille there is no more sign of them, but there is pin-sticking magic and black masses, oh yeah. This seems surprisingly dark for the time and in such a lush production. Well, partly: costumes and sets for…
Review: The Conjuring of America
THE CONJURING OF AMERICA: Mojos, Mermaids, Medicine, and 400 Years of Black Women’s Magic Lindsey Stewart Legacy/Hachette, 2025 I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Stewart carefully builds up the history of Black Women’s Magic from its African roots to the Americas and Caribbean, through the years of enslavement and then the Great Migration, right…
Creating Meaningful Ritual – 24 April
CREATING MEANINGFUL RITUAL 24 April 2025 7pm Star + Splendor, Troy NY $35 K.A. Laity, practitioner, artist, historian, will return to Star & Splendor Thursday, 4/24 to offer a special workshop on creating meaningful ritual. If you’ve had an idea for something you’d like to ritualize, but have not known where to start, this workshop is…
Irreverent Tarot Ep2
Another #TarotTuesday flick up: this one takes a quick look at a strange 1911 tarot, Le Tarot de la Reyne which I came across at the Beinecke while looking for something else (what? who knows?! knee deep in figuring out a thing that remains a bit amorphous but deals with tarot history). The queen in…
Enchanted: Why Magic Persists
The OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series presents
Professor Kathryn Laity on:
Enchanted: Why Magic Persists Across Millennia
Magickal Women & the Rock-n-Roll Witch
Join the authors, organisers and friends for the launch of Making Magic Happen, a glorious volume that collects many of the presentations from the first Magickal Women Conference in London. I spoke about the magic of Leonora Carrington, of course! There’s so much more–plenty to interest everyone of any esoteric stripe. Join us! On Monday…
Magic on the BBC
Tune in next Tuesday to hear me on Matthew Sweet’s ‘Free Thinking’ programme along with Jessica Gossling, John Tresch and Chris Gosden. Matthew had seen me speak at the Magickal Women conference and invited me along for the free-ranging chat. You will be able to listen to it live or on catch up, because unlike BBC…
#FolkHorror Remix featuring Higora
A new and exclusive Higora track is available as part of the Melmoth the Wanderer Folk Horror Revival Remix. Here’s the description of the set: The second Folk Horror Revival mix from Melmoth the Wanderer. All the tracks featured in this offering were submitted by members of the FHR Facebook group and woven together by…
Film for a Friday: The Magician (1926)
It’s been so long since I read Maugham’s novel, but I recall enjoying it — far more than Aleister Crowley did, who accused the author of plagiarism as that was easier than accusing him of satire. Anyway, then he’d have had to go after M. R. James, John Buchan, Dennis Wheatley and Dion Fortune as…