Last weekend was the Seattle Esoteric Book Conference which I visited with some good friends from the Grey School. The conference itself was a bit expensive for my wallet so I decided to save my hard-earned for the vendor room, rather than going to the workshops. I have never seen so many small press occult publishers in one room before. It was really neat to see so many wonderful rare and antique editions, some of familiar works (1st edition Drawing Down the Moon!) and some bizarre things that I've never heard of.
There were a lot of amazing books there, but I must admit it wasn't really my crowd. I'm a witch and the majority of what I do is intuitive. Old grimoires and esoteric theory are wonderful bits of color and enrichment, but they don't really inform my practice. Historical research into how particular magicians did things a hundred years ago is interesting in an anthropological way, but I'll stick to listening to my Gods for figuring out how I'm supposed to best honor them. Now, my alchemist friend just about lost her biscuit with all the amazing hard to find alchemical titles they had and I imagine any ceremonial magician would have felt like they'd entered candyland. I think this conference is a wonderful thing and I'll definitely be back, but probably just for a turn about the room.
After the conference my friends and I went on a ghost tour with the always lovely Jake of Private Eye Tours. We did the Spirits of Seattle tour, which I've been on before and enjoyed immensely. Our group was most of the van and pretty much commandeered things. We were joined by two lovely ladies who didn't seem to mind our outspoken and matter of fact magickal talk and may even pop by the Grey School some time - which would be fab :)
All in all it was a wonderful and witchy weekend. I came home with some interesting grimoires and will eventually have some interesting book reviews for y'all.
Now, Mabon is coming up this week; Sept 22nd at 7:49am pst to be precise. Here in Seattle we're enjoying an odd Indian Summer, with temps in the high 70s to low 80s all week. I've never welcomed autumn in shorts before and I can only imagine it will be a weird experience. However, you can tell the seasons are shifting because I'm arriving at work when the stars are still out and I need a coat in the morning. I think perhaps I'll welcome autumn by making a special batch of applesauce or maybe some nice beeswax candles on Thursday. I'll have to think about it.
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| A fun bit of public art down at the Seattle Center, next to the Experience Music Project. |
There were a lot of amazing books there, but I must admit it wasn't really my crowd. I'm a witch and the majority of what I do is intuitive. Old grimoires and esoteric theory are wonderful bits of color and enrichment, but they don't really inform my practice. Historical research into how particular magicians did things a hundred years ago is interesting in an anthropological way, but I'll stick to listening to my Gods for figuring out how I'm supposed to best honor them. Now, my alchemist friend just about lost her biscuit with all the amazing hard to find alchemical titles they had and I imagine any ceremonial magician would have felt like they'd entered candyland. I think this conference is a wonderful thing and I'll definitely be back, but probably just for a turn about the room.
After the conference my friends and I went on a ghost tour with the always lovely Jake of Private Eye Tours. We did the Spirits of Seattle tour, which I've been on before and enjoyed immensely. Our group was most of the van and pretty much commandeered things. We were joined by two lovely ladies who didn't seem to mind our outspoken and matter of fact magickal talk and may even pop by the Grey School some time - which would be fab :)
 |
| Jake telling us about the spirit of a minister haunting his former church. |
All in all it was a wonderful and witchy weekend. I came home with some interesting grimoires and will eventually have some interesting book reviews for y'all.
Now, Mabon is coming up this week; Sept 22nd at 7:49am pst to be precise. Here in Seattle we're enjoying an odd Indian Summer, with temps in the high 70s to low 80s all week. I've never welcomed autumn in shorts before and I can only imagine it will be a weird experience. However, you can tell the seasons are shifting because I'm arriving at work when the stars are still out and I need a coat in the morning. I think perhaps I'll welcome autumn by making a special batch of applesauce or maybe some nice beeswax candles on Thursday. I'll have to think about it.
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