changing the world | The Blog of Baphomet

Podcast 609 – “The Rose Garden – Introduction”

Guest speakers:
William Leonard Pickard
Kat & Alexa Lakey, discussing The Rose from Santa Cruz, and Cusco, Peru

Julian Vayne & Nikki Wyrd, reading from Devon, England
Brother David Steindl-Rast, reading from Gut Aich Priory in Salzburg, Austria
Ben Sessa MD, reading from London, England
Ralf Jeutter, reading from Germany
Julie Holland MD, discussing The Rose from New York City
Ryan Place, reading from Detroit, Michigan
Mark Schunemann. reading from the University of Oxford
Estia from University of Durham (UK), reading from Paris
Jo from University of Durham, reading at Durham, England
Nese Devenot PhD, reading from Case Western University School of Medicine
Bruce Van Dyke, reading from Reno, Nevada
Greg Sams, reading from London, England

PROGRAM NOTES:

Today’s podcast features an introduction to The Rose Of Paracelsus: On Secrets & Sacraments by Leonard Pickard. Rolling Stone once called Pickard “The Acid King”, and his book is being called a modern masterpiece. It tells the story of an international clan of secret LSD chemists. And who better to tell this story than Leonard Pickard, who is now serving two life sentences in a maximum security prison in the United States, having been accused of manufacturing large quantities of acid, billions according to one ex-DEA agent. Over the next two years we will present a reading of this book, along with commentary, by friends of Leonard’s. Today we feature an introduction of The Rose of Paracelsus with a series of readings from various chapters, followed by some commentary on the readings. In the months and years to come, we will be podcasting a reading of this entire book, chapter-by-chapter.

The podcast is also available on Soundcloud

and Youtube

May a thousand flowers bloom!

Julian Vayne

We welcome the summer here in the northern hemisphere in many ways, from public folk dances to intimate coven or solitary rituals. (For me this includes a ceremonial screening of The Wicker Man, a lineage tradition I received from Peter Grey.)

On the run up to May Day this year, across the world, we’ve seen some remarkable actions by Extinction Rebellion and other groups. This in the context of British politics, where we seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic of climate change, while wittering on about Brexit.

With the intention that our community can find ways to transcend current divisions and to unite in the face of the collapsing biosphere I’ve created this audio track. Feel free to deploy it in ritual that seeks to build common ground among all those demanding change and those who don’t get it yet. The core ritual technology in this tune is a recording of a wonderful naked protest action in the House of Commons. Why not sing along to the Padstow May Day carol and using the ‘Extinction Rebellion!’ chant, focus some positive vibes in the direction of these timely transformations. By all means go skyclad if you like 😀

“I trust the sight of the young people refreshes you.”

Beltane is the celebration of sexuality and so, from the archives, here’s another folky offering:

You may fancy a bit of dancing to celebrate summer coming in, so here are some tunes used during our Purple Magic rituals in the Chaos Craft Coven the Western Watchtower.

And last by not least, Beltane is the season to worship Pan; the god called from an imagined Arcadia into the heart of the late 19th and early 20th century literature as The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, ‘The Great God’ by Golden Dawn magician Arthur Machen and in many other guises.

In ancient times Pan was a dependable minor deity (once charmingly referred to, by Professor Ronald Hutton, as ‘the Citroën 2CV of Gods)’. By the dark dawn of the industrial revolution, when the ‘peasants’ got re-branded as the ‘working class’ of Britain this all changed. People flooded into the cities, driven off the newly enclosed land as the long haul of climate change began its exponential curve. The subsequent sense of loss for the countryside and rural life conjured Pan into the pens of poets, the brushes of painters and the temples and groves of occultists and witches. Let us reclaim and replant the wild wood from which we were untimely ripped by oppression and industrialization!