Uncategorized | The Blog of Baphomet

In the season of Leo there is a delicious warmth in the air. Some days are bright, bold and blue, their horizons punctuated with towering Jupiterian thunder clouds. On others the breeze caresses the river reeds into sibilant susurrations as they sway beneath the sultry west country skies. High summer is here.

This time of the academic summer holiday is one I feel fully entitled to embrace, having finally finished another book which Psychedelic Press will release this autumn:

Trip Sitting is your essential guide to supporting safe, meaningful psychedelic journeys. Informed by cutting-edge science and extensive real-world experience, this book offers practical insights into the skills, techniques, and mindset that every effective trip sitter needs.

From preparing the space and setting the tone, to navigating the journey and supporting successful integration, Trip Sitting takes a holistic approach to care. With a strong foundation in ethics and practical experience this guide will help you hold space with clarity, confidence, and compassion, maximising the benefits and minimising the risks when exploring these magical medicines.

Whether you’re already working with psychedelics or preparing to hold space for yourself or others, Trip Sitting is a valuable resource. With a focus primarily on one-to-one sessions, its principles and practices can be adapted to a variety of contexts, from small group settings to personal journeys. This book is equally useful for those seeking a safe and effective psychedelic experience, offering clear guidance on what good practice looks like and how to recognize a trustworthy setting.

Foreword by Julie Holland, MD

* PRE-ORDER NOW! Out September 2025 *

Music is an important part of my life and I celebrate being born in a time when so much amazing recorded music is available so easily. As a great fan of analogue electronic music — the first album I ever bought was Rubycon by Tangerine Dream — I’ve been enjoying the work of Caught in Joy, a prolific composer whose music can be found on both Bandcamp and YouTube. Being able to support content creators whose work I enjoy directly is also a real blessing. I’ve recently subscribed to the Patreon of Justin Sledge who is a real treasure in the scholarship of the western esoteric tradition and allied currents. Do check out his work if you’re not familiar with it.

Later this year I’ll be back in teaching mode with classes hosted by Treadwell’s Books, The College of Psychic Studies and Morbid Anatomy. I’ll also be available for one-to-one mentoring sessions, just message me for details.

A History of Chaos Magic – a lecture linked to the publication of This is Chaos edited by Peter J. Carroll, which includes my essay Chemognosis Redux, is on Tuesday 16 September. (All these session are live online and also offer the chance to catch up with the recording.)

I’ll also be lecturing on Cannabis in Magical Practice on Tuesday 30th of September and then on Sexual Magics on the 16th of October.

I’m teaching with Treadwell’s The Magical Qabalah on the 11th and 18th of November and participants on that course will also get access to the set of audio pathworkings which I’ve been working on over the last three years.

Then on the 4th and 11th of December we’ll be exploring Trancing in the Dark.

Check out the teaching I’m doing on the Qabalah, the Thoth Tarot and Samhain with The College of Psychic Studies here, and my two part Morbid Anatomy workshop on Crowley and his channelled text The Book of the Law.

I’ll be speaking at the wonderful Occulture conference in Berlin in October, hope to see you there!

I’ll also be speaking at the online Earth, Sea and Sky Conference on the Role of Fungi in Magic on the 8th of November and in-person in Cornwall on the 9th of October at the Penzance Pagan Moot, and in Wales on the 18th of October as part of the Annual magic and witchcraft conference 2025.

Expect too more films from My Magical Thing, the charming and instructive pandemic side-project of mine that refuses to die, I think I’ve done more than 100 episodes to date!

Right that’s enough for now, back to reading the excellent book by my friend — and My Magical Thing participant — Rupert Callender What Remains: Life, Death and the Human Art of Undertaking and enjoying the sunshine in my garden which right now is full of flowers.

Wishing you many Blessings,

Julian

XxX

Hello Friends

The December solstice approaches and with it the season of Yuletide, a time charged with a multitude of meanings and memories for many of us. The winter sun hangs low at these northern latitudes while the moon rides high in the sky.

On clear nights I’ve been experimenting with using moonlight to make photographic prints, a little artistic side project. I use cyanotype paper onto which I place shells, stones and other found objects. These need to be bathed in moonlight for many hours in order for the exposure to work. The process creates some interesting distorted shapes and, as in this example, the paper also reacts with night time rain when it falls.

My main art project right now is preparing for The Order of the Sun and Moon exhibition which takes place in St Ives, Cornwall next year. Neil Scott, Kate Southworth, Greg Humphries and I are the members of the Order, the name of which is taken from an essay by occultist and artist Ithell Colquhoun. Colquhoun, like many surrealist artists, was a great fan of using natural and automatic processes in her art, I like to think she might have enjoyed my experiments with moonlight, rain and photoreactive paper.

The Order of the Sun and Moon exhibition, runs from Imbolc, the 1st of February, until the 13th. The show includes a day of lectures and performance by some of the leading scholars of Colquhoun’s oeuvre. We’ll also have some examples of her art on show in the gallery alongside our own work, which is a real honour and delight. Colquhoun’s art can also be seen at another gallery in town from the 1st of February to the 5th of May.

I’d love it if you could join us, for our opening on the 1st, the talks on the 2nd, or perhaps for one of the Dreamachine sessions we’re offering. For full details please check out our website.

Meanwhile, over the last few months I’ve been focused on writing. I’m about 40,000 words into my new book, which I hope means I can have the first draft completed by the end of this month. That’s my plan anyhow, as next year is already full of many cool things. Here are some of them in case you’d like to join me.

Opening the New Year – Workshop, 07 Jan, 19:00 – 21:00 UK time. Online and Delayed Viewing. Magical methods for welcoming in 2025, cleansing and banishing the old to make room for the new.

Scrying Skills – Workshop, 14 Jan, 19:00 – 21:00 UK time. Learn the art of seeing visions in a crystal ball, black mirror or a flickering candle flame.

The Beastly Prophet; Aleister Crowley and Thelemic Magick – Talk, 27 Jan, doors open at 6:30pm and talk starts at 7pm, at Viktor Wynd’s Museum, London. A deep dive into the story of the most notorious occultist of the 20th century, tickets include a complimentary glass of Devil’s Botany Absinthe.

The Order of the Sun and Moon, Third Exhibition. 1st Feb – 13th Feb, St Ives, Cornwall.

British Folk Magic – Workshop, 20 Feb, 19:00 – 21:00 UK time. Online and Delayed Viewing. Charms and spells from an array of British folk magic traditions, in theory and practice.

The Magical Body – Talk, 18 Feb, 19:00 – 20:30 UK time. Online and Delayed Viewing. Chakras, auras, meridians and medical astrology are just some of the approaches to the magical body that I’ll be exploring in this lecture.

Ghost in the Machine: Spirit Technology – Talk, 2 Mar, 19:00 – 20:30 UK time. Online and Delayed Viewing. 19:00-20:30 UK time. There are unseen forces in the world, invisible radiations that carry information between minds. This is how your phone works, and the history of this and many other technologies are rooted in occultism.

(The two talks above are with The College of Psychic Studies. Details of these and other lectures, workshops, in person teaching and ceremony will be upload here soon!)

The Thoth Tarot of Aleister Crowley & Frieda Harris – Workshop, 2 & 9 Mar, 7 – 9pm EST. Online and Delayed Viewing.

Baphomet Magic – Workshop, 13 & 20 Mar, 19:00 – 21:00 UK time. Online and Delayed Viewing.

Sigil Magic in Theory and Practice – Workshop, 23 & 30 Mar, 7 – 9pm EST. Online and Delayed Viewing.

Psychotropics and the Western Magical Tradition – Talk, 03 Apr 2025, 19:00 – 20:30 UK time. Online and Delayed Viewing.

…and then it’s Breaking Convention, the largest and most diverse conference on psychedelic consciousness in Europe at The University of Exeter, 17- 19 April. Sign up to the Breaking Convention newsletter to be notified about tickets, the call for contributors and more.

There’s much more deliciousness planned for later in 2025, please keep your eye on my social media for details.

And that other little side project, started during the pandemic, My Magical Thing is still ongoing on my Youtube channel, enjoy!

I hope my friends in the northern hemisphere will be able to successfully navigate this dark time as we turn towards the within. The winter can be a difficult period for many of us so let’s keep the Yule fire burning bright this season as we rest, regenerate and renew ourselves for the wild and weird year ahead.

Sending you Seaons’s greetings and many blessings from sunny Devon!

Julian

XxX