The Cunning Dead: Working with Dead Magicians

This is a 120-minute intermediate level lecture, in Sophia's (main level)

Spectres are haunting Western magic – the spectres of dead magicians. In this presentation, contemporary cunning-man Dr Alexander Cummins will explore the necromancies conducted with the ghosts of magicians to survey the different sorts of practitioners from whom we might draw counsel and support: saintly shades, such as St Albertus Magnus and indeed the Three Magi; occult philosophers, such as Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa; astrologer-physicians and arcane apothecaries; and of course the service magician, folk practitioners, and village wizards known as cunning-folk.

This presentation will offer a range of methods for opening lines of communication with such ghostly sources of magical guidance: charms performed at cemetery gates, scrying in a glass of water, dreamwork with grave dirt, and even extended pact-based workings combining these techniques. We will also overview different kinds of divination, shrine-objects and services, and even a variety…