Voces Magicae: From Ancient Sources to Modern Interpretations, an online lecture for Kirsten D Dzwiza patrons, May 28, 2023, 6pm CET, online.

“This is a lecture I have been wanting to do for a long time. ‘Voces magicae’ is not an ancient term that was used in the magical papyri. The original technical terminology in these papyri has been ignored by modern scholarship to a large extent, and modern interpretations illustrate a serious bias towards (or rather: against) magic and magicians on one hand, and a lack of examination of the original texts on the other. This has lead to quite some misunderstanding concerning what ‘voces magicae’ are, how they were understood and used in the magical papyri, and what they are not.

In the first part of this lecture I want to make you familiar with the ancient terminology behind ‘voces magicae’ and show you how they were understood and used in ancient magic. To do so, we will take a look at multiple examples from the ritual manuals as well as from the artefacts of applied magic. This will also illustrate where our current limits of understanding are.

In the second part of the lecture I will show you and discuss modern interpretations of ‘voces magicae’, from useful approaches to the ultimate biased explanations by renowned scholars.

I will close the lecture with an outlook of what is needed to improve our understanding of ‘voces magicae’ and how we can get there.”

Goddess-Trees in the Forest of Bliss with David Gordon White, presented by Sapienza Università Di Roma, May 25, 2023, online

“Sapienza
Università Di Roma

Dottorato in Civiltà
Dell’asia E Dell’africa Curriculum Siac

David Gordon White
Distinguished Emeritus Professor
University of California Santa Barbara

Goddess-Trees
In the Forest
Of Bliss
Tree Worship
in Vārānasī
And Greater India
(200 Bce – 2000 Ce)

25 Maggio 2023
11:00-13:00
Laboratorio Didattico 2
Edificio Marco Polo
Scalo S. Lorenzo 82
Roma

Link Per Seguire Da Remoto: https://meet.google.com/spb-wjpm-gec ”

Presumably about “Goddess Trees in the Forest of Bliss: Local Place and Translocal Space in a City of Pilgrims” by David Gordon White.

“The temples and bathing places of Varanasi, the holy city of the Hindus, have been documented textually and cartographically for over 1000 years. Created mainly for the use of pilgrims, these sources—textual “glorifications” (māhātmyams) and “picture maps” highlighting the temples and shrines of the great gods of official Hindu polytheism—have represented Varanasi as a city transcending the bounds of time and space. Entirely ignored in these documents are references to the local deities that Varanasi residents, not all of them Hindu, venerate in their daily lives. Many of these are neem trees (Azadirachta indica), identified as goddesses, which have defined the city’s urban fabric since the time when Varanasi was known as the “Forest of Bliss.” Ancient Indian sources, mainly Buddhist, demonstrate that tree worship, current in Varanasi some 2000 years ago, was also foundational to the iconography of Kṛṣṇa and Śiva, two of the high gods of official Hindu theism. This chapter explores the relationship between the local and translocal (i.e., universal, all-Indian lifeworlds of South Asian religion), arguing that the Varanasi of local vernacular practice precedes and undergirds the Varanasi of translocal official Hinduism.”

Which is a chapter that appears in Living Folk Religions [Amazon, Bookshop, Publisher, DOI, Local Library] eds Sravana Borkataky-Varma, Aaron Michael Ullrey.

“Living Folk Religions presents cutting-edge contributions from a range of disciplines to examine religious folkways across cultures. This collection embraces the non-elite and non-sanctioned, the oral, fluid, accessible, evolving religions of people (volk) on the ground. Split into five sections, this book covers:

What Is Folk Religion?

Spirit Beings and Deities

Performance and Ritual Praxis

Possession and Exorcism

Health, Healing, and Lifestyle

Topics include demons and ambivalent gods, tree and nature spirits, revolutionary renunciates, oral lore, possession and exorcism, divination, midwestern American spiritualism, festivals, queer sexuality among ritual specialists, the dead returned, vernacular religions, diaspora adaptations, esoteric influences underlying public cultures, unidentified flying objects (UFOs), music and sound experiences, death rituals, and body and wellness cultures.

Living Folk Religions is a must-read for those studying Comparative Religions, World Religions, and Religious Studies, and it will also interest specialists and general readers, particularly enthusiastic readers of Anthropology, Folklore and Folk Studies, Global Studies, and Sociology.”

Ancient Pagan Werewolf Cults and Their influence with Denny Sargent, hosted by Amy Hale, May 16, 2023 The Viktor Wynd Museum & The Last Tuesday Society, May 16, 2023, 2pm CDT, online.

“Ancient Pagan Werewolf Cults and Their influence on the ‘witch cults’ of Medieval Europe

From the 40,000 year old image of a hunting werewolf cave painting to the modern revival of Pagan werewolf magick, shapeshifting and specifically werewolfery, has been an important though often overlooked part of Western Pagan thought and practice. This presentation begins with documented prehistoric werewolf cults and Pagan werewolf shape shifting practices and then follows classical historians such as Herodotus and Livy and their first hand observations of werewolf ritual shapeshifting practices within the primal religious traditions and practices of ancient Greece, Rome, Scythia, among others.

The influence of these deep-seated animistic ‘shamanic’ practices clearly influenced the Pagan survivals in Europe post- Rome and a surprising percentage of ‘witches’ that were persecuted and executed by the Church were accused of being witches and werewolves. The atrocious witchcraft trial documents give clear indications that shapeshifting ‘werewolf’ practices were part of these small Pagan cults as well as later werewolf cult survivals like the Benandanti cult, sometimes called the ‘Wolves of God,’ as well as werewolf warrior cults in Ireland, Scotland and other Celtic countries where even today werewolves (like the Wulvers) are still looked upon favorably.”

Speakeasy of the Dead V, an online cabaret for fancy necromancers, presented by Radio Free Golgotha, April 30, 2023, online.

“Speakeasy of the Dead (V)
An online cabaret for fancy necromancers

By Radio Free Golgotha

Starts on Sunday, April 30 · 6pm CDT

Join us for our fifth SPEAKEASY OF THE DEAD, your favourite online cabaret for fancy necromancers!

We will have three 20-minute talks, a few ten-minute presentations and our usual segments of necro-astrology, slide-galleries of curated art, dread poetry, and herbalism of the dead; all inspired by our topic-theme-prompt NIGHT FLIGHT.

FEATURING!

– Dr Alexander Cummins & Sasha Ravitch, speaking two-headedly on the Trooping Dead and fairy Arthuriana of the Wild Hunt

– Katarina Pejovic, sharing Balkan lore, legend, and litany.

– Matthew Venus , considering perspectives on (and protections against) the witches’ night flight.

PLUS!

– The Dead Weather Report with JM Hamade

– Curated Art by Sarah Wood

– Poetry from Cooper Wilhelm

– Necro-gardens tended by Jesse Hathaway Diaz

and as always, all proceedings hosted by

The Good Doctor and Goat of Radio Free Golgotha

Price of Entry: $7

We plan to donate all proceeds to E-Romnja, a Roma feminist, a-political and non-profit organization that fights for the rights of Roma women and girls.”