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Occult London Of The 70s

Lord Lucan

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
Messages
4,615
Browsing Twitter earlier this evening, I came across this supremely interesting and ongoing thread about this fabulous book below:
occultbook.jpg


The thread begins: 'My flatmate has this amazing 1970 book which is basically a directory of various occult services and where to get them so had to share some of the amazing adverts in a thread (May add to it as I read through it).'

Follow it here as more is added: https://twitter.com/AdamScovell/status/1178371405597032448?s=19

Do any of our members here have any recollection of this book or the interesting folks mentioned within it? Does anyone else have a copy? Has anyone used their services?
I think this would make for some fascinating reading.
 
More could turn up. Twitter is even more ephemeral than most of the internet, people have shorter attention spans every day. I scored a copy of The Vertical Plane a while back for $15 or something.
 
This might be something that the FT folks could reprint for their own profit. It seems quite interesting!
 
There was certainly a busy, occult underground back then. I remember there were lots of small ads for groups with names such as The Golden Wheel, which promised to connect you to witches, pagans and diviners in your area. I assumed it overlapped with what would now be called "swingers" and alternative lifestyles. In outlets, such as News from Nowhere in Liverpool, you could find self-published cyclostyle weirdness by the ton. I suppose it would have an almost antique curiosity-value now.

Yithian's linked page reveals the compiler of the Aquarian Guide to be a Ms (Françoise) Strachern, which turns out to be a pen-name of Francesca Rossetti, pictured here. :cooll:
 
How the power of witchcraft gripped 70s Britain

Unearthed documentaries show us the changing face of the modern witch, and how the neo-pagan became a viable alternative for the era’s disillusioned youth / 15 September 2016 / Text: Anna Cafolla

In modern society, we’re totally past burning people at the stake, or dunking women in the town lake because our crops died. The tendrils of witchcraft have found their way into contemporary fashion, zine culture and sharp-tongued 90s rom-coms. Not that this change in global consciousness towards the magical practice was smooth sailing. Up until 1951, the practice of witchcraft was outlawed in Britain. When it was finally repealed with the enactment of the Fraudulent Mediums Act, witchy practices and elements began to seep into the mainstream narrative; and so began bringing the witch out of the underground in the ‘occult explosion’ of the 1970s.

From here, witchcraft permeated popular culture, reaching its peak in the 1970s. Gary Parsons, the filmmaker behind Thelema Films and an expert in this period of the esoteric and documentary, recalls growing up at a time when it was everywhere. TIME magazine ran a cover story in 1972 that declared “Satan Returns”. Horror mainstay Hammer Film Productions was in its heyday and Children of the Stones was a popular serial show for kids based on pagan folklore. There was children’s encyclopedia magazine Man, Myth and Magic, detailing everything from witchcraft to cults, drugs, zombies and ESP, talking about each topic on an academic level. Mainstream cinema saw the underground rise up in the form of The Wicker Man and Blood on Satan’s Claw – basically witchcraft was a cinema ticket or trip to the newsagents away. The prolific writings and teachings of famed English occultist Aleister Crowley, who championed the Thelemite religion, also ran rampant at the time, and similar figureheads of witchcraft and other elements of the occult found their way into daytime TV and BBC documentaries.


Article Continues:
https://www.dazeddigital.com/artsan...w-the-power-of-witchcraft-gripped-70s-britain
 
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YOU ARE NOW ENTERING GANDALF'S GARDEN - FEAR NOT
(from the inside front-cover of Gandalf's Garden number 1.
Copyright © Muz Murray 1968. Reproduced with permission.)

Gandalf the White Wizard from the trilogy of THE LORD OF THE RINGS, by J.R.R. Tolkien, is fast becoming absorbed in the youthful world spirit as the mythological hero of the age, as graven an image on the eternal psyche as Merlin of the Arthurian legends. In the land of Middle Earth under threat of engulfment by the dark powers, Gandalf unites the differing races, mistrustful of each other through lack of understanding and communication, in a final effort to save the world. The crusader spirit in Gandalf is echoed in the cry of the Now Generation seeking an Alternative to the destructive forces of today's world, by spreading human love and aid, for the unity of all the peoples of the Earth.

GANDALF'S GARDEN grows in that same spirit. For GANDALF'S GARDEN is the magical garden of our inner worlds, overgrowing into the world of manifestation. GANDALF'S GARDEN is soulflow from the pens of creators - mystics, writers, artists, diggers, delvers and poets. A wellspring of love and anguish that those with searching thirsts may drink thereof. As in the Stone Gardens of the Orient, where Soul Wizards sit within the stimulus of their own silences, contemplating the smoothness of the million pebbles, so should we seek to stimulate our own inner gardens if we are to save our Earth and ourselves from engulfment.

Communications between people are slender. There are beautiful people everywhere in isolation, or in small groups, or new communes, but without communication. One has to rely on chance meetings. Between the leaves of GANDALF'S GARDEN, a focal point for creators and beautiful people can be attained, and a communication service evolved, whereby all those alone can get to know about each other, can be put in touch and visit each other's creative communes, becoming involved in joint ventures arts and crafts and musicwise.

The inner world of the Now Generation is a glowing stone dropped into a vast pool of greyness, and the warmth of its ripples is spreading in ever-widening circles. Newspaper sensationalism has swamped the underlying spiritual essence of change on the scene. Youth is tired of a mistrustful and aggressive society afraid of natural joy. A society which judges worth by wealth and appearance and not by what a person IS. The angry young men are still angry, but with the anger flows a new wave of gentle feeling, seeking expression in Self-realisation. The more self-knowing a person can become, the more beautiful he or she will become from the deep roots. We influence others by what we are ourselves. It is not even necessary to 'do' but merely to 'become'. In this way what we become will benefit the next person, you, me, humanity at large. Good vibrations are catching. And there is an under-current of something beautiful and mystical sweeping the spirits of the Now Generation. . The seeds of understanding sown in seasons past are growing greenly Under-ground towards the sun. The OVERGROUND MOVEMENT is imminent and overdue. Draw closer stranger and welcome. Can you not feel your world growing between your toes and bursting from between your brows like the fabulous beanstalk?


More Similar Extracts:
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~pardos/GG.html
 
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There was children’s encyclopedia magazine Man, Myth and Magic, detailing everything from witchcraft to cults, drugs, zombies and ESP, talking about each topic on an academic level.

Man, Myth and Magic wasn't for children.
 
Oh, thats sad.

I had the Understanding Science partwork instead.
 
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