Digital Event Type: Zoom Lecture

Follow Me, And I Will Be Thy Guide – Daniel Pietersen – Zoom


Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me, among the people lost for e’re

So begins the inscription above the gateway to Hell, at least according to the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri. In his 14thC masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, Dante describes his journey through Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. While travelling through Hell, Purgatory and finally into Heaven itself Dante describes the people and places he witnesses, many fantastical but even more based firmly in fact.

In this talk Daniel Pietersen will act as Virgil, the poet’s companion through Hell, and guide us across boiling rivers, through screaming forests and across frozen plains, down through the Nine Circles of Dante’s ‘Inferno’. Here we will meet sinners of all stripes – gluttons, murderers and traitors – but also those who defied late medieval Christian orthodoxy and even a few unfortunates who Dante simply did not like. Hell, for Dante as well as Sartre, is other people. And let us not forget the many beings for whom Hell is a home: resentful Charon, who ferries souls from Limbo into Hell itself; Medusa, glaring out from the walls of Dis as she guards the descent into Lower Hell; gibbering Nimrod, now fallen from the Tower of Babel. We will gaze into the Abyss and the Abyss, with countless glittering eyes, will gaze back.

The Inferno is a beautiful piece of writing and a deeply moving act of soul-searching, which reveals Dante’s flaws as much as his perfections, but it also explores how society approaches crime and punishment in a way that still resonates today. Why do we punish rather than rehabilitate? Should suicide be considered a crime and, if so, against whom? Why, throughout human history, has fraud been considered a worse crime than murder?

So come, step over the threshold and into the shadows. It may be dark but it’s warm. At least for now. But remember the final line of that opening, cautionary stanza: Abandon hope, all ye who enter here…

Bio

Daniel Pietersen is a writer, critic and the editor of I Am Stone: The Gothic Weird Tales of R Murray Gilchrist, part of the Tales of the Weird series from the British Library. As well as being an invited speaker on weird and genre fiction for organisations like The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, the Lincoln Book Festival and Sheffield Gothic, Dan is also a regular contributor to the Romancing The Gothic programme, talking about subjects like Haunted Houses in various media, Dungeons & Dragons, and the Gothic heritage of Madonna. His criticism has appeared in Dead Reckonings, Extrapolations and the journal of the British Fantasy Society, amongst others. Daniel lives in Edinburgh, with a necromancer and hellhound.

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Icelandic Horror Stories – Lena Heide Brennand – Zoom

Icelandic Horror Stories

Join us for an enthralling lecture exploring the haunting world of Icelandic horror stories, where ancient myths intertwine with contemporary tales of terror. Delve into the eerie ghosts of the Old Norse Sagas, where legendary figures and supernatural beings roam the rugged landscapes of Iceland, leaving a trail of mystery and dread. From the chilling tales of the undead guarding their graves, to the spectral apparitions that haunt modern Icelandic folklore, this lecture will take you on a journey through the dark corners of Icelandic culture. Experience how these stories reflect the nation’s deep-rooted fears and beliefs, evolving from the ancient past to resonate with today’s themes of isolation and existential dread. Prepare for a spine-tingling exploration of a land where history and horror collide, revealing the enduring power of storytelling in Iceland.

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

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The Cretan labyrinth – myth, history, and afterlife – Dr Katy Soar – Zoom

The Cretan labyrinth – myth, history, and afterlife

The motif of the labyrinth has a long history. Depictions in rock art may date back as far as 10,500-4800 BCE, and can be found from Nevada to Cornwall, from Lancashire to Spain. The purpose of the image is unclear, but they all share the same form – a unicursal, meandering symbol, turning and changing directions from outside to the centre but never crossing itself. But by far the most famous labyrinth of all is that of ancient Crete. This talk will consider the mythology, archaeology and history of this most famous of labyrinths, and it will also consider the ways the myth of the Cretan labyrinth has been utilised more recently. As a metaphor, and a motif, this talk will also explore the ways in which the labyrinth of Crete continues to occupy a powerful place in the geography of our imagination.

Bio

Katy Soar is a Senior Lecturer in Classical Archaeology at the University of Winchester. Her research areas include Greek archaeology (especially the Bronze Age of the Aegean), the history and reception of archaeology, and the relations between archaeology and folk horror. She is the co-editor (with Amara Thornton) of Strange Relics: Stories of Archaeology and the Supernatural, 1895-1954 (Handheld Press), the editor of the British Library ‘Tales of the Weird’ volume Circles of Stone: Strange Tales of Pagan Sites and Ancient Rites, and a frequent contributor to the magazine Hellebore.

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

image details are Knosos, 350-325 BCE, silver stater, head of Hera with polos labyrinth. Berlin MKAM. [image attached]

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The Child of Nature – Feral Children and understanding the human being – Dr Michael Newton

The Child of Nature – Feral Children and understanding the human being

From Romulus and Remus to Tarzan of the Apes, stories have spread of children cut off from human society and growing up instead in the wilderness, nurtured perhaps by wild animals. Michael Newton will be talking about the deeper meanings of these stories, and how for writers, filmmakers, psychologists and philosophers, they have been seen as a good way to comprehend what is unique (or not) about human beings, our relationship to the natural world, and how far we need language to be fully human.

Bio

Michael Newton is the author of Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children and Age of Assassins: A History of Conspiracy and Political Violence, 1865-1981, both for Faber & Faber. On the subject of cinema, he has written on Kind Hearts and Coronets, Rosemary’s Baby, and It’s a Wonderful Life for the BFI Film Classics series and Show People: A History of the Film Star (Reaktion Books). He has edited Edmund Gosse’s Father and Son and a book of Victorian Fairy Tales, and an anthology of 19th and early 20th century science fiction for Oxford World’s Classics, and Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent and The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories for Penguin Classics. He has taught at University College London (where he received his PhD), Central Saint Martins College of Art, and Princeton University; since 2006, he has taught literature and film at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. .

Curated and Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Medieval Torture Devices – Lena Heide Brennand – Zoom

Medieval Torture Devices

Step into the dark corridors of history with our captivating lecture on Medieval Torture Devices and Methods! Uncover the chilling ingenuity behind the instruments of pain that were used to extract confessions, punish the guilty, and instill fear in the hearts of the populace. From the infamous Iron Maiden to the sinister Rack, each device tells a haunting story of power, cruelty, and justice in a time when the line between right and wrong was often blurred. Join us as we explore the psychological and societal impacts of these methods, revealing how they shaped the legal systems of their time and echo in our understanding of justice today. With vivid imagery and gripping narratives, this lecture promises to be both educational and utterly enthralling—perfect for history buffs and the curious alike. Don’t miss the chance to delve into this fascinating yet macabre chapter of our past!

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

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There is Death in the Pot – Lena Heide-Brennand – Zoom

There is Death in the Pot

Join us for an exhilarating lecture exploring Frederick Accum’s groundbreaking work, “There is Death in the Pot,” a pivotal text from the 1800s that unearths the shocking truths about food safety and the dangers lurking in our diets. Delve into Accum’s daring investigation into food adulteration, revealing how common substances were manipulated to deceive consumers and endanger public health. This lecture will take you on a journey through the historical context of food science, the rise of consumer awareness, and the implications of Accum’s findings on modern food legislation. With engaging discussions and thought-provoking insights, discover how Accum’s legacy continues to resonate in today’s culinary world. Don’t miss this chance to gain a deeper understanding of a topic that is as relevant now as it was over two centuries ago!

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

How Alex Comfort Discovered the “Joy of Sex” – Eric Laursen

How Alex Comfort Discovered the “Joy of Sex”

In 1972, Dr. Alex Comfort authored the international bestseller that revolutionized the ancient genre of the sex manual—the culmination of a quarter-century writing and advocating for greater sexual freedom. But his career encompassed much more, as a pioneering gerontologist and geriatrician, a poet, novelist, and critic, anarchist and pacifist, and one of Britain’s leading public intellectuals and controversialists of the postwar decades.How did it all fit together?Eric Laursen, author of the new biography Polymath, will explore the roots of Alex Comfort’s achievement, from social medicine and scientific positivism to the mystical poetry of William Blake and the speculations of the Renaissance alchemists to Vedic philosophy, quantum physics, and the “technology of the emotions.” All of these fields informed Comfort’s lifelong quest to fully understand the human. Along the way, we will trace the intersection of his anarchist politics and his radical new perspective on sexual identity and practice.

Bio:

Eric Laursen is a longtime activist, historian, and journalist, living in western Massachusetts. His previous books are The People’s Pension: The Struggle to Defend Asocial Security Since Reagan (2012), The Duty to Stand Aside: Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Wartime Quarrel of George Orwell and Alex Comfort (2018), and The Operating System: An Anarchist Theory of the Modern State (2021).

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

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Ithell Colquhoun Between the Sacred and the Profane – Dr Amy Hale

Ithell Colquhoun Between the Sacred and the Profane

When it came to pushing people’s buttons, Ithell Colquhoun leaned right into it. In both her visual art and her writing Colquhoun confronted her audiences with images that are explicit, beautifully erotic and also repulsive, promoting encounters with the divine through transgression and the abject. The potential for public engagement with her bold ideas was clearly something Colquhoun valued.  On more than one occasion gallerists refused to hang a painting of hers that was considered to be too scandalous, and she would replace it with something just as juicy, as she was generally uncompromising about what she thought needed to be seen. Between 1939 and 1943 Colquhoun developed what appeared to have been a complex system of sex magic including images of queer desire and explicit diagrammatic depictions of sexual positions and women’s pleasure. Although until recently most of these images were never displayed there is no question that she intended for many of these quite radical pieces to have an audience. In her writings, Colquhoun depicted a variety of forbidden topics in a manner both horrific and coldly detached, including incest and a range of bodily functions and conditions. Her vignettes and prose poems referred to excreta, menstruation, skin conditions, scabs, open sores, and decay. While many of the more shocking pieces were never published for obvious reasons, the manuscript treatment of the drafts indicated her hopes that they would eventually be read.

This tantalizingly illustrated lecture will theorize Ithell Colquhoun’s tendency toward confrontation and taboo, the ways in which she challenged both her own boundaries and those of her imagined readers and viewers.  With influences ranging from Tantra, to surrealism, the occult and Bataille, Colquhoun embraced transgression to drive her own enlightenment and also to shift and elevate perceptions of what can be seen and experienced as holy.  In her words: “Life is not beautiful but it is rich: All must be accepted.”

Bio

Amy Hale is an Atlanta based writer and critic with a PhD in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA (1998). She has written widely on artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, and has been an academic advisor to the 2025 Colquhoun retrospective at Tate St. Ives and Tate Britain. She wrote the first scholarly biography of Colquhoun, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (Strange Attractor, 2020) followed by the collection Sex Magic: Diagrams of Love, (Tate Publishing, 2024), and the forthcoming A Walking Flame: Selected Magical Essays of Ithell Colquhoun (Strange Attractor 2025).  She is also the editor of the groundbreaking collection Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses (Palgrave 2022). She has written extensively on magic and contemporary art, and has written for Tate, Burlington Contemporary, Art UK, The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Correspondences Journal and other institutions. She is an Honorary Research Fellow with Falmouth University in Cornwall, a trustee of the UK Charity Rediscovering Art by Women (RAW) and a member of the British Art Network. Beyond the Supernatural: Magic in Contemporary Art is due to be published with Tate Publishing in 2026.

 

Paganism Persisting – Robin Douglas – Zoom

 

The Return of the Ancient World
For 250 years, individuals and groups of people in Britain have sought to reanimate the philosophy, symbols and myths of the pre-Christian past so as to revive ancient paganism in modern times. In this talk, historian Robin Douglas lays out the strange and under-appreciated history of British pagan revivals, from poets and aristocrats to Aleister Crowley and suburban witches.

Robin Douglas is a writer and researcher based in London. His academic background is in history (PhD Cambridge) and he specialises in the history of pagan and esoteric religious movements. His most recent book is Paganism Persisting: A History of European Paganisms since Antiquity (Exeter University Press).

Satanism, Neo Nazis and The US political underground – Spencer Sunshine – Zoom

Tracking dangerous currents in American underground culture
Nazi-Satanism is just one of the many outlandish things talked about in connection with modern Satanism. Although the vast majority of Satanists reject National Socialism, a minority have welcomed or embraced this combination. This talk will look at Nazi-Satanism from a political angle, focusing on where Satanism has intersected directly with neo-Nazi activism. This includes the role of the Church of Satan’s leadership in facilitating James Mason’s terrorist tome Siege; as well as how a newer generation of neo-Nazi terrorists, responsible for numerous murders, have become intertwined with the Order of Nine Angles.

Bio:
Spencer Sunshine (spencersunshine.com) has a PhD in sociology and has researched the U.S. Far Right for over 20 years. His latest book is Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege.

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