Vital Objects: The Art and Meaning of Vernacular Altars
Brief abstract: Artist and folklorist Kay Turner has been documenting and studying altars for over 40 years. She has written extensively on the topic, including her book Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women’s Altars (Thames and Hudson, 1999). Her focus is on vernacular altars, usually made at home, that escape the bounds of institutionalized religion by representing the beliefs and desires of their creators in their intentional assemblage of vital objects. She looks at this folk art form across a wide spectrum of practices including the ancient evolution of altars beginning in the Neolithic period (3500-5000 BCE), Mexican- American and Sicilian women’s traditions and the use of the altar by feminists, queers, and artists as a source for invoking healing, memory, resilience, and identity. She invites the Last Tuesday audience to learn more about this important, long-lasting tradition. Also, please bring a “vital object” of your choosing to the session and we will assemble a virtual altar together!
Bio
Kay Turner is an artist and folklorist working across disciplines including writing, music, performance, and folklore. Turner holds a PhD in folklore and anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. She is the past president (2015-2018) of the American Folklore Society. From 2002-2022 she taught in the Performance Studies Dept. at New York University, where she initiated courses on gender and queer theory; temporality; ghosts and their ontologies; fairy tale performance; oral narrative theory; and the performative art of the altar. Turner is a noted scholar in the study of vernacular altars and ephemeral memorials, as well as fairy tales and witch lore. She has lectured and written widely on these topics. She created and edited Lady-Unique-Inclination-of-the-Night (1976-1983), an early feminist journal on art, feminism, and the goddess. Her books include Beautiful Necessity: The Art and Meaning of Women’s Altars; Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms; and Before and After: What the Witch’s Nose Knows That Andy Warhol’s Nose Doesn’t Know. Turner’s current book and performance project, “What a Witch,” queerly rethinks the witch figure in history, story, and performance. Turner’s musical side is activist and partial to feminist political outrage. She has written songs and performed in numerous bands, most notably Austin, Texas- based rock punk, lesbian-feminist “Girls in the Nose,” active from1985-1996 and now touring again, on occasion. Turner continues her musical interests in Brooklyn with “Kay Turn Her and the Pages,” the band for an ongoing project of original songs called “Otherwise: Queer Scholarship into Song.” Follow her on Instagram @kay__turner and order her books by sending an email of interest to <[email protected]>
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Tudor Folk Tales
In Tudor times the ‘common sort’ were no different from us, laughing together, mocking each other and sharing bawdy tales in tavern yards, marketplaces and anywhere else that people came together. These stories were later collected in the cheap print of the period, and professional storyteller Dave Tonge will tell some of his pages featuring smooth-talking tricksters, lusty knaves, wayward youths and stories of the eternal struggle to wear the breeches in the family, for a sometimes coarse but often comic telling of the everyday ups and downs in Tudor life. Amongst other stories on offer this night you will hear tell a tragic tale of a beloved gyr falcon, a comic tale of a dagger worth nowt and a plain and simple radish that was worth one hundred gold coins…
Dave will also be telling of some of the real early modern people who are also mentioned within the pages of his book. Men and women whose experiences reflect those of the characters in the folk tales that he’ll be telling. People like the trickster and con man, John Venn who was whipped for making men believe that he could find things that were lost. The woman with no hands who given permission to perform ‘wonderous feats with her feet’, on the market place and Agnes Leaman who was shamed, by being processed about the streets of the city on a cart, before being ducked in the river. What say you?
Bio
Dave Tonge is both an author and storyteller, he has written three books: Tudor Tales (2015) Norfolk Folk Tales for Children (2018) and Medieval Folk Tales for Children (2019) and is working on a forth, Trickster Tales From Many Lands. He has been telling tales since 1999, both as one half of Past -Imagined and now as the Yarnsmith of Norwich. He travels all over the UK telling stories at storytelling clubs, museums, heritage sites, fairs, festivals and in schools. He is always happy to travel anywhere, however far.
Dave specialises in tales from from Saxon and Viking through to Tudor and Jacobean times, although he will be the first to tell you that we storytellers grow new corn from old fields and that many of the tales we now claim for our own were brought over by sailors, soldiers and merchants from far away lands, long ago. Dave is then a teller of world tales and as such he does offer sets of tales from specific regions and places as well as from different times.
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Adventures in Anatomy is a series which will explore different parts of the body, combining science, myth, history and folklore to look at the way our understanding of them has changed through time, and the part they play in culture and the way we look at the world.
Labour of Love: the Heart
Our heart occupies a central role in the way we think about feelings and emotions. You might wear your heart on your sleeve, or have a heart made of stone – and if you’re a very good person you may have a heart of gold. If you fall in love you might give your heart away, or someone may steal. The Tin Man was desparate to ask the Wizard of Oz for a heart. How has a pump in the middle of our chest come to have so many other jobs to do?
Bio
Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
See all the events in the series – Adventures in anatomy with Cat Irving
Adventures in Anatomy is a series which will explore different parts of the body, combining science, myth, history and folklore to look at the way our understanding of them has changed through time, and the part they play in culture and the way we look at the world.
Skeletons in the Closet: Bones
Bones are the framework of the body, the thing that keeps us upright. They are also usually the part of us that hangs around for the longest after our death. We tend to think about bones as inert and unreactive, but they are constantly responding to what we are doing. What can bones tell us about our lives once we’re dead? How have they caused storage problems over the years? And what can a graveyard tell us about the way our understanding of the skeleton has changed over time?
Bio
Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
See all the events in the series – Adventures in anatomy with Cat Irving
Adventures in Anatomy is a series which will explore different parts of the body, combining science, myth, history and folklore to look at the way our understanding of them has changed through time, and the part they play in culture and the way we look at the world.
Vision Thing: the Eyes
The eye is considered the window into the soul, and vision has often been considered a primary sense. But how do eyes differ between species, and why have people believed that eyes disprove the theory of evolution? And what on earth was Issac Newton doing when he pushed a bodkin round the back of his eye to see how it worked?
Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
See all the events in the series – Adventures in anatomy with Cat Irving
Adventures in Anatomy is a series which will explore different parts of the body, combining science, myth, history and folklore to look at the way our understanding of them has changed through time, and the part they play in culture and the way we look at the world.
Bare flesh: the Skin
Our skin is how we present ourselves to the outside world. People spend a fortune decorating it and trying to stop the signs of the inevitable progression of time. It also works hard as a formidable barrier between our inner organs doing their essential jobs, and the hazards of the germ-filled world outside. Learn more about anthropodermic bibliopegy, how we make permanent marks on our skin, and the host of creatures who make the outer surface of our bodies their home.
Bio
Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
See all the events in the series – Adventures in anatomy with Cat Irving
Adventures in Anatomy is a series which will explore different parts of the body, combining science, myth, history and folklore to look at the way our understanding of them has changed through time, and the part they play in culture and the way we look at the world.
Lifting the fig leaf: Reproductive Organs
Our genitals are usually hidden away, and words describing them are often considered the most offensive in our culture. They have been grossly misunderstood through history yet without them we wouldn’t be here. Discover where the womb was wandering to, why the castrati had such high voices, and why a woman shouldn’t touch a pickle when she has her period.
Bio
Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow University. Cat is a licensed anatomist, and gives regular talks on anatomy and medical history. She recently carried out conservation work on the skeleton of serial killer William Burke
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
See all the events in the series – Adventures in anatomy with Cat Irving
Old Norse Erotic Sorcery – Erik Storesund
They say that all is fair in love and war. Old Norse philologist Eirik Storesund, host and creator of the Brute Norse podcast, has translated a curated selection of charms, spells, and sorcerous recipes from Norwegian grimoires (the so-called “black books”) and vernacular tradition on the topic of eros, love and romance. Learn about the techniques that young women employed to divine the identity of their future spouses, and the various ingredients, rites and dirty tricks that people resorted to in order to twist the hand of fate, and fall in and out of love. Be prepared for a sweet and sometimes sordid lecture on the hopes and fears that marked the art of love in the pre-industrial north. Terrible advice for your love life guaranteed!
Bio
Eirik Storesund is a writer, artist and scholar of Old Norse from the saline, windy shores of Norway. He is the host and creator of the Brute Norse podcast, which seeks to celebrate the weirder aspects of Scandinavian cultural heritage, and instill upon his audience a general sense of chronological confusion. He also runs the independent imprint Troll Cat Press to serve as the physical outlet for his “Scandifuturist” propaganda efforts. His first book, Love Spells and Erotic Sorcery in Norwegian Folk Tradition is exactly what it says on the tin: a curated selection of charms, spells, and sorcerous recipes from Norwegian grimoires. The so-called black books
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
From the 1120s until the final conquest of the city of Acre by the Mamluks in 1291, the Templars and their sister order the Hospitallers played a significant role in the crusades and in the affairs of the so-called crusader states. They held many of the most famous crusader castles, and they took care of pilgrims to the Holy Places. They were also active in the crusades in the Iberian Peninsula, and had a presence in eastern Europe during the Baltic Crusades and in the south-west of France during the Albigensian Crusade. This talk will focus on the Templars: their beginnings, their role in the crusades and the crusader states, and their final heroic defence of Acre; and consider how far the fall of Acre in 1291 contributed to the destruction of the Templars two decades later.
Bio
Helen J. Nicholson has recently retired as Professor of Medieval History at Cardiff University. She has published widely on the military orders, crusades, and various related subjects, including an edition of the Templars’ trial proceedings in Britain and Ireland (2011), and a history of Queen Sybil of Jerusalem (2022).
Curated and Hosted by
Dr. Amy Hale is an Atlanta-based anthropologist and folklorist writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall in various combinations. Her biography of Ithell Colquhoun, Genius of the Fern Loved Gully, is available from Strange Attractor Press, and she is also the editor of the forthcoming collection Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses from Palgrave Macmillan. Other writings can be found at her Medium site https://medium.com/@amyhale93 and her website http://www.amyhale.me.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
Did Albert Hofmann discover LSD by accident or was it the creation of an arcane order to bring a world at war to its senses? This lecture will explore the interesting history of theories and conspiracies surrounding the origins of LSD and early stories about its ability to power to mobilize or at least inspire the masses.
In 1933, ten years before Albert Hofmann supposedly accidentally discovered the hallucinogenic properties of LSD, a little-known book called ‘St Peter’s Snow’ by the Austrian author Leo Perutz was published as ‘St-Petri-Schnee’. In Perutz’s novel a landowning Baron has learned that ergot was the secret psychoactive sacrament of the ancient mystery cults, handed down through the ages as an esoteric secret. He employs the skills of a biochemist to extract the active principle from ergot. When he experimentally doses the local peasant population whom he has invited to a fete with his drug, he induces not a religious revival but a popular revolt!
This tale was forty-five years before ergot was proposed as the secret sacrament of the mysteries in The Journey to Eleusis, by Albert Hofmann, Carl Ruck and R. Gordon Wasson in 1978. In recent years, various theories proposing that ergot was a secret mystical sacrament handed down by illuminist secret societies have since circulated on the internet. This belief may have roots in the statements of the West Coast psychedelic elite of the fifties and sixties, that LSD was the creation of followers of the occultist Rudolf Steiner working at Sandoz in the forties to save a world plunged into a devastating world war. This lecture will untangle some of these mythic threads to look at their origins in legend and history.
Bio
Alan Piper took part in the psychedelic scene of the early nineteen seventies then like many others moved on into an exploration of religious and esoteric ideas. As an extension of his interests in cultural history, he graduated in the History of Ideas in nineteen eighties as a mature student. The growing profile of psychedelic guru Terence McKenna in the nineties renewed his interest in psychedelics, and he began to investigate the history of psychedelic culture. Since then, he has published several articles on the subject and a monograph on the interest of the radical right and conservative culture in psychedelics, as well as speaking at psychedelic conferences. His latest work, a collection of his essays on psychedelic culture, ‘Bicycle Day and Other Psychedelic Essays’, will be published in March 2023 by Psychedelic Press.
Curated and Hosted by
Dr. Amy Hale is an Atlanta-based anthropologist and folklorist writing about esoteric history, art, culture, women and Cornwall in various combinations. Her biography of Ithell Colquhoun, Genius of the Fern Loved Gully, is available from Strange Attractor Press, and she is also the editor of the forthcoming collection Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses from Palgrave Macmillan. Other writings can be found at her Medium site https://medium.com/@amyhale93 and her website http://www.amyhale.me.
don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day
