Mythic London

This day dedicated to the ancient lore and myth of London, in a packed day, held in conjunction with the publication of Secret Lore of London, edited by John Matthews with Caroline Wise (Hodder and Stoughton).

It will run 10.30 am to 5.30 pm with breaks.

John Matthews – Gog and Magog, Guardians of Lodnon

These largely forgotten tutelary guardians of London wre champions of the giant Albion and are now sleeping titans of Britain. Gog and Magog are entwined in the foundation myths of the City with Brutus of Troy and survive through the times of Lud, the legendary King, for whom Ludgate Hill, into the present day.

Writer John Matthews compiled The Aquarian Guide to Legendary London (1989) with Chesca Potter. He is author of over a hundred books on myth, faery, and Arthurian Legends. The Winter Solstice (Quest 1999) won the 1999 Benjamin Franklin Award, and Arthur of Albion won a NAPPA Gold Medal, Moonbeams award (gold) and a BIB Golden Apple Award. He also consults for film and television.

Iain Sinclair – London

Much of Ian Sinclair’s work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography, such as Lights Out for the Territory, London Orbital and Edge of the Orison. Recent work includes Hackney ,That Rose-Red Empire (2009). Sinclair’s account of a one-day walk around the orbital railway – London Overground – was published in 2015. He has lived in Hackney, East London, since 1969.

Carol Clancy – Wise Women of London – Witchcraft and Magic before 1736

Who were the witches in London? Those accused, and those practicing folk magic and sorcery, were found in all levels of society. Carol looks at who they were, from Durchesses to cunning women, and how they were dealt with, and sheds like on some remarkable figures like Mother Red Cap – Mother Damnable, of Camden.

Carole Clancy is a Cockney from the East End of London. Her family has lived here and worked on the river for more than 250 years. She has had a life-long love affair with her native city, and its beauty in unexpected places. She has a particular interest in the magical side of London’s history. Carol contributed to The Aquarian Guide to Legendary London and The Secret Lore of London.

Caroline Wise – The Goddess, the Queen and the City

Caroline will be speaking on the pre-Christian Goddesses of London, and their sites that can be visited today. She will be looking particularly at the Goddess Diana and how her mythic presence in the City was useful to those around Elizabeth I. Caroline will also be leading a short guided visualization based on the goddess sites, the river and the wells of London.

Caroline Wise has loved London since childhood when she played in the ruined houses of abandoned WWII bomb sites, and her work centres on the points where its myth and history meet. She contributed to Aquarian Guide to Legendary London and Secret Lore of London, and to books on the goddesses and the women occultists of the 19th century. She leads walks around London’s mythic sites.

John Constable – Southwark, the Crossbones and the Goose.

John will give a talk and performance around the figure of The Goose, a mysterious being who initiates John Crow into her “Secret History” and “Mysteries” of Southwark.

John Constable is a writer and shaman, dedicated to the Crossbones paupers’ burial ground, Redcross Way, and to its shrine to “the outcast dead” . He lobbied Transport for London (TfL) to open a public garden there who have granted a lease for a ‘meanwhile garden’. He has written and performed a well received one man play based on the London artist Austin Osman Spare (2013).

Anne Louise Avery – Lost Rivers of London

Anne will be speaking on London’s hidden, underground rivers and their history and lore. She has a particular interest in 16th and 17th century topographical literature and cartography.

Ann Avery is an art historian and children’s writer. She curated ‘The Faerie Land’ at the Royal Geographical Society, on British mythic landscape in the Renaissance mind. She is now collaborating with the Bodleian Library and Aardman studios. She is director of Flash of Splendour, a non-profit for disadvantaged children. Her Albion’s Glorious Ile (Unicorn 2016) is of fantastical 17th century maps.