Michael Staley – Black Lotus Kult (2025)

Our annual Black Lotus Kult Celebration will return this 5, Nov in London, where we will proudly present

One Beyond Ten

A Celebration of the works of Kenneth and Steffi Grant

We are elated to have Caroline Wise return to BLK Celebration with an illustrated talk

Kenneth Grant’s London Town

When considering Kenneth Grant andplace,one is likely to meanderthe vast ‘spaces between spaces’, or the Tunnels of Set, exploring inner space.As Black Lotus Kult visits London this year, Caroline will be looking at theLondon of Kenneth Grant, of the 50s, 60s, and 70s onwards; a world of pubs,art, Jazz, magic, and bookshops and of lifelong friendships emerging. Amultidimensional London as the terra-firma from which magical universes canarise. A London where certain places evoked for him the ancient magics,nightside narratives, love, inspiration and poetry, as portals between theplanes.

Caroline Wise works in esoteric publishing. In 1989 she initiated the republication of the books of Kenneth Grant, starting with Hidden Lore, the Carfax Monographs by Kenneth and Steffi, when at Skoob Books. She is a former owner of The Atlantis Bookshop and in the 1990s was the co-editor of the revivedThe Occult Observer. In 1993 she produced the then forgotten Ancient Egyptian themed plays of Florence Farr. From the 1970s she has been involved in Earth mysteries and her particular interests are in researching goddesses, and the mythology of London, She is co-editor, with John Matthews, of The Secret Lore Of London.

We will converge on 5 November in Camden Town for an evening of discussions on aspects of and experiences with the Typhonian Current.

Due to venue considerations, the event’s location will not be published, and will be sent to those wishing to attend as demand or space allows. Please send an email to caroline@starfirepublishing.co.ukfor specifics if you wish to attend.

Starfire is republishing the Typhonian Trilogies, and you can find those currently availableHERE

Our annual Black Lotus Kult Celebration will return this 5, Nov in London, where we will proudly present

One Beyond Ten

A Celebration of the works of Kenneth and Steffi Grant

We are pleased to announce that Michael Staley will once again be joining us and giving a lecture –

The Magical Universe

Writing in Outside the Circles of Time, Kenneth Grant remarked: “. . . each individual must create his own magical universe and, by a kind of oneiric perichoresis, evolve his own qabalah and manifest his own truth (maat).”

The Magical Universe is our understanding of the world, our vision of reality, and how we communicate with it. It is something which develops with experience. We take inspiration from a variety of sources, transmuting it through the catalyst of our magical and mystical experience to distil an innate body of work. In this fashion our Magical Universe emerges. In this talk, Michael further discusses the significance of the Magical Universe, drawing on his own experience, as well as referencing the work of others, amongst them Kenneth Grant, Austin Osman Spare and Aleister Crowley.

Michael Staley has been fascinated by the occult for as long as he can remember, and is particularly steeped in Thelema and Advaita Vedanta. Publishing the first issue of Starfire in 1986, he subsequently expanded it into Starfire Publishing, issuing Kenneth Grant’s work from the late 1990s, as well as books concerning Austin Osman Spare and Charles Stansfeld Jones. His most recent task has been the reprinting of the Typhonian Trilogies. To find out more about Starfire Publishing, click HERE

We will converge on 5 November in Camden Town for an evening of discussions on aspects of and experiences with the Typhonian Current.

Due to venue considerations, the event’s location will not be published, and will be sent to those wishing to attend as demand or space allows. Please send an email to HERE for specifics if you wish to attend.

Starfire is republishing the Typhonian Trilogies, and you can find those currently availableHERE

AtBLK Celebration 2019

Michael Staley

will present

“Achad and the Aeon of Maat”

Frater Achad (Charles Stansfeld Jones) announced the Inauguration of the Aeon of Maat in April 1948. The work of Jack Parsons was moving in a similar direction shortly before this time. In the early 1970s Margaret Ingalls received Liber Pennae Praenumbra, ‘The Book of the Foreshadowing of the Feather’, cast as a communication from Maat. Some years later, Kenneth Grant expanded on this in his book Outside the Circles of Time (1980), drawing parallels between the work of Achad and that of Margaret Ingalls, and tracing links with the Amalantrah Working of 1918.

In this talk, Michael Staley looks back at Achad’s development and output, tracing the emergence of a current which takes in his work with Crowley as his ‘Magical Son’, his discovery of the Key to The Book of the Law, his divergence and subsequent estrangement from Crowley, and his work in the Universal Brotherhood, culminating in the incoming of the Aeon of Maat. He goes on to consider the relevance of this current today.

The Incoming of the Aeon of Maat:

Correspondence between Frater Charles Stansfeld Jones, Gerald Yorke, and others, 1948-49

will be published this year from Starfire. ClickHERE for details.

Michael Staley is the founder of Starfire Publishing. He knew Kenneth Grant for more than forty years, becoming his publisher in the mid 1990s, and across a number of years republished the Typhonian Trilogies in new editions.

Michael lives in north-west London with his wife Caroline Wise.

***

This year’sBLK Celebrationwill be held in Orlando, FL on Nov 1 & 2. For details, please clickHERE

Tickets on sale NOW at –https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blk-celebration-2019-tickets-66741233827

AtBLK Celebration 2019

Michael Staley

will present

“Austin Osman Spare & Kenneth Grant: Two Magicians”

Kenneth Grant first encountered the work of Austin Osman Spare in 1941, coming across The Book of Pleasure. By the time he met Spare in 1949 he had thoroughly steeped himself in Spare’s published work. Spare was then writing another book, and soon Grant was typing drafts for him, editing, and collaborating on some of the material. When Spare died in 1956, he left his manuscripts and papers to Grant. The material was eventually collated and edited in the early 1990s, and published in Zos Speaks! by FULGUR PRESS in 1998.

Drawing on unpublished typescripts and diary entries, Michael discusses Grant’s growing understanding and presentation of Spare across the decades, and the influence of Spare on Grant’s own work.

Michael Staley is the founder of Starfire Publishing. He knew Kenneth Grant for more than forty years, becoming his publisher in the mid 1990s, and across a number of years republished the Typhonian Trilogies in new editions. Starfire also published the lavishly-produced titleTwo GrimoiresbyAustin Osman Spare in 2011.

Michael lives in north-west London with his wife Caroline Wise.

***

This year’sBLK Celebrationwill be held in Orlando, FL on Nov 1 & 2. For details, please clickHERE

Tickets on sale NOW at –https://www.eventbrite.com/e/blk-celebration-2019-tickets-66741233827

BLK Celebration 2018 is coming next week to Chicago, IL – 14-16 Dec. Read further posts below on this page, or click HERE for details.

As part of the Centennial Celebration at the Occult Bookstore, we will see a special Q&A session with

Michael Bertiaux

Michael Staley of Starfire Publishing

and members of Black Lotus Kult.

This is a unique opportunity to tap into these minds and learn about Occult Art, Writing and Publishing, Gnostic Voudon, The Typhonian Tradition, Austin Osman Spare and a variety of other topics.

This will occur late Friday evening, after the launch of

Starfire Publishing, The Occult Bookstore and Black Lotus Kult proudly present the North American launch party for

Compiled and edited by Henrik Bogdan, Servants of the Star & the Snake is a collection of eighteen essays exploring the work of Kenneth and Steffi Grant.

• Kenneth Grant: Servant-Satguru-Savant, by Martin P. Starr;
• From Zos-Kia to the As-If: Kenneth Grant and Austin Osman Spare, by Michael Staley;
• Advaita Vedanta in the Works of Kenneth Grant, by Henrik Bogdan;
• Kenneth Grant and Lord Kusum Haranath, by Ruth Bauer;
• From Central Africa to the Mauve Zone: Gerald Massey’s Influence on Kenneth Grant’s Idea of the Typhonian Tradition, by Christian Giudice;
• Lam and the Typhonian Tradition, by Michael Staley;
• Inside Outer Space, by Kyle Fite;
• The Other Woman: Babalon and the Scarlet Woman in Kenneth Grant’s Typhonian Trilogies, by Manon Hedenborg-White;
• The Nuclear Art of Steffi Grant, by Henrik Bogdan;
• The Art of Darkness: Kenneth Grant and the Unity of the Soul, by Vadge Moore;
• Kenneth Grant and Maat, by Nema;
• Clarity versus Weirdness: A Vital Tension Within Magical Culture, by Ramsey Dukes;
• Foundations of the Typhonian Trilogies, by Michael Staley;
• Beyond Crowley: The Foundations of Sexual Magick, by Jan Fries;
• Evocation of the Fire Snake: Kenneth Grant and Tantra, by Henrik Bogdan;
• The Magic in Fiction, by Alistair Coombs;
• The Role of H. P. Lovecraft in the Work of Kenneth Grant, by Stephen Dziklewicz;
• Shakti in Chinatown, by Michael Bertiaux.

This launch event occurs during the BLK Celebration weekend, and is part of The Occult Bookstore’s Centennial celebration. All copies purchased at this event will include a signed and numbered certificate. Book contributors, including Michael Staley and Michael Bertiaux, will be present to sign copies.

For more info on this event click – www.facebook.com/events/144558179485539

We’ve known Michael Staley for over 20 years, and have had the honour of watching him speak on a variety of esoteric subjects.

At this year’s BLK Celebration, it is our pleasure to announce that he will present –

“Kenneth Grant’s New Isis Lodge”

In early 1955 Kenneth Grant launched New Isis Lodge, writing rituals, gradework, visualization exercises and instructional papers for the various Degrees, and later published the Manifesto of New Isis Lodge. At the centre of it was Nu-Isis, a compelling vision which was synthesised from Thelema, Advaita Vedanta, and Spare’s Zos-Kia Cultus, and which was subsequently developed throughout Grant’s Typhonian Trilogies. This talk examines the mystical and magical experiences out of which Grant fashioned his conception of Nu-Isis, and the structure of New Isis Lodge which he subsequently developed.

Michael Staley is the founder of Starfire Publishing. He knew Kenneth Grant for more than forty years, becoming his publisher in the mid 1990s, and across a number of years republished the Typhonian Trilogies in new editions. He lives in north-west London with his wife Caroline Wise.

We are pleased to officially announce our annual BLK Celebration will once again be held in our planet’s Zothyrian Stargate – Chicago, IL, with events Dec 14-16.

We are producing this year’s event in partnership with The Occult Bookstore in celebration of their 100^th Anniversary.

Schedule of Activities

Friday 14 Dec at The Occult Bookstore

Servants of the Star & the Snake – We will celebrate of the publication of Servants of the Star & the Snake, a collection of eighteen essays by fourteen different writers on the work of Kenneth and Steffi Grant by Starfire Publishing. Publisher Michael Staley will be on hand to speak to us about this work. After this talk, attendees may has their copies signed by various contributors in attendance (including Michael Staley and Michael Bertiaux). See –http://www.starfirepublishing.co.uk/SSS_published.htm for more info on this work.

Centennial Celebration – We will then entertainment as we break for a toast to The Occult Bookstore’s 100^th year in business! The oldest spirit shop in the world was founded in 1918, and has served the community for a century, including a present day staff who are skilled and experienced practitioners on the path of spirituality.

Q&A – We’ll end the evening with a question and answer session with Starfire, Michael Bertiaux and Black Lotus Kult

Saturday 15 Dec at the Congress Plaza

Lectures – BLK is partnering with the Hyde Park Lodge to bring back a day of lectures in the tradition of the Beriaux/Lully seminars of the 70’s and 80’s. The line-up includes Michael Staley, Ariock Van de Voorde, Steven Slane Intermill, Caroline Wise and more.

Entertainment – Kindle Cimmerian will be enticing with Typhonian Tribal Fusion performances throughout the day.

Sunday 16 Dec Chicago, IL

A meeting of the Synod of Bishops of Ecclesia Gnostica Spiritualis – Private event.

Please see the event’s Facebook page HERE to let us know you are coming and to read updates and details regarding these events.