Categories:
Bestsellers,
Myth & Folklore,
Paganism
£22.50 £25.00
Ben Edge has travelled the length and breadth of Britain recording the weird and wonderful folk customs alive in communities all over the country. In this book, the first trade edition of his art, he shares over 200 paintings and photographs, along with real-life stories, anecdotes and legends. He talks about how connecting with our incredible living folklore helped him recover from depression, and also introduces his idea of folklore activism, suggesting that the current massive folk revival represents ordinary people's desire to find new ways of envisioning community and caring for and connecting to nature.
Readers will be enchanted and inspired by the images and description of: Mass events that are attended by thousands such as the solstices at Stonehenge, the Padstow 'Obby 'Oss parade, the Burry Man's Day and the Straw Bear of Whittlesea. Practices to celebrate the turning wheel of the year, from wassailing and well dressing to moon-phase rituals and Beltane fire-making. The progressive all-female Morris dancing side Boss Morris.
The Green Man - how this has become an icon of modern spirituality and eco-consciousness. Standing stones. Overall the book explores the psyche of British folklore, showing how this has fed into his art and what this means in the context of contemporary life.
It's a book about reconnection with nature, each other and the past through art and folklore.
£19.99
£49.00
The earliest known Rosicrucian ritual system published for the first time.
The subject of this book is Johann Samuel Mund artist, alchemist and Free-mason and his own special interpretation of the Royal Art. It was in Frankfurt that Mund founded the Masonic Lodge known as the Bund der Treue und Wahrheit zu den 3 Rosenkreuzern Weiß, Roth und Gold (Union of Loyalty and Truth of the 3 Rosy Crosses, White, Red and Gold), for which he developed his own doctrine with its own rituals and teachings, which have fortunately come down to us in various manuscript archives.
In this book the authors provide the first complete overview of Mund's teachings, illustrated with the unique images and diagrams that he created specially for them. The authors also explore the conditions prevailing at the time the Lodge of the Union of Loyalty and Truth was founded, the influences that shaped it, and the impact it had upon the development of the High Degrees in the mid-18th century.
What is more, the book sheds light on a fascinating chapter in Masonic history, and one that has been relatively neglected to date, namely the connection between practical and philosophical alchemy on the one hand and dogmatic Freemasonry (at that time not yet fully developed) on the other.
This meticulously researched and richly illustrated volume is a joint production of Salier Verlag, Germany, and Lewis Masonic and contains all the relevant texts in both German and English. It is aimed both at academics specialising in the Enlightenment and the general reader with an interest in the history of ideas, alchemy and esotericism, as well as Freemasons who are eager to explore a fascinating and previously neglected chapter in the development of the Brotherhood.
1st Edition 2024 (bilingual edition in German and English)
Hard-cover binding in imitation leather with gold embossing, thread-stitched, two bookmarks (one Gold and one Rose coloured)
Colour throughout with numerous illustrations
544 pages, 17 x 24 cm
Only 500 Printed
£32.00
Clothbound, 156x232mm, pp.48. Litho, sewn, colour-plates and gatefold section, frontispiece, hand-numbered on colophon. Tailbands, foil-blocked on spine and front. Illustrated dustjacket. Over 70 black & white images, 6 colour images by Spare. Small-format (A3) fold-out map.
Presented here is the full interview transcript (7,600 words) with Alan Moore conducted by Steve Crabtree for the BBC Culture Show on the occasion of the 2010 ‘Fallen Visionary’ exhibition, Cuming Museum, Walworth, London.
Moore discusses his enduring fascination for Spare in relation to mystical and quotidian London history. During a taxi cab tour around Southwark, he investigates the Cockney milieu of Spare. And he examines works in the exhibition, discussing the magical implications of Spare’s art and how it nourishes him as a writer and magician.
Contextual History by Gavin W. Semple – Pin-pointing the domiciles and haunts of Spare’s South London, along with the taverns that the artist frequented and exhibited in. This is revised from the Cockney Visionary publication.
Among images of Spare’s art is a previously unpublished nude study belonging to Moore. There are 23 exquisite line illustrations by Ben Thompson (Master of the Art), evoking characters of Spare’s canon; from Paterson to Crowley, Blake to Blavatsky, that underpin Spare’s art and ethos.
Thompson has also produced a stunning cartographical puzzle with graphic inter-dimensional implications, revealing alternate hidden designs when partially unfolded. This is with the deluxe edition only, and a folio edition of signed prints will also be released.
A new concept in Spare studies? A unique guide for exploring sub-rosa London?
You decide, but do keep to the left-hand path…