Art / Magic / Lore: Wild Talents

Art / Magic / Lore returns to Conway Hall this summer to explore the lesser-trodden paths of wild folklore and myth. From pagan counterculture, rebel folk, and roadside magic, we will discover the activism and resistance threading through occult history.

Saturday, 26 April 2025

1.30 pm doors, 2 pm start.

£15/ £11 Concessions / Advance Booking

Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL

Tube: Holborn

London Fortean Email List

Phil Hine – Delinquent Elementals

A fascinating glimpse into the pagan counterculture, from the ‘Satanic Panic’ to ‘occulture.’ In Delinquent Elementals: The Very Best of Pagan News, Phil collects some of the finest articles, news reports, interviews, and humour that appeared in this singular publication, providing a fascinating glimpse into the pagan counterculture.

He charts the historical timeline of the Satanic Panic scandal of the late 1980s, documents previously uncollected information, and provides a wide selection of practical knowledge and insight into occult practice. Phil reveals how occult practitioners interacted with the wider culture-bringing about what is now termed ‘occulture’ the intersection of esoteric themes with popular culture, political activism, and the struggle for LGBTQ rights and recognition.

Icy Sedgwick – Rebel Folklore: Empowering Tales of Spirits, Witches and Other Misfits

Whether it’s Muma Padurii, the Romanian forest witch who terrorises trespassers to protect the environment, the Churel, who stalks unfaithful men on her backwards feet, or Robin Hood, everyone’s favourite lawless activist, folklore is filled with rebellious figures that teach us how to speak truth to power, embrace our flaws, and be unashamedly ourselves – even if that means being a cannibalistic swamp witch.

In this talk, folklorist Icy Sedgwick introduces eight complicated figures who hold up a mirror to the world that dreamt them up. From tricksters to psychopomps, forest protectors to those who refused to accept the status quo, Icy explores who these figures are, were, and could be, and what we can learn from them here in the 21st century.

'Icy Sedgwick is a folklore writer and host of the Fabulous Folklore podcast. She also writes weird tales, Gothic fiction, and dark fantasy fiction.

Libby Bove – Roadside Magic

Libby Bove is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and folklorist. Her work is centred around ideas which reposition folk custom and magical practice back at the forefront of daily life. Drawing on archival methodologies and documentary, her work slips between fact and fiction. By employing traditional craft processes, plausibility is woven into constructed myths; transposing ideas of ancient customs, traditions and rituals into incongruous contemporary settings, non-existent pasts, and speculative future landscapes.

A central theme within her practice is Roadside Magic, an imagined construct where plant knowledge, magic and ritual play essential roles in the repair and maintenance of vehicles. Inspired by Albions rich history of folk magic, alongside her own lived experience of life on the road, both professionally and domestically. Roadside Magic seeks to re-establish the valuable role of everyday ritual.

Access Information

This event is in the Main Hall, which is located on the ground floor.

All the ground-floor rooms are fully accessible by wheelchair. Main Hall (street access, step-free), Brockway Room (street access, step-free), Bertrand Russell Room (street access, shallow ramp). There is also an accessible toilet on the ground floor opposite the Brockway Room.