The Welsh Occult Conference 2026

The Welsh Occult Conference ~ Promoting the study and Practice of the Occult through the written and spoken word.

This year, we are returning to the assembly room, up stairs at Welshpool Town Hall, 42 Broad St, WELSHPOOL SY21 7JQ, Powys. 

There is a lift for disabled access etc.

Doors open at 9am for registration and close at 6pm. 

Speakers this year:

• Sorita D'Este: speaking this year on Witchcraft and Wicca.

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• Alan Thorogood: Say No to Enochian: a purist’s approach to the magic of John Dee and Edward Kelley.

In 1582 the self-described ‘Christian philosopher’ John Dee (1527–1609) embarked on a series of spiritual exercises to communicate with angels, intended to acquire divine knowledge and wisdom. Aided by the seer or scryer Edward Kelley, over the ensuing years Dee carefully recorded the progress of these actions in a collection of diaries, many of which survive. What emerged from their collaboration was a quantity of novel techniques, symbols, invocations and magical procedures.

Three hundred years later, elements of Dee’s work were incorporated into the symbolism and curriculum of the storied Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The ‘Enochian system’, a descriptor that originated with the Order to define its own methods, is now a commonplace applied, often indiscriminately, to any part of Dee’s corpus. But the Golden Dawn’s own narrow formulation differs in scope and ambition from the more comprehensive purposes of the angelic doctrine conveyed to Dee.

So what precisely did Dee and Kelley receive and what were the objectives of this doctrine? How should we interpret the instructions, particularly as some information is lost or unrecorded? How should Dee’s original methods be put into practice? And what is the point of saying no to Enochian? This talk will aim to answer at least some of those questions. 

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Alan Thorogood has been studying magic for more than forty years and working with John Dee’s manuscripts since 1987. He has transcribed and edited five manuscripts written by the nineteenth century occultist Frederick Hockley (‘Clavis Arcana Magica’ (2012), ‘Dr Rudd’s Nine Hierarchies of Angels’ (2013), ‘Ars Notoria’ (2015), ‘The Pauline Art of Solomon’ (2016) and ‘Metaphysical Spiritual Philosophy’ (2018)), all published by The Teitan Press. Amongst other continuing projects he is presently working on a descriptive catalogue of Dee’s libri mysteriorum and laboriously editing a half-million word collection of late seventeenth century magical diaries because someone needed to do it!
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*Geraldine Beskin: Frederick Hockley ~ The Man and his Magic.

• Alex Sumner:  "Scrying In Theory and Practice,"
  
  This talk is a revised and updated version of a paper published in "The Light Extended," and examines the history of scrying, particularly viewed through the lenses of the Golden Dawn and Theosophy.
  
  As part of the talk Alex will host a practical demonstration in which all may participate.
  
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  Alex Sumner (born 1972) is a novelist and writer on the occult. He is the author of "Conjuring Demons for Pleasure and Profit: an Abramelin Memoir" (2022), and has had articles published in "The Light Extended," "The Hermetic Tablet," and "The Journal ofthe Western Mystery Tradition. His areas of speciality include the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Abramelin, and ceremonial magick in general. He is also the author of several ficitional novels beginning with "The Magus" (2008). He lives with his fiancée and cat in Essex.

• Melissa Seims: Charles Cardell & The Coven of Atho

At this year’s Welsh Occult Conference, Melissa will delve into one of the strangest episodes in the history of modern witchcraft. 

Her talk will weave together the lives of Charles Cardell, Ray Howard, and Doreen Valiente, and centres on the enigmatic Head of Atho — a carved wooden effigy said to be over two thousand years old, and claimed to represent the Horned God of Witchcraft.

The Coven of Atho occupies a shadowed but pivotal place in mid-twentieth-century witchcraft: a tale of secrecy, rivalry, and with still-unanswered questions, it makes for a jolly good story that refuses to lie quietly in the past.

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Melissa Seims has been writing on witchcraft and magical subjects for over two decades and has walked an array of esoteric and pagan paths for more than thirty years. She is the author of Here Be Magick, a meticulous historical investigation into the witchcraft, court cases, and theatrical intrigue surrounding the enigmatic Coven of Atho. Her most recent work, Light in Extension: A History of Bradford’s 1888 Golden Dawn Temple Horus No. 5, illuminates the legacy of this frequently overlooked second temple of the Golden Dawn, situating it within the broader tapestry of Victorian Yorkshire’s occult milieu.

Melissa curates the website www.thewica.co.uk, dedicated to the history of modern Witchcraft, and—alongside fellow occultists and witches—is a co-founder of Wishan Books (www.wishanbooks.org), a small press specialising in facsimile editions of witchcraft curios from 50 plus years ago, lest they be forgotten. She is also involved with Liminal Gate Press (www.liminalgate.co.uk), a new grassroots publisher bringing fresh perspectives to contemporary magical publishing and thinking.

A self-described literary necromancer, when not at the mercy of an insistent muse she may be found bouldering or roaming around in her campervan in search of nature reserves, forgotten landscapes, and places steeped in history.

• Julia Phillips: Madeline Mountalban ~ The Magus of St Giles.
  
  MADELINE MONTALBAN occupies an important place in the story of twentieth century occultism.
  
  Publicly she was known as the author of articles about tarot, astrology, and other esoteric subjects that appeared in mainstream magazines from 1933 to 1982; within the esoteric community, however, she was respected as a talented and forceful magician who founded and ran the Order of the Morning Star, a correspondence course and Order that was focused upon angelic magic and especially Lucifer, the Lightbringer.
  
  During her life Montalban occupied a highly visible place within the occult world and wrote many thousands of words more than her contemporaries, but her work was published primarily in mainstream magazines, an ephemeral medium, and familiarity with Montalban and her work declined after her death.
  
  This illustrated talk looks not only at her published work, but also her angelic course material and personal anecdotes from her students, which places Montalban firmly within the circle of other influential magical women in the occult world of the 20th century.
  
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  Julia Phillips PhD is Hon Senior Research Associate in the Department of History at University of Bristol. Her interest in occultism and witchcraft began in the 1970s, when she regularly attended lectures at the Society for Psychical Research in London. She is a regular presenter on the subjects of witchcraft, Hermetic magic, and tarot. She is the author ofThe Persistence of Witchcraft in Victorian England (forthcoming 2026, Routledge).Publications about Madeline MontalbanPhillips, Julia. Madeline Montalban : The Magus of St Giles. Second edition, revised and expanded 2015. ed. London: Neptune Press, 2015.———. "Madeline Montalban: Magus of the Morning Star." In Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses, edited by Amy Hale, 229-54. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021."

• Ian Freer: Babylonian Origins of the Tree of Life.  

• Andy Mercer: The True Devil’s Master: James ‘Cunning’ Murrell and the Pickingill Enigma
  
  In the history of modern British Witchcraft, one enigmatic figure repeatedly surfaces: George Pickingill. Operating largely from the shadows, he is said to have shaped not only the emergence of Wicca but also the early development of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Essex-born “Master of Witches” is credited with establishing as many as a dozen covens throughout Britain and reputedly held the ability to summon their members at will.
  
  There are also claims that Pickingill influenced Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente, thus placing him at the heart of the birth of the Wiccan movement and that his ideas filtered into the work of Rosicrucian author Hargrave Jennings, who is associated with the formation of the Golden Dawn, as well as Pickingill directly influencing the work of Aleister Crowley.
  
  Yet the true nature of this shadowy character remains unclear. How much of the lore reflects historical reality? And perhaps most intriguingly, has another individual—long eclipsed by the Pickingill legend—been wrongly denied recognition as the true “Devil’s Master”? The last great Cunning Man of Essex.
  
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  A.D. Mercer is a writer, researcher and 'retired' professional psychotherapist with over thirty years experience investigating both the esoteric and the paranormal, primarily from a phenomenological perspective, examining phenomena as 'lived experience', free of supposition. Outside his professional publications in the field of psychotherapy, his occult works include 'The Wicked Shall Decay' and 'Underground Gnosis: Occult currents in Dante's Inferno' for Three Hands Press. 'Liber Coronzom', 'Runen: The Wisdom of the Runes' (1st ed.) for Aeon Sophia Press, and 'Runa' for Troy Books. Plus articles and introductions for Occult anthologies published by Three Hands Press, Aeon Sophia Press, and Anathema Publishing. More recently, Mercer's work has been published by his own publishing company, Ninth Circle Press, including 'Sefer ha Sitra Achra' and a new edition of Charles Goodwin's 'Fragments of a Graeco-Egyptian Work Upon Magic'.
  Mercer is also a musician, composing 'Dark Ambient' electronic music, . Mercer is also the producer of several podcasts for the Paranormal UK Radio Network, including 'High Strangeness Factor', where he can occasionally be heard discussing various aspects of the paranormal, often from an occult perspective. As well as guesting on a number of other podcasts