Stars of BABALON

Celestial theophanies and the poietics of flesh

The re-emergence of the figure of the Harlot of Revelation as the goddess Babalon in Aleister Crowley’s visions of the Enochian Aethyrs is arguably the first appearance of the heretical erotic divine feminine in the modern era. Crowley placed Her at the heart of his (sex) magick. Though radical in its time, his is a closed system and fundamentally misunderstands the sexual dynamic and human sexuality. In pursuing the ‘mystery of mysteries,’ that of Babalon, I have developed a personal magical and spiritual praxis rooted in the carnal body, independent of the solar-phallic doctrine of Thelema. In conjunction with my somatic practice, I’ve made extensive investigations into the Babylon of Revelation as the archetype and source of Crowley’s Babalon, tracing John’s Harlot to her origin in Inana-Ishtar and the corpus of poetic, mythic and stellar lore associated with her. I propose that this corpus can be understood as a prehistory of Babalon, that the stellar theophanies of the hierodule Inana-Ishtar are celestial bodies of the whore Babalon.

I speak about incorporating astral magic with the body-techniques that underlie my artistic and magical practice, deepening our felt connection to the heavens, our sensitivity to its rhythms. Such an approach, in its affective, creative and visionary potentials, can allow us to move beyond the impasse of an exhausted, unspirited culture and enflesh our visions of the future.

A lecture given for the Astro Magia conference in November 2023.