The Sacred Space Conference

As we strive to unpack the shadows of our culture, one that persists in pagan communities is a purity ethos that holds wild places–grottos, groves, and other ‘untouched’ places– as more sacred than humanized ones, and replicates dominant culture patterns of simultaneously devaluing and worshiping the foreign or distant Other. In this time of upheaval and consumerism, there is a counter call: in guerrilla gardening and reclaiming of the commons, to upcycling, and graffiti arts. The “negative” spaces of abandoned buildings, irradiated landscapes and other edge spaces offer a possibility for generational healing: how can we reclaim as sacred that which we have abandoned, trashed, or poisoned in ourselves and the places we belong? 

Join J.R. Mascaro in a ritual to reach through the formless gate into the undefined and infinite potentiality of unmanifest Khaos. In this ritual you will attempt to interface with will beyond thought, concept beyond language, and all pervading forces beyond ready definition. The intent of this ritual is for the celebrants to reach past preconceptions of life, magic, and reality to exist for a moment as tabula rasa upon which timelessness may project new revelations. 

Following a brief lecture on Goetia, including its history, theory, and modern practice, I will teach you how to conjure the demon Shax, about whom the Lesser Key of Solomon says “Shax is thought to be faithful and obedient, but is a great liar and will deceive the conjurer unless obliged to enter a magic triangle drawn on the floor. He will then speak marvellously and tell the truth. He knows when lies are told and uses these to teach lessons.” Together, we will oblige him to enter into a triangle, and then request him to teach us further magic. This ritual is safe, easy, and fun. There will be no explicit sexual or violent content, although demons sometimes get a little spicy, and I cannot entirely control what Shax will say. Please do not come to class intoxicated or otherwise out of your right mind.