The Star in the East Conference
New for 2025, a forthcoming event celebrating the occult, magick and the esoteric.
The Star in the East is a two-day conference/festival event taking place on May 3 & 4 at Mariott's Warehouse - a charming and fully accessible venue in King's Lynn's medieval waterfront.
There will be two days:
Saturday May 3: Theory:- fascinating talks from experts, scholars and practitioners.
The theme for this year is 0=1 The Fool and the Magician.
Speakers will be exploring ideas of folly, wisdom and ego/absence of ego from the perspective of different belief systems.
Sunday May 4: Practice: A day of workshops developing hands-on skills for esoteric practice.
Tickets
Tickets are now on sale.
Full festival tickets provide access to all the talks on Saturday 3rd and guaranteed places on all three workshops.
There are only 20 full festival tickets available, reflecting the limited number of workshop places. Please buy early to avoid disappointment.
£95 - Buy now
Saturday tickets - access to all the Saturday talks (at least four).
£28 - Buy now
Details of tickets for individual talks/workshops will be announced later.
To get updates please follow the event on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/starintheeastconference
And also on Blue Sky:
@culturebabylon.bsky.social
Talks
Further talks are being confirmed - please check back for more announcements
SEF SALEM: Fool’s Errand: It’s Not All In Your Head
Prior to the Grimoire revival of the last ten years, the psychological model of esotericism was prevalent and is still widely adhered to today, especially in postmodern or
deconstructionist movements such as chaos magick and agnostic witchcraft.
With decades of study, practice, conversation, and devotion to spirits and deities in multiple traditions, Sef Salem will outline the pitfalls of believing such entities are merely facets of one’s own psyche, and moreover why it’s plainly rude.
Expect tales of high strangeness, exorcism anecdotes, and weird synchronicities which cannot be explained away.
It’s really not just all in your head.
SEF SALEM: Cleanliness is next to Godliness: Magical Hygiene in Conjuration
Cost £35
Preparation is essential in all magical workings, both for effective outcomes and also self protection. Broken thought-forms and servitors, magical attack, and misapplied summonings can get in the way of effective operations, and lead to real-world impacts for the magical practitioner.
This workshop with Sef Salem examines body of light practices and magical hygiene for both the practitioner and the preparation of the space.
Drawing from experience as both ritualist and professional exorcist, you will understand more about the use of the aura, shielding techniques, grounding, and cleansing when working ceremonial magic.
The practical aspects of this workshop will include an evocation and a guided scrying exercise drawing on Trithemius's Drawing Spirits into Crystals, where you will experience both the role of exorcist and of seer to enhance your future conjurations. You will need to bring your own scying glass, mirror, or crystal (appropriate to the Sun) for the practical elements, or share one with a working partner in the workshop.
A limited number of scrying devices will be available to purchase on the day.
Please contact the organisers to find out more.
Workshops
SUSANNE WARNETT: Tarot and Numerology Workshop
Cost £20
In our second workshop, Susanne will be taking a deeper dive into one of the topics of the first workshop - numerology.
Topics will include:
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What is numerology and how can it be used to enhance a tarot reading? Introduce Pythagorean numerology, how the numbering works, life path number, world year and personal year.
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Numbers 1-9, plus 0, 10, and master numbers 11 & 22
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Laying out minor arcana cards in rows 1-10 and observing how the patterns repeat with each number. Do we agree there is a correlation?
How does each suit reflect the numerology? -
Looking at major arcana; when we reduce the higher numbers, how can it change the meaning?
Is 11 still the Master Illuminator?
Does that change depending on whether 11 is Justice or Strength? Is 22 (The World) still the Master Builder? -
Using numerology in a reading. Note which numbers keep cropping up and how that interpretation can add a new layer. Does the world year number keep showing up? Which major is the same number as the year? Does that keep showing up in readings? (9 – Hermit) Using a 3x3 grid for a 9-card reading and looking at each card in each location.
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Taking it further. Calculating a client’s life path and seeing how that number shows up in a reading. Thinking outside the box and calculating the numerology of the reading.
Using world years and personal years to create a longer-term plan for the querent’s situation.
Please bring your own tarot cards to work with.
There will be a limited number of decks to borrow or buy on the day.
SUSANNE WARNETT: Deepening Rituals with Tarot
Cost £20
So you have a tarot deck, you've (maybe sort of) learned their meanings and have done readings for yourself and your friends. What next?
Susanne will providing two workshops for us based on taking the next steps in Tarot.
Deepening Rituals with Tarot
In this workshop Susanne will guide you through exploring the following topics:
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How certain archetypes can serve as spiritual guides in rituals. How The Magician, The High Priestess, Hermit, Tower, etc can guide us on our spiritual journey.
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Suits as elements and the power they can bring.
Looking at water energy for healing rituals, for example, and how the cards can guide us. -
Using numerology and astrology in a ritual.
Outline basics of numerology – 1-9 plus master numbers – and how those numbers can be used in ritual, e.g. 8 of pentacles for a money or work spell, ace of cups for a new emotional connection. Looking at astrology of the cards and how that can be used for timings. -
Using a card for the focus of your ritual intentions.
Cards such as The Empress for fertility or creativity rituals, or the Hanged Man when we need to surrender. -
Incorporating divination into ritual to bring insight into a sacred space. Doing a tarot reading to set the tone, define challenges or find solutions during the ritual.
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How to build a ritual around a drawn card. For example drawing Death and structuring a ritual around change.
As part of the workshop you will do a 5-card reading to connect with the elements, including Spirit, and find out which elements you are being called to work with.
Please bring your own tarot cards.
There will be a limited number of decks to borrow or buy on the day.
Our Speakers
SEF SALEM
Sef Salem is an occultist and sorcerer with over twenty years’ experience of personal and group magical practice.
Initially trained as a Gnostic Mystic, he joined Ordo Templi Orientis in 2010 and founded the international group Gentlemen 4 Jupiter shortly afterwards, before taking on and running the Occult Conference in Glastonbury between 2014 and 2018.
Since 2019 he has run Star Club, a modern magical order co-founded with Dr. Halo Quin, teaching a variety of esoteric practices within a Western Mystery Tradition framework.
Sef continues to work for the occult and esoteric community by running The Visible College (www.visible-college.org), a non-profit based in South Gloucestershire which hosts events at a beautiful rural location, and facilitates events across Britain such as the International Thelemic Symposium in Oxford.
He lives near Bristol with his fiancée and Priestess, and travels nationally to offer lectures and workshops to groups large and small.
SUSANNE WARNETT
Susanne Warnett is a professional tarot reader, author, and practising witch.
She has an office in King’s Lynn in one of the historic buildings in town, where she helps her clients to understand what’s going on and how to move forward to live their best life.
In addition, she has co-hosted a weekly radio show, “Tarot Insider”, that discussed all things tarot related, from techniques to interviews with deck creators and authors.
Her first book,Working With Tarot, was published in 2016; it takes you from choosing your first deck to reading professionally.
She is a Certified Tarot Master through the Tarot Guild and is a member of the Tarot Association of the British Isles (TABI) as well as a certified Law of Attraction practitioner.
Currently living in her very own witch's cottage in East Anglia with her husband and cat, when she’s not writing or reading the tarot you can find her indulging in big mugs of tea, blockbuster movies and the occasional homemade cake.
