Presenters

We are no longer accepting proposals for the 2023 Babalon Rising Festival. 

Brandy Williams

Brandy Williams is  a priestess, magician and activist. She is High Priestess of Anahata Rose Croix Chapter of Ordo Templi Orientis and an ordained priestess of Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica. She is a Georgian high priestess and a Nath Tantrika. Her Golden Dawn motto is Via Amore Gnostike, Insight Through Love. She sits on the Kitsap County Council for Human Rights. She is also a master gardener and a member of the Medieval Womens Choir who sing of love and spiritual devotion. She lives in Washington state with her partners Ted and Alex, three cats and a dog. 

Bill Duvendack

Right Reverend Bill Duvendack is an internationally known astrologer, psychic, presenter, teacher, tarot reader, and author. He has presented in many venues, ranging from colleges and high schools to national and international conferences. He is the author of over a dozen published books on modern spirituality, with more soon to be released. He has had over four dozen essays published in various anthologies, and his magical writings have been translated into six languages, with more coming out soon. He regularly teaches digital courses on magick, astrology, and modern spirituality. He has been interviewed by the NY Times, RTE 1, and has made many TV and radio appearances.

For more information and to contact, please visit his website at www.418ascendant.com.

Laurelei Black

Laurelei Black is a hedge-rider, a cunning woman, and a traveler on the crooked path of the Witch. She is also a priestess of love and pleasure, an Ishtar-woman, an Aphrodite-woman. She is a friend to daemons and a mate to the Red God. A bone collector; a temple dancer.

Laurelei is the author of several books (including Temple of Love and The Witches' Key to the Legion: A Guide to Solomonic Sorcery), a co-Director and frequent presenter at the Babalon Rising Festival, a YouTuber, and the proud proprietress of Asteria Books and Events.

Laurelei's current projects include continuing in her writing, art, and workshops in service to Aphrodite and Qayin at festivals and other facilities, and building the Temple of Aphrodite Asteria. She lives near Madison, IN with her husband, Joe Black.

Laurelei is a 3* initiate in the OTO and has been a Director for the Babalon Rising festival since 2009.

Jason Augustus Newcomb

Jason is an artist, writer, philosopher and sorcerer who has been studying and working with the powers of the mind, mysticism and Western esotericism for nearly thirty years. He has just completed designing "The Tarot of the Greek Magical Papyri" and is the author of more than a dozen books on esoteric spirituality including the acclaimed “Book of Magick Power,” "Sexual Sorcery," "21st Century Mage," and "The New Hermetics." He has been an active participant in the Western Mystery Tradition for decades. Jason has also studied Hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and other consciousness tools for effectively guiding visionary work. 

Clair Hartshorne

Professional adult entertainer with an interest in occult ideas and spirituality. Working devotee of Babalon. 

Re DuVernay

Re DuVernay is a 3rd degree Alexandrian Witch and High Priestess of her coven, Cultus Catabasis. She has presented at Babalon Rising before, as well as at Detroit Pagan Pride, and has been leading public rituals for almost a decade. She has appeared on the podcasts "Magick Without Fears" and "Scroll of Thoth". 

Lara D

Lara D. (they/them) is a visual artist, ritualist, and non-binary magical girl. They approach their work with sensitivity, softness, and deliberate action even when inspiration comes from the edge of the grotesque and absurd. 

With their partner, Nia Ain, Lara has led several rituals and workshops in Chicagoland, at private events across the country, and at Babalon Rising on the Chaos and Scarlet Tracks since 2017. 

Nia Ain

Nia has been practicing chaos magick and thelemic magick for over 23 years. Nia has presented on both the chaos and scarlet tracks at Babalon rising for the last three festivals. Nia's recent work is focused on arithmological magick that uses patterns in number to describe fundamental patterns in the emergence of reality. 

Phainolis

Phainolis recently completed a PhD in the history of ancient religions. He teaches ancient language classes (Greek, Egyptian, Coptic) online and is the author of Interlinear Magic: An Anthology of the Greco-Egyptian Magical Papyri (2023). A longtime enthusiast of dead languages, game design, and esoteric forms of religion, he has been practicing for two decades, focusing in the last several years on the ancient traditions of Egypt and Greece. His long-term historical research aims to reconstruct the Greco-Egyptian theurgic practice of Iamblichus and his followers. His work can be found on the internet at http://PracticalTheurgy.com/ and http://InterlinearMagic.com/ 

Yaramarud

A chaos magician for over 20 years, Yaramarud has dedicated his life to the craft of magick and the occult. Former member of the Illuminates of Thanateros and co-host of the Faith Blind Council, Yaramarud now focuses his energy on providing bespoke occult tools through wizardtraders.co, co-hosting the Administrism podcast, and providing his insight and knowledge to practitioners of all ages on various social media platforms.

Luxa Strata

Luxa Strata is a magician, creator, and host of the Lux Occult podcast: a show about the intersections between Magick, Art, Philosophy, and Science as viewed through the lens of a Chaos Magic. Luxa is the lead-organizer of The Green Mushroom hypho-sigil project: a large-scale, ongoing group magickal working focused on building connections, fostering creativity, and empowering individuals to become more agentic through the use of magick and esoteric technology. She has released two musical albums of ritually produced aural erotica and sigilized design, recently beginning work on a new, adjacent project. Luxa’s personal practice focuses on philosophical inquiry, self exploration, and remediation. It also focuses on enriching everyday life with praxis involving food, trance, eroticism, sound, dance, visual art, and fostering curiosity.

Joy the Sporceress

Joy the Sporceress is a practicing necromancer, artist and conspirator of potential. Her magical background is in Tibetan Bon and western "shamanic" and esoteric traditions. She is also a member of the Green Mushroom project and was editor of their first zine, "Fuck Around and Find Out - offerings of magical sovereignty from the Green Mushroom Project" in 2022. Joy also has an art sigil project, Occulture Jammer, which serves to stimulate critical thought and shift prevailing culture. Her work is largely based in intuition and inquiry, and is devoted to connection, discernment and insatiable wonder. 

Sidd Wetzel

Author of "The Paradigmal Pirate" and "ill thoughts, ill words, ill deeds: A Toxick Magick Primer."

Shane the Mondbender

When Shane the Mindbender isn’t solving industrial manufacturing problems by day, under his government name, he’s talking to spirits. Sometimes they talk back!

He used to spend his free time writing science fiction and fantasy, until the writer’s muse revealed itself to be something much more than make believe. Hail Eris!

Now he’s peeking under the esoteric veil, going well beyond psychological self improvement into animism and the art of change.

He blogs at: https://buildingthephilosophersstone.wordpress.com/

D-Lux

D-Lux is a Chaos Magickian and Thelemite.

Sisters of Seshat

The Order of Sisters of Seshat is a sororal order of the Western Magical Tradition. The order offers a series of initiatory experiences. Each initiation opens a gate of mystery to the powers of the elements and the planets and aligns these with women’s life experiences.

The Order of the Sisters of Seshat is explained in detail in Brandy Williams' book The Woman Magician, Revisioning Western Metaphysics from a Woman’s Perspective and Experience. Whether you meet us in person, meet us online, or get together with your friends to do your own initiations, we welcome you to explore magia femina, the magic of women.

Sonick Templars

Sonick Templars, lead by Vovin Lonshin, are Knightz ov Khaos dedicated to the work of creating Sonick Sigils. The system of making Sonick Sigils was created by Vovin and Dr. Louie Martinié as way to create drum beats for New Orleans loa and other western spirits.

The Sonick Templars first album “Orders of Service: Birth of a FOOL” is a eight part ritual giving birth to the spirit of The Fool. The Orders of Service was performed as part of a workshop at Babalon Rising 2017 and one of the Sigil (songs) was used for two rituals lead by Bill Duvendack.

The sigil "SONICK" is on The Hermetic Library Anthology Album - Magick, Music and Ritual 13.

“Orders of Service: Birth of a FOOL” can be found at - https://www.vovinlonshin.com/musick

Babalon Rising 2018, 2019, 2022

Phocus Pocus

Phocus Pocus is a multi-genre musical group whose repertoire includes occult ritual music.