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>London Magic ~ Magic London r>by jack trades.

London a place filled with magic, occult occurrences and supernatural phenomena. This can be seen in literature, be it from the past or the present. Layer upon layer, London is mystified, and called a place of power and magic. The same pattern is also present in modern-day comics. This essay will demonstrate the magical side, and its darker side through the use of various comics and through selected samples of literature. r>r> For a long time, longer than anyone can remember, London has been a place of magic, and the occult, in general. More so than other cities, London seems to breathe magic. No other European city has that many secrets and subversive activities (with the possible exception of the city-state Vatican, where secrecy has become synonymous with the papacy). Occultism even became something of a fashion statement, especially with the appointment of John Dee, the court occultist. He �claimed he could raise spirits from the dead, converse with angels, and turn base metals into gold.� His activities apparently belonged to common knowledge, for there is a reference or two to him in Ben Jonson�s The Alchemist. At the same time Dee �was an engineer and a geographer�. It would seem that in London �it is impossible to distinguish magic from other great versions of intellectual and mechanical aptitude.� Magic seems to be one of the sides that London is made up of, an intrinsic part of its make-up. r>r> Even though The Alchemist is more about alchemy than magic, one cannot deny the link between the two. The mere process of transformation does not rely on science but in magic. The Philosopher�s Stone has in fact magical properties, its use lies within a contradiction. Magic. Furthermore, the text is littered with references to the �art�, i.e. occult knowledge and magical figures, such as Marlowe�s Doctor Faustus, the damned necromancer. r>r> The city seems to be inhabited by the strangest folk. Taking a closer look at that play, one of its subplots involves The Fairy Queen (as played by Dol Common) living in London. Without forgetting all the people Face and Subtle are able to play their confidence games on. It would seem that con men and their victims and mythological figures populate the streets and alleys of the metropolis. One of the play�s victims is called Sir Epicure Mammon. That is a very interesting surname. This is what Webster�s Concise Interactive Encyclopedia has to say about Mammon: r>r> "Evil personification of wealth and greed; originally a Syrian god of riches, cited in the New Testament as opposed to the Christian god." r>r> Demons seem to teem the streets of London. After all, Jonson knew that naming something in a peculiar way is transferring power to that thing. That is why the Devil has so many nicknames in English. In this case calling someone after a demon transfers the demon�s powers to the man. Keeping that in mind, please consider the following except, which also deals with this demon: r>r> "Did you know that if you get a map and join up the sites of all the McDonald�s restaurants in London, it makes a sigil of the dark emperor Mammon?" r>r> The idea of buildings being strategically placed is one that seems to return, like a recurring nightmare. Returning to the demon Mammon, our present day anti-hero, John Constantine, who is described as �a spiritual grifter, a con man working a psychological shell game� by current scribe Brian Azzarello, has encountered the Lord of Flatulence, Blathoxi, who is in employment of Mammon himself. r>r> John himself has been pulled towards London from his native Liverpool, by the call of adventure that London has, because of London�s magical influence. r>r> But not only its inhabitants make London a place of the occult. It was already so, even before any of those people was attracted to London. In the first part of the first volume of this triptych The Invisibles, writer Grant Morrison hints at the hidden origin of cities in general. While the protagonists Tom O�Bedlam and the soon-to-be Jack Frost wonder through London, Tom shares the secret with his apprentice: r>r> "When we met first I promised you a secret to keep in your pocket, didn�t I? A fine and shiny secret, passed from hand to hand through the years, master to pupil. Didn�t I say I�d tell you what cities are? Listen then, for I�ll not tell it a second time. Here it is as I was told it once, old but new-minted with each fresh telling. Our world is sick, boy. Very sick. A virus got in a long time ago and we�ve got so used to its effects, we�ve forgotten what it was like before we became ill. I�m talking about cities, see? Human cultures were originally homeostatic; they existed in a self-sustaining equilibrium, with no notions of time and progress, like we�ve got. Then the city-virus got in. no one�s really sure where it came from or who brought it to us, but like all viral organisms, its one directive is to use up all available resources in producing copies of itself. More and more copies until there�s no raw material left and the host body, overwhelmed, can only die. The cities want us to become good builders. Eventually we�ll build rockets and carry the virus to other worlds. � In waking dreams I�ve seen cemetery planets circling abandoned stars. Like mausoleums, silent and dead, every building a headstone. That�s what cities do� But those of us who know the secret learn ways to unlock the power in the cities. We make a pact with them and they give us gifts in return." r>r> This quote is quite revealing. There are a number of interesting things to analyze: the power of cities, their origins, and their magic. Grant Morrison represents London (and other cities) and as an illness, a disease, that is slowly but surely killing the world we live in. London has evidently a negative effect on the world. This negative effect is reinforced in the following excerpt: r>r> "Can you see it? Built on a lake of blood and sweat and shit. The city is! Look!" r>r> London is apparently built on the rotting carcasses of its inhabitants. Despite that it draws people to it. We also get a glimpse of the future where there is nothing left but tombs. Tombs that previously were buildings where people lived in. Cities are our society�s sexually transmitted diseases when we eventually leave this planet. Our houses become our headstones, cities our terminal form of cancer. This idea of cancerous growth can be paralleled with the uncontrolled growth of London outside the city walls. London spread like a rampant disease, a cancer. r>r> More than a mere virus, it is also portrayed as a living-breathing thing, even sentient, or so it would seem. Morrison even dares to venture forth, that like nearly all living and sentient beings, cities have gods. r>r> "The city has its own gods, and spirits; electric eyed car gods, funeral god in the form of underground trains that burrow through the dark like old Crom-cruach, lord worm himself." r>r> But like all cities, London has a past, a history. And like all things of the past, it is susceptible to be distorted, transformed and altered. It created a �secret history of London�. The secret past is the one that few care to remember, those that are different, and those who might not be considered �normal� or �desirable�. This directly implies two distinct Londons. One that everyone sees we could call the surface London. And the other one would be a darker one, where the �others� live in. Please consider these two excerpts: r>r> "Two Londons there are: there�s the one you can see all around and there�s the other city under the skin of this. The hidden city, sunless and silent. If you really want to learn, I�ll take you there. I�ll show you things to make your hair stand up and dance." r>r> And: r>r> "This is the buried London, boy. The city�s dark twin I told you about. Our destination�s reached by secret processional ways: obsolete subway tunnels, the cellars of long-demolished buildings, lost stations and stairways. Sometimes down here you can hear engines running and see blue lights flicker on tiled walls. Strange trains clattering through the dark, with passengers? What freight? � It�s a place of initiation. We�ve always had our caves and deep places. Labyrinths and mazes. They say the road to heaven runs through the depths of hell." r>r> That there are two Londons is not that abnormal. After all, secrets create a subversive attitude, the underground movement. That there are �urban myths� is a normal evolution, it would seem. Nearly every city has them. Yet London seems to be more �productive� when it comes to them. Why? Could it be linked to the fact that it used to be the center of the world�s largest Empire? That London was (and still is) the center of culture, and knowledge? Maybe London is so deeply rooted in myths because it is built layer upon layer on the past. As Iain Sinclair wrote it: r>r> "It is interesting to see again this progress that is true of many of the present London Markets: burial grounds/Hospice/market. Vegetable in this case. Smithfield takes the meat route: Templar Hospice/Tournament Field/Fair/Place of Martyrdom Fire/Hospital." r>r> The idea that London is built on ghosts and corpses is not just an old wives tale, but true. In many places all over the City, the call from beyond the grave can be heard. The dead are still haunting the present, unable to rest. Ackroyd ventures that London�s history is one of forgetting, but the ghosts, and specters do not have a short-term memory, and do not forget. They haunt those that are willing to see, or that can see them. For them past is present, or like Isabel is �Haunted� the ghosts dwell until they are laid to rest. A few examples thereof: r>r> "It is believed that the cries of drowned Jews, murdered in the great expulsion of 1290, can still be heard at low tide near Gravesend." r>r> "London�s built on ghosts. You can�t walk London without walking on ghosts. Downriver, there�s a row of council houses where razor blades fly through the toilets and living rooms. In the cells under Chiswick police station, you can see a man screaming and pissing himself in fear, his flesh splitting open under meat-cleaver blows, stretched tendon and torn meat glistening and vibrating in the half-light. Beavor lodge, in Hammersmith: there�s a nun who gave birth to a child, burying the poor little bleeder in the garden there. Every night you can hear the sounds of the baby makes as shaky handfuls of earth fall over its mouth, one by one, more and more� The Smithfield meat market, where they executed William Wallace for being an awkward scotch twat, stinks of it. Literally. They boiled a cook alive there in the 1600�s for poisoning some bishop�s mates. On a good night, you can smell him cooking, him and the other heretics and turbulent priests they roasted there. Out of Newgate prison, that is. They�ve knocked it down, of course, stuck the central criminal courts on it, the old bailey. Donkey�s years ago, there was this Mrs. Dyer, who ran a baby-minding service of some kind. Her idea of minding babies was to toss �em in the river. She was hanged at newgate. She haunts it still. And the kids she killed still haunt the river, taking one of the only two trips downriver they ever knew." � r>r> Inevitably the past seeps into the present and transforms it into a distorted image of itself. For nowhere in London is there a place that has no history, as insignificant as it may be. Wherever you may look, there it is, the past straight in your face, reminding the passers-by of its presence. With edifices like the British Museum and The Greenwich Observatory so close to each other, the knowledge therein seeps out, and influences the surroundings. London is sometimes associated with Greek and more especially Egyptian mythology. This is due to the facts that within the British Museum a great deal of mummies and Egyptian artifacts lie hidden within its catacombs, never to be seen by John Q. Average. Here is another myth concerning London: r>r> "The unbroken circle. The little boy found naked in the middle of Pall Mall with his soul torn off. The empty room in Hackney, filled with magical equations for a new world. The ghost river that crosses the Thames and the fleet, with its barge that bears the crests of the royal family and the metropolitan police." r>r> These myths are new compared to those of yesteryear, and are therefore often called �techno-myths�. A new mythology created by and for a new generation, new tales to tell each other around a pint of Guinness. These techno-myths are not only rooted in the unconscious, but also in the historical aspect of London. This mystification of London is also due to certain factors unique to this city, such as its fog, and the above-mentioned Thames. It is a peculiar river, with ebbs and flows. And every one knows that that is linked to the moon. �Menstrual wine�? r>r> "This is sacred ground. It belongs to� others. Halfway point between the world above and the mystery below. Once London was Luan-Dun, city of the moon. The moon�s a door, they say. Gateway of resurrection, threshold of life, threshold of death." r>r> The ebb and flow of the Thames is not only linked to the river by also to the name of London, or so the excerpt tries to imply. London is the moon; the gateway between what is known and the unknown. It is the focal point of everything, the nexus of realities, it would seem. The moon has a cyclical orbit. Maybe it has something to do with the solstices and the power unleashed on those days. �The moon gibbous and threatening.� r>r> "Well, listen. There�s an old, old story about western occult types journeying to Tibet, because everyone says they�re all a bit fucking tasty at magic up there. So they slog up all the way up to the mountains, spend years with the natives learning the language, and finally get set to talk the high priest magician bloke. And they say: we know this is the most important magical location on earth, guv, occult central, repository of all knowledge. We have come far to learn from you. And high priest bloke pulls out an old map of the world and says, no, squire, you�ve come to the wrong place, this is the center of all things- -- And points right at London. True story." r>r> London is more than just a city of people. It is also a city of magic, and knowledge thereof. And we all are aware of the old adage �Knowledge is Power�. It is in fact a crossroad, where the future is forged, and events and men are made into myths and legends. Knowledge is a central part of the creation of the future. Without knowledge everything is done randomly. And it will be shown that that is not the case in London. r>r> The duality of the city, this schizophrenia of London is not only present in these last few excerpts, but also in �normal� literature, such as Stevenson�s Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, where the duality of the protagonist is an apt parable for the state of the city. Nowhere else in the world could such a tale have taken place, for London was the center of not only the Empire, as stated previously, but also the siege of the Royal Academy, the spearhead of sciences in those days. The duality is also caused by the entire Victorian attitude that spawned creatures and myths such as �Jack The Ripper�, the Limehouse Golem and later �Spring Heeled Jack�. r>r> Maybe London is magical due to its position. Ackroyd, in London The Biography, states that, according to legend, Gog and Magog guard each one of the twin hills of London, and are by so doing, the tutelary spirits of London. The legend also states that the twins have been alchemically created from a single giant entity called Gremagot. This links the land to magic even before people could have polluted the area with magic. Quite contrary to Gog and Magog being tutelary spirits is their first appearance, in the Bible. In the New Testament, Revelations 20: 8-10, they represent two nations under the control of Satan. In later literature their names have appeared as representatives for those who oppose the people of god. How this is considered in the legend is left unsaid. Is London the Devil�s City? If one reads Jonson�s The Devil is an Ass, even the devil is unable to withstand the maliciousness and cunning of Londoners. r>r> Nothing in London is left to coincidence. Everything is placed following a specific plan, and pattern. Every building seems to be placed following an unspoken map. This can be seen in several places. Geometrical figures can be drawn using certain monuments as points. It is as if some �Invisible College� of architects and builders were following some pre-ordained pattern. In London The Biography, Ackroyd said it best when he wrote: �London is a mysterious, chaotic and irrational place which can be organized and controlled only by means of private ritual or public superstition�. r>r> This can be seen through Hawksmoor�s placing of the churches he intended to build, and those he did build. In the following excerpt Sinclair hypothesizes about the role of such enterprise: r>r> "A triangle is formed between Christ Church, St George-in-the-East and St Anne, Limehouse. These are centers of power for those territories; sentinel, sphinx-form, slack dynamos abandoned as the culture they supported goes into retreat. The power remains latent, the frustration mounts on a current of animal magnetism, and victims are still claimed." � These churched guard or mark, rest upon, two major sources of occult power: The British Museum and Greenwich Observatory. The locked cellar of words, the labyrinth of all recorded knowledge, the repository of stolen fires and symbols, excavated god-forms � r>r> In his discussion on the Hawksmoor churches, Sinclair goes on about how the churches and various needles relate to occult powers, such as that of the ancient Egyptians. This choice of referent is, as stated previously not innocent. London, after all pillaged the ancient Egyptian toms, and assimilated their sacred artifacts. Egyptian lore became an important part of English identity. Many books and movies portray Englishmen in the land of the Pharaoh�s, and their architectural style �invaded� London in Hawksmoor�s designs. But not only there. In the following excerpts, that is noticeable. r>r> "�now did you ever wonder why they put a pyramid on top of Canary Wharf there, eh? It was built as a power accumulator. It stands on the major southern dragon line. Goes right through Buckingham Palace." r>r> So that the more obvious symbols, the elevated pyramids, are excluded - while the arcane and disguised, the subversive get through, and are still operational. r>r> Parts do not equal the whole. The streets abound with magic. It permeates the cells of every living thing there, alters them, and distorts them. It is in the air they breathe, in the water they drink, in the food they eat. All around them, they cannot escape it, not do they seem to want to escape it. London�s history may be forgotten, but History will not forget London. It will haunt the place until the end of days. Merely adding up its people, its past and the location of things situated in the city do not equal the city as a whole. A city is more than that. London goes beyond simply being synonymous with magic. London is not only associated with magic either. London is magic and magic is London. r>r> � London and Magic� You cannot have one without the othe �r>
Tomes of Magic ~ Bibliography r>r> Sinclair, I., Lud Heat, Albion Village Press, 1975r> Ackroyd, P., Hawksmoor, Penguin Books, 1985r> Sinclair, I., White Chappell Scarlet Tracings, Granta Publications, 1987r> Delano, J., Ridgway, J., Alcala, A., Hellblazer: Original Sins, Vertigo/DC Comics, 1992r> Morrison, G., Yeowell, S., Thompson, J., Cramer, D., The Invisibles: Say You Want A Revolution, Vertigo/DC Comics, 1996r> Jonson, B., The Alchemist, New Mermaids, 1998r> Ellis, W., Higgins, J., Hellblazer # 138, Vertigo/DC Comics, June 1999 r> Ellis, W., Frusin, M., Hellblazer # 143, Vertigo/DC Comics, December 1999r> Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer # 1, Vertigo/DC Comics, August 2000r> Morrison, G., Bond, P., The Invisibles Vol. 3 # 12, Vertigo/DC Comics, April 1999r> Ackroyd, P., London The Biography, Chatto & Windus, 2000 r>r>

>Mobius Infinity.....>Athanon.