Over the years I’ve been writing up post-event impressions of conferences and events, and you can read them here, tagged under “Conferences.”

The weekend of Oct. 3 and 4 was the Forbidden Keys 2026 Two-Day Virtual Event on Heterodox Praxis, hosted by Denis P. of Foolish Fish fame [and if you missed it, you can still order recordings of all 18 sessions here]. He’s become one of our most beloved figures in the contemporary occult world and I’m a big fan of his YouTube channel, Foolish Fish.

There were seventeen presentations across two days, where each presentation in its own way addressed heterodox praxis. Topics ranged from Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greco-Roman, Persian and Zoroastrian, Anatolian, Jewish and Solomonic, Christian and medieval European, Golden Dawn, Thelemic, to Japanese and Taoist magical traditions. We were learning about necromancy, different forms of talismanic magic, planetary magic, spirit work, divination, ritual, sacred languages, animism, and magical world-building.

And I’m not even sure that’s an adequate listing of the full expanse of what we covered! In terms of depth and breadth of scope on occult and esoteric topics, this conference really shined.

I’ve primarily been in the tarot world and it’s only recently I’ve been dipping my toes into the wider occult and pagan conference scene… and learning how different the energies are between when it’s mainly flagged as “occult” vs. when it’s mainly flagged as “pagan.” I’d consider Forbidden Keys mainly flagged as “occult.”

Tarot conference energy is– again this is only as I experience it subjectively– but I’d say it’s bright, upbeat, we’re obviously serious about tarot but we don’t take ourselves too seriously, and it feels like it’s in full-color. Though each regional tarot conference also has its own unique energy signature, which if you ever take me out for coffee or drinks, I’ll go on and on unfiltered about my observations and impressions.

Whereas, by way of comparison, pagan conferences I’ve attended feel green and black with Celtic ornamentals, rose quartz, silver, and Renaissance cosplay. While occult conferences feel black and red with hues of dark blue and gray, cloaks and daggers, heliotrope and frankincense, giving dark academia meets secret society convening in the basement of a dusty library.

Yah, yep. That’s how I’d describe it.

When Denis first invited me to partake and I got a glimpse of who else would be presenting, I was rather intimidated by the occult bro energy it seemed to be initially giving off. But I’m happy to say it turned out to be quite a warm, welcoming, and a truly lovely gathering.

Plus, the wealth of highly specialized learnings you’re getting here! This is definitely the type of thing for the intellectually curious. It was also very much a global group of folks, which to me, made this gathering extra special.

That all of the presentations got recorded, plus getting an audio transcript of each presentation, plus a transcript of the chat that took place, was a gift. Given the time zone differences, I couldn’t make it to everything, but wanted to attend everything. And also, when you’re a presenter, the day of your presentation you get a bit nervous (or at least I do), and maybe you might not want to attend some of the presentations going before you, so nothing messes with your nerves. But you really admire those presenters and still want to see what they talked about after the fact.

Hence, loved getting the recordings so I could slowly make my way through them at my own pace. And that’s what I did the week after.

Kicking off the event with Jason Miller was awesome. He has this highly engaging and conversational style of presentation. And the thesis of his topic couldn’t have been a better lens to take with you as an attendee into all the subsequent classes that weekend. He talked about how as a practitioner, both research and revelation are relevant to your practice, and you want to keep both in active conversation, but don’t confuse or conflate them. History and cultural anthropology are our roots, but not a cage, he said.

Joseph H. Peterson talked about Zoroastrian magic, bringing an extraordinary depth of primary-source material. If you’ve never checked out Esoteric Archives, which is just a magnificent public service to the occult community, you must. Maria Alvis Hernando introduced us to Exvoto magic, from Paleolithic figurines to Mexican milagritos (votive objects for blessings, petitions, and devotional work). There is such an elegance and sophistication to everything that emanates from her. She also gave us such vivid accounts of magical practice. The one about a friend’s grandmother in a coma, her and the friend performing a spell, and how the lesson of that particular story is to be very specific, and thorough, with your petition.

Matthew Venus of Spiritus Arcanum and co-founder of the Salem Witch Fest is a fantastic speaker and brought up some provocative points on how when a magician animates an inanimate object, fashions a figurine of a god or goddess in our likeness, or are breathing life into an object when we charge it, are we playing and imitating God? I also really enjoyed how he covered animism.

Giulia Turolla talked about dismemberment as a magical act across Egyptian, Anatolian, Mesopotamian, Aegean, Greek, and Roman cultural and historical practices. Her presentation did this incredible job of both zooming in to specificities to give examples and zooming out to offer a broader comparative analysis of the different cultural examples. By the way, love her work on witchcraft as an indigenous form of shamanism. Esoteric author, occultist, and folklore researcher David Rankine gave a meaty and academic talk on medieval Christian magic, specifically on a 13th century Canterbury Cathedral parchment he found of various pentacles and magical seals.

Then it was my turn to go. I talked about Taoist grimoires, showcasing different historical, canonical, and also contemporary examples of grimoires, and asking an overarching philosophical question: where do grimoires come from? As in, how would the Taoist occultist answer that question of where their grimoire came from.

(Attendees: You should have gotten an email from Denis with the passcode to access the supplemental materials to the presentation.)

Closing Day 1 with Mat Auryn was a great move. Mat has this exceptional gift of balancing scholarly rigor with practical application and accessibility. He’s always inclusive, thoughtful, and has this leave-no-stone-unturned mentality. His talk offered a comparative analysis of upper, middle, and lower dimensions of the self/soul across world traditions, exploring how many traditions understand the self or soul as composite, rather than as one single entity.

Day 1 had a total of 8 speakers, and Day 2 had 9. We started the morning (it was morning in my time zone) with Peter Mark Adams who lectured on the Roman Cult of Mithras. We explored different theories about the origins of the Roman Mithraic Mysteries. It was a philosophically ambitious way to start the day at 7 am, but the whole audience was enjoying every bit of the intellectual rigor.

Oh, also, random side comment: Listening to all these lectures on the occult in British accents, as an American, was next level fabulousness. It felt like marathon watching the History channel, and every show was on a topic of high intensity interest to me. Like David Attenborough narrating to you, “The plant is a physical manifestation of a deity who is capable of shifting awareness into an encounter with the supreme gods… you can’t separate plant from possession, or ritual from deities…they’re all part of an integrated union. And this dissolution of habitual selfhood…” — just to give you a sampling.

BJ Swain gave us an introduction to and overview of necromancy, covering a magical corpus spanning ancient Mesopotamian, the Greco-Roman world and the PGM, African diaspora religions and magic, Germanic and Norse heathenry, and medieval European and Western ceremonial magic traditions. And speaking of “show don’t tell” on the heterodox, Jack Grayle charismatically demonstrated how to develop contemporary ritual practice from sacred texts, such as the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and Book of the Dead.

One of the talks that really excited me was Erin Kalashnikova’s presentation of kotodama (spiritual power that words and speech possess) and the magical practices of pre-modern Japan. Erin is a writer and independent researcher of Japanese spiritual and esoteric traditions, and I appreciate the way her work brings these subjects into the wider conversations on esotericism. Her research also has a personal dimension: she has Japanese heritage on her mother’s side, and I find it meaningful to see her, like many of us, explore a tradition connected to our own family history while making its lesser-known practices more accessible to a broader global audience. And for me personally, it was super interesting to see how much of Japanese magic was familiar to me as having Taoist and Chinese origins.

Then came Aidan Wachter’s presentation. “This talk is looking at the overall clusterfuck of the world that we’re in. From a magical perspective, what can we do about it?” Wow, what a start. I really enjoyed the provocative conversation around fiction inadvertently casting a spell on reality, and asking the question, what are all these dystopian films on ecological catastrophe, authoritarian regimes, and techno-apocalypse actually doing to the collective. He talked about the Black Book hypersigil and using a journal as long-form ritual magic via world-building, writing out experiences of the desired future as though it has already happened, and going into sensory detail about those experiences. You consecrate the book, and the writing instrument, and the Black Book itself becomes an empowered tool. (Very much echoing a lot of what I was talking about in my presentation! What a neat connection!)

His talk made quite the impression on me, and immediately following it, I started my own Black Book, which he assured us doesn’t need to be black, so mine’s pink. With Hello Kitty’s face.

Dr. Alexander Cummins is a lively storyteller, and really brought necromancy to life for me. He talked about the intersection of ghosts and planetary spirits. I’m looking forward to checking out some of his other talks, which you can find here. P. T. Mistlberger’s class was particularly memorable. He introduced to us something I wasn’t all that familiar with, and that is Gurdjieff work, and also examining the angel and the devil as archetypal functions within the Gurdjieff system. I admire the way he bridges psychology and esoteric, spiritual traditions.

Sara Mastros’s “The Face of the Sun Pentacle, From Sefer HaOtot” walked us through ritual, a live empowerment or consecration of the Face of the Sun pentacle. I also loved her discussion of fixed form vs. personal intention in the efficacy of magic, or as it’s framed in Jewish magic, keva and kavanah and the participatory hands-on approach she took with her class. Btw, be sure to check out her work over at WitchLessons.com.

We closed out the two-day conference with Lon Milo DuQuette, truly one of the most influential figures of modern occultism, and it’s always a joy to hear him speak. DuQuette is brilliant and inspirational in the way he makes difficult, dense material accessible. He’s funny, entertaining, and kind of a genius at using humor to teach.

Now that I’ve made my way through all the presentations, gathered my notes, reflected on those notes and impressions, I want to say, without a trace of hyperbole, that what Denis has put together here is nothing short of monumental. In one of the social media posts, someone commented about the line-up of presenters, “It’s like the Woodstock of magic!” lol. yeah. kinda. That’s why I was intimidated and almost wanted to back out!

If any of these talks interest you, you can purchase recordings of the event via Foolish Fish here. Definitely check it out.

The same weekend that the Forbidden Keys took place was also StaarCon, which I attended back in 2024 and highly recommend. Christiana Gaudet is one of my tarot heroes and I think everything she does is spectacular. StaarCon is a hybrid event that is both in-person in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and also online, and the platform that you access via the online portion is the best I’ve ever experienced. I think of StaarCon is primarily a tarot conference, but it’s also much broader in scope, inclusive of all topics on divination and metaphysics.

And then this weekend that my post-event write-up is going up is the preeminent UK Tarot Conference, which I had the great honor of headlining back in 2018 with Rachel Pollack (this hyperlink goes to a video montage from that weekend). And oh my goodness I can’t believe I haven’t done a post-event write-up of my time at the UK Tarot Conference! (gasp) Considering it was one of my most memorable experiences ever and any chance I can, I sing its and Kim Arnold’s praises. I think it was before I started that personal tradition.

Dear reader, I’m curious whether you’ve experienced this world of occult, esoteric, pagan, and metaphysical conferences. Which ones have you been to and how was it for you? Also, why did you choose to go? Was it for the scholarship and the practical education, the community or networking, or what was it exactly that attracted you to participate?

And do you share my impressions of the distinct energies of each type of conference or is your impression something different? Super interested to hear your thoughts. And if you have opted not to attend any so far, why not?

Cross-posted over on Substack.