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Underground > Temple >

Psychogeography of London

Ganesh

20:52 / 04.07.01

Having made the decision to move to a city which has always fascinated me, I'm currently reading as much as I can about London. I've read the occasional occulty/psychogeographic piece (Slow Chocolate Autopsy, etc.) but am keen to read more.

Any suggestions?

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

06:28 / 05.07.01

Off the top of my head I've got a CD to recommend to you.

Alan Moore's The Moon and Serpent Grand Egyptian Theatre of Marvels is a wonderful guided tour to the occult geography of the city. And you get to hear it all in spooky Old Man Moore's voice.

Pin

07:02 / 05.07.01

FUCK! Slow Choclate Autopsy! FUCK! I keep forgetting the name of that book... I've never read it and only saw it once and had no money so didn't buy it but... Gah! I want to! Any good? OK, have your thread back...

07:57 / 05.07.01

Grant Morrison also put some nice little clues in the Invisibles... i don't know if his hidden London was based on historical stuff or simply situationist 'derive' but it's certainly good head food.

07:59 / 05.07.01

on a more practical note, Greenwich Park has some Goddess sites and there's also lots of 'hot spots' where strange energies converge there. I have a memory of getting lost there as a kid and finding myself in a forest, which took two hours to find my way out of. Later in life I read that there's a way through to ...somewhere... happy hunting!

11:10 / 05.07.01

I wrote an article quite recently on London Pschogeography for the 'Loaded for Witches' web zine that Solitaire Rose is running.

If you're interested you can check it out here:
www.newworldwoman.net

18:04 / 05.07.01

Ghost Doctor, I just read your article and it was really nicely done -- terrific work. Looking forward to the next installment.

(just as I wrote that last bit, I was thinking of the word origin of 'terrific' -- isn't the root word of that "terror", probably used in the sense of "awe-inspiring", like the much-distorted word "awesome"? weird thought......)

08:42 / 06.07.01

Watkins is a good source for books, on Cecil Court, not far from charing cross station. Go downstairs for the good stuff.

17:22 / 10.07.01

Psychogeography. That's the word I've been looking for. Thanks.

The Return Of Rothkoid

21:30 / 17.07.01

Just a question - and maybe it'd be better in the Head Shop - what's the basis of psychogeography? Not that I'm doubting its validity - I think there's a lot in the idea - but where does it spring from? Situationist theory? What's a good place to start, theory-wise, that'll give good grounding in the area? Not necessarily London-specific works - I'm thinking more abstract...

I'm curious.

16:33 / 18.07.01

Doesn't Moore map London out in one of the earlier issues of 'From Hell'? Connects all of these specific historical/occult/masonic places to form an upsidedown pentagram?

Mordant Carnival

18:40 / 18.07.01

I came across an article once suggesting that Merlin is buried under Fithy McNasty's cafe in Kings Cross.

09:07 / 21.07.01

Buried? I thought he worked there at the weekends...

Peter Ackroyd's work is deeply involved in the psychogeography of London. Hawksmoor would be the most obvious novel. I haven't yet read his gigantic "biography of London", but it would be impossible for Ackroyd to write a biogrpahy of London that was anything but psychogeography.

Two personal favourite books on London (although not about occult London) are John Stow's "Survey of London" and Trench & Hillman's, London under London. Stow's perspective is unique, written in 1598, he is richly unmodern and all the better for it (and being in print after 400 years can't be a bad advert); Trench & Hillman just picked a good subject (who could resist albino man-eating pigs lurking in the sewers?).

Watkins bookshop has already been recommended earlier in this discussion as a place to go and browse. I would add to that Atlantis on Museum Street. Compared to Watkins, Atlantis is a bit grubby and poorly lit and the place is stacked with arcane junk. Which is largely why I prefer it

The Mr E suprise

13:38 / 24.07.01

quote:Originally posted by Naked Flame:
[QB]Grant Morrison also put some nice little clues in the Invisibles... [QB]

Well the underground in Black scienece reminds me of glasgows Clockwork orange, but I digress (again.

Anyone fancy getting there heads together on this one and doing a web project (or something) on spooky London.

I've a few Colin wilson (yes I know) books on haunted London, and of course there's my own baby
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/local_london/news/weird/

Always fancied getting a big map of london and some coloured pens and lots of news papers clippings/accounts of oddness.

11:52 / 25.07.01

quote:Originally posted by Ganesh:
Having made the decision to move to a city which has always fascinated me, I'm currently reading as much as I can about London. I've read the occasional occulty/psychogeographic piece (Slow Chocolate Autopsy, etc.) but am keen to read more.

Any suggestions?

My article at
http://www.limbbylimb.co.uk/feats/dark_london.html

might be a good starter.

[EMAIL]null[/EMAIL]

Mordant Carnival

16:48 / 25.07.01

I recently got really interested in Peter Hawksmoor. Soon as I get a mo, I'm going to trawl round all his churches, see what I can pcik up.

The Return Of Rothkoid

19:08 / 25.07.01

Nicholas Hawksmoor, y'mean? Peter Ackroyd wrote the book. Which isn't about him, but is... aw, crap. It's pretty good. I went for a walk down to St George's Bloomsbury to have a bit of a sniff around, and in retaliation, the city pissed it down for hours. Bastard thing.

Anyway; there's some information on teh churches here and here.

08:06 / 26.07.01

quote:Originally posted by Rothkoid:
Just a question - and maybe it'd be better in the Head Shop - what's the basis of psychogeography? Not that I'm doubting its validity - I think there's a lot in the idea - but where does it spring from? Situationist theory? What's a good place to start, theory-wise, that'll give good grounding in the area? Not necessarily London-specific works - I'm thinking more abstract...

I'm curious.

French situationist (dadaist/marxist/psychedelic) thinkers in the sixties. Key concept is the derive (Fr), or aimless walk through urban spaces, absorbing impressions and synchronicities. 'Underneath the pavement, the sand'...'68 Paris riots, anybody?

23:10 / 28.07.01

I'm enjoying this thread very much and looking froward to reading the articles at the other end of the links in it. Anyone got any thoughts on Manchester? It's my native burgh and I hsve been vaguely collecting info about the stuff that's actually physically underneath it ( from the old roman settlement to the buried streets round hanging ditch and victoria bridge to the pre neutron bomb shelter and tunnel network linking Manchester and Salford, no small job I can tell you) But I am also interested in anything more abstract.

13:34 / 01.08.01

isn't there a psychogeographica society in manchester? i'm sure there were some articles by them in stewart home's mind invaders from a few years back...

and 'nesh -- when you get to london, we will be doing much walking around the city. that's one of my fave things to do, so it'll be cool to go exploring with someone else.

hey, ghost doctor, we still haven't done our lion walk, have we?