Goose Night

23rd November 2023 at Beckett's 7.30pm for an 8pm start. All Welcome. Free.

27 years ago this very night, John Constable (aka John Crow) had a vision of The Goose, the spirit of a medieval whore, licensed by a Bishop but allegedly buried in unconsecrated ground. In the vision The Goose revealed her Secret History and esoteric teachings, and led John Crow the site of south London's Cross Bones Graveyard. The revelation grew into The Southwark Mysteries, Constable's epic cycle of poems, songs and Mystery Plays, performed in Shakespeare's Globe and Southwark Cathedral in 2000 and 2010. It also inspired John Crow's 23 year magical work at Cross Bones, which led to the burial ground being reclaimed as sacred ground, with a shrine and a garden of remembrance for sex workers and outcasts.

Tonight, John will relate this strange but true story and take us deeper into The Goose's teachings and practice, and tell how The Goose brought him to Glastonbury, where he's working with Her to amplify the London-Glastonbury 'head-heart' current envisioned by Dion Fortune. We'll see how Goose and Crow Magic works to repattern the world, making subtle changes in the fabric of reality. The talk will be illustrated by the performance of selected verses from The Southwark Mysteries, which John Crow uses to induce trance-states and to journey between the worlds.

John Constable is a playwright, poet, performer and magical practitioner. His theatre work includes the acclaimed stage adaptation of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, The Southwark Mysteries, I Was An Alien Sex God and Spare, inspired by the works of Austin Osman Spare. Books include Sha- Manic Plays, The Southwark Mysteries, Gormenghast, Secret Bankside and Spark In The Dark. His new book Grail interweaves myths and incantations with vignettes of contemporary Glastonbury life. On the album Ancestor Souls he performs his work to music by Queen Space Baroque. As the shaman John Crow he recently completed a 23-year cycle of magical works at south London's Cross Bones Graveyard, conducting monthly rituals and creating a shrine and garden of remembrance. He has held ceremonies at festivals and sacred sites around the world. He now lives in Glastonbury.