![[Fitzroy Tavern venue of Marco Visconti's Moot.png]]
# Visiting the Magic Without Tears Moot
This evening I went to Marco Visconti's Magick without Tears Pub Moot at the Fitzroy Tavern in London.
The Fitzroy Tavern is a great pub, very popular - the overspill was over the surrounding pavement. I had difficulty navigating over several large dogs sprawled out, and that was before I even got to the bar.
For some reason I thought the function room had to be upstairs, so I am flailing around asking about the Moot to the bar staff who hadn't a clue, and instead were trying to get me to book a table for a meal. Eventually I found out that to get to the Moot you have to go outside the pub, turn left, and its the last door. On the door was an A4 sheet of paper inscribed "Marco - Private Function". Marco is the Secret Word!
While I remember, you have to go back out onto the street to get to the loos in the basement. On the walls are informative and fascinating photos (I was concentrating on not falling down the stairs after several pints, and it is a bit of a rabbit warren down there). Apparently Augustus John was an habitue (he was pally with Aleister Crowley), so did Aleister visit here? I am following in the steps of giants.
Marco and I have never met - apparently he came to see me at my office on the seafront in Brighton, but I was busy. As I walked in the function room Marco immediately stood up and announced who I was! Naturally, I felt right at home immediately. One of the magical powers of a tarot reader is to never remember names, so I apologise in advance. There was mutual recognition from some of the people there going back years from previous events, so I had some catching up to do. I was able to introduce my colleague Master Pundit Joshi, whose family lineage goes back generations as astrologers to the Maharajas in India (for astrologer read magician).
## Was Aleister Crowley a Secret Agent?
I found myself on a table with a gentleman who was talking about Crowley's activities within MI5, I interjected, "surely you mean MI6?" He smiled and from his briefcase he produced two books on the subject; I was talking to the author Richard Spence who is apparently American (I found out later on Wikipedia), I assumed he was British. There was another gentleman whose name I forget, lives in the East End of London and an expert on Austin Osman Spare. Well, we had all been to the Warburg to see Frieda Harris' paintings of the Thoth Tarot, which was the icebreaker. We spent the rest of the evening trawling through the innards of Aleister Crowley's life, his writings, philosophy, and the people he met. A decent conversation about Crowley is not easy, but I managed to keep up with them, mostly.
The key to a good Moot is serendipity - you never know who you are going to meet and where the conversations will lead you. I did get distracted several times when discussing Crowley's life and his intersections with A.O. Spare, but that was because the ladies on the next table were talking about the Torture Garden and ahem, related subjects.
Marco is a great host - he even provided Cheesy Tacos for each table - and I am looking forward to the next Moot. This is just what Brighton needs.
#Warburg-Institute #moot #Aleister-Crowley
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