I’ve just signed a contract to write a book for Mandrake of Oxford, the UK’s foremost occult publishing house. The mandrake is a plant with purported magical properties, with roots that resemble the human form. The other Mandrake’s roots stretch back to a British branch of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (not to be confused with the Greek rightwing political party). The original Golden Dawn was a Victorian occult fraternity, that fragmented under the pressure of a series of scandals around 1900, most notably involving its eccentric head MaGregor Mathers, the eminent Irish poet W.B. Yeats and the Order’s most infamous initiate, the ‘Great Beast’ Aleister Crowley.

Mandrake of Oxford relates to a more recent incarnation of the Golden Dawn, headed by the respected occultist Mogg Morgan, who is also CEO of the publisher. Mogg’s particularly interested in the branch of magick often referred to as the Typhonian current, which focuses on darker aspects of Egyptian mythology, particularly those relating to Seth, the enigmatic lord of foreigners and the wasteland, an ambivalent deity some suggest foreshadows the Judeo-Christian Satan. I thought undertaking our new endeavour together was an ideal opportunity to have a quick chat with Mogg about his beliefs and researches into some of the darker fringes of human belief and experience.

How would you describe the Golden Dawn – is it a philosophy, a club? Or a religion or pastime perhaps?

An experience !

Are you ritually active – do you actually conjure anything from the beyond?…

Like radioactive? Yes pretty much so – I have an active inner life – mostly so at the new and full moons – although for the slightly sloppy this can be the “white nights”/“dark nights” – which is a more trad way of doing it. I often find myself working on the 16th lunar day – which coincidentally is sacred to Egyptian Seth.

Why the emphasis on Ancient Egyptian deities? I get the feeling the Egyptians might require them more than us right now!

 Funny you should mention that – during the revolution it was common to hear people speak of the return of democracy to Egypt after x thousand years. If they weren’t referring to the pharaoh then perhaps they meant the Predynastic time – ruled by the god Seth, whom many see as the personification of evil – but perhaps it was also about primitive democracy – an old epithet of his being  ‘man of the people’!

You’d need a very long scroll to do full justice to the question ‘why Egypt?’. Let’s just say Egypt is very special. Egypt is unique – sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll – it’s all there. Most people involved in magick, sooner or later, develop a special place in their hearts for the Egyptian magical religion. It’s one of the oldest mythologies and has found its way into every nook and cranny of the intellectual tradition.

How are your Golden Dawn activities linked to Mandrake?

 I started in the Golden Dawn before I began as a publisher – perhaps Mandrake is my homage to Aleister Crowley and his efforts at publishing. It was inevitable I’d end up in publishing too, as no one at the time would publish the kind of thing I liked to read.

There’s long been friction or even hostility between Satanism and the ‘mainstream’ occult communities? Would you agree – if so, why – and is that changing at all?

 Yes – there’s a problem because mainstream the occult community is on the defensive and wary of accusations of Satanism. The problem is really with the media that deals in clichés. Neo-pagans are also trying to distance themselves from Christianity and view themselves not as a counter religion or reaction to another religion, but as a religious movement in its own right. At same time many know there is an inner meaning to archetypes like ‘Satan’, something that cannot be explained to the simple-minded journo. So, for example, the worship of Lucifer is a secret tradition within witchcraft. There are also some Satanists whose antics can be a pain in the PVN – I’m thinking of some of the political stuff – where Satanism is associated with swastika brigade et al.

I get the impression Mandrake’s list has become somewhat darker over the years – with more emphasis on entities like Set and Baphomet – do you share my impression, and might it reflect any larger trends?

Really? I was thinking we were mellowing and reaching out to the huddled masses of the New Age! Our work with Mark Mirabello has been so controversial some pagan mags refused it a review, calling it the work suitable only for the sick mind! It’s extreme horror – cyberpunk – rather good and definitely delivers. Dark Funeral called it ‘one of the most unique horror novels to come along in a long time.’

Seth is a much-maligned monster and needs an intelligent advocate – such as Mandrake. Incidentally one of our very first offerings, Katon Shual’s Sexual Magick, featured Seth. So we’ve always been on the Typhonian side – although perhaps not rabidly so?  Just now is a very creative time for occult theory and practice, so maybe there is just much more to say . . . hence the raised profile?

Obviously, Mogg was only able to skate over the surface of a deep and fascinating area here, but for those whose appetites are whetted by some of the ideas touched upon, you can investigate further at Mandrake’s website… http://mandrake.uk.net/