Sigils in Fire & Metal

Cuttlefish Casting for Magical Talismans

Workshop with Tara Li-An Nomayō

Date: Thurs Oct 30th

Time: 12pm-2pm  

Venue: Smith and Sun

Address: 7 Thanet Road, Margate, CT 9 1AU

Join Tara Li-An Nomayō, creator of Smith & Sun, for a hands-on journey into the art of sigil magic and ancient metal casting. In this immersive workshop, you’ll be guided through the process of designing and drawing your own personal sigil, then activating its power through fire in a ceremonial burning.

From there, you’ll step into an age-old craft — cuttlefish casting, a method of metalwork dating back at least to the 8th century (and likely far older). Using hand-carved cuttlefish bone molds, you’ll pour pewter to create a one-of-a-kind talisman that carries both your magical intention and the weight of tradition.

By the end of the session, you’ll leave with a unique, hand-forged piece of visionary art infused with your sigil — a magical tool to carry with you long after the workshop.

Tara Li-An Nomayō is the creator of Smith & Sun, a jewellery and artefact atelier rooted in myth, mysticism, and magick. Drawing inspiration from ancient symbols, memento mori, and the metalwork of early civilisations, Tara hand-carves powerful amulets and talismans in bronze, silver, and gold. Each piece is crafted with ethically sourced materials, vintage elements, and recycled metals, honouring both the earth and ancestral traditions. At the heart of her work is the belief that we are deeply connected — to our ancestors, to each other, and to the natural and spiritual worlds. Her creations serve as adornments, ritual tools, and carriers of healing intent, bridging the timeless with the contemporary.

ESOTERIC KENT

Talk with Anna Willatt from Esoteric Isle

Date: Thurs Oct 30th

Time: 4.30–5.30pm  

Venue: Smith and Sun

Address: 7 Thanet Road, Margate, CT 9 1AU

Kent is a county steeped in strangeness.  Is the Isle of Thanet really the Isle of the Dead? Was Margate’s Shell Grotto once a temple to the Phoenician goddess Tanit? Did Crowley really hold séances in Ramsgate Tunnels, or is that just a TripAdvisor tall tale? And how did this corner of England become entwined with the creation of the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck? Join local writer Anna — aka Esoteric Isle — for a fascinating deep dive into the myths, mysteries, and occult stories woven through Kent’s history.

Anna Willatt is the writer behind Esoteric Isle, a project uncovering Kent’s hidden esoteric connections. After a decade as a travel writer and editor, she fell headlong into the rabbit hole of local occult history in 2020 and hasn’t looked back. She now writes a regular column for Cene Magazine about the county’s esoteric lore, has spoken at the UK Tarot Conference Retreat, and curates a popular newsletter exploring the weird and wonderful. Anna’s work has recently expanded into international territory, with published pieces on vampire culture in New Orleans. Her love language? Sharing strange links and receiving them in return.

Sonic Seance

Black Market Karma & Autohaus

Date: Thurs Oct 30th

Time: 6pm-11pm 

Live bands, film score

Venue: Bar Nothing
Address: 17 Cliff Terrace, Margate, CT9 1RU

Step into the liminal night as The Samhain Society’s Dead Good Festival kicks off with an immersive evening of sound and vision at Bar Nothing, Margate.

The night opens with Black Market Karma ( Stanley Belton,) masters of neo-psychedelia, performing a live score to Maya Deren’s haunting surrealist short Witch’s Cradle (1943). Stan's swirling soundscapes of 60s-infused pop, lo-fi electronica, and breakbeat psychedelia create a sonic spellbinding portal into Deren’s dreamlike imagery.

Then, prepare for AUTOHAUS, Margate’s own four-piece of fuzz and fire, conjuring a hallucinatory, witchy set of visuals and live performance. Expect fractal noise, hypnotic bass, and motorik grooves — a spectral rite that dances between noise and trance, chaos and ceremony.

Part séance, part gig, part cinematic spell, this night promises to lure you deep into the sonic underworld of Samhain.

Black Market Karma is the musical project of Stanley Belton, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer whose vision drives the band’s distinctive Neo-Psychedelic sound. Thick and colourful, their music is rooted in 60’s Guitar & Pop Music, married with 90’s Psychedelia, Lo-Fi Electronica, Breakbeats, and touches of Folk & Blues.

Hailing from London and now residing on the South Coast of England, Belton has self-written and produced all 12 albums in the Black Market Karma catalogue. The project is recognised and respected across contemporary Psych Rock, having toured with The Black Angels and The Warlocks, and collaborated with Sonic Boom (Ex-Spacemen 3), The Telescopes, The Underground Youth, and Tess Parks.

Most recently, Black Market Karma released two acclaimed albums on Fuzz Club Records: Wobble and Mellowmaker.

AUTOHAUS are an instrumental four-piece band based in Margate on the Kent coast.

Their sound is fractal and expansive, layering fuzzed-out noise and electronic drones with motorik percussion and hypnotic bass lines. The result is a sonic experience that is immersive, atmospheric, and unrelenting — a must for fans of Spacemen 3, The Cosmic Dead, Ash Ra Tempel, and Neu!

Thursday, October 30

Day 1

The Thresholds Open

Step into the liminal, where the veil grows thin. A day of talks, craft, film and music invites you to cross thresholds of knowledge, art, and imagination!

Embracing The Tower

Tarot For Terrible Times

With Cult Mother

11am – 1pm:

Venue: Smith and Sun

Address: 7 Thanet Road, Margate, CT 9 1AU

Sometimes we struggle to receive — or deliver — the messages hidden in the tarot’s most challenging cards. The Devil, The Tower, the harsher Swords cards: they confront us with the messy, painful realities of being human. Yet these are the very cards that hold some of the deepest truths.

In this talk, join Hannah Joy Graves (aka Cult Mother) as she explores how developing a stronger relationship with these so-called “terrible cards” — and the rest of the deck — can reveal new layers of meaning, guidance, and resilience. How can these difficult archetypes teach us not just to survive, but to thrive, through terrible times?

Come prepared to see the tarot’s shadow side in a whole new light.

Hannah Joy Graves, known as Cult Mother, is a writer, tarot reader, and community builder who blends creativity with mysticism. Through her tarot practice, she focuses on finding meaning and empowerment in both the luminous and shadowy aspects of life. With a grounded, compassionate approach, Hannah helps others navigate uncertainty, embrace resilience, and connect more deeply with the wisdom of the cards.

Interpreting Tarot Spreads

Interactive Workshop

With Cult Mother

Date: Fri Oct 31

Time: 2pm-4pm

Venue: Smith and Sun

Address: 7 Thanet Road, Margate, CT 9 1AU

Join Hannah Joy Graves (Cult Mother) for this hands-on and interactive tarot workshop. You will learn how to intuitively and confidently work and interpret a ten card tarot spread! You will learn about placements, and how to find meaning in a card relevant to its placement. If you have struggled to move away from single card pulls and three card spreads but feel you are ready to tackle something more in depth, then this class is for you. If you are feeling a bit stuck in your practice and would like to reconnect with your deck in a fun and engaging way, then this class is for you. If you are finding it hard to see connections between cards, or to find the overall message of a reading, this class is for you!

YOU WILL NEED - A tarot deck, a pen and paper/recording device

Hannah Joy Graves, known as Cult Mother, is a writer, tarot reader, and community builder who blends creativity with mysticism. Through her tarot practice, she focuses on finding meaning and empowerment in both the luminous and shadowy aspects of life. With a grounded, compassionate approach, Hannah helps others navigate uncertainty, embrace resilience, and connect more deeply with the wisdom of the cards.

Samhain: Procession, Ritual & Rave

Date: Fri Oct 31st

Time: 7pm - late

Venue: Bar Nothing
Address: 17 Cliff Terrace, Margate, CT9 1RU

Step into the dark and luminous threshold of Samhain — the Witches’ New Year — with an unforgettable night of ritual, procession, and revelry.

At 7:00pm, gather at Bar Nothing in Margate,  in your finest witch or wizard regalia. High Priestess Tree Carr and wizard Paul Buckingham will open the evening with a grounding ritual at the altar, offering smoke cleansing, sacred resins to prepare us for the journey ahead. Guests are invited to bring written ancestor names or devoted ribbons for the community altar.

At 8:00pm, we’ll move together in a torchlit procession to the beach, where Tree and Paul will lead a Samhain ritual and ancestor invocation. Through circle casting, intention-setting, and offerings of remembrance, we’ll honour our beloved dead and connect with the unseen. 

From 9:00pm until late, the magical procession becomes a magical party as we return to Bar Nothing for The Witches New Year with DJs Lo Barnes & Joanna Kerwood , potion-inspired cocktails, and dancing into the witching hours. Expect sonic sorcery, communal toasts to the ancestors, and magical awards for the most enchanting costumes.

Come to honour, to celebrate, and to dance between the worlds.

Tree is a published author and TEDx speaker who works in the field of Transpersonal Psychology with a focus on dreams, death, altered states of consciousness, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. She is a graduate of the Alef Trust in their programme for Psychedelics, Altered States & Transpersonal Psychology and is a CPD Crossfields Institute Certified Death Doula. Her other studies include Ecology, Spirituality and the Paranormal with Dr. Jack Hunter at The Sophia Centre of the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Mediumship & Creativity at the world-renowned Arthur Findlay College of Psychic Science. 

Tree is a teacher at the acclaimed College of Psychic Studies in London, a faculty member at The Magickal Path School of Witchcraft in New York and teacher at The Psychedelic Society UK. Tree has also tutored students at the Royal College of Art (RCA), guiding them through lucid dreaming practices for creativity and inspiration. She also teaches a wide variety of esoteric courses on her own platform. 

As a High Priestess witch, Tree facilitates moon rituals, pagan funerals, handfastings, ancestral veneration ceremonies, and other sacred rites of passage that honour the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. Her work holds space for grief, celebration, and transformation, guiding communities in marking the thresholds that shape human experience. Alongside her ceremonial work, Tree co-runs the bestselling retreat WITCH with singer Charlotte Church at The Dreaming in Wales — a gathering that blends ritual, song, and deep soul connection in the wild landscape of the valleys.

Paul Buckingham is an artist, dreamworker, and ceremonial magician with deep roots in Rune Magic. His practice bridges the seen and unseen, with expertise in the realms of dreams, shadow work, spellcasting, and ritual. As an artist, Paul captures the landscapes of his dreams, meditations, and trance states, weaving threads of magic into his visionary paintings. His work offers portals into the imaginal, where art becomes both a record of inner journeys and a living act of enchantment.

Friday October 31

Day 2

The Veil is Thin

The Witches’ New Year arrives. Step into the night where ancestors walk beside us, and magic burns brightest.

Saturday November 1

Day 3

The Descent

After the fire of Samhain Night, we journey downward—into memory, myth, and the underworld currents of the season. The day turns toward introspection, veneration, and the haunting lessons of history and art.

Grief, Death & Ancestral Healing

With Tree Carr

Date: Sat Nov 1st

Time: 10am-12pm

Venue: Smith and Sun

Address: 7 Thanet Road, Margate, CT 9 1AU

On November 1st, the Day of the Dead, we gather in sacred space to connect with our ancestors, tend to grief, and release what no longer needs to be carried. This two-hour workshop, led by author, transpersonal therapist and Death Doula Tree Carr, invites you into a contemplative journey of remembrance and renewal.

Through guided meditations on death, we will soften into presence with loss and the impermanence of life. With candlelight, we’ll honour those who have gone before us — creating a bridge of reverence, gratitude, and ancestral veneration. Together, we’ll engage in a releasing ritual to unburden ourselves from inherited legacies and ancestral trauma, making space for healing, freedom, and compassion to flow into the living line.

This is a gentle yet powerful circle of remembrance, designed to hold grief with tenderness while transforming it into a source of connection and strength. All are welcome, whether you are grieving a recent loss, tending to long-held sorrow, or simply feeling called to honour your ancestral roots.

Tree is a published author and TEDx speaker who works in the field of Transpersonal Psychology with a focus on dreams, death, altered states of consciousness, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. She is a graduate of the Alef Trust in their programme for Psychedelics, Altered States & Transpersonal Psychology and is a CPD Crossfields Institute Certified Death Doula. Her other studies include Ecology, Spirituality and the Paranormal with Dr. Jack Hunter at The Sophia Centre of the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Mediumship & Creativity at the world-renowned Arthur Findlay College of Psychic Science. 

Tree is a teacher at the acclaimed College of Psychic Studies in London, a faculty member at The Magickal Path School of Witchcraft in New York and teacher at The Psychedelic Society UK. Tree has also tutored students at the Royal College of Art (RCA), guiding them through lucid dreaming practices for creativity and inspiration. She also teaches a wide variety of esoteric courses on her own platform.

Shadow Work & Samhain

Alchemy in the Dark

With Kelly-Ann Maddox

Date: Sat Nov 1st

Time: 12:30pm-2pm

Venue: Smith and Sun

Address: 7 Thanet Road, Margate, CT 9 1AU

Samhain is the witches’ New Year – a wondrously intense time of realisation, reclamation, and realignment. Its skeletal hand reaches out to us, offering the opportunity to travel to lesser known (and often consciously avoided) places within ourselves. We can emerge from those travels with new understandings and the potential to see everything change for the better. But bravery is required if we’re going to make this season count. Sometimes, the answers you’re seeking are hidden in shadow. Samhain is the perfect time to ask difficult questions. 

During this 90-minute talk, Kelly Ann will cover: 

- What the hell is shadow work, anyway?

- The link between Samhain and productive, high-powered shadow work

- Busting shadow work myths and misunderstandings 

- Energetic protection and safety advice for shadow workers

- Shadow-mapping and other practical techniques 

- Psychospiritual shadow work methods

- Mystical tools for handling unearthed shadow content

- Tracking shadows and understanding integration 

- The collective shadows of fascism, bigotry and genocide, and how witches can (and should) confront them 

This event will be an opportunity to take shadow work seriously as an aspect of your witchcraft. It’s packed with instructions to help you make trackable progress and increase your confidence in the concept of shadow work for healing and awareness. 

For witches with a desire to connect their craft to consciousness and self-knowledge, this event aims to make all the difference. 

You will have the opportunity to ask questions and share ideas, and you will leave with a sense that shadow work is not only possible and effective, but that it’s also more powerful than you ever realised. 

Kelly-Ann Maddox is a spiritual counsellor, mystical mentor, chaos witch, professional Tarot reader, and author of two books about witchcraft: Rebel Witch and Witch in Darkness. She has been providing high-quality resources on her popular YouTube channel for over a decade, building an audience of fellow wayward witches who share her non-conformist perspective on witchcraft for personal healing and collective consciousness.

DAY OF THE DEAD TALKS

Date: Sat Nov 1st

Time: 3pm-6:30pm

Talks with Tree Carr & Stephen Ellcock

Day Pass is good for both talks

Venue: Bar Nothing
Address: 17 Cliff Terrace, Margate, CT9 1RU

A day of talks on The Day of the Dead!  These talks invite you to move between worlds — from the historical wounds of the witch trials to the imaginal depths of shadow realms — offering both reckoning and revelation at Samhain’s thin-veiled threshold.

The Witches Are Still Here

Resisting Oppression, Past and Present

Tree Carr & Panel
3:00 – 4:30pm

Join author and High Priestess Witch Tree Carr for The Witch Trials of the UK — a powerful panel on the dark legacy of persecution and how its shadow lingers today through systemic misogyny and cultural oppression.

Alongside fellow witches Hannah Joy Graves (Cult Mother), author Kelly-Ann Maddox, and singer Charlotte Church, Tree will spark a vital conversation on historical trauma, feminist critique, and the lived realities of modern witchcraft. Together, they call forth resilience, reclamation, and the ongoing struggle against forces that seek to silence women, witches, and the marginalised.

A gathering of voices for truth, justice, and magic in the modern age.

This talk also coincides with the launch of Tree’s new guide and map, Accused of Witchcraft— a haunting exploration of the memorials, monuments, and historic sites dedicated to those accused of witchcraft between the 16th and 18th centuries. From Scotland’s Witches’ Well and the enigmatic Maggie Wall Monument, to England’s Lancashire Witches Trail, Cornwall’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, and Northern Ireland’s Islandmagee memorial, Tree’s project published by Herb Lester Associates, illuminates the echoes of history and the hidden sites of remembrance scattered across the land.

Tree Carr is a published author, TEDx speaker, and transpersonal therapist working at the crossroads of dreams, death, altered states of consciousness, and psychedelic-assisted therapy. A Certified Death Doula with the Crossfields Institute, she holds a postgraduate certificate in Psychedelics, Altered States & Transpersonal Psychology from the Alef Trust, and has also studied Ecology, Spirituality & the Paranormal (with Dr. Jack Hunter, University of Wales Trinity Saint David) as well as Mediumship & Creativity at the world-renowned Arthur Findlay College of Psychic Science.

Tree teaches at the College of Psychic Studies in London, The Psychedelic Society UK, the esoteric platform She’s Lost Control, and as faculty at The Magickal Path School of Witchcraft in New York. She has also guided students at the Royal College of Art through lucid dreaming practices to support creativity and inspiration.

The author of nine books, Tree’s works include Dreams (2018), Conscious Dreamer (2021), A Spell a Day (2023), Dreamwork (2024), The Witch’s Cat Tarot (2025), Accused of Witchcraft (2025), and the forthcoming Technomancy (2026).

Beyond the Threshold

A darkly evocative journey through underworlds, both real and imagined

Stephen Ellcock
3:00 – 4:30pm

Step into the shadows with renowned curator and image-hunter Stephen Ellcock for Beyond the Threshold — a darkly evocative journey through underworlds, both real and imagined.

In this richly illustrated talk, Stephen will guide us across portals into mythic, subconscious, and unfamiliar realms. Drawing on his vast archive and decades of cultural excavation, we’ll wander surrealist dreamscapes, imagined hellscapes, and subterranean shadowlands, brushing against the threshold that divides this world from the next.

A spellbinding descent into the imaginal, where the unseen is revealed and the unknown re-enchanted.

Stephen Ellcock is a London-based author, curator, and image-hunter who has spent the past decade building a vast “virtual museum” of art, myth, and wonder on social media — an ever-growing Cabinet of Curiosities followed by more than 700,000 people worldwide.

Renowned for his ability to weave together the cosmic and the cultural, Stephen has published several acclaimed books, including The Cosmic Dance, Underworlds, Elements, All Good Things, England on Fire, The Book of Change, and Jeux de Mains (with Cécile Poimboeuf-Koizumi). He is also the co-author of Jamie Reid: Time for Magic.

Sonic Sanctuary

Charlotte Church at the Shell Grotto

November 1st, 7:00–10:00 pm
The Shell Grotto, Grotto Hill, Margate, CT9 2BU

On November 1st, the Day of the Dead, step beneath the streets of Margate into the luminous mystery of the Shell Grotto for an unforgettable Samhain sound ritual with world-renowned singer Charlotte Church.

In this subterranean sanctuary—believed by some to have once been a pagan sound temple—Charlotte’s voice will rise and flow through the shell-lined chambers, calling forth the water spirits to guide us in releasing grief and opening to healing. Together, we’ll weave our own voices into the grotto’s resonance through gentle vocal improvisations, creating a living chorus that honours our ancestors and the thinning of the veil.

For one night only, this ancient grotto will resound with ceremony, song, and communion.

Three intimate 40-minute sessions only (ages 12+, £30, strictly limited tickets):

Session 1: 7:00 – 7:40 pm

Session 2: 7:50 – 8:30 pm

Session 3: 8:40 – 9:20 pm

Charlotte Church is a world-renowned singer, sound healer, and visionary artist whose career has spanned from classical stardom to pioneering new realms of music as medicine. Alongside her performance work, Charlotte is the founder of The Dreaming, her retreat centre in the Welsh countryside dedicated to holistic well-being and creative exploration. At The Dreaming, she leads transformative gatherings such as Songs of the Soul, a retreat that uses the power of voice for healing, release, and renewal, and WITCH, a retreat she co-hosts with author and High Priestess Tree Carr, exploring land magic, ritual, and spiritual empowerment. Charlotte’s unique sound work blends her extraordinary voice with deep intention, creating spaces of resonance where participants can journey inward, connect with community, and experience sound as a pathway to healing and transformation.