#123 - Amy Hale, Author of "Sex Magic: Diagrams of Love, Ithell Colquhoun"

The Witch Wave

Dr. Amy Hale is an Atlanta-based writer, curator, critic, ethnographer, and folklorist, who focuses on esoteric history, magic, art, culture, women, and Cornwall.

She has written widely on the surrealist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun, and in 2009 she received a grant from the Paul Mellon Foundation for her research. Her biography of Colquhoun, Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully (2020) is widely praised, and is just one of many ways that Amy has helped amplify Ithell’s impact on art and magic. Her newest book, Sex Magic: Diagrams of Love, Ithell Colquhoun is out this week from Tate Publishing, and A Walking Flame: Selected Magical Essays of Ithell Colquhoun is coming out from Strange Attractor later this year.

Amy is also the editor of numerous other collections including the groundbreaking Essays on Women in Western Esotericism: Beyond Seeresses and Sea Priestesses. And she has contributed essays for Tate, Burlington Contemporary, The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, and many more.

And if that wasn’t enough, Amy is currently a curator and host for the internationally beloved London-based Viktor Wynd’s Last Tuesday Society lecture series. She has been featured on BBC Radio Cornwall and the BBC World Service, and is a regular guest on a variety of podcasts, lecture series, and conferences including the Occult Humanities Conference at NYU.

On this episode, Amy discusses the visionary art and sex magic of Ithell Colquhoun, the power of alternative depictions of divine union, and the energetic connections between color, body, and the land.

Pam also talks about radical reimaginings of the lovers archetype, and answers a listener question about keeping a long-term love flame lit.

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