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Halloween with the teen

October 28, 2008 5 Comments Filed Under: Uncategorized

Mayan skull, Jalapa, Mexico

Mayan skull, Jalapa, Mexico

The ‘Secret Chiefs moot’ at the Devereux pub, Strand. The actor/poet John Constable is giving a talk about the Crossbones graveyard in Southwark.This site was ‘discovered’ by Constable through channelling the spirits of ‘Grey Goose’ and ‘John Crow’. This graveyard for ‘single women’ (prostitutes) was in ‘The Mint’ the poorest area of Southwark, where brothels and outlaws congregated. Bodysnatchers sold corpses to nearby Guy’s hospital. It closed in the 1850’s and with the Disused Burial Grounds Act, 1884, buildings were erected upon the site. Naturally they fell down.
In 1992 London Underground, during the construction of the Jubilee line (which runs to my house near Watling Street) broke the ground and unearthed masses of skulls and bones. The Museum of London exhibited one of the skulls, scarred by syphillis. The ‘Bodies’ exhibition in 1998 used some of the skeletons. 
Constable recounts how the spirits of John Crow, scribe, and Grey Goose, a wounded spirit “walked in fully formed” on the 23rd of November 1996. With the information he was given, he wrote The Southwark Mysteries. This was an attempt to turn a brutalised ground into a place of love. 
Every Halloween and in a smaller ceremony on the 23rd of each month, the names of the buried are read out. “A meditation on emptiness is a great protection against bad spirits.” At 7 p.m they strike the hour and light candles as an act of remembrance to honour the Goose.
This place is a portal; it has rusty iron gates covered with ribbons, totems and names of the dead. Crossbones is London’s heart chakra. Constable says:

“this blessing is performed with generous libations of gin, the crack cocaine of Victorian London, often the only comfort of these women”.

Tuppy Owens and Jahnet DeLite often participate.

After a song or two, John Constable asks for questions. The top room of this pub is, as always, shaded with chaos magicians and long-haired tricoteuses. I chuckled at the incongruous sight of a little old lady leaning on her walking stick listening to songs about tantric sex. 
The point is made that prostitutes are not always victims. They earnt in a couple of nights what a parlour maid would earn in six months. I ask Constable why he felt he was chosen to channel this information.

Was it because “as a man, your word is worth twice that of a woman and you would be listened to?”

“The Goose responds very well to a male energy. Even though I am a man, I have, in my younger days, when I thought I might be homosexual, worked in a brothel. The Goose is not into separatism. When I was 17, after an LSD trip, the Goddess was manifested in me. I underwent transformation.”

I took my daughter to this moot, as it was half-term, thinking that, as a bit of a Goth, she would appreciate it. But they were all ‘losers’ and ‘weirdo’s’, apart from one small Golem- like hunched and hatted pale man called ‘Frogo’ conversing fluently (“thou” and “forsooth”) in Shakespearian English, who was pronounced ‘cool’. My daughter spent the entire evening glaring malevolently in time-honoured teenage style. During the break, an elderly man sat opposite. He kept staring at my daughter. I get used to this. She is very beautiful. He then said to me:

“Who is that lady next to you?”

Non-plussed hearing a young-looking 14 year old described as a lady, I told him that she was my daughter.

“She has a particular presence. Oh definitely. I noticed her from the other side of the room” he started to wax lyrical.

I snapped impatiently “that’s because old men are always interested in the beauty of young girls. If she was fat and ugly you wouldn’t think she had ‘presence’.

He looked taken aback, his face reddened.

“Shocking isn’t it? To hear the truth!” I continued

“You have no manners you, you …” he searched for words and then triumphantly… “Jade Goody type!”

“How very snobbish” I retorted.

He retreated to the other side of the room. Interesting that he invoked Jade(1) Goody for she is a denizen of Southwark, and, like prostitutes of yore, a disturbing force, a reminder of more vulgar feminine energies.

(1)”JADED”
“Jaded,” comes from an Old Norse word, “jalda,” meaning “mare.” Imported into English as “jade” in the 14th century, the word originally meant just “mare,” but then came to mean “old, broken-down mare.” As a metaphor, “jade” then was used to mean “worthless person,” or, more specifically, “prostitute.” This noun form of “jade” is now obsolete, but the sense lives on in our word “jaded,” applied to someone who has, as they say, been there, seen that, and done it all.”

Day of the Dead papier maché sculptures, Frida Kahlo museum, Mexico

Day of the Dead papier maché sculptures, Frida Kahlo museum, Mexico.

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Comments

  1. Canal Explorer

    October 28, 2008 at 6:49 pm

    I never fail to be horrified by your tales of blantant paedophilic perviness amongst seemingly ordinary males.

    That was the turning point with my ex – when I realised that despite having a 13 year old daughter himself he couldn't help looking up the skirts of 17 year olds. Eurgh, it's disgusting. But why, I ask myself? I'm not completely sure.. but all under 21s should be kept locked safely in their bedrooms I say.

    Reply
  2. corbin

    October 29, 2008 at 1:09 pm

    so… c.e. what were you doing when
    you were 17 ? or 16 even.

    Reply
  3. marmitelover

    October 29, 2008 at 6:24 pm

    I understand the desire to behold beauty but I resent the need to dress it up as something cosmic, divine or magical. That is all in their heads, mate.
    Stop projecting onto young beautiful princesses and develop a healthy interest in older wiser ones?

    Reply
  4. corbin

    November 1, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    perhaps all men over 21 could be kept under lock and key
    or burkas for everyone
    everywhere.
    or what i meant to say was
    I agree with marmite lover,
    completely.

    Reply
  5. marmitelover

    November 1, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    Castrate 'em all I say!
    No, only kidding. Do we really want a world full of high pitched voiced men with weight problems?
    Thing is male dangly bits are so much fun!

    Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

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Kerstin Rodgers/MsMarmiteLover
My piece in the @hamandhigh about the 3 day @heat My piece in the @hamandhigh about the  3 day @heathostile training course. Incredibly interesting & challenging. Link: https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/things-to-do/hostile-environment-training-9037980 to read more #hostileenvironmenttraining
Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot eggs, cheeseboard, stracciatella & cucumber, tomato/strawberry/peashoot salad with real balsamic & spruce oil, home cured dill gravlax, smoked salmon, homemade sourdough crisp bread, potato salad with wild fennel & lots more! #supperclub #midsummer #eattherainbow (miss you @linnsoederstroem)
Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 years was great fun. I’m pleased with my food, the guests were lovely, it looked magical in the garden. But the weather! I even had to bring my duvets from the bedroom out. They looked like refugees. But this brought even more laughter! Next event September
My first supperclub in two years will take place t My first supperclub in two years will take place this Saturday 18th June starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £50 byo you can book here: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club there are still a few places left. Pescetarian menu. Scandi and botanical influences. #gettingbackonmyfeet #postpandemic #smallbusinesses #supperclub #london
I recently completed the 3 day @heathostile train I recently completed the 3 day  @heathostile training course. On the last day I was kidnapped by ex-special forces for a few hours & learnt how to deal with compliance training & a hostile environment. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. 3 intense days of combat first aid, navigation & how to survive in a war zone. I handled short, long guns, mortars, grenades, bullets, and tourniquet & bandaged an amputee. I learnt where to sit in a car, where to hide from a bullet, where to protect myself if in a car. It was brilliant. Highly recommended for any journalists, photographers, cameramen, charity workers, paramedics going into any difficult environment say a disaster or war. The stories from the tutors & the other participants were so interesting. My piece on it out soon. Book a course: https://hostile-environment.co.uk/  They also do jungle & desert training. I’d love to join the Antarctic expedition. Anyway that’s me hooded in the front. #adventures #het #hostileenvironmenttraining #experiences #travel
Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking o Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking on doors, going to libraries, searching through graveyards for my Irish forebears. It’s really hard to find information prior to 1850. I found this in last years trip to Arbroath in Scotland. Headstones wear out, records are lost or burnt in a fire, everybody has the same name and are known by nicknames, successive children have the same first name, that usually means they died and the next one is called by the same thing. Women did have children out of wedlock, and people remarried more often than you’d think, plus families fall out & never see each other again. I learnt that my Irish great grandfather michael went to Glasgow & met a woman who came from a similar place: somewhere wild & beautiful by the sea. Then they and their children came to london. Chasing the work & the money always. Politics and economics matter for they push people around from rural to city. And now we rodgers are Londoners. #ireland #scotland #family #travel #roots
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Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal, where my grea Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal,  where my great great grandfather john Rodgers was a postman, then a tailor, then a pawnbroker. #irishheritage #donegal #myancestry #irish #rodgers #travel
I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor timing considering what’s happened over the last 24 hours. Being British I’ve not grown up around guns. It’s interesting to be on this course and find out more about the reality of them, although my focus is learning the ‘golden triangle’ of first aid, communications and navigation. But at the same time It’s depressing how in America nothing will ever change regarding gun law. RIP.
Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa
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in June I’m having my first supper club in two y in June I’m having my first supper club in two years: here is the link to book: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club £50 18th June  Saturday night. Byo.
#chelseaflower coming up. Last year I bought these succulents and planted them in a vintage zinc garden sieve. Now they are flowering. My balcony is like a little greenhouse: I can grow aubergines & other plants that usually need to be under glass. #londongarden #may #plants #succulents in the garden
Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on t Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on the citrus. I used 7: 2 Italian lemons (from Lidl):some ordinary lemons and some limes (18p) at Lidl. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your citrus. I also used buttermilk from @fenfarmdairy in Suffolk from their honesty shop. Last night we ate it still warm from the oven. #cake #lemondrizzle #homebaking #citrus #buttermilk
A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spa A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spanking fresh asparagus / fried in olive oil, season, then add a little boiling water, not too much, put on the lid, dressed with lemon zest & Parmesan, @fenfarmdairy baron bigod cheese, good bread. This is how I like to eat. Claire’s plates found at the beccles brocante. #suffolk #suffolkfood #supper #dinnerwithfriends  #vintageplates
Can’t wait to see what they will be like when th Can’t wait to see what they will be like when they are fired. All my favourite themes: gingham and scallops. Thanks to @clairebelljar for a wonderful weekend and pottery workshop. Such fun! #workingwithyourhands #playtime #creativity #ceramics #pottery #suffolk
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Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh o Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh on my decade as a single parent on benefits, how I learned to cook & how things are so much harder now because not only are ingredients pricier but the cost of cooking them is too. 3 budget gourmet meals serving 4, for £2.50 each. #costoflivingcrisis #budgetgourmet #povertyshame #singleparents #foodblogger
Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons. Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons.
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