Paganarchy Press

Seani Scullion aka Seani Fool - the founder of Paganarchy Press and weaver of Liber Malorum is off to Haiti!

To find out why he is going, and follow his work over there please visit A Fool In Haiti. Please also look at his current list of sponsors, and please consider becoming a sponsor yoursel if in any way possible.

During his time away, sales of Liber Malorum will not take place via this website and you are directed to purchase your copy from other online sources...

THE NOMADIC ACADEMY OF FOOLS IN FRANCE

Foyer de Campgnes, 10 Pl. Frederic, Mistral 34120, Pezenas

WORKSHOPS

Monday 27th October: The Inner World of the Fool

The fool steps off the cliff into the unknown. Dare you follow?

This is a one-day workshop run by Seani Fool from the Nomadic Academy of Fools in which people can have an introduction to the art of fooling as taught by Jonathan Kay. Today’s workshop has a particular emphasis on how fools can explore and reveal their own inner world.

Tuesday 28th October: The Outer Fool (Physical theatre techniques)

Play the fool and discover archetypes and characterisation through bodywork. Create solo, partner and ensemble work.

Find characters in the body. Taste movement, smell sound, feel sight.

Develop group intuition and trust through breathwork and enhanced peripheral vision.

Wear comfortable clothing and bring food to share for lunch.

Wednesday 29th October: Guerrilla Gardening for Clowns

The world of permaculture meets rebel clowning.

This is a one-day workshop where people can learn the ancient art of clowning and methods of direct action in the context of permaculture design.

EVENING PERFORMANCES

Monday 27th October: 20:00 for the meal and 21:00 performance begins.

Scratch Night and Community meal: An evening of improvised plays and fooling by the Nomadic Academy of Fools. Nothing is rehearsed: everything comes from the moment. Feel free to bring food and drink to share a meal and meet the fools.

Tuesday 28th October: 21:00 performance begins

The Oddwood Cabaret: A night of music and entertainment from the strangely likable folk of Oddwood.

Wednesday, 29th October: 21:00 performance begins

The Jam: The Nomadic Academy of Fools welcome you to jam with them. You can participate or watch. Turn up at 20:30 to be added to the running order.

Link: http://www.nomadicacademy.net

Hey all - as friends and regular readers might know, I'm a member of the theatre group The Nomadic Academy of Fools.

Using my special geek powers, I've set up the website (using WordPress blogging software) for the Academy, which you can go take a look at here:

http://www.nomadicacademy.net

All 11 members of the Academy will be blogging there, and posting details of our upcoming events, so go take a look!

Hugs from Seani Fool

(ps - my geek powers are available to other groups. Contact me if you need a site set up similar to this one)

Feel mine lover's soft skin under my hand,
Watch gentle waves lick licking the sand;

I'm so full of love and yet feel all alone,
Hearing the wind and her high whispy tone;

I see in the sea the moon's sweet smile,
Teasing me; Dancing; and yet all the while...

...the smooth soft skin I feel flow through my hand
Is goddess Earth living in beach white sand.

Teal Talking Raven, one of the founding ministers of the original Companions Circle, has written a review of a chunk of Liber Malorum!!

Here's what is written:

"All the characters and incidents in this book are purely fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events that have taken place is purely coincidental synchronistic."

That official disclaimer before the beginning is a strong hint of the powerful foolishness that follows. After a fun prologue the book begins in The Garden (you know where) and poetically sheds new light on that infamous universal trouble-instigating scenario from an alternative perspective.

Chapter 56 (5 + 6 = Magical 11!) tells the story of a profound talk and discussion led by (book character) Seani Fool about the key elements of Fool Sorcery and the re-creative possibilities of funner chaos. My shaman-fool partner Chammy said that this chapter covers the 'gritty-nitty' of shamanic clowning.

So join us (you must show you aren't a bot) and read the exerpts digest these apples, then contact Sean for more possibilities. Yay fun restoration!

hugs to all from Seani Fool

Update 1/May/2008: There will be another round of auditions in late June. Phone the number below if you are interested in working with the Nomadic Academy of Fools, or come see us in Brighton. I'll announce the details shortly.

People who know me personally will know I'm a part of the Nomadic Academy of Fools. Auditions for next year are taking place next week and so applications close this week.

See the attached email for more details and to get involved:

Applications for Jonathan Kay's Nomadic Academy of Fools closes this Friday 25th April

After a highly successful first year, applications are now being invited for the year beginning September 2008. For more information on the application process please go to www.jonathankay.co.uk and to apply please download and complete the form on the Nomadic Academy page.

NAF is a travelling centre of creativity with a unique approach to developing an invigorating and concentrated training that explores the relationship between the performer and the audience for people who have already developed a body of professional work in which they have regular contact with the audience and who are interested in developing and crafting this relationship.

The Academy is run by the Jonathan Kay, who draws from a tremendous range of skills and experience, but more importantly with an unparalleled enthusiasm, passion and commitment to the value of this work and its impact on the performer's work.

PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE CHANGED OUR NUMBER. FOR ENQUIRES PLEASE CALL JOYCE ON 01903 501 262

I have had a truly amazing year in the academy learning the art and science of the Fool. It's very challenging exploring some of the darker recesses of my inner world - and often exposing them to an audience. JK's Fooling system is a kind of cross between shamanism, improvised theatre, self-exploration and appreciation for the many archetypal forces that are with each of us all the time. The audience (both inner and outer) are perpetually of prime importance.

If this sounds interesting to you, please give Joyce a call on the number above.

The Nomadic Academy of Fools (which I'm a happy part of) are performing in London next week, Wednesday 13th, February 2008.

Come along!

Further to yesterday's post about the ISBN network, I see that Amazon now have my book on sale at a discounted rate of £7.88 - but they still haven't got any copies and have still not asked me for any.

In fact, I think they will be selling books at a loss if they actually make any sales at that price. Fuck knows what they are up to!

Link: http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/thunderbird-and-trickster.html

An interesting article on Thunderbird and Tricksters mentioning Heyoka - the Lakota sacred clown. Interesting in how much of it overlaps our own tradition of Holy Fooling here...

However insulting or sacrilegious heyoka [sacred clowns] actions might be, they were tolerated, since it was assumed they were acting on the higher and more inscrutable imperatives of the Great Mystery. Heyoka were freed from all the ordinary constraints of life, and thus were usually not expected to marry, have children, or participate in the work of the tribe. Despite their bizarre acts (such as dressing in warm clothes during summer or wearing things inside out), they were trusted as healers, interpreters of dreams, and people of great medicine. Whenever they interrupted the solemnity of a ceremony, people took it as an admonition to see beyond the literalness of the ritual and into the deeper mysteries of the sacred. Like the flash of lightning, the heyoka's sudden outbursts and disturbances were thought to be the keys to enlightenment - much like the absurd acts of Zen masters in Japan.

more at http://www.fiu.edu/~mizrachs/thunderbird-and-trickster.html

Link: http://www.piratequiz.com/

Just been to piratequiz.com and have at long last found my inner pirate!

Da DDA and I went to the Tate Modern - He took the piss mate!

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUgod3BJzc0

A good mate of mine Cath Connolly is an amazing puppeteer - with a friend of hers she has produced this amazingly funny vid.

check it now

I've had the most amazing weekend - my first ever munch, a fool's parade through the centre of London [pics | vid | dougie ] where we demanded the right to fool. Fooling, like free speech is a right denied to us by Blair's SOCPA legislation which all intelligent, pro-freedom people bitterly oppose.

After the parade, and a chill for a bit on parliament square, the fools, clowns and fairies had a convergence at Trafalgar Square. The Fairy Raid action and convergence had been organised by the wonderful flying folk over at Fairy Love. Truly wonderful people. And to be surrounded by such a large number of Fairies at one time was beautiful.

Then, finally, a few minutes to chill for a bit.

In the evening, the FooLuminati hosted an extremely FooLish ritual called Dance Of The Dunce on parliament square - with police permission!

The ritual was amazing and inspiring, but extremely foolish. what the fuck did the space hijackers think they were doing turning parliament square into a golf lawn during our rite? teeheehee - it great to be in ritual with them but i'll let Silver Sara explain it best:

Straight after the ritual an amazing ring of fire appeared in the air around parliament, i kid you not. the photographer's phone captured this image:

After the ritual, we all headed off to a crazy clown party and fundraiser for the People In Common. The People In Common are responsible for the most important Picnic in the world - the picnic on parliament square. The brave picnickers defiantly eat scones and drink tea despite this being considered Serious Organised Crime.

The picnickers know how to big it up and the party was awesome! A great opportunity to catch up with loads of cool friends, boogie through the night and paint each others faces - and that was just saturday! What a brilliant day it was - fools, fairies, clowns, ritualists, golfers, parades, charlie chaplin, friendly coppers, munchy clowns, the evil kevster, foolz magic and best boogie beats.

Sunday was even bigger but will have to wait for another time to get its own write up. Meanwhile, check what the fools were doing over in Sydney.

Happy Foolish New Year people!

xx Sean

Usually the Fool's dark side is the malicious clown, the buffoon or sinister trickster who plays trickery tricks on people that can, on occasion, end up with the people being hurt. Most people certainly learn a lot from encountering the dark jester! SHe has many occult tricks up hir sleeve to outwit the unaware; to awaken the sleepy or poke fun at authority. The objective of the dark jester is not to hurt, but to ridicule in order to teach. Speaking the plain truth, devoid of attachment can often hurt whoever you're talking about.

But that's not what this rant is about. This rant is about the dark emotional inside of the fool. As SHe moves about the world encountering people, delighting them, tricking them and having fun with them, the fool also falls in love very easily. As easily as stepping off a cliff. Trusting in the universe and believing it will all be fine in the end. For a fool falling in love is as easy as dancing in the rain. Can you do that?

Well I danced in the rain and fell off the cliff - I fell in love with completely the wrong person - and now my darkness is churning churning churning with the bitter pain of being heart-broken... once again... so soon after sushi... Love hits hard, but falling off this cliff and feeling the rush of the earth as it zooms up towards me is even harder.

Oh to be rid of the Fool and to be a normal conservative straight-man like most of the people in the world. Oh if only my life would be simple and boring. If only I didn't care about the world. If only if only if only. I would have one partner, female, and I would have my life and future mapped out before me. I wouldn't think about climate change, corporate greed or the right to express myself. I'd probably watch sport, read the mainstream press and wank over the next release of whatever programming language is hot this week. I wouldn't fall in love because I would hardly even be aware of my emotions except when somebody hit a home run or scored a goal. I would block all emotions out and never ever cry. Never cry. Never.

But no... That's not me. I'm crying now see.

Instead I tread the crooked and windy path of the Fool. As well as joyful peaks, I must also learn to explore the emotional darkest pits. As well as the full celebration of life and lust, I have to fully feel the power of despair and anguish. And right now I must learn to deal with the intense pain and anguish of heart-break. A lesson hard to learn and a pain hard to embrace time after time ... after time ... after time ... after time ... after time ... after time ...

"You can walk a step ahead of me,
but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm following you"
- Sahara Piksie

Here's a secret: This fool's power lies in experiencing the emotional world within and without as much as possible; living with a willingness to express all joy and pain when it arises; and living life to it's full potential by singing and dancing to imagined love songs in the rain. Now there's the fools challenge - can you do that?