The very first Occulture festival gave resonance to the idea that esotericism is something to celebrate. The event stood as a memorial to the life and work of Derek Leo Taylor, the trance medium of the late Alex Sanders – the man dubbed ‘The King of the Witches’. Derek had worked with Alex in his last coven right up until the final days of Sanders’ life and together the pair had written many long magical tracts inspired by altered states of consciousness. Derek was made head of the magical order ‘The Ordine della Nova’ and by right was commensurate in status to Sanders himself, although he preferred to avoid publicity and worked alone.Derek Taylor was a gifted trance medium with an amazing track record in his art. His other interests included Astronomy, celestial intelligence, architecture and music. Upon his death in early 2000 the newspapers set out to vilify Mr Taylor and painted him in an untruthful and inaccurate light. The Occulture festival aimed to free him from such negative association and celebrate the many wonderful achievements of his life. The Hexagon Archive now preserve the unpublished works of both Derek Taylor and Alex Sanders.
A rare video link showing Derek Taylor and Alex Sanders working together to invooke a Fire God. The end of the piece also refers to the mysterious death of trance medium Taylor which became a Police investigation. A lady appears in this clip of the ritual who is ‘Mad’ Betty Scott-Willaims, a full blooded Romany who never spoke of the Craft ever to anyone she had not shared circle with. The gentleman at the beginning of the the video is Kevin Carlyon, the self proclaimed ‘King of White Witches’.