Designing Warlocks

This weekend the Portland "occulture" scene gears up for the first ever esoZone festival. Introducing itself as a "designer reality expo," esoZone centers around the ideas and practices of alternative culture and contemporary ritual magic. A participant at esoZone could expect to experience art galleries, live music and video projection, ritual performances, and panels and workshops on esoteric themes such as "Arte, Magick and Musick," "Modern Myths and Hyperglyphys," "The Magical and Ritual Use of Animal Parts," and "Practical Chemgnosis: Beyond Tripping Out." Speakers include visionary painter Paul Laffoley, conspiracy researcher Freeman of The Freeman Perspective, author and musician James Curcio, the Viking Youth podcast, and Technocult editor Klint Finley.

If you're curious as to what a “designer reality” might be, the esoZone website defines it thusly, “We see designer realities as personal chariots of travel into future and hope to provide a collective road map (not the territory!) through three days of mutual interaction. Rejecting the doom and gloom of the so-called “Apocalypse Culture”, esoZone draws on the radical optimism of Robert Anton Wilson. However, while we admire the work of the counterculture, Chaos Magick, our comic books heroes and the Discordian pranksters of “the good old days” we do not seek to venerate or even necessarily to emulate them. Rather, we wish to create a future filled with realities we create and that make sense to us. esoZone is a future-present oriented meta-event rooted in the present while never forgetting that we are creatures moving forward in space-time.”

If you can't make it to the festival, but would still like to check it out, tune in this weekend for live streaming video of esoZone performances at the Someday Lounge.

Tristan Gulliford is a writer, dreamer, and aspiring myth-keeper who makes electronic music under the name "Dreamcode". He is currently attending the University of Colorado at Boulder.