K.A. Laity's Blog, page 3

Hilma’s Plants

I hit this fabulous MOMA exhibit in the spring with the fabulous QoE Stephanie before I ran off to Dundee for the summer, but realise I never posted pix. Here’s a small selection (so hard to choose). It moves from the more familiar mode of abstract psychic phenomenon to the direct from nature renderings (with... Read More

CFP: Divination, Witchcraft, and The Occult

Call for PresentationsDivination, Witchcraft & the Occult *SPECIAL TOPIC*Popular Culture Association Conference8-11 April 2026Atlanta, GA, US The broad interest in divination, witchcraft, and the occult has been part of popular culture for centuries. Scholars’ discomfort with the topic is often palpable: they tend to focus on intersections that feel more legitimate, e.g. legal ramifications (laws... Read More

Review: The Conjure Man Dies

Rudolph Fisher’s 1932 novel The Conjure Man Dies evokes both the Harlem Renaissance and Golden Age mysteries as well as embodying in important ways the more authentic voice of the streets that Dashiell Hammett had begun to make sing. Of course Fisher’s voice remains distinct from all of these: a polymath who studied to be... Read More

Out at the Ferry

On a cloudy day that did end up with rain, I headed out to Broughty Ferry to wander, mudlark and do a little thrifting, because you know the thrifting is better with the poshos. The rain was well-timed to grab a sandwich and daydream and people watch. A suitably Gothic day at the beach, which... Read More

Irreverent Tarot 13: Flip Through

Irreverent Tarot, the podcast, returns with a flip-through video of The Art of Drawing Cards and The Tarot. By popular demand of the Tarot History group, who want a proper nosy before they commit to buying anything even if they do get a thanks in the postscript! Take a look through yourself. Find out the... Read More

UConn Medieval Plays

UConn officially killed the Medieval Studies program from which I received my MA and PhD. They had been strangling it for years, so in a way this was an expected yet no less painful a blow. The same neoliberalism that has been turning education into a pipeline for industry — a funnel to the capitalist... Read More

Out Now: The Art of Drawing Cards and The Tarot

The Art of Drawing Cards and The Tarot Aldegonde Perenna, The Polish Sibyl There’s nothing quite like this tarot book. The editors of this curious 1826 volume threw in every method they could find for reading and playing cards. Cartomancy in nineteenth century France was not a world without rules, but one with too many!... Read More

Blue

I have a piece in the latest American Museum of Paramusicology journal. I saw at the last minute Matt Marble’s call for pieces on the theme of blue and had just the thing. If you subscribe, you can get not only this journal but so much more: The American Museum of Paramusicology (AMP) is home to... Read More

Recent Reads

I have been diving into eighteenth century France for some reason (…circumspice) and my reading has veering into the historical, albeit through fiction. No surprise: I learned most of my history from fiction — books, television, films — because Americans are not generally taught history so much as a narrative of Manifest Destiny. Which is... Read More

Out Now: Hope Magic

MEANS MAGAZINE 3 Hope Magic Join a global array of grassroots and experimental writers, musicians and artists as they explore tactics for finding hope in a hopeless world. This issue includes: Amy Jackson: Twitter / Pocket ConjurationsLala Lotos: The Soul of Stones (art-making in war-torn Ukraine)Klaus Von Mork: Sigils, Manifestation, and Chaos Magic in Art... Read More