a talk by John Constable aka John Crow for Nova Stella meet-up
Monday 22nd September 2025. Meet from 7pm. Talk starts at 8pm. Admission £4. Upstairs at The Angel Pub, 73 City Road, London EC1Y 1BD. (nearest tube Old Street)
‘… revealed by The Goose to John Crow at Cross Bones… on the night of 23rd November 1996.’ (from the preface to The Southwark Mysteries by John Constable, Oberon Books 1999)
“That night I commenced a 23-year magical work with The Goose, the spirit of a medieval sex worker. In verses channelled through my shamanic alter ego John Crow, she revealed a secret history and transforming vision of Cross Bones Graveyard. For centuries this had been a pauper’s burial ground – and according to legend the final resting place for the Winchester Geese who worked in brothels licensed by the Bishop of Winchester in the ‘Liberty of the Clink’ yet were denied Christian burial. It had been long forgotten when it was dug up during works on the Jubilee Line Extension and, independently, its mysteries resurfaced in John Crow’s visions of The Goose.
The Southwark Mysteries emerged as a cycle of mystical poems and a play performed in Shakespeare’s Globe and Southwark Cathedral. The Goose Spirit inspired The Halloween of Cross Bones ritual performed for a magical cycle of 13 years, and the Vigils held at the gates in Redcross Way at 7pm on the 23rd of every month since June 2004.
Goose and Crow magic is embodied in these works, a spiritual praxis which underpins an activist campaign to reclaim Cross Bones as sacred land. At its heart is a vision of sexual and spiritual healing, of revealing ‘the Spirit in the flesh, the Sacred in the profane, Eternity in time.’
In this talk I’ll briefly relate the story of the graveyard and our works there, before delving into the esoteric dimensions of Goose and Crow magic: how we work with the Ancestors and ‘the outcast dead’ to heal and to transform our own lives.”
(John Constable aka John Crow)
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John Constable is a playwright, poet, performer and ritualist. He wrote the acclaimed stage adaptation of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast, and The Southwark Mysteries (performed in Shakespeare’s Globe and Southwark Cathedral). Solo plays include I Was An Alien Sex God and Spare, inspired by the works of Austin Osman Spare. His books include Sha-Manic Plays, The Southwark Mysteries, Gormenghast, Secret Bankside and Spark In The Dark. His latest book Grail interweaves myths, spells, incantations and meditations with vignettes of contemporary life in Glastonbury.
As John Crow he conducted a 23-year cycle of magical works at south London’s Cross Bones Graveyard, hosting monthly rituals and creating a shrine and garden for sex workers and outcasts. Working with his spirit guide, The Goose, he has held ceremonies at festivals and sacred sites around the world. On his album Ancestor Souls he performs his work to music by Queen Space Baroque. Having lived more than 30 years in Southwark, he and his wife and co-practitioner Katy moved between lockdowns and have lived for the past 5 years in Glastonbury.
http://crossbones.org.uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Uh7gztScA
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/southwark-mysteries-9781849438537
Nova Stella Meet-Up Group is a pagan talks forum and social group, meeting on the 4th Monday of each month…
It offers an excellent opportunity to meet fellow pagans (maybe for the first time..) and learn some stuff over a pint. We welcome those who have a genuine interest in paganism, especially newcomers seeking a path. Come and meet some people…. We are a relaxed and friendly bunch!
Upstairs at The Angel Pub, 73 City Road, London EC1Y 1BD. (nearest tube Old Street) People meet from 7pm. Talk starts at 8pm. Admission £4.
Photo by Max Reeves: John Crow / Constable conducts the final Halloween of Crossbones on the graveyard, 2016
