Jesse Hathaway Diaz is a folklorist, artist, performer and independent scholar with a Masters in Performance Studies from NYU. With initiations in several forms of witchcraft from Europe and the Americas, he is also a lifelong student of Mexican curanderismo, an initiated priest of Obatalá in the Lucumí Orisha tradition, and a Tatá Quimbanda. He co-hosts an occult themed podcast called ‘Radio Free Golgotha’, and edits the ‘Folk Necromancy in Transmission’ imprint through Revelore Press.
For the better part of two decades, he has been involved with Theatre Group Dzieci, a New York based experimental theatre ensemble which explores theatre and ritual as a way, blending service with self-exploration and performance. Dividing his time between the Bronx and a farm in the Hudson Valley, his artistic and written work navigate the world-as-magic through exploring orality and transmission, decolonialism, ritual theory and praxis, herbalism and healing modalities through private study, apprenticeship, and community involvement.
Upcoming events, talks, lectures and such…
ongoing projects & writings
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serpent shod
A blog dedicated to witchcraft and magic.
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Radio Free Golgotha
A semi-regular podcast of the occult ramblings of Dr. Al Cummings and Jesse Hathaway Diaz.
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Speakeasy of the Dead
An online cabaret for fancy necromancers.
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Theatre Group Dzieci
An experimental NY Theatre ensemble I have been privileged to be with since 2006.
Publications:
• ‘Passersby’ in Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold (ed.), Serpent Songs (Scarlet Imprint, 2013)
• ‘Um Clarao nas Matas: Working with Plant Spirits in Brazilian Quimbanda’ in Catamara Rosarium & Jenn Zahrt (eds), Verdant Gnosis, Volume One (Revelore, 2017)
• ‘Man-Dragon, Man-Root and the Witch: Mandragora and Ginseng as Plant Allies’ in Marcus McCoy, Catamara Rosarium & Jenn Zahrt (eds), Verdant Gnosis, Volume Two (Revelore, 2017)
• ‘Afterword' in Alexander Cummins, Jesse Hathaway Diaz, Jennifer Zahrt (eds) Cypriana: Old World (Rubedo Press, 2017)
• ‘Ìrókò gbà mi o: Irokó, the World Tree deified’ in Marcus McCoy, Catamara Rosarium & Jenn Zahrt (eds), Verdant Gnosis, Volume Four (Revelore, 2018)
• ‘The Garden of Death: An Herbal Lore of Santisima Muerte’ in Marcus McCoy, Catamara Rosarium & Kim Schwenk (eds), Viridis Genii: Series 6, Vol 1 (Viridis Press, 2021)
• ‘Green Blood and the Light Reflected: Herbals Metrics, Correspondences, the Fixed Stars’ in Marcus McCoy, Catamara Rosarium & Kim Schwenk (eds), Viridis Genii: Series 8, Vol 3 (Viridis Press, 2023)
Papers/Conferences:
• ‘Fire in the Head: Energetics in Indigenous Mexican Herbalism and Curanderismo’ at the Viridis Genii Symposium, Damascus, Oregon, 2015
• ‘Book-as-Initiator: Exegesis and the Transmission of Thought and Lineage through the Printed Word’ at The Esoteric Book Conference, Seattle, Washington, 2015
• ‘Hallowed Bones, Restless Dead: Saint Necromancy in Iberia and the New World’ at Raising the Dead, New York, 2015
• ‘Saint as Poppet, Rosary as Noose: Cursing in Colonial Mexico’ at the Musuem of Witchcraft Conference on Cursing, Boscastle, United Kingdom, 2016
• ‘Diviner and Divined: The Mechanics, Manipulation and Mutability of Fate” at the Psychoanalysis, Art, and the Occult Conference, London, United Kingdom, 2016
• Man-Dragon, Man-Root and the Witch: Mandragora and Ginseng as Plant Allies’ at the Viridis Genii Symposium, Damascus, Oregon, 2016
• ‘Quimbandorium Verum: Brazilian Quimbanda and the Grimoires’ at the Musuem of Witchcraft Conference on Ritual Magic, Boscastle, United Kingdom, 2017
• ‘Ko sí Ewé, Ko sí Òrìsà: Without plants, there are no gods’ at the Viridis Genii Symposium, Damascus, Oregon, 2017
• ‘Ìrókò gbà mi o: Irokó, the World Tree deified’ at the Viridis Genii Symposium, Pack Forest, Washington, 2018
• ‘Apocalypti(c)orazon: The End of Days Cosmovision that Makes Death Our Mother” at the Re-writing the Future: 100 Years of Esoteric Modernism and Psychoanalysis, Merano, Italy, 2019
• ‘The Corpse between the Covers: Summoning the Dead through Ink and Breath (But Not In The Way You Think…)’ in A Night of Folk Necromancy, hosted by Morbid Anatomy, New York, 2019
• ‘Mapping the Sacred Landscape of the Witch’ at the 2021 Witches Sabbat Conference (online).
• ‘Theatre Group Dzieci’s Twelve Principles: Archive and Agreement for Theatre as a Way’, at the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism’s 8th International Conference in Cork, Ireland, 2022.
• ’Dual-Faith Observance: Always Heresy, Never Blasphemy’ at The Sacred Space & Between the Worlds Conference in Hunt Valley, Maryland, 2023.
• ’Her Name is Legion: Working with Pomba Gira, the Devil’s Wife’ at The Sacred Space & Between the Worlds Conference in Hunt Valley, Maryland, 2023
Lectures
• Guest Speaker, ‘A Day of Conjure and Cunning-Craft’, New York, 2015
• Guest Lecturer speaking on the subject of Mexican Curanderismo annually at SUNY New Paltz for ‘Witchcraft and Magic’ Anthropology Course taught by Prof. Denise Oliver-Velez, 2004-2014
• Guest Lecturer ‘Brazilian Quimbanda: A Primer’ at the Salem Summer Symposium, Salem, Massachusetts, 2019
Panels
• ’Working with Spirits’ at The Sacred Space & Between the Worlds Conference in Hunt Valley, Maryland (2023)
• ‘Folking Around’ at the Salem Summer Symposium, Salem, Massachusetts, 2019
Podcasts
Appearances on starnightdwell, Southern Bramble, Rune Soup, Witch Hassle, and co-host Radio Free Golgotha
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The Pact
An online store specializing in occult goods and services rooted in Tradition and guided by Spirit. Coming Summer 2024.