Calendrier Magique, An In-Person Talk with Laetitia Barbier

Calendrier Magique, An In-Person Talk with Laetitia Barbier

In the PRS Library

Few works capture the decadent imagination of fin-de-siècle Paris as vividly as the Calendrier Magique. Enter its indulgent splendour in this in-person talk. Published in 1895 to mark the opening of Siegfried Bing's Maison de l'Art Nouveau, this strangely elongated codex emerged as a kind of esoteric book of hours, born at a moment when occult reverie and dark romanticism held the French capital in thrall.

Penned by the eccentric poet and folklorist Austin de Croze, and illustrated by Manuel Orazi – whose imagery also graced Baudelaire's Fleurs du Mal and Wilde's Salomé – the Calendrier wove together risqué allegory, satanic chic and irresistible theatricality. Printed in just 777 copies, it survives as a delirious relic of Paris' occult underground, a bibliophile's fever dream.

This in-person talk will explore the cultural climate that allowed such a work to flourish: a city intoxicated with occult salons, satanic posturing and the whispered 'wizard wars' of the 1890s. Month by month, we will turn its diabolical pages, tracing how Orazi's illustrations crystallised a moment when fin-de-siècle aestheticism danced with occult play. Lounging succubi! Unspeakable rites! Fiendish frogs!

Recently reissued in a facsimile edition by Metastazis, with contextual notes by Laetitia Barbier, the Calendrier Magique invites us to rediscover a chapter of esoteric art history where decadence and darkness move hand in hand. Copies of the Facsimille will be for sale at the event.

French-born Laetitia Barbier is an independent scholar, as well as a professional tarot reader and teacher. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Art History from La Sorbonne University Paris in 2009. Laetitia has worked with Morbid Anatomy from 2012 to 2024 as a programming director, head librarian, and occasional curator. Her book Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive was published in 2021 with a foreword by Rachel Pollack. She is the author of the Tiger Tarot Guide Book, a unique Tarot deck by symbolist artist Lori Field. As a writer and scholar, she has the privilege of collaborating with the iconic French maître-cartier Grimaud, notably on the exquisite re-release of their 1930s Tarot de Marseille and Belline Oracle.
Laetitia has lectured, taught and read cards for various cultural institutions, such as Greenwood Cemetery, Artyard, Fotografiska NY, the College of Psychic Studies in London or the New York Public Library. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Ticket price: $22 (in-person event only)

Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

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The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed by the presenters are solely those of the presenter and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Presentations are intended for informational and entertainment purposes.

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