Magickal Rat Tours of Bristol

BACKGROUND

The receptacle of our own shadowy psychological projections, rats continue to be much maligned, misunderstood & scapegoated.

This one of a kind free guided tour from The Bristol Exterminator will allow you to experience urban rats in their natural environment while simultaneously learning about some of their fascinating unexplored aspects. Be amazed as the world of pest control is syncretised with the seemingly disparate subjects of depth psychology, metaphysics, natural philosophy, magick and alchemy.

You will leave with a deepened understanding of both rats and the universe, practical knowledge of their control and perhaps even with your consciousness having been theriomorphically expanded.

CURRICULUM

WHAT ARE RATS?

1. DOWN THE RAT BURROW

1. Dream vision of the rat.

2. COSMOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK

1. Chaos

2. Monad

3. The Tria Prima

4. Macrocosm and microcosm; the celestial and terrestrial realms

3. SYMBOLISM

1. The collective unconscious

2. The symbol of the rat

3. The rat and the personal unconscious

4. PESTS AS PUTREFACTION

1. The role of pests in the scheme of Nature

2. Ancient theories on putrefaction & spontaneous generation

3. Reviving alchemical proofs on the generation and corruption of matter

THE MAGICKAL ORIGINS OF PEST CONTROL

1. EXTERMINATOR AS PRIEST AND MAGICIAN

1. The folk magickal history of Western pest control from ancient Egypt through to the present day

2. The divine status of knowledge in the ancient world

3. The historical dissemination of pest control techniques

2. MAGICKAL CONTROL METHODS

1. Control techniques from ancient sources

2. Control techniques from medieval grimoires

3. Control techniques from the Renaissance & Age of Enlightenment

4. Daoist perspectives on rats & magical control techniques

3. POISON PRESCRIPTIONS

1. The toxicological profiles of rodenticides throughout the ages

RATS OF MODERN BRITAIN

1. THE HISTORY OF RATS IN BRITAIN

1. Tracing the origins of rats in Britain

2. Understanding our relationship with rats over time

2. RAT CATCHERS

1. A look into the lives of the rat catchers of Victorian London

3. SEWER RATS

1. The hidden lives of rats within our public sewer systems

4. TRENCH RATS

1. What we can learn from Allied rat control efforts in the trenches of World War I

5. ENVIRONMENTAL CRIMES

1. The corrupt origins of the modern commercial UK rat control model and its systemic poisoning of the global environment over the past 100 years

CLOSING

1. MODERN CONTROL METHODS

1. Why modern rat control efforts are doomed to failure & the need for a new approach

2. Rat control in the present era & practical information for both homeowners & renters

ADDITIONAL INFO

TIME: 19:00 - 20:00
MEETING POINT: TURBO ISLAND
END POINT: CENTRE OF TOWN

VOLUNTARY PAYMENT ACCEPTED IN THE FORM OF A SMALL AMOUNT OF FOOD DONATED AS AN OFFERING TO THE RATS.

THE TOUR INVOLVES APPROX 1.5km OF WALKING AND WILL GO AHEAD REGARDLESS OF WEATHER SO PLEASE DRESS APPROPRIATELY.

SEE YOU THERE. X

BIOGRAPHY

By day, Tom Ratman works as The Bristol Exterminator, a local pest controller. By night, he is the Director of Research at Black Sewer Labs, a subversive alchemical research laboratory. Following a raid in 2023 by undercover Avon and Somerset Police officers on suspicion of terrorism offences, the laboratory shifted its practice from chemical methods of mineral and plant-based medicine production into experimental physics and a deepening of its investigations into Mercurial compounds following in the English alchemical tradition. His unparalleled knowledge of rats comes from over a decade of working with them–including years of practical study, independent research and extended magickal workings. In addition to extermination, he also contributes to the education and healthcare sectors, is an active published musician and teaches alchemically-informed Martial Arts for those interested in the philosophical sciences of transformation. 2025 sees the launch of the Asklepeon Foundation, a non-profit that works to improve the quality of life of residents in care by promoting a distilled range of proven environmental, nutritional & lifestyle interventions that maximise their physical and mental health & wellbeing.