You know
when you’re peripherally aware of something for ages, and then all of a sudden,
things make themselves known? I’ve had that kind of week with the discovery of
three websites/journals of brilliance that have crept into awareness. I only
have space to talk about one of them today.
The first
is Abraxas, a journal. Abraxas is run by Christina Oakley-Harrington, owner of
Treadwell’s bookshop, who is, as well as bookshop owner and magic aficionado, is
also passionate about links between magic/the occult and art. Abraxas is a very
high spec journal that:
.. aims to represent the best of the international esoteric
scene in a high quality printed format. As a bi-annual journal, it seeks
to offer relevant and thought-provoking features: ranging from essays that are
scholarly and engaging, to images and sounds that challenge and inspire. Our
print run is limited, and every issue employs lavish colour and exotic papers – providing
for the reader a rare sensory sorcery. Indeed,
it is our intent that Abraxas should embody that magical, creative nexus which
feeds both mind and soul.
As
this suggests, the journal covers a variety of magic-type subjects and
articles, in a refreshingly academic context, but there is a strong involvement
in artistic practices too.
The current issue 3 of
Abraxas has an amazing contributors list, which I am so excited about, I am
reproducing in full here:
Talon Abraxas was born in South London, England in 1980. A self-taught artist, he is
known for works that consist of a combination of traditional and digital
images, creating surreal landscapes that have a believable dream-like quality.
Inspiration is drawn from mystical artists and thinkers such as Austin Osman
Spare, Jean Delville, Hieronymus Bosch, HR Giger, Beksinski, and Aleister
Crowley. He considers himself a symbolist, painter, writer and occultist
committed to spiritual esotericism. His vision is of the artist as a
spontaneously developed initiate whose mission is to send light, spirituality
and mysticism into the world.
Marcelo Bordese lives and works in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His images explore themes
involving the flesh, sex, religion and despair. His style is reminscent of
Bosch and Breughel, but Marcelo paints with acrylic, which he affirms ‘…like
blood, dries quickly.’ He has exhibited extensively since 1996, most recently
at Owners of the Crossroad:
Aesthetics of Exú and Pomba Gira in Rio de la Plata, Buenos Aires,
2009 and Grito Íntimo: con sexo,
corrupción y juegos, Instituto Cervantes de Tokio, Tokyo, 2010.
John Clowder is an artist working primarily in the collage medium. His history would
be familiar to anyone living in the average suburban town. Luckily, a devious
and unstructured childhood prompted him towards imaginative play, an activity
that brought experiments with artistic creativity. At a receptive age he
chanced upon Max Ernst’s oneiric collage novels and absorbed by their imagery,
sought to replicate their effect. He lives in the American Midwest, but
Surrealism is his chosen means of escape.
Ira Cohen (1935-2011) was an American poet, publisher, photographer and filmmaker. He
travelled widely, most notably to Morocco where he published GNAOUA, a magazine devoted to
exorcism, and later to Kathmandu, where he founded his Bardo Matrix imprint,
issuing limited edition books printed on rice paper. His later years in NYC
consolidated his role as one of the most important voices of American
counter-culture. His contribution was unique and he will be greatly missed.
Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988) was a British Surrealist painter and author. Her membership of the
O.T.O. in the early 1950s presaged involvements with numerous esoteric groups
throughout her life. A move to Cornwall inspired her book The Living Stones: Cornwall (1957), a pioneering study of
Earth-energies, although she is best remembered for her biography of MacGregor
Mathers, The Sword of Wisdom (1975).
T. Thorn Coyle is an internationally respected visionary and
teacher of the magical and esoteric arts. The author of Kissing the Limitless (2009) and Evolutionary Witchcraft(2004), she
is also featured in many anthologies, hosts the Elemental Castings podcast
series, writes a popular weblog, Know Thyself, and
has produced several CDs of sacred music. Pagan, mystic, and activist, she is
founder and head of Solar Cross Temple and Morningstar Mystery School and lives
by the glorious San Francisco Bay.
Jon Crabb is a young art historian and writer who developed a mild obsession with
the Beat writers in his teens, then graduated from the enthusiasm of Kerouac to
the cynicism of Burroughs in his twenties. Having heard that William Burroughs
once declared Brion Gysin ‘the only man I have ever respected,’ he was added to
the personal syllabus and quickly became a chief fascination. His background is
in 20th century art although his current research interests include book
design, illustration and the juncture of word and image. He is also interested
in the fin-de-siècle period, the cross-over between science and art, and the
larger influence of the occult on Western art as a whole.
Peter Dubé is a novelist, short story writer, essayist and cultural critic. He is
the author of the chapbook Vortex Faction Manifesto (2001), the novel Hovering World (2002), At the Bottom of the Sky (2007) a collection of linked short
stories, and most recently, the novella Subtle Bodies: a Fantasia on Voice, History
and René Crevel (2010).
He is also the editor of the anthology Madder Love: Queer Men and The
Precincts of Surrealism (2008).
Robert Fitzgerald is a long-time practitioner of the angelic evocation of John Dee and
Edward Kelley, and is an initiate of Cultus Sabbati, a magical order of
traditional witchcraft in Britain and North America. His written contributions
have appeared in the British journal of folklore The Cauldron.
Edward Gauntlett is lifelong student of magic, and holds an MA in
Literature, Religion and Philosophy. Currently he is working on a study of the
Secret Tradition in late 19th and early 20th century supernatural horror
fiction. He is editor of the Charles Williams Society.
Christopher Greenchild is a composer, musician, poet, writer, artist, designer and philosopher
from Seattle. He is presently preparing the first releases from his archives
and their parallel performance concepts. His music centres around an imaginal
consciousness of memory and mystery that incorporates field recordings and
electronic sound with classical, folk, alternative instrumentations, and vivid
rhapsodic lyrics. He is also at work completing a three-part book series on his
visionary account of dream awareness as a parallel mystical continuum in
humanity and nature. His contribution to this journal was written in the spring
of 2005.
Allan Graubard lives in New York, with previous lives in Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Paris, London, Washington DC, and other places lost to
time and water – turns in the dance that sustains him. Through it all, body to
body, shadow to shadow, he has sought and sometimes found the warm, transparent
breadth of living completely. Recent works include ROMA AMOR (2010), Revolting Women/Woman Bomb-Sade (Theater Row, 42nd Street), and And tell, tulip, the summer (forthcoming). Happily, 2011 also saw
the publication of Invisible Heads: Surrealists in
North America – An Untold Story, which he edited with his friend,
Thom Burns.
Amy Hale is an anthropologist and Chaote whose academic interests are primarily
focused on modern Cornwall and British esoteric culture. She is the co-editor
of New Directions in Celtic
Studies, Inside Merlin’s Cave: A Cornish
Arthurian Reader and Journal of the Academic Study of Magic 5 in addition to over 30 articles
ranging from Druidry to Celtic cultural tourism. She is currently working on a
series of projects and publications concerning the British Surrealist and
occultist Ithell Colquhoun. She lives in San Francisco.
Dan Harms is a librarian and author whose interests include Lovecraft, the Cthulhu
Mythos, grimoires, the history of magic, and rôleplaying games. His books
include The Necronomicon Files (1998, with John Wisdom Gonce III) and The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia (2008). His articles have appeared in Fortean Times, The Journal for the Academic
Study of Magic, The Journal of Scholarly Publishing, Paranoia, Imelod, Le
Bulletin de l’Université de Miskatonic, Worlds of Cthulhu, Cthuloide Welten,
and The Unspeakable Oath.
His work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. He is
currently preparing an annotated edition of The Long-Lost Friend for
publication. He lives in upstate New York with his ball python, Yig. www.danharms.wordpress.com
Desirée Isphording is a 25 year old artist living in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her work
has been featured in the magazines Pentacle and SageWoman, and has
also graced the covers of If…A Journal of Spiritual
Exploration, PaganNet News and Harp, Pipe, and Symphony(2006),
a book by Paul DiFilippo. In addition, she has material included in Gothic Art Now, a compilation of
darkly elegant artwork.
Grevel Lindop lives in Manchester, where he was formerly a Professor of English at the
University and is now a freelance writer. He worked with the late Kathleen
Raine as deputy editor of the journal Temenos and now chairs the academic board of
the Temenos Academy. His edition of Robert Graves’s The White Goddess (1997) is now the standard text. He
has published six collections of poems, most recently Playing With Fire (2006), and Selected Poems (2001). His book exploring music and
dance in Latin America, Travels on the Dance Floor, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of
the Week and was short listed for Authors’ Club Dolman Best Travel Book, 2009.
He is currently working on the first full biography of the poet, novelist,
theologian and occultist Charles Williams. He teaches Buddhist meditation under
the auspices of the Samatha Trust, and has a wide range of esoteric interests. www.grevel.co.uk
Ian MacFadyen is an independent scholar and writer, based in London. He co-edited with
Oliver Harris the book NakedLunch@50: Anniversary
Essays (2009), to which
he contributed six Dossiers. His libretto Point of No Return,
on the life and death of Joan Burroughs, was performed at the University of
London Institute in Paris in 2009 in collaboration with Radio Joy. His essay
‘Machine Dreams: Optical Toys and Mechanical Boys’ was published in the
collection Flickers of the Dreamachine (1996) and his essay ‘Ira Cohen: A
Living Theatre’ appeared in Licking the Skull (2000, republished 2006). He has
written about the work of many writers and artists including Vladimir Nabokov,
Georges Perec, and Yoko Ono. His articles and fictions have appeared in a
number of journals and anthologies, including Shamanic Warriors Now Poets
(2003).
Malgorzata Maj (Sarachmet) was born in 1980 and currently lives in Gliwice, Poland. In 2004 she
graduated from Warmia-Masuria University in Olsztyn with an MA, specializing in
traditional techniques including painting on silk. Since 2005 she has been an
illustrator and photographer who fell in love with 19th century painting
colours and themes, ghostly moods & dreamy visions. In March 2010 she
contributed to the exhibition ‘Phantasms’ at Cabinet des Curieux, Paris,
France.
Misior was born in 1976 in Poland and is a graphic designer, an illustrator and
a surrealist painter. He regards art as a unique tool of cognition, limited
neither by logic, nor the limits of consciousness. By sacralization of
eroticism, he tries to overcome the Western dichotomy of the spiritual and
corporeal nature of man. His artistic style has been influenced by the
Renaissance, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, symbolists such as Gustave Moreau
and Fernand Khnopff, Austin Spare, the surrealism of Max Ernst and Remedios
Varo, the colors of Balthus and Hopper, along with Moebius and Manary’s comic
strips. He also records music under the pseudonym of Kriccagiya.
Alan Moore, writer, anarchist and
magician. Living legend. www.dodgemlogic.com
Shani Oates lives in Derbyshire where she is a devoted practitioner of the true
esoteric art. A mystic and pilgrim, she finds expression through her writing,
visionary sketches, photography and therapeutic holism. Her essays and articles
are included within: Hecate: Her Sacred Fires (2010) and various popular pagan,
folklore and occult publications such asThe Cauldron, Pendragon, The White Dragon,
Pentacle, The Goddess, The Hedge Wytch andThe Wytch’s Standard. Her debut
book, Tubelo’s Green Fire,
was released in 2010 and two more titles are due for release in 2011. She is
current Maid of the people of Goda, of Clan of Tubal Cain. www.clanoftubalcain.org.uk
Edwin Pouncey was born in Leeds in 1951 and now lives in south London. Under the nom
de plume ‘Savage Pencil’ his art has mauled and entertained a generation with a
‘stinking psychedelic cesspit of corpse cluttered comix.’ As a music
journalist, his writings and Trip Or Squeek cartoon strip are featured
regularly in The Wire. He is
currently working on a series of paintings, performances and other artworks
with Chris Long (aka Eyeball) under the moniker Battle Of The Eyes.
Peter Redgrove (1932-2003) was a prolific and widely respected British poet whose contribution
spanned more than 40 years. His interest in mysticism and magic led was further
inspired by a move to Cornwall towards the end of his life. His published work
includes The Black Goddess and the Sixth
Sense (1987) and The Wise Wound(1978), the first
dedicated exploration of the mysteries of menstration, co-written with his second
wife Penelope Shuttle.
Residue was born in 1964 in Halifax. He lives out his magical existance in
Yorkshire. He is not part of any magical lineage, though is influenced by
Kenneth Grant, Austin Spare and philosophical writings of Deleuze. He often dwells
on magical mechanisms, machine.nature combinations, by creating magical si-fi
maps or rituals. He also often makes parodies of ‘awareness zones’ or develop
pastiches of the illusion of seperateness. These manifest through squiggles and
robotic images, fetish voodoo rituals, pods, gadgets and shrines.
Jack Sargeant is the author of numerous books, essays and articles on underground
film, outsider art and the more unusual aspects of culture, his books include Deathtripping: The Extreme Underground (2007) and Naked Lens: Beat Cinema (2009). He has contributed to numerous
collections of essays, most recently From The Arthouse To The Grindhouse (2010) and The End: An Electric Sheep Anthology (2011). His writings have appeared in Fortean Times, FilmInk, Real Time, The Wire and many others. Since 2008 he has
been the program director for the Revelation Perth International Film Festival.
In 2010 he co-curated the Sydney Biennale film program, presenting film and
video works themed around visionary magus Harry Smith, these included works
exploring indigenous Australian spiritual beliefs, outsider art and music, and
culminated in a performance by Noko. www.jacksargeant.blogspot.com
Lauren Simonutti lives in Baltimore. Her images are born entirely from traditional
photographic techniques. Her work is represented in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, NYC and the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC. Since 1998, Lauren has
produced a series of books in very limited editions exploring specific themes
through her photographic work. She has exhibited extensively since 2001, and
her work has been featured in Silvershotz, Catchlight
Magazine, Eyemazing, Descry Magazine, Soura, and La Négatif. In early 2010 she had
a solo exhibition at the Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago, who currently
represent her. www.edelmangallery.com
Mark Titchner was born in Luton in 1973. He graduated from Central Saint Martins
College of Art and Design, London, in 1995. In 2006 he was nominated for the
Turner Prize for a solo show at the Arnolfini, Bristol. In 2007 he was included
in the 52nd Venice Biennale, exhibiting in the Ukraine Pavilion. His work is
held in the permanent collections of the South London Gallery, the United
Kingdom Government Art Collection and the Tate. He is represented by the Vilma
Gold Gallery, London.www.marktitchnerstudio.com
Heather Tracy has been an actor and singer for twenty-seven years, working across a
diverse range of genres and media from unrehearsed Shakespeare to comedy
cabaret. She has had a long association with the Lions part, an eclectic
company of professional performers who collaborate to create seasonal festivals
incorporating stories, playtexts, music and folklore. She is currently forging
a deeper understanding of theatre’s ritual and shamanic legacy through
experiential exploration of paradox, humour, neurological shock and the
emotional interplay between voice, word and flesh. This work also informs her
solitary magical practice and writing. www.heathertracy.co.uk
Arktau Eos is a sentient frame capable of capturing fleeting moments of oneiric
activity, where essential gnosis manifests itself in blazing hieroglyphs… It is
a ghastly and wondrous parade of cryptic images and sounds, which a given
recording is a reflection of, thus becoming a new gateway for the perceptive
listener. Equal parts stellar and serene, subterranean and disturbing, ARKTAU
EOS remains in constant evolution, paying attention only to the cues of the
spirits and maintaining the integrity of the dream-continuum of which our
‘consciousness’ is but a mere drop in the ocean. myspace.com/arktaueos
John Contreras is an American cellist, best known for his work with Current 93 and Baby
Dee. He has also performed with Marc Almond, Fovea Hex and Nurse With Wound. In
addition to the cello, he also performs with the Buchla 200e. His work is
released on the Durtro label. johncontreras.com
Cyclobe are a music duo based in London, formed by Stephen Thrower and Ossian
Brown. They make hallucinatory electronic soundscapes by mixing sampled and
heavily synthesized sounds with acoustic arrangements for strings and woodwind.
Their approach draws upon diverse forms, including acousmatic, drone music,
dark ambient, noise and sound collage. Thrower is also a film journalist and
author of Beyond Terror: The Films of
Lucio Fulci. Ossian Brown worked with Coil from 1999 until the
band’s cessation on the death of John Balance in 2004. cyclobe.com
English Heretic seek ostensibly to maintain, nurture and care for the psychohistorical
environment of England. Availed of the services of some of the country’s very
finest occult archaeologists, astral geographers and mystical toponymists, we
aim to help people decode and realise the alchemical ciphers and conspiratorial
interplay of the buildings and landscapes around them. english-heretic.org.uk
High Mountain Tempel consists of Eric Nielsen (of both Maquiladora and Buzz or Howl) and
Keith Boyd. Eric has played with members of such highly respected avant garde
groups as Acid Mothers Temple, High Rise, White Heaven, Mainliner, Mus, The
Black Heart Procession, etc. Creating dense soundscapes and sonic stories,
their music touches on elements of Krautrock and such musicians as Lustmord,
Harry Partch, Coil and Zombi. Along with these spacier elements, there is a
free-form and hybrid spirituality to this music that is of a particular West
Coast and Pacific variety. highmountaintempel.com
Kallee is a musickal lunar sound project founded in 15.05.10 e.v. Tantrick and
magick transformation for musickal paintings…myspace.com/7kallee
Philip Legard has travelled to various locations throughout Britain to record his
music, letting himself be inspired by the spirit of the surroundings. Phil also
releases most of his own music through his label Larkfall. A new edition of his
esteemed Psychogeographia Ruralis is due for release in 2011. www.larkfall.co.uk
Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule is a prolific visual and sonic artist who finds drawing, painting,
sculpture, theatre, photography, animation, verse, video, violin and voice
effective ways of earthing magickal currents. His recent book Coagula (Fulgur, 2011) is the latest in his
Tela Quadrivium series. crossroads.wild.net.au/156.htm
Noko: Order 41 is Barry Hale, Scott Barnes and Michael Strumm, a performance
collaborative. Re-presenting various lines of esoteric research, NOKO erupt
into the traditional fine arts arena, merging magical ritual work with
contemporary experimental sound and visual forms, producing highly original
assemblages in a live multi-media format. myspace.com/noko2012
Okok Research Bureau are sometimes described as a “transgressional freethinking experiment,”
or “an interdimensional action theatre whose players juggled a curious amalgam
of art and magic.” Mark Reeve and Liam Olan are the movers behind this, and ORB
Editions. okok.org.uk
The Psychogeographical Commission was formed at the start of 2008 to explore the many interfaces between
the built environment and the people who inhabit it through dérive, magick and
sonic experimentation. psychetecture.com
Raagnagrok sound like a free-psych gnosis-musick invoking previous transmissions
from satellite residents Cluster, Heldon, Jan Hammer, Popol Vuh, Tangerine
Dream and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. After over forty live performances in
basements, galleries, bunkers, pubs, theatres and more ordinary music venues
around Europe Raagnagrok plan to release an album in the near future; just
don’t ask whose future… raagnagrok.co.uk
T.A.G.C. are a side project of Clock DVA. Formed in the early 1980s by Adi Newton
(although the idea existed as early as 1978), T.A.G.C. (originally The
Anti-Group) was conceived as an open-membership experimental multimedia
collective, focused on audio, visual, and textual research and production, as
well as performance art and installations. anteriorresearch.com
