A certain part of me really enjoys listening to Patrick Juvet. Swiss born Patrick Juvet was a Paris based musician. Juvet started out working as a model in Düsseldorf, Germany. He moved to Paris in 1970 and began work as a musician.
Patrick Juvet lived in pop success and excess all through the 70’s. His career sprouted and wilted in step with the lifespan of Disco. Lady Night is easily my favorite album cover.

BLACK SUN STARLINGS

During spring in Denmark, at approximately one half an hour before sunset, flocks of more than a million European starlings (sturnus vulgaris) gather from all corners to join in the incredible formations shown above. This phenomenon is called Black Sun (in Denmark), and can be witnessed in early spring throughout the marshlands of western Denmark, from March through to the middle of April. The starlings migrate from the south and spend the day in the meadows gathering food, sleeping in the reeds during the night. More can be seen from Bjarne Winkle found via Athanasius Kircher.

Now.

WONDERFUL RETURNS

A piece of my life that went missing has been returned. I was separated from my Jan Terri videotape 3+ years ago. Thanks to the wonder of this video service, 2.5 of the 6 known videos of Jan Terri have come back in to my life. I consider it a public service to share this gem with you. Especially to all the people in Chicago who know not of the treasure amidst.

Jan Terri - Get Down Goblin

Jan Terri - Baby Blues

Jan Terri - Losing You

RE CURRENT LY

The Witch's Head Nebula: a reflection of the bright star Rigel, found in the constellation Orion, 1000 light years away.

taken by D.E.

DOING WHAT THOU WILT

A.C.


The Altar to the East


These pictures were taken from the Xanadu OTO webpage.


Tonight, at 5:30PM, I had the opportunity to attend the Gnostic Mass as performed by the members of the New York Ordo Tempo Orientalis chapter: Tahuti Lodge. The ritual took place at a secret location in Queens. The mass is one of the central rituals of the OTO, or more specifically the ecclesiastical arm called the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica .
The Gnostic Mass was composed in Moscow in 1913. While it shares a number of elements with a Roman Catholic Mass, (stating a creed, partaking of a host, and rising and kneeling of congregants), the Gnostic Mass is a celebration of the principles of Thelema.
As stated on OTO websites:
“The religion known as Thelema was founded in 1904 by the English poet and mystic Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947). Those who follow the path of Thelema are called Thelemites. Thelema emphasizes individualism and the uniqueness of each person's Will. As a result, it is very difficult to make blanket statements about its nature or (still more so) the natures of its adherents. Even the label "religion" fits Thelema awkwardly in some contexts — it is in other senses a philosophy and a way of life, while also overlapping with the set of practices and symbols commonly called ‘Magick’”.
After signing a release form, and some collective moments of meditative silence, we, the congregants totaling 10, were led into the temple. The temple was beautifully decorated with an elaborate altar to the East and an ankh-covered tomb to the west. The presence of so much incense had a semi hypnotizing effect.
The Deacon began the processions, with the priestess appearing soon after from behind the tomb, and the priest unveiled from the tomb itself. The ceremony was delivered with sincerity and reverence. The complete details of the ceremony are available here. The ritual culminated with the consuming of the Cake of Light and a goblet of wine. After consuming these two elements, one was to declare, “There is no part of me that is not of the Gods.”
As with my Chicago OTO experience, the mass proved inspiring to be amidst a group of souls beckoning the forces of antiquity through ceremony. So many paths.

The PRIEST:
The LORD bless you.
The LORD enlighten your minds and comfort your hearts and sustain your bodies.
The LORD bring you to the accomplishment of your true Wills, the Great Work, the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.
He goes out, the DEACON and children following, into the Tomb of the West.
Music.

MORE I AM

Cave of Symbols



As mentioned before, while in Chicago I visited the I AM temple. While I talked with Maria in the bookstore, I was overwhelmed by the amount of wonderful images attributed to this sect. Despite the similarity in style and technique, the images had been created by different artists. One image, the Cave of Symbols, has refused to leave the forefront of my imagination. When I asked what the image was, Maria told me it was the Cave of Symbols and that I had probably been there before. I asked when I had been there. She replied “In dreams, while you’ve slept”. I’d like to recommend a section on the I AM site which contains a large number of their images and icons.

ARCHETYPES

Aphrodite's Child - I WANT TO LIVE

SOME FAVORITES TO SHARE

Something Weird Video is an invaluable archive of very nearly lost treasures. Something Weird started in 1990 by Mike Vraney as an outlet for his vast collection of exploitation films and nudie loops. Something Weird puts out DVD’s that are usually double features that come with a slew of extras. Most of these extras are trailers from films you’ve never heard of. Something Weird covers a extensive range of films that are a portal into other obscured eras. My favorite films are the drug and occult films. Two notable dics I’ve watched are the double features of Satanis: The Devil’s Mass with Sinthia: The Devils Doll and Asylum of Satan with Satan’s Children.
Satanis: The Devil’s Mass covers the Church of Satan at their inception as well as height of popularity (the same period). There are candid interviews with Anton Lavey, his family, participants, and his older neighbors who are often at odds with him. Satanis also features footage of ceremonies and psycho dramas. Watching this footage somewhat diminishes the claws of hype from the Church and Lavey. The collective rituals and gatherings come off as intellectual theatre. The look of the film is very similar to other horror films of the time: lots of saturated shots obtained by green and red gels.
Satan’s Children (shot entirely in Tampa, Florida!) was one of the more bizarre films I’ve ever seen. The oddest component of the film being is it’s ambiguous stance on sexuality. From The liner notes:”Attacked by homosexual thugs who discard him by the side of a road, teenage runaway Bobby Douglas is given shelter by a friendly cult of Satanists. But Bobby’s presence - and his questionable sexuality - leads to conflicts within the cult, especially after a lesbian member is damned to Hell. (Obviously, they’re a very conservative bunch of devil worshippers.) But Bobby proves to be one sick puppy which he demonstrates in ways that would even make the Devil smile... Hilarious, homophobic, and just plain insane, SATAN’S CHILDREN is the kind of twisted Southern sleaze that makes one think Lucifer himself was personally involved”.

But my all time favorite films distributed by Something Weird are those of K. Gordon Murray. From the web site:
K. Gordon Murray was a Florida-based producer and distributor of low-budget motion pictures. From the late 1950's through the mid 1970's, Murray released at least 66 films, which can be broken down into three categories:
1. Murray imported, redubbed and released some 30 horror films from Mexico.
2.Murray released over 20 fairy tale films to a "Weekends Only" matinee audience, virtually creating the highly lucrative "Kiddie Matinee" marketing niche. These films were either redubbed imports, rereleases of older films, or original productions.
3. Murray released about a dozen exploitation films, risque adult dramas designed both for drive-ins and adults-only grindhouses. These included imported foreign films and original productions.
I’ve only seen a few of the Mexican horror films and none of the risqué adult drams. The real treasures lie in the Children’s films or The Kiddee Matinee films. Some of the films, like Puss in Boots, seem like a European version of a
Krofft Brothers episode. The real standout of the Murray films is Santa Claus. Produced, directed, and narrated by Murray, the film is a struggle between a devil named Pitch (dispatched by The Devil) and Santa. Santa Claus is often characterized and is Murray’s crowning achievment. Many of Santa’s magical powers come through the aid of the Wizard Merlin. A wonderful, extensive essay on the film is located HERE, but I’d recommend seeing it first.

ROBIN AND FRANK GEORGE HAINES
1962
(picture likely taken by Delores Marie Haines)

ELIPHAS LEVI PART I

ELIPHAS LEVI AND ROSALIND KRAUSS HELP LEAD MY BRAIN TO THE GRID.
IN THE INTRODUCTION TO HIS BOOK
TRANSCENDENTAL MAGIC LEVI STATES:
"Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or marvelous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practiced at reception by all secret societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed. Occult philosophy seems to have been the nurse or god-mother of all intellectual forces, the key of all divine obscurities and the absolute queen of society in those ages when it was reserved exclusively for the education of priests and of kings."

MAY I ALSO RECOMMEND

Eliphas Levi : Master of Occultism
by Thomas A. Williams

A WONDERFUL INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY

AGNES MARTIN

ATHANASIUS KIRCHER - 17th CENTURY GERMAN JESUIT SCHOLAR

MAY I PLEASE RECOMMEND
The Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society

FRANK JAY HAYNES

American, 1853-1921
A member of the second generation of photographers of western American landscape and railroads, Frank Jay Haynes is often grouped with those who came to the West much earlier. Stylistically and technically, however, as well as in terms of his approach to his subject, he is closer in outlook to the 20th century than to the 19th.
Born in Saline, Michigan, Haynes worked in 1874 in Ann Arbor and Wisconsin, and in 1875 at the "Temple of Photography" of a "Dr." William Lockwood. He opened his own studio the following year in Moorehead, Minnesota, and another in 1879 in Fargo, Dakota Territory. In 1876 he was appointed official photographer of the Northern Pacific Railroad, a position he held for 30 years. Beginning in the early 1880s, Haynes worked in Yellowstone National Park, where after 1884 he was its official, though self-employed, photographer. A 8,235-foot mountain peak in the park was named as a memorial for him after his death.
In 1891 the Puget Sound & Alaska Steamship Co. commissioned Haynes to photograph the sea journey from Tacoma, Washington, to Glacier Bay, Alaska. From 1885-1905 his mobile Haynes' Palace Studio Car operated along the various lines of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He later moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he established another studio. Haynes retired in 1916; his son, also a photographer, eventually continued the family business. T.W.F.
I didn't come up with any of the previous words.

PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

TIMES WITH BILL AND JERRY

ALCHEMY