CoSM Journal, Volume #5: Ritual & Mystery Schools

8/16/2019 CoSM Journal, Volume #5: Ritual & Mystery Schools

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Andrew Jones, Of Her, 2006, digitalandroidjones.com

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/androidjones.comhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/androidjones.com


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CoSM Journal V contents:1-6 Chartres Cathedral: Jim Garrison & Zachariah Gregory

7-12 Human Anatomical Dissection: A,A & Z Grey13-16 Electric Sheep:Spot Dravesv

17-18 Illuminated landscapes: Peter Terezakis19-26 Egyptian Mysteries: Nicki Scully & Starwolf

27-32 Burning Man:Daniel Pinchbeck & A. Leo Nash

34-38 Bartering with the Gods: Alex Stark

39-41 Letter to a Student: Jason Louv42-44Damanhur Esperide Ananas 45-49Ritual theater:

Eve Bradford5o-54 The Prayformace of S.K.Thoth55Personal Ritual

Denny Daikeler56The art of L. Caruana

57-58 Blair Blake

59-62 Confessions of a Live Painter Andrew Jones

63-64 Crystal and Spore66 -68 Eggs on End: Donna Henes

86-90Set and Setting: Kevin Sachs

69-72 The Thoth Tarot: Aleister Crowley & Lady Freida Harr is

73 - 74Of Thee I Sing: Brett Bevel

75-76Sukaya: Wear your prayers77-80 CoSM Fire

81-85 Liminal Village 2006:Naasko Wripple

91-94Intergalactic Accelerators: Bryan DeFlores

95-98 The art of Ann McCoy


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New Chartres School

We are convening the New Chartres School andinviting the larger wisdom community to participatebecause we believe there is a need for people of goodwill to come together and engage in an initiationprocess drawing for its inspiration on a wisdom

school that was established in times verysimilar to our own and which can

therefore inform us in address-ing our challenges today. As

Bernard of Chartres said,“We are dwarfs carried onthe shoulders of giants.”

It is humbling to know,for instance, that whatwe consider our modernnotion of “Liberal Arts”was a term actually usedby the founders of theChartres School a thou-sand years ago. In a timeof crisis in education theworld over, it is salutary

to look back and revisit theoriginal meanings and inten-

tions of such a term. We alsodiscuss “world citizenship” as

if that is something that per-tains only to our modern world.

Yet the founders of the ChartresSchool saw world citizenship as

the goal of their Liberal Arts curric-ulum. For them, true education was

based on understanding the myster-ies of personal and social transforma-

tion, expressed through the subtleties ofalchemy, music and sacred art.

Because one of the principle aims of that originalSchool was to cultivate world citizenship, our New

Chartres School will place a special emphasis on the wisdom aspect of aspecific tradition, beginning with Sufism (2006), Kabalism (2007), Christian medieval mysticism (2008), Vedic mysticism (2009), Shamanism (2010),Tibetan Buddhist mysticism (2011) and integral mysticism (2012).

The Chartres School was dedicated to birthing the divine human through ado-ration of the divine feminine. This belief was memorialized in stone and glass

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by Jim Garrison

Wisdom University is pleased to announcethe establishment of the New ChartresSchool, building upon and reinterpreting the

mystery school that flourished in Chartres,France a thousand years ago and out ofwhich the great Chartres Cathedral,called the “Mother Cathedral,” wasbuilt. The School is intended as agathering point for the larger wisdomcommunity and as a symbolic way ofboth expressing the essence of whatthe university represents and thefuture direction to which the univer-sity is committed.Chartres has beena focal point for the mysteries ofhealing and birth as well as a centerwhere the divine feminine has beenreverenced since the Druids firstconsecrated the site over 3,000 years ago. By the time ofFulbertus and his School twothousand years later, Chartreswas a recognized locus ofpowerful healing, artistic andcreative energies, and the ado-

ration of the feminine. TheCathedral that was erectedby the School stands unsur-passed in its beauty andgrace. It is the Taj Mahalof the West, dedicated asthe Taj Mahal was, toadoration of the feminine.The great mythologistJoseph Campbell calledChartres the “womb ofthe world.”


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in the sweeping Gothic architecture of the Cathedral, which they viewed as aform of sacred writing. No one has ever been buried

in the Cathedral. It is completely dedicatedto the theme of birthing and renewal.

Over 400 images of the feminine graceits walls and stained glass windows,almost all in some act of birthing.

The Seven Liberal Arts devel-oped by Fulbertus and the originalChartres School were comprisedof a theme of basic instruction,a guiding planet, and a histor-ical personage who represent-ed that particular stage of learn-

ing. What Wisdom Universityhas developed is seven intensives

which are based on the seven liberalarts but which are adapted to the chal-lenges of the twenty first century. What will be

different are the themes, the participants, the books, the sites. Whatremains the same is the commitment to learning through aninitiatory engagement with the mysteries of transformation.

We envision a similar sevenstage initiatory processreworked as Seven Intensives.They will be based on theSeven Liberal Arts but reinter-preted in our modern context.Each Intensive will consist ofseven days of instruction andlearning. Our New Schoolwas inaugurated in ChartresJuly 2-7, 2006 with a panoplyof teachers, including Alexand Allyson Grey who teachthrough Wisdom Universityand are part of the core facultyin Chartres.

An historian, author and foreign policy organizer, Jim Garrison received a Master Degree inworld religions from Harvard Divinity School, and a PhD in Philosophical Theology fromCambridge University. Garrison became President of Wisdom University in 2005 afterserving as President of the State of the World Forum which he founded in partnership withPresident Mikhail Gorbachev and Senator Alan Cranston. Organizations founded anddirected by Garrison include the Radiation and Health Information Service, the ChristicInstitute, Esalen Institute’s Soviet-American Exchange Program, the International ForeignPolicy Institute, and the Gorbachev Foundation/USA . www.wisdomuniversity.org

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http://www.wisdomuniversity.org/http://www.wisdomuniversity.org/


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Chartres CathedralDrawings and poetry by Zachariah Gregory

Spiritual experience of a lifetime.Surrounded by Spirits, tall and swift,Brought instantaneous, uncontrollable weeping, A subtle and causal energy baptism, A bath of love and ecstasy.Voices whispered, “You are here. You created this.” A woman, clear and direct, asked,“Are you ready to walk the labyrinth?”Fearing the power of transformation.Certain that it meant nothing,

My first foot set on the pattern of stone. A choir of thirty angels erupted through.Stripped of pain and blockage.Sacraments would become my nourishment,Energy directed toward art And the Glory of the Great God.Supreme grace, recognizing my historywith the Cathedral,Offered dispensation, absolution, exceptions,Permission from the Divine Feminine,To view, draw, photograph, and experiencewith respect. All evening sketching buttresses.Climbing high on the scaffold,Eye level with the center of the moon tower, As far back as the cross of the cross,High enough to watch the Sun God set As he has for 1000 years plus.

Breaking bread,Saying prayers for health, continuingprosperity and visionFor loved ones andThe Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.The Cathedral crawled with tessellatingspotted vesicas,Fusing me with psychedelic colored sculptureIn meditation and shamanic practice,Releasing mysterious sounds.The Heavens shimmered And the moon flew through the sky,Opening to the Truth of God.

Zachariah Gregory is a New York based artist born inCalifornia. A painter and premier tattoo artist, Zachariahis an artist assistant to Alex Grey and staff member ofthe Chapel of Sacred Mirrors. PerceptionRising.com


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Dissecting table as Meditation cushion. The act of disassembling ahuman body can have psychic repercussions that benefit from a spiritualperspective. While carving away a human skin pelt and many pounds ofconnective and fatty tissue, I would think that I am cutting away myattachment to my body, or I am performing an outer Chod practice in a modern charnal ground – getting your mind to leave your body and cuttingaway the skull cap, hacking up and brewing one’s own body parts to serve theBuddha, the deities, demons and dakinis. No. I’m an artist obsessed withanatomy. Allyson and I joined Zena, our daughter, on her return visit to GilHedley’s “Human Anatomical Dissection” class, a 6-day course that takes

the participant through the psychic layers of dis-sociation around Death and to the Core

of Wonders that is human anatomy.We cut, meditated, and drew.

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- Allyson Grey

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When we see any other being we “model” them, we “mirror” them and see how werelate to them – how I relate to you. There are not many people that you skin witha scalpel. There are not many people from whose body cavities you scoop the intes-tinal bouquet into the air. It is a rarified privilege, a holy unfolding, unpacking andundoing, an unraveling of the biggest mystery school and most amazing architectureI’ve ever visited. The human body of the donor, I don’t know his name, but I

drew his body in many stages of undoing and my identityunraveled in the process. - Alex Grey

The skin peeled off the scalpel like the rind of an orange. The white of the orange isthe superficial fascia that blankets the form entirely. The superficial fascia is oogly,runny, smelly, slimy, globular, yellow, red, green, would make excellent fuel. Theeyeball did not “pop” out by any means. It had to be carved out. Inside the eyeballis a small white disc and gray, sticky goo. Teasing out the muscles of the hand andaround every finger laid bare strong, white fibers clinging tightly to the bone.

Deep psychotherapy and inter-reflec-tion. Like walking a labyrinth, oneselfis revealed to oneself. Every dissection-ist is a leader, a negotiator, a strate-gist. Interpersonal skills are challenged.Practicing non-attachment, revealingego, judgement, and self revelation.

A family retreat shared with twenty-twoother somanauts, journeying through anintense six-day mystery school. Ourcommunity for the duration experiencedthis teaching together and were deep-ened. Tenderest of all is the memory ofthis sacred week spent with Alex andZena. How lucky to have two suchpowerful people to share pilgrimage.


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Maybe the reason I’m so reticent todocument verbally any part of myexperience is because I feel that aninteraction with something so divinelyhonest is beyond words, or mine at least.Through six days, I was constantly beingpulled between a feeling of innate small-ness by being but a minuscule part of such acomplex unfathomable force, and this othersense of almost godliness to be able toentirely excavate and unravel an object in it’s

most honest state. But overall the sense ofdiminutiveness overrides because you see howlittle one can actually ever know about anotherhuman being without physically inhabiting that

person. In the end, I walk away with a feelingof universal unknowing, and I find comfort in

that. You think about all the ubiquitousquestions the average human must askhimself: “why am I here?”, “why do wedie/why are we born?”, et cetera. Whenwe ask ourselves these questions wealmost inherently know we will neverfind the answers to them, yet wepersist until the day we die. Bydissecting a cadaver[s], I find myselfcloser to a feeling of wondermentfor everything. And a feeling ofcloseness to every thing around mebecause of that same universal

cluelessness we all share.

Eyeball by Allyson Grey

Eyeball by Alex Grey

Eyeball by Zena Grey - Zena Grey

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For more information about thedissection workshops of Gil Hedley, Ph.D., go to

somanautics.com & integralanatomy.com

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/somanautics.com%20%C2%ADhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/integralanatomy.comhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/integralanatomy.comhttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/somanautics.com%20%C2%AD


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Electric Sheep: Spot Draves

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Electric Sheep is a free, open source screen saver run by thousands of people all overthe world. It can be installed on any ordinary PC or Mac. When these computers“sleep,” the screen saver comes on and the computers communicate with each otherby the internet to share the work of creating morphing abstract animations known as“sheep.” The result is a collective “android dream,” an homage to Philip K. Dick’snovels Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

Anyone watching one of these computers may vote for their favorite animationsusing the keyboard. The more popular sheep live longer and reproduce accordingto a genetic algorithm with mutation and cross-over. Hence the flock evolvesto please its global audience. You can also design your own sheep and submit themto the gene pool.

Electric Sheep realizes the collective dream of sleeping computers from all over theinternet. It’s a distributed screen-saver that harnesses idle computers into a renderfarm with the purpose of animating and evolving artificial life-forms. All the softwareis open source and users may participate in the network freely and anonymously. Anyone can download and install it. When their computer is idle and goes to sleep,the sheep animations appear, and in parallel the computer goes to work creating newsheep and sharing its results with all other users.

Each sheep is about 4 seconds long. Its shape, motion, and color are specified by agenetic code, a long string of numbers. If a user sees a sheep they like, they may pressthe up arrow key to vote for it. Sheep that receive more votes live longer and are morelikely to reproduce. These votes form a fitness function for the aesthetic evolution ofthe flock. Users can also download software to manually design genomes and postthem to the server where they join the flock.

I believe the free flow of code is an increasingly important social and artistic force.The proliferation of powerful computers with high-bandwidth network connectionsforms the substrate of an expanding universe. The electric sheep, and we theirshepherds, are colonizing this new frontier.

-Spot

Scott Draves a.k.a. Spot is a video and software artistresiding in New York City and San Francisco. He is thecreator of the Fractal Flame algorithm, the Bomb visual-musicalinstrument, and the Electric Sheep distributed screen-saver. All ofDraves’ software artworks are released as open source and distrib-uted free on the internet. His award-winning work has appeared inWired Magazine, the Prix Ars Electronica, the O’Reilly EmergingTechnology Conference, and on the dance-floor at the Sonar festivalin Barcelona. He projects live video for underground parties andat clubs, and self-publishes SPOTWORKS, a DVD of abstractanimation synchronized with electronic music. His current project isDreams in High Fidelity, a painting that evolves, and is installed inthe lobby of Google’s headquarters.

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Since their 1996 genesis in Pennsylvania’s countryside, Peter Terezakis has set his eve-ning-length kinetic light installations in remarkable vistas across Europe, the UnitedStates, and Mexico. After moving to San Diego in 2001, he has made these monthlylight installations coincident with CoSM’s Full Moon events as a way to maintainrapport with friends far away, while exploring the extents of a developing a ritualpractice that has become his means of spiritual engagement.

Whether experienced in Vlad the Impaler’s Romanian castle, on the heady playa atBurning Man, or at the abandoned landscape of the Salton Sea, the shifting volumesof light alter perception of physical space and evoke a sense of movement beneath thevault of heaven.Evocative images and videos from the work can be viewed atterezakis.com.

Peter Terezakis – Illuminated landscapes

http://terezakis.com/http://terezakis.com/


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An abbreviated excerpt from Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt

Considerthe possibilitythat we on planet Earthare part of a dream, anexperiment in consciousnessthat was seeded on this planeteons ago. We are all subjectto the natural cycles of life,and the consequences of ourchoices. Currently, we haveentered adolescence replete with aseemingly hormonal lust to becomeadult gods before we have the spir-itual maturity and skill to take fullresponsibility for our actions and thetechnological advancements that threatenour extinction. We’re like teenagers playingchicken with the family car. The resultsare and can be devastating. As we takestock of our collective situation, we realizethat nothing short of a quantum leap inconsciousness and awareness will be suf-ficient to turn this run-away car around.

In the Age that we are entering,every person must regain his or hersovereignty, and in so doing becomeas a Pharaoh. The days of charismaticleaders and saviors are over; no one isgoing to rescue us from the mess wehave created. Each of us must step upto the plate and re-member ourselves,and our sacred purpose for being hereon the planet, now.

p.20p.19photo by Eli Morgan. Egypt 1995


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In Old Kingdom Egypt, the pharaoh held the powerfor the entire empire. He was initiated into the highestlevels of a sophisticated shamanic/mystical traditionthat placed him on equal footing with the gods. In order tosustain his vigor and power he had to periodically renewhis connection with the neteru, the gods who are the spiri-tual source of vitality and wisdom. Details of the rites of therenewal of the King can be found in texts carved into interior pyr-amid walls, such as those within the Pyramid of Unas at Sakkara.They describe in great detail the Sed Festival and accompanyingrites for the jubilee that was celebrated each 30 years of the pha-raoh’s reign (although these rites were usually practiced more fre-quently). Undergoing rigorous initiations and rituals, the pharaohentered other dimensions of spirit in order to refresh his connectionsto source in communion with the gods. Through these rites he alsorenewed his body, including all the organs, and especially the heart.

Many of the venerable traditional spiritual paths of variouscultures on our planet take years to learn, are restricted, andare inaccessible to most people. Others ceased to grow andatrophied as a result of rigid fundamentalism. New mysteryschools are surfacing to assist us in our modern world. In orderfor us to perpetuate our existence and quality of life, we mayneed to adapt in order to survive in the poisoned world we havecreated. Evolution is a slow process, and we simply don’t havetime. New iterations of shamanic initiations such as those givento pharaohs of old may provide the boost that we require.

Ancient Egyptian adepts left maps for us, some written on papyriand some carved in stone and intended to defy time. Some are hidden,waiting for their perfect time of discovery like termas in the Tibetantradition, treasures that contain enigmatic teachings that, withappropriate interpretation and guidance, can help us restore our selvesand our world. If we can read them with the eyes of the heart, we may beable to find our way.

Anubis is the ‘Opener of the Way,’ the psychopomp who is known to be theshaman priest who presides over the rites of the renewal of the heart. In thefollowing abbreviated excerpt from my new book co-authored with Linda StarWolf, Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, Awakening the Healing Power of the Heart, Anubis gives us a glimpse of the possibilities of modern iterations of ancient rites.I have merged two chapters here, and edited them to provide a “stand-alone”experience of Anubis and his father, Osiris.

Abbreviated and merged excerpt from Chapter 12, Anubis, and Chapter 13, Osiris:

Anubis, the heart/mind priest who presides over these shamanic mysteriesof ancient Egypt teaches is to perceive love, life, and death from a new

perspective, and walk between the worlds of life and death. . . . Life islight condensed into thick, dense form, with the molecules pulled in close

and tight. Death is the vast space in between the molecules. Both areillusions once you fully comprehend their nature and the ease with

which we can move from one to the other and back.

The image of Anubis appears turned upside down like the image ofthe Hanged Man in the Tarot, conveying the message of chang-ing your point of view. In helping us to see things from a differentperspective, Anubis teaches us compassion for our own journeysas embodied humans. He lures us into death, and lovinglypresents us to his father, Osiris. He introduces us to thepromise of what will come when we die, and the knowledge thatthere is a renewal/resurrection. The Osiris mysteries are at the forefront of the search forcomprehension of the questions that compel us to grow andevolve. His is everyone’s story, and in Egypt it was the goal of

every person to become and awaken as Osiris. It is by our inevita-ble journey through the dark mysteries of the time of the missing

sun, the dark hours of the night and the unknown, that we arere-membered and are conjoined once again with the neter-

world of consciousness and divinity.

We hold the seeds for the future world. It is in ourdeath, in our willingness to surrender our old

form that we give birth to future generations.It is out of our demise—our death and

disappointments—that we get the choiceto either awaken or stay asleep. Death is

a temporary immersion into a divine,blissful energy state, not a boring,

blissful place of eternal harps.The heaven or nirvana one

seeks is not a sacred place,rather it is a sacred intel-

ligence, in which we areform, or formless.

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Journey with Anubis and Osiris Prepare sacred space. Ground and center. Find andkindle your heart flame with love . . . Breathe the heartbreath, inhaling simultaneously from Earth and Sky, feeding your heart flame and exhaling radiant light out into the world.. . . In the light of your heart flame, you find yourself in Egypt, atthe edge of the Nile. . . .

On the shore there is a large tree with twisting branches. One branchis leaning out over the Nile, and from it, Anubis is hanging upside downwith his head only a foot above the water, in deep meditation. He lookslike a mummy with a golden rope around both his feet. His arms are crossedover his chest. As you come to this place you are struck by this image; it’s asif he is in the womb, or incubating somehow, or as if he is a great yogi in deep meditation awaiting the answer to some important mystery.

As if in response to his receptivity, the Nile says, “I am the reflection of theMilky Way. I am the mirror of galact ic center. Just as all the cosmic material isswirling in the Milky Way and you reside there as your star self. Here, beneath

my surface, are all of the primal elements that are needed to become human.This is where human beings were born, in my waters. I am the reflection.

I am the Duat. Some know me as the Underworld, but the truth is,I am the inner world, for you were born within my arms, within

my body. You become part of me as you walk to the shorelinenow, ready to offer Anubis your intention to learn what

he has to teach you about surrender. . . .”S i tfacing theriver and pon-der Anubis, andthe concept of sur-render he is so eloquent-ly expressing to you. Takeas long as you need to fathomwhat it might be like to faceletting go in this way. . . . [Longpause.] Suddenly the goldenchord turns into a golden snake.It uncurls itself from around Anubis’s holy feet. He is Jesus.He is Kuan Yin. He is you, we.He is every god/goddess that hasbecome human. When the snakehas loosened its hold, Anubisdrops sleekly into the water. Hedoesn’t even make a splash as hedisappears from view. . . .

At this moment you must

trust in that which you cannot see.Go to your mind’s eye and ask yourself the question,

“Can I trust in that which I know but do not see?” Sit with this koanby the river’s edge and meditate upon it to see what comes. . . . [Pause.]

After sitting in this reflective place of the heart/mind, take a deep breath. Put yourfeet in the water. Know that you, too, are entering more deeply into the sacredness ofbecoming fully human. . . . [Pause. . . )

Imagine yourself now as Anubis, hanging from the tamarisk tree over the watersof the Nile. . . .Take the time to feel yourself enter absolute peace of mind andstillness— a tranquil state of full surrender. You hang there as the sun rises andsets, as the winds blow, as the rain falls, as the moon goes through its phases. In thedimension of the neter-world, this will take as long as it takes. (Long pause. . .) As Anubis, you take the plunge into the Underworld to meet Osiris and your death.Surrender yourself completely. . . . Let yourself fall into the deep waters. . . . Let yourself die to all that has been. . . . [Long pause.]

Within the absolute peace of your experience, eventually you will become reorientedand will notice that there is a cave beneath the waters under the earth. Its entranceis the portal through which you pass in order to join Osiris in the depths of the Duat(the tomb/womb). . . . When you enter the cave beneath the waters, you see him,looking at you with his bright blue compassionate eyes as he embraces you brieflyand you let go into his watery arms. . . . [Pause.] Magically, you feel yourself beinglifted back to the surface and gently returned to your position upon the welcomingearth beside the water. Lie down beside the river and put your ear against the earthwith your eyes closed. You may feel a strong sense of longing as you listen forOsiris. Listen. . . . His message is stirring beneath the earth. Allow it to come into your being as it stirs you and stirs your heart. . . . [Pause.] Feel the transmutation asthe seeds of the future that have been gestating inside your heart nowbegin to sprout. . . .

“I vision quested in this cave overnight in order to receive initiations that are in the ShamanicMysteries of Egypt. I believe it is a shaman’s cave used by the ancient people whose hand-

prints are found on its walls. Tools found nearby are 6500 to 7000 years old in what was then averdant region with lions and antelopes. It is now a remote, roadless desert in western Egypt.”

-NS


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Shamanic Journeys offers travel services and work to build healingand spiritual communities throughout the world. Nicki Scully isthe primary guide to an extra-ordinary world of spiritual tours,both to sacred power sites and within the inner planes. Nicki alsooffers seminars on the Egyptian Mysteries, Alchemical Healing, metaphysics, and related healing arts designed to achieve plane-tary healing through personal transformation. Nicki’s new book,Shamanic Mysteries of Egypt, Awakening the Healing Powerof the Heart is co-authored with Linda Star Wolf. This freshinterpretation of the ancient Egyptian mysteries unites the heartand mind to help us remember our true nature as divine humanswith sacred purpose. It guides readers through shamanic portalsof death, rebirth, and illumination and gives us powerful tools fortransformation. There are rituals, meditations, and rites of pas-sage to help us meet our personal and planetary challenges with more grace, wisdom, and love. This is a book to be experienced aswell as read. www.shamanicjourneys.com

Linda Star Wolf is the founding Director of Venus RisingInstitute for Shamanic Healing Arts and Creator of theShamanic Breathwork™ Process. Star Wolf has facilitatedgroups and served as a guide to individuals moving through thefull spectrum of spiritual initiations, including addiction, men-

tal illness, shamanic life changes and spiritual transformation.shamanicbreathwork.org

Perceive the seedlings as they send down their tiny roots. . . .The roots spread down through your heart, down through yourbody and through your legs and feet. . . . They spread out through

your arms and your hands. . . . They come out of your fingertipsand your toes and reach deep down into the earth so that theycontinue to be nurtured from this rich Underworld energy. . .Simultaneously feel the tiny sprouts emerging from your heart asif they were a bouquet of flowers planted upon the earth of yourbeing, like the lotus that grows from the mud and the waters, ora rose bush climbing. . . . You can see all of the wildflowers in the mountains growing and generating out from your heart, and fromall across the top of your body, and spreading onto the land. . . .There are water lilies and lotuses blooming over the water, andall the plants that grow around the marshlands and the wetlands.. . Forests spring up from the mountains, and flowers fill thevalleys. . . . Fruit trees bloom. . . . Butterflies and hummingbirds,the bees, and all the birds emerge. . . . The great cornucopia of lifein its myriad of forms springs forth as the insatiable urge towardlife responds. . . . Nothing can hold it back.

Continue to contemplate these images of renewal andawakening. [Long pause.]

When you are ready and the feeling of completion is upon you,slowly open your eyes and see the beauty that surrounds you.Ground and center. Express your gratitude to Osiris and Anubisfor these teachings. With a deep inner knowing, continue to con-template the mysteries of transmutation from death to life andrebirth. . . . Take some time to journal before you return to yourdaily activities.

Book illustrations by Kris Waldherr p.26p.25

http://shamanicbreathwork.org/http://shamanicbreathwork.org/


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p.28p.27

W hen I recall my visits to Burning Man, my mind fills with arcinglasers and multicolored blinking lights, hallucinatory sunrises, hordes of costumedrevelers dancing in the dust, and the enormous bonfires that consume the hand-builtsculptures and structures at the end of the week. Burning Man is over-stimula-tion and cacophonous saturation, where the rhythm of your pulse syncs with theelectronic beats that pound 24/7, and sleep is an enemy to be conquered. Who canbear to sleep when so much is happening at every moment, and the promise of so much more is forever held out? At the very instant that you finally lay your wearyhead down to rest, you can guarantee that somewhere on the Playa a Felliniesque marching band is leading a parade of anarchic booty-shakers into the void, the nextgreat D.J. is spinning her first legendary set from a booth designed to evoke thefishtail curves of an alien spacecraft, an occult ritual is honoring Isis or Baphometwith opulent sincerity and evocative gestures, a Tesla coil is firing lightning boltsat the stars, while a gorgeously tattooed and wickedly grinning couple display theirpole-dancing prowess, and an absinthe bar is just opening its doors. Burning Man gives Attention Deficit Disorder a good name. And yet,along with its madcap circus swirls and dazzling displays of human invention, thereare other layers and dimensions to the Burning Man experience – moments whenthe vast silence of the Black Rock Desert (a prehistoric dry lake bed with no naturalplant or animal life) and its majestic harshness sweep over you; moments of Zenlikestillness and existential purity; moments when there is nothing but you and thedust. Every year, some of my best times are my quietest ones – bicycling past somespindly sculptural artifact designed to jangle softly as the wind blows through it, orpassing a sleeping couple in fuzzy rave clothes, tangled together on a sofa left at theperiphery fence, facing a vast expanse of emptiness. Revealing that unexpected underside of Black Rock City, A. Leo Nash’sphotographs use the subtle tones of black and white to capture the silence andstillness that hides within the noise. They also isolate elements of a new for- mal vocabulary – jagged, raggedy, Krazy Kat meets Mad Max in apost-Duchamp Pepperland – that has emerged from fifteen yearsof experiment in the Nevada wasteland. This aesthetic col-lages natural forms with fragments of the old industrialculture, welded and repurposed into sinuous and scaledexpressions of what the psychedelic philosopherTerence McKenna liked to call “the ArchaicRevival,” the melding of our post-moderntechno-culture with ancient myth andtribal ceremony.

Burning Man: Art in the Desert

Introduction by Daniel Pinchbeck photos by A. Leo Nash

excerpted from Burning Man: Art in the Desert by A. Leo Nash


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In an age when handicra has been exiled to the margins, Burning Manrevives something akin to the lost craft traditions and guilds of the Middle Ages– its art collectives, dreadlocked welders, sculptors, and technical experts haveapprenticed themselves in the use of fire, steel, plastic, concrete, EL wire, electricity,and wind to create extraordinary spectacles. These artisans return year after year

to hone their skills and push the envelope a little further. As a repeat visitor, it is aprivilege to witness the evolution of groups like the Flaming Lotus Girls. A women’sart collective, they upstage their own creations annually, from vertical flamethrowersto crashed steel phoenixes, to 2005’s giant serpent coiled around its egg, breathing fireand swiveling its endearingly menacing head via hydraulics. The photographs collected in Burning Man: Art In the Desert wed theaesthetic of Bernd and Hilla Becher, the German photographer couple who found anaccidental aesthetic wonderland of theme and variation in rusted water towers andother relics of industrial consciousness that reveal a peculiar and startling poignan-cy when isolated from the surrounding landscape, to the imagination of Dr. Seuss,spewing ever-new creative possibilities. In Nash’s images, one also catches wispsof Robert Frank, whose secretive portraits of lyrical desolation revealed the cruelillusion of the American Dream. Nash has taken a minimalist approach to a maximalist event, isolating a tonal poetry of sculptural forms in a vast, openlandscape. His book is a loving tribute to the art of Burning Man, the central focus ofthe festival, though the deliciously hedonistic decadence often gets more ink. There are subcategories of images in Nash’s work, such as those thatfocus on vehicles, from mobile piano bars to transmuted bicycles and rocket cars, toineffable creations such as the one built by Michael Christian, memorialized

in Nebulous Entity (1998). As Carl Jung has discussed, the vehicles that carrydreamers through their dreams indicate the different levels of velocity and self-confidence with which they traverse the collective unconscious. The “art cars”constructed for Burning Man open new realms of possibility for future dreamers.

Christian’s tentacled, semi-reptilian Entity appears in Nash’s image ready to rovetoward new vistas of imaginative crossover. What Burning Man calls for, above all, is openness to transformationand wonder. My first visit to the festival permanently changed my idea of art, aswell as expanding my belief in human possibility. Although I had written aboutcontemporary art for years, I felt distanced from it, uneasily following theincreasingly academic extension of movements such as pop and conceptual art thathad once seemed radical and subversive. Burning Man gave me a wider context forconsidering creativity – in a sense, the greatest work of art at Black Rock City isthe entire metropolis, the container of the event, with its circular urban plan andcentralized avenues and zany street names, plus the self-organizing supportstructures, from volunteer rangers to lamplighters. The sculptural aesthetic ofBurning Man mixes late-1960s land art, pop, surrealism, and conceptualism intoa new form, adding, as well, an extraordinary sense of scale that creates a uniquecontext for experiencing the work that appears there. Many of Nash’s images – which are both “art about art” and works of art inthemselves – do a wonderful job of capturing that sense of scale. Part of what makesthe event feel explicitly American is its pioneering optimism and faith in the human

Temple of Honor Minarets (2003) Artists: David Best and the Temple Crew


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Rime of the Ancient Mariner (2003) Artists: The La Contessa Crew

imagination to match any natural wonder. A picture such as “Anno Domino”2000 AD2K contrasts a blown-up version of a modest game against distant mountains and far-flung clouds. Other images play with representation inclassic deconstructive fashion - in one, a puppet-stage window opens ontoa vast dusty expanse; in another, a billboard of photographs of the oceanconceal the desert just behind them. It may be that the art of Burning Man is the new “movement”that European and American contemporary art cognoscenti alwayspretend they are looking for, changing the rules of creativity for anew generation, but happening under their noses. Post-BurningMan, I find I am less enthusiastic about art as the ego expressionof the individual genius, but more fascinated in art as the juncturebetween the individual and the larger group. On the Playa, artserves as an instrument for meshing together the community,offering them a medium for discovery, for playing and praying,as well as a lens for seeing themselves. It extends the notion ofconceptual and performance art to a wider field of human activi-ty, recalling the surrealist doctrine that there should, truly, be nodistinction between art and life. When this distinction disappears,product becomes process – and, appropriately, Nash takes a specialpleasure in photographing artworks under construction or deconstruc-tion, or hovering somewhere inbetween. When art and life merge, clock time disappears and we plunge intothe ecstatic, a temporality of the Archaic Revival, recovering an originalrelationship to the cosmos. Before history and culture, before bureaucracyand work, before cell phones and laptops, time was cyclical and circular. Aboriginals in Australia believe that every day is the “first day,” the primordi-al beginning of time and being, and their art and ceremonies help to maintain thecreation in its proper order. For such tribal nomadic peoples, there never was a “fallof man” into a degraded state. Their initiatory culture is a means of accessing thehigher vibrational frequencies of the Dreamtime, the ever-present origin of the Godsand the Ancestors, which is hidden within the illusory density of the physical world. The tens of thousands who make the annual pilgrimage to the BlackRock Desert are seeking initiation into the perpetual present, utilizing the rustingand groaning artifacts of our over-reaching industrial civilization to access whatis beyond time and the machine. According to prophecy, some Native Americancultures believe this era to be the time of “dreaming the world awake,” when ourpost-modern secular world steps through the veil of matter, fusing modalities ofscience and spirit to discover the infinite other worlds that lie within and without.Eventually, Burning Man may reveal itself as more than an eccentric expression ofan old and new counterculture, but a harbinger of a new way of being. Only time willtell. At the moment, it is – as we are – a work in progress.

Nash’s images offer an open-sky poetry of forms and fragments, a set ofsecretive hints that reveal by concealing. Naturally, they have a different valence forBurning Man veterans, who view them through the context of their own experiencesand perceptions, than for the art world spectator, who can appreciate their formalelegance from a safer aesthetic distance. Nash has made his own thirteen-year desertpilgrimage and come back with talismans that will help to bridge the cultural dividebetween the art world cognoscenti, with their studied ironies, and those who arecompelled to unlock “the doors of perception” in their pursuit of a new iconic order.

Daniel Pinchbeck is the authorof Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey intothe Heart of ContemporaryShamanism and 2012: TheReturn of Quetzalcoatl. Helives in New York.

A. Leo Nash is a photographerwhose work has been widelyexhibited. He is a creative par-ticipant at Burning Man andcollaborates with the artistswhose work he documents. Helives in Oakland, Califonia.

Published byHarry N. Abrams, Inc.www.hnabooks.com

Uchronia at Dawn (2006) Artists: Jan Kriekels, Arne Quinze, and crew

http://www.hnabooks.com/http://www.hnabooks.com/


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Among the Quechua Indians of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador,a despacho ceremony is the centerpiece of a complex spiritualand ritual heritage. Despacho ceremonies are performed to promote health, well-being and prosperity, or when calamity or misfortune befalls the client. Despachos are also used tothank for special events, to celebrate good luck, or to helpthe soul of a deceased person journey into the beyond.Despachos are performed to promote fertility in fieldsand herds, to cure illness, or to undo harm or witch-craft. On very special occasions, despachos are alsoperformed when larger cultural or ecologicalevents threaten the entire community.

The specialists who perform such ceremoniesare known as Pampa Altomisayoc, whichtranslates roughly as “high priests of theordinary realm,” the work “pampa”referring both to the level ground ofagriculture as well as to the ordi-nary world of mortals. Over 200different types of despachos havebeen recorded, depending on theresults desired. In general terms, adespacho is understood as a requestfor good fortune, its name derived fromthe Spanish word for missive, message,or care package. This implies that theritualist is “sending a message” to therealm of spirit in which a particularoutcome is being promoted.

photography by Eli Morgan. Peru 2007 Mauro 0f Qosqo

This precious full-color hardcover, meticulouslydesigned by the artists of CoSM Press, is aremembrance of the exquisiteChapel of SacredMirrors in New York City. CoSM leadsthe reader on a guided tour through each magicalroom in vivid detail, revealing the symbols and meaning of every work of art in the Chapel.

140 pages, 5.3 x 7.5 in., $20 Available for sale at CoSM shop

cosm.org • alexgrey.comAlso Available from CoSM Press:

DAMANHURTEMPLES of HUMANKIND

In the exciting art book, DAMANHUR: Temples ofHumankind , author Esperide Ananas finally reveals thefive-story underground maze of sacred halls built inside a mountain, and kept secret for more than twenty years fromeven their closest neighbors. Begun in 1977 in the Italian Alps, the Temples of Damanhur were inspired by the visionof spiritual leader Oberto Airaudi, also known as Falco. Artists and artisans excavated and built this subterraneansacred space, which is at last showcased in 204 exquisitecolor photographs throughout this 10.5 x 13.75 inch, 122 pagebook. Foreword by Alex Grey. $50.00 USD

Order from www.CoSM.org

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Depending on the purpose, a despacho may require the presence of the client,an extended family, or the entire community. Despachos can be performedby individual Altomisayocs, or by teams of altomisayocs, often paired into male and female quadrilles.

The end product of a despacho ceremony is a graphic mandala made of awide assortment of natural and man-made products: seeds and vegetables,gems and minerals, incenses, animal products, and man-made symbols that may depict or symbolize the desired result. In all cases, however, the intentis symbolic and metaphysical, and the understanding is that a despachoallows the client or the community to request a result from the realm of spir-itual power. Consequently, despachos are typically addressed to the largerforces of nature: Pachamama (Mother Earth), Apukuna (mountain spirits),Chaskakuna (the stars), Inti (the sun), and so on.

In addition, despachos can also be performed as a form of Ayni orreciprocity with the universe. The concept of Ayni is central to Andeanshamanism and is based on a mutual dependency between humans,nature, and spiritual forces. Ayni brings balance into our lives and createsrelationship between our secular and sacred worlds. Andean metaphysicspostulates that human health and well-being depend on balanced reciprocitybetween all elements of life. Therefore, when soliciting a particular outcomethrough a despacho, our obligation is not to pray or request for a particularresult, but rather to provide beauty, power and energy in the form of a graphic mandala which can then be “exchanged” or bartered for the desired result.


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When working with a despacho, the Altomisayoc is accessing the non-ordinary dimensions of reality, the ultimate source of all things. In fact, though thecontents of the despacho may have symbolic significance, the intent of its creatorstranscends any literal or symbolic content, directly accessing archetypal and energet-ic forces. Don Manuel Q’espi, an elder of the Q’ero tribe, spoke of despachos in thisway:

“The despacho is a gift – a giving back of what we receive everyday in our lives. Weseek, through the despacho ceremony, to bridge the ordinary and non-ordinary realms;to establish new patterns of relationships and possibility. The despacho places us inright relationship, right Ayni, with Pachamama and all of her manifestations.”

In order to create a despacho, the Altomisayoc must perfect a specific shamanistic maneuver, the harmonization and balancing of three “bands” or levels of conscious-ness: yankay, the physical universe, yachay, the spiritual or wisdom realm, and munay, the feeling or heart center. By integrating these qualities with personal intent,the group intent, and gratitude to the earth and nature, which supports all of thecommunity’s endeavors, the despacho re-harmonizes and balances the communityinto a single energetic body in which the luminous fibers which connect us all arereaffirmed and strengthened.

The despacho contains symbols of everything: the elements, thefour directions, weather, clouds, mountains, rainbows, the fruitsof human labor, emotions, ideas, and so on. When the offering iscomplete, the entire assemblage is folded, tied and wrapped in asacred weaving. It is then offered to the forces of nature eitherby burning, burying, or by casting into water. The energy ofcollective intention captured and contained in the despachois thus released into the universe, where its message of reci-procity and gratitude can reach the most appropriate agent for manifestation. The result is renewed harmony and balance inordinary life.

Alex Stark is an internationally recognized consultant, advisor, andteacher on issues of creativity, efficiency, and design. A graduate of Yale University School of Architecture, he is a practitioner of FengShui and European Geomancy. He advises on issues of design andplacement for residential, commercial, institutional, and industrialfacilities, urban settlements, health care facilities, and on issues ofinstitutional and personal transformation. Alex is CoSM’s residentShaman and initiated CoSM’s monthly full moon gatherings.


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Letter to a Student on the Dayof Enrollmentin the Academy

by Jason Louv

Dear Student,

We commend you for your decision to enroll in our de-educational program at our Academy. We recognize that youhave a choice when seeking alternative education, and aresure we will live up to your expectations.

Choosing to remove yourself from the normal course ofhuman life is no small matter. Though we celebrate your

clear passion to learn, your acumen in finding our school and your exemplary performance on your entrance exams, weremind you that the illusory nature of the world is maintainedwholly by, and for, the best interests of those who dwell in it, yourself included. Upon graduation from the Academy, youwill be required to return to, and make your own way in, theworld. With degree in hand, however, we are confident that you will more easily find your way to a successful life andwill be able to compete with the best in today’s marketplace.

Your classes will begin on Monday. Please find enclosed ashort prospectus of the work you will be expected to completein preparation for obtaining a degree. While other institutions you may have been involved with during the time you haveso far elapsed on this planet—schools, family, peer groups,government, religions, media—have been established in orderto educate you, at the Academy we are concerned with yourde-education and the reversal of that which you have learned

and experienced up to this point. We are licensed (by thehighest authorities) to use a wide array of the most modernand scientifically advanced methods currently extant in orderto achieve this.

(Please also find attached a waiver form clearing us of anylegal responsibility for your physical, emotional or karmicwelfare during your time at our school. You will be required tosign and bring this form with you on your first day of class.)

During their de-education and de-testing, studentswill be required to pursue proficiency in identifying, anddemonstrating the illusory nature of, thirty-six principles orveils which separate them from the infinite.

Initial study and experimentation will be conducted uponthe constitution of matter and the physical world. In yourworldly, exoteric education you will have hopefully gainedat least a passing knowledge of physics and be aware of the

superstring or M-theory that the universe is composed,at base, of vibrations of tiny, supersymmetric strings.However, a t our Academy you will be introduced to thefive esoteric principles—earth, water, air, fire and space—which exist behind the vibration of matter and fromwhich all matter is constituted and patterned. Throughpractical, hands-on classroom experimentation with the manipulation of these principles via meditation and ritual,students will soon be able to demonstrate the illusory andarbitrarily malleable nature of matter to their, and theirinstructors’, full satisfaction. The next stage of the work will be conducted within thestudent’s perceptual and mental faculties themselves, inwhich the false identification with a further eighteen veilsof illusion dwelling therein will be removed from eachstudent. The first five—smelling, tasting, seeing,touching and hearing—constitute each student’sperceptions, and instructors are well-trained to practi-cally demonstrate the extreme limitations of the sensesin relaying any legitimate data whatsoever. Directlythereafter, the five subtle elements of smell, taste, sight,texture and sound themselves will be demonstratedas illusions, in and of themselves. Once the falseidentification with perceptions and perceivables isremoved, so will each student’s false identification withtheir actions. Here the student’s powers of speech,grasping, moving, speaking and procreation will be shownto have no agency or origination whatsoever in anythingapproximating the student’s true self and to be, at thisstage, a distraction from that true self. We warn in advance that during this stage the studentwill likely experience extreme disorientation and agitationas the faculties of perception and action they previouslyidentified as belonging to them and constituting themas individuals are disproved as being anything but aflickering picture show projected on the movie screen ofthe mind. We remind you, however, that we are certi-fied professionals and you need have no fear, for we willquickly proceed to assist you in the reversal of the nextunderlying principles. These are the mind’s constructedimage of the “world,” the mind’s constructed image ofthe “self,” and the entire illusory proceedings of the vastdrama your mind constructs for you from your unrealperceptions of unreal things. Having completed the lessons of the external depart- ments and gone completely inward, the student will soonsee that the “world” is an interplay between the falsebelief that anything exists separately from the self and the

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The Rite of the Oracle ofDAMANHUR by Esperide Ananas

In June 2007 a group of pilgrims from the Chapelof Sacred Mirrors and Wisdom University spenta week visiting Damanhur. We attended andparticipated in Damanhurian rituals and learned someof the traditions that were reborn in the valley of the Alpsover the past 30 years, traditions based on ancient customswell studied by the spiritual people of Damanhur. On therainy full moon night, we sat in the outdoor Amphitheater,huddled under our umbrellas, watching the pageant ofcolorful robes, dancers, drummers, and priests that spokepoetry of another language and another world. Rain or shine,snow or ice, Damanhurians light the fire that honors thefullness of the moon. While the full moon ceremony thatbirthed our Chapel of Sacred Mirrors, carried on in New York City, led by our own wonderful priestesses, we took ateaching under the same moon a half a world away. – Alex and Allyson Grey

Since 1987, the Rite of the Oracle, one of the most importantcelebrations in Damanhur, has taken place every month atthe full moon. The public phase in the Open Temple is theculmination of profound and attentive ritual work, carriedout by the members of the Way of the Oracle throughout theprevious lunar month.

The Damanhurian Oracle is not a person but a group of divineForces, including all the Oracles of ancient times. Integrated

with new Forces of the third millennium, they can once againperform their role in guiding humanity. The Forces of theOracle do not only provide answers and directions, they alsointeract with all the possible branches of time, moving eventsso that they become the most propitious for spiritual evolu-tion at many levels – for those receiving an Answer, thoseparticipating in the Ritual and for the whole People ofDamanhur. During the ritual a window of spiritual light opensand everybody present can contact the divine dimension.Women on the Amphitheater stage are priestesses celebratingthe Ritual. In accordance with ancient tradition, they are calledPythies. The Ritual opens with offerings to the divine throughthe vehicle of Fire. Offerings are from individuals, groups, and members of the Way of the Oracle and other spiritual “Ways”of Damanhur. Last to present their offerings are the KingGuides, spiritual navigators of the Federation, who accompanywith a prayer of propitiation for the whole people.

false belief that the self exists as separate from anything. Lessonswill immediately commence on identifying, and decommissioning,the function of consciousness which maintains the sense of a limit-ed, rather than an infinite and immortal, self. Before considering removing this function of consciousness,students are asked to take note that it is maintained for the exactsame reason that moviegoers pretend not to know if the hero willor will not defuse the bomb and get the girl in the end, even ifeverybody knows deep down that that’s what happens every time. There are five forces of limitation which maintain the illusion of the“self.” These are the illusions of limited ability, limited understand-ing, limited willpower, the illusion of linear time and the illusion ofsingular locality.

Beyond this veil of limitation dwell the three functions of divini-ty—the power to create, the awareness of creation and the will tocreate itself—and divinity itself, that is, the interplay of unlimitedconsciousness and unlimited creation, both of which themselvesemanate from the Absolute.

We refer to this as the Principal’s Office, and it is here that we willcompletely turn off the mind itself. Having gained a better and more comprehensive grasp of the work-ings of the universe, students are of course free—even encouraged—to reconstitute the thirty-six veils of illusion we will have at thispoint trained them to identify and remove, and return to their world-ly vocation along with the gift of identification with true reality.

Particularly motivated students, of course, will be pleased to knowthat completion of our program will open wholly new higher educa-

tion opportunities and career options previously unavailable or evenpreviously hidden to them. Our careers department will be morethan pleased to assist you in finding a new track should you choose.

Please make sure you’ve enjoyed a good night’s rest before reportingto your first class on Monday. Should you be successful in yourstudies, and with a bit of luck, it may be the last sleep you ever get.

Fiat Lux,_______ __________, Ph. D.Vice Chancellor, Admissions

Jason Louv is a New York based writer and editor. He is the editor ofGeneration Hex, the influential anthology on next generation magicians,and Ultraculture Journal, an downloadable book collection of “the mostvolatile and direct magickal writing currently available in the English lan-guage.”

www.ultraculture.orgp.42

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Two priestesses illustrate the ritual, in Italian and English, and indicate the magicalinstruments. Before the entrance of the Pythies into the Temple, a prayer is read andrepeated by everyone present.

Il rito millenario dell’Oracolo,fonte di gioia, luce e ispirazionedoni capacità di leggere i segnie rinforzi il sacro legameespresso nel canale spiritualeche unisce le Forze Divine all’umanità.

The drumming then starts, while the dancers of the Way of the Oracle trace, withtheir movements, prayers and propitiations which accompany the whole ritual. Inthis phase, the Pythies wear pointed silver hats representing their contact with the moon and the function of the priestesses as antennas of communication with thedivine. For all participants, this is a time of silence, insight and inner contact withthe realm of the sacred.In the next phase, those who had previously requested a Response are accompaniedonto the stage to receive their answer. As the ritual work for the compilation of aResponse requires time and care, answers are given to questions which have beenpreviously submitted in writing one or more months before the ritual. Recipientsof the Response hold a lit candle in their hands, representing spiritual fire. Theystand inside a circle subtly traced with a special magical instrument, which makes iteasier for divine attention to focus on them. The Response is written on a chestnutleaf and, before being given to the recipient, it is read by a Priestess. In this phaseshe wears a veil on her face to underline the impersonality of the answer: the Pythiais a vehicle for the answer of the Divine Forces of the Oracle. The sound of her voiceis covered by music, so that only the recipient of the Response can hear it.Once all personal Responses have been given, Sirena Ninfea, head of the Way ofthe Oracle, reads an answer that gives directions for Damanhur and the SpiritualPeople. At the end of the text, Sirena pronounces the ritual formula: Spoken, forgot-ten, to underline her function as a pure channel transmitting the messages of DivineForces, received and elaborated in the previous month. The Response is therefore notgiven in writing, but it is customary that the participants to the Ritual write it downso that it can be published in Damanhur¹s paper (Qdq) the following day. In thisway it can also become a theme for meditation for those not present at the Ritual. At the end of the ceremony, the Priestesses salute the Divine Forces in front ofthe Sacred Fire and then leave the stage. Before leaving the Open Temple, allparticipants repeat the following prayer:

E’ nutrimento spiritualel’aver partecipato al sacro Rito Oracolare.Ciascuno porti nel mondola forza d’amoredi questa preziosa presenza divina.

HOW TO REQUEST A RESPONSEThe Oracle of Damanhur can be consulted by all those who wish to takeadvantage of this possibility for human and spiritual growth. Individuals andgroups from all over the world have requested a response as a precious source ofinspiration and insight. If you wish to consult the Oracle, please contact GazzaSolidago at the Welcome Center, tel. +39 0124.512205, [email protected] question must be written very clearly, and addressed to the Oracleof Damanhur. Please include a recent photograph of yourself and all the

information necessary to understand the context of your question.Specify also your full birth name, and date and place of birth. Therequest is to be sealed inside an envelope, on which should bewritten: To the Oracle of Damanhur.

The date and time of delivery are also to be clearly indicated on theenvelope. It is from this moment that events will start to move inthe direction of evolution requested by the person, and clues or hintswill start to appear that make it possible to understand the correctcourse of action. To deliver the request, follow the directions thatGazza will give you. It is customary to include an offering which willbe used to support the functions and the sacred spaces in which thequest for the Response takes place.

The Response will be ready after one or more lunar months. Gazzawill inform you in due course so that you can be present at theritual. In case it is not possible for you to come to Damanhur todeliver your question, you can discuss with Gazza delivering it by mail or email. In order to receive the Response and enjoy its fullritual and energetic transmission, it is essential to go to Damanhurand participate in the Rite of the Oracle. Only in cases of extremeneed is it possible to designate a person to receive it on your behalf.

(It is a spiritual nourishment, to have sharedthe sacred ritual of the Oracle. May every-body bring to the world the force of love of thisprecious divine presence.) Enjoy the Ritual,NEFTJ SAT ET The Way of the Oracle

(May the millenary ritual of the Oracle, sourceof joy, light and inspiration give us the abilityto receive insight. May it reinforce the sacredbond, that links the divine forces to humankindunfolding through the spiritual channel of thisprecious divine presence.)

p.44

Esperide Ananas led the presscampaign to save the Temples ofHumankind at Damanhur, an Italianintentional community, and has beentheir International Ambassador forten years. Author of Damanhur,the Temples of Humankind, pub-lished by CoSM Press, she recentlyco-authored two graphic novels onthe history of Damanhur. Fluent infive languages, Ananas also works fora British consulting company, dedi-cated to bringing the arts, creativityand an ethical vision into the world ofbusiness and government.


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p.46p.45 Photos by Kyle Hailey at Syneregenisis 2006: wetribe.com

JOURNEY : Ritual TheaterPerformed at SYNERGENESIS 3 SF, CA :

Nov. 18, 2006

http://wetribe.com/http://wetribe.com/


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In a time severely lacking in both initiatory rites of passageand artistic expression that is political and mystical, wethree, the Moirae, have been called by our secret namesinto a mysterious journey. We have been called by a silentvoice to allow the divine source to speak through us inthe form of these offerings, combining ritual, movement,adornment, poetry, music and storytelling to create acollective experience of applicable potency and humble

empowerment. The story of this collective and of the workwe are doing as ritualists, performers and culture craftersis one steeped in the intuitive magic and collaborativespirit of west coast visionary culture.

To tell the story of Journey, a ritualizedtheatrical journey of the Fool upon the Treeof Life, traveling through the major arcanaof the Tarot deck, is also to tell the story ofone current within a growing subculture ofthe west coast of North America. Thiscommunity is highly nomadic, collaboratingacross continents on a wide variety of art,design, performance, writing and new mediaprojects, drawing from a wide variety ofancient wisdom traditions and contemporarytechnologies. Journey was created over thecourse of a year, in Bali, British Colombiaand San Francisco with much of the collab-orative process happening via the internet.

Much of how the script came into beingwas deeply connected to our own personalevolutions and ritual work. One of the main attributes of ritual theater, (or as it issometimes called, prayerformance) is thatrather than simply playing a role, eachperformer is called to channel an arche-typal energy that is both necessary for thepiece and deeply relevant to his/her ownpersonal psycho-spiritual work at the timeof the process. Time and time again, aboveand beyond anything we could have knownconsciously, the piece that each performeris holding is exactly the medicine needed atthat moment in their lives.

Creating this work was not like creating anysort of traditional theatre piece. Growingout of work we three had already donewith the Tree of Life in previousperformances, we began scripting in Bali,where all three of us were working on othercreative projects. Over the next several

months the script was sent back and forth between us as we traversed the globe, ourselves evolving along with the storyline, continually revealing the interpenetration ofour own personal journeys and the medicine of the work coming through.

Journey An open letter of process and intention

written by Eve Bradford


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Prayformance of

Interview by Julie Van Amerongen“If my karma is good, then I will die well. ‘Dying well’ means that I will diethe way I intend - doing my death dance.My prayformance is my death dance.”

– S.K. THOTH You never forget the first time you experience S.K. Thoth. Costumedlike an ancient Greek superhero, complete with loincloth and a red feath-ered headdress, he is a striking sight to behold. Then he opens his mouthand begins to sing in his three range operatic voice, with a violin on hisshoulder, dancing like a man possessed by something otherworldly,

stomping rhythms withhis heeled sandals and

belled ankles makingan indelible impres-sion in your mind.

photos by Susana Bates

We three, the Moirae; Raven, Isis,Eve offer our profound thanks toall who have participated thus farin the realization of this vision.We joyfully anticipate its furtherunfolding, and the keys that it holdsfor our collective evolution. At itscore, this work is a call to action, aninvitation to step into your powerand craft a sustainable, abundantreality through the full realizationof your unique offering.

Journey: ritual theaterco-created by: Isis, Eve and Raven

stage manager: CeLena deLphivisuals: onbeyond metamedia

Cast:MadeleinaSasha Rose

Kathryn June Audette Sophia

GinnPema KeystarraNatalia Price

AnahataLynzee Dava Lynx

BenNikila Badua

DeeParadox Pollack

Nonny PTarran the TailorMarisa Scirocco

Isis IndriyaRaven

Eve LadyApplesJody Starfish

AnanyaTenleyMitchel

Georgia VaradayEli Morgan

DestinoMicah

La LaurrienIsaac RappaportJessica Bottomly

Kyrian

If you feel called to support the manifestation of this vision,please contact [email protected]

http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/[email protected]://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_2/[email protected]


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Thoth calls this expression “prayformance” in which he presents his “solopera,” a multi-disciplined and multi-media performance piece, drawing on the mythologicalworld of the Festad about which he has been writing since he was a child. The storyof his life was made into an Oscar-winning documentary film.

In what ways has your life changed as a result of the documentary film win and yourappearance at the Academy Awards?

I stopped getting harassed by a certain police officer on a regular basis named OfficerJoe. Officer Joe would interrupt my prayformances in the Angel Tunnel and force me

to pack up my things which he had no right to do. When Sarah (Kernochan, director)was shooting the film, his behavior was caught on film. After I came back from the Academy Awards, he was unusually friendly and chatty. He congratulated me forthe Academy Award and asked if he was in the film, afraid everybody had seen himharassing me. Officer Joe has since stopped bothering me.

The majority of your prayformances are in Central Park. Why have you chosen thisroute, as opposed to more traditional music venues? Is it a challenge to build a loyalaudience because of the large number of tourists in the park?

I will go anywhere to prayform if my work is welcomed. That said, I have chosentunnels in Central Park to prayform because they have beautiful acoustics; muchbetter than “traditional music venues” which have been gutted to make way for theloud amplified music revolution. The Angel Tunnel or Trefoil Arch offers me the bestopportunity to fully express my work daily and provides me with a small amount of money from donations. Additionally, I have yet to find a “traditional music venue”that is fully open to my work. For a street performer, it is a challenge to build a loyalaudience or fan base.


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The language your songs are written in is one of your own creation. What is it likesinging in a language foreign to the people who hear you?

It is liberating! When someone sings in English those who don’t understand Englishare left out. In my case, everyone is equally left out. Music, not words, is theuniversal language of the soul.

Your outward appearance is intentionally colorful. What do you intendpeople to infer from your costume and what kinds of reactions do you get?

People’s main reaction to my costume is that they want to know what I’m wearingunder my loin cloth. I don’t concern myself with what people infer from my costume.My intention is to be true to the costuming of Nular-in - the heroic hermaphroditeand narrator of my solopera “THE HERMA: The Life and Land of Nular-in.”

I noticed that you write performance notes with both hands creating a mirror image simultaneously. Describe what’s going on there.

I use both hands with everything, switching hands to do simple or complex tasks likethrowing a ball, cutting food, shaving, eating, etc.... I also play the violin left andright. Writing with both hands reminds me that one of my many practices during aprayformance is to seek to maintain balance - be neither yin nor yang but be the orbthat embraces both.

You have a new CD coming out. What can we expect to hear?

“Space Gypsies” is my first CD since releasing the entire solopera. It is a collabora-tion with my friend Rhan Wilson. We took formerly recorded tracks from the 1990’sand updated them with new material. The result is a tonal adventure similar to some-thing Maurice Ravel might have done. It is the first time I have been overdubbedsinging with myself. You can hear some of it here: www.altared.com/space_gypsies

Where do you see yourself in five years?

I will either be prayforming or dead; and my life’s work “The Festad -an encyclopedia of an imaginary world, “ which will be finished yet incomplete at mydeath, will be further developed.


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p.56p.55 Ave Aum Ave - The Face of Kali, 2004, 50 x 80, oil in 5 part medium

I remember that, not long ago, I was one with the all. But, one day, I fell from the divine lightand became a faint spark in the dark swirling abyss. The next thing I knew, I was staring at thefront door - that’s my earliest childhood memory. I was now ‘me’. Then, at university, I realizedthe Gnostics were right after all: ‘you have gone astray!’ they cried. ‘Find the way back!’ I leftToronto and started wandering. First Western Europe, then Eastern. A year in Vienna, to studypainting. Two years in Malta, to find my roots (I didn’t). Three years in Munich, where mypainting became a doorway to the divine light. A year in Monaco, to apprentice under ErnstFuchs, who taught me how to swim in the luminous waters surrounding that divine light. Ikept wandering - Egypt, India, Mexico and Tibet. Along the way, I learned to ‘enter throughthe image’. Enigmatic icons from my dreams and entheogenic experiences became so many pas-sageways out of here. Now, after living in Paris for several years, I drink a coffee every morningat the local brasserie and feel very French. I have a French wife, even a French cat. So I plant myself before my French easel and start painting. Soon I find myself swimming once more in theluminous waters. A door opens and, the next thing I know, I’m gazing with uncomprehendingclarity at the divine light. Then, I remember...

L. Caruana is the author of numerous books on occult thought and imagery includingThe Visionary Art Manifesto and currently edits The Visionary Revue: the On-line Journalof Visionary Art.

LCaruana.comVisionaryRevue.com

I am the True Vine, the Aya Huasca, the Vine of the Dead.2006, 40 x 70, oil in 5 part medium

L. Caruana Gnost ic pain ter

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p.58p.57

Blair MacKenzie Blake graduated from Miskatonic University in the 1970s, whichinspired him to become a professional mysteryologist. As the founding member of the exper-imental magick-oriented P.U.P. Lodge, Mr. Blake has been studying, practicing, and writ-ing about the western esoteric tradition for over twenty years. More recently, he has beenfocusing his attention on the neurochemical basis of successful magickal workings (andparanormal activity in general). Through a careful examination of cryptic references in occultliterature and grail iconography, he suggests that the psychic transmutation of the alchemi-cal opus is actually facilitated by a post-mortem endogenous substance that he describes as“the Residuum of Paradise” (called by others “The Philosopher’s Stone”). Incorporating a magical vocabulary and Nightside symbolism, his first book, IJYNX, a collection of occultprose-poems, attempts to convey the ritually-machined ecstatic states that allow one accessto hyper-dimensions of consciousness and encounters with trans-mundane entities. He iscurrently one of the contributing authors of an anthology entitled “Dark Lore – Volume One”,and is simultaneously working on several books with occult themes. For nearly 8 years hehas been the writer/content manager for Toolband.com, ToolArmy.com and DannyCarey.org. A classically trained musician (and card-carrying psychonaut in the 1970s) he was theco-writer of the prog rock rhapsody Assault on Merryland by “Surprise”, and also appeared onthe Butcher CD Auricle as a songwriter, keyboardist, and wordsmith. Mr. Blake is an avidcollector of antiquarian books (specializing in the occult), and is a well-traveled, non-apologistufologist. The self-described heathen near-Vegan resides in Los Angeles, but spends much ofhis time in the state of Texas, where he brakes for armadillos, barbecue shacks, and anomalousblack aeroforms (that he doesn’t shoot at).


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Andrew Jones

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Confessions of a live painter

One of the most important functions of an artist is to capturea reflection of the contemporized world around him. All my life I havespent in the pursuit of this goal, from studying the intricate insertion andexertion points of cadavers in medical school to the temperature changeand color variations of a Colorado sunrise in winter. Upon reviewing the years of discipline and dedication I have put forth in my path, one traitseemed to resonate throughout the work: isolation. Even though my goalswere to recapitulate a living world around me, I often found myself aloneand in a quiet place of solitude while creating my work. Over the yearsI have noticed the almost double life I lead between my time enjoyingand living life and the isolated manner in which I chose to concentrateto record it.

Being a child and a product of a heavily synthetic culture and era I havebeen dedicating a large portion of my creative energy to the digital realmof manifesting images. I have found no faster, efficient and more verbosetool to transcribe my creativity and energy into images than the useof a computer, digital painting package and pressure sensitive digitaldrawing tablet. At its core, digital art is the manipulation of light andenergy. I have often found the medium similar to the electrical impulsesof thoughts and dreams.

My live painting consists of a laptop supported on a tripod and oversized, modified digital drawing tables. I use a program called Corel painter X tocreate the image and multiple projectors to display the image to the audi-ence. I find it most helpful to begin thelive paintings with no sketches or inten-tions, just a blank canvas and a willingand open heart. This gives spirit more ofan opportunity to work through me.

This paradigm and mythology I hadbeen subscribing to over the years endedthe day I fastened a guitar strap to my 12 x 19 inch wacom digital art tab-let, and recklessly jumped onboard theBassnectar bus for a west coast livepainting tour across North America. Andrew Jones, Of Her, 2006, digital


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WWW.ANDROIDJONES.COM

Over the course of a few days I traded the comfort of myquiet art studio for a spot on stage, within a synesthe-sia of music and sound, thousands of dancing scream-ing people and bass so thick you can feel it rattleup your spine. Live painting is an altered state ofconsciousness which can make you so present thereis no time for second guessing. It’s like surfing atsunami of energy. Live painting is a performanceart and the crowd is an integral aspect of thefinished piece. Over the past few months I havehad the opportunity to create live paintings forRandom Rab, Edit and the Glitch Mob, Rabbitand the Moon, Sphongle and the honor of paint-

ing alongside Alex Grey at an Entheocentic Salonat CoSM in New York City.

At the onset of my career as a digital live painter it was my goal to create images from my imagination that would strikea cord of beauty with the audience. Since its inception it has evolved with acompletely new intention. The underground music culture is complimentedby its underground spirituality. For many of the people, these events aretheir church, their dances are their prayers to the creator. As I wit-ness Bassnectars dj Lorin manipulating the music, I see him asnothing short of a modern day wizard . His music is likean alchemy that resonates out of the applied speak-ers and sub woofers into the minds and heartsof thousands of open vessels. The ener-gy they receive from the music is thenconverted to movement and dance.

Digital live painting at eventsand festivals has completelyeclipsed my creative career.I have set my intentionsto visual record andcommunicate the ener-gy and power of this movement. My nextadventure will bring me on a live paintingtour across Japan, Asiaand Europe’s Gladefestival, and then toburning man. It is work thatneeds to be done and the workthat I know in my heart I wasborn to do. -Andrew Jones

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Andrew Jones, DMT Bitch, 2006, digital

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EGGS ON END:STANDING ON CEREMONYBy Donna Henes, Urban Shaman

For the past 35 years, I have served as urbanshaman, celebration artist and unofficial“Commissioner of Public Spirit” of New York City, producing countless publicparticipatory events and ceremonies inparks, plazas, museums, hospitals, institu-tions of learning, correctional facilities andthe streets in over 100 cities and 9 countries.

As shaman, I create contemporary ritual for my community, which is all of humanity.I catalyze, organize, instigate, innovate,and de-mystified creative interaction,celebration and communion. I facilitatenon-threatening, trance-formative inter-relationships that are spiritually charged,stimulating and safe, providing a visceralsense of cosmic interconnectivity.

A majority of the population dwells insprawling, paved, loud, light-pollut-ed megalopolises, disenfranchised froma natural world in the process ofdisappearing. Living in the solar system,we are upside down, rotating and revolving,spinning through space at a terrific speed,with patterns from which we are usuallydetached. To save our planet from ourselves

we must begin with conscious connected-ness to our planet.

Guiding the sky show, I keep track of theseasons and cycles, and share enthusi-astic awe and abiding love of this, ourvastly complex universe. The firstday of summer! The longest dayof the year! The shortest day ofthe year! We can’t see the moonbut it’s still there! The moon isfull! The moon is covering thesun! Yo! The sun is coveringthe moon! Stop! Look! Listen!Puzzle! Respond! Respect!Revere! Rejoice! Involve!Evolve!

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Why practice a daily remembrance?

In our lifetime there are so many events that tradition ritualizes. Birth/baptism, marriage, death. These are precious observances, but personal ritual can remindus that life is sacred, precious, momentous. A new paradigm now begs theinner guru, the Self-Authority, which may reject the prescription and rote oftraditional religious rituals. Our own creation of physical observance throughritual can remind us of what we cherish.

Morning rituals, such as a daily reading, a meditation, a prayer, or a visualiza-tion, are profound ways to start your day that will affect your life. A practiceof mindfulness could be as simple as deciding to touch your heart everytime youleave home as a way to bless your journey and to honor an outing with clarityand dignity. Intentionality and personal expression can deepen your powers ofobservance and heighten your creativity as you design your personal ritual. Ritualpower objects, incense, a rose quartz heart or crystals, a sacred book or journal, analtar on a window sill or a special place in your home that you often pass can take you to the depth of a moment, or a feeling of gratitude. A commemorative candlecan be a symbol of burning away something you want to release. Watching aflower float down stream could symbolize forward movement in some aspect of your life. Dancing in moonlight while holding an intention firmly in your mind might be a ritual of freedom and joy.

A ritual can be complicated or simple. Daily practice heightens your awarenessand brings you back to the “now” in the hectic world in which we live, grounding you, renewing your commitment. So, chant, dance, pray and allow dailypractices to become the tools that connect you to yourself, to the Divine within,and with the incredible dance of life.

Interior designer, author, speaker, and workshop facilitator, Reverend Denny Daikelerhas incorporated spirituality and environmental psychology into her interior designprocess or over 20 years. Featured in magazines as diverse as Cosmopolitan, Wall StreetJournal and Visions, Denny brings transformation through interior design.She shares her journey in her recent book, What Color is Your Slipcover: HowDiscovering Your Design Personality Can Help You Create the Home of YourDreams (Rodale Press, 2004). dennydaikeler.com

Denny Daikeler

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CELESTIALLY AUSPICIOUS OCCASIONS serve as milestones with whichto measure our macro/micro cosmic movements. By noting these times, we associateand participate in the planetary cycle of our solar system, seasons of the year and ofour lives.

Documents

CoSM Journal, Volume #5: Ritual & Mystery Schools