Unlike some modern pagan groups the ancient Egyptians did not invoke deity into a sacred image only to dismiss or bid farewell to that divine energy at the conclusion of ritual. The continuous beneficent presence of Netjer was a major objective for the Egyptian cult. The living presence of the deity in this world was the purpose of the daily rites in the temples. In Egyptian tradition the god or goddess is not experienced as a lord/lady in absentia, or as one who upon occasion visits this world, but rather as a numinous and powerfully present divine reality.
Aleister Crowley’s family had been member of the Plymouth Brethren, a community of worshipers whose Christian doctrine derived from the world of John Nelson Darby (1800 CE– 1882 CE). Like many 19th Century christians, particularly the American Baptist William Miller (1782 CE – 1849 CE), Darby…
Here’s a different kind of post I’ve been wanting to make for a while. A post about an artist who has been influential for me and my work, Hilma af Klint. She lived from 1862-1944 in Sweden and is in the running for being the first abstract painter, yep, bet you didn’t know about her. She was technically trained and showed in galleries in her lifetime, but they were mostly landscape paintings. What people didn’t know was that she made thousands of paintings and drawings in private based on seances and divine voices. She was also a member of the Theosophical Society and studied the Rosicrucians. The work was hidden away with her death for 20 years on her own accord. She claimed the world wasn’t ready for it yet. Now looking back we realize how ahead of her time she was. I hope this has peaked your interest in her work and inspired you to check more out. The book I took these pictures out of is called, “Hilma af Klint – A Pioneer of Abstraction.” I highly reccomend it and if you can get a hold of copy at a library she is in a great catalog, “3 x Abstraction” with Emma Kunz and Agnes Martin, 2 other amazing artists.
