Category Archives: Hermetic Library Calendar

Current and upcoming events for the Hermetic Library Calendar.

Harry Smith — Oct 4, 2023–Jan 2024, New York, NY, US

Harry Smith, an art exhibit, Oct 4, 2023–Jan 2024 at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, US; about Harry Smith.

Hermetic Library Calendar Harry Smith Exhibit 4oct2023 Aleph
Harry Smith, Aleph

“This will be the first solo exhibition of artist, experimental filmmaker, and groundbreaking music ethnologist Harry Smith (1923–1991), whose compendium of song recordings, the Anthology of American Folk Music, laid the groundwork for the popularization of folk music in the 1960s. This exhibition introduces Smith’s life and work within a museum setting for the first time and includes paintings, drawings, experimental films, designs, and examples of Smith’s collecting alongside his historic folk music collection. Seen throughout this hybrid display of art and ephemera are signs of the esoteric, fantastic, and alternative cosmologies basic to Smith’s view of culture. The exhibition proposes new ways to experience diverse strains of 20th-century American cultural histories.

Over the course of fifty years, Smith made renegade and innovative use of the changing recording and distribution technologies, from his voracious approach to record collecting to experiments with early tape-recording systems to groundbreaking manipulations of abstraction and collage in film. Smith was a pioneer in collecting, organizing, and sequencing images and artifacts that structure the ways we understand and share culture and experiences today. He created a life and practice outside of institutions and capitalism, offering an eccentric model for engagement with a society today even further dominated by these systems.

Vitally, Smith brought to light and wrestled with—sometimes imperfectly—facets of America’s rich histories, tracing and sharing underappreciated veins of culture often invisible to mainstream society. Very much outside of his time, Smith nonetheless created his own rich vein of American culture that says more about this country, its arts, and its diverse creative communities than nearly any other artist of his time.

The exhibition, designed in partnership with artist Carol Bove, distills his remarkable and varied production into a number of distinct sculptural spaces. Smith’s early hand-painted abstract films, his film of Seminole textiles, and Andy Warhol’s Screen Test of Smith will be presented alongside stills from the liner notes of the Anthology of American Folk Music. The exhibition will zig-zag through displays of Smith’s personal collection of ephemera and archival materials to survey the artist’s life. The artist’s rarely-seen final film Mahagonny (1970–80) creates a portrait of urban America with a mesmerizing, hectic, and repetitive showcase of four films presented simultaneously while an original score from the Brecht-Weill opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (1930) plays at high volume. A small black box theater will immerse visitors in Smith’s collage film, Heaven and Earth Magic (1957–62), and other audio-visual works. Finally, this exhibition will offer a unique listening environment where visitors can explore the Anthology of American Folk Music along with interviews from Smith himself.

This exhibition is co-organized by The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, where a version of the project will open in November 2024. The exhibition is curated by artist Carol Bove; Dan Byers, the John R. and Barbara Robinson Director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts; Rani Singh, Director of the Harry Smith Archives; Elisabeth Sussman, Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art; with Kelly Long, Senior Curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art.”

Death and Rebirth — March 10–12, 2023, Amsterdam, NL

Death and Rebirth [Also], Ritual Art Festival, March 10–12, 2023, at Treehouse NDSM, Amsterdam, NL; the event includes a performance and exhibit by Orryelle Defenestrate.

Hermetic Library Calendar Death and Rebirth 10mar2023 Schedule

Hermetic Library Calendar Death and Rebirth 10mar2023

“DEATH AND REBIRTH

MARCH 10-12, 2023

Ritual Art Festival

Death & Rebirth is a space to explore death, the unknown, and transformation.

Join us for a three-day Ritual Art Festival featuring a visual art exhibition, lectures, workshops, ritual performances, and live music at Treehouse NDSM in Amsterdam.

ARTISTS & TEACHERS

Marli Huijer. DJ Isis. Maya Fridman. Orryelle Defenestrate. Bert Barten. Noire Antidote. Peaki. Monomorte. Melissa Shemanna. Ayesha Adamo. Giek_1. Freek Wallagh. Esther Kin. Johan Dijk. Marius v Zandwijk. Anima Lab. Anca Arcana. Alejandra Nettel. In Kether.Daniel McKenzie. Rose Wildsmith. Joan de Neve. Juan Carlos Tajes. Sander Janzweert. Felix Goei.” [via]

“Embark on a journey of transcendence and self-discovery as we delve into the enigmatic themes of Death, the Unknown, and Rebirth at the Three-Day Festival. Immerse yourself in a mesmerizing array of visual art, including sculptures, paintings, installations, and photography, all on display in the post apocalyptic setting of TREEHOUSE NDSM.

Each day begins with a gentle initiation, as you learn about the secrets of death, the unknown, and rebirth through insightful lectures and workshops that encourage you to explore your own creative relationship to the themes. As the night draws near, be swept away by a captivating procession of ritualistic and ambient performances, featuring acts by renowned artists such as Orryelle Defenestrate, Noire Antidote, Giek_1, Monomorte, Maya Fridman, Talkin Trees, DJ Isis , and other enigmatic DJ sets.”

“Embrace the esoteric and delve into alternative spaces, such as the cantina, where tarot readings, craft markets and workshops are held, leaving ample time to wander through the mystical exhibition space and interact with the art on display. Come, immerse yourself in this world of death, the unknown, and rebirth, and unlock the secrets of the afterlife.” [via]

The Magical Women of Ireland — March 5, 2023, online

The Magical Women of Ireland with Gillian Kenny from The Last Tuesday Society, March 5, 2023, 19:30 GMT, online

Hermetic Library the Magical Women of Ireland 5mar2023

“The Magical Women of Ireland by Dr. Gillian Kenny

This talk will introduce listeners to the links between women and magic in Irish history and how women may have used ritual/spells

Date and time
Sun, 5 March 2023, 19:30 – 21:00 GMT

Location
Online

The Magickal Women of Ireland

A look at how women have engaged in (or been rumored to have engaged in) magical practices over thousands of years in Ireland. Ranging across time from the battle queens of mythology to the nineteenth century wise woman and healer Biddy Early this talk will introduce listeners to the links between women and magic in Irish history and how women may have used ritual/spells and material goods to affect the world around them. Gillian will talk about various aspects of Irish women’s magic including

1. Protective magic

2. Cursing in Irish practice

3. The belief in the evil eye

4. Love magic and magic to control fertility and birth

5. The Christianisation of magical practice

6. Imported magical beliefs”

The Holy Grail — February 20, 2023, online

The Holy Grail with Ronald Hutton from The Last Tuesday Society, February 20, 2023, 19:30 GMT online

Hermetic Library Calendar the Holy Grail 20feb2023

“The Holy Grail – Professor Ronald Hutton – Zoom Lecture

Mon, 20 February 2023, 19:30 – 21:00 GMT

Online [Zoom]

Everybody thinks that they know what the Holy Grail is, whether the person in quest of it is one of King Arthur’s knights or Indiana Jones: the cup used by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, preserved by his followers and hidden until the right hero, with the right attitude, comes to find it. Some believe that it actually exists in the human world at the present day, embodied in particular vessels preserved at Nanteos in Wales, or at Glastonbury, or concealed at Rosslyn Chapel or Rennes-le-Chateau. Others, conversant with Edwardian British scholarship, think that it is a Christianisation of a pagan Celtic tradition of enchanted cauldrons, ultimately representing the divine feminine. This talk is a quest in itself, for the origins of the story, which can be pinpointed quite specifically, and for the process by which an idea with a precise origin grew into a motif capable of taking so many different forms. It also considers the claims of the Celtic cauldrons to be the ‘true’ grails and those of the vessels revered today by many people as the genuine one.”

[web]

The Lost Art of Dreaming — March 2–5, Seattle, WA, US

The Lost Art of Dreaming by Sean Dorsey Dance at Velocity Dance Center, March 2–5 (with ASL interpretation Friday, March 3), Seattle, WA, US.

Hermetic Library Calendar the Lost Art of Dreaming 13feb2023

“THE LOST ART OF DREAMING
BY
SEAN DORSEY DANCE
MARCH 2 – 4 | 7:30 PM
+ MARCH 5 | 2 PM
*ASL interpretation Friday, March 3rd.
12th Avenue Arts | 1620 12th Ave

Sean Dorsey Dance’s THE LOST ART OF DREAMING is an invitation to embrace expansive imagination, reconnect with longing, connect with joy and pleasure, and propel ourselves toward loving Futures. This new full-evening work is a fusion of full-throttle dance, intimate storytelling, intricate costuming and exquisite queer partnering … all performed with Sean Dorsey Dance’s signature technical precision, guts and deep humanity.”

“The Lost Art Of Dreaming is performed by a powerhouse ensemble of five trans, queer and gender-non-conforming dancers (Sean Dorsey, Brandon Graham, Héctor Jaime, David Le, Nol Simonse) – with a rich, layered soundscore featuring original and commissioned music.”—The Lost Art Of Dreaming – Seattle Tour

Features original music composed for the show by Anomie Belle. (HT email from Anomie Belle, see “Sean Dorsey Dance “The Lost Art of Dreaming” is in Seattle March 2-5!“)

This is part of a 10+ US city tour, so look for other dates at Sean Dorsey Dance’s Upcoming Events page.

French Decadence: A Celebration of Perversity, Decay and the Occult — February 20, 2023, online

French Decadence: A Celebration of Perversity, Decay and the Occult: A Live, Online Illustrated Lecture by Asti Hustvedt, from Morbid Anatomy, February 20, 2023, online.

Hermetic Library Calendar French Decadence Jean Delville the Idol of Perversity 11feb2023
Jean Delville, The Idol of Perversity (L’idole de la perversite)

“French Decadence: A Celebration of Perversity, Decay and the Occult: A Live, Online Illustrated Lecture by Asti Hustvedt, Editor of The Decadent Reader

$8.00
Date: Monday, February 20
Time: 7pm ET
Admission: $8

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 5:30 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email [email protected] A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

In fin-de-siècle France, scientific progress coincided with widespread alarm about depravity and disease. Many of the obsessions of our own culture, such as crime, pollution, gender non-conformity and drug addiction, were topics of constant popular discussion. This illustrated talk will focus on writers who embraced the epithet “decadent” by celebrating perversity and aestheticizing decay. Decadents attacked materialism, with its assertion that the world is knowable, by reveling in esotericism and the occult. They poisoned the triumphs of medicine by plundering its new taxonomy of deviants where they found sadists, masochists, transvestites, fetishists, nymphomaniacs, hysterics and other lovely monsters to populate their fiction. Decadence completely upends bourgeois conventions of romance, making this topic a subversively appropriate one for the Valentine’s Day season.”

[web]

See also The Decadent Reader: Fiction, Fantasy, and Perversion from Fin-de-Siècle France [Amazon] ed Asti Hustvedt—”In fin-de-siècle France, progress and material prosperity coincided with widespread alarm about disease and decay. The obsessions of our own culture at the end of the millennium resonated in a striking manner with those of the last fin de siècle: crime, pollution, sexually transmitted disease, gender confusion, moral depravity, alcoholism, and tobacco and drug use were topics of constant popular discussion in both epochs. The Decadent Reader is a collection of novels and stories from fin-de-siècle France that celebrate decline, aestheticize decay, and take pleasure in perversity. By embracing the marginal, the unhealthy, and the deviant, these writers attacked bourgeois life, which they perceived as the chief enemy of art. Barbey d’Aurevilly, J.K. Huysmans, Jean Lorrain, Guy de Maupassant, Villiers de l’Isle-Adam, Catulle Mendès, Rachilde, Jean Moréas, Octave Mirbeau, Joséphin Peladan, and Remy de Gourmont looted the riches of their culture for their own purposes. From an age of medicine they borrowed its occult mysteries rather than its positivism. In its social Darwinism, they found their monsters: sadists, murderers, transvestites, fetishists, prostitutes, nymphomaniacs, and hysterics. And they reveled in them, completely upending the conventions of romance and sentimentality. The Decadent Reader, which includes novels and stories that have never before appeared in English, as well as reappraisals of work that the reader may already be familiar with, offers a compelling portrait of fin-de-siècle France.”

Hustvedt the Decadent Reader

Kabbalah and the Divine Feminine — February 25, 2023, London, UK

Kabbalah and the Divine Feminine with Maggy Whitehouse at Atlantis Bookshop, February 25, 2023, 11:00 GMT, London, UK.

Hermetic Library Calendar Kaballah and the Divine Feminine Munoz the Muses Thalia 10feb2023
Thalia from The Muses by José Luis Muñoz

“Kabbalah and the Divine Feminine
with Maggy Whitehouse,
author of Kabbalah and Healing, Total Kabbalah and
A Woman’s Worth – the Divine Feminine in the Hebrew Testament.
The Gardner Room at The Atlantis Bookshop
Saturday 25th February, 11am -5pm
Cost £50″

“‘In the beginning the Elohim created the Heavens and the Earth.’

Elohim, the Divine Feminine, is present throughout the Bible but, as part of the oral Perennial Wisdom Tradition, she is hidden. She is meant to be hidden — to be discovered only by those who are ready to understand her power.

The development of the human soul is revealed throughout the Hebrew Testament in stories of love, hate, adultery, deception, betrayal, murder, compassion and redemption —a blockbuster told by more than 20 generations of feisty and powerful women, every one of whom still has something to teach us today.

Maggy will weave the story of Sophia, the feminine wisdom tradition from Shekhinah to Mary Magdalene through the filters of Judaic mysticism, history and social customs to see what we can still learn from the Matriarchs and Heroines today. Each of them is an archetype within us and can show us our strengths – and our shadow.

Men are most welcome at this workshop – it is about the feminine not the female!”

[web]

See also Kabbalah and Healing: A Mystical Guide to Transforming the Four Pivotal Relationships for Health and Happiness, Total Kabbalah: Bring Balance and Happiness into Your Life and A Woman’s Worth: The Divine Feminine in the Hebrew Testament.

Damien Echols Presents: The Mothman Prophecies — February 23, 2023, New Orleans, LA, US

Damien Echols Presents: The Mothman Prophecies, part 1 of a series, at The Broad Theatre, February 23, 2023, New Orleans, LA, US

Hermetic Library Calendar Damien Echols Mothman Prophecies 23feb2023

“I was invited to choose 3 movies to screen, and do accompanying talks, by the Broad Theater here in NOLA. We begin on Feb 23rd with Mothman Prophecies. The theme of the talks are the stages of magickal development – Neophyte,Adept,Master.”—Damien Echols

“Damien Echols Presents: The Mothman Prophecies – February 23rd

February 23 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

We’re thrilled to announce that a very special guest, author Damien Echols is curating a three part series at The Broad, starting Thursday February 23rd with THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES. Since his wrongful incarceration in 1993 and subsequent release from prison in 2011, Damien has written several books, often in collaboration with his wife Lorri Davis, on hermetic magick as well as a number of autobiographies. Damien appeared on Duncan Trussell’s show Midnight Gospel and, over the years, has been featured in many podcasts, radio interviews and documentaries. Damien will be in person to introduce the film and will stick around afterward for discussion.

Details
Date: February 23
Time: 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Cost: $12”

[web, tickets]

The Erotic Folktales of Norway — February 12, 2023, online

The Erotic Folktales of Norway with Lena Heide-Brennand from The Last Tuesday Society, February 12, 2023, 19:30 GMT, online.

Hermetic Library Calendar the Erotic Folktales of Norway 12feb2023

“The Erotic Folktales of Norway – Lena Heide-Brennand

Part of the Scandinavian Folklore – Lena Heide-Brennand collection

In this lecture we will be focusing on those steamy, hilarious and astonishingly graphic stories that have been passed down”

“Once upon a time, in the nineteenth century, the famous Norwegian duo P.C. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe began traveling all around rural Norway, collecting the tales, legends, and fables that the locals had to tell them. Most of these stories were published at the time they were collected and written down. However, there was a significant number of other tales that were suppressed and hidden away due to their explicit depiction of the sexual side of human experience. The manuscripts stayed hidden from public in the archives of the University of Oslo for nearly a century before being brought to light and published in Norway for the first time in 1977 under the title ‘Erotic Folktales from Norway’. It was a huge success and sold a lot of copies and it was obvious that people took a great interest in the adult stories as well. In this lecture we will be focusing on those steamy, hilarious and astonishingly graphic stories that have been passed down through generations in all corners of the cold North.

Like the traditional stories told to children, erotic folktales also include stories about the Hulder, Trolls, the famous Ash Lad, and princesses, as well as sinners and Adam and Eve. The only difference is that these characters are showing a very sexual side of themselves that is meant for adult listeners only. In this lecture, maybe we will find out just how far men would go to experience the intimate company of the alluring Hulder? And what would happen to the women once they were spellbound by the handsome Nøkken before he decided to drown them? Have you ever wondered if the Ash Lad was sexually involved with any of the princesses he visited? Welcome to an evening that might make you blush, laugh and cringe all at the same time. NB! Explicit language and adult content.”

[tickets]

Dion Fortune’s Literary Initiations — February 7, 2023, online

Dion Fortune’s Literary Initiations with Georgia van Raalte from Last Tuesday Society, February 7, 2023, 20:00 GMT, online

Hermetic Library Calendar Dion Fortunes Literary Initiations 7feb2023

“Dion Fortune’s Literary Initiations – Georgia van Raalte

This talk will explore the fictional and magical work of Dion Fortune (1890-1946), one of the most prolific British occult authors”

“Dion Fortune’s Literary Initiations – Georgia van Raalte

Abstract: This talk will explore the fictional and magical work of Dion Fortune (1890-1946), one of the most prolific British occult authors of the interwar period. In her 1936 article ‘The Novels of Dion Fortune’ Fortune claimed that her occult novels—The Winged Bull (1935), The Goat-Foot God (1936), The Sea Priestess (1938) and Moon Magic (published posthumously in 1956)—had an initiatory quality and that reading them, and meditating on their contents, could produce a lasting change, both in personal consciousness, and in the ‘group soul’ of the British people.

Based on Dr van Raalte’s doctoral research, this talk will explore Fortune’s radical initiatory project in the context of interwar Britain. Highlighting Fortune’s innovative use of literary eroticism, this talk will reveal the ways that Fortune’s occult novels both describe changes in consciousness and have the potential to cause them in the reader, through their skillful weaving of polarity, desire and the imaginal world. This talk will further show the potent influence Fortune’s work has had upon modern occultism, interrogating the connections between fiction-based religion, fantasy, and the rise of witchcraft in the contemporary occultural moment.”

[tickets]