Amateurs de lignes, de diagrammes, de PAUL LAFFOLEY ou de kabbale ésotérique occidentale vous en serez enchanté :

 

 

SMITH’s drawings are vibrant, esoteric, beautiful, and inspired diagrams that hearken back to the tradition of alchemical art of the seventeenth century. While invoking memories of such amazing drawings, his work also goes beyond and extends this tradition. (Occult Of Personality)

 

DAVID CHAIM SMITH (b.1964) is an artist and writer based in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1964: born in Queens New York City
1980-1982: philosophy and art history at Queens College
1982-1986: BFA in drawing at Rhode Island School of Design
1988-1989: MFA in drawing at Colombia University
1990: beginning of intensive study of alchemy and Western Esoteric Qabalah
1990-1997: ritual work and study with several western occult orders
1997: all activity in visual art suspended in favor of practical mysticism
1997-1998: residence at Crazy Cloud Hermitage
1998-2006: immersion in Chassidic mysticism and traditional Hebrew Kabbalah
2007: innovation of a set of graphic keys based on the 13th century mystical text ”Maayin HaChochmah”. Image making is resumed after 10 year hiatus.

American Mystic
Alex Mar, USA, 2010, 80 min

 

Set against a vivid backdrop of bucolic rural landscapes, American Mystic weaves together the stories of three young Americans exploring alternative religion. Chuck is a Native American sundancer and new father striving to balance his religious practice and family responsibilities in the South Dakota badlands; Morpheus is a pagan priestess who finds spirituality in the earthy terrain of California mining country; and Kublai explores Spiritualism in upstate New York, a modern incarnation of the area’s storied history of religious revivalism.

Alex Mar’s meditative documentary artfully sews together its subjects’ introspections with the landscapes of their quintessentially American districts. Their reflections are intercut with their work on the farm, drives along deserted highway, and hikes through mountain vistas. Gently applying these tropes of Americana to her story of fringe communities, Mar crafts a poetic tapestry of religious plurality, serving as a complement to prevalent depictions of religious America as homogenous and Christian. Chuck, Morpheus, and Kublai pursue religious insight in disparate, exceptional ways, but are united in a uniquely American vision of transcendence (TribecaFilm.com)

 

AmericanMysticTheMovie.com

A dream world, a world of magic and ritual, yet there are images there of the burning cars and radar systems, which remind you there is a price to be paid in order to gain this dream in the face of a world of violence …

 

 
The Angelic Conversation
Derek Jarman, UK, 1985, 77 min

 

The Angelic Conversation is a 1985 arthouse drama film directed by Derek Jarman. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow moving photographic images and Shakespeare’s sonnets read by Judi Dench – WIKI

 

The soundtrack to the film was composed and performed by Coil, and it was released as an album of the same title :

 

Coil ‘The Angelic Conversation‘ (1994)

 

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Coil ‘Heartworms’, images taken from Garden of Luxor (1972) by DEREK JARMAN (here)
Journey to avebury (1971) de DEREK JARMAN (here)
In the Shadow of the Sun (1980) by DEREK JARMAN (here)
T.G.: Psychic Rally in Heaven (1981) by DEREK JARMAN (here)

John Dee, Queen Elizabeth’s Magician
Produced by Channel 4, UK, 2002, 52 min

John Dee, Queen Elizabeth’s Magician is a 2002 television show produced by the UK’s Channel 4 for their Masters of Darkness series, and tells the man’s incredible story in a much more accessible way. While perhaps not revealing anything that the more avid Dee student wouldn’t already know, the show is informative and entertaining (if slightly cheesy) and serves as a good introduction to the man and his legacy. It’s also a good watch for fans of Alan Moore, who appears throughout the show and talks of Dee’s magical practices and their influence.

BENJAMIN ALBRECHT VIERLING (…) paints work that looks as if it could have been painted several hundred years ago, portraying contemporary subjects in a majestic, mythic light

 

BENJAMIN ALBRECHT VIERLING

 
 

A myth tells an eternal story, a drama that is timeless because it is always happening. The tradition of classical painting provides forms that reflect these epic human experiences. The painter endeavors to depict the myth as a tangible point for contemplation. In the spirit of this pursuit, Vierling presents (…) unique visions. The structure of these compositions acknowledge centuries of painting, from the Renaissance to the Fin de siècle, but the inspiration comes from the mundane. Real subjects, intimately rendered, provide the foundation of a living Mythos.