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Viridis Genii Symposium 2022

17 Oct

I am honored to have been invited to this year’s Viridis Genii Symposium as a presenter and workshop host! The virtual event took place September 23rd – 25th 2022. I am glad we made it work despite the 9 hour time difference. I shared nearly all my knowledge on plants and creating art with them and introduced my way of combining ritual magic with phytography. It was wonderful to receive such positive feedback both on my presentation and workshop.

The publication accompanying the annual event features also my essay on Phytography (introducing the term), my encounter with the guardian of the witch hazel and two illustrations by me. The book can be ordered here: https://viridisgenii.com/product/viridis-genii-series-7-vol-2/

Creating Magical Images of Plants – Combining Phytography and Ritual Magic

1 hour lecture + 3 hour workshop included the following topics:

  • methods of ritual magic, sympathetic magic and planetary magic
  • indepth information on plant pigments
  • short history of nature printing
  • alternative photography processes feat. work by Malin Fabbri and Kristina Feldhammer
  • Datura wrightii flower at Pinwheel Cave California
  • examples of phytographs created with coffee and plants
  • workshop guides through the ritual creation of your own magical plant paper talismans
  • question & answer on anything plant/ritual related

Workshop materials provided to attendents include:

  • ritually harvested, pressed flowers and plants
  • absorbent paper
  • signed print of the witch hazel seal

Phytographs created during the 3 hour Workshop:

  1. Magnolia, hour of Venus
  2. Fennel, hour of Mercury
  3. California Poppy, hour of Mercury + Moon
  4. Blue Lotus, hour of Moon
  5. Witch Hazel, hour of Saturn

My gratitude goes to the organizers Catamara and Marcus as well as the team of people that made it all possible, especially Kim, Katrink and Prof. Porterfield. Huge thanks also to the people that attended and took part in the workshops, especially David!

I am looking forward to the next point in time when the portals open for communing with the genii of the plant kingdom.

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New Sigilla Magica and Plant Papers

8 Mar

In 2021 I reworked some designs in my Sigilla Magica series. I also continued experimenting with applying plants unto paper, by placing whole plant parts on the paper and then soaking everything in coffee and plant extracts. See videos of the process on my instagram. In a final step, the new sigils were drawn with india ink on the papers. The new series was done with Black Henbane, Deadly Nightshade and High John the Conqueror root. I created three pieces of each. I am proud to say that one edition is now in the hands of a collector in Bavaria and the second one has recently been purchased by photographer and friend Cyril Helnwein in Ireland. Thanks guys for supporting my art!

If you are interested in publishing my work or wish to purchase originals, please e-mail me at contact[@]wiebkerost.com

Plant Negatives, 2021: Aconitum napellus, Circaea lutetiana, Hyoscyamus niger

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ROOT Art Exhibition Online

22 Dec

ROOT is the inaugural exhibition hosted by The Organic Centre & creatively coordinated by artist Sarah Ellen Lundy as part of the pairs ongoing collaborative ‘Project Earth’.

https://www.rootexhibition.com/

 

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Plants and Planets

13 Jul

In the past botanists such as Nicholas Culpeper associated plants with the planets, fixed stars and zodiac signs. The attributions were based on an intense study of a plant’s features, which included treats such as a thorny or prickly appearance, the scent emitted by the flowers or the entire plant, the plant’s life cycle, colors, metals contained in a plant, medicinal and other uses and of course plenty of folklore. Today plants are classified scientifically based on their genome, but their planetary lore is preserved and continues to evolve in the books of authors such as Stephen Skinner, Paul Huson, Scott Cunningham, Harold Roth and so on.

I find it fun and inspiring to continue this tradition and to explore its own inner logic. And since I spent the past 3 weeks gardening, I took to it and photographed the recent herb harvest according to the planets. The following series follows the Chaldean sequence. Photos by myself. Please share and credit.

Please visit my garden blog for further info on plants and their planetary correspondences: https://pflanzenkunst.wordpress.com/planetary-correspondences/

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“Bad Intentions” Exhibition Opening at Gallery CIRCLE1, Berlin 2017

25 Nov

“Bad Intentions” Exhibition Opening @ Circle 1, Berlin

The candles have been lit, the incense has been burnt; my work now vibrates in the rooms of gallery Circle 1 until December 23rd. What started as a vague idea of creating artwork for a list of magical plants, has years later finally taken shape. Now was the point when everything fell into place naturally. It was preceded by searching and researching, trial and error, sowing, growing, loss and gain in the very basic and earth-bound occupation as a gardener and harvester. The first hand study of the actual plants laid the foundation, my rediscovered love for ink became the tool for manifesting my visions.

The installation is hence titled “Harvest” and consists of an earthen altar with dried plants and harvest related offerings: self baked bread, honey from the neighborhood and self-made beeswax candles. The souls and spirits that were contained in the once alive, now dead corpora of the plants, find a new house in the form of fetishistic ink drawings: the “Sigilla Magica” series.

With these new forms I also find an own language, which aims to both entertain and communicate memes to the viewer. 12 ink drawings reference 11 magical plants as well as the ‘queen bee’ – “Regina Bombina” – governing the vital interaction between plants and pollinators. In addition, 2 anthropomorphic drawings depict the Aconite and Mandragora in half-human form, as the armed and poison-dart struck “Wolf Shaman” and beheaded and re-headed “Regina Amandrakina” with her freakish offspring. Lastly, 2 botanical studies of the roots of the Aconite and Mandragora are meant to act as a bridge between abstraction and realism and honor the individual and fascinating shape of each in detail.

Some of the works:

 

Impressions from the vernissage:

Thanks to all involved!

17.11.-23.12.2017 – Bad Intentions,
a group exhibition curated by Avi Pitchon and Alona Harpaz

Opening times:
Thursday – Saturday
12:00-18:00

CIRCLE1 Gallery
Mittenwalder Stra­ße 47
10961 Berlin

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Wooden Seed Boxes #27-30

11 Mar


Seed boxes #27-30, completed

The boxes contain seeds from at least 44 different venific and benific ‘witch’ herbs. The boxes are pyrographed with the “sigilum major” or “greater sowing seal”, stained and varnished. Then hundreds of little paper bags are labeled and filled with the seeds, which I partly gather by myself and partly purchase from other places. I usually spend at least 40 hours on four of these boxes. It is a tedious but also rewarding process, which gives me the chance to connect deeper with the herbs and it also empties the mind and brings new inspiration. It is my hope that the content of these boxes will bring joy to others and aid them in their own studies.

Update: the boxes are sold. Please write to me at info@teufelskunst.com if you wish to reserve one in the future!

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Back at the Blackthorn Gate

2 Jun

2016 05 29 Sunset

The sunset that evening

2016 05 29 Meadow

The grass on the meadow in full bloom; everything smelled like summer

2016 05 29 Thorngate

The Blackthorn hedge forms a gate around a beaten path. As the former hedge slowly grows into trees, they begin to wither from within, whilst new blackthorn shrubs grow on the outside. With the years a dense thicket is formed, where birds and other animals find a home.

2016 05 29 Schierling

A poison hemlock plant, found on a meadow. The purple spots on green stem and pungent smell easily distinguish it from other umbelliferous plants.

Blackthorn Crowns '16

From the gathered blackthorn branches thorn-crowns are made. I’ve been working with the blackthorn for over a decade; since three years I am returning annually to gather branches for making these thorn-crowns. This year I gathered material for making four to five crowns. Two are already reserved. E-mail me if you are interested in receiving one as well.

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Fingers II

9 Apr

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This time it is not about a surreal dream and also not about the fennel. But it is about another plant’s “fingers”. In folklore the male fern’s “hand” is a lucky charm, meant to bestow fortunes and the power over the souls of the dead to it’s owner. In order to obtain it, the sorcerer must harvest the male fern’s root on the Eve of St. John. Then he must roast the root in the fire. The hand is made in such manner as to bind five strands of the fronds together: the root base of the stem is left attached and the rest of the frond’s foliage is removed. The result resembles a “hand”, with tendons (hairy stems) and fingers (stipe bases). Frankly, I never made such “hand” in this manner. But I’ve gathered plenty of male fern roots and had the most magical experiences granted through working with these roots in various ways, always discovering new aspects to this wondrous plant. Above is another version of this “lucky hand”, formed by the stipe bases and a single frond.

Btw., the stipe bases of the male fern’s fronds are green and spongy towards the center, whereas as the outer (old) parts turn black and rot. So if you were to use the root, make sure you actually use the parts that still have juices in them. Below is a close-up of how that should look:

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Male Fern stipe base, light green in color and of a spongy texture

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Male fern root: in the bowl are the vital parts, to the left are the rotten parts

More about the male fern

Male fern inspired art:

Dead Man's Eve, 2010

“Dead Man’s Eve”, pencil drawing, 2010

Wurmfarn Siegel

Male Fern plant sigil, 2010

 

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Forward Look 2016: Changes, Ideas, New Projects

31 Dec

Keywords: road maps, systematic approaches, reduction, advancement

Looking back at 2015, an important step was the birth of Planta Magica/ Pflanzenkunst. This project shall receive more attention in 2016. As I continue updating and publishing articles about plants at the new site, I may also start offering downloadable e-books and printed booklets. This can happen in the form of a journal series, discussing in depth certain plants under different aspects. The texts would be accompanied by my photography and plant inspired art. As an example can serve my article about the Mandrake, which was published in Anathema’s Pillars Journal.

Teufelskunst - Pflanzenkunst copy

Pertaining to Teufelskunst, which is now heading into its 5th year since the site went online, there shall also occur some changes. As the work with the green is now receiving space within a new frame, Teufelskunst will focus more on products and creations tied to certain esoteric lines of practice, these being foremost the qliphoth. On top of my list for 2016 are two spiritual maps to be offered as prints, as well as the continuation of my qliphothic incense line. Expect incense for Adramelech/Sammael very soon.

Along with this the Teufelskunst website shall undergo a trimming and the Garden will move here. I will cut it down to three site sections: the first is to give an overview of available products and tools. A second site section, the Devil’s Trumpet, is dedicated to interviews with other artists and the exploration of different esoteric concepts. Secondhand Literature, the third site section, will continue, despite animosity from different directions. I feel it is now more important than ever to appreciate but also to grow a critical view at the esoteric book genre and recent book releases. Besides, lets face it: some want to part with their esoteric library, others want to get their hands on sold out titles. Herein lies potential for magical experience to be passed on along with the books and, being handed on, their prestige grows as well.

What more? At the end of 2015 I found myself in a loop of crafting and delivering. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, I did not find any time at all to work on drawings or possible collaborations, as my mail-order kept me busy 24/7. I also did not find time to work on larger commissions, such as statues. The road to take in 2016 will be to focus on fewer products, higher quality and commissions that challenge me on an artistic level. In 2015 part of my life time got sucked up in bureaucracy, e.g. pertaining to customs and import regulations. I learned some new lessons there, however I doubt whether these were conducive experiences. Some things I wouldn’t do a second time.

In 2016 I hence hope to get to projects talked about in 2015. One would include doing artwork for a band. The other is a photography collaboration with Mr. James Patrick of Death Sex Electronics.

But before all of this enrolls, I look forward to spending New Year’s in a small circle of friends, then a relaxed and creative first week of January, where I see myself preparing a new print edition.

Stay tuned for more and thanks for the great feedback on my work.

Lets rock 2016

Wiebke

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Plant Riddle #3 – Solution

30 Dec

As a reminder, I gave the following hints:

This time the herb I’m looking for is not a poisonous one – quite the contrary! It is a classic healing herb, which belongs in any herbal apothecary. A giant in the garden, its name relative is associated with an adversarial hero, who helped man and offended the gods…

The riddle included an illustration, which was to aid in finding the answer. Here is the drawing again:

riddle-no3

 

The illustration hinted at the legend of Prometheus, who stole the fire from the olymp in the shaft of a Giant Fennel (Ferula communis). The drawing also shows the planetary ruler (Mercury) and associated element (Fire), which apply to both herbs. Hence the relative I was looking for, was the Common Fennel (Feoniculum vulgare). I admit this time the riddle was a little more tricky.

Thanks to everyone, who commented and shared their ideas! It was great fun reading your remarks and seeing the chain of thoughts that lead most of you to the right answer. Other suggestions included angelica, dill, chamomile and yarrow. Since Angelica had been mentioned often, I’m sharing here for comparison my sigillum for it:

Angelica

Angelica

Some of you recognized, the difference in foliage and some other elements. I feel inspired though to give this image, which is already a bit older, a make-over and add planetary as well as some more hints at its folkloristic and magical attributions…

For more info about these herbs, please visit my new blog dedicated solely to the Green.

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