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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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Gallery

Wormwood

13 Aug

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Camellia Flower Tincture

6 Apr

Friday evening is tincture time

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Kamelienblüte Schloss Pillnitz, Frühlingsanfang 2019

22 Mar

The camellia in Pillnitz is around 230 years old, almost 9 m high and 11 m in diameter. From February to April it is covered in carmine red flowers. During the cold season, the tree, which was planted in 1801 by court gardener Terscheck, is protected by a large glass house with stairs. During this time visitors can enter and view the tree from two levels.

In the mid 19th century Dresden became a European hot spot for the culture and breeding of camellias, and exported them to Russia as well as Italy and Spain. The camellia was viewed as a status symbol among European aristocrats, and Russians in particular, had a high demand for camellia flowers, which were exported in thousands to St. Petersburg and Moscow.

With growing popularity among Westerners, and contrary to its Far Eastern symbolism, the meaning of the flower changed. Thanks to popular literature, most prominently La dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas from 1848, as well as real life personae, such as the “Wiener Cameliendame”, a dancer named Fanny Elßler, the camellia became erotizised!

On the other hand the longevity of the flowers, and particularly white camellia flowers, became associated with death and mourning and were woven into funeral wreaths.

The seeds of all known (about 200) camellia seeds yield a valuable oil, which smoothes the hair and juvenates the skin. The oil is rich in linolenic acid, and is also used in cooking and reduces cholesterine. Samurai rubbed camellia oil unto their sword blades to protect them from rust. The oil is also used as a natural surface finish for wood, as lube in watches and precision engineering and more.

Camellia wood is hard and durable and was used in the manufacture of weapons, different tools as well as kokeshi dolls. Up to the Edo period, a camellia rod was used in Buddhist ceremony to punish and drive out malign spirits. The wood also yielded a spark-free and, hence sought after charcoal.

Camellias are highly resistant against diseases and may contain different antibacterial and fungicidal agents.

Besides, the first Westerner to portrait a camellia flower was likely a Saxon gardener by the name George Meister. His book “Der Orientalisch-Indianische Kunst- und Lust-Gärtner” was published in 1692 in Dresden. In it he describes both the camellia as well as its crop plant, Camellia sinensis var. sinensis – the tea shrub!

Further Reading:

Geschichte & Verwendung von Kamelien


https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pillnitzer_Kamelie
https://www.schlosspillnitz.de/de/schloss-park-pillnitz/kamelie/

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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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Gallery

Botanical Garden Düsseldorf

8 May

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New Artwork and Music

4 Aug

Spent the night and all morning preparing new pieces of paper with coffee, wormwood tincture and fresh leaves from my datura plants. Now the paper is drying, then has to be pressed and then can be drawn on with ink. I am planning on a small series of inked sigils and perhaps one or two realistic datura plant drawings. Besides this, I yet have to prepare the paper for my next mandrake series and I also have a few new tinctures in the making. Meanwhile, here are my most recent ink drawings from past weeks (all sold and shipped):

“Black Mandrake”, India ink on stained paper, 2017
“Wolfsbane”, India ink on stained paper, 2017
“Belladonna”, India Ink on stained paper, 2017

While working with the datura I was blessed with new music by a lady, who creates audio-visual compositions inspired by the same plants that I grow and revere in my art. The project goes by the name CHTHONIA. I was given six tracks, to which I did not listen consciously, but rather had them running in the background. Yet there were moments, where I’d listen up and think, “well, this strangely harmonizes with how I perceive the plant’s character”. A very interesting experiment and endeavor, of which I hope we will soon hear more.

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Pale Glow

8 Apr

April nightfall – chill, raindrops on pale petals of daffodils and tulips, roses

The garden after dark, all the myths…

In antiquity a marriage outside one’s social class would bring shame over the family. Abductions were staged to justify such liaison.(1) Against this background the story of the abduction of Persephone appears in a new light. It enabled her to be part of and live in two worlds, which were otherwise closed away from each other. She maintained the privileges of the world of the living, but also dined with the dead in the underworld and was let into its secrets. According to legend she picked daffodils when Hades ‘abducted’ her to the underworld. Her story remains fascinating, her flowers remind us of it.

Martin Luther too staged his abduction. Believed to be dead by his foes, he used the time ‘in the dark’ to translate the bible from original sources into German language (with a little help from his friends), one of the most significant cultural contributions of mankind. His signature flower became the rose. (2)

(1) Harold Roth, The Witching Herbs, p. 48 “Kidnapped Brides”

(2) The Luther seal or Luther rose is a widely recognized symbol for Lutheranism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_rose

Besides…

I watched lots of docus on Arte +7. Yes, the one about the comet (so amazing) and the series on space time and matter. About the chief and the forests. Also earlier about the super plants. And now I am hung up on the magic garden series… eg this one about the garden as a place of initiation:  http://www.arte.tv/guide/de/057898-003-A/magische-garten

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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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