In October we also visited Meißen. I was especially happy to finally get to see the Dome from inside. Above is a selection of photos of from this short trip. For this post I chose windows as a main theme, inspired by a photo taken through the distorted window glass inside the castle and the details on a gothic window flanked with arrows..
All Hallows is amongst others a time to remember your Dead and be receptive for the messages they communicate from the other side. I have previously blogged about the season and thinning of the veil that usually separates the worlds of the living and the dead. This post is about the actual period known as Allhallowtide, or more famously Halloween, which is celebrated on October 31, and the following nights of All Saints and All Souls, which are commemorated successively on November 1 and 2. These celebrations have a Christian background, though Halloween is often also viewed to have originated from Pagan harvest festivities, particularly the Gaelic Samhain. All have in common an occupation with death and the souls of the dead. Hence skulls and ghoulish appearances are a prominent theme during Halloween. Halloween could be translated as the ‘eve of the hallowed ones’ – the holy or good dead, spirits and saints of Christian faith. However, these long nights are also seen as a time of mischief and in pagan tradition they mark the beginning of the Wild Hunt, a fearsome and dangerous time associated with fateful events.
During these nights it is common to light candles and serve offerings for the dead. These customs find a climax in the Mexican celebrations of the Dia de los muertos, Day of the Dead, when the cemeteries turn into oceans of light, offerings of sugar skulls and pan de muerto, bread of the dead, are placed on graves and home altars, people dress up as skeletons and identify consciously with their dead and the skeletal saints Santa Muerte and la Calavera Catrina. (These customs may be rooted in but are actually far removed from Aztec times, when gruesome deities such as Mictlantecuhtli and Mictecacihuatl were feared and appeased with bloody sacrifices). Today’s day of the dead customs are mostly influenced by Catholicism and similar practices exist in other parts of Latin America and catholic parts of Europe.
I have been impressed and moved by the intensity and beauty of these celebrations since the first time I learned about them, and feel an urge to create a similar atmosphere in my place of living. Actually we too have a time for commemorating the dead, which is Totensonntag, the last Sunday before Advent. This is when we visit the graves of our dead relatives, grandparents and great-grand parents. But in my practice I also relate to the Dead that I once shared a part of my life with and the so-called Mighty Dead, which are much older spirits that act as spiritual guides and idols. For me these three nights of Allhallowtide are a time to relate to and honor these Dead and to do so I adopted some of the practices from the Mexican festival, some of which have been taught to me by friends and so another aspect of following these customs is carrying on a tradition.
Below you can see the offerings placed outside on my window bench. They consist of grave candles (which are weatherproof and indispensable during the stormy autumn nights), normal candles (which may or may not burn, depending on the weather), bread of the dead shaped into preferred forms and sweetened with honey, pomegranate (a reference to underworld deities such as Hecate and Persephone), orange or other type of fruits, e.g. figs, Vervain strewing herb and a glass filled with fresh water. Later I also added a pumpkin-lantern, into which I carved a Teufelskunst devil, to strengthen the flame that keeps me and my artistic work alive:
These offerings are left for as long as the candles keep burning (e.g. 72 hours) and then brought to a graveyard or a remote place in the forest, ideally where they won’t be removed by third parties, just so the souls can ‘feed’ on them undisturbed. And again in this case these offerings are not related to ones normal dead relatives and hence are not placed on those graves, but rather a neutral yet powerful spot is chosen, such as a crossroad, in front of a large tree or cross. Additional candles are lit, incense burnt and through silent or spoken prayers the tie between oneself and the spirits is renewed and strengthened.
Now I hope this post is helpful to my readers and especially those, to whom this festival (and my obsession with it) occurs as strange. Respect the work and you may prosper from it as well.
Update: I am adding some useful links on the topic below. The list shall grow as I find time and inspiration to add more…
Dreamt I was on some weird punk concert, with a band in their late fourties or fifties, and we were inside a school building with teachers and students, but the band was playing damn raw, aggressive and somewhat dark punk music, to which we were jumping around and poking each other… then suddenly I found myself in a different place, everything was dark and warm around me and infront of me was floating a huge brain in its sleeping stage. The brain was just mega-big and floating in space. There were spotlights highlighting it, whilst it kept turning around its own axis. First it looked all even and smooth with no gyri, and a literal ‘veil of sleep’ was covering it. But then the veil was lifted and the surface changed so that suddenly one could see the pulsating arteries, the veins and gyri. The light was like in a museum’s display cabinet, but the brain itself appeared as tall as a whale and the space around it reminded me of the deep ocean. I was entirely fascinated watching this thing from all sides but then I was woken from sleep and had to get up.
{I keep receiving positive feedback on my written dream accounts so I keep sharing them for anyone who likes to read them.}
NB: The brain condition known as “smooth brain” (lissencephaly) exists for real:
Adult human brain with no folds. Image Credit: Adam Voorhes. http://www.voorhes.com/
Last weekend we visited the newly restored castle in Moritzburg and afterwards had lunch at restaurant Seeblick. Below photos of the castle and lake in the golden October sun. On our way back we stopped once more to take a picture of the castle as sun was setting…
Favorite view towards the castle from the distance through the tree branches; castle reflection in the remaining water of the lake as it slowly empties before the winter; grey goose gathering; reed and chestnut trees by the water; people riding out by the lakeside
The statues on the balustrades all around the castle have been vividly restored. The originals were designed amongst others by Permoser and students. Depicted are puttos, animals and other figures as part of different hunting scenes…
I would have loved to also share pictures from inside the palace but unfortunately taking photos indoors was not allowed. Initially we had planned to take a special guided tour to get a chance to see the more remote parts of the building but sadly it was sold out. It was still amazing to see the newly restored Feather Room, the large collection of deer antlers and Meißen porcelain.
Finally done! Here are the latest sets of cards with my plant-inspired sigils. Wrapped in autumn-colored peacock marble paper, fitting for the autumnal equinox.
As you know I am dedicating sigils to each herb I work with and keep posting these sigils here and elsewhere. In March this year I made a first print set of these abstract sigilic emanations, which I brought with me for the London Magical Arte event. The cards were passed around, single motifs were discussed and became the basis for inspired conversation. At the time I had only printed the cards but not yet made a nice packaging for them. Later I made a slipcase with paper bought from my local bookbinder. Thus far two smaller editions have been done for the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, now followed by a 3rd for the Autumn Equinox, the content being:
All cards are hand-numbered on the back. With the help of a list you find the name of the corresponding herb for each card. There is no prescribed method of laying the cards. Possible ways of interpreting and laying them are outlined in the introduction that comes with each set.
Price: 31 Euro for one set + shipping
Offcial sale date was September 22 and thus far 9 boxes have already been paid and 3 more are reserved. I hope to be doing larger editions in the future with the help of the funds gathered through the sale of these first editions. If you wish to have one please message me at info@teufelskunst.com
I feel the change of season
this autumn fire
the nights getting longer
the impending darkness
this cold breath down my neck.
But I am aflame and
burning with passsion
to a degree that it
almost consumes me.
Memories and dreams
the future and the past
they are merging
in a round-dance of autumn leaves
in the yellow light of street lamps
or in the dim grayness of
one drizzly September day.
I am day dreaming
and the world around me becomes
like the surface of a pond
into which I dip my finger
and suddenly the whole picture
starts to ripple and disperse
and the voices of people talking to me are muted
and I hear something else.
Silence.
The veil is thinning.
I am dreaming of reconciliation.
Belladonna placed between newspaper pages for drying
In the mail today:
Seeds from my favorite Datura variant! Thank you maltaseeds27!
Some impressions from our garden as summer is coming to an end… it was raining a lot as of late and temperatures have been dropping below 10°C at night. I am busy almost every day, collecting herbs, seeds and flowers for different purposes. My room is thus looking like an extension of our garden… full of herbs hung up or laid out for drying.
Some garden impressions from this summer… I love my wicked green ‘dragon pit’ of Foxgloves, Henbane and Monkshood growing tall and into all directions. Black Henbane has become really large and is starting to look like a hydra with four necks… Vervain and Wormwood too have grown tall and bushy. Though they are still nothing in compare those Fennel giants! These are actually just common fennel plants (Foeniculum vulgare) sown 2 years ago. But a thick layer of garden compost is working magic on all my green this year.
