The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism

The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism PDF Author: Patrick Lepetit
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620551764
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
A profound understanding of the surrealists’ connections with alchemists and secret societies and the hermetic aspirations revealed in their works • Explains how surrealist paintings and poems employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, alchemy, and other hermetic sciences to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers • Provides many examples of esoteric influence in surrealism, such as how Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers Not merely an artistic or literary movement as many believe, the surrealists rejected the labels of artist and author bestowed upon them by outsiders, accepting instead the titles of magician, alchemist, or--in the case of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo--witch. Their paintings, poems, and other works were created to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers. They used creative expression as the vehicle to attain what André Breton called the “supreme point,” the point at which all opposites cease to be perceived as contradictions. This supreme point is found at the heart of all esoteric doctrines, including the Great Work of alchemy, and enables communication with higher states of being. Drawing on an extensive range of writings by the surrealists and those in their circle of influence, Patrick Lepetit shows how the surrealists employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, and alchemy not simply as reference points but as significant elements of their ongoing investigations into the fundamental nature of consciousness. He provides many specific examples of esoteric influence among the surrealists, such as how Picasso’s famous Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers, how painter Victor Brauner drew from his father’s spiritualist vocation as well as the Kabbalah and tarot, and how doctor and surrealist author Pierre Mabille was a Freemason focused on finding initiatory paths where “it is possible to feel a new system connecting man with the universe.” Lepetit casts new light on the connection between key figures of the movement and the circle of adepts gathered around Fulcanelli. He also explores the relationship between surrealists and Freemasonry, Martinists, and the Elect Cohen as well as the Grail mythos and the Arthurian brotherhood.

The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism

The Esoteric Secrets of Surrealism PDF Author: Patrick Lepetit
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620551764
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 549

Get Book Here

Book Description
A profound understanding of the surrealists’ connections with alchemists and secret societies and the hermetic aspirations revealed in their works • Explains how surrealist paintings and poems employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, alchemy, and other hermetic sciences to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers • Provides many examples of esoteric influence in surrealism, such as how Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers Not merely an artistic or literary movement as many believe, the surrealists rejected the labels of artist and author bestowed upon them by outsiders, accepting instead the titles of magician, alchemist, or--in the case of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo--witch. Their paintings, poems, and other works were created to seek out unexplored regions of the mind and recover lost “psychic” and magical powers. They used creative expression as the vehicle to attain what André Breton called the “supreme point,” the point at which all opposites cease to be perceived as contradictions. This supreme point is found at the heart of all esoteric doctrines, including the Great Work of alchemy, and enables communication with higher states of being. Drawing on an extensive range of writings by the surrealists and those in their circle of influence, Patrick Lepetit shows how the surrealists employed mythology, gnostic principles, tarot, voodoo, and alchemy not simply as reference points but as significant elements of their ongoing investigations into the fundamental nature of consciousness. He provides many specific examples of esoteric influence among the surrealists, such as how Picasso’s famous Demoiselles d’Avignon was originally titled The Bath of the Philosophers, how painter Victor Brauner drew from his father’s spiritualist vocation as well as the Kabbalah and tarot, and how doctor and surrealist author Pierre Mabille was a Freemason focused on finding initiatory paths where “it is possible to feel a new system connecting man with the universe.” Lepetit casts new light on the connection between key figures of the movement and the circle of adepts gathered around Fulcanelli. He also explores the relationship between surrealists and Freemasonry, Martinists, and the Elect Cohen as well as the Grail mythos and the Arthurian brotherhood.

Surrealism and the Occult

Surrealism and the Occult PDF Author: Nadia Choucha
Publisher: Inner Traditions / Bear & Co
ISBN: 9780892813735
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
"Searching for a deeper understanding of the power and influence of surrealist art, Nadia Choucha clearly confirms that many surrealists and their predecessors were steeped in magical ideas. The Theosophical involvement of Kandinsky, the visionary paintings of Salvador Dali, the alchemy of Pablo Picasso, and the shamanism of Max Ernst and Leonora Carrington all demonstrate the fundamental and dynamic impact of magic and mysticism on surrealism. Surrealist artists believed that society had much to learn from the unconditioned, spontaneous forms of art produced by spiritual mediums, children, untutored artists, and the insane. In their attempt to tap the unconscious regions of the mind, the surrealists borrowed imagery from alchemy, the Tarot, Gnosticism, Tantra, and other esoteric traditions and sought inspiration from ancient myths, 'irrational' thought, and ethnic art. Enhanced by both color and black-and-white reproductions of fine art, Choucha's account explains the intimate connections between occult and surrealist philosophies and provides an essential key to the mysteries of the surrealist movement and the forces that give it life" --Back cover.

The Absence of Myth

The Absence of Myth PDF Author: Georges Bataille
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1789602653
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
For Bataille, the absence of myth had itself become the myth of the modern age. In a world that had lost the secret of its cohesion, Bataille saw surrealism as both a symptom and a beginning of an attempt to address this loss. His writings on this theme are the result of a profound reflection in the wake of World War Two. The Absence of Myth is the most incisive study yet made of surrealism, insisting on its importance as a cultural and social phenomenon with far-reaching consequences. Clarifying Bataille's links with the surrealist movement, and throwing revealing light on his complex and greatly misunderstood relationship with Andr Breton, The Absence of Myth shows Bataille to be a much more radical figure than his postmodernist devotees would have us believe: a man who continually tried to extend Marxist social theory; a pessimistic thinker, but one as far removed from nihilism as can be.

Hermetic Philosophy and Creative Alchemy

Hermetic Philosophy and Creative Alchemy PDF Author: Marlene Seven Bremner
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1644112892
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 561

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Book Description
• Examines the foundational texts and principles of Hermeticism and alchemy, showing how they offer a foundation for a psycho-spiritual creative practice • Takes the reader on a Hermetic journey through each of the seven traditional planets, offering meditative discourses that speak directly to the intuitive soul • Provides examples from traditional alchemical art and the author’s own intricate esoteric paintings Drawing on ancient Egyptian and Greek cosmogonies and essential Hermetic texts, such as the Corpus Hermeticum, the Emerald Tablet (Tabula Smaragdina), and the Nag Hammadi codices, Marlene Seven Bremner offers a detailed understanding of Hermetic philosophy and the art of alchemy as a foundation for a psycho-spiritual creative practice. Offering examples from traditional alchemical art and her own intricate esoteric paintings, Bremner examines the foundational principles of Hermeticism and alchemy and shows how these traditions are a direct means for accessing higher consciousness and true self-knowledge, or gnosis, as well as a way to extract the essence of one’s own creative gifts. The author takes the reader on a Hermetic journey through each of the seven traditional planets--Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon--exploring their mythological, philosophical, alchemical, Qabalistic, magical, astrological, and energetic natures and offering meditative discourses that reach past the rational mind to speak directly to the intuitive soul. She relates the seven planets to the esoteric anatomy of the human body, specifically the seven chakras, and shows how the planets can offer understanding and experience of archetypal energies and patterns in the body, in one’s life, and in the creative process. A profound synthesis of magical and occult teachings as well as an initiation into the alchemical opus, this book reveals how to integrate and apply Hermetic and alchemical principles to awaken inner knowing, liberate the imagination, and live a mystical, creative, and truly inspired life.

Surrealism, Occultism and Politics

Surrealism, Occultism and Politics PDF Author: Tessel M. Bauduin
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135137902X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 639

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Book Description
This volume examines the relationship between occultism and Surrealism, specifically exploring the reception and appropriation of occult thought, motifs, tropes and techniques by Surrealist artists and writers in Europe and the Americas, from the 1920s through the 1960s. Its central focus is the specific use of occultism as a site of political and social resistance, ideological contestation, subversion and revolution. Additional focus is placed on the ways occultism was implicated in Surrealist discourses on identity, gender, sexuality, utopianism and radicalism.

Surrealist Sorcery

Surrealist Sorcery PDF Author: Will Atkin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350227498
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Often regarded as an artistic movement of interwar Paris, Surrealism comprised an international community of artists, writers, and intellectuals who have aspired to change the conditions of life itself over the course of the past century. Consisting of a wide range of dedicated case studies from the 1920s to the 1970s, this book highlights the international dimensions of the Surrealist Movement, and the radical chains of thought that linked its followers across the globe: from France to Romania, and from Canada to the former Czechoslovakia. From very early on, the surrealists approached magic as a means of bypassing, discrediting, and combatting rationalism, capitalism, and other institutionalized systems and values that they saw to be constraining influences upon modern life. Surrealist Sorcery maps out how this interest in magic developed into a major area of surrealist research that led not only to theoretical but also practical explorations of the subject. Taking an international perspective, Atkin surveys this important quality of the movement and how it's remained an important element in the surrealist project and its ongoing legacy.

Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo

Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo PDF Author: Dennis Pottenger
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000377474
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo offers a depth psychological analysis of the art and life of Remedios Varo, a Spanish surrealist painter. The book uses Varo’s paintings in a revolutionary way: to critique the patriarchal underpinnings of Jungian psychology, alchemy, and Surrealism, illuminating how Varo used painting to address cultural complexes that silence female expression. The book focuses on how the practice of alchemical psychology, through the power of imagination and the archetypal Feminine, can lead to healing and transformation for individuals and culture. Alchemy, Jung, and Remedios Varo offers the first in-depth psychological treatment of the role alchemy played in the friendship between Varo and Leonora Carrington—a connection that led to paintings that protest the pitfalls of patriarchy. This unique book will be of great interest for academics, scholars, and post-graduate students in the fields of analytical psychology, art history, Surrealism, cultural criticism, and Jungian studies.

Five Keys to the Secret World of Remedios Varo

Five Keys to the Secret World of Remedios Varo PDF Author: Margarita de Orellana
Publisher: Artes de Mexico y del Mundo
ISBN: 9789706833389
Category : Animals in art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A detailed and scholarly collection of essays on the art of Varo (b. Spain 1908 - d. México 1963) as studied from 5 different perspectives, with contributions from Walter Gruen, her second husband.

Sacred Surrealism, Dissidence and International Avant-Garde Prose

Sacred Surrealism, Dissidence and International Avant-Garde Prose PDF Author: Vivienne Brough-Evans
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317060164
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 269

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Book Description
Vivienne Brough-Evans proposes a compelling new way of reevaluating aspects of international surrealism by means of the category of divin fou, and consequently deploys theories of sacred ecstasy as developed by the Collège de Sociologie (1937–39) as a critical tool in shedding new light on the literary oeuvre of non-French writers who worked both within and against a surrealist framework. The minor surrealist genre of prose literature is considered herein, rather than surrealism's mainstay, poetry, with the intention of fracturing preconceptions regarding the medium of surrealist expression. The aim is to explore whether International surrealism can begin to be more fully explained by an occluded strain of 'dissident' surrealist thought that searches outside the self through the affects of ekstasis. Bretonian surrealism is widely discussed in the field of surrealist studies, and there is a need to consider what is left out of surrealist practice when analysed through this Bretonian lens. The Collège de Sociologie and Georges Bataille's theories provide a model of such elements of 'dissident' surrealism, which is used to analyse surrealist or surrealist influenced prose by Alejo Carpentier, Leonora Carrington and Gellu Naum respectively representing postcolonial, feminist and Balkan locutions. The Collège and Bataille's 'dissident' surrealism diverges significantly from the concerns and approach towards the subject explored by surrealism. Using the concept of ekstasis to organise Bataille's theoretical ideas of excess and 'inner experience' and the Collège's thoughts on the sacred it is possible to propose a new way of reading types of International surrealist literature, many of which do not come to the forefront of the surrealist literary oeuvre.

The Initiatory Path in Fairy Tales

The Initiatory Path in Fairy Tales PDF Author: Bernard Roger
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620554046
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Hidden within age-old classic stories lie the hermetic teachings of alchemy and Freemasonry • Explains how the stages of the Great Work are encoded in both little known and popular stories such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood • Reveals the connection between Mother Goose and important esoteric symbols of the Western Mystery tradition • Demonstrates the ancient lineage of these stories and how they originated as the trigger to push humanity toward higher levels of consciousness In his Mystery of the Cathedrals, the great alchemist Fulcanelli revealed the teachings of the hermetic art encoded in the sculpture and stained glass of the great cathedrals of Europe. What he did for churches, his disciple Bernard Roger does here for fairy tales. Through exhaustive analysis of the stories collected by the Brothers Grimm, Perrault, and others, Roger demonstrates how hermetic ideas, especially those embodied in alchemy and Freemasonry, can be found in fairy tales, including such popular stories as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Little Red Riding Hood as well as the tales attributed to “Mother Goose.” The goose has long been an important esoteric symbol in the Western Mystery tradition. The stories told under the aegis of Mother Goose carry these symbols and secrets, concealed in what hermetic adepts have long called “the language of the birds.” Drawing upon the original versions of fairy tales, not the sanitized accounts made into children’s movies, the author reveals how the tales illustrate each stage of the Great Work and the alchemical iterations required to achieve them. He shows how the common motif of a hero or heroine sent in search of a rare object by a sovereign before their wishes can be granted is analogous to the Masonic quest for the lost tomb of Hiram or the alchemist’s search for the fire needed to perform the Great Work. He also reveals how the hero is always aided by a green bird, which embodies the hermetic understanding of the seed and the fruit. By unveiling the secret teachings within fairy tales, Roger demonstrates the truly ancient lineage of these initiatory stories and how they originated as the trigger to push humanity toward higher levels of consciousness.