L'Etrange Cabinet

19/07/2022

Back by popular demand beginning August 2, join us for Puppet as Portal: A Five-Week Live, Online Zoom Class with Artist and Educator Alisa Sickora Kleckner. Learn more and register at bit.ly/3u3UwZV.

In this class, we will unpack what is it about puppets, poppets, and dolls that we both love and fear, and in doing so, we will reclaim these emotionally charged objects as a vehicle to conjure creativity, banish blockages, and enliven our practice as makers.

As we unravel the mysteries of this sympathetic magical practice, we will also be creating our own animate-able puppet muse, a house for our new friend and ways to ensoul the object through mindful fabrication approaches and ritual considerations. Weekly prompts will be offered to aid in your process as creator and companion, so that you may build a relationship as you build your muse.

Whether a practicing artist or a person who would like to petition for more time for creative exploration, this class offers a pathway to actualize that desire through the lens of imitation and correspondence magic, raw creation, and your will.

Working within both the professional and academic communities, Alisa Sickora Kleckner has designed and built costumes, masks, puppets, and f/x makeup for well over 200 productions, specializing in by not limited to theatre and themed entertainments. Alisa has also produced, directed and/or written a number of original puppetry pieces and devised works as well as created or consulted on immersive experiences.

Matthew Venus is a folk magician, artist, writer, and witch located in Salem, MA. He is the co-founder of the Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival and the owner and lead apothecary of Spiritus Arcanum, an online and event-based supplier of handcrafted occult wares.

05/07/2022

Back by popular demand beginning August 2, join us for Puppet as Portal: A Five-Week Live, Online Zoom Class with Artist and Educator Alisa Sickora Kleckner. Learn more and register at bit.ly/3u3UwZV.

In this class, we will unpack what is it about puppets, poppets, and dolls that we both love and fear, and in doing so, we will reclaim these emotionally charged objects as a vehicle to conjure creativity, banish blockages, and enliven our practice as makers.

As we unravel the mysteries of this sympathetic magical practice, we will also be creating our own animate-able puppet muse, a house for our new friend and ways to ensoul the object through mindful fabrication approaches and ritual considerations. Weekly prompts will be offered to aid in your process as creator and companion, so that you may build a relationship as you build your muse.

Whether a practicing artist or a person who would like to petition for more time for creative exploration, this class offers a pathway to actualize that desire through the lens of imitation and correspondence magic, raw creation, and your will.

Working within both the professional and academic communities, Alisa Sickora Kleckner has designed and built costumes, masks, puppets, and f/x makeup for well over 200 productions, specializing in by not limited to theatre and themed entertainments. Alisa has also produced, directed and/or written a number of original puppetry pieces and devised works as well as created or consulted on immersive experiences.

Matthew Venus is a folk magician, artist, writer, and witch located in Salem, MA. He is the co-founder of the Salem Witchcraft & Folklore Festival and the owner and lead apothecary of Spiritus Arcanum, an online and event-based supplier of handcrafted occult wares.

Image: Devil marionette, 19th century, Tiller Clowes collection

13/06/2022

23/05/2022

LAST CALL for tonight’s event! Monday, May 23 join us for Moirology: The Art of Lamentation: An Illustrated Lecture by Master Jeweler, Educator and Art Historian .bachmann. Click the link in our bio and select EVENTS or visit www.morbidanatomy.org/events to learn more and register.

Death and grieving are difficult. The crying, wailing, wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth really wear down the bereaved. There is a solution, however, if you don’t feel like having mascara running in teary rivulets down your cheeks… hire a professional!

Moirologists, aka professional mourners, have been providing this paid service for millennia. This evening’s lecture will follow the history of moirology from antiquity to the present. We will examine professional lamentation in various global cultures including pharaonic Egypt, classical Greece & Rome, Portuguese carpidieras, Mexican lloranas, Sicilian widows, New Orleans jazz funerals, mutes, bawlers, weepers, keening and squealing, and even Taiwanese funeral st*****rs. Bring your tissues.

Professor Karen Bachmann teaches at both Pratt Institute and Fashion Institute of Design. She specializes in both fine and bridge jewelry, wearable art, and decorative art. She has particular interests in medieval memento mori and 19th century sentimental work. Lectures, workshops, and talks include the American Folk Art Museum, Mutter Museum, Victorian Society of America, Morbid Anatomy Museum, Atlas Obscura, and Katonah Museum of Art, amongst others. Written published work includes Hairy Secrets: Human Relic as Memory Object in Victorian Hairwork Jewelry. Her most recent publication is an essay on 19th century mourning jewelry in the book Death: a Graveside Companion, Thames & Hudson.
Mourner, tomb sculpture from the Court of Burgundy adorning the tomb of John the Fearless (1371–1­419)

19/05/2022

17/05/2022

14/05/2022

Isis of the Snakes, Ptolemaic period, with clear hellenistic influences (note the Knot of Isis has moved from her belt to her chest). Part of next week's visual livecast: Egyptian Goddess in Late Antiquity. Isis Lactans, Isis Demeter, -Ermouthis, -Aphrodite, and -Fortuna; Snaky Isis; the much-beloved Baubo; Bes and Besit. Drummers, musicians, Amazons, and female figurines. Plus Cleopatra, Berenike, Arsinoe, Hypatia; a couple of women alchemists; and christian repression of Kemetic religion.

Two zoom visual livecasts: Thurs 19 May, 6:30 pm; and Sat 21 May, at noon: both California time. *Important*: check a timeconverter for your local equivalent. If you cannot make either time, request a link to the recording by replying to your registration access email; recorded version available til July 15.

http://www.sourcememory.net/events.html

12/04/2022

A "Mermaid Mummy" is located in the temple and was an attraction for worshippers, a source of nightmares and mystery for many centuries.

11/04/2022

03/04/2022

Tea ~

29/03/2022

The Conch Shell 🐚

🐚 In Greek mythology, the conch shell is associated with Triton, the son of Neptune, who is said to have owned a conch shell that he used to control the ocean’s waves.

🐚 The Polynesians of the Cook Islands claim that when you place the conch shell near your ear, you will hear the voice of Rongo, the god who bestowed fire to humans.

🐚 In Buddhism, the conch is said to be one of the 8 auspicious symbols (known as the Ashtamangala). It represents the melodious voice of the Buddha. Even today in Tibet, it’s used for religious gatherings, as a musical instrument, and as a container to hold holy water during rituals. Devotees believe that blowing it can enhance the positive vibrations of the mind such as hope, optimism, willpower, and courage.

🐚 According to Hindu mythology, the conch shell is a revered and sacred emblem of the Hindu god Vishnu, known as the Preserver. When blown, the sound heard from the conch shell is said to be symbolic of the sacred ‘Om’ sound, which is believed to be the very first sound of creation. And Vishnu, who is often portrayed holding the conch in his right hand, is the god of sound.

—Okimono of carved ivory, a yamabushi (a mountain ascetic) blowing a conch shell and accompanied by small boys, Japan

26/03/2022

Chart of the Hand.⠀
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One of the many fantastic illustrations to be found in Dr Alesha Sivartha's enigmatic 1898 work titled The Book of Life: The Spiritual and Physical Constitution of Man. In the book Sivartha — thought to be the pen name for an Arthur E. Merton — expounds his curious mix of theosophy and phrenology, a teaching which apparently attracted the attention of Mark Twain among others. Obsessed with the magical properties of the number 12, in each of Sivartha's brain "maps" he breaks down the grey matter into 12 different sections, as well as looking at other parts of the body such as hands and the nervous system as a whole.⠀

More here: https://buff.ly/3a5TVea

And prints available to buy here: https://buff.ly/2QtNo5q

26/03/2022

Oath Skull German. Probably 16th/ 17th century
Human skull,Sator formula in the letter square (Latin) "Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas" ("The Creator [=Sator/Sower] [he]preserves his works") scratched on the skull and read as a palindrome. In the Middle Ages, oath skulls were used, among other things, as objects of jurisdiction and later found their place in cabinets of curiosities.
The effect of the Sator formula is unknown. There are numerous attempts at interpretation, including the arrangement of the letters in a double pater noster in the form of a cross around the fulcrum "N" and the remaining "A" and "O" (alpha-omega).
The oldest find with the Sator formula dates from the 1st century AD. from Pompeii. Other early evidence comes from Cirencester, Manchester and St. Peter's Basilica. In the Middle Ages, the Sator square was widely used; among other things, it should protect against evil.

24/03/2022

Elon Musk's grandfather??

22/03/2022

15/03/2022

Inventor Robert Pittis Scott's Cycling Art, Energy, and Locomotion (1889) offers a whimsical and illustrated tour through the previous century of “man-motor locomotion” including a second half dedicated to unusual patents: https://buff.ly/3t8PQlk

09/03/2022

19/02/2022

Magical little being. Such a touching sense of longing and melancholy. "Fata Nocturnus" (2021) by Emil Melmoth.

𝑭𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆
𝑨𝒔 𝒂 𝒍𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒔
𝑬𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆
𝑨 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒇𝒔
𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆
𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒅𝒆.
..

16/02/2022

NEW SESSION ADDED BY POPULAR DEMAND! Beginning March 13, join us for The Mythologies of Death: Psychopomps, Liminal Spaces, and Underworld Realms; A Live, Online Six Week Class with Morbid Anatomy Founder Joanna Ebenstein. Learn more and register at bit.ly/3rVUFhC.

Death is the great mystery of human life. Today, we tend to view death through the lens of science and rationalism. Our ancestors, however, experienced death as part of a rich, invisible world with its own personalities and terrains, with eloquent myths explaining the origin of mortality and what happens to our souls when the body dies. These world views—or cosmovisions--were replete with their own dedicated gods and goddesses; psychopomps who oversaw the journey through liminal space from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead; rites of passage to contain and define the journey; and detailed descriptions of the places where the souls of the dead traveled to when the stage of embodiment came to an end.

In this six week class--comprised of lavishly illustrated lectures, suggested readings, homework prompts and class discussions and presentations--Morbid Anatomy founder Joanna Ebenstein will lead students in a deep dive into the fascinating ways our ancestors understood and imagined death and its personages and terrains, with an eye towards commonalities, and how these ideas live on today in religion, psychology, and a renewed interest in the occult and the invisible realms.

Along the way, we will examine the differing ways in which matriarchal and patriarchal cultures viewed death, the roots of “good” and “evil,” death in cultures of balanced complementary duality instead of binary opposition, the ways in which dominant Christian beliefs differs from most cosmologies around the world, and Jungian notions of symbols and mythologies of death and the dead.

Image: Mayan bat god Camazotz

16/02/2022

Born on this day in Wisconsin in 1868, the US photographer and ethnologist Edward S. Curtis. Here's his circa 1914 series depicting the ceremonial dress and masks of the Kwakwaka’wakw, an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast — https://buff.ly/3gPEzj3

08/02/2022

Back by popular demand beginning February 13, join us Making Art About Death: A Six-Week Live, Online Zoom Class with Artist and Educator Jill Littlewood (). Click the link in our bio and select CLASSES, or visit www.morbidanatomy.org/classes, to learn more and register!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Art is a conversation, with yourself and others. Since death can be hard to talk about, making art is a way to move through, understand, and express what is happening in and around you when you are confronted with death or thinking about your life’s journey.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Much of the world’s art expresses hopes and fears about death and possible afterlives: from pyramids to gravestones, in paintings and movies, with poetry and memoirs - and so much more - we celebrate those who die and imagine our own passing.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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In this class, we will use specific art forms to “talk” about death. It is my hope that something will inspire you now and other ideas will linger for when they may come alive in the future.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Image: Mémento Mori ivory carving, 16th Century, France, from the collection
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