PsychArtcult

Into the Devil’s Den and Back: An Introduction to the History and Magical System of Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, Taught by Carl Abrahamsson, Beginning July 7

from $150.00

Four Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom

Sunday, July 7 – July 28th
1-3 PM ET
$150 Paid Patreon Members / $175 General Admission

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will be recorded for those who cannot attend live

This class—taught by Carl Abrahamsson,Magister of the Church of Satan and author of the book Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan: Infernal Wisdom from the Devil’s Den—will present an introduction to the theory and practice of Anton LaVey’s philosophy and magic. Having founded the Church of Satan in 1966, and written the infamous The Satanic Bible in 1969, LaVey’s mind was filled not only with ancient diableries but also a vast amount of syncretisms stemming from his filtering of contemporary times, as well as the highly subjective and personal kinks and obsessions he explored and integrated. LaVey’s creative mind composed and codified a brand new kind of occultism he chose to call Satanism. This was not necessarily revolt against the monotheistic dogma of the ages but rather a celebration of a rebellious spirit that has existed in all human cultures and times —one of creativity, passion, anti-hypocrisy, magic, genuine culture, and a healthy sense of egotism.

In the class, we will go through LaVey’s history and sources of inspiration, as well as the many forms of magic he wove into the Church of Satan. And go through the impact he has had on popular culture. We will look at the history of Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan, Satanic Magic in theory, and Satanic magic in practice. We will also investigate a ”Satano-Gnosis” for the future.

After each presentation—which will including the use of images and film clips— we will encourage the assembled to participate in a discussion/Q & A.

Carl Abrahamsson is the author of the book Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan: Infernal Wisdom from the Devil’s Den (Inner Traditions, 2022), and the director of the documentary Anton LaVey: Into the Devil’s Den (Trapart Film, 2019). He has also written a number of books on Occultural topics, as well as works of fiction, as well as editing the magico-anthropological journal The Fenris Wolf (1989-present day). As a Magister of the Church of Satan, he has decades long experience of working with LaVey’s magical system in praxis. In this class, you will get a thorough insight into the diabolically creative mind of Anton LaVey, and into the expansive potential of the philosophical and magical system LaVey left to the world. After each class, there will be ample time to ask questions, discuss, and come to your own conclusions.

The Magic of Occult Cinema with Carl Abrahamsson, Hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, beginning September 15

Dates: September 15, 22, 29 and October 6, 2024
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm EDT
Admission: $145 ($125 for Patreon members)

Please note: Zoom invites are sent five days before the first class meeting. If you do not receive it, please email us at hello@morbidanayomy.org

Join Swedish author and film-maker Carl Abrahamsson for a unique four-sessions class focusing on Occult Cinema. From films thematically dealing with the Occult and the Satanic to hidden away, macabre masterpieces to forgotten films made by sheer force of will, this inspiring class will be an enlightening, occasionally terrifying, and, most of all, fun way to broaden your horizons when it comes to both Occultism and its supreme magical tool: Cinema.

What lies hidden in the psychic darkness always needs to (re)surface and shine; this might happen within your own golden mind, projected on the ”silver screen,” or, quite often both at the same time… In this class, we will leave “good taste” behind as we invite you to open your mind, and dive into the collective unconscious of forgotten film history. 

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, publisher, and filmmaker. His books include Meetings with Remarkable Magicians: Life in the Occult Underground (2024), Source Magic (2023), Codex Nordica (2022), Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (2022), Different People (2021), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Occulture (2018), Mother, Have a Safe Trip (2016), and The Fenris Wolf series. His films include Reseduction (2022), My Silent Lips (2019), Lunacy (2017), Sub Umbra Alarum Luna (2016), and the An Art Apart series. His publishing company is Trapart Books, Films and Editions.

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair is a psychoanalyst, artist, and occultist based in Sweden, who works with people internationally. She hosts of the award-winning podcast, Rendering Unconscious. Her books include Things Happen (2024), Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Films of Ingmar Bergman: From Freud to Lacan and Beyond (2023), The Pathways of the Heart(2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: The Cut in Creation (2021), Switching Mirrors (2016), and Outsider Inpatient: Reflections on Art as Therapy (2021) with Elisabeth Punzi.

Together they host the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon!

Online Lecture · Ed Wood’s “Orgy of the Dead” – a Stereoscopic Look at a Classic of Occult Cinema, Presented by Carl Abrahamsson, Hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair

Date: Sunday, September 8, 2024
Time: 1pm ET

Admission: $8

PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org . A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Join Swedish author Carl Abrahamsson for an in-depth look at the film Orgy of the Dead (1965), written by supreme American auteur Ed Wood Jr. What seems on the surface to be yet another Wood sleaze-fest with zombie strippers and movie monsters contains considerably more than meets reptile brain and eye at first sight. Carl will unearth hidden meanings and relevances – perhaps specifically from a perspective of Carl Jung’s concept of the ”collective unconscious”… Can films like this really save the world? And… do you have what it takes to enjoy the sexual antics of these nocturnal creatures in a cemetery cloaked in stage smoke and diabolical double entendres?

Carl Abrahamssonis a writer, publisher, magico-anthropologist, filmmaker, and photographer. Since the mid-1980s he has been active in the magical community, integrating “occulture” as a way of life and lecturing about his findings and speculations. The author of several books, including Occulture and Source Magic, and the editor and publisher of The Fenris Wolf, he lives in Småland, Sweden. www.carlabrahamsson.com

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson curate the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them on Patreon!

Online Event · Artificial Human Companions, Doll Kink, Goth & Fetish Clubs with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Ad Vat

Sunday, June 16, 2024
1 pm ET

PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanatomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Spiral of Objects presented by Ad Vat

Welcome to a miasmic world of passion and play, in which humans and dolls interact to the ecstatic point of blurring the boundaries between waking reality and dark dreams; between philosophy and madness; between gender and identity; between lust and violence… Who is human and who is not in this erotic rollercoaster of intense and hallucinogenic twists and turns? When all is said and done, aren’t we all someone else’s plaything…?

Spiral of Objects is American author Ad Vat’s debut novel.

“This cruelty to those with small lights in their eyes has fed us from the top down. From a corrupt god, it drains into the culture. From the imperfect being who birthed us. Small himself, no doubt, with the illusion that he is an ambivalent giant. I see it in the superstores utilizing child labor, I see it in our sexual fixations, all of us. It’s a collective sickness, all of us. No, this view I had of the world didn’t give me nihilism, but it did give me the privilege to view myself as separate.” – Ad Vat

“This novel is sure to become the Queer and Naked Lunch of a generation.” – Dr. Vanessa Sinclair 

Ad Vat is a twenty-something-year-old social fruit fly that often likes to help build local book clubs, doll-make with consenting parties, photograph his partner-doll Nuvo, and continuously write and read. He always loves his friends and festivities, yet he enjoys finding himself in those chthonic places while he’s alone. He’s worked many odd jobs for odd people, and when he’s finished with another quaint day of work he likes to listen to the trains go by on his deck looking over Portland.

Things Happen presented by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair

Coming of age in 1990s Florida… Sex & drugs & dark music… Goth & Fetish Clubs… Abandoned Cocaine Gangster Hotels… Love & Violence… Friendships that last for life & beyond… A psychedelic underground in pastel-colored Miami… Ivy and her girlfriends roll with the crazy Florida waves and vibes and weirdos as they learn the ropes of reality (so-called)… And things happen. They really do.

Thing Happen is American artist & psychoanalyst Vanessa Sinclair’s debut novel: a prism of stories, fragments, and memories chronicling a young woman’s experiences of growing up in the anarchic high weirdness of Florida. It’s a time and space of awakenings in which sunshine, rainstorms and full-on hurricanes create the ambience of wide-eyed realizations that everything might not always be exactly as it seems.

“Vanessa Sinclair is a female William Burroughs for the age of desperation.” – Val Denham 

Vanessa Sinclair is an American artist and psychoanalyst residing in Sweden. She is in private practice and sees patients internationally, while also writing extensively about psychoanalysis (and editing books on the subject). She is also a renowned cut-up poet and collage artist, which also extends to being involved in several musical projects.

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson curate the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary

Harnessing the Magic and Creative Power of the Cut-up Method a la William Burroughs, David Bowie, Genesis P-Orridge, Led by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, beginning May 19

May 19, 26 and June 2, 9, 2024
1 pm – 3 pm EDT
$125 Patreon Members / $145 General Admission

The cut-up method was originally discovered by Dada instigator Tristan Tzara. In his 1920 manifesto To Make a Dadaist Poem he teaches us how to create what he called “accidental poems” by cutting words from a newspaper, putting them all into a hat, shaking the contents, and pulling them one by one to create poetry by chance.

At the Beat Hotel in Paris in 1958, creative partners William Burroughs and Brion Gysin rediscovered the cut-up method and elaborated upon it, moving from wordplay to audio recording, film, painting, collage, and further iterations. Gysin and Burroughs had been immersed in the magic of Morocco when they spent time with Paul and Jane Bowles in Tangier, and began to see the magical aspects inherent in their cut-up methodology.

David Bowie collided with William Burroughs and integrated the cut-up method into his way of writing song lyrics. A master of cutting up identity, Bowie played with the performative aspects of persona, gender, and sexuality.

Collectives such as Crass and Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) experimented with cutting up behavior and expectations through their “life as performance art” philosophies, challenging norms put upon them by parents, family, and society. TOPY intentionally wove magical elements into their creative practices, pulling heavily from the methods of Aleister Crowley and Austin Osman Spare, while idolizing Burroughs and Gysin as creative, magical masters.

TOPY ringleader Genesis P-Orridge harnessed the Third Mind work of Burroughs and Gysin and took their ideas even further, in a project coined Pandrogeny, through which Genesis and he/r other half Lady Jaye Breyer underwent a series of surgical, chemical, behavioral, spiritual, and psychological procedures to break down their individual identities and come together more fully as one. In this life as performance art endeavor, the pair challenged ideas of difference between self/other, man/woman, and even life/death.

In this class, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson will review the history and evolution of the cut-up method over the past century. They will demonstrate how to apply cut-up techniques to a variety of artistic mediums, and participants will be encouraged to create, bring in, and share their own works of art (if desired, not required). A wonderful thing about the cut-up method is that it can be applied to whichever medium you enjoy. Words, images, sounds, video, fashion, and performance art may all be cut-up and rearranged to create something new and unexpected.

Anyone can harness the magical and creative potential of the cut-up method. Even if you don’t have any experience with the creative arts or magical practice, the facilitators of this course will walk you through the basics, and show you fundamental ways you can begin a creative and magical practice through work with the cut-up method. There will be plenty of time in class to share and to ask questions.

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair is a psychoanalyst, artist, and occultist based in Sweden, who works with people internationally. She hosts of the award-winning podcast, Rendering Unconscious. Her books include Things Happen (2024), Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Films of Ingmar Bergman: From Freud to Lacan and Beyond (2023), The Pathways of the Heart (2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: The Cut in Creation (2021), Switching Mirrors (2016), and Outsider Inpatient: Reflections on Art as Therapy (2021) with Elisabeth Punzi.

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, publisher, and filmmaker. His books include Meetings with Remarkable Magicians: Life in the Occult Underground (2024), Source Magic (2023), Codex Nordica (2022), Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (2022), Different People (2021), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Occulture (2018), Mother, Have a Safe Trip (2016), and The Fenris Wolf series. His films include Reseduction (2022), My Silent Lips (2019), Lunacy (2017), Sub Umbra Alarum Luna (2016), and the An Art Apart series. His publishing company is Trapart Books, Films and Editions.

Together they host the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them at Patreon!

Images: Cut up artworks by instructor Dr Vanessa Sinclair

Online Event · Modern Occultism & A Limitless Search by Mitch Horowitz, Occult Influences In Pound’s Pisan Cantos by Katrina Makkouk

This event is part of the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

Sunday, March 10
1pm NYC

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanatomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Modern Occultism and the Need for a Limitless Search, a talk with Mitch Horowitz

Even those of us who identify with outsider spirituality and culture harbor, invent, or import parameters of thought that limit and potentially calcify our search. Mitch considers the overwhelming pervasiveness of religious and metaphysical models of thought, culture, and reality—and how these things may restrict or predetermine your spiritual, ethical, and personal questions. In the West, for example, thought framings from the Abrahamic religions (Judaism-Christianity-Islam) are so overwhelmingly familiar that, by dint of repetition, they appear perimeters of physical and extra-physical reality. Other cultures experience similar phenomena.

What does it mean to investigate how models of actuality—including those possessing great antiquity—inform and confine our metaphysics? Are we able to search without preset spiritual concepts? How do inherited categories proscribe our personal identities as seekers? Mitch Horowitz is a PEN Award-winning historian who books include Occult America, The Miracle Club, Daydream Believer, Uncertain Places, and, most recently, Modern Occultism. His books have been translated into Arabic, French, Korean, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. His work is censored in China.

Invoking the Spirits: The Occult Influences in Ezra Pound’s Pisan Cantos, presented by Katrina Makkouk

Katrina Makkouk’s study of modernist poet Ezra Pound’s Pisan Cantos is a great introduction to the work of the poet in general, and to his masterpiece The Cantos specifically. Written in incarceration right after WW2, Pound’s Pisan Cantos show his desire to penetrate deeper into the mysteries of history, memory, and mythology.

Drawing from the occult inspiration from his early mentor, W.B. Yeats, Pound went into an inner exile to retrieve whatever he needed to banish the restraining outer circumstances, and to finish his epic poem. The how and why of magic can so often be mysterious and enigmatic. For some, it does not provide entrance into an unseen world such as those sought out by Yeats. Rather, it enables the user to link themselves to the past, present, and future, and to fully connect oneself to what is beyond the ordinary reality in which we find ourselves. These threads of memory and magic that are woven throughout The Pisans makes this set of cantos the most unique amongst the other stars of Pound’s epic writing.

Katrina Makkouk is an author and researcher who lives in California. She earned her Master’s degree in English from Clemson University. Her primary research interests include modernism and the intersection of occult philosophy and methodology in literature.

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson curate the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them on Patreon!

Online Event · The Devil’s Footprint Book Talk and Q & A with Author Carl Abrahamsson, Hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair

Sunday, February 18, 2024
1 pm ET (6PM UK / 19 CET)

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanatomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

God proposes the challenge of the millennium: if Satan sorts out the ever growing human mess on Earth, God will lovingly take him back to Heaven as his favorite Archangel. Satan accepts, and sets out on a massive operation to balance out over-population, pollution, corruption, and other severely Satanic headaches – many of which he originally helped create… Easier said than done!

Satan’s love of the ambitiously mischievous humans is challenged as his own “Team Apocalypse” fervently sets to work. But as the world begins to change quickly and dramatically for the better, a new question arises: can God and his suspicious Archangels really be trusted in this cataclysmic, cosmic undertaking?

Join author Carl Abrahamsson as he takes the audience on a cosmic journey in his swashbuckling apocalyptic novel. Beginning with a tale as old as time, Abrahamsson brings God, Lucifer, Galatea, and the Archangels to life as they run into characters such as Ambrose Bierce, Niccolo Machiavelli, and some carefree Russian oligarchs. ”It’s not easy being Evil in a world that’s gone to Hell!”

Carl Abrahamsson (b 1966) is a Swedish author, focusing on fiction and material about occulture and magico-anthropology. www.carlabrahamsson.com

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson curate the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions. By inviting psychoanalysts, philosophers, artists, writers, and occult practitioners from a variety of theoretical orientations and worldviews to discuss their work, personal experiences, and areas of research interest with one another, dialogue is opened up between practitioners in fields of study that traditionally rarely engage with one another though often operate in similar and complementary ways. Join them on Patreon!