The Magical Films of Iconic Director Tim Burton with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, Begins December 1

The Magical Films of Iconic Director Tim Burton with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, Begins December 1

Four Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom

Sundays, December 1 – 22, 2024
1:00 – 3:30 pm ET (NYC Time)
$125 Paid Patreon Members / $150 General Admission

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time

Join Dr. Vanessa Sinclair for a deep dive into the films one of the most beloved and iconic directors of our time, Tim Burton. With his fantastic stories, unforgettable characters, and whimsical sets, Burton’s style is immediately recognizable. For decades he has given voice to the weirdos and outcasts, the kids who never quite fit in. As Winona Ryder recently said when Burton was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, “[Burton] made being a weird girl not just okay, but something to celebrate and even kind of cool.”

Dr. Sinclair will take course participants on a journey through the breadth and depth of Burton’s oeuvre, from early classics like Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns(1992), and The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) to recent hits Beetlejuice (2024) and Wednesday (2022–present). A true artist and auteur, Burton has remarked that in a way filmmaking has been his own kind of personal therapy. Dr. Sinclair will examine the development of Burton’s films, including how certain themes reflect this idiosyncratic director’s life and personality.

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair is a psychoanalyst, artist and occultist based in Sweden, who works remotely online with people all over the world. She hosts the award-winning podcast, Rendering Unconscious. She is the author of Things Happen (2024) and Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: The Cut in Creation (2021). http://www.drvanessasinclair.net

Free Online Book Talk · Meetings with Remarkable Magicians with Carl Abrahamsson

October 27, 2024
1pm ET
Free! RSVP with email at checkout

PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will 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 Carl Abrahamsson as he talks about his brand new magical autobiography Meetings with Remarkable Magicians: Life in the Occult Underground, followed by a Q & A and conversation with Vanessa Sinclair.

In his this book, illustrating the possibilities of a life infused with magic, Abrahamsson reflects on his decades spent in the company of some of the most unconventional thinkers of the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Revealing how his immersion in both the underground and above-ground world of art and the occult only grew through his adolescence and into adulthood, the author details his involvement with psychedelic culture, the punk subculture, and numerous occult figures and organizations, including Genesis P-Orridge and Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth, Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan, the Ordo Templi Orientis, and a branch of the American Golden Dawn.

Interwoven with his occult experiences and meetings with infamous practitioners of magic, Abrahamsson describes his evolution as a multi-disciplinary artist, detailing his pursuits in writing, making music, and working as a photographer and filmmaker, always imbuing his diverse artistic practice with a developing occult philosophy. He also details his ongoing efforts to disseminate the occult arts via publishing companies like Psychick Release, Looking Glass Press, Edda Publishing, Trapart Books, and the occultural journal The Fenris Wolf—as well as fieldwork in Tibet, Nepal, and India through The Institute of Comparative Magico-anthropology.

Through each encounter and reflection on the magical, shamanic, and mystical practices that have structured his own life, Abrahamsson richly illuminates how it’s possible to experience a rich, wise, and abundant life of wisdom and miracles.

Online Talk · Midsommar: A Weird Tale of Unconscious Ideals, with Swedish Author Carl Abrahamsson

Monday, October 14, 2024
7pm 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.

In the successful horror film Midsommar (Ari Aster, USA/Sweden, 2019), we are taken to an idyllic Sweden and the shenanigans of a pagan cult. A group of American college students and their friend Dani (traumatized by her sister’s suicide) are drawn into the cult’s activities as they prepare for Midsummer Celebrations. What seems gentle and nature-loving at first soon turns into “folk” horror film mayhem, as Dani unwillingly (?) becomes the center of attention.

Although Aster’s film is a run-of-the-mill exploitation film, it does fulfill many of the requirements of the workings of what Carl Jung called the Collective Unconscious. What is presented as something negative and horrible actually comes across as relevant and inspiring from this perspective. Are we witnessing misdirected and possibly demagogic energies, or just a piece of the puzzle in a process of human consciousness waking up to threats of actual extinction?

Tonight, join Swedish author and filmmaker Carl Abrahamsson as he presents Midsommar film from a new perspective, one that that illuminates the fact that culture as such is never a one way communication, and that crass cultural appropriation and attempts at mockery have the potential to backfire.

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author and filmmaker, especially interested in Occulture and the Creative Process.

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

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

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

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: Monday, December 2, 2024
Time: 7pm 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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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)

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

This Is the Strangest Life I’ve Ever Known – A Psychological Portrait of Jim Morrison

Join us! Online Talk · This Is the Strangest Life I’ve Ever Known – A Psychological Portrait of Jim Morrison, Presented by Dr. Ana Leorne with Discussion, Hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson at Morbid Anatomy

Sunday, January 21
1PM EST

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson welcome Dr. Ana Leorne for a discussion of her new book This Is the Strangest Life I’ve Ever Known – A Psychological Portrait of Jim Morrison (Trapart Books, 2023).

Join Portuguese writer Ana Leorne as she takes us on a trip into the mind of troubled rock star-poet-genius Jim Morrison. Diving into the era, the man, his art, the surrounding people, and not least the myth of The Doors’ enigmatic frontman, Leorne paints an illuminating picture of seemingly inevitable self-destruction – but also one of undeniable brilliance.

Ana Leorne (Porto, 1984) is a writer, artist, and researcher. She has started her career as a musician (Rope, The Clits, Annette Blade, Portuguese cast of RENT) while completing a BA in Fine Arts at University of Porto and producing work in the fields of photography, video, installation, and performance. She also holds a MA in Film Studies from NOVA University of Lisbon with a dissertation on psychoanalysis and Stanley Kubrick, and a PhD in Visual Cultures from EHESS with a dissertation on issues of identity, public image, and visual representation in the Beatles’ films and videos. Formerly associate editor at The 405 and digital media executive at MTV Portugal, her writing has appeared on Bandcamp, Elegy Iberica, Recording Academy/The Grammys, SFGate, Público, Beats Per Minute, SPIN, The Guardian, and many others. She’s also the author of “Dear Dr Freud” for David Bowie: Critical Perspectives (Routledge, 2015). She currently lives in Paris.

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 Morbid Anatomy Patreon members. Become a Member HERE: https://www.patreon.com/morbidanatomy/posts

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 info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Photo by Carl Abrahamsson

BLOOD SEX MAGIC: Everyday Magic for the Modern Mystic with Bri Luna of The Hoodwitch, Hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

BLOOD SEX MAGIC: Everyday Magic for the Modern Mystic with Bri Luna of The Hoodwitch, Hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Sunday, November 5
2 pm ET
*Time change in some non-US territories occurs this week

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 info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

BLOOD SEX MAGIC: EVERYDAY MAGIC FOR THE MODERN DAY MYSTIC is an invitation and an awakening—a guide toward a life of connection to self and spirit, to the seen and unseen realms, and to magical traditions past and future. Born with both Mexican/Indigenous and African roots, Bri Luna honors the traditions of tarot, nature, and root working, and celebrates magic that is “from dirt and blood, jewels and bones, moon and sun.”

An intimate, illustrated collection of spells and stories to infuse our lives with ritual, history, and magic from the visionary artist and infamous witch Bri Luna, founder and creative director of “The Hoodwitch.”

Full of stunning photography and color illustrations, and brimming with incantations, spells, stories, vignettes, and warnings, BLOOD SEX MAGIC is divided into three powerful sections:

· BLOOD uncovers Bri’s roots, with passages for setting boundaries, protection, and honoring the dead

· SEX reveals the art of love magic, a celebration of the goddess, lust, and femininity, with spells for seduction and revenge

· MAGIC offers meaningful daily rituals, including those for self-love, peace, beauty, and prosperity

An instant classic and timeless resource for both new and experienced witches alike, this beautiful collection shows us how to access the untapped magic within and encourages us to see and channel that same magic in the world around us.

“The witch, bruja, healer, mother, sister, daughter, lover, artist, creative, bitch, wild woman, visionary, goddess. Transcendent of time and space.

Reclaiming power and ancestral bloodlines of magic from the heavens and the earth. I come from dirt and blood, jewels and bones, moon and sun.

I am my grandmother’s secrets, hopes, and dreams. I adorn myself in light and shadows. But do not mistake my flesh nor my worldly appearance for vanity, for everything I do is deliberate. I walk in gratitude for the ones who’ve come before me. My vessel is ancient. This skin remembers being birthed through the cosmos and rising out of the depths of the sea. Do not mistake her softness, vulnerability, sensitivity, compassion, love, resilience, or silence for weakness.

I am birthed of fire and lava of death and decay.

A huntress, a warrior, not a worrier.

I am my sister’s keeper.”

—B. Luna

Bri Luna is the founder of The Hoodwitch and is dedicated to empowering, educating, and cultivating community through meaningful rituals supporting self-care and wellness. Luna is devoted to offering “Everyday Magic for the modern mystic” through her art and advocates for the use of traditional healing practices to address modern-day challenges. She and her work have been featured internationally and in major publications including Vogue, I.D, Playboy, and The New York Times. More at https://www.thehoodwitch.com/about

The Decaying Female Body in Horror Cinema with Mary Wild

The Decaying Female Body in Horror Cinema with Mary Wild

Sunday, August 20
2 pm ET

Relying on Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection, this talk investigates representations of decaying female bodies in cinema. Kristeva defines horror as a breakdown in meaning caused by the loss of boundaries between self and other. The abject disturbs identity, borders and rules – horror films portraying unclean and taboo elements of womanhood reveal the entwined dual system of Eros (beauty, fertility, youth) and Thanatos (disease, destruction, death).

Films discussed: Braindead (1992) dir. Peter Jackson; Contracted (2013) dir. Eric England; Eat (2014) dir. Jimmy Weber

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London. She co-hosts the Projections Podcast, contributes to The Evolution of Horror Podcast, and creates exclusive content on Patreon. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @psycstar.

The Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson, is 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! www.Patreon.com/vanessa23carl

The Future of Occulture, Magic, and Underground Networking: A Conversation With Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson

The Future of Occulture, Magic, and Underground Networking: A Conversation With Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson

Sunday, July 16
2 pm ET

Tom Banger and Carl Abrahamsson were both active in the magical order/ think tank / occultural network Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) in the mid 1980s to early 1990s.

In this conversation they talk not only about what happened and what kind of an impact TOPY has had, but also try to entangle what the ideas and concepts could bring for the future of occulture, magic and underground networking.

Tom Banger In 1986, punk promoter Tom Headbanger confounded the Denver scene by founding the Temple ov Psychick Youth North America. Over the next four odd years, he wrote numerous texts on contemporary magick and shamanism under the name Coyote *2 and helped facilitate the coming together of an unprecedented collaborative network of artists, magicians, shamans, and charlatans. During this time, TOPYUS published more than a thousand pages of original occult research, including Television Magick and the first two editions of EsoTerrorist by Genesis P-Orridge. Banger stopped coordinating TOPYUS in 1990 in order to focus on his interest in engineering and technology. He is now a full-time cybersecurity expert and father, and has decided it is time to come out of the shadows and share some stories and perspective.

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, publisher and filmmaker. His books include 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.

Angels, Demons, and Ketamine: Occultist Chaweon Koo in Conversation with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

Online Talk · Angels, Demons, and Ketamine: Occultist Chaweon Koo in Conversation with Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

Sunday, June 11
2 pm ET

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent on the day of the event to the email address used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Mysticism often involves sacred plants and mind-altering substances to aid in ritual journeying. The futurist version may also involve brain hacking via ketamine, mixed with the chaos magick and animism inherent in intense psychology modalities like EMDR and Internal Family Systems (IFS).

Occultist and writer Chaweon Koo joins Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamson to discuss where bio-hacking, 8 esoteric body circuits, a scientist who talks to dolphins, and modern modes of inner journeying and magick intertwine.

Chaweon Koo is a writer at the intersection of pop culture, the occult, and futurism. Her TikTok @chaweonkoo is one of the most popular occult accounts on the platform. She also interviews some of the most distinguished occultists and witches in the English-speaking world on her YouTube, Witches & Wine. Her book Spell Bound details her journey from an atheist witch into one of the most visible East Asian practitioners of both Eastern and Western occult traditions.

Image: Dorothea Tanning, The Temptation of Saint Anthony, 1946

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

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 September 10

Date: September 10, 17, 24, October 1.
Time: 1 pm – 3 pm EDT

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair is a psychoanalyst, artist, and occultist based in Sweden, who works with people internationally. She is the host of Rendering Unconscious podcast. Her books include 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 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 Wolfseries. 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.

Images: Cut up artworks by instructor Dr Vanessa Sinclair

Online Talk · The Uncanny in Cinema: Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968) with Carl Abrahamsson

The Uncanny in Cinema: Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968), An Illustrated Online Lecture with Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Date: Sunday, May 14
Time: 2 pm EDT

Swedish author and filmmaker Carl Abrahamsson presents his reflections on Ingmar Bergman’s masterpiece Hour of the Wolf (1968), situating the film with regard to events in Bergman’s personal life, as well as in the culture and politics of the time more generally.

Abrahamsson also discusses the relationship of Hour of the Wolf (1968) to other films created during Bergman’s “decade of deep introspection,” most notably Persona (1966) and Shame (1968). Abrahamsson contemplates recurring uncanny themes in Bergman’s work, having to do with the dynamism and reciprocity of interpersonal relations, identity and consciousness, and how this can veer into neurosis or psychosis.

This is reflected in the haunting repetition of statements made by Alma (played by Liv Ullmann), “Isn’t it true that couples who spend so much time together begin to resemble one another … they think alike and even look alike. Why is that?”

This presentation is a chapter in Dr. Sinclair’s new edited collectionPsychoanalytic Perspectives on the Films of Ingmar Bergman: From Freud to Lacan and Beyond (Routledge, 2023)

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, publisher and filmmaker. His books include 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.

Westworld: Anton LaVey’s Total Environments, Gamification and Ghosts in the Machines with Anders Lundgren and Caligula as a Dionysian Affirmation of Life with River

Westworld: Anton LaVey’s Total Environments, Gamification and Ghosts in the Machines with Anders Lundgren and Caligula as a Dionysian Affirmation of Life with River, An Online Presenation

$8.00

Date: Sunday, April 16
Time: 2 pm EDT

Westworld: Anton LaVey’s Total Environments, Gamification & Ghosts in the Machines
By Anders Lundgren

Westworld was originally the brainchild of blockbuster maven Michael Crichton who both wrote and directed the 1973 motion picture. The idea of immersive theme parks where rich people could let off steam by living out fantasies of a violent and/or sexual nature without fear of judgment and consequences proved to be a commercial success.

The inevitable sequel Futureworld (1976) and the short lived tv-series (only three out of a total of five episodes were aired originally before cancellation) Beyond Westworld introduced the concept of android doppelgangers and further expanded the ideas presented in the first film. One person who took notice of these was Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey who referred to Westworld when presenting his ideas for total environments. After lying dormant for most of the 1980s Crichton revived parts of the concept for his novel Jurassic Park in 1990, later turned into yet another record breaking film franchise by Steven Spielberg and others. Westworld returned briefly in the form of video game Westworld 2000 (1996). Despite using then hot CD-ROM technology, sub par graphics and gameplay kept this title from setting the gaming world on fire. This blip was followed by twenty years of silence before a new tv-series premiered on HBO. Easily the most ambitious iteration to date, this version of Westworld leans heavily into previously merely touched upon moral and philosophical implications of the original idea. What would happen if humans were able to create extremely life-like machines that in most cases do not even know that their lives are scripted sequences catering to the enjoyment of others?

Caligula (1979) as a Dionysian Affirmation of Life
By River

The movie Caligula from 1979 is arguably one of the most infamous movies of all time, much like its titular emperor. Mixing lavish sets, Shakespearean guild actors, shocking violence and pornography. The involvement of Bob Guccione and Penthouse caused such conflicts within its creative team that neither the writer, Gore Vidal, nor the director, Tinto Brass, wanted anything to do with the final product. Yet it endures as a cult movie of legendary status. As Helen Mirren said, it is ”an irresistible mix of art and genitals.”

This talk explores the movie and its compelling history through the lens of Dionysian paradox and life affirmation. From a deeply personal perspective it examines trauma, healing and the surprising places the ancient Gods may show up in our modern lives.

Anders Lundgren is a Swedish writer and connoisseur of the uncanny with a background in literature, esthetics and film studies. He has organized numerous film screenings and festivals, domestic and international, as part of Klubb Super 8. He also served as the co-founder and co-curator of the film programme for Serieket (The Comic Book Library) in Stockholm. Working at the latter establishment he has been on the production team for The Stockholm International Comics Festival since 2002. In 2010, he started the podcast Hög av Serier (High on Comics) with co-hosts Anton Bjurvald and Freddie Kaplan. In 2012, he established The Stockholm H. P. Lovecraft Festival. He has been widely published with his main output being the film criticism found in Hemmabio (Home Theater Magazine) and writings on comics in Bild & bubbla (Image & Thought Bubble). He has also contributed to anthologies like The Fenris Wolf, Mignolaverse: Hellboy and the Comics Art of Mike Mignola and Judge, Jury and Executioner: Essays on the Punisher in Print and on Screen. He is a Priest in the Church of Satan.

River is a Swedish artist based in Stockholm. Her work is multidisciplinary with an emphasis on the visual arts. Always drawn to the intersection of art and magic she treats her creative process as a ritualized exploration of her unconscious. In genre terms, she works primarily with the weird and with horror. With an emphasis on craftsmanship, Rivers’ work explores the tension between a brushstroke and what it may represent. The tension between what is real and unreal, where we draw that line, and if there even is a line to draw.

David Bowie Music Videos and Filmography: A Live, Online Presentation with Mary Wild, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamsson

David Bowie Music Videos and Filmography: A Live, Online Presentation with Mary Wild, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Date: March 12
Time: 2 pm EST

The death of David Bowie in January 2016 left planet Earth decidedly blue. Dystopia, extraterrestrials, surrealism, and androgyny are some of the recurrent themes in Bowie’s avant-garde artistry that endeared him to mavericks and weirdos the world over. He mastered musical genres as diverse as folk, glam, soul, rock, funk, drum & bass, industrial, and jazz.

Bowie’s enduring impact reaches beyond music, influencing the fields of the internet, fashion, cinema, painting, dance, and theatre. His embodiment and shedding of various alter egos (Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, Thin White Duke) became a symbol of bold experimentation; these characters were masks he initially relied on as a performer to cover up shyness and crippling stage fright.

Here we will apply an interpretive framework to David Bowie’s music videos and filmography, with a focus on his personas, experience of childhood trauma, struggle with mental illness, addiction, isolation, resilience, and creative autonomy. This is a celebration of our dearly departed glamorous alien: a musical genius and multi-media virtuoso.

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. Mary also co-hosts the Projections Podcast, contributes to The Evolution of Horror Podcast, and creates exclusive content on Patreon.

The Bloody Countess: Valentine Penrose, Erzsébet Báthory, and Sanguineous Surrealism: A Live, Online Lecture with Dr. Sabina Stent, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

The Bloody Countess: Valentine Penrose, Erzsébet Báthory, and Sanguineous Surrealism: A Live, Online Lecture with Dr. Sabina Stent, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Date: Sunday, February 19
Time: 2 pm EST

In 1962, Valentine Penrose (née Boué), the French-born Surrealist poetess, author, and collagist, wrote her seminal historical novel/biography Erzsébet Báthory la Comtesse sanglante. Translated into English in 2002, the book is more widely known as The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory.

Báthory was a sixteenth-century Hungarian noblewoman and serial killer who believed the key to everlasting youth and beauty was to bathe in the blood of attractive young women. Due to her notorious bloodthirst, she is sometimes referred to as the female Vlad the Impaler or compared to the infamous child murderer Gilles de Rais. In his book The Tears of Eros, Georges Bataille writes, ‘De Sade did not know of Erszébet Báthory’s existence, but doubtless her atrocities would have roused his most vicious excitement.’

Writing the book allowed Penrose to utilise and exercise her interest and knowledge of the occult. Penrose, who possessed a deep and unwavering interest in the arcane, ‘liked to think of herself as a witch,’ while references to mysticism and alchemy infused the lyrical verses of her poetry.

This talk will look at Penrose, Bathory’s bloodlust via The Bloody Countess and thematic associations of blood in art by other women Surrealists.

Dr. Sabina Stent is a freelance writer and speaker specialising in Women Surrealists and visual culture. She is interested in how feminists-surrealists explored the body, the cinematic, the uncanny, and Surrealism in Los Angeles. Sabina’s bylines include Magnum Photos, Crime Reads, and AnOther Magazine, and she writes a Substack newsletter called Love Letters During a Nightmare.

Uncertain Places and Strange New Worlds: A Live, Online Talk with Occult Scholar Mitch Horowitz, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamsson

Uncertain Places and Strange New Worlds: A Live, Online Talk with Occult Scholar Mitch Horowitz, Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, and Carl Abrahamson

$8.00

Sunday, January 15
Time: 2 pm EST

All of us dwell today in uncertain places where UFOs are mainstream, ESP is scientifically proven through methods once used to debunk it, materialism is fading as a dominant philosophy of life, reports of mysterious beasts and strange visitors abound, astrology and Hermeticism are entering new phases of study, and extra-physicality is as near as your own thoughts. Occult scholar Mitch Horowitz joins Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamson to discuss all things uncertain—including the nature of your personal search.

Mitch Horowitz is a PEN Award-winning historian whose books include Uncertain Places, Occult America, Daydream Believer, and the forthcoming Modern Occultism. Mitch hosts the documentary The Kybalion directed by Ronni Thomas and appears in the upcoming Paramount thriller My Animal directed by Jacqueline Castel, a selection of Sundance 2023. Mitch’s books are published in eight languages. His work is censored in China.

Photo by Ebru Yildiz

Cinematic Surrealism in Los Angeles: Maya Deren and David Lynch by Sabina Stent and David Lynch: Cinema’s Uncanny Master by Mary Wild

Cinematic Surrealism in Los Angeles: Maya Deren and David Lynch by Sabina Stent and David Lynch: Cinema’s Uncanny Master by Mary Wild

$8.00

Date: Sunday, November 20
Time: 2 pm EDT

Cinematic Surrealism in Los Angeles: Maya Deren and David Lynch
Sabina Stent

In 1943, Maya Deren made Meshes of the Afternoon, a seminal work of American Avant-Garde cinema. Filmed in Los Angeles for $250, Deren’s work significantly influenced David Lynch’s Hollywood neo-noir Mulholland Drive (2001). In this talk, we will look at Meshes of the Afternoon’s Surrealist themes and motifs, connections to Mulholland Drive (as well as Lynch’s oeuvre), and how both films presented the unconscious influence of Los Angeles as leading to a paranoic state of mind.

David Lynch – Cinema’s Uncanny Master
Mary Wild

If Sigmund Freud’s ‘Uncanny’ were manifested in human form, the result would surely be David Lynch, the beloved American surrealist filmmaker dubbed “Jimmy Stewart from Mars” on account of his cinegenic good looks and unconventional manner. Lynch’s ultraweird directorial style embodies the Uncanny to a tee: violent, disturbing imagery pitted against a glimmer of ordinariness and magical realism; a cross between the macabre and the mundane. He loves to experiment with fear, mystery, and confusion. Here we will chart the Uncanny as an iconic Lynchian trademark in six celebrated titles featuring the Lady in the Radiator, the enigmatic Dorothy Vallens, absurdist road trip adventures, the Black Lodge, the Mystery Man, and whatever is going on behind Winkie’s Diner.

Films discussed: Eraserhead (1977), Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Twin Peaks (1991), Lost Highway (1997), Mulholland Drive (2001)

Dr Sabina Stent is a freelance writer and lecturer specialising in Women Surrealists and visual culture. She is interested in how feminist-surrealists explored the body, the cinematic, the uncanny, and Surrealism in Los Angeles. Sabina’s bylines include Magnum Photos, Crime Reads, AnOther Magazine, and she writes a Substack newsletter called Love Letters During a Nightmare. She is a re-occurring lecturer for The Last Tuesday Society’s digital lecture series.

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. Mary co-hosts the Projections Podcast, contributes to The Evolution of Horror Podcast, and produces exclusive content on Patreon.

Body Modification, Polymorphous Perversity and Pandrogeny by Vanessa Sinclair and Forcing the Hand of Chance – A Look at the DIY Occulture of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) by Carl Abrahamsson

Body Modification, Polymorphous Perversity and Pandrogeny by Vanessa Sinclair and Forcing the Hand of Chance – A Look at the DIY Occulture of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY) by Carl Abrahamsson

$8.00

Date: Sunday, October 23
Time: 2 pm EDT

Body Modification, Polymorphous Perversity and Pandrogeny
Vanessa Sinclair

The cutting of the body has an effect on the psyche, as we experience ourselves through the interface of our bodies. Sigmund Freud described our ego as first and foremost a body-ego, as we learn about ourselves and the world via our bodies. This talk explores the impact of body modification may have by exploring the art/work of Genesis and Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge, specifically their Pandrogeny project. Together Breyer P-Orridge explored contemporary ideas of identity, the body, consciousness, gender and sexuality at a depth few have dared to traverse. In an effort to break down prescribed notions of themselves as individuals, the pair underwent a series of surgical, medical, chemical, psychological, spiritual and behavioral procedures. Influenced by the cut-up method of Brion Gysin and William Burroughs, the pair took the process that much further, applying the cut to not only to word, sound and image, but to their own bodies and selves

Forcing the Hand of Chance – A Look at the DIY Occulture of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth (TOPY)
Carl Abrahamsson

The Industrial music scene of the 1980s was one of intellectual curiosity and an eloquent DIY (“Do It Yourself!”) ethos. Many bands and artists had their own record labels and mail order operations; a “cottage industry” that facilitated independence and peer-to-peer interactions. Many of these artists extended their work into the domain of occultism and existential experiments; i.e., actively building an “occulture” through their own channels of interaction and dissemination.

This paper focuses on the work and ideas of Thee Temple Ov Psychick Youth (TOPY, c. 1981-1991) as one of these typically atypical structures in which the DIY spirit merged with magical practice, encouraging artistic expression through not only overt “occulture” (like concerts, film screenings, publishing, etc) but also covertly through its focus on individual and private ritual “sigilising” as a communal and egregore-building process. TOPY’s integration of magical practice stemming from traditionally non-magical areas/sources, such as the work of William Burroughs and Brion Gysin, helped create a talismanically charged “feedback springboard” for TOPY’s original ideas to move into new cultural territories. TOPY’s individualistic pathos expressed through a cottage industry ethos attracted many individuals who went on to take essentially the same philosophy onwards post-TOPY. The occultural effects stemming from this experimental order/network can now be felt, seen and heard exoterically way beyond its original esoteric imprint.

Vanessa Sinclair, PsyD is a psychoanalyst, author, artist and occultist based in Sweden, who works internationally. She is the host of Rendering Unconscious Podcast. Her books include The Pathways of the Heart (2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: The Cut in Creation (2021) andSwitching Mirrors (2016). She is the editor of Psychoanalytic Perspectives on the Films of Ingmar Bergman: From Freud to Lacan and Beyond, forthcoming from Routledge (2022), Rendering Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Politics & Poetry (2019), Outsider Inpatient: Reflections on Art as Therapy (2021) with Elisabeth Punzi, On Psychoanalysis and Violence: Contemporary Lacanian Perspectives (2019) with Manya Steinkoler, The Fenris Wolf vol 9 (2017) and The Fenris Wolf vol 11(2022) with Carl Abrahamsson.

Carl Abrahamsson is the editor and publisher of The Fenris Wolf, and the founder of the Institute of Comparative Magico-anthropology. Among his books are Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (2022), Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Sacred Intent – Conversations with Carl Abrahamsson 1986-2019 (2020), Occulture – The unseen forces that drive culture forward (2018), Reasonances (2014), and the novels The Devil’s Footprint (2020) and Mother, Have A Safe Trip (2013). He is also a filmmaker, in particular with the documentary “An Art Apart” series. Together with his wife, Vanessa Sinclair, he has written It’s Magic Monday Every Day of the Week (2021) and The Mega Golem – A Womanual for All Times and Spaces (2020).

Lost Dimensions: The Psychic and the Technical by Isabel Millar and From Success Comes Failure, on Cloud Computing by Dwayne Monroe

Lost Dimensions: The Psychic and the Technical by Isabel Millar and From Success Comes Failure, on Cloud Computing by Dwayne Monroe

$8.00

Date: Sunday, September 25
Time: 2 pm EDT

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/month and above. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 12:30 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Virilio’s Lost Dimensions: The Psychic and the Technical
Isabel Millar

The French philosopher and architect Paul Virilio was famously against the ideology of ‘Towerism’ as he believed the future of cities would not be in their skyward dimension. In fact, he worked with the architect Claude Parent in the 1960s on the ‘oblique function’. A third order beyond the horizontal of rural dwellings or the vertical of the urban, the oblique function would make space completely accessible increasing the amount of usable surface according to the principle of ‘habitable circulation’. They only ever completed two buildings, a cryptic church and a missile design workshop. Inside these two (sacred) spaces, what is at stake are the two dimensions of speed incommensurate in our contemporary condition, the time of contemplation and mortality and the time of acceleration and death. Today this dialectical relationship between psychic space and technical space has become ever more oblique.

From Success Comes Failure, on the Dialectics of Cloud Computing
Dwayne Monroe

The term, ‘cloud’ is used to describe the utility services we use every day – from Google Drive to Apple Music; a sprawling collection of apparently infinite services stretching endlessly, we’re told, into the future. Unseen by most are the machines making this possible, consuming electrical power, millions of liters of water for cooling and a cornucopia of other resources. No one is stopping this growth which spreads across the globe like a shadow. However, what governments might fail to do, complexity and entropy will surely accomplish: the collapse of the computational order. Hidden within the heart of the tech industry’s unchecked success is the seed of its failure.

Isabel Millar is a philosopher and psychoanalytic theorist from London. She is the author of The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligence published in the Palgrave Lacan Series in 2021, and Patipolitics: On the Government of Sexual Suffering forthcoming with Bloomsbury in 2023. She is currently research fellow and faculty at The Global Centre for Advanced Studies, Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Dwayne Monroe is a technologist and Marxist analyst of the tech sector with 20 years of experience in North America and Europe. Dwayne uses his hands-on knowledge to critique the nature and characteristics of the industry from a dialectical perspective. He’s currently finishing a book, ‘Attack Mannequins’ about the AI industry and has written for The Nation, Logic Magazineand Sublation Media. You can follow his blog at monroelab.net and on Twitter at @cloudquistador

Exploring Consciousness through Liminal Dreaming by Jennifer Dumpert and Cinematic Dream Sequences by Mary Wild

Exploring Consciousness through Liminal Dreaming by Jennifer Dumpert and Cinematic Dream Sequences by Mary Wild

$8.00

Date: Sunday, August 21
Time: 2 pm EDT

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/month and above. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 1 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Exploring Consciousness through Liminal Dreaming
Jennifer Dumpert

In the space between waking and sleep, you pass through the zones of liminal dreaming, hypnagogia and hypnopompia, where the mind meanders between daytime awareness and the depths of the dream. We all possess the ability to maintain waking, rational mind while sinking into the free associative, kaleidoscopic realms of the unconscious mind. Yet few of us develop this powerful tool for exploring consciousness. In this talk, author Jennifer Dumpert will describe the remarkable mind states of hynagogia and hypnopompia and will offer practical exercises for accessing and lingering in these remarkable liminal dream states for the purposes of consciousness exploration, creativity, problem solving, and mental healing and balance.

Cinematic Dream Sequences
Mary Wild

Sigmund Freud famously said that dreams are the royal road to the unconscious. The ideas he put forward on dream analysis can be directly applied to film interpretation. In this talk, cinematic dream sequences will be explored, in which the spectator is compelled to take on an investigative role, sifting through manifest film content to uncover subjective associations and latent meaning. The proposition is that an active engagement with film as a projective test renders moving image as a “dreamwork” to be unpicked and interpreted.

Films discussed: Lost Highway (1997) dir. David Lynch, Paprika (2006) dir. Satoshi Kon, Surviving Life (2010) dir. Jan Švankmajer

About the speakers:

Jennifer Dumpert is a San Francisco-based writer and lecturer. She is the author of Liminal Dreaming: Exploring Consciousness at the Edges of Sleep and the founder of the Oneironauticum, an international organization that explores the use of oneirogens—anything that promotes vivid dreams, like herbs, roots, and foods—and the phenomenological experience of dreams as a means of experimenting with mind. She also teaches the practice of Liminal Dreaming, which entails surfing the edges of consciousness using hypnagogic and hypnopompic dreams, the mind states between waking and sleep.

Jennifer has lectured and led workshops at festivals, conferences, and venues worldwide. She has also authored numerous pieces about varied aspects of dream work and consciousness. You can read selected pieces and watch videos of presentations at Jennifer’s website. www.liminaldreaming.com. Jennifer posts a daily dream to Twitter as @OneiroFer, and has been doing so since January, 2009.

The Atavistic Network by Charlotte Rodgers and Necromancy: Working with Blood and Adopted Ancestors in Art and Magic by Dr Vanessa Sinclair

The Atavistic Network by Charlotte Rodgers and Necromancy: Working with Blood and Adopted Ancestors in Art and Magic by Dr Vanessa Sinclair

$8.00

Date: Sunday, July 17
Time: 2 pm EDT

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/month and above. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 1 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

The Atavistic Network: Listening to the Voices of the Dead and Discarded
Charlotte Rodgers

Charlotte Rodgers has been creating creatures from bones and dead stuff for over 40 years. This was in part a reflection of her era’s countercultural, dystopian expression; however learning the language of death and memory was something she had always felt called to do. In this presentation Charlotte will describe a journey littered with discarded objects, bones and road kill; talking in terms of magic, animism, physical cut-ups and gateways of power; empathy, play and understanding.

Who we are now is an amalgamation of stories layered through time and how that is translated depends on the language used. The scientist, the magician, the story teller and the artist all can hold the same item and translate its voice into different scripts; what is key in all instances is that we pay attention and listen, not letting our agenda destroy the core meaning and not letting thoughts of what something does or how it appears, obscure the reality of what it actually is.

Whilst Charlotte works with road kill and found dead, she never kills and is not trained in taxidermy. Her journey with bones is a tale of magic, attention and belonging.

Necromancy: Working with Blood and Adopted Ancestors in Art and Magic
Vanessa Sinclair

My practice is personal and very much of my own creation. It revolves around necromancy.

Not in any traditional sense, as in studying grimoires and structured systems of legions of daemons/ angels, but in a much more personal sense. My intention in this talk is to impart the importance of developing one’s own personal practice by nourishing one’s relationship with the dead – with one’s blood ancestral lineage, as well as with adopted ancestors, those artists, writers, friends, mentors and magicians who have influenced you; those who have had a lasting impact on your life, development and formation – thereby creating a unique mythology and personal pantheon of your own.

About the speakers:

Charlotte Rodgers is an author, artist and animist who is presently exploring an academic wormhole as an anthropology student at Bristol University. She has been widely published in magazines and anthologies and her books include, The Sky is A Gateway, Not a Ceiling, P is for Prostitution, and The Bloody Sacrifice. Her art incorporates remnants of death and discarded objects and has been exhibited widely, including shows in New York and London, and she has sculptures on permanent display at the Museum of Naive and Marginal Art in Serbia. Charlotte has spoken at conferences and venues globally, including ‘The Magickal Women Conference’ in London 2019, ‘Rewriting the Future: 100 Years of Esoteric Modernism and Psychoanalysis’ in Merano, Italy and ‘The Left Hand Path Symposium’ in 2020. A filmic exhibition of her work was recently created for Cambridge University’s CRASSH Magic and Ecology Symposium.

Vanessa Sinclair, Psy.D. is a psychoanalyst, artist and occultist based in Sweden. She is the author of The Pathways of the Heart (Trapart Books, 2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: The Cut in Creation (Routledge, 2020) and Switching Mirrors (Trapart Books, 2016), and the editor of Rendering Unconscious: Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Politics & Poetry (Trapart Books, 2019), Outsider Inpatient: Reflections on Art as Therapy (Trapart Books, 2021) with Elisabeth Punzi and The Fenris Wolf, vol 9 (Trapart Books, 2017) with Carl Abrahamsson. She hosts the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occcult series of events, as well as Rendering Unconscious Podcast.

Animism for Apocalypse by Langston Kahn and Spirit Voices: The Mysteries and Magic of North Asian Shamanic Traditions by David Shi

Animism for Apocalypse by Langston Kahn and Spirit Voices: The Mysteries and Magic of North Asian Shamanic Traditions by David Shi

$8.00

Date: June 19
Time: 2 pm EDT

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/month and above. Become a Member HERE.

Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out at 1 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.

Animism for Apocalypse: Working with Spirits and Ancestors to Find Freedom in Endings
Langston Kahn

According to the majority of indigenous peoples’ oral histories, the world has ended many times. After the world ends, the human experiment begins again with those who survive and in the space between worlds, the birth of the new world is shaped by the stories the surviving humans choose to bring with them. What is required in the space between worlds is that we carefully tend both the personal and collective stories we carry with us, because they will manifest through our actions. As we navigate this time of so many cataclysmic endings and new beginnings, many of us feel disoriented, tired and uncertain about the future. What might we learn from our ancestors, our helping spirits and the Earth about the stories keeping us from tending these endings well? How might we engage these endings as an opportunity to liberate ourselves from the harmful systems we are entangled with and tell a new story with our lives? Come join Langston Kahn this Juneteenth to explore how we might move through the grief of these times to find the power waiting for us on the other side of it.

Spirit Voices: The Mysteries and Magic of North Asian Shamanic Traditions
David Shi

David Shi will be talking about his new book Spirit Voices: The Mysteries and Magic of North Asian Shamanic Traditions, which will be coming out in Spring 2023. Shi explores the history and practice of shamanism. What is it? Where is it from? What do shamans actually do? He guides the audience through unfamiliar territory—the landscape of North Asia – and through what are largely hidden and unfamiliar traditions. This area, ranging from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific Ocean, is a vast region often described as the “Cradle of Shamanism” and where the word “Shaman” originates from. His book features history, first-hand experiential reports, mythology, and folklore to explore the spirits, spirituality, and practices of true shamanism. In addition to history and analysis of North Asian shamanism, Shi also provides practical information for those seeking to implement practices that are appropriate to non-initiates and outsiders to the culture.

About the speakers:

Langston Kahn is a Black, Queer teacher, author and shamanic practitioner who specializes in radical human transformation, ancestral healing, and restoring an authentic relationship with our emotions. He stands firmly at the crossroads; his practice informed by somatic modalities, contemporary shamanic traditions, initiations into traditions of the African diaspora, and his helping spirits and ancestors weaving it all together. Langston is the author of Deep Liberation: Shamanic Teachings for Reclaiming Wholeness in a Culture of Trauma. He is a senior teacher in the Cycle of Transformation and has served for 5 years in the Last Mask Community, a collective of people striving to live in alignment with ancient shamanic principles in service of personal and collective liberation. He lives in the ancestral lands of the Lenape, Rockaway and Canarsie also known as New York City. For more information please visit his website LangstonKahn.com.

David Shi is a shamanic worker and folk magic practitioner who engages in traditional North Asian forms of shamanism. He is primarily of Manchurian descent, but can also trace ancestry to Mongolian, Chinese, Korean, as well as a little Tungus Siberian and ancient Central Asian Turkic heritage as well. Raised in a household that incorporated both Southeast Siberian and North Chinese practices, David has dedicated his spare time to the study of the spiritual traditions of his ancestors and of greater Eurasia. Recognized as a sagaasha/ongodtengertei, a future shaman prior to initiation, among both Mongolian and Korean shamans, David’s practices are deeply rooted in spirit work in which ancestral and land spirits are called to empower all workings. David’s readings incorporate a combination of Tarot, Runes, Bones, Jaw-harp, as well as Mongolian stone divination (known as Kumalak in Turkic Central Asia).

David is the author of the book North Asian Magic: Spellcraft from Manchuria, Mongolia, and Siberia, and conducted workshops across the country at occult shops such as Catland Books, as well as at festivals such as So Mote That Con sponsored by the That Witch Life podcast, WitchsFest NYC sponsored by the Wiccan Family Temple, and the Hoodoo Heritage Festival sponsored by the Lucky Mojo Curio Company. He was also interviewed on the podcasts “This Old Witch” by Eddie Massey and Alexander Cabot, “Witch Hat Chats” by Nikki Kirby, and “Witches & Wine” by Chaweon Koo. Additionally, David has studied Witchcraft, Hoodoo Rootwork, and Rune-lore from teachers within those traditions. David also teaches the Korean traditional drumming art of Poongmul/Samul-nori. David currently resides in Manhattan, New York where he occasionally provides spiritual services, products, and workshops to his immediate communities.

“The Death Drive on Film” by Mary Wild and “The Revolution will go Viral… on Sexting, the Digital & Contagion” by Dr Clint Burnham

“The Death Drive on Film” by Mary Wild and “The Revolution will go Viral… on Sexting, the Digital & Contagion” by Dr Clint Burnham

8.00

Date: Sunday, May 22, 2022
Time: 2 pm EST

This lecture will take place virtually, via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 12:30pm EST the day of the lecture. This event will be recorded and ticketholders will receive a temporary streaming link after the live stream.

Ticketholders: a link to the conference is sent out at 1 pm EST on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please add info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com to your contacts to ensure that the event link will not go to spam.

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/above. Become a Member HERE.

The Death Drive on Film, by Mary Wild

In “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” (1920), Sigmund Freud defined the death drive as being in opposition to Eros (i.e., the affirmation of life through survival, propagation, productivity, and romance). This talk will focus the death drive on film, represented as self-sabotage, the unconscious wish to return to an inorganic state, and the urge to repeat painful past events. The proposition is that there is a cultural merit in coming to terms with the death drive, as it helps us to identify, comprehend and integrate harmful impulses in a functional way.

Films discussed: Damage (1992), Weekend At Bernie’s (1989), Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019)

“The Revolution will go Viral… on Sexting, the Digital & Contagion,” by Dr. Clint Burnham

We need psychoanalysis to understand our conflicted anxieties brought to the fore by Covid, we needed Covid-19 to come along to help us comprehend the dyad of connectivity and isolation at work in the internet, and we continue to need the internet to understand such psychoanalytic ideas as the unconscious and “desire is the desire of the Other.”

Drawing on the work of Freud, Lacan, Žižek, and Byung-Chul Han, and discussing sexting, anti-vaxxers, and “the subject supposed to LOL,” this talk will argue that our desires on the internet, our anxieties about vaccines and masks, and the way things go viral, can only be understood with the help of psychoanalysis, and, that these cultural phenomena can in turn help advance the theory and practice, the very relevance, of psychoanalysis today.

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

About the speakers:

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. Mary also co-hosts the Projections Podcast, and contributes to The Evolution of Horror Podcast.

Dr. Clint Burnham is Professor of English at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada, where he also teaches theory and popular culture. He is one of the facilitators of the Lacan Salon. His books include The Jamesonian Unconscious: The Aesthetics of Marxist Theory (1995), The Only Poetry that Matters: Reading the Kootenay School of Writing (2011), and the collections Digital Natives (2011, co-ed. with Lorna Brown) and From Text to Txting: New Media in the Classroom (2012, co-ed. with Paul Budra). His most recent book Does the Internet Have an Unconscious? (2018) is both an introduction to the work of Slavoj Žižek and an investigation into how his work can be used to think about the digital present. Clint Burnham uniquely combines the German idealism, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and Marxist materialism found in Žižek’s thought to understand how the Internet, social and new media, and digital cultural forms work in our lives and how their failure to work structures our pathologies and fantasies. He suggests that our failure to properly understand the digital is due to our lack of recognition of its political, aesthetic, and psycho-sexual elements. Mixing autobiographical passages with critical analysis, Burnham situates a Žižekian theory of digital culture in the lived human body.

Explore the Uncanny Aspects of Oscar Wilde with Nina Antonia and Robert Podgurski

Uncanny Aspects of Oscar Wilde: “Dancing With Salome: Decadence & the Supernatural” by Nina Antonia and “Activating Wilde’s World View” by Robert Podgurski

8.00

Date: Sunday, April 24
Time: 2 pm EST

This lecture will take place virtually, via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 12:30pm EST the day of the lecture. This event will be recorded and ticketholders will receive a temporary streaming link after the live stream.

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/above. Become a Member HERE.

“Dancing With Salome: Decadence & the Supernatural” by Nina Antonia

Nina Antonia is the author of a trinity of critically acclaimed books exploring the uncanny forces surrounding Oscar Wilde and his coterie. The majority of contemporary mainstream studies of the 1890’s excise the unseen, magical aspects that would have informed the art of Wilde and his peers, including W.B Yeats and Arthur Machen, who were both members of The Golden Dawn. Nina will be examining the aspects of enchantment that infused the Decadent movement as well as the perils of seeking wisdom outside of earthly boundaries.

“Activating Wilde’s World View” by Robert Podgurski

In this talk, Robert Podgurski will be addressing the ways in which Oscar Wilde’s liberated worldview may be read, not just textually, but as magical action. In particular, Chuang Tzu’s non-doing as Wilde understood it, presents a puzzle for the engaging reader, but one that is first and foremost intended to be playful. This talk is a supplement to Podgurski’s essay “Oscar Wilde’s Active Inaction and Composing the Individual” that will be included in the upcoming issue of The Fenris Wolf. For those new to the thought of Wilde and his world, this presentation is intended to raise some awareness of the interpretive act as it relates to the contemplative. Ultimately, any attempt to translate the complexities of Wilde’s understanding of freedom is to challenge the procedures and basis of western learning itself.

Nina Antonia has been a published author since 1987, specialising in the unconventional, wayward and decadent. Despite critical acclaim from the likes of The Washington Post and The Gay & Lesbian Review, Ms Antonia has skirted establishment confines to create a unique body of written work. Over the last 5 years Nina has chronicled the esoteric aspects of the lives of Oscar Wilde, his ‘homme fatale’ Lord Alfred Douglas and the poet Lionel Johnson, who inadvertently caused the greatest scandal of the Fin De Siecle by introducing Douglas to Wilde. Ms Antonia will be discussing this uncanny alliance in her most recent books; The Greenwood Faun (Egaeus Press) Incurable: The Haunted Writings of Lionel Johnson, the Decadent Era’s Dark Angel (Strange Attractor Press) and Dancing with Salome: Courting the Uncanny with Oscar Wilde and Friends (Trapart Books).

Robert Podgurski’s engagement with magic over 40 years has included mountaineering, yoga, chi gong, prose, and verse. His Sacred Alignments and Sigils (North Atlantic Books, 2019) is the most current manifestation of his project(ive): the Grid Sigil. As a practical and investigative tool The Grid Sigil deals with the closely knit relationship between ley-lines, meta-neural-programming, and geo-magnetic sorcery. In continuation of this working Podgurski will be launching his book, The Aetheric Alignments (prospectively fall of 2022 / spring 2023 with Inner Traditions). This study encompasses the history of the aether in early western as well as eastern consciousness up to our modern era as well as broaching practical applications. Podgurski is also the author of several works in poetry: Wandering On Course (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2014); and his on-going long poem, Intersecting Visions / Vision Intersects (Bullhead Books, 2019). His most recent poetry series, In the Shadow of This Branch is forthcoming in 2023. Along with poetry Podgurski has also authored fiction including his first full-length novel, Beyond the Lens of Time (date of publication to be announced shortly). For more information contact him at: deathsigil@gmail.com or visit his website: https://robertpodgurski.com/

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

“The Compleat Story: How Anton LaVey Created The Compleat Witch” by Peggy Nadramia

“The Compleat Story: How Anton LaVey Created The Compleat Witch” by Peggy Nadramia: Part of the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult Series, Live on Zoom, Morbid Anatomy Museum, online.

Date: Sunday, March 27
Time: 2-3:30 pm EST

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/above. Become a Member HERE.

Peggy Nadramia, High Priestess of the Church of Satan, spent several years reviewing archival records to reconstruct Anton LaVey’s plans and process in writing this, his most personal book. She will relate that story as well as the details of LaVey’s exhausting promotional tour and how the book fared in the years that followed. The Compleat Witch, or What to do When Virtue Fails, was first published in 1971, and then reissued in 1989 by Feral House as The Satanic Witch.

Peggy Nadramia was born and raised in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. She attended Catholic school as a child and received her degrees from the State University of New York, Fordham University and New York University. In 1985, she founded Grue Magazine, a small press journal of horror fiction, which received the World Fantasy Award in 1990. In 2002 she became the High Priestess of the Church of Satan. She is currently working on an extensive archive project for the Church and developing articles on the organization’s history and influence. She resides in Poughkeepsie, NY, in a haunted mansion. She is married to Peter H. Gilmore.

Experiences with Precognitive Dreams, Synchronicity and Notes on the Occult Influence of Derek Jarman: Part of the Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult Series, with Gary Lachman and Carl Abrahamsson

Experiences with Precognitive Dreams, Synchronicity and Notes on the Occult Influence of Derek Jarman: Part of the Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult Series, with Gary Lachman and Carl Abrahamsson

Sunday, February 20, 2022
2:00 PM 3:30 PM

Time: 2 pm EST
Admission: $8 – Tickets HERE

“Dreaming Ahead of Time: Experiences with Precognitive Dreams, Synchronicity and Coincidence”

Can we dream the future? Does time flow in only one direction? What is a ‘meaningful coincidence’?

Gary Lachman, author of many books on consciousness, culture, and the western esoteric tradition (and former bassist for Blondie), has been recording his precognitive dreams for forty years – dreams, that is, in which bits and pieces of the future turn up “ahead of time.” In his talk, based on his new book Dreaming Ahead of Time, Lachman will relate how he came to discover that he “dreams the future,” and how this surprising ability is something we all share but are unaware that we do. Along the way, Lachman will look at the work of other “time haunted men,” such as J.W. Dunne, J. B. Priestley, P.D. Ouspensky, C.G. Jung, Arthur Koestler, and others who, like himself, discovered that the “tick tick tock of the stately clock” – with apologies to Cole Porter – is not the only way in which that mysterious something we call “time” can be understood.

Gary Lachman is the author of many books about consciousness, culture, and the Western esoteric tradition, including The Return of Holy Russia, Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump, Lost Knowledge of the Imagination, and Beyond the Robot: The Life and Work of Colin Wilson. He writes for several journals in the US, UK, and Europe, lectures around the world and his work has been translated into more than a dozen languages. In a former life he was a founding member of the pop group Blondie and in 2006 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Before moving to London in 1996 and becoming a full time writer, Lachman studied philosophy, managed a metaphysical book shop, taught English literature, and was Science Writer for UCLA. He is an adjunct professor of Transformative Studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He can be reached at: http://garylachman.co.uk

“Tripping the Dark Light Fantastic – Notes on the occult influence of filmmaker Derek Jarman”

Watching Derek Jarman’s experimental film “In the Shadow of the Sun” for the first time in the early 1980s formatted my own aesthetic not only concerning cinema but also art in general. An important individuation key for me since then has been to continually evaluate Jarman’s distinctly magical, alchemical approach (and its many ripple effects) as a conscious expression of, and connection to, occultural history and general occult experimentation. Meaning, what you are creating is not “only” art, but also a talismanic platform through which desires may or may not be processed. And that this approach is a living and thriving tradition; not just an odd intellectual occurrence in our own contemporary times.

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, specializing in Occulture and Magico-anthropology. His books include Resonances(2014), Occulture (2018), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Sacred Intent (2020), Different People (2021), and Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (2022). He is also the editor and publisher of the highly renowned anthologies in The Fenris Wolf series. https://www.carlabrahamsson.com

The Psychic Violence of Alfred Hitchcock with Dr. Todd McGowan and Roman Polanski’s Apartment Trilogy: Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant with Mary Wild

The Psychic Violence of Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski’s Apartment Trilogy: Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant: Part of Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult

Sunday, January 23, 2022
2:00 PM 3:30 PM

Time: 2pm EST
Admission: $8 – Tickets HERE

This lecture will take place virtually, via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 5 pm EDT the day of the lecture. Attendees may request a video recording AFTER the lecture takes place by emailing proof of purchase to info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. Video recordings are valid for 30 days after the date of the lecture.

Ticketholders: a link to the conference is sent out at 5:30 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please add info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com to your contacts to ensure that the event link will not go to spam.

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/above. Become a Member HERE.

The Psychic Violence of Alfred Hitchcock: Cutting in Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds
30-minute presentation by Dr. Todd McGowan

This talk will look at Hitchcock’s three late masterpieces—Vertigo, Psycho, and The Birds—in terms of how they implicate the spectator in the violence that they depict. Through an inventive use of editing, Hitchcock places the spectator in the position of the figure of violence and forces spectators to reckon with their own psychic investment in this violence.

Todd McGowan teaches theory and film at the University of Vermont. He is the author of many books, including The Real Gaze: Film Theory After Lacan (2007), The Impossible David Lynch (2007), The Fictional Christopher Nolan (2013), Enjoying What We Don’t Have: The Political Project of Psychoanalysis (2013), Contemporary Film Directors: Spike Lee (2014), Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets (2016) and Universality and Identity Politics (2020).

Roman Polanski’s Apartment Trilogy: Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and The Tenant
30-minute presentation by Mary Wild

In Repulsion (1965), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and The Tenant (1976), Roman Polanski portrays fragmented psyches in claustrophobic spaces. What we encounter is an iconic triptych of psychological horror, with fear objects shifting from sexual intercourse, to pregnancy, and the blurring of gender identities.

This talk will focus on psychoanalytically interpreting Polanski’s genre-defining ‘apartment trilogy’, unpacking the uncanny dimension of the home, and showing its influence on Darren Aronofsky’s modern classic Black Swan (2010).

“Up, Up O Ye Gods!” – Hermeticism as a Path for Modern Seekers presented by Mitch Horowitz and “Secrecy Exposed!” – On the Necessity of Psychic Stigma and Dynamic Darkness in Occultism presented by Carl Abrahamsson, live via zoom

“Up, Up O Ye Gods!” – Hermeticism as a Path for Modern Seekers presented by Mitch Horowitz and “Secrecy Exposed!” – On the Necessity of Psychic Stigma and Dynamic Darkness in Occultism presented by Carl Abrahamsson, live via zoom

Sunday, December 19, 2021
Time: 2pm EST

This lecture will take place virtually, via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 12 pm EST the day of the lecture. Attendees may request a video recording AFTER the lecture takes place by emailing proof of purchase to info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. Video recordings are valid for 30 days after the date of the lecture.

Ticketholders: a link to the conference is sent out at 12:30 pm EST on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please add info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com to your contacts to ensure that the event link will not go to spam.

“Up, Up O Ye Gods!” – Hermeticism as a Path for Modern Seekers

Popular voice of esoteric ideas Mitch Horowitz (“solid gold”—David Lynch) explores the late-ancient Greek-Egyptian philosophy of Hermeticism and considers how the esoteric fragments of Ancient Egypt hold meaning for spiritual seekers today. Mitch also looks at the parallel insights between Hermeticism and mind-power metaphysics as well as the openings in today’s theoretical sciences, including multiple realities, inter-dimensionality, and UFO studies.

Mitch Horowitz is a historian of alternative spirituality and one of today’s most literate voices of esoterica, mysticism, and the occult. Mitch is a writer-in-residence at the New York Public Library, lecturer-in-residence at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles, and a PEN Award-winning historian whose books include Occult America; One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life; and The Miracle Club. The Washington Post says Mitch “treats esoteric ideas and movements with an even-handed intellectual studiousness that is too often lost in today’s raised-voice discussions.” The Chinese government has censored his work. Visit him at www.MitchHorowitz.com

“Secrecy Exposed!” – On the Necessity of Psychic Stigma and Dynamic Darkness in Occultism

In an enforced exhibitionism frenzy like our social media-driven culture, we need to revamp and revitalize the concept of secrecy. Much of the allure and power of the traditionally “occult” lay in it literally being hidden away from general exposure and popular dissolution. But what happens when all the black cats are suddenly out of the proverbial bag? And, more relevantly this evening, what happens when we put them all back in the bag, shake hands, and seal our lips forever more?

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, specializing in Occulture and Magico-anthropology. His books include Resonances (2014), Occulture (2018), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Sacred Intent (2020), Different People (2021), and Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (forthcoming from Inner Traditions, 2022). He is also the editor and publisher of the highly renowned anthologies in The Fenris Wolf series.

The Face of Fear: Faces in Gothic Horror Films with Icy Sedgwick and “How Weird is That?” with Dr. Kasper Opstrup

The Face of Fear: Faces in Gothic Horror Films with Icy Sedgwick and “How Weird is That?” with Dr. Kasper Opstrup: Part of Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult,, Live on Zoom

Sunday, November 21, 2021
2:00 PM 3:30 PM

Time: 2 pm EST

Admission: $8 – Tickets HERE
Part of the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

“The Face of Fear: Faces in Gothic Horror Films”, Presented by Icy Sedgwick

“We didn’t need dialogue. We had faces!” So says Norma Desmond, played by Gloria Swanson, in the 1950 classic, Sunset Boulevard. Desmond’s issue with sound cinema is its privileging of the voice and language over the silent face and its myriad expressions. For an emotion-centered genre like horror, these expressions are crucial to conveying both the terror of the victim and the malice of the monster. Indeed, the face is the most individual feature of the body. It is our ability to recognise a face that makes it both terrifying and bewildering when the face is concealed.

In this talk, we’ll explore the face in horror and Gothic films. We’ll examine why it’s so powerful as a site of expression and investigate its importance to the Gothic as a means of storytelling. We’ll pay a visit to the monsters and get up close to the distorted face. And no discussion of faces would be complete without a celebration of the mask, used to prevent identification, hide deformity, and even as a form of punishment.

Icy Sedgwick is working on a PhD exploring the representation of the haunted house in contemporary Hollywood horror films. She runs the Fabulous Folklore podcast, investigating European folklore and its appearances in popular culture. In case she tires of the research, Icy also writes dark fantasy and Gothic horror fiction.

“How Weird is That?”, Presented by Dr. Kasper Opstrup.

This talk will take a closer look at the tradition for weird fiction and the current revival of weird thought. Weird fiction has been called the genre of what could have been. From Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow to the writings of William Burroughs, weird fictions have taken the form of a type of infectious stories that ultimately want to rearrange reality. Like occult literature, they want to make something happen.

Often, these types of fictions take place in a space of psychological liminality and, through examples like, for example, Timothy Leary’s and Robert Anton Wilson’s SMI²LE project, we will look upon some of the world-building and utopian aspects of the weird as well. Through dreams, visions, and revelations, it is a genre that wants to combine science and religion into a new system that problematizes not only easy distinctions between symbolism and surrealism on the one hand and pulp, horror and sci-fi on the other.

The weird also problematizes and erodes the borders between fiction and reality. This gives it a unique potential to speculate about our contemporary situation of climate catastrophe, mental health issues and so-called post-truth politics.

Dr. Kasper Opstrup is a Copenhagen-based writer and researcher. Currently, he is connected to the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid as a researcher while writing on a book about the 20th century’s myths of the future. His most recent publications are The Way Out (Minor Compositions, 2017) and the edited anthology Unexpected Encounters – Possible Futures (Antipyrine, 2019).

Blanche Barton on Death Imagery in Satanism and Carl Abrahamsson presents Memento Mori Forever, Live on Zoom

Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult: Dancing in the Graveyard: Death Imagery in Satanism by Blanche Barton and Memento Mori Forever by Carl Abrahamsson

Sunday, September 26, 2021
2:00 PM 4:00 PM

Time: 2 pm EDT
Admission: $8 – Tickets HERE

Part of the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

This lecture will take place virtually, via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 12 pm EDT the day of the lecture. Attendees may request a video recording AFTER the lecture takes place by emailing proof of purchase to info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com. Video recordings are valid for 30 days after the date of the lecture.

Ticketholders: a link to the conference is sent out at 12:30 pm EDT on the day of the event to the email used at checkout. Please add info.morbidanatomy@gmail.com to your contacts to ensure that the event link will not go to spam.

Dancing in the Graveyard: Death Imagery in Satanism by Blanche Barton

“Life is the great indulgence—death, the great abstinence. Therefore, make the most of life—HERE AND NOW!”

So reads a phrase from the opening chapter of The Satanic Bible. But if Satanism, true Satanism as defined by Anton LaVey in 1966, is a profoundly life-loving religion, why all the black candles, skulls, and funerary trappings? The use of a coffin in the ceremony known as “L’air Epais—the Ceremony of the Stifling Air”, for example, goes well beyond a simple memento mori to remind ourselves how fleeting is our time here on Earth. The coffin becomes, like the Hanged Man in the tarot, a symbol of both death and transformation.

The Western esoteric tradition indulges in metaphors of magical mastery as a path to explore death, even defeat death, through unholy compacts and infernal congress, with sinister sorcerers and witches tempted by wisdom at the very borders of our understanding. Satanists challenge the boundaries between reality and fantasy with images of dark defiance and heresy, concentrating their power through ritual, challenging the strength of their own creative force, then manifesting that productive drive in the real world.

Ernest Becker, in The Denial of Death, recognized that when a child reaches adolescence and fully confronts the inevitability of his or her own eventual demise, the youth begins casting about for a philosophy that provides a satisfying context in which to place this knowledge. One might successfully argue that all religions are invented to resolve this one issue: How do we process the inexorable truth of our own mortality? Satanism offers an engraved invitation to the courageous and the curious, to those fatally attracted to the darkest, most dangerous corners of forbidden arcana and scandalous lore, who are driven to dance with the Devil in the moonlight. Let’s glimpse beyond the veil together, shall we?

Memento Mori Forever by Carl Abrahamsson

For the human individual, there is no greater arbiter than death itself. Anxiety and fear are the very shadow-side fundaments of human religiosity, and nowhere is magical thinking as present as in thoughts and emotions touching upon (the fear of) death. One reason why human neurosis reaches ever new heights in contemporary culture is our distancing from death itself, and our painting ourselves into a corner of abstracted and compensatory imagination. How to cope? How to improve this highly detrimental neurosis and its dangerous side effects, such as monotheism?

Carl Abrahamsson is a Swedish author, specialising in Occulture and Magico-anthropology. His books include Resonances (2014), Occulture (2018), The Devil’s Footprint (2020), Sacred Intent (2020), Different People (2021), and Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan (forthcoming). He is also the editor and publisher of the highly renowned anthologies in The Fenris Wolf series.

Blanche Barton is the present Magistra Templi Rex of the Church of Satan, having been a member for 45 years. She is the author of The Secret Life of a Satanist: The Authorized Biography of Anton Szandor LaVey(2014), as well as her most recent book,We Are Satanists: The History and Future of the Church of Satan(2021). She likes long walks on the beach and summoning chthonic forces to unleash their unholy terrors upon an unsuspecting world.

Photo by Carl Abrahamsson

The Two Antichrists with Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech of Scarlet Imprint, Live on Zoom

Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult: The Two Antichrists with Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech of Scarlet Imprint, Live on Zoom

Sunday, September 19, 2021
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Time: 2 pm EDT
Admission: $8 – Tickets HERE

Opening with considerations on the future of witchcraft and its relation to radical ecology, Grey returns to the Babalon Working—a series of magic rituals performed in 1946 by occultist, author, and rocket-fuel scientist Jack Parsons and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard—and considers a series of little examined texts from science fiction and the outer fringes of Scientology which form a ‘Babalon Apocrypha.’

By reading across these sources, the familiar story is revealed to have hidden depths and dimensions. Exploring the role of Antichrist in relation to Parsons and Hubbard, Grey provides insights into the initiatory drama of Thelema: of Satanic rites, Abyss and Angel.

The Two Antichrists observes the long shadow cast by the monolith of Scientology, and Parsons’ eclipsed confraternity The Witchcraft. Looking to the future, he envisions emergent space witchcraft, infused with the spirit of Do What Thou Wilt.

Peter Grey is a writer, and the co-founder of Scarlet Imprint. He is the author of The Red Goddess(2007), which has become the standard work on the goddess of Revelation. His Apocalyptic Witchcraft(2013) has been called the most important modern book on witchcraft, placing it in the mythopoetic context of the sabbat and in a landscape suffering climate and ecological collapse.

Alkistis Dimech is the co-founder of Scarlet Imprint, for which she is editrix, typographer and book designer. Beyond publishing, she is a dancer and choreographer, whose practice is grounded in butô, which translates as ‘dark dance’ or ‘dance of utter darkness,’ a discipline and philosophy she has pursued since 2002.

Mary Wild on Taxidermy in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” and Discussion with Anna Biller, Writer and Director of “The Love Witch” & “Viva”

Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult: Mary Wild on “Taxidermy in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho” and Discussion with Anna Biller, Writer and Director of “The Love Witch” & “Viva”

Sunday, September 12, 2021
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

Time: 2 pm EDT
Admission: $8 – Tickets HERE

Part of the Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult series of events, curated by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/above. Become a Member HERE.

This event will consist of discussions with Miss Anna Biller, Writer and Director of The Love Witch & Viva, and Mary Wild onTaxidermy in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho

Anna Biller states, “In my work, I try to combine pure cinema with authentic experience. When I say authentic experience, I mean that I try to directly translate my experience of living in the world into form. My specific concerns are with the lived day-to-day experience of the female. Years ago when I was first starting out as a filmmaker, I became interested in trying to create a cinema based on visual pleasure for women.

In the interest of pure cinema or ‘proper art’ (which James Joyce defines as art which elicits a state of aesthetic arrest), I try to control everything that goes into the film frame. Thus in my work, I am trying to do something most unusual: to create “proper” art films masquerading as popular films. So while I am quoting genres, I am using them not as pastiche, but to create a sense of aesthetic arrest and to insert a female point of view.”

Taxidermy in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho with Mary Wild

A secretary, on the lam after stealing from her employer, travels on the back roads to avoid the police. She stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel, where she meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates, who has an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.

This talk will focus on the psychoanalytic significance of stuffing and mounting the skins of animals with lifelike effect in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror-thriller film Psycho. The proposition is that the taxidermy impulse is aligned with the ‘deadly’ maternal element played out in Norman Bates’s fantasy life.

Anna Biller is a writer and director who creates unique, female-focused, highly visual films. She has a BA from UCLA in art and an MFA from CalArts in art and film. Her first feature Viva played in film festivals all over the world and gained minor cult status, and her second feature The Love Witch won acclaim for its elaborate visual style and feminist themes, and has screened at numerous film festivals worldwide.

Mary Wild is the creator of the PROJECTIONS lecture series at Freud Museum London, applying psychoanalysis to film interpretation. Mary also co-hosts the Projections Podcast.

Artificial Intelligence and the Patipolitical Body with Dr. Isabel Millar, and Freud’s Explorations of the Occult with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, Live on Zoom

Psychoanalysis, Art and the Occult: Artificial Intelligence and the Patipolitical Body with Dr. Isabel Millar, and Freud’s Explorations of the Occult with Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, Live on Zoom

Sunday, September 5, 2021
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT

Time: 2 pm
Admission: $8 – Tickets HERE

PLEASE NOTE: This lecture will be recorded and available for free for our Patreon members at $5/above. Become a Member HERE.

Tonight, join us as Dr. Vanessa Sinclair and Carl Abrahamsson introduce and kick off Psychoanalysis, Art & the Occult, a curated series of events dedicated to exploring the intersections and integration of psychoanalytic theory, the creative arts, occult practices, and folk magic traditions.

Artificial Intelligence and the Patipolitical Body Dr. Isabel Millar

The body as simultaneously consumed and devouring is the ultimate goal of techno-capitalism. This body is surveilled, codified, isolated, tortured and ultimately kept undead in order to produce and enjoy. After the paradigms of the biopolitical (the production and governance of life) and the necropolitical (the production and governance of the walking dead), Dr. Isabel Millar discerns a patipolitical regime of suffering (from the Latin patior, ‘to suffer’) that aims to produce and govern bodies of extreme jouissance.

How can we imagine a future body that may be produced by potentially limitless augmentation and simulation? Where will this body be able to go and what will it do when it’s there? Or might we just prefer to disappear altogether?

Freud’s Explorations of the Occult by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair

In 1953, psychoanalyst and anthropologist George Devereux published a collection of works from various psychoanalysts entitled Psychoanalysis and the Occult, which explored the intersection between the practice of psychoanalysis and occult phenomena, including contributions from Sigmund Freud on ‘Premonitions and Chance’, ‘Psychoanalysis and Telepathy’, and ‘The Occult Significance of Dreams’. Additionally, Freud’s paper ‘Notes on the Unconscious’ was published in the journal of the Society for Psychical Research in 1912. At the same time, the topic of the occult was central to the split between Freud and Jung in 1914, as Freud insisted the burgeoning field of psychoanalysis be considered scientific and not spiritualist.

Despite this, Freud maintained an interest in occult phenomena longer than most people realize, conducting thought-transference experiments with his daughter Anna Freud and colleague Sándor Ferenczi, for example. This talk will explore this aspect of his work further.

Isabel Millar, Ph.D. is a philosopher and cultural critic. Her work focuses on AI, sex, culture, film, and the future. Her book The Psychoanalysis of Artificial Intelligenceis recently published with the Palgrave Lacan Series. Dr. Millar is a research fellow at The Centre for Critical Thought, the University of Kent and Affiliate of the Global Centre for Advanced Studies (GCAS).

Vanessa Sinclair, Psy.D. is a psychoanalyst, artist and author based in Sweden. She is the author of The Pathways of the Heart (Trapart Books, 2021), Scansion in Psychoanalysis and Art: the Cut in Creation (Routledge, 2020), and Switching Mirrors (Trapart Books, 2016). Dr. Sinclair is Senior Research Fellow at the Global Centre for Advanced Studies (GCAS) and the host of Rendering Unconscious Podcast.

Lecture series at Morbid Anatomy Museum, New York 2016

Dr. Vanessa Sinclair hosted a lecture series at Morbid Anatomy Museum, Brooklyn, New York, exploring the intersections, integration and application of psychoanalytic theory, the arts, and the occult. Inviting a variety of psychoanalysts, psychologists, artists, writers, and occultists from a range of backgrounds and theoretical orientations to discuss their work, personal experience and areas of research interest, in hopes of opening up a dialogue between practitioners in fields of study that rarely have a chance to engage with one another yet often operate in similar and complementary ways.