Sacred Geometry" refers to the assigning of sacred connotation to geometric shapes and proportions. The concept is thought to have originated in ancient Greece with the idea that the universe follows a distinct plan or pre-defined pattern. The geometric ideal heavily affected the physical world of religious structures including some of the most well-known; churches, mosques and temples. The concept of holy space extends to sacred groves, Magic Circles, holy altars and modern occult art. Many of the earliest references place "The Creator" or Godhead at the center; a great engineer figure that can be found in such faiths as Hinduism ( The Manasara), Christianity and Islam. Just like Hilma af Klint decades later, Georgiana Houghton created automatic drawings, claiming that she was led by a spirit called Lenny along with seventy Archangels. As a result, she produced abstract compositions of interwoven lights decades before the word abstraction was ever applied to art. This iconographical form of the Hindu Trimurti god Visnu, whose body represents the structure and form of the entire cosmos. The different domains of Hell are represented by the legs and feet, with the Earthly and harmonious Heavenly realms represented by the upper stomach and chest, arms, and head; the navel represents the Unmanifest realm that is connected with pure sound and vibration, and absolute silence, which connects everything together. Austin Osman Spare may be “one of the most overlooked figures in British art history,” says legendary graphic novelist Alan Moore. But he often chose a path of near-obscurity since the creative vision that inspired his art also made him “possibly the greatest English magician of the twentieth century.” Magicians rarely win lasting fame, aside from infamous figures like Aleister Crowley, with whom Spare had an early association. Most devoted occultists have less Faustian concerns. For Spare, magic was a way of realizing desires he believed he could only learn by communicating with an elusive, atavistic subconscious Self. Like so many facets of modern life, the first seeds were sown during the 1789–99 French Revolution. Unleashing bloodshed and terror in the name of reason, its idealism soaring to hysterical heights, the revolution undermined its own guiding principles. The hegemony of rationalism – so central to European thought since the Enlightenment – was further eroded in subsequent decades, in a climate of conflict and unrest that saw the Napoleonic wars of 1803–15, the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, and the short-lived, brutally supressed Paris Commune, an insurgent government that ruled from 18 March to 28 May 1871. (This thread of dissent would be taken up by the Dadaists in the 20th century, in response to the atrocities of World War I.) Traditional Christianity, too, was in profound crisis. Its worldview – circumscribed to binaries of good and evil, spirit and body, culture and nature – was increasingly seen as overly simplistic in the context of a complex, tumultuous universe.

The tree of life is a diagram used in various mystical traditions. It usually consists of 10 nodes symbolizing different archetypes and 22 lines connecting the nodes. The nodes are often arranged into three columns to represent that they belong to a common category According to Spare, who was prone to embellishing his biography, he also received a commission for a portrait from Adolph Hitler in 1936. The Führer was apparently impressed with Spare’s Self Portrait as Hitler. British journalist Hannen Swaffer recounts that Spare, an ardent anti-Nazi who tried to enlist in 1939 at the age of 53, made a copy of the painting and sent it with a note as a reply “to the man who wanted to master Europe and dominate mankind”: Only from negations can I wholesomely conceive you. For I know of no courage sufficient to stomach your aspirations and ultimates. If you are superman, let me be for ever animal. The Victorian era was a time of great artistic expression, and the occult-inspired art of the period was no exception. From the dark and mysterious works of the Pre-Raphaelites to the spiritual symbolism of the Arts and Crafts movement, the Victorian era saw a surge in occult-inspired art. Born in Saint Petersburg to a well-off German father and a Russian mother, Nicholas Roerich became interested in archaeology, Russian history, and folktales in his early years. Later on, his interest in religion and history would lead him away from Russia to the United States and then to India.

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While emerging artists such as tan jones are gaining recognition, other art movements connected with spirituality and magic are being rediscovered, such as the surrealist movement – which had strong ties to magic, with many artists including ritual and symbols in their work.

It is also, perhaps, a response to the fear and anxiety of the current moment. “I think this surge in esoteric beliefs tends to show up in moments of crisis, when things are feeling uneasy and unsettled on a good day, and bereft of hope on the worst of them,” says S Elizabeth, author of The Art of the Occult. Growing up surrounded by richly decorated tarot cards and zodiac posters designed by Alphonse Mucha, Elizabeth sees the occult and art as inseparable. For the Symbolists, esoteric knowledge was a means of accessing the scope of the mind and the quintessence beyond appearances. And fin-de-siècle Paris had no shortage of material: Edmond Bailly’s Librairie de l’art indépendant (Bookshop of Independent Art), established in 1888, became a central meeting point for Symbolist artists and writers and for the discussion of occult topics, while Lucien Chamuel’s Librairie du merveilleux (Bookshop of the Marvellous) was popular with mystics and scholars. Theosophy was particularly influential. Founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and her colleagues in New York in 1875, the Theosophical Society aimed to distil common elements from the world’s religions and esoteric traditions and establish an essential, universal understanding. The idea of fundamental principles that could bridge East and West, Christ and the Buddha, was immensely attractive to a number of artists – particularly in a context of colonial expansion, which aroused interest in similarities as well as in differences. The artist Odilon Redon was amongst those who frequented Bailly’s bookshop. Engaged in Theosophy – particularly Édouard Schuré’s comparative studies of religious prophets – as well as Buddhist and Indian philosophy, Redon realized numerous depictions of religious figures that evade traditional iconography and narratives. He focused instead on themes of light, death and introspection, as in The Death of Buddha (c.1899) and The Sacred Heart (The Buddha) (c.1906), which was closely based on an 1895 drawing the artist had made of Christ and then renamed. The word ‘occult’ comes from the latin occulus, meaning ‘hidden.’ The underlying assumption is that there is another, unseen world beyond that of the day-to-day existence—with magic offering the possibility of connecting these two worlds.” —Christopher Dell, The Occult, Witchcraft & Magic, 2016 Hilma af Klint’s most famous project was called Paintings for the Temple. Almost two hundred paintings were supposed to hang in a spiral-structured building that she designed. However, she never got to build it. In the end, her wish came true in a way when her works were exhibited in the famous spiral-shaped temple-like building of the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2018.

The mysterious world of magic and the supernatural calls to those with curiosity about the universe around them. The pieces of occult art on our site can add a touch of the otherworld to any room. Add an interesting item to your studio, office, or bedroom or any other gathering space.

The Victorian era was a time of great artistic expression, and the occult-inspired art of the period was no exception. From the dark and mysterious works of the Pre-Raphaelites to the spiritual symbolism of the Arts and Crafts movement, the Victorian era saw a surge in occult-inspired art. These works of art were often used to explore the spiritual and emotional aspects of life, and they remain an important part of the artistic legacy of the Victorian era. The Reemergence of Satanic and Occult-Inspired Art in the 21st Century Welburn, Andrew J.; Heinzen, Thomas (1986). Power and Self-Consciousness in the Poetry of Shelley. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1349182787. The Surrealist movement of the early 20th century was heavily influenced by the occult. This influence was seen in the works of many of the movement’s most prominent figures, such as Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, and Andre Breton. The occult provided the Surrealists with a source of inspiration and a way to explore the unconscious mind.

Occultists are engaged in a process that is more highly conscious of such things as lineages, tradition, initiation, secrecy, performance (more like theatre in this respect) and, above all, 'gnosis'. The 'work' is centred on the person as process where the 'thrown-away-once-done' is the ritual. The occult has long been a source of fascination for many, and the Renaissance period was no exception. During this time, the occult was seen as a way to gain knowledge and power, and it had a profound influence on the art of the Renaissance. From the use of symbols and imagery to the exploration of the supernatural, the occult played an important role in the art of the Renaissance. Johannes Itten (1888 – 1967) Color Sphere in 7 Light Values and 12 Tones by Johannes Itten, 1921, via MoMA, New York Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Occult Art, Occultism". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. These are fine points but it is not enough to claim that someone who paints witches like Goya is interested in the occult. Rather they are interested in fear or folklore or popular memes or the market. The book does not, for example, include the work of the witch Rosaleen Norton.

Occult Symbolism

The neologism occulture used within the industrial music scene of the late twentieth century was probably coined by one of its central figures, the musician and occultist Genesis P-Orridge. [42] The scholar of religion Christopher Partridge used the term in an academic sense, stating that occulture was "the new spiritual environment in the West; the reservoir feeding new spiritual springs; the soil in which new spiritualities are growing". [43] Occultism and technology [ edit ] Strube, Julian (2017b). "Socialism and Esotericism in July Monarchy France". History of Religions. University of Chicago Press. 57 (2): 197–221. doi: 10.1086/693682. S2CID 166078608. California-based artist Penny Slinger’s work has featured in both The Botanical Mind and Tantra exhibitions. “I always felt the practice of art to be akin to magical practices. In both cases, the intangible is being made manifest,” she says. Slinger started exhibiting her feminist surrealist work in London in the late 1960s. While she had always been interested in the mystical (one might describe her collage works of the period as distinctly psychedelic) a visit to the 1971 Tantra exhibition at the Hayward Gallery was life-changing. Artist bones tan jones was one of the artists featured in the Somerset House exhibition and also had an installation at the Serpentine Gallery in 2022. They have just been announced as artist-in-residence at The Sustainable Institution in Europe. Their work has strong connections to paganism and spiritualism.

Now that discussions around feminism, gender, and power dynamics are increasingly vital, it’s the perfect moment to celebrate female artists who draw inspiration from surrealism.” The idea of occult sciences developed in the sixteenth century. [10] The term usually encompassed three practices–astrology, alchemy, and natural magic–although sometimes various forms of divination were also included rather than being subsumed under natural magic. [10] These were grouped together because, according to the Dutch scholar of hermeticism Wouter Hanegraaff, "each one of them engaged in a systematic investigation of nature and natural processes, in the context of theoretical frameworks that relied heavily on a belief in occult qualities, virtues or forces." [10] Although there are areas of overlap between these different occult sciences, they are separate and in some cases practitioners of one would reject the others as being illegitimate. [10] Judge sees the art world’s new openness as a response to larger shifts. “Artists are pretty sensitive, outward-looking. I feel artists are moving toward the spiritual again to comment on the forces connected to the rise of the right in Europe or Trump in the US – these scary political movements.” Tantra, in particular, feels apt: it is “as much a reaction to conservatism as it is an ancient philosophy,” says Judge. Although Jacquemin’s interest in various forms of occultism such as Occult Christianity and Rosicrucianism partially fueled her artistic progress and success, it could have harmed her as well. Some art historians believe Jacquemin’s art was deliberately swept under the rug because of her questionable occult alliances. In many sources, contemporaries described Jacquemin as a devoted Satanist who lived in a Satanic commune for a period of time.Davis, Erik (2015). TechGnosis: Myth, Magic & Mysticism in the Age of Information. North Atlantic Press. ISBN 978-1583949306. A symbol of the Philosopher's stone. Depicted on the left image is Michael Maier's Emblem XXI from Atalanta Fugiens. Official emblem of the Church of Satan, consisting of the head of a goat transfixed upon a reversed pentagram flanked by the Hebrew letters of the word " Leviathan" (לִוְיָתָן). The right image is the same sigil in cuneiform from the Joy of Satan Ministries, a recreation of the sigil of Baphomet incorporated with cuneiform lettering instead of Hebrew to spell out "Satan", and made after Maxine Dietrich's reinterpretation of the ideology of spiritual Satanism. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term "occult science" as a synonym for magic. [22] Occult qualities [ edit ] The Arts and Crafts movement was another influential artistic movement of the Victorian era. This movement was heavily influenced by the writings of William Morris and John Ruskin, who both believed in the spiritual power of art. The Arts and Crafts movement was characterized by its use of symbolism and spiritual imagery, often inspired by the occult.