Photo story: the Mask of Baphomet

The first of many series exploring myth, ritual, and possession, I shot these photos around the first of the month with my first professional model, Felicity Houpte.  Inspired by my experiences with the Conjuration of Baphomet, this series depicts a simple rite of evocation and the donning of a mask, followed by possession by the god Baphomet and finally apotheosis.

Images below the fold for space considerations and because they are not safe for work.

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As Chair of the Sacred Experience Committee…

[Last month I was elected Chair of the HSA Sacred Experience Committee.  This was my campaign statement, sans a few small redactions.]

Hello, my name is {Satyr Magos} and I’m running for the Chairpersonship of the Sacred Experience Committee.  Although I may not be well known to many of you, I have attended the Heartland Pagan Festival fifteen times since 1998.  I have done my community service with Parking for the majority of those years, and I came as Work Exchange in 2012, working mostly with Traffic and Security, before membering up and working with the SEC for this past year’s festival.

As Chair of the SEC I will bring to bear ten years of experience leading and facilitating small group rituals as a member of the Lawrence and Kansas City Pagan communities.  More broadly, I have been practicing eclectic witchcraft since 1996 and shamanic trance techniques since 2006.  I have dedicated the last four years of my life to mastering Ceremonial and Chaos Magick techniques, and as a Classicist I have a strong foundational understanding of how large-scale ritual functioned both logistically and psychologically in pre-Christian society.  Together, these areas of expertise and experience will make it possible to oversee rituals which are uniquely effective and impressive, drawing on the Western Mystery Tradition as a whole but grounded firmly in the traditions of modern NeoPagan Witchcraft.

My vision for the SEC also involves a stronger community presence.  After last year’s rituals, I had the opportunity to meet and interact with numerous attendees, and found those experiences to be very valuable.  Going forward, I would like for the relationship between the SEC, the HSA as a whole, and the community of festival-goers at large, to be one of greater visibility, greater transparency, and greater accessibility.

In addition to the three main rituals, the Vision Quest, Tea With Crones, and the other existing duties of the Sacred Experience Committee, I will make the Committee available to the community for facilitating rites of passage, initiations, and guerilla rituals throughout the festival.

I will strive to make the Sacred Experience Committee a place where outside input is always welcome.  I will use the committee to actively recruit new members to the HSA.

In Summation: May, June, July

No, I’m not dead.

We put on a fuckin’ festival, y’all.  It was bad-ass.

I, your fuckin’ favorite satyr, have been elected to the position of Chair of the Heartland Spiritual Alliance Sacred Experience Committee.  Aradia has been elected Chair of Public Relations.

I finished writing a novel back in February.  A lot of July went to editing it.  As soon as some friends get back to me with their comments, I’m going to edit some more and try to publish.  First dibs go to Nephelim Press, if they’re interested.  If I can’t get a deal by January, I’m going to self-publish … partially because I’m impatient, partially because it’s too fucking queer and witchy to get mainstream traction anyway.  There are five to ten sequels coming when I’m done with that.  I’m going to start posting excerpts here, soon, because if anyone wants to read my novels about witches and monsters and old gods usurping the goddamn appocalypse it’s you guys.  (Please tell me you want to read my novels.)

July has been lots and lots of photography. There will be more of that here, too.  This was supposed to be an art blog, too.  Art is magick.  Magick is art.

It’s really funny that I actually blogged more when I was in school than in the year since.  Dafuq, y’all?

Sorry about that.  I’m trying to come back.

An individual in a black-and white mask, wearing a white robe and two silver chains with one breast bared, offers you a sword.
Sneak preview. Because I love you.